Sunday 23 March 2008

What are we? Filling the void with matchsticks.

What are we?

A void, a vacuum, an emptiness that we hopelessly try to fill in with a myriad of activities crammed tight in the tiniest of spaces in respect with the vastness of the void we try to fill in.

Our every day lives is packed with activities, be that the jobs we do to finance our ways of living, the entertainment methods we choose, our enjoyment, our social lives.

But if we stray, accidentally or not, even for a second from the fervor that our activities bring forth, our minds wander, into the void that surrounds us. We are immediately filled with unease, we find ourselves lost within its unyielding emptiness. Primal angst engulf us.

Monday 17 March 2008

Curb not, embrace anger. Instabilities triggered by emotions induce bifurcations to new attractors.

In the "Mind and Brain, Chaos and Quantum Mechanics" publication, in the chapter dealing with the non-linear synapse, page 22, it is mentioned that:

"Such non-linearities make it possible for unstable fluctuation at the synaptic vesicle or ion channel level within a critically poised neuron, to precipitate cellular instability and subsequent global neurosystem bifurcation."

What drew my attention, was the precipitation of cellular instability and the subsequent global system bifurcation. As a result of the ensued bifurcation the system's phase space is explored and a new attractor emerges; along the lines mentioned elsewhere in the paper, namely in the Electrodynamics chapter, page 18:

"... falling into an existing attractor in the case of a recognised odour, but bifurcating to form a new attractor in the case of a newly learned stimulus."

Leaving aside the case for the stimulus eliciting the response and concentrating on the matter of the instability precipitated by the unstable fluctuation at the synaptic vesicle or ion channel level, as well as, the non-linearities as being responsible, for a later use.

It occurred to me, that instability is a common feature in the lives of human individuals, triggered and driven by the emotional aspects of our character. Our whole being is in turmoil, when we are grappled by our emotions, being triggered by unstable fluctuations, in whatever way these can be imagined. It is what kick starts a bout of emotional outbursts. Fluctuations presented as changes in the usual patterns of activities, encountered in every day life. Even slight, minute differences, are enough.

Such fluctuations have also been refered to as

"... the fluctuating energy level that is responsible for varying physical and mental states.."

Emotions, their significance obvious as they are described as

"Emotions are evolutionary adaptations, as they enhance an organism's ability to experience, reproduce and evaluate its environment and thus increase its likelihood to survive and reproduce, by providing the simplest plans for evolutionary most common actions needed,..."

and as well

"Our emotions are a valuable source of information. Our emotions help us make decisions. Studies show that when a person's emotional connections are severed in the brain, he can not make even simple decisions. Why? Because he doesn't know how he will feel about his choices."

We rely heavily on our emotions to guide us in life, being the source of information, but not only. It is foremost, because of the ability conferred to us, to create new information.

Therefore, it is not a matter of

"Take measures such as anger management training to tame your beast!"

.... a person void of emotional content? Sanitizing ourselves from the most valuable tools we have at hand, our emotions? What leads, what induces states on a par to schizophrenia?

"People diagnosed with schizophrenia usually experience a combination of positive (i.e. hallucinations, delusions, racing thoughts), negative (i.e. apathy, lack of emotion, poor or non-existant social functioning), and cognitive (disorganized thoughts, difficulty concentrating and/or following instructions, difficulty completing tasks, memory problems)."

.... experience apathy, lack of emotion, poor or non-existant social functioning. It is not our emotions that are at fault, but the inability, the unwillingness to learn how to handle what our emotions bring forth.

Instead, it sounds more promising to do what this website proclaims:

"Give your feelings, good or bad, full rein and you will be bursting with energy."

Therefore our goal should not be to curb our emotions but instead to learn from them, to take advantage of the possibilities they open to us, to create new attractors. As emotional engagement brings about instabilities in our being, and the instabilities bifurcations, bifurcations to new attractors, which equates to learning. Learning which provides solutions to problems we are asked to deal with.

So after we recovered from, or fresh out of an emotional outburst, we should take stalk and capitulate on what we learned out of it. Identifying the new attractors which have been created as a results of the induced bifurcations.

Any other way or ignore and continue on, our lives are left with an emotional baggage to carry along with its whatever sinister implications, for us and the lives of the individuals around us.

Should embrace our chaotic lives.