Beginning Mind
"So how's the book coming along," Doc asked me."Pretty good," I said. "But it has its challenges.""Of course," Doc said."I've started reading about this guy named Alfred Korzybski.""Oh really," said Doc with mild surprise. "What do you think?""I think he deserves a lot more study," I said. "There's a particular phrase associated with him that says, the map is not the territory.""What do you think that means," asked Doc."It has to do with the way people think, I think." I said, pausing for a moment to collect my thoughts. "We tend to divide up our world and group everything we see into neat little categories and boxes, just as we draw boundaries on a map to divide the land into certain territories.""Ah...I see," said Doc, "we draw maps, and then we mistake our maps for the real, undivided land.""Yeah," I said, searching for a way to put it. "Only in this case, what draws those dividing lines more than anything is our language, the words we use...and the power of those words to affect how we think and in turn, how we live. At least for now, that's the way I understand it." "Sounds very intriguing," said Doc. "Words and ideas can be powerful influences on people, that's for sure. Get em' to do crazy things...look at Hitler, who was by no means the first to take advantage of the power of words and ideas, especially those that falsely divide...play upon people's greatest fears and weaknesses.""Yes, that's an easier one to see, at least in retrospect," I said. "But I think Korzybski is talking about more subtle everyday influences, things we take for granted. I think that's why he advocated for "consciousness of abstracting.""Which basically means being more aware," said Doc, "or at least more aware of our higher brain's tendency to divide and separate things. Developing a sort of hyper-awareness may remind us that this separation is ultimately for convenience, a necessary division for the enjoyment of existence.""Yeah, something like that I suppose. Greater consciousness of the brain's abstracting process can help us avoid certain mental traps...even see that our apparent differences and all the diversity this brings, is a gift to embrace, not a problem to quarrel over. Sort of like mankind's lesson in The Day the Earth Stood Still."Yes, sort of like maya too.""What's that Doc?""Maya means illusion, it's a term from the East." Doc said. "Thinking goes that the human condition---whether by language, idea, our senses, or just by the way our brain works---makes us vulnerable to this illusion called Maya. To see beyond this illusion means release from its trappings...that's called moksha, or liberation.""And how is that achieved?" I asked Doc."Well..." Doc gave a long pause. "How 'bout we return to Anaxagoras for now.""How 'bout I get a soda first." I asked Doc."How 'bout you make it yourself," grinned Doc, "I may need your help here someday."Getting behind that counter for the first time, felt a bit of heaven...could I handle such power at my disposal...let's see..."Hey Doc," I shouted across the drugstore, "I think I'll make a chocolate malt instead.""Ok, but don't hurt yourself kid," shouted back Doc. "That's some high quality machinery you've got there.""Yeah, I know!"I could hear Doc break into laughter in the back as I readied myself to make my first malt. No problem here, I'd watched Doc do this a thousand times over the years. I could probably do it with my eyes closed. But this is too good to miss. I want to see every last bit of the process.As I pour all the ingredients into the shiny stainless cup, I think about Korzybski and how the mind, especially through language, tends to see things as separate, even when in fact they are not. In goes the ice cream and the milk, then the chocolate syrup, and finally, the powdered malt mix."Ya know, that stuff was invented by a pharmacist," said Doc as he walks back to the front."What, the malt mix?""Yeah, a guy from England by the name of James Horlick invented it," said Doc. "It was originally intended as a formula for infants and folks who had trouble eating solid foods. Turns out explorers and travelers started using it as a lightweight, nonperishable source of calories. Admiral Byrd even named an Antarctic mountain range after Horlick.""I've been eating this stuff all these years," I said, positioning the steel cup in the mixer. "And I never would have thought that.""Funny how often we don't know what's right in front us." said Doc as he returned to the back.As the spinning metal rod began swirling all the ingredients together---the milky syrup-stripped whirlpool quickly transforming into an homogeneous chocolate-brown mass---my thoughts went back to Korzybski's phrase "the map is not the territory." And as my malt became fully mixed, I imagined boundaries dissolving in my own mind. And I wondered, what does life become as these artificial borders are undone?"So back to Anaxagoras," Doc started as I took my first chilly chocolately bite. "He says that mind is primary...that first there is mind, and then there is everything else, which mind creates and controls. This original mind, which is both the source and ongoing controlling force, Anaxagoras calls Nous.""So in other words," I said, wanting to make sure I understood, "Mind does not originate in the human brain---as if suddenly appearing after billions of years of evolution---but rather it has been there all along.""That's right wise guy," Doc said, as he opened a book on early Greek philosophy, "Here's what Anaxagoras has to say: And mind controls all those things, both great and small...and mind controlled the whole revolution, so that it revolved in the first place...first it began to revolve in a small area, and it is revolving more widely, and it will revolve yet more widely.
And mind recognizes all the things which are commingling and separating off and dissociating. And mind arranged everything - what was to be, and what was, and what is now, and what will be.
"Now I see why you wanted me to know about Galileo and Copernicus too," I said, seeing the parallel here. "Just as they showed that the Sun is the center around which the Earth revolves---instead of the other way around---Anaxagoras says that Mind, or Nous, is the center around which the material world revolves.""Yeah, something like that," said Doc, "In a way, there's a complete reversal of what people have been taught. Here's what else Anaxagoras has to say:
Mind is something infinite and self-controlling, and it has been mixed with no thing but is alone itself by itself...it is the finest of all things and the purest, and it possesses all knowledge about everything, and it has the greatest strength.
"Sounds like God," I said."That's another way of putting it," said Doc."But Doc, there's something I don't get.""What's that?""Well, in the case of Copernicus and Galileo, they were able to prove their beliefs...I mean, after Copernicus came up with the idea, at least Galileo was able to show some evidence with his telescope.""That's true," said Doc. "But it's often the case that the idea comes first, and then later on we find the evidence. Take Einstein's Theories of Relativity for instance, evidence for his ideas didn't come until years after.""So then where does the idea come from Doc?""The Mind.""How so?" I asked. "I mean how does the mind know something it can't yet see or have evidence for.""Who says the Mind doesn't see it...just because you don't see it doesn't mean it's not there." teased Doc. "Are you listening to Anaxagoras?""Let me think about this for a bit Doc," I said, as I tried to digest this apparent mess."Fair enough genius," Doc laughed. "It's not necessarily straightforward stuff...or maybe it's just too different from what you're used to thinking. But all things considered, you're eating well. So digest away.""This mind stuff that Anaxagoras talks about, the more I think about it, it's really quite phenomenal!""That's right genius," said Doc. "Looks like you're ready for Husserl." "And Einstein too," I said. "But right now I'm ready for a break, my head hurts from thinking so much.""Ok Einstein...so what's playing at the Paradise tonight?" "The Screaming Skull," I said as I hurried towards the door. "Bye Doc!"Ding.Doc was still chuckling as I left the store.
