Abstract Socio Environmental Echolocation

Image Sources: FMD

 

echolocation - a physiological process for locating distant or invisible objects by means of sound waves reflected back to the emitter by the objects

definition source: Merriam Webster



  

abstract socio environmental echolocation
Collective (un)consciousness may be percieved by active curiosity; throwing things into the void, watching what comes back and what does not. I like Walt Whitman's words though it may not refer to echolocation but follows a similar thread


A Noiseless Patient Spider
By Walt Whitman (1891)
I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
Mark'd how to explore the vacant, vast surrounding,
It launched forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself.
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul where you stand,
Surrounded, detatched, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them.
Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold,
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul

Poem source - "Whispers of Heavenly Death."* The Broadway, A London Magazine 10 (October 1868) 

Riddle 1#: What am I?

It was you at my conception
Watching part and skin connected
It was at the very moment when you picked me up, accepted
That the memory of me faded from your view
Now it's I who give to you

Your insights and your blindness
Your wickedness and kindness
It is I, who gives you peace
And war
Possibilities and fears
Unspeakable joy and tears

Until...
You hear of path,
Or pine,
Or cogitate anew
The way that you once took
Though arduous you find
Me looking back at you.

Then and only then...

Will I concede to you

Riddle Source: Francis Doerksen
(2005-2012)

Riddle #2: What am I?

What you possess I cannot have
Your wonder and amazement
Your ability to touch and smell, and hear,
Remember things your've seen and tasted
Yet because of you I live and you are wasted

Riddle Source: Francis Doerksen
(2005-2012)

Culture

 Image Source: FMD

culture - refers to the characteristic preferences, habits, customs, values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours unique to a particular race, religion or social group.

Image Source: FMD

subculture - is a distinct smaller social group within a larger culture which possesses particular characteristic preferences, habits, customs, values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours.

The collective (un)conscious is more than just shared beliefs and ideas; it is physical and sensory, perhaps it is what we see as culture. It is this physical aspect of the collective that perpetuates the group's existence. The actions, habits, customs, and behaviours of the group then become new sense data; percepts which are then added to the group's beliefs and ideas as the collective grows.

Image Source: FMD

Culture & Subculture

Intelligence and the Scientific State of Mind

Image Source: FMD May 28th, 2012

intelligence - 1a (1) : the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations - merriam-webster.com

scientific state of mind
1. fruitful question - "means that the question must take into account, as far as possible, everything  already known about the object, event, or process under scrutiny and, amid this richness of information, must single out a salient mystery or obscurity."

2. hypothetical answer - an abstract construction of the suspected truth concealed behind the question

3. hypothesis tested  -

4. new questions - a successful hypothesis opens up new questions (loops back to No.1)
information source:  Jane Jacobs, Dark Age Ahead [Page 66-68]


"Ït is the child of logos, which is always looking forward, seeking [outwardly] to know more and to extend our areas of competence and control of the environment."- Karen Armstrong (2000)

Action (passive & direct)

action - the natural or determined mental or physical response to something sensed

direct action - an action which not only acknowledges something sensed but is also determined to do something about it; an action fueled by determination, understanding, motivation and energy, an action which makes something less susceptible to external influence, force or control.

passive action - an action which acknowledges something but is determined to do nothing about it; an action lacking determination, understanding, motivation or energy; an action which makes something more susceptible to external influence, force or control.


I wrote these definitions a number of years ago in an attempt to understand an act of bullying I observed with a group of adults. There were in this group a few individuals whose responses were direct and a significant group of others who were passive.

definitions derived from a number of sources  currently unknown.

The radial organizational chart

I have a number of thoughts on the subject of organizational structures. I used to build 3 dimensional models for fun and found a number of really interesting views. For starters, organizations are complex organic structures, yet visualizations of them rarely move beyond the two-dimensional, hierarchical model:

 Image Source: http://www.enotes.com/

I imagined myself within the structure of the traditional two dimensional org chart. What I saw was that there was a clear vertical line of movement upward. After having attempted to chart one "extremely" (as I discovered) large corporation it felt as if I was looking up at a skyscraper from the sidewalk. The top level so distant, almost obscured from view.

Image Source: boostinspiration.com

The only direction for the individual to move within this paradigm is up; consequently, value is ascribed to various roles based on their position within the hierarchy. The inter-connectivity and relational nature of different departments and roles is not portrayed and co-operation and lateral movement is discouraged... 

 Image Source: ipadwallpaper.eu  

By re-imagining the organization as a three-dimensional manipulative, relationships can be depicted more accurately: inter-departmental and even inter-organizational connections can be explored and the complexity of the organization and its relational ties can be more fully appreciated.  In this context, the worth of an individual role is not subjective; it is not at the bottom of a tree or on the edge of a chart - it is radial and defined by connections, whether formal or informal, to all other positions within the structure.

There are 3 images below expressing the relative position of one memeber of an organization (Joe).

Traditional org chart1 - FMD

 

 

Radial org chart1 - FMD

Lessons learned weight watching - different data views

This is not a part of my usual blogs on concepts and social consciousness. 

 

 

Since September 12th 2009, I have been recording my weight almost daily.

 

Fig#1



 

Fig#2

 

No matter what my observed weight was I recorded it.  If my weight increased by 2 or 3 pounds over a period of a day I would write it down (as I saw it). As a result I learned a number of things.

 

1. Weighing myself once a week (or once a month) gives a poor idea of how much I really weigh.

2. Drinking a can of soda could raise my weight 2-3 pounds in one day.

3. Eating increased amounts of bread affects weight gain.

4. A two week average of data is a better indicator of weight gain or loss (see Fig#3).

5. Cutting my intake in the evening had the greatest affect on weight loss

6. Cutting my intake in the evening over a longer period has the greatest effect. this was the easiest way to loss weight with minimal discomfort. I ate pretty much what I wanted during the day but just cut my evening meals by half or stopped snacking. it wasn't a pound a day kind of loss but found it to be around between 0.2 and 0.8lbs per day.

7. A person can lose an average of 17 lbs over a period of two years just by watching their weight (as compared to those who don't) - check out bluezones.com 

 

Fig#3

 

Epistemology

Epistemology -  the study or a theory of the nature and grounds of knowledge especially with reference to its limits and validity - Merriam Webster

Epistemology - a branch of philosophy concerning the nature and scope of knowledge and asks some of the following questions: what is knowledge? how is it acquired? and to what extent is it possible for a given subject or entity to be known? - Wikipedia

Origin of Epistemology - Greek epistēmē knowledge, from epistanai to understand, know, from epi- + histanai to cause to stand — more at stand. (word first used around 1856) - Merriam Webster

I remember coming across the term a couple of years ago while compiling lists. If there is any particular study that relates to this blog I think this might be it. 

Envy

envy - [a] painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage. - Merriam Webster

envy - "a reluctance to see our own well-being overshadowed by another's because the standard we use to see how well off we are is not the intrinsic worth of our own well-being but how it compares with that of others" - Immanuel Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals,  1797

I had some difficulty visualizing this word as a young person, partly because of the feelings associated with it and the fact that I never bothered to look it up. Plus, my mind was focused on a singular view point; from the perspective of  the envious person and therefore I could not see the concept clearly.

To visualize envy I had to see two objects; the one who envies and the one being envied. Imagine two equally sized stars, one bright and one not so bright. It is the brightness of the one which illuminates the darkness of the other. This causes the darkened object to see himself more correctly (relatively speaking). If the person has a misdirected view of himself the light would hurt. The motivation then would be to eliminate or reduce the severity of that discomfort...

Danger in believing

I have observed that there is always the potential danger when we believe something in that once a thing is accepted as true (see definition of belief) we often fail to reconsider it or some aspect of it. The problem with that, is that an omission to consider something can or will, over time, work against the very thing one has believed. - FMD - 2007

The mind

The mind -  a universe of concepts and ideas

I used to think that the mind was likened to a universe where percepts and concepts were planets and stars and complex ideas, galaxies.  - FMD - 2009

Riddle #3: What am I?

I am a highway thoroughfare
And you are on me unaware that
You are automatic
Moving from your destination

FMD 2005

Belief - The Snowball Analogy

To me belief is likened to a softball sized ball of snow sent rolling down a snow covered hill. As it descends, it gathers to itself more and more sticky white snow; increasing its mass and speed with each passing moment until the slope merges into the valley below, slows and comes to a stop.

I came to the understanding that the moment I accepted a concept I no longer questioned its validity. It became a regular participant within the arena of my thoughts.

Also, I have observed that there is a danger in believing concepts in that over time its core becomes less visible and I lose sight of what it was that I first concidered. If I just accept a concept without instituting some kind of condition, it would take off on me (imaginably) until it met its logical and ultimate end (for good or bad).

I have found a way in which one can believe something and be able to consider it. I think of it as a condition of acceptance. The benefit is that the snow ball never leaves the top of the hill and its core and content are never really beyond my grasp.I guess then the danger is not in the believing but in the implied determination not to consider it again.

The image above and the analogy I constructed in 2005.

Destructive stress

destructive stress - something mentally or physically sensed which directs an individual or group away from that for which they were ultimately capable.

I haven't come up with an appropriate visual representation for this one either. But for the purposes of describing my experience with social consciousness I will use it.

The idea for this originally came from an engineering definition I came across around 2005. I have not been able to find the source yet. it may have been called "facilitative stress" . the closest definition to date is  businessdictionary.com

Constructive Stress



constructive stress - something mentally or physically sensed which directs an individual or group Toward that for which they were ultimately designed.

This image cannot be fully appreciated without context. In 2005 I created a diagram in which it illustrated the interaction between one social group with a subgroup.

The idea for this originally came from an engineering definition I came across around 2005. I have not been able to find the source yet. it may have been called "facilitative stress" . the closest definition to date is  businessdictionary.com

What is a belief?

 

belief - anything within the content of cognition that is held as true.

There is something really interesting about a believed concept. I mean when viewing the idea of a concept in 3 dimensions its as if the figure stretches over the ground like a membrane (see previous definitions relating to concept development). This membrane acts like a filter absorbing percepts and experiences which relate and deflecting the ones that don't.

I have observed that once believed we no longer consider it to be anything but true, rejecting any assertions which reject it.

I am still working on this definition.
definition derived from a number of sources  Merriam-Webster, Visual Thesaurus and one other currently unknown.

What is a concept? Figure & ground

ground - is a homogenous group of related percepts, experiences or thoughts

figure - a single often separate percept or experience is identified and whose nature is linked in someway to the grouped percepts (ground)

concept - (as figure & ground) - is a unified mental construction of figure and ground, a superimposition of mental images occurs in which a single percept or experience (figure) becomes the object of attention against a relatively homogenous background of related percepts and experiences (ground)


definitions derived from a number of sources  Merriam-Webster, Visual Thesaurus and one other currently unknown.

Percept

percept - is a basic component in the formation of a concept. It's a single mental representation obtained through the basic physical senses; what is felt, seen, heard, smelled, or tasted. sense datum

definition derived from a number of sources  Merriam-Webster, Visual Thesaurus and one other currently unknown.

Experience & cognition

experience - related percepts obtained through one or more of the senses. It may be something observed or something lived through. The result of experience is or tends towards knowledge and understanding.

content of cognition - is the content about which we are thinking (thought): a varied combination or array of percepts and experiences, feelings, concepts, beliefs, values, and intuitions.

cognition (thought) - is the activity with which the mind engages, moving from percept to percept, identifying similarities and patterns making connections and determinations, inferencing and judgments.

consciousness - is a complex mental state in which we are aware like an internal set of eyes (or mind's eye) capable of seeing simultaneously, our thoughts (content of cognition) and their processes (reasoning), ourselves, and the environment around us, including intuition.

Intuition - relates to the periphery of ones consciousness and the extent of ones ability to sense the background of percepts which are in someway faintly connected with the percepts around which one is thinking (content of cognition). It may refer to a non-preferenced percept or a percept related in some way to a previously generated concept.

feeling - is a vague mental sense of recognition for the marked percepts which lie at the periphery of ones awareness. This mark will indicate whether a percept is comfortable or uncomfortable, painful or pleasurable, desirable or revolting.



definitions derived from a number of sources  Merriam-Webster, Visual Thesaurus and one other currently unknown.

The above table is the first in series of definitions I put together in 2005. I found that if I laid out all the information about each definition in front of me I could mentally synthesize them. The incentive was that I not only wanted to understand how I thought but that I wanted to explain some of the more complex thoughts I had concerning subjects of wisdom, truth, belief, & social consciousness.

From these definitions I was able to give form to the homogenous background of information of which I could not make sense (intuition).

definition derived from a number of sources  Merriam-Webster, Visual Thesaurus and one other currently unknown. images designed using MS Visio

The above image is an example of a methodology I developed for documenting my experience working with forms.

Each sphere represents a percept (or collection of percepts); a mental snapshot or thought. Originally I did it all on paper, then discovered MS Visio. The thing was, was that I could already see it in my head; the program just helped me show it. It was a great way to map spin off ideas, questions, errors and potential deviations. I did time audits, counted the number of steps, etc…). The biggest benefit was that you could show the most efficient method of getting from point A to point B within a given form. Some programs were monstrous to map like giant oaks, when all that was needed was a sampling.

The way I think is that I work outward and so when I map my thoughts they appear radial. that's why the mapping begins at the bottom of the page and works away from me.