Aspiring to the Whole Brain State - Part 1

Awareness

From a biological perspective the phenomenon of a stimulus and response occurs throughout the plant and animal kingdoms. Indeed the phenomenon also occurs in uni-cellular organisms. These responses become progressively more sophisticated as we ascend up the hierarchy of the animal kingdom. Coinciding with the sophistication of response to the environment is the process of learning – fundamentally creating new neuronal connections which reflect the perception of new environmental phenomena. The neuro-scientific term for this process is neuroplasticity while the changed behavioural response is referred to as a conditioned reflex. Learning and the subsequent conditioning of reflexes can become very sophisticated in animals, integrating both cognitive circuitry as well as emotional centres. We need only experience the loyal and unconditional friendship of our trusted dogs to attest to the level of neuroplasticity inherent in our best friend.

With this sophisticated engagement develops awareness. If we turn to our dogs again this doggy awareness incorporates multiple components of the environment including us and our emotions. Additionally the dog is aware of its own needs within that extended environment. But what the dog is not aware of is itself as an independent living being. That domain is unique to the human. But even in the human there are degrees of awareness. I would suggest that this self-awareness emanates from that early post-natal time when we were helplessly physically inept with primordial emotional centres. We were totally dependent on our primary care-givers, generally our mothers, with only our autonomic nervous system ticking over on automatic. Even our immune systems were still maturing. It was the need to learn all our required functions in order to attain physical independence that nurtured us into identifying ourselves as familiar to ourselves and at the same time as separate beings in the extended environment. Contrasted with other beings that were birthed with most of their required functions for independence in place, self-awareness did not evolve in the face of rapid engagement with the environment. Even if nurture prevailed for a lengthy period, intrinsic functionality precluded the need to learn and become familiar with all components of self. Hence self-awareness became a unique human feature.

Awareness in this context can be used interchangeably with consciousness. There are degrees of consciousness reflecting the nurture dynamic. Our earliest engagement with self and the external environment centres around our nurture needs. Central to these nurture needs is feeding. Hunger and the tendency to low blood sugar triggers the fear centre – the amygdala. This would be compounded by the absence of nurture connectivity including a loving touch, eye contact with the primary care-giver and a soothing voice. Conversely, sufficient feeds and sustained nurture connectivity triggers the reward centre, the nucleus accumbens which suppresses the fear originating in the amygdala. The interplay of the fear and reward centres in the context of the nurture dynamic creates the fundamental  neuropsychological configuration of each individual. This will influence all future experiences as well as the incorporation of the perception of those experiences in the expanding, unique subjective world-view.

There are three identifiable degrees of nurture adequacy reflecting the degrees of appeasement of the infants nurture needs (interplay of fear versus reward):

1.    The Bravo Archetype – moderate deprivation with adequate gratification derived from nurture needs. This gives rise to an individual who is over-driven to achieve and accumulate out of fear of loss or insufficiency. They are self-obsessed with their own needs and themselves at the expense of others. They manifest a disparaging judgementalism of others in the protection of their subjective turf. Any information which diverges from their subjective world-view must out of necessity be deleted or distorted. Deletion is best achieved by discrediting the inconvenient information or better still, the bearer of the information. Their primary motivation is the 5 finger rule – WHAT’S; IN; IT; FOR; ME. They tend to drift to the narcissistic end of the spectrum. Their subjective awareness is therefore characterized by themselves and their needs being at the centre of the universe, surrounded by fragmented, inferior and competing elements.

2.    The Charlie Archetype – severe deprivation with minimal gratification derived from nurture needs. The individual emerging from these origins believes that they are inferior to others which gives rise to a low self-esteem. To compensate for the low gratification they may engage with various activities which often evolve into talents and creativity. Due to the pain of deprivation they may need to suppress many of their reactive emotions. However distrust and chronic anhedonia (inability to experience joy) tend to prevail as does a fear of abandonment. They may arrive at a place where they derive personal pleasure from the suffering of others (schadenfreude) so as to lessen their own pain and they may in fact create misfortune in others to achieve this end. In this way the eternal sufferers become hostile and vengeful individuals, drifting to the sociopathic-psychopathic end of the spectrum. The subjective awareness of this individual is characterized by an oppressive low self-esteem, distrust and fear of abandonment. They are often sensitive to the pain in others and may develop an intuitive connection with the environment unless they have over-suppressed their own painful emotions which may then be replaced by the gratification derived from sociopathic-psychopathic behaviour. Gratification may also be experienced from talents and creativity.

3.    The Alpha Archetype – minimal deprivation with maximal gratification derived from nurture needs. In this individual there were no issues relating to their nurture needs. They therefore were free to engage with the extended environment. In this way they evolved in terms of cognitive function as well as in the development of a sensitivity for elements in the environment. This is underpinned by the awareness and internalization of the experienced sensitivity, empathy and trust of the nurture environment. Fear is minimal while courage is maximal, supported by a more than adequate self-confidence. From an unfettered and non-judgemental engagement with all elements in the environment, bolstered by courage, this individual becomes an innovative being driven to contribute value to others and to the environment at large. In terms of awareness they perceive the environment as a vast interconnected realm. The hallmark of their engagement is biased in favour of inclusivity and collaboration, however they appreciate the value of ownership so as to bring theoretical concepts to realistic fruition, generally for the benefit of the greater whole.

Continue to Part 2

Copyright reserved - Ian Weinberg 2022 This discussion is based on the Triangles Model and its applications (TMA). For those seeking a deeper dive into this fascinating world, I invite you to peruse the online courses available at  www.neuronostic.com – Online Mentoring Courses for the lay public and the Online Accreditation Course for professionals.