Is the swirl derived from a useful alarm system eg primitive man’s warning of danger OR the child’s compliance with a parent’s real or imagined wishes,
stifling natural feelings, so that a conflict is established between ‘natural’ expression, which would be functional, and ‘learned’ or artifice behaviours or ‘false
self’ which become disfunctional behaviours convictions, beliefs and attitudes Initial logical/valid/true reaction becomes illogical/invalid/false in another context and therefore dysfunctional.
Hypothesis: 1 false self might arise as a consequence of a swirl or a defence against it.
Hypothesis: 2 My fixed idea (or position) will lead me into a swirl if the idea isn’t working for me. So, any real change requires an observing ego (functions like a supervisor) through which an alternative position might be seen or, putting it another way, requires the shift of position (or perspective) which can bring flexibility to the person’s responses. The challenge then is how to create that possibility. RG says the way is to use distinctions, meaning understanding differentiations rather than conceiving only of complete objects. eg ‘She is an ogre’ is probably no more than an undifferentiated projection, a blanket term which has little meaning and allows for no exploration of this subjective response. Being in a swirl means a contraction of agency; overpowering and totalising, and escaping from a swirl means reclaiming agency and executive capacities and functions. In other words, to reclaim being able to think, slowly and deeply, about what is going on inside and outside oneself.
affect and cognition: swirl hides affect ‘tho it is powerful affect and causes loss of bearings so cognition also is gone > a victim, out of control in a space where there’s a disjunction between what she thinks she feels and what she actually feels. eg opposing the super ego voice is dangerous It’s speedy, the swirl, and entraps, but to be able to slow down the panic may create the space to begin to reclaim cognitive capacity and true affect. The key to slowing down is perusal of and awareness of the co ordinate, the context, the space occupied by the swirl. It’s a reversal, so that the person/victim looks at the swirl rather than being looked at, in the sense of controlled by, the swirl. CF a cat may look at a king
There is affect and affect, layers of affect. Affect on top of affect or affect hiding or a defence against affect. In a way the swirl is felt as an overpowering affective experience but somehow very difficult to describe-when in it. My hunch is that it may invariably be triggered by what may be something like primitive affective experience. By that I mean something-feelings and thoughts that were originally forbidden. So in the wake of the superego there is a sort of bodily eruption whereby the individual becomes paralysed in and by the swirl. I imagine that the only way out is the way that uses distinctions in the observation of what is going on.
The struggle may be that the fear that leaves one entrapped in the swirl is a fear of fear itself, worse than the fear engendered by being helpless in the swirl, and stops any attempt to break free.
So how to break free? How to overcome the fear of the fear, the paralysis, the inability to imagine feeling free? I have to take up my own authority, currently submerged, and establish a beachhead, a small platform, the point of a wedge which can be expanded into a space like a meta position, where the generals view the battle through binoculars, and think strategically. I can then look at the coordinates, the dimensions of my swirl, its features, and become aware of what has brought it on. Is it because I feel sick today, have a worry about my health, about a family member, about whether I dare to engage with life again today? Am I a danger to others if I express how angry and resentful I actually feel inside? Whatever. To get out of what is a temporary self destructive madness I need a meta position, so I can look at myself immersed in my swirl, like standing beside myself and saying “what’s going on in me?”.
The site may depend on the possibility of a shift to a meta position - even if briefly - and if that possibility exists, it’s a way of expanding the initial space, the wedge getting wider, the view getting clearer.
However, is there a ‘real,true, authentic’ self to set against the false self, and to posit as a desirable internal condition to aspire to? The Buddha would say the self is empty, and there is only moment to moment experience. Perhaps the false self cauterises the fluidity and movement is stopped and the person is then caught in the swirl vortex, which is an attempt to stop the flow and fix (and freeze) an aspect of experience which is then controlled and familiar (and brings comfort) so it becomes habitual and in worst case, addictive.
Perhaps we need to think of the self in process terms. Not so much a noun as a verb. So there may be an attempt, not conscious, to resist selving. False selving is an attempt to control selving……………………..in the name of compliance? Is there always a superego voice in this context? But if the superego voice is removed, what then? Dread-freedom-choice-agency? Aloneness-responsibility? for selving, leading to existential mood states of fear and despair?
Maybe initially the move to false selving is quite functional and necessary, and indeed comforting, because it brings parental approbation.
SWIRLS
A swirl is overwhelming and powerful, and feels like being sucked into some awful place, like being cornered and just wanting to get out. It is being sucked into an awful place.
Overwhelmed means feeling small, diminished, ashamed at being helpless and having no space for anything else. Place of suicidality. Swirls are felt experiences like despair, panic, high anxiety, sense of futility, anomie, isolation, depression, loneliness and worthlessness.
The swirl is in charge, and wants no challenge, so talking about it is hard, as is trying to look at it, but putting what it feels like into words brings it into focus. Being in focus might bring other hidden things forward, and further upset inner equilibrium. The upset may be worth it, or may be just too hard, and the person might withdraw into a defensive shell and wait to be saved by someone or something magical.
Or a small voice might say “Hang on a minute, can I just think about what is going on here, and ask why is this happening now? and exactly what is it that I’m feeling? Can I put it into words? (Assumes an observing ego, or what Birtchnell calls ‘outer me’)
Our hypothesis is that looking at, facing one’s swirl may not be impossible, given the leverage that comes from having some understanding of it. (is this right?)
How to unpack a swirl? Look at the co ordinates; the feelings and thoughts that go with it. Stand back and describe the felt experience of being hemmed in, strangled, sucked in, with no escape. We may reduce the intensity of an existential mood state or swirl by looking at it, bringing it into focus, and facing the possibility that it’s a kind of addiction, a state of mind that comes back again and again, so is familiar and therefore in a strange way comforting as well as awful.
”Coordinates: intensity DSM symptoms are all coordinates. eg been depressed for ? months or an attribution to a feeling, rather than the feeling itself. Need to do an audit of the feelings and the thoughts - how big/small how long? Pain: locating it on a scale of 1 to 10 can ease it, because the pain is being observed in a mindful way. If you tense up, it’s worse; if you can relax, it eases. So, looking at emotional pain involves a fight, but the fighting makes it worse. Maybe there has to be some engagement/attachment for the fight to become something productive instead.
( These sentences might fit somewhere else: When the internal saboteur is in the ascendant, tension rises, like temperature, and the swirl takes over the body.
Becoming relaxed is a way to vanquish the saboteur; an emotionally relaxed state may result from being quiet and mindful.)
SOCIAL SWIRLS
There are personal swirls and social swirls, both representing existential crisis states.
Social swirls, aka distractive consumer capitalism, exist where ‘must have’ is the basic rule, and globalised trade and economic ‘growth’ justify exploitation of a localised community.
So developing countries aspire to the living standards of the developed ones, and in the process enviously attack their neighbours or minority groups who appear to possess more of what is deemed desirable.
The social swirl is marked by anger, despair and conflict, as the pursuit of ‘must have’ shows itself to be an illusion, and not the easy path promised by the ‘leaders’.
(Maybe it’s best if we leave the social swirls to the sociologists, whose day job is to examine the politics of the larger trends and shifts in distractive late capitalism. Unless of course we can find a useful way to link them, so that each sheds light on the other.)
NICHE?
Where and what is our niche?
We’re not about offering the general cure all, more a specialised and small menu for site visitors who recognise the swirl in themselves and might be curious about sampling the ‘specials’.
In the ‘attention’ economy we would be part of Chris Anderson’s (Wired) long tail, catering for a small group of diners who feel a bit different and want to know what they are eating, why some tastes are bitter, some better, and why some are subtle and hard to pick.
It’s as if our diners are all restaurant critics, who make notes and give feedback on their blogs, which are all named ‘super ego’, and located
inside their heads, not on the net. They mostly can’t self soothe, and become cynical and pessimistic, mocking the ‘deluded’ ones who say they feel ok, thank you.
We know from RPO that reflection and insight are difficult to engage with on the net screen, and we may need to play with the theme of dysfunctional attachment, for example, as a way of enticing a guest into our restaurant, formally registered as ‘Mindfulness’ while its logo might say ‘Quiet Space’.
The image you chose shows a swirl that threatens to suck one in to a hideous hidden inside.
Could we develop two themes? :
one - about the sucking swirling vortex, sweeping the helpless and the overwhelmed into an inner (Birtchnell’s outer) space where they have to resort to artifice in order to survive. Not sure about this. In a way I do not think there is the possibility of resorting to anything. ‘Cos the individual is trapped with nowhere to go, no possibility of thinking-no space-no choice.
two - about the quiet space where one can face and even look into the swirl without being swept away, and in a counter-intuitive way keep it at a safe distance. How? By recognising the co-ordinates that define it.
(Perhaps the virtual restaurant has flat screens with swirl and quiet space graphics that resolve and dissolve, change shape and intensity etc.) This reminds me of Brian Eno and his Luminous displays
Swirls are hot, intense and noisy, threatening and powerful; the quiet space reduces the temperature and intensity.
One voice says you are hopeless ——give up now! Is this the voice of the successful assertive macho who is deriding the loser?
Another voice says don’t give up….you have a lot going for you. This voice represents something that is more liberal and enlightened.
These voices represent social values. re Bridger’s -group in the head. Laing/Cooper Politics of experience.
Power versus helplessness. Diminishment. Voices in the head in opposition.
How to unpack a swirl? Look at the co ordinates. What are they? the possibility of standing back and unpacking the felt experience. Of being hemmed in , strangled, no where to go. eg deep and slow breathing can reduce panic. One can reduce the intesity of an existential state by looking at it. Coordinates: DSM symptoms are all coordinates. eg been depressed for ? months or an attribution to a feeling, rather than the feeling itself. Need to do an audit of the feelings and the thoughts - how strong/weak and for how long? Pain : locating it on a scale of 1 to 10 can ease it, because the pain is being observed in a mindful way. If you tense up, it’s worse; if you can relax, it eases.
So, looking at emotional pain involves a struggle, but the struggle can make it worse. Maybe there has to be some engagement with/attachment to an inner essential/essence for the struggle to become productive.
Swirls are ugly and seem like ugly feeling that involve entrapment.
Swirl coordinates=ontology of swirls.
——————————————————————-
‘False self’ and ‘swirl’ may in some way have something in common. Let us develop this.
The child, and later the adult, has to act in ways that comply with a developing superego, and this leads to the formation of a false self because of the superimposition onto the ‘natural’ self of dictates etc from other people or from socially constructed value systems.
stifling natural feelings, so that a conflict is established between ‘natural’ expression, which would be functional, and ‘learned’ or artifice behaviours or ‘false
self’ which become disfunctional behaviours convictions, beliefs and attitudes Initial logical/valid/true reaction becomes illogical/invalid/false in another context and therefore dysfunctional.
Hypothesis: 1 false self might arise as a consequence of a swirl or a defence against it.
Hypothesis: 2 My fixed idea (or position) will lead me into a swirl if the idea isn’t working for me. So, any real change requires an observing ego (functions like a supervisor) through which an alternative position might be seen or, putting it another way, requires the shift of position (or perspective) which can bring flexibility to the person’s responses. The challenge then is how to create that possibility. RG says the way is to use distinctions, meaning understanding differentiations rather than conceiving only of complete objects. eg ‘She is an ogre’ is probably no more than an undifferentiated projection, a blanket term which has little meaning and allows for no exploration of this subjective response. Being in a swirl means a contraction of agency; overpowering and totalising, and escaping from a swirl means reclaiming agency and executive capacities and functions. In other words, to reclaim being able to think, slowly and deeply, about what is going on inside and outside oneself.
affect and cognition: swirl hides affect ‘tho it is powerful affect and causes loss of bearings so cognition also is gone > a victim, out of control in a space where there’s a disjunction between what she thinks she feels and what she actually feels. eg opposing the super ego voice is dangerous It’s speedy, the swirl, and entraps, but to be able to slow down the panic may create the space to begin to reclaim cognitive capacity and true affect. The key to slowing down is perusal of and awareness of the co ordinate, the context, the space occupied by the swirl. It’s a reversal, so that the person/victim looks at the swirl rather than being looked at, in the sense of controlled by, the swirl. CF a cat may look at a king
There is affect and affect, layers of affect. Affect on top of affect or affect hiding or a defence against affect. In a way the swirl is felt as an overpowering affective experience but somehow very difficult to describe-when in it. My hunch is that it may invariably be triggered by what may be something like primitive affective experience. By that I mean something-feelings and thoughts that were originally forbidden. So in the wake of the superego there is a sort of bodily eruption whereby the individual becomes paralysed in and by the swirl. I imagine that the only way out is the way that uses distinctions in the observation of what is going on.
The struggle may be that the fear that leaves one entrapped in the swirl is a fear of fear itself, worse than the fear engendered by being helpless in the swirl, and stops any attempt to break free.
So how to break free? How to overcome the fear of the fear, the paralysis, the inability to imagine feeling free? I have to take up my own authority, currently submerged, and establish a beachhead, a small platform, the point of a wedge which can be expanded into a space like a meta position, where the generals view the battle through binoculars, and think strategically. I can then look at the coordinates, the dimensions of my swirl, its features, and become aware of what has brought it on. Is it because I feel sick today, have a worry about my health, about a family member, about whether I dare to engage with life again today? Am I a danger to others if I express how angry and resentful I actually feel inside? Whatever. To get out of what is a temporary self destructive madness I need a meta position, so I can look at myself immersed in my swirl, like standing beside myself and saying “what’s going on in me?”.
The site may depend on the possibility of a shift to a meta position - even if briefly - and if that possibility exists, it’s a way of expanding the initial space, the wedge getting wider, the view getting clearer.
However, is there a ‘real,true, authentic’ self to set against the false self, and to posit as a desirable internal condition to aspire to? The Buddha would say the self is empty, and there is only moment to moment experience. Perhaps the false self cauterises the fluidity and movement is stopped and the person is then caught in the swirl vortex, which is an attempt to stop the flow and fix (and freeze) an aspect of experience which is then controlled and familiar (and brings comfort) so it becomes habitual and in worst case, addictive.
Perhaps we need to think of the self in process terms. Not so much a noun as a verb. So there may be an attempt, not conscious, to resist selving. False selving is an attempt to control selving……………………..in the name of compliance? Is there always a superego voice in this context? But if the superego voice is removed, what then? Dread-freedom-choice-agency? Aloneness-responsibility? for selving, leading to existential mood states of fear and despair?
Maybe initially the move to false selving is quite functional and necessary, and indeed comforting, because it brings parental approbation.
SWIRLS
A swirl is overwhelming and powerful, and feels like being sucked into some awful place, like being cornered and just wanting to get out. It is being sucked into an awful place.
Overwhelmed means feeling small, diminished, ashamed at being helpless and having no space for anything else. Place of suicidality. Swirls are felt experiences like despair, panic, high anxiety, sense of futility, anomie, isolation, depression, loneliness and worthlessness.
The swirl is in charge, and wants no challenge, so talking about it is hard, as is trying to look at it, but putting what it feels like into words brings it into focus. Being in focus might bring other hidden things forward, and further upset inner equilibrium. The upset may be worth it, or may be just too hard, and the person might withdraw into a defensive shell and wait to be saved by someone or something magical.
Or a small voice might say “Hang on a minute, can I just think about what is going on here, and ask why is this happening now? and exactly what is it that I’m feeling? Can I put it into words? (Assumes an observing ego, or what Birtchnell calls ‘outer me’)
Our hypothesis is that looking at, facing one’s swirl may not be impossible, given the leverage that comes from having some understanding of it. (is this right?)
How to unpack a swirl? Look at the co ordinates; the feelings and thoughts that go with it. Stand back and describe the felt experience of being hemmed in, strangled, sucked in, with no escape. We may reduce the intensity of an existential mood state or swirl by looking at it, bringing it into focus, and facing the possibility that it’s a kind of addiction, a state of mind that comes back again and again, so is familiar and therefore in a strange way comforting as well as awful.
”Coordinates: intensity DSM symptoms are all coordinates. eg been depressed for ? months or an attribution to a feeling, rather than the feeling itself. Need to do an audit of the feelings and the thoughts - how big/small how long? Pain: locating it on a scale of 1 to 10 can ease it, because the pain is being observed in a mindful way. If you tense up, it’s worse; if you can relax, it eases. So, looking at emotional pain involves a fight, but the fighting makes it worse. Maybe there has to be some engagement/attachment for the fight to become something productive instead.
( These sentences might fit somewhere else: When the internal saboteur is in the ascendant, tension rises, like temperature, and the swirl takes over the body.
Becoming relaxed is a way to vanquish the saboteur; an emotionally relaxed state may result from being quiet and mindful.)
SOCIAL SWIRLS
There are personal swirls and social swirls, both representing existential crisis states.
Social swirls, aka distractive consumer capitalism, exist where ‘must have’ is the basic rule, and globalised trade and economic ‘growth’ justify exploitation of a localised community.
So developing countries aspire to the living standards of the developed ones, and in the process enviously attack their neighbours or minority groups who appear to possess more of what is deemed desirable.
The social swirl is marked by anger, despair and conflict, as the pursuit of ‘must have’ shows itself to be an illusion, and not the easy path promised by the ‘leaders’.
(Maybe it’s best if we leave the social swirls to the sociologists, whose day job is to examine the politics of the larger trends and shifts in distractive late capitalism. Unless of course we can find a useful way to link them, so that each sheds light on the other.)
NICHE?
Where and what is our niche?
We’re not about offering the general cure all, more a specialised and small menu for site visitors who recognise the swirl in themselves and might be curious about sampling the ‘specials’.
In the ‘attention’ economy we would be part of Chris Anderson’s (Wired) long tail, catering for a small group of diners who feel a bit different and want to know what they are eating, why some tastes are bitter, some better, and why some are subtle and hard to pick.
It’s as if our diners are all restaurant critics, who make notes and give feedback on their blogs, which are all named ‘super ego’, and located
inside their heads, not on the net. They mostly can’t self soothe, and become cynical and pessimistic, mocking the ‘deluded’ ones who say they feel ok, thank you.
We know from RPO that reflection and insight are difficult to engage with on the net screen, and we may need to play with the theme of dysfunctional attachment, for example, as a way of enticing a guest into our restaurant, formally registered as ‘Mindfulness’ while its logo might say ‘Quiet Space’.
The image you chose shows a swirl that threatens to suck one in to a hideous hidden inside.
Could we develop two themes? :
one - about the sucking swirling vortex, sweeping the helpless and the overwhelmed into an inner (Birtchnell’s outer) space where they have to resort to artifice in order to survive. Not sure about this. In a way I do not think there is the possibility of resorting to anything. ‘Cos the individual is trapped with nowhere to go, no possibility of thinking-no space-no choice.
two - about the quiet space where one can face and even look into the swirl without being swept away, and in a counter-intuitive way keep it at a safe distance. How? By recognising the co-ordinates that define it.
(Perhaps the virtual restaurant has flat screens with swirl and quiet space graphics that resolve and dissolve, change shape and intensity etc.) This reminds me of Brian Eno and his Luminous displays
Swirls are hot, intense and noisy, threatening and powerful; the quiet space reduces the temperature and intensity.
One voice says you are hopeless ——give up now! Is this the voice of the successful assertive macho who is deriding the loser?
Another voice says don’t give up….you have a lot going for you. This voice represents something that is more liberal and enlightened.
These voices represent social values. re Bridger’s -group in the head. Laing/Cooper Politics of experience.
Power versus helplessness. Diminishment. Voices in the head in opposition.
How to unpack a swirl? Look at the co ordinates. What are they? the possibility of standing back and unpacking the felt experience. Of being hemmed in , strangled, no where to go. eg deep and slow breathing can reduce panic. One can reduce the intesity of an existential state by looking at it. Coordinates: DSM symptoms are all coordinates. eg been depressed for ? months or an attribution to a feeling, rather than the feeling itself. Need to do an audit of the feelings and the thoughts - how strong/weak and for how long? Pain : locating it on a scale of 1 to 10 can ease it, because the pain is being observed in a mindful way. If you tense up, it’s worse; if you can relax, it eases.
So, looking at emotional pain involves a struggle, but the struggle can make it worse. Maybe there has to be some engagement with/attachment to an inner essential/essence for the struggle to become productive.
Swirls are ugly and seem like ugly feeling that involve entrapment.
Swirl coordinates=ontology of swirls.
——————————————————————-
‘False self’ and ‘swirl’ may in some way have something in common. Let us develop this.
The child, and later the adult, has to act in ways that comply with a developing superego, and this leads to the formation of a false self because of the superimposition onto the ‘natural’ self of dictates etc from other people or from socially constructed value systems.
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