Personal Ideal form of an Integrated Individualized Psyche from Which Further Exploration Would Most Optimally Stem From

On October 18, 2018June 6, 2020 By Chris ShuttleworthLeave a comment

In attempting to describe an integrated psyche, the information given in a description are necessarily subjectively determined, and limited by the use of language. As this ideal form is a construct of language, I believe the description and its characteristics, as seen by me, modified by my experience and biases, will still provide a useful benefit to anyone who strives to integrate their psyche into a coherent, optimal stage. While the psyche progresses in degrees, and no psyche is the same as another, I will give general abstractions of content that I believe to constitute this base foundational psyche. This is both an aim of something to strive to, as well as, if one “believes” to already be in the position, it can serve merely as a description of the place from which further growth stems from. In any form or interpretation of an integrated psyche, the distance it lies from our potentiality always varies, and we should merely seek to be founded upon firm ground, for which to further progress towards new heights, and a more optimal mode of being. This is not an impossible perfection, and doesn’t contain superstition, and is entirely possible. It isn’t becoming God, or being inhuman in any way. While it may be an end goal to many people’s current state of being, it is, merely the starting point, and knowledge required, from which we should strive to achieve before continuing onward.

My ideal form of an integrated psyche is characterized by certain experiential and rational revelations into the nature of consciousness, and reality, which must be conclusively understood as “knowledge” in order to properly orient the individual towards a non-contradicting cohesive view of “the world”. The first of these descriptive axioms of knowledge that are necessary to a cohesive integrated psyche is the uncovering of “non-self doctrine”, or non-identification with conscious awareness and conscious direction as being the totality of who you are, it is realizing there is no permanent “you” or unchanging soul. By no longer identifying solely as consciousness, we open up the ability to properly see our Being in its totality, which includes subconscious distinctions such as the collective unconscious, subconscious internalizations, and the embodied perception which runs through the whole of our Being. In opening up the view of our totality, we become open to the integration of all parts of the psyche and no longer have a limited identification with a sole aspect of the psyche.

Stemming from an nonrestrictive identification, and broadening our knowledge of ourselves, necessarily comes insight into the causal nature of the production of current modes of being, and the causal determinacy that preconditions the present moment subjective experience. The more information of causal determinacy we have come to understand, whether it be biological, cultural, societal, in reference to our upbringing, friends, family, and in general, influences, the better equipped we are to understand ourselves as we find ourselves in the present moment. This can be reinforced through the realization of our own impermanence in regards to any aspect of our Being and its deterministic roots (impossible to understand every chain in this web of determinism, so to anyone that claims to do so is claiming to be conscious of every factor every existing in the universe since its conception, which would literally take eternity) and its collective parts becoming known as all being aspects of who you are.

In understanding causality and impermanence, we ought to be aware of some version of the 5 aggregates, or the different parts of the psyche, yet all integrated into conscious awareness, and understood as being parts of the whole totality of being. Different articulations of categorizations of the psyche have been developed, and we must have some form of conceptualization of the different aspects, or understand the framework of other’s categorizations, to better delineate different parts of our Being in a way that is useful to us in understanding ourselves. From a Jungian perspective these different aspects of the psyche are categorized as the unconscious, the persona, animus, shadow, collective unconscious, consciousness, ego. In Buddhist terms the aggregates that comprise experience are form, perception, mental formations, sensations, consciousness. Scientifically the mind is a product of genetically inherited traits, neurophysiology, and the nervous system of the embodied organism.

It is beneficial in developing an integrated psyche to have an acceptance of natural human restrictions, and the general fallibilist illusory perception of reality within which our experience is tempered by.

The range of details of each concept included within this stage varies from individual to individual, of course, and as they spend more time moving past this hypothetical stage of wholeness within the psyche, the individual will independently be better equipped to navigate the troubles of life, as they have a well-integrated psyche, producing a strong conscious awareness and control, able to lead the individual to greater heights in novel endeavor. A stronger base always enables a higher building. The ability for humans to create hierarchies and continually develop knowledge, wisdom, and competence into different aspects of reality after the formulation of this stage will necessary produce a beneficial springboard. This base mature stage solely represents the unity and integration of all the components in a being’s conceptualization of “himself”. While each individual aspect can’t be fully explored, or conclusively depicted linguistically, due to the vastness of historical and individual information to which it is constituted, a general understanding and acceptance, as well as knowledge to its interrelatedness, on a basic level, is necessary to a suitably integrated psyche.

We all possess the capacity to reach a basic comprehension of who we are, to understanding the fundamental parts of the totality of our Being, and the processes making up our conscious experience. Only the individual who has reached this conscious knowledge, both conceptually and experientially, proven by actions stemming from the psyche that are optimal or sufficient to deal with the varied circumstances of existence, has actually integrated the experiential wisdom of understanding of all the aspects to the necessary degree to integrate them into his world view and has done so in his or her own conscious. This stage still has levels in heights, to unknown heights, in which we can strive to create a new base layer at a higher starting place for mature humans to start from. This novel place of what might constitute the “higher ideal integrated psyche” has undoubtedly been formulated already.

If we can grasp a low resolution image of the totality of our psyche, we can understand to a sufficiently necessary degree the mode of being which is capable of confronting any situation life may throw at us. It is in the manifestations of the mode of being that is capable of solving the set of all problems, that better or worse differentiates the integrated psyche. A higher resolution conception of every aspect of this moment is available upon additional investigation into the many components outlined above which make up the totality of your subjective experience. Such as, greater meditation practice enables greater mindfulness of what is passing through consciousness, greater neuroscience training enables a better understanding of how your brain is currently firing to produce your current conscious state, a greater psychological knowledge enables greater understanding on how you are currently affected by your unconscious, shadow, anima, persona, ego, a greater evolutionary biology training enables a greater understanding of your inherited traits, etc. Thus you can always progress, in a finite quantity of directions, to move to greater heights of understanding yourself. Yet this stage which I described, and its characteristics, are what is necessary, from my personal perspective, in which I believe we ought to inhabit in order to further explore the different domains of knowledge and morality, and understanding the psyche, in the many ways that we can. Before achieving this unified understanding, exploration in said directions is still profitable yet not integratable to the wholeness of your view of your own subjective experience to the degree that it would be useful if your psyche was integrated, and had the experiential knowledge to pursue that goal after the achievement of this stage of consciousness. None of this matters if you are not interested in your conscious state, your subjective experience, or in seeking the truth.

Basic Archetypal Emergence in Ancient History, Historical Conscious Development, and Individuation

On September 8, 2018June 6, 2020 By Chris Shuttleworth1 Comment

There are archetypal artifacts of deep evolutionary developed psychologically stages which are common collectively in all humans, which were first explicitly expressed in their symbolic forms in ancient stories, mythology, and religions. These archetypes have been transmitted genetically, and it wasn’t till recently that they have been analyzed and understood in their true nature in influencing the human psyche through advent of depth psychology and the findings of Carl Jung in analytical psychology. What you find is not only a symbolic representation of the developmental stages of consciousness, as described by Neumann, but basic understandings ingrained into all of us that operate on a level at the bottom of the unconsciousness, as pointed by Jung, which enable us to operate effectively in the world, and which work also as an a priori structure in which our values can be derived from.

These archetypes are not socially or culturally constructed, but biologically significant to us as their impact on survival and the evolution of our species made them useful. In the development of consciousness, as pointed out by Neumann, the original archetype represented as the Uroboros is the first stage in the human psyche. The Uroboros is the dragon eating its tail, the ring, never ending, without beginning. In this first stage of life or in conscious development, both historically and individually, the individual is not an individual and is effectively submerged in the unconscious, only affected by external findings. This state is common among primitive humans as well as modern human infants, and is characterized by the inability to distinguish opposites, or identify phenomena. It is the unity, or lack of distinctness, between inner and outer, self and other, or good and evil, which we see to be present in our pre-consciousness states. The individual is effectively cared for by parents (mother) and has no worries of his own, and this symbol is represented as the original state of the universe, as Paradise, before knowledge of good and evil in Abrahamic religions, is found in old creation myths of heaven and earth combined, before there was light or dark, eternal. The Uroboros, a symbolic representation of this original stage of consciousness, is found all over the world and has manifested in various societies, such as the yin yang, or combination of chaos and order, before consciousness emerges.

Maori Creation Myth – Seperation of Sky God and Earth God (World Parents)

This leads into the development of the ego in Jungian terms, and the separation from the world parents. In this stage towards the individuation of consciousness, a shift takes place in development in which consciousness becomes separated from unconscious, and recognition of the differentiation of content and phenomena becomes apparent. This is the archetype of separation of world parents. This is the differentiation caused by God creating a separate heaven and hell, separating chaos and order, and in individual experience, the manifestation of a conscious for whom which his individuality becomes known, internal states become distinct from external phenomena, in general, identification of separateness is instantiated. It is in this stage of separation that the identification of opposites becomes apparent to the individual, and his state as being altogether a separate entity from other individuals also emerges. It is the revelation of man’s nakedness after eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge. In archetypal stories, this is depicted as an individual’s reluctance to rely on parental guidance, and an encountering of the world for himself through the abandonment, it is the independence gained through accepting responsibility for one’s own Being, rather than being dependent on parental guidance.

After the separation from the world parents, the individual must go out forth to the world, and, in mythological stories, this is represented by the individual voluntarily undergoing a journey towards some daunting challenge, the acquisition or success in which appears to yield great value. The hero’s journey is marked by trials and tribulations which test him as an individual, entailing pitfalls, re-calibration, and eventual victory over minor challenges that lay on the path towards his goal. In the final test, the individual encounters the dragon, the manifestation of extreme chaos, in which the individual must kill in order to retrieve the value in which he set out to acquire. The value is a boon, a treasure, the fountain of youth, wisdom, it is that which is most valuable. In attaining the value after discovering the antidote to chaos, in relinquishing its protector, the hero brings the valuable treasure back to the people he had separated from, and provides them with the value he had acquired in his journey. The hero grows through the process, and in achieving the final step in providing value to the people, he not only hits the mark in terms of the aim in which he set out to achieve, but he grows through the journey in becoming the type of person that can order chaos, he becomes the hero through the hero’s journey.

In psychological terms, or insofar as individual consciousness, and the historical development of consciousness is concerned, the hero’s journey represents exactly what we too must go through to achieve an integrated psyche in the process of individualization. We must relinquish dependence upon our parents, set an aim, a goal, a place we have the potential of being, and through diligent striving and overcoming of challenges and tribulations, actualize that potential, and become the person we had the potential of being. For us to successfully do this, like the archetypal hero’s journey, we too must voluntary accept the responsibility of attempting to do what is meaningful in our lives. In striving to accomplish the meaningful end, we necessarily will fail, must recalibrate, and must strive on diligently. In the final scene, we must ultimately organize the psyches range of potentialities into a unified whole through exploration and integration, we must set our lives in order, our lives being that of chaotic nature, and conscious intentionality being the means by which we can order both ourselves, psychologically, and the world in which we inhabit.

By ordering the chaos in our psyches, and our lives, we become individualized. In striving towards the aim of actualizing the potential we inherently possess we grow in the process, and in pursuing what is meaningful we, if successful, create or uncover a novel, unique, new, phenomena, which is meaningful to us and our fellow man. This boon we create, uncover, or discover, the treasure of our efforts, the fruit of our labor, the resultant knowledge and wisdom we have gained in our journey, we must, in order to complete the journey, provide what is found to meaningful to our society, to our fellow man. In so doing so, we fulfill the hero’s journey, and become fully individualized as a Being who has integrated his psyche, overcome difficulty, uncovered what is meaningful and valuable, and provided the people with a lasting benefit that is beneficial and useful.

The hero archetype is ingrained in us, and found in stories across the world, from the dawn of civilization, and has this same plot. It is the plot of the original hunter who could venture out from his tribe, slay the animal, bring back food to the people. This for him is liberating, is useful, helpful, and to the people in which he proved for, he is hailed as the original hero, for he provides life, the means to continue living, the means to which they too can actualize their potential. In return the hero is worshiped as ultimately good, good for survival, reproduction, and the continuance of the species, but he is not interpreted as such, rather, he is immortalized through the stories in which follow after him. The hero is the one who can conquer what is difficult and return to the people with value. Thus we value individuals and those pursuits that merit this type of accomplishment, those who discover new insights in things which prove useful to all, is rightfully seen as a hero. We value and strive to be like the hero. This is an archetype everyone understands automatically. You watch a movie and you know who is the good guy and bad guy. These are not arbitrarily socio-culturally developed, they are ingrained in us, for a good reason, and in understanding them we can better understand ourselves, reality, the truth, how to progress, and become the hero of our own journey.

The archetypes can be interpreted as effecting the emergence of consciousness across the domain of human history, in the developing of it to its current peak. They can also be used to describe the process by which, in our individual lives, our own consciousness develops. Lastly, in our present moment experience, they can be seen in the manifestation of personal and interpersonal relations through their emergent manifestations, and be perceived and interpreted in giving a descriptive analysis of the current factors at play in the emergence of actions.

Basic Dharma Explanation

On March 10, 2018June 4, 2020 By Chris Shuttleworth2 Comments

Everything in existence is preconditioned. Everything that exists in the present moment, exists only in that present moment, in the next moment it is not the same. It has changed. It is impermanent, not lasting, not permanent. All thoughts, emotions, perceptions, all of consciousness, its contents, the sense data, awareness, all is not permeating experience as concrete entities as it moves from moment to moment. It arises, and it fades away. There is no soul that controls them, or dictates what is next, or experiences the experience. There only is experience itself. There is awareness of what is happening in any of these realms. Awareness of the present moment, of seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting, thinking, and there is the knowledge of being aware. Seeing is being known. Thinking is being known. Anger is being known. In the moment of recognition of what is happening, there is no anger, no hatred, no delusion, no desire, no aversion, there is clarity, peace, and equanimity. This is the essence of Buddhist dharma, it is essentially made up of psychologically beneficial tools, to improve the welfare of your life.

What is most beneficial in your life is beneficial in the present moment, in the long term, and benefits your family, your society, and all sentient beings. If you are mindfully aware of reality, then you are able to recognize any unsatisfactoriness, or suffering which is inherit in your life. Anger, depression, anxiety, sickness, pain, aging, dying, family members dying, etc.; all is inherent in life. All the suffering caused by these things is because we crave for them to not happen, and we crave for good, beneficial things to happen, so much so that to the point when things don’t go our way, the suffering ensues. An understanding of the impermanence of life, enables you to be dispassionate about these things, accepting their inevitability, and helps you to be strong and supporting for others as they too go through the suffering in life. In addition to the craving that causes unsatisfactoriness, there is an attachment to the state of things when life goes our way. When all is good, your fame and fortune, career, family, all is in the state you desire, you become attached to that feeling, to that moment, to those material things, and mental feelings. The problem with becoming attached to anything in this world is that when it changes, you become unhappy, non-content, stressed, angry, and crave for it to be the way it was. You actually will suffer trying to maintain what you have, and in attempting to maintain it as “permanent”, your grip becomes tight upon the life you thought was perfect, and in that tight grip you lose the feeling of peace you thought everything you wanted was supposed to give you. This creates suffering. In not remembering that all these things are impermanent then the suffering will stretch beyond where it can potentially be modified, as it is in its nature to be modified. Not only are the things you become attached to likely to change, but it is inevitable they will.

The whole dynamic between craving and clinging really define our existence day to day, moment to moment, and it is the root of suffering in our lives. Once removed, the basis for anger, hatred, and delusion also will be removed, rendering our lives, and anyone we come into contact with, better, in that it promotes welfare. For this the Buddha laid out a plan that if followed, leads to the destruction of these negative emotions, to the destruction of the origin of suffering, this very craving and clinging. It’s worth noting that meditation becomes extremely useful here, you can experience subjectively the knowledge of awareness of phenomena as it arises and fades away, thoughts, emotions, the nature of consciousness, the impermanent nature of it all, and in practicing and cultivating this view, you can take it into possibly every moment of your life. So when anger arises, you know it’s based on causes, you know that it is based upon the desire for things to be different, you know acting on it will only increase its duration, you’re aware of angers presence, and in that moment of recognition, it goes away, possibly to return, but in every moment of conscious awareness of it, it is not there. You know anger is impermanent, unhelpful, that it’s not going to last forever. You became wise in considering the suffering inherit in yourself and in others if you continue being angry, or act on it towards someone else, thus the knowledge and mindfulness of angers presence allows you to eliminate the effective reaction it produces from your experience. The more practice in insight meditation, the more mindful – the more aware, and the more aware – the more you are able to cultivate good qualities, and eliminate negative ones, providing yourself and others a better life. So insight meditation, used in this way, enables the individual to improve his own understanding of his psyche, and thus become better equipped to integrate it and use it in an optimal fashion. In doing so, we improve the experience of life, as well as develop the ability to better conduct ourselves in a mindful way that is beneficial to others. This practice of mindfulness and the expansion of the mind in reference to the inherent dissatisfaction in life is a tool the Buddha articulated and shared with the world after he himself thought out the situation and its solution.

A more conclusive answer to the solution of suffering, which covers all aspects of human experience is the noble eight-fold path, the fourth noble truth in the Buddhist tradition. Like all religions, Buddhism is aimed at the individual aligning himself with the greatest possible good, and in that aligning, becoming better, and more like that object. For some religions it’s God, or Gods, who emulate ultimate wisdom, and ultimate goodness. In Buddhism you seek refuge in the Buddha and his teachings, he who has great wisdom, compassion, and purity, but you align yourself on the middle path, the eight-fold path, and it is not necessary to do this on faith. Once we can see the evidence for the things he laid out in our own lives, we find that he is not only teaching a different perspective, but that that perspective actually is in line with our actual experience of life. We find the truth of the teachings within us, not in the sense of “finding the holy spirit”, but that we see how desire and attachment lead to suffering, we see how it dominates life, in brief occurrences we see how virtuous conduct and proper behavior leads to temporary relief, we see the truth of the removal of suffering. The middle path outlines the things we can do to improve our situation, the correct conceptualization of eight areas of our lives that are directly intertwined with all of experience, and if we follow the teaching on them, will lead us to see reality more clearly, improve our moral character, and act in a way which promotes wellbeing. This necessarily will produce a more peaceful experience as we move throughout life.

The middle path lies in equanimity, in neither aversion nor in craving, in not emerging in sensual pleasures, nor in self mortification. It lies mindfully between any two extremes. It is a framework for which we can develop our minds, our actions, our lives, and in so doing so make the world a better place. It is comprised of eight subjects, at which the goal is to strive for rightness, wholesomeness, and perfection. The eight-fold path is right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. To sum up briefly, the first two in the chain are characterized as “wisdom steps”, the next three “practical steps”, and the last three “meditative steps”. Right view is a correct understanding of reality, of philosophical, scientific and psychological knowledge, most importantly an understanding of the three marks of existence (non self, impermanence, suffering), the four noble truths, and this path itself to the elimination of suffering. All the following areas on the path lead from this one, and if developed strongly as the primary step, we will see that the proceeding factors are better able to be developed strongly. The same goes for the following steps, developing them with an importance on the antecedent step, better allows the improvement of the successive one.

Right intention is having the best intentions for others, and yourself. This means not harboring ill-will towards anyone, why would you ever want something bad for someone else? It only makes sense to want what is best for them and society. Sometimes what is best isn’t always what is nice, or leads to short term gratification, sometimes it is punishment, or harshness, with a silver lining, but this is all about intentions. This implies the illumination of intention based on anger, hatred, or lies, to be replaced with intention based on truth, compassion, and good will. This step also includes right thought, as intentions are located on that realm of perceptions and conscious contemplation, which we conceptualize as thought.

From these intentions springs the next rung in the ladder, right speech, the first of the three “Practical Steps”. This means, first of all, speech that is true, and not false. Speech that is helpful and not harmful. Speech that is unifying, and not divisive, or backfiring, or gossip. And for ultimately perfect speech, this means only speech that is truly beneficial, not idle gossip, or discussion of unimportant topics. Next is right action. This is characterized by similar standards as right speech, but includes, in the Buddhist tradition, not killing, not using drugs or alcohol, not intending for the harm of any beings, for acting out of compassion. With the right intentions which were previously cultivated, we are better able to act with virtuosity in our interactions. Next is right livelihood. In performing the right occupation, we necessarily are taking action in a manner that supports ourselves and our families, and the job we take, the way we spend our time in providing for ourselves, must be conducted along the same moral imperatives as right action and right speech. This excludes any type of labor that deals with the harm of sentient beings, any job that has to do with deception, manipulation, gambling, drug dealing, hustling, fortune telling, illusions, is advised against pursuing, for its effect on our moral character and on other sentient beings. Right livelihood is providing for yourself in a way that is beneficial to yourself, and to others without encompassing dishonesty, cheating, or harm to others.

Next is the three “meditative steps”, which become easier to develop the more we cultivate the previous steps. Defilements in any of the previous steps, or immorality, or ignorance, causes an diminishment of our ability to “meditate” or arouse effort, mindfulness, and concentration, as we are impaired. This is why the development of previous steps is important towards the maximizing of our potential in cultivating the later steps. Any moral wrongdoing, which produces shame or dread, will impede upon meditative practice, producing difficulty in their development. The first of the three meditative steps is right effort. This is effort in the sense of striving to eliminate negative qualities/defilements, and putting in effort to keep them away for a long time. On the flip side, right effort includes cultivating positive qualities/states of mind, and in keeping those states present for longer periods of time. After proper effort is cultivated, comes right mindfulness. Right mindfulness, in a nutshell, is correctly being aware of what is happening in the present moment, and knowing that you are aware. It means awareness without motives, without trying to change or manipulate, without distraction, without aversion or craving or attachment. It means being the observer with equanimity and ultimate clarity, to provide for a greater understanding of the phenomena of one’s own mind, and thus reality. From right mindfulness is the last step in the chain, right concentration. This means one-pointedness of mind. Being able to concentrate on what is important, and discarding distractions, or unworthy activities that aren’t useful or beneficial. If you are able to actively practice the improvement of yourself in these eight areas, you will notice a change in your psychological state to one of less suffering, greater understanding, and increased wellbeing, that is, to the extent of which you progress. The great thing is, these areas are constantly able to be improved upon. As we increase in experience, and increase in practice, we can move towards greater and greater heights of understanding and morality. In the Buddhist tradition the pinnacle is perfection in all eight categories, producing enlightenment, in which case the practitioner either will become an Arahant, which is an enlightened one who has ended the cycle of birth and rebirth, and attained Nirvana, or, the state of Bodhisattva, who isn’t excluded from renewed existence, but rather will remain in the cyclic existence of Samsara to be able to aide others in enlightening them. As I don’t believe perfection in the Buddhist sense is possible, I do think the striving and intention of either of these two goals is noble and a good goal in which we can attempt to move closer to. Having an ideal conceptualization of a noble direction in which to grow, and keeping in mind the ways to do so, and practicing along the path, is something I believe to be truly worthy of our attention and time, as our own personal wellbeing, as well as expanding to our circle of influence, is all effected positively by forward progress in this direction. This is the ultimate goal, development of the mind, so that knowledge of the truth can be seen, and that virtuous qualities can be exemplified and implemented.

Biological Function of Consciousness and the Ability of Directed Intentionality Towards Psychological Improvement

On February 9, 2018November 3, 2020 By Chris Shuttleworth1 Comment

Here we are using the traditional form of the term “consciousness” in its conventional usage, and wish to expound upon its arising from a strictly evolutionary biological point of view. Conscious awareness exists as an evolutionary byproduct for good reasons, and is not merely arbitrary. It enables an organism to systematically observe what is happening within the present moment, in order to respond in a way most optimal to different situations, in promoting its own survival, for the purpose of heretical transference, and arose like other biological features through natural selection. The distinguishing of various external and internal stimuli floods the brain with relational importance to the wellbeing of the genetic material underlying the biological organisms Being. These many factors, are hierarchically selected for, and we cannot possibly compute and react upon all of them. Only those most in line with our belief structure, which is fundamentally tied to an underlying evaluation system, arise into consciousness. It is this propensity to act on singular goals, rather than upon every stimulus, that necessitates the system for a central operating system, one centralized in the brain, but which is only aware of the contents which are deemed most important by the subcortical connections, in reference to the organism’s suffering and wellbeing. This system where the most important phenomena are represented, is consciousness, and the emergence of phenomena therein, and then our propensity to direct actions based upon the conscious content (and our ability to reason and contemplate within the sphere of consciousness) drives optimal solutions of what to do next.

This process exists within a mechanical system, following a deterministic directed array of stimuli and prior causes on which it is dependent on for its arising, just like all other phenomena in existence. It has a reason for its existence, it has physical properties, and the subjective experience it gives us is determined by the state of the present physiological structure of the brain and nervous system, as well as interoceptive senses (internal), coupled with that of our 5 standard sense organs and their corresponding stimuli (external). We subjectively experience consciousness as a direct response to these two general factors (which contain many other specific parts, most noticeably mental, thought, emotion, etc). The reason why it was necessary for consciousness to be an evolutionary product, rather than the organism existing in the present moment yet unaware, points to the benefit it must have generated in improving survival and providing sufficient future genetic propogation, or else it never would have proliferated. The embodied perception that is filtered through the value system antedates the conscious presentation of stimuli, the bodies perceptive system inputs the data, the value system hierarchically organizes and the resultant most significant (individually judged as to most relevant meaning), dependent on many factors, is presented into conscious awareness, which potentially can be transferred to conceptualized form using language. Humans needed a more abstract processing mechanism to solve more difficult problems, and we developed it. Other animal life, and life in general, and really all matter, I believe, as later pointed out in the essay “What it means to be Conscious” has degrees of consciousness, but in a form which is far from our standard defining of consciousness, which is used in the biological sense in this essay.

Conscious awareness exists as a process determined by external and internal conditions, for the purpose of increasing survivability in analyzing the present moment as a whole, for the continuity of its genome. Its main feature is that it is a module of the organism which is to analyze, edit, and respond to other modules, much like how in DNA there is a mechanism that similarly cuts out parts, duplicates, and changes its structure to be most beneficial to the organism, I believe consciousness has a similar role on a larger scale in the observation of phenomena so that other mechanisms can act towards a unified purpose. This is a wholly deterministic process, which, if we understood more about the brain, we would be able to map onto the brain with increasingly more accurate measures. Yet emergence of this trait gave rise to many other similar behaviors not originally considered by the forces of evolution, which arose out of its selection, such as the psychological subjective idea that this consciousness is ruled by a controller, who dictates its actions, in order to be in the best interest of the organism, which turns out to be beneficial to the survival of the organism, while not reflecting any resemblance of the truth of the situation, or accounting for the individual, and his surrounding societies wellbeing, happiness, or reduction of suffering.

Like the eye was a product of evolution for the benefit it gives to an individual in order to observe its surroundings, to increase fitness and survival, consciousness evolved for the same purpose. Now its functionality can be altered to be used towards different ends than it once had. This change in goal of conscious was, or in usability, is itself a product of prior causes such as evolution, but still holds many of the original groundwork upon which it was constructed upon, such as the lower brain, reptilian brain, and other parts behind the frontal cortex, so the ability of consciousness has grown with time as its physiological underpinnings have grown, and has altered itself through the experience it itself has been aware of. Sort of like a self replicating machine, or the future AI commonly referred to in modern literature, the human species has already carried out similar processes in its own growth thus far. If all before goes unaccepted, with the most doubt and the highest skepticism, it must be an infallible assumption to assume consciousness in its current state was bound to arise in the way it did from the cause effect nature of the universe, and the subjective proof we have of its contents within the present moment, as being a product of a series of prior causes, to deny this would to deny physics and hundreds of years of scientific progress giving to our current understanding of the universe.

The capacity for complex language which allows us to retain a higher magnitude representation of reality influenced this conceptualization of biological “conscious” development that wasn’t originally intended by the ancient underlying structures. Improvement in language has had a huge impact in our expansion of knowledge and perhaps even the future growth of the brain, as well as how we perceive the world, our place in it, and how to optimize that place, lending to not only the original evolutionary benefit, but also to extracurricular endeavors such as fun, beauty, flourishing, inner peace, non anger, psychology, philosophy, science, and almost all aspects of scholarly study. This fundamental change, that of the goal of consciousness, is like any other skilled endeavor we choose to pursue, it entails the possibility of change from purely survival based interests to anything else, which is a first for any species. In addition, it allows another possibility of increased concentration towards academic pursuits in finding the truths of reality, which is a scientifically feasible process of such a biological process, which we can take to understand things much further removed from our immediate survival, to increasingly greater degrees.

My main emphasis is in the training or development of the mind in such a way that optimizes the experience of Being towards the navigation of life, in understand reality farther on the spectrum towards objective truth itself and lastly to improve morality so as to act virtuously in order to improve the well being of other organisms. This type of autodidactic self conditioning is done just like any other training, through repeated practice and exposure to that which you wish to improve, in this case consciousness, or awareness, or the brain, or martial arts, or anything else of value to you. As far as I can see, this practice and training we can do mentally exists as expanding the minds knowledge through secondary sources, critical thinking, and introspection, as well as meditation and observance of the phenomena arising in the present moment, the contemplation and effort given to increasing beneficial states of existence, and how to further cultivate them. I say autodidactic, because the emphasis is here upon the mind’s own desire directed towards improvement in topics of his own choosing, using methods and tools he directs himself to be influenced by. Of course the knowledge comes from experience, and external sources, but the framework from which he learns is selected by himself with an intention of improving character, skills, and virtue. This includes concentrated goal oriented study towards the knowledge we wish to obtain, as well as the implication of continual striving towards purity and moral excellence obtained by virtuous action in every moment of life, with higher degrees of moral shame and dread towards smaller faults, so that our actions reflect the mindset or the memes you wish to spread and implement. The moral aspect of the expansion of the mind is not arbitrary, it is necessary in its expansion. We must develop this aspect due to its ability to harness cultivated intentionality in providing a mode of consciousness that allows more abstract modes of being from which solutions to set of problems, rather than individual problems, becomes optimized. This allows skills and traits such as single-pointed concentration or discipline to be more readily accessible, and not as hindered or fettered by the transgressions against our conscience. We must support the growth of our conscience by defining what it is we value, what is good and bad, what we value, the hierarchical placement of these things, and then we can pursue those with value and are able to continue along on our road to expansion. This topic is explained in depth in the essay “Value System Instantiation, Meaning Pursuance, and Progress through Overcoming Difficulty”. Throwing morality into the mix of aims of improvement in terms of conscious direction isn’t necessarily just an interest of mine, or something I value highly, it is something with an objective benefit to the totality of the individual in an objectively beneficial way in which we each ought to figure out and work to improve. Actions that disregard the conscience are proven in our experience to disrupt consciousness, and in the pursuit of expanding consciousness, disruptance is a hindrance. In this way the content of your consciousness, and the brains ability to effect speech and actions, effects the universe in a way that is beneficial and in line with the highest form currently conceivable of human usefulness. Every moment is a moment to practice, to improve, and to transcend our current biological state towards the next generation in a way which we believe to be best.

Dunning Kruger Effect upon the Totality of the Set of Knowledge in One’s Life Span

On January 31, 2018June 4, 2020 By Chris ShuttleworthLeave a comment

The Dunning Kruger effect can be applied to the totality of knowledge in any given domain, as well as the knowledge we have in relation to knowledge itself, or our own personal epistemological standpoint. The Dunning Kruger effect describes a process by which we undergo in the relation between “actual” knowledge, to our confidence in knowing. In a typical skill with which we have no knowledge, our confidence in our knowledge is close to zero, as we recognize complete ignorance. As we gain a small amount of knowledge, we are lead to the illusory belief that we have made much more actual progress in knowledge than we actually have in the domain, and our confidence in the acquired knowledge and competency in respect to it is extremely high. With this little acquisition of knowledge, in comparison to our original state of absolute ignorance, we are lead into the belief that we know much more on the topic than in reality we do, and this false belief leads us to a sense of overwhelming confidence in knowledge on the subject. After more time, experience, and knowledge is gained in the subject, the more complex and intricate its nuances become, the less confident we become in relation to the knowledge. After the initial point of simple conceptualization in the domain of said inquiry, all additional knowledge serves to prove how increasingly complex the topic truly is, and our confidence in the totality of knowledge of the subject generally degenerates as we see ever increasing pathways for growth, and an ever opening field of ignorance in relation to questions that are yet to be answered in the given domain. After continual study in the domain, our confidence reaches its lowest peak, as we become baffled by the amount of content yet unknown, and we undervalue what we do know in relation to the unknown. As we gain in knowledge, it seeks to illuminate the amount of ignorance we have in regards to the subject. There reaches a point when a broad foundational knowledge structure is established, and from there, we can begin to explore further areas of inquiry in relation to the domain of knowledge in whatever aspect it may be that we are attempting to gain in knowledge. From this bottomed-out valley of confidence in knowledge, we make the actual relational confidence grow, as our knowledge grows from this point, we slowly gain in confidence as to what we actually do know on the topic. The relation between knowledge and confidence at this point becomes more honest, and now, with an increase in progressing through additional knowledge in the domain, we grow in corresponding confidence of knowledge in the domain.

On a life size scale, the teenage years reflect the state of original boundless confidence in our knowledge, as we have reached the age where our set of knowledge in the total domain of knowledge has increased rapidly, the “beginner’s gains” have been acquired and we are led into the false supposition that we know much more than we actually do This explains most teenagers reluctance to parental and authoritorial advice, as they believe the knowledge they have is sufficient in answering life’s questions, and in navigating its landscapes. As the teenager continually experiences life, and grows into his twenties, where more complicated and nuanced life occurrences take place, the less his confidence becomes as his recognition of his own ignorance in so many topics grows. It isn’t till the individual has set himself on a stable, foundationally firm, course in life, after many chaotic elements have been ordered, many unknowns become known, that the process of honesty in the relation between knowledge and confidence grows. It seems like in the early twenties most people have a sort of existential dilemma, as their confidence has so dwindled that the sense of purpose, and how to navigate the future, is wholly unestablished. Once these questions have begun to be formulated in the young adult’s mind, he can work towards the relinquishment of the existential dread, and can seek to find what a truly meaningful life would be like, to him. In this way, his knowledge in the set of all domains begins to crystallize into a formulated conceptualization of what his purpose is, what a future he would like to exist for himself would look like. As career, relationship, shelter, hobbies, and interests begin to be decided upon in their direct evaluation in relation to the individual, he can begin to make progress towards that ideal possibility of his projected future self. This self-knowledge, and the basic defining and differentiating of values, allows the individual to make knowledge and experiential progress towards the goals. At this point the valley begins to ascend in the direction of the ideal peak. As he makes progress in the domains of interest and importance he has uncovered as being valuable to himself, he begins to grow in confidence as his competency and knowledge in these valuable areas of inquiry increase. Thus the dunning Kruger effect can, metaphorically, play itself out, to differing degrees, in the life cycle of the developing psyche, and the life attached to it.

The more you learn about the world in any of it’s aspects, the more you begin to realize how complicated it is. The growing understanding of the complexity in the world at every level, macro to micro, in every field of study, doesn’t necessarily make your subjective life more complicated. It is possible to have a grasp of the situation of reality, in admitting our fallibility and ignorance, yet still have a stabilized psyche that is content with the knowledge of the individual’s own ignorance. The deeper down the rabbit hole you go, in any direction, opens you up to see just how many different perspectives there are to see any objective fact, and how deep knowledge can possibly run, ad infinitum. The important knowledge to learn is how to wisely conduct yourself among this reality you are becoming more capable of understanding, and a big part of it is in being satisfied with your existence and not becoming overwhelmed in the unending stream of phenomena always arising in your experience, and rather keeping your desires pointed towards an ideal aim and distractions from that aim to a minimum, as you strive on diligently toward your goals. This will not only reduce suffering, but allow for clearer thinking, leading to a better more articulated understanding of reality in the future, and altogether a greater sense of purpose and wellbeing in relation to what could otherwise have been the case.

Magic and Alchemical Wisdom, The Philosopher’s Stone

On December 21, 2017June 4, 2020 By Chris ShuttleworthLeave a comment

Magic. Turn evil to good. Turn an impure life into a pure one. Turn animal into god. Create change in accordance with desire. Strong wisdom and knowledge enables this, through causality, but this causality hopefully will produce a good desire, and not a bad one, because the manifestation of a bad desire can turn a good person into an evil one. Be careful what you wish for, magic is real, and you might have it.

Ancient mystic alchemists were searching for the philosopher’s stone to turn lead into gold. The philosophers stone is metaphorically truly much greater than this, it’s the knowledge of the power to turn nothing into diamonds, to turn a bad life into a good one, to become virtuous from lack of virtue, to become wise from a state of ignorance. The ancient teachings of the world’s greatest minds and noble spiritual teachers each have had a piece of it, the accumulation of all their acquired wisdom, mixed with an individual input, experience, understanding and insight is the final piece to put the whole stone together. To be good, simple, content, ego less, self less, content with the present, understanding reality, accepting that no one knows everything and everything isn’t worth being known, certain things are more important than others, and what’s unknown in those fields is what should be strived for. Being a good person when no one is watching, causality, turning the other cheek, loving your neighbor, the noble Eightfold path, learning, living, loving, and ultimately destroying suffering and living in peace.

This is white magic, this ability to achieve this state of mind is potentiality, to which in relation to the potential, the actualizing is the philosophers stone. While complete possession of it is surely impossible, the noble pursuit towards its actualizing was worth pursuing in ancient times, just as, if viewed correctly, it is worth seeking out in our own lives. Philosophy, psychology, knowledge itself, is all pieces of the stone, but the realization after practice with understanding of the teachings, the practical wisdom in the accumulation of experiential knowledge as it refers to the mode of being from which the most optimal solutions arise in response to any situation, is the stone itself. Immortality, lead to gold, these are archetypal, metaphorical comparisons for the wonder that internal discovery and mastery of what we have to work with, our minds, to the highest level, can achieve. Buddha, Confucius, Jesus, Mohammad, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Descartes, Einstein, they all have had pieces, all have had glimpses and intuitions regarding this concept, some more than others, but none of them had all of each other’s pieces. They just had their own, and they contributed their findings to the world for our benefit. In today’s age we can compile all their knowledge into one language, and if our brains are hardware, we can download this knowledge like software onto it, with our own unique operating system of prior experiences to differentiate each person from another, and add our own input. As they did, we should do, seek to provide at least part of the stone, a part that wasn’t there, a bit of truth, a bit of virtue, to leave the those who come after us in better relation to the totality of the stone.

The philosophers stone isn’t something simple to put together and contain, or a place we can easily get into, or in other words the perfect life, enlightenment, Nirvana, paradise, or heaven isn’t easily achieved, if anything good in life takes hard work, the best of life takes the hardest work. We can’t merely hear the knowledge, read the scriptures, or see the holy life at work within another. We must experientially work towards our development of our character, we must turn our gaze towards the improvement of the mode of being from which our actions manifest from. It takes work, intellectually, physically, philosophically, scientifically, it cannot be handed down and it cannot be given out. The desire and manifestation of results of the striving, is the magic which was spoken of. It is the uncover of what is hidden, and the revelation of what was found. It is desire turned into achievement of desire, and potentiality transmuted into actuality. We must put forth the effort ourselves, we must work, and through diligently striving along the path to greatness, attain that greatness which we seek. It is never an end point that we will reach, it is in the striving that we accumulate pieces of the stone. The stepping off the shoulders of those who come before us can afford us the grace of knowledge not deserved, and in our debt, we must work to create something useful for others to step off of.

Call it magic, the philosophers stone, wisdom, holiness, we all are capable of achieving inner peace, we all are capable of learning what’s going on, and saving the world, our own world, we just have to learn, practice, and realize it. We are all capable of moving closer to it. It isn’t a matter of achieving the philosophers stone, it is merely a metaphorical representation of the goal we should be aspiring towards. We can move towards it, and become incrementally better at “being”. Seek the truth, paradise lies within. There’s always hope for a lost soul, give peace a chance, get better everyday, virtue, and happiness. Knowledge is power, and power is responsibility. All conditioned phenomena are impermanent. All that arises is subject to change. As above, so below.

Ego Management

On November 13, 2017June 4, 2020 By Chris ShuttleworthLeave a comment

The ego is a conceptualization of ourselves that takes place in the form of a story, and is manifest in many aspects of our existence. We continually are articulating this story of who we are, to ourselves, and this development can possibly create not only dissonance between what we perceive to be who we are, who we actually are, and what others perceive us as being. The danger lies in clinging to this self narrative to strongly, or in a characterization of ourselves. In either case, we are bound to be disappointed, and this is the source of much of our anger and frustration. In the case where another makes a statement that contradicts our ego, we feel attacked, as the narrative of which we attribute to ourselves is not being recognized by others. This being-with-others, or mode of being which we inhabit in the presence of others, becomes modified by adverse reactions to this kind of criticism, as who we are goes under scrutiny. Could it be that we are not who we think we are? Could it be that the other person is ignorant of our true nature? How dare they give a contrary explanation to the being which I am? These are the necessary effects of an ego attack, and often times the individual will go on the defensive, attempting to instantiate in the mind of others the same narrative of which they created for themselves. How do we navigate these waters? What is the correct relationship we should have towards that part of our psyche which is the ego? Is it removable? Or just manageable?

It necessarily goes to say that a well-integrated psyche will contain a healthy ego. What constitutes a healthy ego is a narrative which goes hand in hand with the truth, to a greater degree than otherwise. There is no way we can possibly symbolize using words the exact experience of our lives, as that, literally, would take more than a lifetime. But it is possible, to a greater or lesser extent, that the narrative can be representative in a way which doesn’t contain any falsehood. This is a necessary step to a healthy ego. Secondly, we ought to understand how our narrative of self-hood is modified by the reaction we have to others inputs that seemingly attempt to undermine our own understanding of ourselves. These criticisms, in a healthy psyche, should be looked at as something we can learn from, not that we accept them as infallible, but accept the truth that the persona which we give off is interpreted in a certain way. Whether that is positive or negative, we must distinguish, and how we navigate that, and the importance we place on other’s opinions, is something we must individually decide based on the value the source has to us. I think the optimal way of dealing with such ego attacks, marked by a manifestation of emotional anger or irritability in response to someone else’s depiction of us, is to not be initially reacted upon. The spontaneous reaction and defense of our narrative, should not be our initial response to such claims, as that would impose a rectifying narrative, or unwarranted emotional repercussions, that could be avoided by a disciplined and patient temperament. Rather, an introspective look as to why and how such an interpretation could be made of us, as well as a look into how our actions could have portrayed such an image, as well as a comparison between who we actually are in relation to the claims made, all should be considered in order to make a measured honest response. We should always go into conversations with the intent of being able to learn something from the other person, in the case of ego claims, if what the person intuits isn’t actually representative of our nature, then we can learn at least that someone else interprets our character in a certain light, and discover why that is so. If it is contrary to our true intentions, in the interpretation of our actions, then we must seek to better clarify ourselves so the person isn’t guided by misinterpretation into who we are. This isn’t merely an egotistical defense, but rather an attempt to enlighten the other on something they understood as contrary to our motives, or simply to enlighten them on the context or rationale which they didn’t previous have present-at-hand. In other cases, the contrary opinion may actually tell something about ourselves we weren’t able to see, as we only have our own perspective to work from, it may serve as uncovering something which is altogether hidden up to this point from our own perspective.

Additionally, it is entirely possible that we may have misinterpreted the others conceptualization of ourselves wrong. While it seems obvious that either our narrative, or theirs, is either in alignment, or is wrong, it is additionally possible that the other person might not be misunderstanding our motives, but we may be misinterpreting the perceived ego attack as being contrary to our own narrative, when, if we ask for further clarification, it could be in alignment, we just misinterpreted their judgment upon us. The key, in general, in managing the ego, is to accept the narrative which we apply to ourselves as it truly is, as being fallible. It merely is our own conception of ourselves, from our own point of view, based on memories that often are faulty, based on self propagated stories which become farther away from us as time passes, and the stories become modified by each iteration of self editing which we necessarily compose.

The ability to grow, and to respond wisely to attacks upon our ego, is a mark of a well-integrated psyche. To remain equanimous, and not respond out of the manifested anger that arises out of a malevolent, or otherwise informative comment about the nature of our being, should be paramount. Responding out of anger, or defensiveness, in seeing our ego as permanent, as fixed by ourselves an infallible, we bar the doors to greater understanding of ourselves, and inhibit the truth from arising to the surface. Thus we should look at these moments of emotional turmoil in response to attacks upon our ego as opportunities to grow, to overcome, and if the claims are unsubstantiated, as a chance to respond with virtue and tranquility and to better the understanding of the other person. To allow the ego to be fed, in claims witch bolster it to heights undeserved, is another factor on the opposite side of the spectrum which we should guard against. As in the cases in which others undermine our character, we should guard ourselves against both our own fallibility as well as our own unwarranted acceptance of such statements, we should likewise not seek pleasure in the overstatement of our character, or the puffing up of content which is not in correct relation to the actuality of our being. While it feels good to be over appreciated, and we feel tempted to agree to content received in such a manner, this too can create a false narrative of ourselves, and this is something we should guard against, that is, if we value the truth more than pleasure. If pleasure is the motive, and vice is rampant in our lives, then we would seek to deceive and impose a greater image of ourselves onto the minds of others for their admiration, yet, if the goal is to be virtuous and truthful, as it ought to be, an accurate representation ought to be desired both in our own self-view, and in the view of others.

There are many relationships we have in which a correct view of ourselves is desired in the other person, and to them, we owe it to give them the truth, for what is love if what is loved is not truly who we are? Why would an honest man want recognition as being someone he’s not? We should strive to be given our fair due, and to allow others to view ourselves as we truly are. Effort put forth in understanding ourselves, by input from the outside world, and through introspection, is thus invaluable in correctly and healthily integrating the ego into the totality of our psyche. If we wish to grow in knowledge, and avoid deception, it starts in an honest depiction of ourselves, at least one not founded on lies, and expands from there. The ego can be troubling, it can cause us to experience unpleasant emotion, and in reaction to such emotion, we can act in ways which we may later regret. The correct integration of it, and response to its manifested emotion, better serves us to navigate our lives. If we can better handle the emotion as well as the spontaneous reaction, we can have a better relationship with those who are important to us, to the outside world in general, and more importantly, to ourselves.

Utilization of the Will

On June 1, 2016June 4, 2020 By Chris Shuttleworth1 Comment

The will of the individual is always the same unchanging desire throughout life, but how you achieve what you will, and what you are willing, can always be changed and redirected. For example, my will yearns after the feeling of happiness, or freedom from pain, and also wants to acquire the most accurate view of truth about the world, my will is directed at knowledge and wisdom to make the best decisions in every situation, it seeks physical pleasure, and mental stimulation. I think everyone shares this basic nature, but how it affects our lives, and how we act on it, and in which manner or towards which aim or within which activity, is all something that is differentiated.

This will, will never change, we won’t ever be free from desire, from want, it drives us every moment of the day. We can take steps and work to change what it is we do with it, what it is directed at, and we should try to do this consciously in a way that aligns with our values. We should work to expand our mind, and focus our attention on the things that truly matter to us, instead of being carried away by biological and culturally ingrained urges. We should work to understand our subconscious, and the physical system which includes our brain, which produces our conscious awareness, but at the same time, we should use our ability to reason and contemplate in affecting how we act.

Here we can realize that the bottom up system, our physical nature, produces our conscious thought, but also there exists the top down system, where this consciousness in turn will affect the action of the system. We must understand both, and utilize the ability to reason. We must integrate both aspects into our understanding of who we are, as they both are significant and working in every moment. We will eventually get to the deterministic nature of every phenomenon we experience, but what is important here is that what we think, will also determine what kind of experiences we are having, and the proper wisdom and influences and knowledge will be useful in understanding and implementing the conscious system which we potentially have in our grasps within every moment of our lives.

Seek Truth

Tag: Psychology