The conscious mind is an analog of the physical world
Subjective conscious mind is an analog of what is called the real world. It is built up with a vocabulary or lexical field whose terms are all metaphors or analogs of behavior in the physical world. Its reality is of the same order as mathematics. It allows us to shortcut behavioral processes and arrive at more adequate decisions. Like mathematics, it is an operator rather than a thing or repository. And it is intimately bound up with volition and decision.
Consider the language we use to describe conscious processes. The most prominent group of words used to describe mental events are visual. We âseeâ solutions to problems, the best of which may be âbrilliantâ, and the person âbrighterâ and âclearheadedâ as opposed to âdullâ, âfuzzy-mindedâ, or âobscureâ solutions. These words are all metaphors and the mind-space to which they apply is a metaphor of actual space. In it we can âapproachâ a problem, perhaps from some âviewpointâ, and âgrappleâ with its difficulties, or seize together or âcom-prehendâ parts of a problem, and so on, using metaphors of behavior to invent things to do in this metaphored mind-space.
And the adjectives to describe physical behavior in real space are analogically taken over to describe mental behavior in mind-space when we speak of our minds as being âquick,â âslowâ, âagitatedâ (as when we cogitate or co-agitate), ânimble-wittedâ, âstrong-â or âweak-minded.â The mind-space in which these metaphorical activities go on has its own group of adjectives; we can be âbroad-mindedâ, âdeepâ, âopenâ, or ânarrow-mindedâ; we can be âoccupiedâ; we can âget something off our mindsâ, âput something out of mindâ, or we can âget itâ, let something âpenetrateâ, or âbearâ, âhaveâ, âkeepâ, or âholdâ it in mind.
As with a real space, something can be at the âbackâ of our mind, in its âinner recessesâ, or âbeyondâ our mind, or âoutâ of our mind. In argument we try to âget things throughâ to someone, to âreachâ their âunderstandingâ or find a âcommon groundâ, or âpoint outâ, etc., all actions in real space taken over analogically into the space of the mind.
References
- Jaynes, Julian. (1976). The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind Chapter 2 Consciousness (Epub p. 60). New York, NY:Â Houghton Mifflin Company.
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