Meanwhile......
There is a milestone in life, the one I’m going to talk about now, which is probably the most significant one in your life.
Be under no illusion, ‘significant’ is not all good!
There is a price to pay. The rewards, however, can exceed all expectations.
First, sorry folks, a little science – though in plain English so you don’t need a PhD.
From the very first millisecond our conscious mind clicks into awareness, we become inundated with input, a total overload, and we begin developing mechanisms to help us cope.
The way we learn to see gives a useful example of such a mechanism.
We have specialist cells at the back of our eyes (millions of them), and they react to light – sending signals to our brain.(For the interested - ‘Rods’ detect black and white, ‘cones’ detect colour.)
However, if a light shines on them for too long, they temporarily burn out – which is a ‘bad thing’.
We are not aware of it, but our eyes are constantly vibrating, moving those cells in and out of a specific light wave to protect them. (A simplification here, sorry).
An example of burn out is that glowing ball of light we can still see with eyes shut after staring at the sun. It is a negative image of the sun we stared at, as only the non-burnt out cells are temporarily working (the burnt out ones do kick back into life after a while).
The key point being that we never, ever, see anything clearly, just a cloud of light and dark and colour.
During the early years, we begin interpreting those clouds, using our other senses in the process. E.g. Touch a hard edge of a table, learn to associate that particular cloud with the hard edge of a table. We eventually teach ourselves to ‘see’, to compensate for those vibrating eyes.
Busy bees we become eh.
Too busy when you add in the same ‘associations’ we are building with all of our senses.
To avoid that potential overload, into the frame comes ‘categorisation’.
We continue experiencing a sensation (or sight) until we get just enough information to categorise it, then we stop. Most of the time, we are approximately correct, but illusion occurs when we get it wrong.
Try something. When you are about to see a friend or loved one after a while apart – picture them in your mind. When you meet, truly stare at them - concentrate, compare what you actually see with that memory you recalled. You will spot a hell of a lot of differences. Categorisation stopped you updating the image, and quite a while ago!
Ever wondered why you stop noticing that you are wearing a watch or a ring etc? The signals are still being sent by your nerves, but the brain switches off reception – category identified, signal not required. We filter out the majority of the signals our bodies (including eyes) are sending us, categorised, they are ‘not needed’.
We do the same with our thinking!
We learn to love shoving things into categories and hence not having to think too much more about them. We filter out a lot of thinking.
Here comes the bad news. A mechanism that worked wonders for learning to see with our eyes actually fails miserably when it comes to thinking.
That milestone, one that only a few ever reach, comes from understanding how categorisation is failing us.
We start to resist it.
However, we also then move out of those comfort zones.
The rewards can be immense, but it can also be painful and lonely at times.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Intermission - 2. A milestone in life
I'll be slowing down with my postings for a little while, to maybe 1 per week. Obligations and all that.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I need another example. It's too late in the afternoon to process this.
ReplyDeleteMark:
ReplyDeleteLazy bugger!
More examples of the physiological mechanisms or more examples of categorisation in our lives?
I'll assume the latter.
Example - The Counsellor (condensed):
Doris: "Albert changed. He has no time for me or our son, working all hours, his career is his priority. When he is home, he is always criticising me - nothing I do is good enough, he's bad tempered and shouts all the time, he's very tight with money, never gives us enough but complains if his food is 'cheap junk'. He constantlyu calls me stupid and tells me to shut up. We never make love anymore. I'm just so unhappy all the time".
Counsellor: "Was he always like this?"
Doris: "Not for the first few months, but then he changed".
Counselor: "Well, it could be stress from his work, but what he is doing is unacceptable, it's mental, emotional and financial abuse".
Right.........
Albert fits the category of "Men can be bastards, controlling, and abusive".
Doris fits the category of "Victim".
Ah, let's ask Albert his side.
Albert: "I found out that I'd made a mistake very early on. First, she spends money like it grows on trees. I tried giving her a budget, but she spent it all at the beginning of the month, and then demanded more or the children would starve. Then I found she had maxed out three credit cards, buying shoes and cellphones and make-up. I have to work all the overtime I can get to try to pay them off. SHe's also so lazy. The other day I came home and found her on the sofa, feet up, talking on the phone - and there was no sign of our 4 year old son. I eventually found him 6 blocks away, a woman had taken him in off the street because he was playing in the traffic. I keep trying o talk to her, but she won't take any responsibility 'He is your son, I'm not wasting my life running around after him. I lost my temper - are you mad, stupid? He could have died!....."
Example 2 - the new car:
We see a car in the showroom. Nice, shiny, great 'new car smell', the right color. It has Hi-Fi, great seats, so clean and comfortable.
Category "Great Car".
We buy it. We drive it a while.
Hmm, it doesn't have much power going up hills. My back aches if I drive for more than 30 minutes. The Hi-Fi is drowned out by the engine noise. It shakes likes made when you go over bumps.......
Example 3 - the new house:
We buy that category 'fabulous house'.
Hmm, furniture doesn't fit - doors and windows take up all the wall space. It's dark most of the day. Plumbing rattles, bulbs keep burning out, the garden is full of tenacious weeds, the neighbors scream and yell all night......
Some say "Assumption is the mother of all...."
Assumption is just another example of categorisation.
We get a few triggers, markers, and that is enough to select a category - then we can stop thinking about it.
It permeates every aspect of our lives.
Ah, I see. So we should avoid categorisation whenever we can. And recognise that everyone inevitably slips into a category, and the knack is to shake it up and break into new behavioural habits.
ReplyDeleteI hope that was right. I've had six bags of cocaine.
Good work, Mike. Accuracy is more fun than fantasy.
ReplyDelete