Thursday, April 21, 2022
6 a.m., nearly. I’d like to continue with the realization that came to me again yesterday afternoon, shortly before our weekly ILC meeting. I set my switches for maximum focus, receptivity, clarity, presence.
Note that a moment ago you were thinking of Kant and of how philosophers assume that the world they know is what they think it is, then reason their way into it. Only, that isn’t a fair statement of the case.
Nor of my thought.
No, perhaps not. Let us begin by your setting out – slowly! – the insight that came to you, bearing in mind that it will be easily glossed over unless carefully considered.
Let’s start with bullets, then.
But I find myself blank, and suddenly my ears are ringing, loudly. So I will refocus.
It is as if I am meeting active resistance to this thought being voiced. I wonder why that should be, given that I made a note here yesterday, and mentioned it in our meeting. It isn’t like I’m giving away state secrets.
Take apart your notes from yesterday. Don’t worry about coherence yet, and go at it slowly. That is, don’t worry about it instantly being said clearly or even coherently. Your first step, in presenting something you haven’t really presented before, is to get it out, in any way you can, however inadequately, and then work from that starting-place. You’ve seen us do just that, and more than once.
Yes, I guess I have, but I thought the problem was more my hearing than your speaking.
In practical terms, is there any difference? Now go to it, slowly, taking the very difficulty, and the overcoming of the difficulty, as a teaching moment. Thus, process as well as content; very efficient of you.
All right. Yesterday, in a hurry to get something down as a reminder, I wrote this: “Remember us being in the middle of a web of associations of various kinds which results in our continuously making half-conscious connections that run in the background. Logical, sensory, other kinds of associations.”
So,
- A web of associations of different kinds
- Half-conscious connections
- Background processing, call it parallel processing
- Different kinds of associations, connecting different kinds of data.
Yes, that will do admirably as a starting-place. You see? The important thing is to find a point of entry. If you will just remember, in such cases, that a point of entry need not be smooth, nor definite, nor logically defensible, you will all make your lives easier. A starting-place is not a conclusion. A preliminary sketch is not a finished painting, nor even a drawing. It is a beginning, and that’s all you ever need. The rest is intent and application.
As usual, obvious as you say it, not so clear beforehand.
That’s what we’re here for. Now, as to your insight. To some it will seem obvious, to others, not. But those who think it obvious will benefit by considering carefully that there may be more here than immediately meets the eye. Take whatever you glean as itself only a starting-point.
- web of associations of different kinds
There is a tendency, because, after all, you are thinking beings, to look at the human mind as associating thoughts. Yes, also memories and fantasies and logical connections, but primarily chains of associations of thoughts.
Did I get that quite right?
No, not quite. Let’s try that again. The things you think about tend to be –
No, that won’t work either. We will go about it a different way.
We said you live in the center of a web of relationships, meaning, in that case, relationships with other minds. But you also are inside a web of relationships primarily involving your own mind (pretending for the moment more separation from others than actually exists). You may have a chain of associations comprising thoughts and first-hand memories and ideas and what we might call second-hand memories via films or print or oral presentation. All this may be jumbled together or may be arrayed to illustrate a point or provide clarity or – anything the mind does, really. That’s what the mind does; it associates data in real-time circumstances. Its functioning is as much a facet of the present moment as is anything else. Your mind functions within the constraints of the present moment, in other words. Its content is one thing; what it can make active is something else. This will reward further thought at another time.
But the initial point here is that the mind does not associate things on the basis of logic alone; neither does it associate only things with logical content, and this can be hard for some people to appreciate.
I’m getting – in fact, this is what sparked that note yesterday – I was looking at the pattern of my shirt, which was partly in sunlight and partly in shadow. It being of English broadcloth, its textures and weave were very evident. Looking at it, I could feel something within me associating that visual memory with something else from many years ago. I never did pull up the memory, but it struck me that like visuals attach to like; so do aromas and sounds and feels and tastes.
- Half-conscious connections
And, you see, each of the senses, no less than mental abstract reasoning or association of ideas, is functioning continually. Can it be otherwise? Do you think the connection of visuals or of smells or of tastes operates only when you are aware of it? Mostly it goes on beneath the threshold of consciousness, because perhaps there is no need for you to know. But sometimes you are more aware of what is always going on. Consider what this means. Your sense organs are as vigorous and as metaphysical, you might say, as anything else. You think and feel and even reason with your senses as well as with your mind. You may not be aware of it, but you do.
- Parallel processing
Several types of associating go on at the same time, continuously. Or – probably a more useful way to think of it – all types of processing are one stream, yet that stream can be divided for the purposes of logical analysis. It can not be divided in fact, only in analysis. All that data streams in, all that associating goes on, all the various sub-processes continue on their own and interconnect with other processes, so that a smell may associate to a memory and to a touch and to a visual – or to any one or any combination of these – and may or my not reach your conscious awareness, depending upon the energy it releases. You may think that your mental life consists of thoughts, ideas, and memories, but this would be an over-simplified view.
This also covers your final bullet, which is merely a special case of the process of association.
Tell me, what is the practical application of this insight. I know there is one – I can feel it – but I can’t yet get it.
We like that “yet,” by the way. It is an indication that you expect to get it, in a way that “can’t” would not be.
This is actually a very important reorientation, because it is one more step toward your (plural) realization that the body is not a sack of meat, but a collection of acute specialized interconnecting intelligences. Do you want to have an out-of-body experience to prove to yourself that you are more than your physical body? Well and good, but an intensive in-the-body experience will demonstrate that you as non-3D travelers in the 3D are often underrating what you can learn.
Let’s try to be more precise, here. We are not here talking about the body as an intelligent self-repairing system, though it is that. Neither is it merely your diving-suit that allows you to function in 3D, though it is that too. It is one extension of your mind, as your connection to non-3D is another. Italicize that, because it isn’t as obvious to you as it will be when you remember, in this context, that it’s all mind-stuff!
Be careful – this is said to all – that you do not overlook valuable resources merely because they seem mundane. “Mundane” means “of the world” – and where do you think you are currently functioning? A body is more than a support system: It is also an acutely honed system of perception. Use it.
Today’s theme?
Call it “parallel processing,” perhaps.
Yes, that may work. Many thanks for this; the illustration of the process was as interesting as the content itself. Till next time.