Subjective details

In 2013 I churned out 199 posts for my blog about changing minds. The intention was that posts should include subjective stuff as well as the traditional intellectual stuff. Why that intention? Because the subjective stuff is there. It seemed irrational, perhaps even dishonest to exclude it. There was also a feeling to use aspects of Ken Wilber’s all quadrants all levels (AQAL) system.

Goleman’s concept of ‘focus’ is also useful here. He recognises the existence of unconscious churn – huge amounts of it. The default mindbrain churns old stuff together with new stuff and generates bits of stories composed of facts and feelings. A few of these stories are highlighted by the spotlight of attention focussed on them. They then appear for a short time in the conscious part of the mindbrain.

The external stuff gets to the mindbrain by stimulating the various sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin). The sense organs generate electrical impulses which go to special bits of the mindbrain for decoding. Having been decoded the sense data is made available to other parts of the brain. This makes it easy to have a holistic view of sensory inputs at a given moment in time (eg the rustle of leaves and the smell of a lion).


The internal stuff includes information about (a) the physical state of the various tissues and organs (eg blood supply to the skin, depth of breathing, heart rate etc) and (b) the contents of short term, long term and hard wired memory.

The hard wired memories are instincts. They are located in the part of the old brain that we share with our reptile and fish ancestors. A good example is the startle response (also known as the fight or flight reaction). We do not have to learn those behaviours – they are part of our genetic inheritance.

Long term memories result from cultural patterns of conditioning and enculturation. The facts and feelings that give rise to our world view result from the learning process that goes with us from womb to tomb. Much of what we learned and experienced in early childhood is with us still.

The traditional view of Short Term Memory (STM) is that it lasts for 15 to 30 seconds. There is a Magic number 7 (plus or minus 2) which refers to the number of items that can be remembered at a given time. I have been with my mobile phone for four years. It has an eleven digit number. I can remember the first five but have not been able to memorise the last six digits (wonky STM!).

The simplistic STM model has been replaced by a more elaborate Working Memory Model where there is a central executive combining information from two loops - one deals with spoken and written material and the other deals with visual and spatial information. The central executive also draws on information held in the large database which is long-term memory. Like so many other units in the brain the memory systems are in constant churn

I write stories and publish them on a blog. The individual stories are fairly well focussed. Other people do the same thing. Some people will struggle with the writing process more than others. Those who can enter the state of ‘flow’ will find it easier than those who do not.

Most of the time when I am writing ‘I’ am not there and there is no conscious awareness of being in a particular place at a particular time. The unconscious spotlight of attention will have focussed on an ‘inspiring’ title or lead paragraph. The ‘muse’ will then speak through me for hours on end … But that paints too rosy and clear cut a picture.

Sometimes the spotlight flickers and attention goes out of focus; and stuff irrelevant to the story is deposited in the attention centre. ‘I’ then reappear and note what has happened. There are two solutions. Either point attention to the breath and re-enter flow or, if it is a heavy duty interruption, I get off the chair and wander round the house and garden. It is then usually possible to re-establish  focus and continue writing.

This story is called ‘subjective details’. The catchy phrase captured attention about 10:00 this morning and it is now 16:00. I have left the chair several times but with an easy feeling. I now have faith in the story engine.

The unconscious is churning ideas all the time. I assume that something like that is the engine of authors who write screenplays for soaps, comedy shows and crime dramas. They have a good relationship with their unconscious and the stuff keeps pouring out. Churn and flux.

I used to subscribe to Writing Magazine. Each month there was a Judith Spelman interview with a successful author. They came in all shapes and sizes and there was no obvious average approach. Several of them write regularly in flow but few of those attributed the energy and intention to a metaphysical being. It came with the job. It was the job. I understand it in terms of the bliss of being non-egoic for several hours each day. Is that an existential cop out or a cop in?

I have a rule of thumb. I assume that most readers’ heads churn about in the same way as mine does. There will be differences in the details but there are large cultural commonalities in the general structure and functions. SO – when I deal with subjective stuff I stick with the larger commonalities (the elephants – eg evolutionary psychology and neuroscience) and skip over the personal details (the rabbits- eg childhood traumas and serendipitous events).

Here would be a good place to list examples from the different categories. But an email has arrived calling for help with building a website. So there are changed priorities regarding the topics for focus and attention. Churn and flux

There are intellectual issues about the Content Management System that is www.zenphoto.com. When I am cool and rationale I can handle them easily. I have been promising to help a photographer acquaintance for a long time and it should be like water off a duck’s back.

BUT there are negative feelings at the border between the unconscious and the conscious. These link to a foundation layer of low self esteem. I am fooling myself that I can get on top of the programme. I totally failed to get my head around Dreamweaver. And she uses a Mac and they give me the willies. I sweat a lot of small stuff. So has it ever been.

It is what life is about – there is dis-ease? But we put on a brave face – keep calm and carry on. What good would it do to rabbit on about this cognitive stuff? Is it not better to keep a steady focus on the immediate topic? There are times and places to give more or less weight to the subjective issues. Daniel Goleman, for example, when talking about the management of pain, mentioned that he has a bad back that makes it uncomfortable to sit at his desk. This simple fact made me feel like I know him better.

SO – an occasional anecdote mentioning subjective details might be useful for humanising what might otherwise be a heavy and cerebral story.

BUT, as a general rule, it may be best to keep the two modes of writing separate.

BUT the subjective stuff should not be forgotten. It is good that people (especially high ranking ones) have experience and reminders of the flimsy nature of their worldviews. It would be good if violent, parochial zealotry were to be replaced by peaceful, cosmopolitan mindfulness.

This idea is not new. It has been part of the Buddhist literature for 2,500 years. Thich Nhat Hahn captures the concept when he says – “I will cultivate openness, nondiscrimination, and nonattachment to views in order to transform violence, fanaticism, and dogmatism in myself and in the world”.

There were 199 blogposts in 2013. The mood is still around to produce them.  How many will there be in 2014 and how many of them will contain subjective details?