Oh. I clearly didn’t get that.
You familiar with the term ‘Gestalt’?
I know the dictionary definition.
Okay, I’ll try. Be prepared for imperfection.
Your brief question is asking for a summary of the entire subject of Phenomenology.
The question is located at the boundaries between Objective Phenomena and Subjective Experience; the third-person and the first-person perspectives.
It’s a very tricky thing to talk about because the whole thing becomes very circular and ouroboros-like very quickly.
The human nervous system—a collection of more than 100 billion neurons—propagates signals, called action potentials. The densest collection of neurons is the brain. To this day, it is still a mysterious organ.
Various regions of the brain have been observed to correlate to different categories of subjective experience. The occipital lobe at the very back of the brain, for example, is involved in generation and processing of complex visual perceptions.
Notice that I said ‘generation’ not ‘apprehension’. The brain is not passively ‘sensing’ some external phenomenon called ‘vision’; it is generating visual sensations and perceptions.
That statement is not an incontrovertible ‘fact’; but some version of it is very likely to be accurate.
Ultimately, however, the nature and ‘origin’ of consciousness is unknown and irreducible within traditional, modern scientific-materialist paradigms. One popular materialist notion is that consciousness is somehow some sort of “epiphenomenon” or “emergent phenomenon” that arises when there is a sufficient degree of complexity of information transfer in a nervous system. But that theory is unproven and untested.
At present, to investigate subjective experience we have to accept it on its own terms.
Going to stop here for now. Maybe a night’s sleep will enable me to organize this more effectively.
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I’ll look into that. Thank you.
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Trying a different way.
Rather than attempting to articulate every relevant detail of my cosmology, I’ll just try to concisely define my terms, and then if anything is unclear or inconsistent, you can simply ask another question or make a comment.
So here goes:
Reality (as experienced): Flows and structures of sensations and perceptions.
(I propose that if, as an experiment, you were to attempt to find anything in your reality that is not being sensed or perceived, it would not be possible. The concept of an unperceived phenomenon is still a perceived concept.)
Oh, and that, by the way, is where the concept of Gestalts becomes relevant. In this context, gestalts are aggregates of simpler, constituent sensations and perceptions. The experiential equivalent of how on a computer screen, the images are composed of small dots or pixels. Or similarly, a printed image is composed of many small dots. Together these form gestalts or larger aggregates that no longer appear (subjectively) to be dots. Pointillism in painting illustrates the same perceptual dynamic.
The buddhist name for these perceptual, experiential aggregates that comprise phenomenological content is Skandhas,
Imagination: the generation of sensations and perceptions.
Imagination, mostly involuntary imagination, is the means by which we engage and encounter “Reality”.
(That’s what the little discussion of of the nervous system was alluding to up above. The cerebral cortex’s occipital lobe is involved in the generation of visual experiences. There are other older parts of the brain that also contribute to visual experience. But in broad terms we can say, “no occipital lobe = no visual experience as we know it”.)
If you’re following this closely, you may discern that in my terms there is a difference between Reality and Existence. They are not, in my view, identical.
(I personally take it as a typical example of human arrogance (and naive ignorance) that we have traditionally taken the two to be the same.)
S far, I’ve been speaking from the level of physical or material aspects of Reality.
But much of reality for a human being is about the perception of ‘What is Possible’. I don’t mean this in any grandiose way. I’m simply referring to the subjective view of how events might unfold. “What are my options?” “What is likely to happen?” “What is happening elsewhere?”
In those kinds of experiences, the centrality of imagination (i.e., generation of sensations and perceptions in the absence of obvious physical correlates) becomes even clearer and even more compelling.
I’m speaking in this style in an attempt to make the concepts specific. Usually I’d prefer a more colloquial mode. But that’s a lot sloppier.
At any rate, I’ll stop here, and hope that this managed to clarify anything.
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Thank you. Knowing how you’re defining the terms you use makes things clearer.
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…At the same time, I’m aware of my unhelpful/dysfunctional coping approaches flaring up a bit. (For me, these involve a pull towards disengagement and distancing myself from material routines and obligations. I’m fortunate that it’s not out of control, but I notice it.) This indicates to me that, internally, I’m dealing with a somewhat increased load and some elements of challenge/overwhelm.
The truth is:
I’m not smart enough to know what my biggest mistakes were
Thats sounds like something only a smart enough person would admit thinking.
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Doing my morning loop of Dragon Flight and then my meeting begins directly afterwards.
This second week feels a bit more adapted to Dragon Flight.
I don’t feel all kinds of dramatic sensations with the programs; but I have been aware of a kind of load.
And I can feel that it has lightened somewhat.
There’s also a certain unsettled impatience within me. I suspect that it is my mind’s reaction to the process of shifting and evolution.
This morning I was sensing: It is 2023 and it is 2025 and it is 2019.
The only thing that separates NOW into disconnected “moments” is lapses of attention.
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Part of the nature of a blind-spot is that it does not advertise itself to you. On the contrary, in general it will actively elude notice.
Amazing. Mind is now in a steadier and stabler state. Felt it pretty clearly in morning meditation.
It was like:
Don’t get complacent, but the turbulence is quieting down. (but don’t get complacent).
Weirdly, it’s also the first time in a couple of days when a little sunlight came as well.
Those kinds of synchronicities are always interesting.
Everything that anyone does with you, they do with themselves first.
Consider this possibility:
It may not be about you.
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Forget reading other peoples minds;
It’s really difficult even to read your own.
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Unless you can cheat 
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There seems to be a settling down process happening. It seems to be related to Dragon Flight.
It started out feeling like an energy drop. But then as it normalizes it’s feeling more like a settling feeling. I can see how this could evolve into something like what is described in the Dragon Flight description: the capacity to objectively look at my life and see what is happening and what is possible.
Dragon Reborn stage 3, Dragon Flight.
1 loop.
Playing Ultrasonic today. I think for the first time. Didn’t want this whole play period without at least one ultrasonic day.
Sometimes it seems to enhance even more the ‘ninja’ quality of ZP.
and I’m playing music. Same song I created last week and posted on the other thread.
This song’s making me happy. Makes me think of gliding through the world; cool, otherworldly, intense, and unbothered.
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Not a lot to say right now.