To know or not to know
We do not know if before the beginning there was knowledge at all, but since we think we have knowledge now, we think that there would be knowledge to come, at least at some point after the beginning. Before the beginning we do not know if it, if anything, was similar or different from what we think we know now. We can only imagine what was, if anything. If so, if different, it cannot be described unless in terms of the known.
If we say ‘I don’t know’, at least we know that we don’t know something, if anything. Not knowing what you don’t know makes it impossible to even be aware of what is beyond your present knowledge, or even to imagine that there would be anything.
Nor can we imagine what is impossible to know because we have no means of sensing it. All we can hope for is to improve our techniques of sensing information, our ability to select what’s relevant and rely on our brain to put it all together in a coherent way, which will allow us to gain insight in how it all works: that is, if it would be different from what we think it is. For what if we think what it is, is no more than our senses make of it?
If it is what it is because we think it is that way, reality would be no different from what we think it is. If some of us think the same way about what it is, it might seem that reality is not much different from what we think it is, because we all came to the same conclusion. We might think that a reality exists independent of what we think of what it is, and the best way to know about it is to have some sort of consensus about what it might be. But what if reality exists only in our thinking? What if we exist only in our thinking? What if our thinking only exists in our thinking, would our thinking exist at all? And if everything we perceive exists somehow or another independent of our
thinking, how much is our thinking capable to change things, or do they only change in our perception? And if not through our thinking as such, is our interaction between our perception of what we think things are and what they really are, of any influence on changing what things really are?
A scientific theory is our best guess at some point in time of what we perceive. We do not know if our perception has any relationship with something different from us. Any representation of the world outside, if any, is produced by the (conscious) brain in cognitive terms of spaces, shapes, geometrical forms, symbols (language, mathematics, images), etc.
Just a few centuries ago mankind wasn’t aware (didn’t think) of how far time and space stretched into the past and outside, nor do we yet know now how long it will last and how far it will go.
A Black Box
Our ancestors were primarily too busy surviving to spend much time about thinking, but as soon as they had their act together, having a crop nearby and making sure useful animals would not run away, they started thinking about others, themselves and – on a more abstract level – thinking itself.
When an airplane crashes, the black box (which actually has a bright colour) from the cockpit tells you what happened just before the accident: the conversations that went on between the pilots, all the technical details of the machine. For a very long time the thinking process was like a black box: you know sensory information comes in, gets processed somehow and results in some kind of behavior.
During the twentieth century cognitive neuroscience identified a network of neuronal locations that serve independent functions, and the interaction between them, which yield the integrated, holistic behavior that humans exhibit. Neurons take in information, make a ‘decision’ about it following some relatively simple rules, and then, by changes in their activity levels, pass it along at chemical or electrical synapses to other neurons. Learning involves primarily changes in the synaptic strength between neurons in the brain’s circuitry. The size and shape of sensory and motor maps in the cortex can be modified with experience. (Cognitive Neuroscience; the Biology of the Mind; 2009).
So when a human brain crashes, it is more difficult to figure out what happened: all you can rely on is your memory, but that may have been damaged as well in the process. And since memory may alter how we perceive something and attentional constraints affect how information is processed, how do you know what is going on inside? Clean questioning is a way of mapping the information in your brain. A neuroscientist may be able to record thát something is going on inside and perhaps what kind of information it is but only you can know whát it is about and you are the only one authorized to make decisions about your life with it.
Empiricism is the idea that all knowledge comes from sensory experience, so let’s explore this a bit: have someone ask you the following questions or record and play them:
Close your eyes and direct your attention to the position of your body:
“How is your body positioned in the space around you?”
[e.g.: you are standing upright, you are sitting or lying down.]
“How does it feel where your body touches anything in the space around you?”
[e.g.: your feet touch the ground, your hands grab a branch, you feel the wind on your face.]
“What is the impact of this touching?”
[e.g.: you feel a deep pressure when your hands hold on to the branch; you feel the warmth of the sun on your face and your feet touch the ground lightly when you let go of the branch and lie down in the grass, feeling the texture of the grass on your back and a little pain in your arms.]
Find a position that you are comfortable in, close your eyes again and direct your attention to your breathing:
“Are you smelling anything in particular?”
[E.g.: the smell of fresh-cut grass.]
“When you sniff, does it become more dominant?”
[E.g.: you notice it is a bit humid as well.]
“When you turn your head, does it come from a certain direction?”
[E.g.: it comes from the direction of the garden.]
“What kind of odor is it?”
[E.g.: a ‘very natural’ odor.]
“What does it remind you of?”
[E.g.: ‘the green green grass of home!’.]
Close your eyes and direct your attention to your surroundings:
Do you hear any sound?
What kind of sound do you hear?
From what direction does it come?
How far away is it?
Is it continuous or does it alternate?
What is the intensity?
Anything else?
What kind of?
Which direction?
How far?
Continuous of alternating?
What intensity?
Anything else?
Etc.
Now open your eyes just a little bit and look around you:
Where are you in relation to the space around you?
Turn around slowly.
Keep turning.
Do you distinguish any shapes?
Do they move or are they stable?
Do they have a colour?
What size do they have?
At what distance are they approximately?
What kind of shapes do you distinguish?
Open your eyes and have a closer look:
Is there anything else about those shapes?
Do they have a shadow?
Which would you like to approach?
Which would you need to avoid?
Orient towards something that smells good:
Of the shapes you would like to approach, which ones look eatable?
Try one of them
What does it taste like?
What does it tell you?
So let’s make some room:
Lean onto something, including your head, and close your eyes.
Have someone read to you, or record and play it (including an alarm at 15 minutes), the following:
“Notice your breathing.”
“How far does it go?”
“Does it have a shape?”
“Allow yourself to be carried by its moving.”
“What kind of movement is that?”
“And when you’re being [e.g. rocked] by your breathing, where are you in respect to your breathing?”
“And when you breathe in a little deeper, what happens to you?”
“And while you’re breathing, what’s outside of your breathing?”
“How far does it go?”
“Does it have a shape?”
“Do you sense anything from it?”
“Anything else?”
“And while you keep on breathing, what’s outside of that?”
“How far does it go?”
“Does it have a shape?”
“Do you sense anything from it?”
“Anything else?”
“Take a break.”
As a facilitator, it is interesting to watch what people find themselves doing when allowed to make a choice of their own: changing posture [e.g.: stretch their legs], communicating to others [e.g.: sharing the experience], having a bit of fun, taking care of their needs [e.g.: grab some coffee] or somebody else’s [e.g.: feeding the cat], restoring order in the environment [e.g.: sweeping the autumn leaves], planning for later [e.g.: making a grocery list].
Since I specifically asked for sensory information, the behavior during the break is likely to be somehow connected to it as a result of the effect of priming, which will probably also influence the choices you make in the next process. So let’s explore this a bit.
“Now that you have returned from your break, do you find yourself in a different space than before?”
[If so],
“What is similar about this space and the space of A?”
“What is different about this space and the space of A?”
“Walk around at random, stop if you feel like it, absorb the sensory information around you, notice any emotional reactions, consider your thoughts and feelings, continue to explore the space around you, go back to a space you stopped before, or wherever your feet take you.”
“Come back to the space of A.”
“Which of the spaces you visited reminded you of the past?”
“Which of the spaces you visited represent the present?”
“Which of the spaces you visited made you think about the future?”
“Is there a connection between any of these spaces and any other?”
“What kind of connection?”
“Which of these spaces are connected to the space of A?”
“What kind of connection?”
Represent these connections in the space you are in or make a map [e.g.: you could connect the spaces by a piece of rope or draw a network].
“Select a future space that is connected to the space of A and think about an answer to the following question:
‘What would you like to have happen?’.”
So let’s explore C and remember this process called ‘clean space’ is about evoking emotions, not about representing some situation. We are only using space because anywhere you go, a combination of sensory information you perceive in that particular space is likely to trigger different memories and provoke various thoughts.
“Again, walk around at random, stop if you feel like it, absorb the sensory information around you, notice any emotional reactions to it, consider your subsequent feelings and thoughts.”
“Continue to explore the space around you, go back to a space you stopped before, or wherever your feet take you.”
“Now, select a few spaces (no more than five) that seem to provide more information than others or by which you are more intrigued and visit them in any order that intuitively makes sense to you.”
“Keep moving among them.”
“Speed up a little”.
“Find a rhythm to your moving around.”
“Dance!”
