Transforming & Transcending : The Dance of the Neuron (AKA The
Neurocognitive Roots of Materialism and Idealism) – C.J. Lofting
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INTRODUCTION
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When we zoom-in to identify the structure and function of the neuron, the
cell many species use to manage information and as such forms our brain, we
can identity two fundamental ‘goals’ of neural behaviour where these ‘goals’
reflect the notions of transcendence (aka transmutation) and transformation.
The development of the neuron has led to a dynamic reflected in rhythms and
arhythms of neural process that is reflected at all levels of neural
expression, from neuron to human society in general.
At the level of collectives, the transcendence/transformation ‘drives’ are
reflected in the concepts of Idealism (transcendence) and Materialism
(Transform). These concepts are more often interpreted as opposing one
another whereas they in fact serve one another in that oscillations across
the neurocognitive areas of our brain reflect the characteristics of
transcend/transform and are summed to produce ‘mind’, with different degrees
of oscillations emerging as noticeable biases in individual as well as
collective behaviours.
Thus the apparent differences regarding the ‘source’ of individual
expression in the socio-political emphasis of Karl Marx (sociological roots,
even distribution of energy) or J.S. Mill (psychological roots, hierarchic
distribution of energy) are in fact hard-coded into the human brain – they
are rooted in the neurocognitive processes that generally function
unconsciously in us all and as such are recruited and abstracted to serve as
‘mind’.
Through combinations of nature and nurture ‘biases’ in perspectives can
emerge due to misinterpretations as well as failure to recognise the
distinct ‘differences’ in goals where the transcendence function serves to
differentiate and exploit to achieve transcendence, whereas the
transformation function is more attuned to integration and so to ‘fit in’
with the local context (and so protect the species) rather than assert its
own context (a trait of transcending); thus the transformation emphasis is
on developing ‘good’ habits to conserve energy as compared to the
transcendence emphasis on expending energy, to reach the ‘top’ and then
‘transcend’.
FORMAL DANCE : TRANSFORMING
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The flow of data through the dendrites of a neuron (dendrites are the
primary input area of a neuron) is not just ‘pure’ input but more so
*filtered* input in that within the ‘cloud’ of dendrites are encoded
species-level instincts and local level habits.
The encoding of habits and instincts in the immediate input areas of the
neuron allows for immediate, ‘mindless’ processing of data and so response
to stimulus where the stimulus is ‘in’ the context; there is no need to
‘think’ once something has been identified and habituated, we just ‘react’
to the stimulus.
As such, context is the root of change, e.g. weather conditions, can affect
hormone productions that affect the filtering processes of neurons and
members of the species start to grow winter coats or molt for summer and
this is all done on autopilot.
This reactive emphasis reflects the PUSH nature of context; often
experienced by the individual where circumstances put them in an ‘unknown’
context and they start to behaviour in ways their conscious self does not
understand, it is “why am I thinking/behaving like this!?”. These sorts of
situations reflect ‘instinctive’ or ‘habit’ behaviours which are, or appear
to be, uncontrollable, the person feels as if ‘something’ is pushing them.
We can speculate that thousands of years ago this combination of
consciousness plus ‘mindless’ context-derived ‘push’ could easily elicit the
notion of being manipulated by ‘spirits’ in that lack of clearly identified
concepts such as instincts, habits, and the general principles of evolution
would force an anthropomorphic perspective.
At the neuron level we associate this processing of data, where habits can
be created/refined to maintain the ‘push’ emphasis, with the concept of
transformation. In transformation the core does not change, the outer self
does in response to a context.
This transformation process reflects direct input-output of data, ‘mindless’
stimulus/response and the encoding of instincts/habits at the input level
favours their use as forms of protection in that they ensure conservation of
energy through their efficiency as well as immediate ‘intergration’ with a
context. Furthermore, the ‘collection’ of local habits would be reflected in
the development of identity, both personal and collective, and so beyond
that of being a ‘species member’. As such a hierarchy of identities emerge
all dependent on context as their instigator of expression and so with the
concept of transformation comes the socio-psychological temperaments of
security seeking as well as identity seeking (and so individuals as well as
collectives can develop these temperament biases.)
FREEFORM DANCE: TRANSCENDING
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In the process of survival it is necessary to avoid becoming too dependent
upon habits and a method to deal with this is in the neuron’s link with
synchronisation. This process, besides ensuring groups of neurons work ‘as
one’ also has the property of ‘slicing and dicing’ habit data where the
synchronisation links, in the form of excitory and inhibitory controls
applied to the neuron’s cell body, the source of neural firing, can be
‘re-sequenced’ and so instinct/habit behaviours can be presented ‘out of
context’. This process allows for the experience of ‘insights’, new
perspectives that can be useful in survival, in escaping ‘habits’ where the
specific context requires a non-habitual response.
This process of developing a ‘different’ perspective can be a source of
error but also a source of sudden insight – the ‘ah-HA’ experience. We
associate this concept with the term of ‘transcendence’ where the insight
elicits such a different perspective that it can change all future
behaviours and as such ‘break’ habits. (At the mindless level this process
also reflects mutation). Thus we establish a tie of transcendence to the
temperaments of problem-solving as well as sensation-seeking (all examples
of more proactive behaviours when compared to the temperaments that reflect
transforming).
The concept of transcendence reflects the introduction of core difference
just as the concept of transformation reflects the maintaining of core
sameness and as such, just as transformation serves to protect, so
transcendence serves to exploit where resources – energy – is needed for the
transcendence process; note that one primary difference is that just as the
transformation aims to conserve energy, the transcendence experience is
associated with the over-expression of energy. Furthermore there is a sense
of preservation of the species in the transforming, a tie to history, as
compared to transcendence which reflects an ‘attraction’ to the new as well
as abstraction, to move from the local to the universal and so the
manifestation of a hierarchic emphasis rooted in species behaviours of
‘pecking’ orders etc.
As such we can identify increasingly complex behaviours stemming from the
entanglement of transcending and transforming.
VARIATIONS IN STEP : RECRUIT & ABSTRACT
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A set of common traits within the nervous system is that of recruitement and
abstraction, where neuron will recruit another, or a brain lobe another, or
brain hemisphere *the* other, in the processing of data. Together with this
recruitment comes abstraction where old categories are recruited and given
new labels and applied at the level of the universal rather than the local.
If we ‘zoom’ up to the level of the hemispheres of the neocortex we seem to
witness the same transform(protect)/transcend(exploit) functions we witness
at the level of the single neuron and as such any collective of neurons will
develop the transform/transcend biases to a degree where specialised
‘nuclei’ can develop, all nuclei then intergrated as a single brain, and at
the level of the collective personas can develop with distinct biases to
seeking transforming and/or transcending and as such introduce variations on
the general themes.
SELECT YOUR PARTNER : PERSONAS & COLLECTIVES
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The development of different perspectives at the personal and collective
levels seems to reflect the transcendence/transform ‘goals’ of the neuron
such that the whole of our neurology, psychology, and sociology acts like a
huge neuron, ready to recruit other ‘neurons’ to solve problems as well as
convert concrete perspectives rooted in the local to abstract perspectives
rooted in the universal.
The transcend/transform concepts, being tied to the neuron, will be
expressed not just in humans but in ANY lifeform that uses the neuron to
process information. The difference between humans and other lifeforms is in
the complexity of neural development that has allowed for a developed
awareness of ‘moment-to-moment’ spanning the lifetime of the individual and
as such a refined sense of consciousness. This sense of connectivity is
reflected in memory processing where the continuity is further refined
through awareness of personal and collective history through external
sources (language expressed in family communications, books, videos etc
etc).
From the perspective of the human species we can identify two fundamental
‘differences’ in personal and social expression that reflect the core
expressions of transcendence/transformation – that of the idealist
(transcendence seeking) and that of the materialist (transformation
seeking). Genetic as well as environmental diversities will introduce
variations on these themes but despite these variations the general
idealist/materialist roots will shine through.
LEADING AND FOLLOWING – IDEALISM & MATERIALISM
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A materialist perspective reflects a more transformist approach to life, the
emphasis is on conservation of energy, the identification of algorithms and
formulas for the sake of efficient function within this thermodynamically
dominated universe; time is recognised as an integral part of our being and
is included in all assessments.
An idealist perspective reflects a more transcendentalist approach to life,
the emphasis is on the expression of energy, huge amounts if need be, to
achieve the ‘transcendence’, the escape from the current, sometimes
perceived-to-be sterile, existence as in ‘there must be more..’; with the
idealist perspective time is treated more as a sense of the ‘eternal’ and
free of its thermodynamic links.
As such, in idealism, the formulas and algorithms are more used to emphasise
alchemy. We must be careful here with words in that traditionally the
conversion of ‘lead’ into ‘gold’ is often expressed as ‘transforming’ but in
fact, from the qualitative perspective we all work from as a species, the
emphasis is on ‘transcending’ which incorporates the notion of
‘transmutation’.
KEEPING STEP : TIME DISTORTION
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Analysis of the idealist/materialist perspectives indicates a need to
‘zoom-in’ to these perspectives in that the manner in which they process
data reflects differences in the notion of Time.
The brain reflects the exploit/protect emphasis through the process of
analyising data in high detail, allowing for a ‘clear’ perspective of the
form of whatever it is that is under analysis.
This analytical processing requires the isolation, the encapsulation, of
‘something’ to enable us to focus all of our analytical skills on that
‘something’. As such, the isolation process is combined with a distortion of
attention focus where we zoom-in to get more details of what has been
encapsulated.
The zoom-in is not ‘free’, the act requires physiological expending of
energy and a consequence of this, due to the identified reciprocal
relationship of energy/subjective_time_experience, is that there is a
distortion of time where it ‘slows’ to become, qualitatively, impoverished
where it is ignored (and so a sense of the ‘eternal’ presents itself) or it
is treated in a mechanistic manner, ‘cut off’ from its thermodynamical roots
expressed as begin-end time as as such even interpreted as reversible.
Thus an idealist perspective, recorded over centuries, will reflect this
time distortion in the form of the notion of the ‘eternal’, the ‘one’ moment
of ‘clarity’ where the physiological intent IS clarity in that the drive for
details will ‘suspend’ time or else give it a more mechanistic aire; the
recruitment and abstraction of this sense of ‘clarity’ means it is projected
into the universal realm of our theories about ourselves and the universe.
The recording of the sense of the ‘eternal’ will act as feedback to
perpetuate the notion and as such, due to the ‘natural’ drive to transcend
(and so exaggerate, reflecting the analysis process), extend interpretations
of the notion into the realm of the ‘spiritual’.
The role of Religion has always been to be a ‘keeper of the scrolls’ and as
such maintain old terms, and this sense of ‘oneness’ of the experience of
the eternal, in new times. As such Science is more materialist in general
than Religion in that it demonstrates a lack of faith in Religious concepts
by asking questions and seeking to look ‘behind’ expressions. (Within
Science are the same patterns where idealist Scientists reflect
fundamentalism as compared to the more materialist Scientists reflecting a
more relativist bias. Thus at all scales we see the same patterns reflecting
the entanglement of transcending and transforming. See my texts on
dichotomisations and their properties when used recursively ( and so the use
of self-referencing when we seek details –
http://pages.prodigy.net/lofting/dicho.html ).
REFLECTIONS UPON THE DANCE
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(1)Since the synchronisation processes identified as part of transcending
suggest some degree of imposed order, the more ‘habitual’ perspective, being
more reactive, stimulus/response, would seem to be the older. In other
words, within the bounds of neuron development, the materialist perspective
preceded the idealist perspective; spirit developed from matter, just as the
sense of the individual has emerged from the collective and the sense of the
collective (reducible to immediate family – kin) has emerged from the
species. An example at the level of the collective is in ‘instinctive’ group
behaviours in such lifeforms as schools of fish or troops of baboons where
local distinction making can cause ‘crowd’ patterns not sourcable in the
individual but feedback can elicit ‘preferred’ behaviours and as such
formalise a ‘dance’ that emerges as a pattern of group behaviour unique to
the species/genus.
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(2)The idealist perspective, with its drive to transcend and differentiate
is the source of social and technical development as well as the source of
charismatic leaderships etc. However this can be delusional in that the
exploitation of resources can take place in a manner when the idealist
perspective reflects the mind of a child in that it reflects behaviours that
lack consideration of consequences of actions.
The original development of part of the brain to deal with high precision
seems to have been as an aid to ‘everyday’ living of the species but its
success has led to the development of idealist perspectives being encoding
at the level of collectives and as such the development of ‘belief’ systems
that although highly charismatic, in the long term of the universe reflect
delusions that although ‘fun’ can also serve as the instigator of the death
of a species through excessive exploitations of contexts to aid in asserting
the ‘ideal’.
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(3)The materialist perspective, although ‘closer’ to general species-nature
as a whole, in that it attempts to ‘fit in’ with the context by recognising
non-reversible time as an integral part of our being, can lack ‘dot’
precision when compared to the idealist. However, the materialist
perspective seems to be better at pattern detection and as such identifying
the implications of events. As such the materialist perspective is more
biased to processing/asserting of illusions as compared to the idealist
perspective that is more biased to processing/asserting of delusions.
Materialist adapts to context, integrates with it, idealist would rather
assert its own context and as such reflects integration within itself – a
focus on purity rather than on mixing.
As such the materialist perspective can be too ‘constraining’ and as such
fail to support excessive energy usage that could in fact benefit in
conserving energy in the long run, or else attempt to perform large scale
developments without employing the idealist perspective and so ‘lack’ the
necessary precision required in such large scale developments.
The benefit of the materialist is its sensitivity to historical contexts and
so consequences of actions upon the whole species etc. The benefit of the
idealist is the intense focus of purpose and the ability to move above
conditions, but this needs to be analysed from a historical perspective to
identify possible problems for the species occurring many generations into
the future. As such we see an oscillation between the poles of
exploit/protect.
This oscillation will inevitably lead to the development of mediation as a
property of development and this is reflected in Mind through the
use/interpretations of Laws/Beliefs (and has its mindless roots in the form
of genetics as expression of mediation between lifeform and context). Of
interest is the casual observation that ‘developed’ collectives focus on
laws that ensure the survival of the future of the species – the children
and as such this correlates with a general ‘childmindedness’ in developed
collectives where ‘struggle’ gives way to ‘fun’.
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(4)The idealist/materialist perspectives, reflected in Kant’s concepts of
the analytical and the synthetical, as well as Hegel’s concepts of the
analytical and dialectical, demonstrate different perspectives on
integration. The idealist perspective, due to the strong encapsulation bias
in analysis, reflects more of a sense of integration WITHIN a ‘box’ as
compared to the materialist perspective that focuses more on integration
BETWEEN boxes (the latter is vital in habit formations where many implied
relationships across many ‘boxes’ trigger a general response such as
instinctive preparation for winter/summer etc)
The ‘within’ emphasis identifies a focus on very clear identification of a
particular, on purity, and as such a development of a ‘parts list’ – the
details – of whatever is under analysis. The drive to ‘transcend’ emerges in
that it is the only way in which to step out of the ‘box’ in that once all
parts have been identified a sense of sterility can seep-in; the archetypal
realm, which is what the idealism reflects, needs ‘new blood’ to move on.
The logical solution is to MIX, to recruit other boxes but this defeats the
purpose of analysis, to emphasise clear, ‘pure’ identifications and as such
there is an ‘attraction’ to stay in one’s box to maintain ‘purity’ with the
belief that ‘intense’ focus on the contents of the box will lead to
‘transcendence’.
Overall this transcendence focus emphasises a strong hierarchic emphasis and
a ‘goal’ to reach the ‘top’ emerging from a ‘goal’ to escape the sterility.
(see (5) for more on this at the level of the collective) This transcendence
can also be achieved through the ‘selling’ of the parts-list as ‘THE’
parts-list, “THE” ultimate interpretation. This is reflected in the
fundamentalism possible in idealism where the single context emphasis acts
to assert the sense of ‘the one’.
The ‘between’ emphasis identifies a stronger focus on relationships between
boxes and as such their integration into a ‘whole’ system but more often
this is by implication where the skill in pattern matching can be destroyed
through increase in ‘dot’ precision (and too much entanglement with the
different boxes could ‘upset’ their degree of autonomous function)
As such energy is conserved through allowing dynamics across boxes, avoiding
too much focus within a box – thus energy is distributed across a network
and as such reflects ‘percolation’, a bubbling of activities in the dynamic
of the materialist world but as such lacking the high energy precision of
the idealist world.
Visually we can image this dynamic as being expressed in the form of a
Mandala – where links of different boxes, some specialised and so reflecting
different energy levels, is reflected in patterns of energy that can be
visualised as mandala patterns such that different collectives etc can
maintain different mandalas that aid in giving the whole group an ‘identity’
and as such meditations on the mandalas serve to aid in experiencing the
collective ‘mindset’.
The collective mandala can experience subtle changes due to local conditions
but in general should maintain its structure unless the collective is ‘off
balanced’ to start with (See refs for (5) below).
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(5)The transcend/transform emphasis is expressed at the level of collectives
where the differences in energy management (transcend – expend, transform –
conserve) are reflected in the differences between what sociologist Ray
Bradley and neuroscientist Karl Pribram call ‘control’ collectives (high
energy, charismatic, emphasis) and ‘flux’ collectives (energy conserving) –
where the more ‘functional’ collectives reflect the entanglement of these
distinctions.
(
Bradley, R.T. (1987) “Charisma and Social Structure : A Study of Love and
Power, Wholeness and Transformation” New York : Paragon House
Bradley, R.T., & Pribram, K.(1998) “Communication and Stability in Social
Collectives” IN Journal of Social and Evolutionary Systems 21(1):29-81
)
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(6)The support for the development of mental ‘biases’ in expression related
to transcend/transform is reflected in such work as Prof., J. Peddigrew’s
experiments in identifying bi-polar disorders through analysis of rhythmic
differences in the standard oscillations across the neocortex that reflect
‘mind’ at work. Based on this work as well as others covering neocortical
structure and function, depression/neurosis is more linked to
transformation, mania/psychosis to transcendence. (For Peddigrew see
http://www.uq.edu.au/nuq/jack/procroysoc.html )
As such, resolving ‘simple’ forms of depression can be achieved through a
change in context whereas the more transcending disorders, the psychoses,
can in fact be made worse by context change.
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(7) The identification of the processing of ‘clear’ perspectives is possible
through analysis of various research material covering neural processes to
hemisphere processes. Together with a ‘drive’ to interpret, the ‘clarity’
emphasis is a theme common in more idealist mindsets (the analytical
emphasis is driven by exaggerations of stimulus to aid in identifying
details. Exploit/Protect biases emerge in the intent of the analysis).
At all levels there is an FM (frequency modulation) vs AM (amplitude
modulation) perspective mappable to transcendence (FM) vs transformation
(AM) with an overall emphasis on “AS IS” processing reflected in
transformations and “AS INTERPRETED” processing reflected in transcendence.
Due to the development of feedback loops and interneurons as well as
sensory/motor neurons, the basic threads of transcend/transform has been
woven into a ‘carpet’ where patterns in the carpet reflect differences in
perspectives.
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The conversion of AM to FM, continuity to discrete, general to specific, is
sourced in the firing of a neuron/neurons/lobes/brain/collective etc and for
additional references/further reading covering neuron to hemispheres see for
example some of the works mentioned below, noting that in general the
‘opposition’ of idealist/materialist perspectives is illusion and needs to
be understood as such.
The intensity of idealism reflects its roots in using self-referencing
methods to get details on whatever we have focused upon, but once that job
is done to withdraw since the energy in maintaining continued ‘focus’ can be
extreme and so costly, not only to the individual but to the collectives and
in fact the whole species; the recognition of such excess can easily go
unnoticed since we are talking hundreds of years and so well outside of the
experiential range of the individual (or even collective).
The intensity of materialism reflects its roots in conservation/protection
of the species but this can be perceived as ‘lacking in precision’ when
compared to what the idealism can achieve and as such can be readily ignored
and declared ‘alarmist’ in collectives where idealism ‘rules’.
The work in the neurosciences is aiding us in understanding our selves as a
species and as such forcing the focus of our concerns at that level – the
level of the species rather than collective/individual.
The isolationism that can emerge from idealism needs to have its border
‘expanded’ to encapsulate the whole species and in doing so bring the
idealism talents to the fore in ensuring species survival rather than the
maintaining of ‘false’ boundaries around collectives and so the ‘us’ vs
‘them’ becomes an eternal problem to us all.
The interplay of idealism/materialism is vital for the continued development
as well as survival of the species and better for this to be cooperative
than oppositional or more so for us to KNOW when we need to adopt one or the
other where oppositional focus is for differentiation – details analysis –
and cooperation for integration but at all times recognising that all is
dynamic and as such part of the dance of life.
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Some material sources & further readings:
Ivry, R.B., & Robertson, L.C.,(1998) “The Two Sides of Perception” MITP
Hasselmo, M.E., (1999) “Neuromodulation : acetylcholine and memory
consolidation” Trends Cognit. Sci (1999) 3, 351-359
Hutcheon, B., & Yarom, Y., (2000) “Resonance, oscillation and the intrinsic
frequency preferences of neurons” Trends Neurosci. (2000) 23, 216-222
Perry, E., et al (1999) “Acetylcholine in mind: a neurotransmitter correlate
of consciousness?” Trends Neurosci. (1999) 22, 273-280
Tallon-Baudry, C. and Bertrand, O., (1999) “Oscillatory gamma activity in
humans and its role in object representation” Trends Cogniti. Sci (1999) 3,
151-161
Tomaselco, M., (2000) “The item-based nature of children’s early syntactic
development” Trends Cognit. Sci. (2000) 4, 156-163
Hoffman, D.D., (1998) “Visual Intelligence: How we create what we see”
Norton
McAdams, S., and Bigand, E., (Eds) (1993) “Thinking in Sound” OUP
Levarie, S., (1980) “Music as a Structural Model” p236-239 IN Journal of
Social Biol. Structure. 3)
Goldman-Rakic, P.S., (1984) “Modular organization of the prefrontal cortex”
IN Trends in Neurosciences Nove 1984 pp 419-424
Grinvald, A., et al (1991)”Optical Imaging of Architecture and Function in
the Living Brain” IN Squire, L.R., et al (Eds)(1991)”Memory :Organisation
and Locus of Change” OUP.)
Stein, B.E., and Meredith, M.A., (1993) “The Merging of the Senses” MITP
Posner,M.I., Raichle, M.E., (1994) “Images of Mind” Scientific American
Library
Gainotti, G., and Caltagirone, C., (eds) (1989) “Emotions and the Dual
Brain” Springer-Verlag
Doty, R.W., (1989) “Some anatomical substrates of emotion, and their
bihemispheric coordination” IN “Emotions and the Dual Brain” p57-82
Springer, S.P., & Deutsch, G., (1998) “Left Brain, Right Brain :
Perspectives from Cognitive Neuroscience (5th Edition)” Freeman
Koch, C., and Segev, I., (1998)”Methods in Neural Modeling” MITP
Cirrincione, G., Cirrinocione, M., & Van Huffel, S., (1999)”Neural Geometry
for Constrained Optimization” (copy of the paper is on my website —
http://www.eisa.net.au/~lofting/neuralprism.pdf )
Hoppensteadt, F.C., (1997)”An Introduction to the Mathematics of Neurons 2nd
Ed” Cambridge UP
Norris, J.R.,(1997) “Markov Chains” CUP
Chaitin, G.L., (1999) “The Unknowable” Springer
Constantine-Paton, M., and Law, M.I.,(1982) “The Development of Maps and
Stripes in the Brain” IN “The Workings of the Brain” A.H. Freeman.
(full list at
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~ddiamond/brefs.html )
Chris.
——————
Chris Lofting
websites:
http://pages.prodigy.net/lofting
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~ddiamond
http://www.eisa.net.au/~lofting
Lists:
http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/semiosis
http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/ichingplus
The Egodeath theory 