Foundation Images
Alexander Liss
A mind holds various "images".
New information gets associated with these images and eventually a new image is
created. Recollection of events or ideas goes through recreation of
corresponding experience based on these images and their associations.
There
are very basic images - Foundation Images, which affect the entire structure of
images and their associations. Conscious rarely access them and the most of
them are similar in all individual minds. Some are even "hardwired" -
minds are born with them.
Among
Foundation Images are images of forms of the body, and images of actions of the
body, including special actions, when the body does not move. One could find
reflections of these images in the way a language structures presentation of
reality with basic concepts (words and stable word combinations).
Associations
between images have different strength. Associations of an image with some of
the Foundation Images are the strongest; they are the basis of the system of
associations. Each new Foundation Image acquires associations with existing
images. These new associations are strong, in spite of novelty of this image.
Hence,
extending or any other way of modifying the system of Foundation Images affects
one's perception broadly in seemingly unrelated areas.
Various
esoteric disciplines provide such extension of the Foundation mages and they
insist on broad implications of this activity.
Martial
Arts add images of body actions. Yoga add images of
other types of body actions (usually static actions and unusual forms of
breathing coordinated with activity of the heart). They add also special images
of actions, where thinking is specially coordinated with actions. Establishment
of these images as Foundation Images requires repetition - training.
Mysticism
provides tools of affecting the system of Foundation Images special thought
activity, which could be very effective and thus dangerous.
A
few classes of dangers are described:
Modified
system of the Foundation Images could get in conflict with body's homeostatic
activity with an illness or even a death as a consequence.
The
social side of an individual could be damaged, with social detachment as a
consequence.
The
mind could form a stable system of images insulated from effects of reality and
a person could make major decision based on this system, which consequently are
detached from reality; this is insanity.
Hence,
manipulation of the Foundation Images is far from being an innocent activity.
Mild
forms of such manipulation are familiar:
Some
professional activities involving repetitive actions as playing musical
instruments by musicians, engaging in intensive logical manipulations by
mathematicians, etc. inevitably modify the Foundation Images.
Regular
religious studies and regular prayer have the same effect.
An
individual having modified Foundation Images has a point of view and
interpretations of events and messages different from the rest of society. This
causes social problems, unless the individual has a group of similar minded
individuals to be a part of. Thus, one could observe different groups with
different mindset, which have difficulty understanding each other.
Before
one embarks in such modification of Foundation Images, one should prepare
oneself a social niche, where an individual with such modified Foundation
Images is acceptable and even needed. Traditionally, teaching is used as such a
niche.
Sometimes,
modification of behavior of a group of people is achieved through the
modification of their Foundation Images. This way individuals brainwashed in a
cult group, have unusual behavior and filtering out of some information
important for efficient functioning in a society or even their physical
survival.
Herodotus
describes troubles of a Persian king after conquering city-state of Lidia (in
An
analysis of the interplay between what is revealed in an individual and in a
society provides insights into the nature of Foundation Images.
An
individual does not exist in isolation; one is a part of a society.
Manipulation of one's Foundation Images is manipulation of the society and
manipulation of common Foundation Images of the society is manipulation of its
members. This is not a deterministic phenomenon. The more individual or a group
is detached from the society, the less influence individual manipulation has on
society as a whole.
There
is a major pitfall in this phenomenon. Modification of the system of images
leads to modification of perception and behavior. If one equates perception and
reality, then one assumes the possibility of mental manipulation of the
reality. From this point, it is only one step to insanity. Mysticism often
makes this mistake. It is a delusion, which reinforces itself - one
manipulating own Foundation Images actually observes the change. It takes
strength of mind to understand that this is not the change of reality but the
change of perception. When a group is engaged in manipulation of the Foundation
Images, all members of the group observe the change, and this reinforces the
delusion. Such group needs a respected and experienced member, who understands
the phenomenon and pulls the group out of this delusion.