Psychology
Psychology is my favorite reading topic. I even wanted to become a psychologist. On this page I want to discuss three psychological paradigms that may help understand what I am trying to convey with Signpost.
Default Mode System
The first of these is the Default Mode System. Psychologists believe there are two main systems::
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Active Mode System. This system is active when we are doing something.
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Default Mode System. This system is active when we are not engaged in activity.
For me, the Default Mode comes in two flavors: ruminating and attention/awareness. Note: I may be misunderstanding the default mode.
For me, there are three modes of attention:
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Abstraction, when we are lost in thought [one of two default mode states: ruminating]
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Absorption, when we are lost in doing [active state]
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Awareness, when we are passively experiencing [one of two default mode states: attention]
Interpretive Sensory Access
According to ISA, we know ourselves in the same way that we know others.
Alexithymia
Alexithymia is not having words for emotions. Alexithymics have feeling, but they weren’t socialized as children, they didn’t learn what those feelings meant.
Default Mode System
This system is active when we are not. It “runs here and there of its own accord, pursuing trains of thought like a frisky dog let off the leash in a park”. Really? Yes, in my experience, sometimes. Yet not always. There is a “curious” mode: looking. Here again, language. For me it seems as if there are two sub modes: ruminating and attention. Attention is turned outward, rumination is turned inward.
There is some evidence that the wandering mind is the cause of unhappiness. Psychologists have found that what people were thinking seemed to be a better predictor of their happiness than what they were doing.
Everyone has experienced the attentive state. The difference is in the time spent in that state. Most people spend most of their time in rumination. Experienced meditators spend most of their time in attention, the meditative state.
Interpretive Sensory Access
According to ISA, we know ourselves in the same way that we know others. However, I wasn’t reflected/socialized by my parents, so I don’t know myself very well. My search has been for someone who is direct and straight forward.
Alexithymia
Most people experience emotions as “I feel X”, however Alexithymics sometimes don’t experience emotions as “I feel X”. They feel the Vedanas (feelings) in their body, the turmoil in the gut from anger, the tears in their eyes from sadness. They feel that turmoil, they feel those tears. And have been taught that they mean anger or sadness. For a lot of emotions, they have never been given the words.
That is what Alexithymia is: not having words for emotions.
When you look at them, you see the emotions: it is on their face, it is in their body. And you assume they are experiencing themselves being angry, experiencing themselves as sad.
When you ask them how they feel, they often don’t know what to say.
If they are experiencing the Vedanas of anger, they can tell you they are angry. They have been told that enough times.
If they are experiencing the Vedanas of sadness, they can tell you they are sad. They have been told that enough times.
But they lack the words to attach to many Vedanas, expecially for social emotions, and can’t tell you how they are feeling.
Yes, I do feel happy, sad: all the “physical” emotions. No, I do not feel hurt, jealous: all the “social” emotions.
I am sure I have a normal range of emotions. But some I don’t experiece. I experience only happiness or sadness, a little anger now and then. There is something I call love, it seems to be more of a “flavor” of happiness or sadness (yes, for me love can bring tears). I call it my “quiet love”
Now here is an interesting thing: emotions come from Sankaras and Alexithymics can get just as trapped as you.
Now here is an interesting thing: when the Vedanas go away, so does the anger, so does the fear. They don’t hold on to anger, they don’t hold onto sadness. They don’t suffer.
My biggest problem is simple: I was never socialized. I don’t understand what many Vedanas mean – to me and to others. I say Vedanas because I mean “body sensations” not “emotions”.
There are two kinds of imagination: spontaneous and controlled. Spontaneous imagination allows us create new things by seeing what isn’t there. Controlled imagination allows us to create new things by seeing what is there in new ways. Most people have both, however there are people who are missing spontaneous imagination. And they have a hard time in relationships.