2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43
Consciousness is a great phenomenon. N. Humphrey, professor of psychology at Oxford and Cambridge, in his book "Consciousness: the pollen of the soul", even directly states that consciousness is " a magic show that you put on stage in your head ».
What is this show? This is the assignment of properties to the objects surrounding a person that they do not possess. For example, the “beauty” of a thing is, in general, a property that does not exist in the objective world, the sensation of the beauty of something is a subjective phenomenon that depends on a personal “magic show”. W. James, the great psychologist at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, once wrote: “Imagine, if you can, as if you were suddenly deprived of all the emotions that the world evokes in you, and try to imagine this world as it is, by itself, without division into beloved or unloved, without hopes and worries. It will be practically impossible for you to reach such a state of denial, to the state of death."
Why do we need this endowment of the world with subjective properties that do not exist in it (like “the sun kissed”, “the world smiles at me today” or “how beautifully this bird sings!”)?
Humphrey has the answer: “ It is precisely by mistakenly attributing phenomenal properties to things that do not have them, that a human being endowed with consciousness begins to feel as if everything that surrounds him is filled with his own beauty. Psychologically speaking, you become a resident of an enchanted world.". AND " thanks to the growth of the joy of life, a previously unknown fascination with the world in which they live, an unknown sense of their own metaphysical importance, people in the course of evolution began to invest significantly more resources and efforts in their own survival"(And knowledge of this world, by the way, too).
However, phenomena with extremely positive characteristics are rare in nature. Consciousness is, alas, no exception. Under the influence of the people around (who, in fact, are the main factors in the formation of consciousness), the "enchanted world" may not turn out to be a cozy conventional Hobbitshire, but quite Mordor itself.
Consciousness projects a powerful three-dimensional picture onto the "colorless world" world, attributing certain characteristics to objectively neutral phenomena of this world (things or processes)
And what if on the path of the ray of consciousness, which is projected outward from our brain, there is a distorting prism, filled with initially destructive ideas?
As a result, two people are traveling in public transport, but one is surrounded by terrible zombies disguised as ordinary people, and the other exists in the world of elves. In the world of zombies, the natural behavior will be constant paranoia and a lot of precautions so that these terrible creatures do not "eat the brain". And in the world of elves, a person will be extremely gullible and naive. True, the world is arranged in such a way that negative "magic worlds" are more conducive to survival than exclusively positive ones, so the "world of elves" may well turn into a world of wolf packs …
Of course, if we are talking about mentally healthy people, "zombies" are not a literal perception, it is an attempt to express through a certain image the feeling of oppressive danger that a person has in the presence of other people. Mythological images and metaphors very well help to feel the world in which people exist. And it can be insanely exciting - discovering what world a person lives in, through what filter he perceives me or other people whom he sees in the interlocutor's place. I live in my own "enchanted world", and it is completely different.
I am talking to Mikhail, who contacted me with a problem: constant anxiety. She is like a background, which, however, appears only during contact with people. The fall of a meteorite or any other version of the end of the world - worries no more than an ordinary person. But with people it is difficult. I would like to distance myself from people with a barrier - and at the same time Mikhail does not at all give the impression of an introverted hermit who has a minimal need for contact with people. No, he is alive, emotional, worried - and afraid of people …
Strong emotions - our own and those of others - are also frightening. When there is a risk that someone close to you is very agitated (even about something that has nothing to do with Michael), then you need to urgently reassure, find an immediate solution, just to avoid meeting your partner's strong feelings. And with other people, it is also important to urgently do something so that they do not worry too much. Constant tension, willingness to help other people and, at the same time, if necessary, to squeeze oneself, to abandon some of their plans or expressions of feelings if they interfere with others. Communicating bad news to someone is a matter of great difficulty, exhausting and breeding a feeling of guilt - as if you yourself are the source of these troubles …
That is, we are not talking about the fact that people are dangerous for Mikhail, this is not the world of orcs and zombies, this is some other reality in which people are dangerous for themselves, and Mikhail himself is a source of an incomprehensible threat to others, from which others are needed protect. And if this threat cannot be prevented, a feeling of guilt overtakes that he did not cope, did not save other people …
What is this enchanted world? What personal myth did Mikhail find himself in? What kind of danger is spilled in the cities, forests and seas of this inner universe
The image came after several meetings, when some details of Mikhail's life became clear … Crystal people. All the people around Mikhail - and he himself - were fragile crystal people. A strong sound or emotional wave could shatter them into thousands of pieces. Therefore, strong emotions cannot be expressed in this world. If you see how a strong experience flares up inside some crystal person (in the form of, for example, a red or green glow) - immediately do something so that the person does not explode from this flaring-up, bursting radiance. With yourself - the same. If someone begins to swing dangerously from excitement, stop it urgently, because falling is death.
Existence in such a world requires a lot of skills and adherence to certain rules. How to walk between these crystal people? Extremely carefully, constantly squeezing yourself - God forbid, you will touch too much! It takes constant vigilance not to collide. Restrain yourself. And in general, it is better to keep in the shadows so that people do not have too many reasons to worry about you, and you have less guilt for the fact that someone crashed, and you did not see, did not save, did not have time … The background is eternal anxiety as an expression of readiness and vigilance …
There are "enchanted worlds" - the jungle, where "hit first, then give a voice." There are worlds where you are a saint carrying a cross among Bruegel's freaks, or a superman-savior, on whose decisions the future of the world or the whole life of specific people depends … Worlds of the Ice Age with alpha males and Neanderthals. Black and white measures of the Struggle between Good and Evil.
It is good that the awareness of these worlds allows consciousness to make adjustments and become the creator-progenitor of the history of the new Universe. For example, such a Universe in which people are not crystal beings, but young flexible trees bending in the wind, but straightening again and again. Shedding foliage in autumn - and giving new shoots in spring … You can make this world more diverse and realistic: there are not only young trees, but also indestructible millennial oaks, and fragile, withered from lack of nutrient moisture, plants. Wave of your hand - and the world is transformed. You can, of course, make crystal people into stone idols from Easter Island. With them you are free to do whatever you want. However, they are stone - they are stable, but insensitive and cold.
For example, I am somehow warmer and more joyful in a sunny grove on a summer day.
Illustrations: artist Andrey Ferez
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