I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately—both on– and offline—with the frustrating result that I cannot credit the source where I encountered a most unusual view of the unconscious. I do not think terribly highly of Sigmund Freud’s conceptualization of it, sexually suffused as it was. That said, he did expand the thinking on the mind and its workings back in his day; and his ideas continue to reverberate in psychology and medicine.
The idea that I encountered, however, is completely foreign to anything I’ve encountered in psychology. That’s part of the reason why I’m sharing it here. I’m curious as to others’ thoughts on it.
The idea is very simple, but its implications (if it is true; but I don’t think it can be tested) run very deep. It is: one’s body is actually one’s unconscious mind. This was all that was written; there was no explanation of what was meant. My interpretation of it is that one’s body holds on to the remnants of past experiences and thoughts—their emotional residue, if you will. (It occurred to me as I was spilling this out that there is some precedent for this idea, in the concept of “muscle memory”. That, however, is a much more simple phenomenon/model.)
Part of the reason this intrigues me is that my breathing issues have a significant emotional component; stress or panic can take me from clear breathing to wheezing in very short order. Is it the case that my lungs are so responsive because they’re holding decades of stress? That may sound farfetched—it does, even to me, to some degree—but I found that another culture has expressed this idea in quite a different way.
In Chinese traditional medicine, “organs”—put in quotation marks because there isn’t a 1:1 correspondence between western medicine and Chinese medicine as to what those terms mean—are categorized as being either yin or yang; they are also associated with an element, time of day, and an emotion (among other things). For example, the Heart is associated with joy and agitation; the Liver, anger and depression; and the Lung, grief.
If you are now wondering if I have truly gone ‘round the bend, I’m not saying I believe in all this. It is, however, giving me pause for thought.
[Being the Snake of Small Brain that I am, it didn’t even occur to me to search on the phrase before rambling my ramble here. Having done so now, I can affirm that my encounter with the phrase wasn’t from Candace Pert, nor was it attributed to her; but the essay on psychokinesiology my search turned up is also stimulating.]
An Intriguing Idea on the Unconscious Mind
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Different meaning
I read it differently. Instead I see it as an expression of Physicalism. The brain is part of the body, not separate from it. When we treat our bodies well (diet, exercise) the brain also benefits. When we treat the body badly the brain likewise suffers. This also works in the other direction, as you note. Unconscious or unacknowledged issues could express themselves as aches and pains. It makes sense since it is all connected.
My guess is that leading an examined life should greatly reduce these negative effects, since it removes unconscious and unacknowledged issues. At least I like to think so. "Mens sana in corpore sano" and all that.
Given your example I would not say that your lungs specifically are holding the accumulated stress, but your body (lungs and brain included) is. How it is expressed is probably highly variable and individual/circumstance dependent.
But there are things that may be strictly physical. Sorting psychological issues may do little or no good in these cases.
Well, that is enough of my rambling. I may comment again when I have given the matter more thought. It certainly is an interesting idea.
Cellular Memory
Sunni,
18 months ago I wrote an essay comparing and merging the ideas of - yes - L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics, and biologist Dr. Bruce Lipton's The Biology of Belief: http://www.partialobserver.com/article.cfm?id=3247
Having re-read it myself, it's seems rather long, but the gist of the idea is that our cells have "minds" that remember environmental trauma, and they react the same way to similar, though not identical, environments. Maybe in the first traumatic event, fear was a natural reaction; the new event isn't actually traumatic, but similar environmental signals are present and that causes one's body to feel the fear again.
I didn't use the term "unconscious mind" but it seems that the idea may be similar.
Thinking this way has helped me become at least consciously aware, when I begin to feel anxious or stressed, that such feelings are based on illusions derived from memories of past events, and are not a rational reaction to the present reality. This often reduces or eliminates these feelings in me.
Take care and keep up the great blogging!
Not intending to channel Spock ...
... but I did find your essay fascinating. And I didn’t expect that, given my deep suspicion of Hubbard and Scientology. Thanks for sharing it with us, James.
I agree with you that the ideas are similar. Also, a fair bit of your writing at the end of the essay strikes me as rather Zen–like.
Paging Uncle Warren for the neat observations on fear.
Fear at the root
Oh! That's my cue. Some of what James quotes from Hubbard seems to ring true ...
"In times of real danger, instinct saves their lives, and it saves our lives. Fear, on the other hand, sucks the life out of us by sensing danger where none exists ... It is at the root of our hate, anger, violence, greed, and lust for power. We seek to dominate for fear of being dominated. We want what we don't have, we resent what others have."
But since the original source is Hubbard, and I share your deep suspicion, I found myself wanting to disagree even when I tended to agree. Fascinating. Are we, errr, AFRAID to find truth when it comes from certain sources?
Much to mull here.
Interesting that you bring that up
Heh. The first thought I had early on in James’ article was, “Hubbard wasn’t the first to describe the engram!” And I know I do have biases against some authors ... sometimes even for reasons that I think are sound.
About that engram
Actually I thought the engram stuff was a reflection of Hubbard's original calling as a science-fiction author. The descriptions of what fear is, ring true. The engram reminded me of the ridiculous explanation of The Force as microscopic intelligent creatures in Star Wars Episode I, or whatever that babble was about. But when I reached that fork in the road that veered science one way, humanities the other, I took the language/philosophy courses, so I'll concede the possibility if there really is evidence out there.
It could be
That could very well be; I’m not familiar with Hubbard’s scifi either. According to this Wikipedia page, the first person to use the term “engram” was Richard Semon. And oooh, look! His page ties us back to the original conversation, albeit in a little different way.
Regarding evidence of engrams: when I was in school nothing of that sort had yet been found. Today, I suppose it would depend upon what one considers to be solid evidence. Loops of neuronal activity have been discovered in many areas of the brain; and further, the more the loop is activated, the faster the message is carried. That alone suggests some kind of somatic “memory”—but is it an engram? It could be, but it doesn’t have to be; at least not in the cognitive–memory sense both Semon and Hubbard meant.
I was biased, too
Thanks for the feedback, Sunni and Uncle Warren.
I came upon Dianetics at a library book sale, where I picked up several books for a donation of my choosing. I don't think I would have ever purchased it in any other circumstance.
And as I wrote in the essay, I couldn't even get through the whole book. It seemed to be the work of a huckster, but also seemed to hit a few profound nails on the head.
I have dabbled (not delved) in some Eastern mystical concepts, and that has definitely influenced my outlook. Hubbard and Lipton served to recover more missing pieces in the jigsaw puzzle called life.
Pointers (if any?)
Can you point interested parties to any other essays on this subject, James?
EFT and other energy medicine
I have first hand, nearly five years experience with EFT and its effectiveness. This is a very interesting report of some aspects of it. Eastern medicine and acupuncture form an important foundation for most or all of it.
Energy
Psychology: A Review of the Preliminary Evidence
David Feinstein, Ph.D.
Energy psychology (EP) is comprised of a set of physical and cognitive procedures designed to bring about therapeutic shifts in targeted emotions, cognitions, and behaviors (Gallo, 2004). It has been used as an independent psychotherapeutic approach, as an adjunct to other therapies, and as a back home tool for emotional self-management. In all three applications, while the method is grounded in established psychological principles regarding affect, cognition, and behavior, it also incorporates concepts and techniques from non-Western systems for healing and spiritual development. Specifically, energy psychology, which is a derivative of energy medicine (Feinstein & Eden, 2008), postulates that mental disorders and other health conditions are related to disturbances in the body's electrical energies and energy fields.
Many of the body's electrical systems and energy fields are understood, readily verified, and a focus of established interventions. The application of lasers and magnetic pulsation, for instance, can be described in terms of specific, measurable wavelengths and frequencies that have been found to be therapeutic (Oschman, 2003). Other postulated energies are considered to be of a more subtle nature and have not been directly measured by reproducible methods. While such subtle energies are generally not recognized in Western health care frameworks, they are at the root of numerous ancient systems of healing and spiritual development that are not only still in wide use throughout the world but increasingly being utilized in the West (Meyers, 2007).
Around the bend is where its at
"The body is one's unconscious mind."
Or even conscious mind. I see us as creation machines limited only by our tools (body, physical, mental, tech). The interesting thing is that the creation process can manifest through the body. Your stress example is just one of the ways the mind, creating (or responding to) a situation, uses the memory of the past and combines it with the anxiety of an unknown future, creating a stressful situation in the present (which is all but ignored).
The body gets the instructions (STRESS TIME!!) and responds immediately. The body follows orders (unconciously) and takes whatever measures to "create" the mind's idea or plan and fleshes out the stress in tension, respiratory, mental reactions. The cells get to work to alter the chemistry to match the instructions from the brain.
What's interesting is the mind is a weak leader. It doesn't matter what the fuel is. It can be fear, joy, peace, hate, love, stress, anxiety, or any emotion. The mind will supply the receptors for whatever the given input is. So take someone mired in the past. Their regret, failure, pain, etc, is the input. The mind indiscriminately accepts the input and responds chemically to create the environment in the body to jive with the instructions (emotion).
One example is when I'm driving and someone cuts me off. What is my response? It depends. My body might immediately react with anger. I have a split second to choose a path based on the emotion. What's interesting is I don't always have a choice in the emotion that arises. But when anger emerges, ideally I recognise it as irrational, stay present to the moment (driving, peace, calm) and let it pass. The alternative is to not step in, let the anger manifest, speed up, get him back, cut him off, and let the ego have a carnival. "I showed him." It's hilarious. The simple conscious act of pausing the emotion to reflect on its validity is one key to remaining present and living a life of peace. Like anything, after a number of these events, the mind unconsciously realises that the carnival of drama isn't going to get the food it needs. It gets the spark but that's it. Pretty soon there isn't even a spark. Guy cuts you off, you adapt by slowing down and creating room, and it's as if it never happened. The mind has no food to feed the ego.
Now consider operating from a position of presence. We have the ability to retain highly detailed memory of the past including smells, sounds, tastes that can arise at times. Very important for future learning--understanding the past. We also have the ability to project possibilities into the future. But neither really exist as far as we are concerned! Our mind doesn't know that though and it acts as if both are realities--we carry past pain and future worry as if they are actually happening now. This is where I've come to understand the illusion of time. But the present moment is the the eye of the hurricane. It is the clean slate of the creator. So if the mind isn't the best pilot, what is?
I'm experiencing that quieting the chatter mind, letting it wander to boredom, yet remaining in the present, allows for passion/essence/spirit/calling/true-self/whatever you want to call it, to have a chance to run things. Discovering that sense of direction (which is really creation) sets the mind on a task that resonates with a deeper understanding, eliminating much of the drama the mind creates out of boredom. Allowing the mind to peter out in order to let a more connected consciousness with nature & others to operate, it's as if you tune into a new frequency and pretty soon the power of the mind gets put to its proper use--fleshing out stuff from inside. In this case, it gets to flesh out things of the spirit, the soul, the passion. What a better way to live!
Candace Pert
Yes ... I think you’re right. After adding my comment about Candace Pert to my original post, I got her book titled Molecules of Emotion. I’ve not finished it yet, but I think what you’re saying is where she’s headed.
As to the rest of your observations, it appears you’re further down your path than I am mine; but our paths are similar. And I’ll be offering a book review soon that will provide support for my assertion.
Paths
I don't know. I feel like I made a trade somewhere and based on the stuff that comes out, I can almost pinpoint it. Your path has provided me so much new understanding as I explore fleshing out a life of liberty. In that respect I'd say you've helped with the road construction and know the path well--as you seem to live it.
Mine started with a heavy christian foundation. And while I explored my faith and its limits, I really only prayed for three things. I figured if I was going to ask a god (at that time a personal god) for anything, I wanted wisdom, understanding and discernment. I figured these three would be a good compass for life if the prayers were answered.
But what happens when the prayer is answered and the god you were praying to gets destroyed in the process? The wisdom path (haha--how arrogant) is the mirror path. Understanding and discernment can be had through observation and open-mindedness. But wisdom carries a price--the death of ego. Self-exploration meant digging and facing the things that I hated in others. (The things we hate or react to are the things we struggle with or at least deserves further examination.)
Little pointers like this and others (Everyone is your guru) for example, have been used as indicators to force the dialogue with self and try to analyze/disect to a point of new understanding. It wasn't until a few years ago that I hacked out a simple life in the midst of raising a family and had time to just sit. The Eckhart Tolles books gave me a good lens that helped identify and eliminate drama (past & future anxiety). All of a sudden (40+4 years) things started to become clear and simply cutting drama out brought a resultant peace like none other.
You have an awesome path because it is spawned from your own creativity. You've enlightened so many through the wisdom of liberty, anarchy, food, fun... Whatever you are present to on your path can and will be as profound as any discovery ever made. The open mind and wanderer wirings can be chaotic. I'm living that. It's harder to cobble together a living though. Random jobs, new experience, new career starts and finally realising there is an artist way to life and that it tends to not make money the focus don't mix well in a consumer society.
I affirm your path and everyone's for that matter. A few years ago it occurred to me that a person could live a valid and satisfying social existence via a computer. The implication for me was, "holy shit--i better start living outside more." If my tools give out and all I have is an online community, so be it. But right now the senses need exercise and the world is big. It took a sharp knife to start cutting out all the time sucks but pretty soon the benefits of space in life and a clearer head proved it worthwhile.
Half the crap I write I don't even know where it comes from. I certainly couldn't rewrite it in the same way and I often forget I'd even written some of it. Yet I think back to the simple instructions I gave myself early on: seek wisdom, understanding & discernment, and it looks like that program is still running. Wisdom comes from failure, foolishness, flirting with boundaries, crossing them, confronting the self, seeing the guru in the dude that just violated me or my ego somehow. Killing the spiritual seeker helped as well. The unanswerable question (why are we here) can leave one flirting with insanity. Having thought I had the answer (christianity) to seeing the answer isn't available in this wiring made me kill that seeker and cease the mind activity of trying to solve it. The seeker is a futurist, which is fine, but being present still allows for the same learning along with the peace that comes with presence. The seeker craves the anxiety of the next thing but that is really just feeding a mind that is bored.
Thanks to you Sunni for providing this forum/playground of thought.