Applications of Integrative Cognition - Part 2

William Blake Jr. · science forum beginner Joined: 26 Oct 2005 Posts: 18

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JOURNALISM

The integrative cognition is of course beneficial especially for
writers and journalists. To be able to feel an experience from within,
as opposed to merely observe it from without, is to have a far more
complete understanding of it than would be found in merely objective
(i.e. referential) perspective acting alone. When the participants in
an event I attended invited the media to partake in the festivities,
that is precisely what they had in mind: To have the journalist feel -
indeed "get" - the experience before writing about it in their papers.
An event is described far more precisely when it is felt intrinsically,
rather than simply assayed referentially to one or another convex
mirror. And to be able to truly describe and to know a cat, it becomes
necessary to remove the blinders imposed by the dog logic and feel the
cat's world on one's heart and her fur on one's arms.

At which point the journalist or the writer has the ability to
integrate; to interpolate; to weave a thread contained of heart and
mind between the internal and the particular external perspective to
which he is catering. He can explain the experience in terms of the
values and attitudes and convictions of the people for whom he is
writing, while also making it palatable through his emotional
understanding to their hearts. Having experienced it himself, he can
speak for the people about whom he is writing, to the people for whom
he is writing. He can be both analytical and empathic; at which point
he can both feel and understand - and convey his knowledge of - the
experience, to a far greater extent than he could from either
perspective acting alone.

ART

There are people who want to believe that beauty is unrealistic. But
it's part of reality, in trees and flowers and sunsets and cloudless
night sky, so how can it be not realistic? Are we worse than birds and
foxes? So how can beauty not be a part of human reality, when it is
obviously and completely a part of reality of the real world?

The ideology of realism is an ideology that in fact perpetuates
grimness. By destroying the reality of human psyche, and the beauty
that it is capable of producing, it in effect destroys the mechanism by
which real-life beauty can be attained. If reality is what does not go
away when one stops believing in it, then you must contend with the
reality of the cosmos. A question is to be posed to the supposed
realists: Is your assayment of human mind and soul true to reality of
what you are studying? And if so, then how can you explain the works of
Gibran?

At this point the supposed realist has a choice: Of either being honest
and exploring further, or of retreating behind one or another decoy,
thus giving away the fact that he's not actually a realist and not
actually honest. And if he does explore, he starts finding such
intricacies and beauty as to forever vanquish the hubris of linearity
and to open the mind to more inclusive and more complete understanding
of the universe and of man.

His understanding of the world expands; the preceding confidences
become less apparent. The mirrors are seen for their convexity, and
one's mind is freed. One looks into other mirrors, sees both self and
them. Knowledge builds; so does inspiration and wisdom and the dynamic
synthesis that is true integrity. Then mirrors and self are seen more
clearly, and former masters become associates and partners. This allows
higher quality of inspiration and shapes the intuitive into producing
more informed and more fully inspired artifacts. The process of
integration and interpolation among multiple sets of premises creates
more profound artwork and one with an ever-growing understanding of
human reality. And human reality is by resulting art and ideas
enriched.

PSYCHIATRY

I need not say to what extent this can be of use to psychologists. This
is a matter likewise of being able to both understand the patient's
experience of the world, and to also see the entirety of the situation.
Thus is arrived a far more complete plan of treatment than one of
either acting alone.

Once again, the results that work the most combine the intrinsic and
the referential. The best of the intrinsic method has been shown by R.
D. Laing. When a young woman in a mental hospital sat naked in the cell
rocking and would not talk to anyone, he came in, took off his clothes
and started rocking next to her, at which point she started talking to
him as well. Upon leaving the cell he told other psychiatrists, "Did
you not think to do that?"

While this example may be considered by some to be ripe with potential
for abuse of power, I am of the belief that this is a useful technique.
Essentially the therapist experiences the client's inner world and then
understands it intrinsically. . A highly gifted psychiatric nurse, when
confronted with a client who thought himself a camel, was pressed to
find out how to administer to him medication. She thought, "Well, how
would camel get his medication?" and she put it in a cup on the floor.
The camel hobbled up and took the medicine. What she had done, was
figure out the logic of the psychosis and act upon it. She went to
where he had gone, and then found the way to lead him out of there.
She used her heart to empathize with the camel and her mind to figure
out what to do about it. This, is the optimal of psychiatry combining
the mind and heart.

The other side is of course observation: An interpolation among convex
mirrors. In some highly effective treatment programs there are people
from multiple theoretical backgrounds, all assaying the client from
their perspective and, through constant flux, diminishing the error
that many closed systems fall into: The error of groupthink - the error
of people prevailing upon each other to think the same way and thus
letting errors perpetuate. Rather they form a multiplicity of mirrors,
each true to its theory and each functional to its theory, and thus
arrive at a more complete picture of the client and also a more
complete picture of each other's belief structure. The method at that
point becomes to interpolate among these perspectives to arrive at a
greater cognizance - both of the client and of one another and
ultimately themselves.

A question that the psychiatrist faces in front of him is, How does one
defuse a nuclear bomb or a black hole? It's not enough to tinker with
it on the outside as that would do nothing; it's not enough to go in it
on the inside as one would get lost. The inner worlds can be beautiful
or horrid or both at once; the question at this point becomes, How to
reach into those inner worlds without breaking them, while leading the
person out of the rabbit hole and into the sunlight? The error of many
psychiatrists is that of completely destroying the people's worlds and
leaving them dried, dead and broken. That's not psychiatry, that's
oppression. It leaves the person worse off than he was before.

But through interpolation between the referential and the intrinsic it
becomes possible to go into the mechanism, while holding on from
without so that one understands where to go with it. The outside of the
bomb is seen reflected in multiplicity of convex mirrors that are
referential perspectives - ones that cannot, I repeat, cannot, be
limited to a single interest or social locale, but rather have to
combine multiplicity of perspectives from multiplicity of places and
states of consciousness - in order that outside effects can be
approximated most closely. The quantity of beam in the eye is reduced
through interpolation among these perspectives. Thus nearness to
objectivity and some awareness of subjective experience is achieved,
and mind is seen - to an extent, the greater the better - both from
within and from without. At which point it's possible to go into the
mind and to lead it out, while making it possible for the inner world
to exist.

Thus psychiatry that is worth anything depends upon the study of
multiple perspectives, from multiple cultures and multiple theories.
Integration through interpolation among these perspectives builds skill
and wisdom in practice; which, due to the fluid nature of life, must be
constantly refined. The quantity of beam in the eye is reduced through
the process of integration and inter-analysis among Galilean reference
frames: Of their assaying each other in reference to each other - of
each viewing the other from its perspective and in so doing correcting
each other's incompletenesses. The frames are themselves assayed based
on the interest and the premise and the mentality of which they are a
function, and quantity of distortion contained in them as functional of
these things is quantified and assayed and computed. The curvature of
the convex mirrors is quantified through analysis of such things, and
correction is made in the resulting outcome. The beams in the eyes are
reduced through this process, and greater clarity of reference frames
is accomplished. And then it can be said that the matter is seen from
the outside with a degree of objectivity.

The subjective perspective meanwhile is assayed through empathy; which
process itself requires clarity of the heart. The goal of this process
is to actually experience the world of the patient. This requires
leaving behind one's conceptions - right ones or wrong ones - and
taking the dive. While there, it is necessary to do the repair job; and
then, like a skilled Houdini, it is necessary to go to the light, come
out, and lead the patient out likewise.

SELF-KNOWLEDGE

Building upon the same theme, it is possible to use this method to
enhance self-awareness. Using self as object (monkey in the middle) and
convex mirrors of multitude of perspectives - and that means
perspectives from multiplicity of cultures, professions and belief
structures - it becomes possible to create a more complete vision of
self. Which mirrors can be seen later for the curvature in them (the
interest or ideology or character shaping them), and the wrong
conclusions discarded while the right ones kept.

This of course can be done by self, but likewise with somebody else
used as a sounding board. The problem with latter scenario is that of
course the next person is most likely likewise a convex mirror, and his
convexity may be harder to spot because it is closer and contains
emotional tangles. In any way, this is a way toward enhanced knowledge
of self; a worthwhile task as it leads one to make less errors and be
less vulnerable to manipulation and abuse.

As knowledge of self increases, so does knowledge of reference frames
and the causes of their one and sundry convexities. The knowledge of
self and knowledge of others feed into each other to produce wisdom.

EDUCATION AND BUSINESS

The same methodology can be applied toward education. As Holt has
pointed out convincingly, most of the problems of children in learning
schoolwork is due to the teacher's failure to understand how the
students think. As a tutor, I've made it my project to not only explain
the material, but to do so in a way that the student understands -
based on understanding of the student's thinking processes.

The job of the tutor is to weave a path between the material and the
mind of the student. It is not only to explain the material
objectively, but to make it available to the student according to how
the student himself thinks. This requires intrinsic understanding of
the student's mind as it in itself functions - and then making the
material palatable to the student based on that.

The latter task means nothing less than this: Understanding the way the
mind of the student works. The difference between the minds of the
students means that different approaches will work for different
students. It is therefore imperative, based on the analysis of the
student's work, his statements, his interests, his background, opinions
of people from different backgrounds and characteristics and
ideologies, or - all of these things, in an integrative analysis - to
create a more complete picture of the mind of the student; and then to
present the material in such a way as to register in his mind, whose
more complete picture has just been created.

In business the purpose is to understand the client, or the partner, or
the employee, or the associate, well enough as to make the correct
sales pitch while also knowing whether the product is right for them.
This, once again, involves the same process. Through integrative
analysis of the record, the statements of people working with him, the
impressions of customers, the methodology of the business affiliate
becomes apparent; at which point it becomes possible to have enough of
a picture of him to understand who he is and how to work with him.

POLITICS

The 1970s Democrats practiced an inclusive ideology that included
multiplicity of perspectives. Jimmy Carter was accused of trying to
micromanage, which is to say that he did not trust his subordinates,
because he felt that they did not have the same perspective or agenda
as did he. Ronald Reagan, on the other hand, felt comfortable
delegating power to his subordinates, because he picked subordinates
who believed exactly as he believed. This led to a well-run machinery;
it also led to groupthink, coercion and similitude of all thought and
attitude. Until it could be said, paraphrasing one of Reagan's
subordinates, that "If you've seen one Reagan Republican, you've seen
them all."

What are the dangers of groupthink? That of dogmatic thinking that
fails to have clarity. That of prevailing on people into perpetuation
of party line, thus blinding them to reality - reality that they claim
to espouse and which they claim to be common sense. The party line
effectively becomes commonsense, and any deviation from it is viciously
prosecuted. Until anyone who has any capacity for original thinking is
broken and desecrated and shoved into the gutter.

The party line blinds one to reality; this perpetuates errors. All is
assayed in reference to the party line rather than either intrinsically
or through a synthesis of referential planes. The gropthink becomes the
ideology; it becomes forbidden to look or to voice opinions that
disagree from the party line; and errors perpetuate, often grievous
errors. Errors such as raising the federal debt sixfold under the last
Republican presidents; failing to do anything about the ever-apparent
environmental catastrophe; turning America into a giant strip mall;
breaking down everyone who thinks differently; and as a final and
justified outcome failing to see the evil in one's own ranks.

Once party line has become reality, the task stops being one of leading
and becomes one of bludgeoning. The population becomes devitalized;
broken; expropriated. And all the perceptions, ideas, art, business,
and thought of the civilization become functional to the beam contained
underneath the convex mirror of Reaganism.

Where does this lead? As in case of all ideologies that blind people to
clarity, it led to consequences that were unanticipated (or sometimes
perhaps anticipated) functional to the ideology. An ideology that
believes that tax cuts are the solution to everything can, and always
will, lead to huge federal debt. An ideology that believes that human
activity cannot affect the environment can, and always will, lead to
pollution and sickening of people here and elsewhere around the world.
An ideology that believes that there is a single American way that is
right for everyone can, and always will, lead to destruction of
people's individuality and - far more ominously - people being
prevented from contributing what they have to offer or making good on
the Constitutional promise of life and liberty: the promise that it
itself is claiming to protect.

These aren't coincidences or stereotypes. These are direct and
inevitable results of these dogmas, and it is the Republicans therefore
that need a reality check.

So what do I prescribe? At political level another set of beam-removal
techniques and interpolation. Through reflection of same object among
multiple cultural and social and political mirrors, abrasion of beam.
Attainment of clarity through this process and clarity that leads to
enhancement and life and liberty functional to the noumenal, which is
discerned likewise from within.

And which therefore blossoms through the core and reference frames into
manifestation as the most clear, the most informed, the most
understanding, and most benign manifestation of which it is capable -
and which is made more so through application of integrative cognition.

Ilya Shambat.

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