Category: phenomenology
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Miscellaneous Traps for the Soul
A trap is only a trap if you don’t know about it. If you know about it, it’s a challenge. ― China Melville The understanding that all of my thoughts, feelings, and perceptions are mental processes created by my nervous system is called Meta-Cognitive Awareness. Those who lack Meta-Cognitive Awareness are more certain of their…
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A Strange Case of Reification
This case description is loosely based on real events. The telling is modeled on Robert Louis Stevenson’s gothic novella: "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde." However, in the current presentation the sinister serum that turns the rational Dr. Jekyll into the destructive Mr. Hyde is the reification of his pathogenic beliefs. De-Reifying…
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Suggestion Can Enhance Will
From our birth to our death we are all slaves of suggestions — Emile Coue Hypnotic Suggestion is a direct and powerful method to intentionally influence your subjective reality. The method is to take reification to its logical conclusion and act as if the suggested reality was literally true. Stage Hypnosis The method of hypnotic…
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Reification & De-Reification
Umpire #1 — I call’s ’em as I sees ’em Umpire #2 — I calls ’em as they are Umpire #3 — They ain’t nothin’ until I calls ’em The brain receives a lot of sensory input. To make sense of the complex environment with which we have to cope, the nervous system summarizes and abstracts from the…
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The Phenomenal Truth
“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” — Marcus Aurelius The understanding that thoughts, feelings, and perceptions are mental processes created by your nervous system is called Meta-Cognitive Awareness. We do not see the world as is really is, only as it looks from…
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The Soul Illusion
I think my quarry is illusion. I war against magic. I believe that, though illusion often cheers and comforts, it ultimately and invariably weakens and constricts the spirit. — Irvin Yalom Some otherwise competent individuals repeatedly and knowingly act counter to their own interests. They are not intending to hurt themselves; they are taken in…
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The Study of Experience. . . From the Inside
Who looks outside, dreams Who looks inside, awakens — Carl Jung As remarkable and complex a structure as a neuron is, it does not possess consciousness. Consciousness requires a complex nervous system comprised of many neurons and sense organs. The nervous system you were born with is among the most complex structures in the universe,…
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It Looks Different Than It Feels
If you want the present to be different than the past. . . study the past – Spinosa I’ve been using the metaphor of the "puppy and puppy-trainer" for the Experiential and Abstract Processing Systems. However, to focus on the collaborative relationship between the two perspectives, I’ll switch to the "tennis-player and coach." When you…
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The Soul Illusion
I think my quarry is illusion. I war against magic. I believe that, though illusion often cheers and comforts, it ultimately and invariably weakens and constricts the spirit. — Irvin Yalom Some otherwise competent individuals repeatedly and knowingly act counter to their own interests. They are not intending to hurt themselves; they are taken in…
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Know Thyself!
Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. — Aristotle Bad things happen, and some suffering is unavoidable. But you can create additional suffering for yourself and others by the way you react to the things that happen. A popular way to create unnecessary suffering is to interpret the things that happen from a…