Moved from Psychology/Psychiatry

[sunspot]

If we look at a typical neuron, it has a cell body and two types of branching processes, the dendrites and the axons. Neurons are directional with respect to internal current flow, with the axon the output zone. The dendrites are the most common current input zone due to axon output from another neuron working in conjunction with neurotransmittors. The axon output of one neuron can also affect a cell body and as well as the axons on a neighboring neuron, but the final internal current flow, will exit the axon.

 

Although the internal current direction within neurons will flow from the dendrite, through the cell body toward the axon, the external surface current of a neuron flows opposite. In other words, the loss of surface charge on a dendrite, due to firing and the current entering the cell, will cause nearby surface charge to flow toward the dendrite to help fill in the deficit. In a general sense, the axon output circles back along the neuron surface to help out its own dendrites.

 

If we look at the brain, as a whole, the same schema is in operation. The cerebral neurons send axon processes toward the center of the brain where they are bundled in the thalamus region. They distribute further from there. This defines the direction of the internal current flow of the brain; cerebral to thalamus and then to the body. The external current flows opposite from the thalamus region toward cerebral. This helps to fill in the deficit due to neuron firing.

 

If we look at any given neuron, the more branching and sub-branching it has, the more surface area it has. The amount of surface area is indicative of the amount of surface charge that the neuron can hold on its surface, with more surface area branching meaning more surface charge. The amount of surface charge is also defined by the membrane potential. Neuro-chemcials can alter the universal and local membrane potential by making the membrane more leaky.

 

During the creation of memory, which begins in the center of the brain, neural surface current will also be flow from the thalamus to the cerebral. This current will create a potential to increase the surface charge around cerebral neurons. This will lead to two things, increased branching to make more surface area, and more synapses to help bleed off the excess charge. The coordinated result are the branches and synapses needed to define the central memory writing.

 

If the cerebral is firing up a storm, much of the surface charge is being bled off into synapses and flowing into the thalamus. The loss of surface charge will also affect the cerebral neurons causing them to lower their surface area or branching while also removing synapses. This allows the narrowing of memory.

 

When we sleep less thalamus current flows into the body and more is recycled into the cerebral leading to higher branching potential. During the day there is more cerebral firing and current going into the body. This lowers the thalamus current back into the cerebral lowering branching and synapses. Both processes, help mold the memory for an optimization of memory.

 

In other words, the subliminal memory is storing more than necessary. While the ego consciousness only needs a finite set of this memory. The narrowing down reinforces the practical memory will removing some of the clutter.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Is this supposed to be a lecture or a question?

 

 

This is a discussion forum, after all.

[Connor]

If it's a lecture, it's like all his other posts and extremely convoluted.

[sunspot]

I am teaching you guys and gals how the brain works and how it provides a natural potential for the creation of memory. The brain moves positive charge around, primarily sodium and potassium cations and can recycle this energy to create memory or do other tasks.

 

I will add another layer to the analysis; sensory systems. If we look at all the sensory systems they also behave similar to neurons, in the sense that the environmental sensor is like a dendrite. When any particular sensor is activated by light, sound, taste, smell, touch, heat, pressure, etc., the sensor will fire and will send a current into the brain. It will output from the tail end of the sensory process via something analogous to an axon. This is useful because it can fire cerebral neurons and induce the sensory equivilent of the cerebral memory.

 

If we look at animals versus humans, animal sensory systems are often better than the human equivilent, yet their apparent memory is less. The reason this is so, is that the firing of the cerebral neurons, by their sensory systems, will send current to their thalamus, and then into the body for a coordinated physical response to the stimuli. This result is less thalamus backflow into the cerebral to reinforce their cerebral memory. It does occur but not like in humans.

 

In humans, the difference is the frontal lobe, the seat of the imagination. When we see something, rather than just act on instinct, we reflect on it. This lowers the thalamus current into the body, and causes more thalamus current to backflow into the cerebral. This reinforces the memory, creates new memory and allows existing memory to extrapolate.

 

Although wide areas of the cerebral can be firing (brain waves), and the entire cerebral can be giving off thalamus current, the backflow to cerebral can be partially focused reinforcing, creating and extrapolating a narrow range of cerebral memory.

 

On the other hand, humans can also act like similar to animals where sensory stimulus leads to a body response that lacks reflection. For example, an addict will go through the motions. This results in less thalamus backflow into the cerebral. Things sort of stay the same allowing history to repeat itself like an instinct. Humans actually have a range from sensory reflex, to memory creation, to memory extrapolation. Most people use this range throughout the day.

[bascule]

The cerebral neurons send axon processes toward the center of the brain where they are bundled in the thalamus region. They distribute further from there. This defines the direction of the internal current flow of the brain; cerebral to thalamus and then to the body. The external current flows opposite from the thalamus region toward cerebral.

 

Close, but no cigar.

 

You understand quite well though: consciousness is primarily a thalamacortical reaction.

 

The real flow of data in the brain is from sensory preprocessing centers to the pimary sensory regions of the cerebral cortex, which translate preprocessed input into the object format of the thalamus, what Dennett refers to as a "phenom"

 

From there it can be processed at length by the cortex, perhaps filed away by the hippocampus into long term memory where it will wait until a time when it is needed.

 

The cortex activates postsensory regions concerned with motor control which they elicit through the cerebellum.

 

So really the data flow in the brain is more akin to:

 

nerve endings -> presensory processing -> primary sensory cortical regions -> thalamus -> neocortex (and back into the thalamus, rinse repeat) -> cortical motor regions -> cerebellum -> execution of action patterns

[sunspot]

I was trying to be simple without getting as deep as you got. It is too easy to get bogged down at one tree and never see the forest. I wanted to begin with just three distinctions thalamus, cerebral and body. I used the neuron analogy to show how the brain recycles, not only form, but also function. Once the forest is set, then it will be time to add more trees.

 

The next oversimplified layer is the ego. I use the term ego out of respect for its universal buzz. The definition I would like to add to the word ego is the center of the conscious mind. This ego center, as defined, is more of generic point of reference common to all humans, than what defines a particular person. The unconscious brain will pick up subliminal data from all the sensors, simultaneously, but the ego, as defined, tends to focus on particular things. They work together.

 

For the ego center to focus thalamus backwash onto particlar parts of the cerebral implies one of two things. First, the ego is at lower potential than the thalamus and therefore attracts the higher potential current. But this would cause the two to cancel not allowing memory to extrapolate. The second, which is more in line with observation, is that the ego is sort of like a thalamus current projection or thalamus current eddie.

 

The ego is unique to humans, because it requires a strong enough output from the thalamus to remain stable. The ego beam or satalite can be focused or made more diffuse so it covers more of the brain. When it is focused our attention is on particulars. When it is diffuse it become closer to the natural instinct of an animal. The nature of subliminal data collecting and simultaneous ego focus implies that the ego beam or satalite is not the entire thalamus backcurrent, by is actually a subset of the thalamus current (10%?). This allows both to work at the same time with the Thalamus keeping the lion's share (90%)?.

[sunspot]

I would like to add a little extra to the ego ceter. What we are or the ego in the more traditional sense, is the sum of all our memories. The firing of all these memories, i.e., background firing or brain waves, causes the current from alll these memories to the flow to the thalamus. The thalamus backwash is then focused onto the central ego projection. In essense, the ego focus contains all the aspects of our memories but now in a focused way. We become both focused and unique via our memories.

 

If the ego focus is narrowed to a particular set of memories, the focused ego energy goes back down the tubes (synampes), so to speak, for recycle back to the thalamus. Because it is focused, it saturates the local tubes or synapses and can cause an extrapolation of the local memory. This can create more synamptic tubes (branching) for the ego energy recycle. The sum of the what goes back to the thalamus is now our personal memory, the extrapolating focus of memory and any sensory input. This becomes the new thalamus backwash for the ego focus, etc..

 

Our perception of any situation is dependant on what we know and what we have learned both from education and personal experience. The continuous loops of memory energy recycle to define the real time nature of the ego adds to the growing memory and defines how the ego will react to, interpret, and/or extrapolate data. Education and culture help to narrow the results along the lines collective understanding. While personal baggage and luggage will create some level of personal uniqueness within the more general confines of the collective understanding.

[sunspot]

I added this second discussion of the ego this morning, in a rush, and the last two paragraphs are a bit esocteric. Sorry about that. The point of it all was that brain wide memory is what we are. It is the sum of education and personal experience. The background firing of this memory flows current to the thalamus. The backwash projection creates the ego center, which is also a focused aggregate of these memories. The result is a generic center surrounded by our unique ego selves. The latter affects how we perceieve and the deal with the focus of attention.

 

I would like to add another layer. This layer is connected to the emotional and instinctive potentials or tones. By these potentials I mean the chemical changes in the blood and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF), that compose these various potentials. I will not discuss the details, only how the sum of the chemicals affects consciousness. The tone is actually what we feel or sense that allows us to know which instinct is active.

 

For example, if we begin to get hungry, there is often a change in the blood, such a change in the blood sugar level or whatever. The stomach may begin to growl. There are also changes within the brain that can alter both the blood and the CSF. The hunger may cause one to get grouchy. These cues for hunger are the hunger tone and hunger potential is all the associated chemical changes within the blood and CSF

 

When the generic hunger potential is activated, the ego begins to focus on memories, images, procedures connected to satifying the hunger potential. The same would be true of sexual desire. When this desire tone plays and alters the blood and/or CPF, the ego's field of focus begins to tunnel toward desire associations and procedures to lower the potential or eliminate the chemical changes. It is not to say, one can not overide the impulses. But by doing so, one actually alters the blood and the CSF potentials creating a different blood/CSF potential memory spectrum for the ego, that is more in line with where the ego wishes to focus memory.

 

This connection between blood/CSF potential and memory focus is due to the way memory is created. The limbic system within the center of the brain, near the thalamus, assigns potential values to memory based on natural and ego associations. If a particular potential plays, these memories become the ones that are most likely to be conscious. This allows many layers of memories to exist simultaneously throughout the brain. For any given potential a certain memory layer becomes conscious. I will show how this layering works shortly.

 

The chemical changes within the blood and CSF are not memory specific, per se, but are very generic changes, that actually affect a wide range of the neurons. This would seem to imply that layers would be impossible to support, since the generic changes will affect all the neurons. But there is a natural way around it. The ego has a certain conscious set point for memory speed, i.e., the neuron firing rate, that it is conscious of. What essentially happens is that each potential will speed up or slow down the firing rate of all the cerebral neurons. This shifts firing rate distribution allowing a memory layer to enter the ego set point range. These become what is conscious and is attuned to the potential.

 

For example, a good technique for anger management is to count to ten. The anger potential will increase the firing rate substantially, i.e., beta waves, of the whole brain. It puts one in a loop, maing it hard to reason or think clearly. Anger memories normally are very slow, below the ego set point. But the anger tone will speed these memores up to the ego set point making then the center of attension. If will also speed up calm potential rational memories to where these fire much faster than the ego set point, making them unconscious. Counting to ten attempts to change the brain potential to something calmer so all the neurons can fire slower. This sends the angry memories below the ego set point, causing a new range of rational neurons to become conscious. Rational neurons fire faster that irrational memeories because these are more complicated memory organizations. That is why Mr Spock was as cool as a cucumber.

 

Along with the active brain potential is the associated ability to create memory. If a student takes a course they like, learning is fun and easy. If they hate the course, it takes much more effort to do the same thing. What is happening, at the lower brain potential of the happy tone, the neurons are firing slower. This means that the ego's eddie current is not going down the synaptic tubes of faster firing neurons, allowing more extrapolation. When the hate tone plays, all the neurons are firing faster, such that the potential around neurons lowers as ions are removed faster. The result is that ego's potential goes down the tubes faster allowing less extrapolation.

 

Because the ego can only focus on one thing at a time, many neurons are not receiving potential from the ego. Faster average firing rates can begin to lower the potential of these unattended memories. The result can be the loss of branching and synapses. That is why periods of severe stress can begin to one downgrade memory. A calm o rhappy mind, causes the brain to fire slowly. This helps one retain a wider range of memory longer.

[qed]

Although the internal current direction within neurons will flow from the dendrite, through the cell body toward the axon, the external surface current of a neuron flows opposite. In other words, the loss of surface charge on a dendrite, due to firing and the current entering the cell, will cause nearby surface charge to flow toward the dendrite to help fill in the deficit. In a general sense, the axon output circles back along the neuron surface to help out its own dendrites.

 

This is wrong.

 

I am teaching you guys and gals how the brain works and how it provides a natural potential for the creation of memory. The brain moves positive charge around, primarily sodium and potassium cations and can recycle this energy to create memory or do other tasks.

 

This is wrong too. Before you start teaching other people how the brain works, you should learn the molecular basis of neuronal functions first.

 

There is no current flow along the axon or the dendrites. There is only a current flow across the membrane. The surface charge alters at a given position for a very short time period when an action potential is passing by.

[sunspot]

If you look at a synapse, without neurotransmittors, the extra sodium coming out of the axon would increase the local membrane potential of the dendrite side of the synapse. This would cause some sodium ions to leak into the dendrite. Sodium ion do this anyway, but the higher concentration will increase the rate of leakage. This leakage is balanced by what the axon is providing so there is not any large change in the local synaptic surface charge of sodium ions.

 

If we add the neurotransmittor to the picture, the local membrane on the dendrite side of the synapse will become more leaky. This will cause much more sodium to leak into the dendrite. The local membrane potential will totally reverse (outside becomes negative), indicating very little sodium will remain on the outer dendrite synaptic surface.

 

The leakiness of the membrane is not stopped until the neurotransmittor is tied up or removed from the membrane. During that time, there is a concentration gradient of sodium ions on the surface of the neuron with respect to the dendrite synapse. This will pull surface sodium ions toward the synapse to remove the chemical potential. This transmits the chemical potential down toward the neurons own axon. This cationic movement plays an important role for resetting the dendrite side of the synapse. The dendrite ion pumps are working, but would need more time to reset the synaptic dendrite membrane potential without the external propagation of potential.

[sunspot]

I would like to discuss memory speed with an example. The memory is stored as increasingly complex arrangements. The firing rate of the neurons will determine how much detail becomes unconscious.

 

For example, lets start with the letter "d". Most people will either visualize the letter in their mind's eye (visual imagination) or maybe sound it out "dah" in the mind's ear (audio imagination). Next, look at the work "dog". The same thing will occur. It will become a visual word, an audio sound, and/or even a picture within the mind's eye of a dog. This is a more complex memory organization, such that the sounding out of the letters, typically no longer occurs, yet it is contained within the word and is done unconsciously.

 

Let use get even more complicated;" The dog ran down the trail after the rabbit.". Some may memorize the sentence. Others will express the ideas within the sentence with visual imagery. With this higher level of memory complexity, the letter sounds of the words become even more distant. In other words, as memory associations become more and more complex, things become more lumped into packets and the minute details of the memory become less conscious. This is an artifact of ego focus.

 

If we were to change the time scale from 1-2 seconds to learn the sentence to 1-2 minutes. The same complex memory would become more expanded. One would have time to notice the entire thought, then also have time to give imagery or sound to each word and maybe break each word down to its letters and then sound these out.

 

The set point of the ego sort of gives it an attention span limit, so to speak. The slower the memory, the more details that can be recognized. As the memory speeds up, less and less detail becomes conscious and things become lumped into bigger pieces that allow one to get the gist in minimum time associated with the ego set point.

 

The thought dimesionality theory, which was presented as another forum topic, is an easy and compact way to correlate various types of memory organization using dimesional analogies, with 1-D thoughts being the least dense and 3-D thoughts being the most dense forms of memory. As the brain potential increases, ego consciousness becomes conscious of lower and lower thought dimensions.

 

For example, if one was to play a recorded lecture faster and faster, one may at first understand everything. Eventually, words would begin to overlap making it harder to follow the logic. Next the sentence structure would appear to blend such that only certain words would be obvious. Next there would be blur of sounds where only certain letter sounds would correlate to the squeaky blur of sounds. If we slow it down, the process will reverse until the subtle logic becomes clear.

 

For the most part the ego set point is fixed and fairly uniform among humans. The brain potential alters the firing distribution of memory, thereby defining the dimension of memory that becomes conscious at the ego set point. There is an exception to the fixed ego set point. During life threatening situations, it is not uncommon for time will appear to slow down. The thalamus can, at times, increase the ego set point, so that the ego becomes conscious at higher memory speeds than normal. This allows the ego to help with the survival process. After it is over, the ego set point is restored, to the proper energy balance between the ego and thalamus.

[sunspot]

I would like to add another layer to the model. If we compare animals and humans, a human is able to maintain the ego focus of consciousness. There is always a thalamus current feeding the ego. The ego focus becomes much more diffuse during sleep, but it always remains intact.

 

Although animals do not have a permanent ego focus of thalamus current, but they are nevertheless able to focus their consciousness, during instinctive potentials. For example, a dog looking for a bone is very directed and can even become ingenious. These animal centers of focus are very similar to the ego, but differ by their be only temporary. They are more an projection extension of the thalamus than a separate center of consciousness that can act independantly.

 

These animal centers of conscious are connected to personality software that is part of the animal’s species. They are essentially thalamus beams or satellites, sort of like an ego, but they are not technically an ego because they are not a permanent secondary reference. The evolutionary continuity between animals and humans suggests that one of these instinctive temporary thalamus beams stuck and became the human ego.

 

In modern times, the human personality is essentially the ego and the thalamus. The thalamus still produces the instinctive personality software or the archetypes as Carl Jung called them. But these are usually very diffusely focused, in most modern humans, and essentially blend into the thalamus and appear as an unconscious part of the ego. Freud called this the ID and Jung call this the shadow. Their diffuse nature was not always the case. If one goes back to the first appearance of the ego, all the old instinctive personality software would still be playing.

 

Most people mistakenly think humans back at the beginning of culture were a lot like us, only wearing different clothes. It was more than likely a very psychotic time. The early humans had a weak ego beam in a world of pre-human archetypes which often used a very high percentage of the thalamus current, i.e., animal impulses. These archetypes were what were projected into their gods of mythology

 

As a graphic example, the pre-human hunter’s rage archetype was needed so he could fight a large preditor animal. As the weak ego progressed, this natural archetype begins to become confused with cultural programming due to ego focus. The weak ego may want something his friend has, and breaks out into a primal rage that hurts or even kills his friend. He was not legally sane when he became primal ferocious. Mythology taught the early humans how to regulate the personality software, and how to be more conscious when one of these gods was playing, taking over their behavior. This learning helped make the archetypes more civilized while increasing the energy share of the ego.

 

In the modern brain, the more diffuse modern archetypes are more right hemisphere in origin due to their instinctive spatial nature. While the modern ego is more left hemisphere. With the earliest ego stemming from one of these archetypes becoming permanently on, the ego probably first appeared in the right side of the brain. This is consistent with the spatial quality of the ego. This inference also explains the creative but compulsive nature of the ancient times, i.e., irrational.

 

If one looks at the Glory of Rome and then western civilization's gradual de-evolution into the Dark Ages, this was a transition time when the ego gradually shifted is primary position from the right to the left hemisphere. The ego had to grow up all over again and increases the set point in an unprecidented side of the brain. Religion helped by decommissioning the ancient archetypes helping the ego learn more will power and self control. The Age of Enlightenment was important because it began to program the cutural memory grid with rational thought helping to increase the ego set points while also lowering the Middle Ages brain potential.

 

Like the rest of the body, the archetypes are a conservative lot based on genetic changes that took millions of years. In modern culture, although diffuse they are nevertheless reprogrammed causing some modification from the genetic natural. These are the source of the most powerful motivations and drives behind humans, not just the pathological but also the culturally progressive. In thought dimesionality theory they are located higher than 3-D.

 

The next layer will address the most conscious manifestation of the modern archetypes. This is traditionally called the alter ego or the shadow. It is an inner motivational satellite that can goes opposite to the focus or will of the ego. It has a different focus and therefore is distinct than ego consciousness. It is not an ego, per se, but an archetype based projection stemming from the thalamus.

[lrokwild]

Before I spend a hour to read your lesson I have some questions.

 

What are your credentials?

 

Did you study psychology and/or biology in school?

 

Is this stuff just information you learned yourself?

 

Is this information from books?

 

Is this information from your imagination?

[sunspot]

Actually I'm a Chemical Engineer. The chemistry comes easy and lead to my hydrogen bonding model of the cell and brain. My interest in psychology began in college and then grad school. It actually started with going to therapy. Once in the real world, I continue to learn on my own becausw it something that came natural.

 

The way I looked at psychology, at that transition time, was that modern psychology appeared to be suffering from a multiple personality disorder, because there was no consensus of understanding, just a lot of schools of thought and multitudes of self help guru's. I looked for what everyone had in common instead of what made them distinct. The result of all this is a more integrated model that can absorb the polytheism and hopefully cure psychology's multiple personality disorder.

 

Modern pschology is new. There are also historical methods that did the same thing for millenia. These are connect to religion, philosophy, eastern and western. These provided data also for the integration. I wanted it to be consistent across the board. The next topic will be the shadow of the ego.

[lrokwild]

good enough for me

[sunspot]

The ego is a center of consciousness, while the shadow of the ego, sometimes called the alter ego, is usually conscious in people who have some interest or knowledge of psychology. The shadow is not an ego center, but is more of a thalamus satellite that is diffuse and comes and goes.

 

The evolution of this satellite is described in Bible 101: Adam and Eve and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Few scientists like mixing science with religion. This often causes the shadow to become animated. However, if this lesson is taken symbolically, instead of literally, it is a valid topic of psychology. Symbols are dense memory organizations, near 3-D, and are how the thalamus communicates.

 

Knowledge of good and evil, often associated with moral law, is a unique form of data. It is analogous to two sided or double density data. In other words, to know a law of good and evil one needs to know both sides of the law, the good aspect as well as the bad aspect. Although in math a plus and a minus will equal zero, in the brain these do not cancel but are stored as two different data sets. The tree of knowledge of good and evil has sort of split trunk storing these memories as two separate data organizations.

 

The good side of moral law, associated with reward or no punishment, is usually stored at a lower brain potential. While the bad side of moral law, associated with punishment or fear is stored at a much higher brain potential. This often makes it difficult for both sides of moral law to be conscious at the same time. One data organization becomes unconscious when the other is conscious. This split is why religious history is often full of people using evil methods to do what they think is something good. The serpent in the tree symbolizes the thalamus satellite, associated with knowledge of good and evil. The serpent is a line that can curve upon itself and was associated with 1-D to 1.5-D thoughts. Helping to develop early nouns and verbs.

 

When the ego first appeared, its center of focus began to disrupt the instinctive archetypes leading to changing in the natural behavior. The result was the early humans staying in a constant state of stress. This was not only due to their indecision but also due the unpredictable activities of others. This played into the hand of the dark data organization associated with behavior since this organization is much more conscious at the higher brain potential. This was actually progressive, at the time, because violation helped program the good side of early law.

 

Let me give an example, if the early ego saw a pile of food and began to eat like there was no tomorrow to satisfy his unnaturally amplified hunger potential, eventually they would get full and maybe overstuffed. At that point of being full and satisfied, the hunger potential is used up. In that moment of rest, they may think to themselves, this was good. Then I should have stop eating earlier, because now I starting to feel sick. The lower brain potential temporarily allowed access to the good side of law, i.e., against overeating too fast. The realization of the cause and affect of their behavior, allowed them to program the good side of the law.

 

Like in modern times, some people learn from their mistakes, after a trial or two, and others don't seem to learn. Those who learn from their mistakes might then share their insight and create a group law of what should be considered moderate eating to protect them from the bad overeating sickness. Others who never thought about such overeating are now given knowledge of both the good and bad. Next day, the daily stress actives the dark data organization leading to creative extrapolation around this new bad idea, which they had never considered before. The net result was that violation led to common sense, while laws of common sense increased the extent of violation, leading to more common sense, etc.

 

Bible symbolism shows this process reaching a climax at the time of the great flood. Rain comes from the sky and fertilizes the earth. This sort of symbolizes a creative extrapolation. The rain and flooding shows ideas from above (more complex memory organization) overwhelming the mind (flood). When the flooding was over, ego perception had changed due to the ego set point increasing. For the same potentials of good and evil, the old memories essentially became out of phase. This stuck the ego in a temporary no-man’s land of memory. When the flood was over, a rainbow was given as a sign. This symbolizes the limbic potentials. The serpent eddy essentially split into the many gods of mythology.

 

In current times, laws of good and evil, both moral and social still programs two data organizations due to their dual sided nature. Some social laws, such as the speed limit, have little to do with morality yet these become stored within the same data organization as moral laws. Life, career, marriage, children, pursuit of happiness, etc., all create the normal stresses of life. They tend to place the ego of most people in the middle between these two data organizations. This position is the basis of moral or social conscience. The ego can fluctuate the brain potentials to the weigh its options between these data sets or it can live more spontaneously allowing the shadow more free reign. The greater the separation between these two data sets, the harder it becomes to weigh the options leading to the shadow or alter ego.

 

The way the polarization is overcome is with logic. Knowledge of good and evil is foundation of logic. They differ in that logic is stored in one location instead of two. Let me just end with a quick example of a social and personal shadow created by a social law; cigarette prohibition. This defines a social law of good and evil, which has no precedent even in morality. It is a one size fits all mentality that is not appropriate for everyone nor does it take into account moderation. To make it work, society cranks up the pressure for conformity to the prohibition both legally and with social pressure. The higher brain potential plays into the hands of the dark side leading to both continued violation and resistance. The “good” side of the law uses the powers of darkness to enforce the law. This is making people excessively neurotic with respect to second hand smoke. In their shadowy panic they are having fun venting and persecuting others. To take a logical position so one can avoid the inner polarity is resisted by the “good”, in an attempt to crake up the potential so one is forced to participate in the social shadow. The logic would show their behavior is darker than what they are fighting against since it targets others instead of themselves.

[ashennell]

To have your own theories about how things work is admirable, even if they unlikely to be accepted by most scientists. Any opinion is better than no opinion.

 

But to use your own ideas as the basis for teaching other poeple how the brain works is wrong. Plain and simple.

 

Your theory seems to stem from some misunderstandings of the basic properties of neurons and is extended and extrapolated using your own 'common sense' reasoning and the word 'ego'.

[sunspot]

What I have attempted to do was build a spatial model for the mind and brain, the unity of which defines consciousness. This is not something that came to me one day but is based on many years of learning and many years of induced states, so I could watch and learn how things work, first hand. It also took years to filter out my own subjectivity. The way this was done was to build the model anew once or twice a year. This allowed the model to change with time instead of being extrapolated from the bias of subjective tradition.

 

I apologize for saying that modern psychology is suffering from a multiple personality disorder. I was answering a question and being honest about how I got involved in psychology. But after some reflection, I realized the next lesson was about the shadow. I realized that maybe I unconsciously said this to bring the shadow of science to the surface. I may have unintentionally cranked up the brain potential. Hopefully, the shadow became conscious. There is nothing like first hand experience.

 

As a way of analogy, to show the nature of this model, picture if I placed a 3-D sculpture in the middle of the table. I place chairs around the table and tell everyone to sketch what they see. This is sort of the state of affairs in psychology. From each angle, each person sketches what he or she sees. In the thought dimensional model, rational thought is modeled as 2-D thought, because it is based on cause and affect. The drawings of each orientation are a 3-D image on a rational plane. It looks 3-D, but is really an image of 3-D because it is drawn in 2-D rational space. These spatial images are examples of 2.5-D thought. Each drawing contains truth, but due to the 3-D nature of the sculpture of consciousness, none contain the whole truth. That is why all these orientations are currently needed. Together they give depth to our understand of the mind.

 

What I tried to do was walk around the table and look at each spatial image and try to see if it was possible to bring all the sketches together to make a 3-D panoramic. I did this conceptually, which amounts to beginning with simplicity, or the gist of each orientation and then try to arrange these simple pictures until a 3-D object emerged. The first 3-D models looked distorted because I was trying, out of respect, to maintain as much of the established images as possible. But there are areas of conflict between orientations. Eventually I had to go out on my own to see if could create interfaces between conflicting orientations. These bridges led to new and evolving understanding, etc., until a 3-D model resulted, which was thought dimensionality theory.

 

The next layer of the research was unprecedented and pioneering. The idea was to explore my own unconscious mind so I could get some direct data. The first thing that became conscious was the shadow. If one goes deeper there is a variety of archetypes or personality software that becomes conscious. In retrospect, this was regressive and not progressive. I was going from a modern integrated man backwards to a more dissociated state of consciousness. Eventually the unconscious mind got the upper hand and all I could do was try to survive and try to observe. One by one, the orientations of psychology became of little help under the circumstances. Jungian psychology was useful the longest. After that I had to rely on faith and religion. This is not what I am supposed to say, but this system of psychology has historically been used to help one deal with such dissociated phenomena, without drugs or external assistance.

 

The unconscious dissociation was not a natural state, it was sort of forced, such that the thalamus gradually restored things back to normal. I remember looking for a chance to relay the data while it was fresh and real time. But I was misdiagnosed and drugs were the preferred solution. This would have ruined the experiment because I needed to let things run the course. So I had to go it alone. When it was over, I was back to an integrated state of mind but I was very different. My brain potentials had became very low, maybe as a safety net to prevent possible reversal.

 

If one loses the scent of the herd, the herd no longer wants one back. I was forced by necessity to maintain this closed experiment for many more years. My mind had become very intuitive and I used this state of mind to explore the conceptual inconsistencies behind the dogmas of science. The new and the old observations, the many unusual experiences, combined with 20/20 hindsight, makes me uniquely qualified when it comes to the inner workings of the unconscious mind. The model began with science. It was tested with experience. It is based on direct data. Finally, it is rationally integrated. Along the way, I found a way to model single and multicellular life in terms of the most important variable of the living state, i.e., hydrogen bonding. This will help interface the cell to body to the brain and brain to the body to the cell. Existing biochemistry is too cumbersome at this time, but can be made easier with the hydrogen-bonding model.

 

The way I look at it, this model is a common language for all the various orientations. It allows all to meet in a common center. But the model is limited because it does not yet contain all the details that the specialty orientations have accumulated over the years. This is an opportunity for all of us to help change psychology from being rational polytheism into it being rational monotheism.

[sunspot]

Ashennell perhaps you would fill me in on what I missed concerning the neuron. My definition is not exhaustive but is the gist of its function. The basics are that the receiving synaptic membrane potential will reverse causing the outside to be the negative after it fires. This surface negative charge potential alone is sufficient itself to draw sodium cations along the surface of the neuron toward the fired synapse. I used the concentration gradient instead for the potential. It amounts to the same thing since the outside membrane potential is a direct function of the sodium cation ion concentration. The sodium pumps are also pumping but would take more time without the migration of surface charge.

 

The real explanation is actually connected to the movement of hydrogen protons within the neuron's surface water. Aqueous protons can move 100 times faster than any ion or molecule in water. The hydrogen protons also move quickly inward toward the DNA and prime particular hydrogen bonds for transcription. The bio-chemicals migrate to finish the task.

[trvlrpsmyrph]

Detoxify the cranium by thinking with your digestive system, when the trash is finally able to exit then the brain can finally recall all data stored. Study human anatomy and you will discover there is only one way the human machine (yes, we are carbon based machines) can completely detoxify itself. WARNING !!!!! BEFORE YOU CHANGE THE POSTURE OF THIS SIMPLE, EVERYDAY MORNING BEHAVIOR, YOU MUST CONSULT A QUALIFIED, REPEAT, QUALIFIED MEDICAL PHYSICIAN TO MONITER YOUR SYSTEMS ON A DAILY BASIS!!!!!! SOME PEOPLE WILL NEED TO BE MONITERED THROUGHOUT THE DAY, DIABETICS, HEART DISEASE PATIENTS, CANCER AND AIDS VICTIMS!!!!!!!!!!

 

DO NOT TRY ANYTHING WITHOUT FIRST CONSULTING YOUR DOCTOR!!!!!

[sunspot]

We are what we eat has some basis in fact. If one looked at food objects as dream symbols, it would tell something about an unconscious parallel that is occurring motivating choices, The primatives often associated food with spirits. To eat the flesh of lion gave one the courage of a lion, etc. The morning purge begins a clean slate, since nothing is carved into stone. We are malable. The healthiest eating strategy is variety and moderation. This eating strategy gives us an open mind and allows the possibiliity of becoming complete, i.e., complete and balanced nutrition.

 

I would like to return to the shadow. The layer of the shadow connected to moral law and social law of good and evil is the easiest to see, especially in others. It is very obvious in religious fanatics who do bad things in the name of good. The anti abortionists killing doctors to save life is a good example of shadow behavior in the name of good, It is also obvious in criminals who live by the high brain potential darkside data organization which cultural law helps define. For example, laws helped set up the the turf for the black market. Create another taboo and the black market is able to expand.

 

There is another layer of the shadow which occurs at lower brain potentials and is not associated with criminal behavior. This aspect is connected to the denial of truth or common sense. The inner polarization that is created is between partial and complete truth. The easiest example to see is connected to political parties. The American political system is run by the Republicans and Democrats. The fact of the matter is both sides are expressing truth, but neither side expresses the whole truth. The ideal would be a political system that inspires the freedom and entrepreneurial spirit that leads to prosperity, taught by the Republican philosophy, and the nurturing socialism that is taught by the Democratic philosophy.

 

Because the ideal is still in the works, both platforms will draw 2.5-D or spatial images on their rational planes using their narrow data sets These two spatial images create the impression that each is the best and only solution for culture. The shadowing of these images, to make them appear more 3-D is connected to the denial of truth within the opponents point of view. In this case, there is not a good and evil polarization, although both market it that way. The actual polarization is between the complete and the partial truth.

 

The denial of truth amounts to a needed repression of the opponent's good points. To admit these good points would take away some of the shadowing the spatial image needs to make it look spatial. Often fanaticism is needed to compensate for the inner doubt leading to the repression and denial of the truth within the opponents point of view. The marketing then can become more convincing.

 

Although politics is easy to see, this lower brain potential layer of the shadow appears in all walks of life, including science. It occurs when only a narrow range of understanding is used to support a position. Chemistry is one area of science which is unified as its most fundamental level. There are not two or more schools of thought about chemistry, beyond a finger hold by physics. Physics is a horse of a different color. There are too many orientations used to explain matter and cosmology. The shadow is strong here and is decoyed with mathematics. Math is also causual or 2-D can be used to draw 2.5-D spatial images.

 

If we go the other way beyond chemistry, cell biology is fairly unified because of careful observation and the unity of chemistry. Multicellular biology begins to dissociate into more camps due to fuzzy statistical data. This fuzzy data can be overcome if one takes into account what statistics is actually trying to factor out, i.e., integrated hydrogen bonding. The final bookend of science, psychology is far from being unified. But not too far, if we can deal with its shadow.

 

The next thing I will attempt to discuss are deeper layers below the shadow, associated with the personality software behind human nature. These three layers of thalamus satallites are the conservative and genetic based foundation that defines human nature apart from the ego.

[sunspot]

There are three basic levels of thalamus eddys or personality software within humans. I will refer to them as archetypes in respect for the work of Jung, who helped inspire my interest in collective psychology. I was not so much concerned with abnormal psychology, but with which it considered normal psychology, i.e., socially acceptable but not 100%.

 

The lowest level archetypes are connected to the highest brain potentials and are associated with our animal instincts. These are slightly different in males and females. The male's lowest level archetypes tend to use higher brain potentials. In child development boys are usually more active, while girls tend to learn quicker, on the average. This is an artifact of the higher male instinctive brain potential. The lower instinctive brain potential of the girls allows her access to more complex neural branching for quicker learning of the rules of the game. The higher brain potential of the male, sends more thalamus current into the body to meets the needs of evolving muscle mass. In terms of thought dimension, the cerebral output goes from 1-D to 1.5-D.

 

The second level of archetypes is cross gender in nature. In other words, males and females are both composed of male and female genes. The cross gender genes are not suppressed but impart female characteristics to males and masculine characteristics to females, via the middle level archetypes. In an intimate relationship, especially one that has gone on for some time, the female is often considered the "boss". The male learns the power of the words "yes dear", as a way to a less stressful relationship. The masculine side of the female leads the female side of the male within intimate relationship.

 

Sexuality is a little different in that the brain potential increases so that the lower level archetypes become induced. This is where the male is male and female is female, usually resulting in the male leading the process. Some females will attempt to retain they masculine middle level archetypes, so she can be the male. This is where the battle of sexes begins. If the female retains her middle level masculine side, the male will be induced into his female side and may become irrational and moody. This can often spark a hybrid of the lower and middle level archetype. Its expression is connected to the range of behavior from romance, to illusions, to lying, to forcefulness, depending on how high the brain potential goes. This middle level archetypes typically go from 1.5-D to 2.5-D, within the range of material and rational prestige.

 

The Roman goddess rationalis was female since it was intuitively understood that reason stems from the female side of men. Rationalis or reason produces brain children for culture, which the masculine side's of women take care o,f like they were their own childern (women maintain most of the traditions for the family). The saying behind every great man is a women is due to the masculine side of female's creating nagging need or necessity within men. The female (her masculine side) impregnates the female side of a man to produce brain children.

 

The highest level archetypes return to gender normal. This level of archetypes is associated with the wisdom of experience and includes the extrapolations associated with ingenuity. For the male this often associated with at least some mastery over the physical environment. For the female it is associated with wisdom connected to human relationship. As an example, the lion's share of innovation in culture is created by the male's highest level archetypes. Women are usually the glue of the family. Women often extend this wisdom (glue) to the neighbor's children and even to the social family through charity work. This level of the archetypes is associated with thought dimension higher than 2.5-D.

 

To give an example of the highest level archetypes helping the ego, if one was a carpenter doing a rehab job, nothing is clear cut. Any type of rational procedure will meet with snags. One has to think on their feet to meets the needs of unforseen problems. It is blend of the wisdom that comes with experience mixed with ingenuity. The same is true of the highest level archetypes of women. Her children are growing and culture is changing. She often needs to adapt herself to maximize the ultility of her circumstance with chidren that have different needs and personalities.

 

Often mothering is not given the credit it deserves. To help put it the proper perspective, picuture if one was a computer programmer, with an intelligent computer that can think for itself. You want it to run a program but it has its own agenda that day. Picture if the intelligent computer was battery powered and had mobility allowing it to leave the computer room when it wants so it can explore and learn. Next, put a bunch of these in a room under your care. One would have their hands full. A mother's love for her family sets the brain potential for her highest level archetypes. A father's love is connected to his female side. He can self impregnate his lovibg middle level archetypes using his highest masculine archetypes to produce, say a legacy for his childern.

 

The historical basis for the three levels of archetypes is the historical traditional family unit that has been around for thousands of year. This is symbilized by children, parents and grandparents. The symbolic child is the basis for the lower level archetypes. The symbolic parents are the basis for the middle level archetypes. And the symbolic grandparents are the basis for the highest level archetypes.

 

These archetypes were/are sort of a building process. The child will have the influence of the parents and grandparents. These prime the next two higher levels of archetypes, The child then becomes a parent. The parent is primarily focused ar the moderate brain potentials of the middle level archetypes, centered on culture. Their children allow them to be a child again by pushing their higher potential buttons. Their own parents teach them their calm wisdom of age to prime their next higher level. When one is a grandparent, the two younger generations allow one to freshen the lower two levels of archetypes. After many many generations these three levels have been defined within the brain.

 

People are more than the nuclear family, they are also social. Social influences teach and program the various levels of archetypes. This orderring is also the basis for social organization. We have the newbe's who are just beginning to get their feet wet, the middle managers who control the newbe's, and the grandparents, who through their wisdom and experience stir the organization. This basic schema is holographic within culture, from within the independant individual, all the way to the entire cultural organization.

[sunspot]

The three levels of archetypes are a genetic part of each human. They appear at birth and have evolved over time from the natural interaction of the nuclear family composed of children, parents and grandparents. If one were living within a loving and respectful nuclear family the natural hierarchy of the archetypes would be more obvious. In fact, the core family unit still provides programming within the natural archetypes. Culture changes the dynamics within the three levels of archetypes for the better and for the worse. On the positive side, culture brings with it a wider range of experience and variety, allowing all three levels to progress. Culture also brings with it a shadow side, which causes all three levels to regress. This can split the three into six.

 

If one lived in the little house on the prairie, with only one's core family, there would be differences due to the ego, but the needs of life and survival would make everyone work as a team and everyone would be grateful for the wisdom of experience and happy with the simple things of life, i.e., like a good crop. The result would the gradual progression of the natural archetypes over many generations.

 

As a second scenario, after many generations of isolation, other groups of nuclear families move nearby. These new family groups will not be carbon copies of each other. Rather each will have developed certain skills and a somewhat unique family culture due to the affect of the ego and environmental experience. One family may be better at growing food than all the rest. Another may be better at construction, etc. If they work together they can bring all these specialty skills together, thereby improving the performance of all the family units. The children would play together and learn new games. The parents would share stories and efforts to make each other's lives easier. The old timers would gather and share their experiences to help guide the families. This is the ideal world and would allow all the archetypes to evolve for the entire extended family group, at a much faster rate than with only one family unit.

 

The real world is not one big happy family, but rather individual differences, needs and limited resources keep us farther apart. In this third scenario, the families units are also settled nearby but do not share their experiences so freely. One may notice their neighbor's house is much better built. That neighbor may notice your crops look much healthier and more productive. The women are typically perfectionists and attempt to perfect the family world, i.e., her house and family. Because the women see some of their neighbor's stuff looking better, they may begin to feel less than perfect. This imperfection stress can spill over to the husband increasing his stress level with nagging to push him to do better. Alternately, the women may love their men and appreciate their good points instead of dwelling on their shortcomings. But the men may wish better for his family, increasing the stress level of the family with irrational moodiness. He may become more competitive with all the neighbors. He may secretly watch the neighbor to learn his secrets, with the neighbor trying to hide his advantage. He may decide to sabotage his neighbor to lower the bar. He may even begin mudslinging to lower the subjective value of his neighbor’s strengths, so he and/or wife feel less insecure.

 

To help stop the community strife, because it is regressing all the families due the higher brain potentials resulting from the stress, they may decide to trade and barter their skills. They may also set up community laws for peaceful interaction. But this too is not perfect, because it is very difficult to balance worth, such that no one is totally happy with any deal. Also laws of good and evil will feed more data to the shadow side. To help the cause, maybe the illusions of showmanship and diplomacy evolve to help create the illusion of more balanced scales so there is less perceived strife. Religious or civil authority will also appear to help settle disputes. In this third scenario, rather than the core set of natural archetypes evolving via the cooperation of the extended cultural family, they split into two parallel sets, with one set below the natural due to the shadow, and the other set above the natural due to the positive affects of the social interaction. The net result will be the slower progression of the higher archetypes set, with the shadow set inhibiting progress since it will prevent the families from integrating and will even cause internal strife within the families.

 

The next installment will describe modern cultural where the shadow side of a higher-level archetypes begins to overlap the progressive side of lower level archetypes. Things become gray or neutral and relative. Things are no longer so black and white because the lower progressive and higher regressive sets overlap.

[sunspot]

The two parallel sets of archetypes, above and below the natural, can make their progressive/regressive affects less clear-cut, if the shadow side of a higher-level archetype begins to overlap the progressive side of a lower level archetype. For example, a progressive social influence on the lowest level archetypes can move these to a higher thought dimension than would be purely natural. This is common in modern times, where our instinctive needs are much better expressed though the variety within culture. The shadow aspect of the middle level archetypes can move these archetypes down to a lower level than is natural. For example, cultural priorities, such as marketing, can cause one’s middle level archetypes to move from the full balanced spectrum of reason/common sense, working in conjunction with the collective subjectivity of social prestige, into just the subjectivity of social prestige. For example, even though a pet rock is totally illogical, cultural prestige can make this important to culture. One is required to put aside their common sense and get with the program or suffer the social consequences of not having one.

 

A possible result can be an overlap of the progressing lower level archetypes and the regressing middle level shadow archetype to create a hybrid archetype. This archetype will create the feeling of instinctive progression via a social prestige affect while being rationally regressive. For example, the practical computer needs of most people, i.e., e-mail, Internet, music, software, can be adequately served with technology from several years ago. There is an irrational desire, in many, to always have the best, even though they rarely utilize the full capacity of the latest and greatest computer. They feel, what appears to be a progressive instinctive desire for the new and improved based on a cultural prestige affect. From a common sense level it makes very little logical sense for most people.

 

A similar hybrid archetype can occur via progressive middle level archetypes and the shadow of the highest-level archetypes. The highest-level archetypes extrapolate reason via intuition to create new rational relationships. The shadow of the highest-level archetypes extrapolates a very limited rational data set to create new rational relationships often leading to a spatial image. The two hybrid archetypes work together and essentially convert the three levels into two hybrid archetypes. The need for new and improved computer equipment not only stems from the feeling of progressive desire via an irrational prestige affect, but also from the higher-level hybrid, which will helps one rationally justify the irrational impulse with a spatial image of the importance of all this new capability. In other words, the new capability is indeed important for culture, this is very true. But in practical reality that capacity may never be utilized, which is the other half of the full truth, which the spatial image will ignor due to the shadow.

 

These two hybrid archetypes are the current state of modern western culture. Nothing is considered clear-cut because of the wide variety of spatial images due to the shadow of the highest-level archetypes. If one wants to pursue any irrational desire impulse, culture can provide a spatial image to help one justify it. This situation is actually a blessing in disguise. Consciousness of the shadow of the highest-level archetypes is a precursor to consciousness of the progressive side of the highest-level archetypes.

[Glider]

Sunspot, what are you doing? This is a discussion and debate forum and you are not providing a subject for discussion or debate, you are presenting a lecture.

 

Apart from the fact that much of what you present is conjecture, it is generally bad form to enter multiple posts.