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Building A Coherent Belief System
Graduate Media Studies Colloquia

 Fall 2015 presentation 

October 7th 2015
Queens College, CUNY 
65-30 Kissena Blvd. Queens, NY 
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"METAPHORS AND ANALOGICAL REASONING are the central means by which we project structure across levels. We use schemas as source domains for constructing a metaphor, as when UP-DOWN is used in the metaphor MORE IS UP. When we say that the stock market is up, we refer back to our childhood experiences of stacking things in a pile, where more things make a higher pile. When we try to understand one domain of experience in terms of structures from a different domain, we usually strip some detail away from the donor.

The power of metaphors, poetic similes, Aesop's parables, analogies, maps, and economists' models is that they permit us to carry out reasoning within a familiar domain and subsequently map our findings back to the domain of interest. The Macintosh desktop metaphor allowed people to operate in the familiar realm of folders, documents, and trash cans rather than having to think about those pesky directories, files, and deletions." William Calvin The Cerebral Code 

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So in building a belief system, we rely on exposure and repetition to create the hierchary, AKA as the 'levels', which speaks to the process of abstraction Korzybski detailed for us. But we're more than simple filters of our experience. We are filled with biases from the get go...and those create 'layers' of memory that warp both the way we sort for our future and recall our past. Here's a few ways to break this other side of the coin down...

"To iterate means to repeat. However iteration should be distinguished from simple repetition, which may produce nothing. In the process of iteration a series of actions is carried out, the result of each action in the series becoming the object of the same action the next time it is performed… Recursion is related to iteration by a simple twist of definition.  Instead of the result of an action being the object of the repeated action on the next occasion it is performed, as in iteration, in recursion the object of the action becomes itself; in other words the action becomes a self-referential one….Iteration takes place in a series of steps in time, while recursion takes place outside time or rather embraces all times in its definition. Iteration works forwards, by taking a value and then building on it to produce the next in a series; recursion, on the other hand, takes a value and defines it in terms of itself.. Recursion and iteration can be seen to be inverse processes rather like multiplication and division, or addition and subtraction. What is inverted is time: iteration takes place in time as it moves forward, while recursion involves an apparent backward step in time, implied by the element of self-reference in its definition." Shakespeare as Mathematician

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To bring the Structural Differential into this, Korzybski understood how abstraction had both a capacity for depth in the moment (recursion) and meaning over time (iteration) in our evaluations.

In addition to considering the 'time', or order, aspect of abstracting in the vertical plane of the model, we can also envision a horizontal succession of these abstracting processes, one after the other, for every moment of our lives. In this case, with successive abstracting processes, we can picture the feedback, or circularity, arrow projecting from our prior inference to our next experience:  

In terms of differentiation, we 'should' note that

  1. What happens (Event) is NOT ...
  2. What I sense non-verbally within my nervous system (Object), which is NOT ...
  3. What I can describe verbally about my sensing (Description), which is NOT ...
  4. The meaning(s) I generate based on what happened; etc. (Inferences)

Similarly, our experience/inference/meaning at Time 4 is
NOT the same' experience/inference/meaning as Time 1. 

 

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If you're interested in structure you go by iteration's rules and look for the exceptions to self that lead to 'what's next'. If you're interested in function you frame by recursion's rules and look for ways to expand the self in the moment. Levels or layers? It's those implicit choices that shape the nature of our belief system as we develop biologically.

 
 
 

 

 

 

"Levels, Jerry... levels!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Layers! Onions have layers.
Ogres have layers.

You get it? We both have layers."

 

 

 

 

I'll tie this thought up with a graphic from "Chaos & Complexity" 

 

 

On an interpersonal level we can use the nonverbal nature of somatic exchange to tap into the layers of neurobiological circuits we use to regulate reactivity. When we categorize a social exchange, it's called period doubling. We are focused on expanding and exploring an awareness of our cognitive and visceral dissonance. In that way, we connect our instinctive enteric nervous system to our central nervous system and create a social congrency that Stephen Porges calls "stage 3 dyadic communication' which fosters deeper human bonding.  

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On an intrapersonal level we can use any number of topological maps of the body to tap into the layers of somatic recall we all possess. For period-doubling, we focus on expanding awareness of the hands and how they can alter our experience of our energy, balance and focus. By adding multiple connotations, we create an experiential anatomy that gives us more ways to naturally adapt to and face uncertainty. 

 

 

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On a memetic level we can use Clare Graves' model of vMemes that was refined by Spiral Dynamics to access the layers of social conditioning we absorb as we grow and develop. For period-doubling, the key aspect here is that we can combine the recursive and iterative aspects of period-doubling by applying the principle Ken Wilber called 'transcend and include'...

 

 

"The warm-colored spirals (beige, red, orange, and yellow) focus on personal experience, defining yourself and your individuality. The cool-colored spirals (purple, blue, green, and turquoise) focus on community and group experience, finding your place in and fitting into the whole." (link)

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On an narrative level we can use chronologically-oriented timelines to visually unpack the layers of undifferenciated kyros (moments of decision/indecision) we all experience as a felt-sense. For period-doubling, we focus on expanding awareness of various time frames, especially those concerned with present to future (goals) and future to future (speculation/wishes) as we crossover from thought to action. This helps us recognize where our intentions are rooted.

Moving our attention off the 'Immediate Self' to the "Extended Self" and then into the specific spatial locations of these time frames is a powerful somatic tool for us to entrain. In this way we can move beyond the body, outside the mind and into an open identity. But only the soma is suited to carry us there... 

 

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Back to the Biases
Developmentally we enter into and entrain 4 somatic orientations during the first 4 years of life. Each one installs signatures to help us adapt to and eventually influence our world. One of these organically become our 'primary domain', based on how often we had a felt-sense of coherence while in that particular somatic orientation. As we mature, to make 'order' out of the 'chaos' we confront, this inherent bias towards our primary domain shapes our social identity. It's only after we advance to adulthood that the life story or narrative is apparent to us. So what is this raw turbulence we must ride out to literally believe in ourselves and have the capacity to believe in others despite all the obstacles that seem to dot our path?

 

  

                                           From a somatic standpoint, we have this innate compass to guide us...


The PHYLOsomatic orientation provides us with REFERENCES to return us to STABILITY. We must feel SAFE in our environment before anything positive can happen. This is called NEUROCEPTION. It provides us our WILL TO LIVE

The ONTOsomatic orientation provides us with PREFERENCES to allow us to handle the trials of INSTABILITY. The whole science of NEUROCARDIOLOGY is based on biologically-policing our field around us to seek and secure these default settings that lead to a purposeful individuation. It provides us our WILL TO WIN

The ECOsomatic orientation provides us with DEFERENCES to handle the TRANSITIONS we make from STABILITY to INSTABILITY. This is embodied by the process of  self-directed NEUROPLASTICITY.
It provides us our WILL TO LEARN.


The EXOsomatic orientation provides us with the OMNIPRESENCE of our subjective experience to INTEGRATE all the other orientations into a system of being. It is called our AUTONOETIC CONSCIOUSNESS - It provides our WILL TO GROW.

For more about The 4 Domains click here

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NLP Demonstration
With the map of the Structural Differential and the compass of the 4 Domains, we're able to take the behavioral algorithms of old school NLP and give you a way to apply and even nuance these tools. Here's some examples from my work to test the boundaries of your BS (belief system).

 

For all 12 Blissful Practices, click here

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#KeepYourFaithInChaos

 

 

Click here to review Part 1 of this presentation