Gift of a Superpower

Over the past couple of posts, we’ve been considering the apparent rule that programing within non-conscious self cannot be erased, only replaced. To serve that end, I've been trying to deliver tools to do just that. Well, this is the mother load of tools.

If we compose our own now, of what is our now composed? In this post  is the gift of a superpower that resolves that very question. The following post is adapted from a presentation I've been doing at the 6th grade level for the past 7 years. I hope you find it as empowering and joyful as they have.  

The gift I have for you is a true SUPERPOWER. A gift so powerful it works every time you use it. So significant it built the most powerful nation ever to exist on this planet. People and societies that do not have this superpower, have always eventually failed. 

Oh, they may last for a while by using another lesser power called “FEAR.” You’ve seen this if you’ve ever witnessed a bully at work. They use fear to make you feel powerless, small or helpless in the face of their emotional or physical violence.

The words in English to describe this superpower are:MUTUAL RESPECT. When one gives words as a gift, it is good form to be sure the giver and the receiver share common understanding of the gift, for it to truly be appreciated. In that spirit:

Mutual: (Adjective)

1 a: directed by each to the other or the others

   b: having the same feelings one for the other

   c: shared in common

   d: joint

2: characterized by sincerity

Synonyms: collaborative, combined, common, communal, concerted, conjoint, conjunct, cooperative, joint, multiple, collective, pooled, public, shared, united.

Respect: (Noun)

1: a relationship with or reference to a particular thing or situation 

2: an act of giving particular attention or consideration

3: high or special regard: esteem 

Synonyms: reference, regard

Antonyms: disfavor

Respect: (Transitive Verb)

1 a: to consider worthy of high regard or esteem

   b: to refrain from interfering with

2: to have reference to or concern for

Synonyms: regard, appreciate, consider, esteem, admire

Now we’ve shared the words that define “mutual” and “respect”; however; words are only symbols of experience not the experience itself. 

If you are to use “mutual respect” as the superpower it is, you will need to know how to perform the act of “mutual respect.”

Superman could never get off the ground by defining flying. To fly, Superman needed to know how to perform the act of flying. This is true about the superpower of “mutual respect.”

Before you get your driver’s license, you must show you can drive in a mutually respectful way. Some road signs are there to help you get where you want to go; however, many are to remind you about “mutual respect.” These symbols remind drivers to follow the laws that govern “mutual respect” on the road, such as: stop signs, speed limit signs, lines on the road, traffic lights, etc.

If you don’t go beyond the words and learn to DO “mutual respect,” this superpower gift will not work for you. 

Like Superman; simply understanding the word “fly” is very different from being able to “fly.” 

It’s in the doing that the magic happens.

You might ask, “How do I do mutual respect?” If I tried to tell you, I would confuse you and frustrate myself. For now, trust you will find this experience if you choose to look for it.

The doing of “mutual respect” is a successful way of facilitating wellbeing in your environment, yourself and those around you. When you are in the transitive verb state of mutual respect, there is a feeling of focus, security and wellbeing. However; life’s continuum hurls its slings and arrows in ever changing varieties.

Mutual respect is the ultimate swiss army knife for writers of their own now. Mutual respect has a full spectrum of shades to address every colorful challenge.

Virtues are mutual respect in action. These powers are choices you can make when life challenges your new superpower. 

If you walk through your life being mutually respectful, these virtues give you the respectful power to handle every situation you will face. Here, I’ll list them and you will see what I mean. Each of the words are a link to their definition at the  52 Virtuses.com site. 

The Gift of Virtues:

assertiveness caring cleanliness commitment compassion confidence consideration cooperation courage courtesy creativity detachment determination diligence enthusiasm excellence flexibility forgiveness

friendliness generosity gentleness helpfulness honesty honor humility idealism integrity joyfulness justice kindness love loyalty moderation modesty orderliness patience

peacefulness perseverance purposefulness reliability respect responsibility self-discipline service tact thankfulness tolerance trust trustworthiness truthfulness understanding unity

“Mutual respect” is the superpower we must have in place to apply any of the virtues listed above. Any of these words can be applied for good or for evil; however, when they are applied with mutual respect, each word works collectively with the entire list. If the composer knows the words on this list in a transitive way, the composer will find solutions to "Now" problems. Solutions that support life and resist decay into entropy and equilibrium.

As with all superpowers; the more you use them, the more powerful they become.

All Illusion Works for a Reason

After a presentation on this subject years ago, one of my professors approached me. He was one of my dance instructors. I was interested to hear what his feedback would be as a physical performer. He told me I was a reincarnated Essene master and he gave me a book by Dr. Edmund Bordeaux Szekely. The title of the book was, “From Enoch to the Dead Sea Scrolls.” With a smile and a hug, he walked away. I don't think I ever saw him again. When I got back to my place, I skimmed through the book with interest. It was interesting, but I didn’t have enough information at the time to understand what I was looking at or what he told me. I had some trees that were in that forest of meaning, but the forest itself was required to know that at which I was looking.

Professor, as he liked to be called, was a medical doctor; but more interestingly, he was a very influential anthropologist. His command of language was amazing. He spoke 14 ½ languages and the half language, he joked, was English. His translation work has illuminated our understanding of the ancient Sumerian culture, Essene Gospel of Peace, Dead Sea Scrolls and the Toltec culture of the new world to name a few. In addition to his translation work he wrote some 82 books. I’ve read virtually all of them.

This man’s teaching had a profound effect on how I view and interact with the world. One of the great “take aways” I got from his work was the idea that, one cannot take an element away from a living system, without putting something back in its place that is equal to or better than what was taken. 

In nature, living systems select what supports the continuation of life. When the imagination of human consciousness is involved, such rules do not necessarily apply.

In our Record/Play (R/P) non-conscious self, if a recording is attached to a specific stimulus, then that recording will be played if the environment represents that stimulus. Once the R/P self has a solution to an environmental challenge it can’t be erased; however, it can be replaced. I think this is self evident to most. The real question is, how do we effect such change? (See post 11/18/2011)

Remember, experience is not what happens to you. Its what you do with what happens to you. Context is so very important to the nature of a moment. Here are some ideas that can shape and focus when choosing how to experience what happens to us.

: Remember, it’s all a composed illusion

that happened no less than ½ second ago.

: If you are conscious, you have a veto.

: The composition of now is a creative process.

              There is no right or wrong in the creative process.

                       There is what doesn’t work.

What works and what works better.

: Mutual respect is the foundation of freedom.

       Virtue is mutual respect in action.

: Experience is not what happens to you.

It's what you do with what happens to you.

: All illusion works for a reason.

              Know the reason and the illusion becomes a tool.

: The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Remember these principles when applying the solution. Here is the solution from the post on 11/18/2011:

Two elements are required to effect change in how one chooses behavior:

     1. Train in a “better” solution before it's needed now.

     2. Veto the perceived “negative” pathway when it’s initiated and don’t veto the

         perceived “better” solution.

The application of these gifts has quite an effect on the creative process of composing now. Once you commit these principles to your knowing, they become writing tools for your non-conscious self. Non-conscious self will select the pathway perceived to be best. Dr. Bruce Lipton, in his book “Biology of Belief” shows how perception shapes our choices. We compose our own "Now", a simulated "Now" that is based on past recorded experience. no less than ½ second old. The play becomes the simulated perceived environment of our visual illusion, existing only in our own imagination.

The simulation we presumably witness as now, is painted in a pallet of assumptions. The colors of our now are the colors we individually have learned to see. The same is true of the sound in our now. There is no constant. Each non-conscious self must learn how to experience new sights and sounds individually. This is true of all other qualities of experience; i.e., smell, taste, touch, thought, movement, memory, etc.  We indeed live in the moment; but remember, your conscious awareness is a simulation no less than 1/2 second old, not the experience itself.

Everyone Has to Learn Everything

Our individual body unit begins as two half cells becoming a one cell living creature. I hope you already had this discussion with your mom and dad.

Not to get into reproductive politics; but, I have to ask, what does this one cell human expression of life know? It has a potential of becoming a 50+ trillion cell being. It is at this one cell point I have to remember the lessons of epigenetics. 

Also, this is the point to remember Dr. Einstein again, " It is not the particle that governs the field. It is the field that governs the particle." The environment instructs the cell. The cell is a machine that responds to the environment. No one is in there, whether it’s one cell or 50 trillion cells.

The Childhood Macrostate chart from the last post makes one thing very clear. It is difficult to talk about all children as a single group. Children are human’s under construction. Their needs and potential for learning change so very drastically from one phase of development to another. At each step, the environment instructs the now huge community of cells, how best to fulfill its biological potential to survive another moment, another day, another generation.   

The next line I would have added to that chart, if there had been room, would have been communication. One of the lines of thought my research focuses on is the correlation between the other lines on the chart and the development of communication capability and then capability to use that capacity.   

In earlier posts I discuss how the act of composing now takes no less than ½ second to consciously manifest. This capacity manifests about age seven, capability begins to develop thereafter. Up to age seven is only non-consciousness. Non-conscious self is a record/playback (R/P) device. Around age seven, with the advent of Alpha state brain waves (8 to 13 Hz) conscious self begins to develop. This means we learn to use the innate ½ second delay in processing new stimuli with previous experience that creates a meaningful message perceived as now.  There is enough time to observe said potential event or continuum and decide to stop it from being expressed. This is the power of veto.

So, there’s the record/playback (R/P) self and there is the conscious observer self. This observer is born in each of us around seven years of age.  Observer is only conscious of, at best, 50 bits per second of information flow with which to wield veto power over every action. The observer must have high confidence that the information was well sorted and prioritized by non-conscious self when deselecting what not to include in its “Now Show.” Our being is fully functioning by age 7, but not fully grown when consciousness begins to come “online.”

The next to the last line of the Childhood Macrostate chart shows the average turning point when conscious self begins to be expressed. It also indicates that conscious self has no more than 5% control over the total expression of the beings here/now. We can’t consciously cause an action directly, only veto a potential action. The process of initiating action occurs in a non-conscious way. This is a profound fact and tool.

So, that means some 95% of the time, control is the non-conscious R/P machine itself. This part of self is like a motion sensor device. Such a device is not sensitive to everything. Its designer selects a quality of environment to which it will be sensitive and focus. When that environment occurs, BAM! The programmed response occurs. The sensor is stimulated and a process ensues to enact the programmed response to that environmental demand. A signal is then generated to cause action. It is that signal we have the option to interrupt with our veto. Can you imagine how this might change things if everyone knew this? Herein, is the "holy grail" of teaching.

Everyone has to learn everything.

Childhood – The Macrostate

I’m greatly excited to get to this point in the story this blog hopes to tell. I’m going to cheat and use lots of pictures this post. One of the last ideas presented was a look at human lifespan through the window of “Capability vs. Capacity.”

Building on that foundation, I want to look at developmental progression from birth to age 18. The work I did back in “the day” used this same kind of template, comparing relative aspects of our journey; however, I was looking at the later parts of life. Childhood was more or less a necessary assumption, by  the time I got to graduate school. As an actor, childhood contained no parts I would likely be cast to play. 


Over a year ago, while volunteering at a local middle school, I had an epiphany. I saw the value of my work in the theatre 35 years ago was applicable to the modern classroom. That is why I began my old quest anew.

The graphic of "infant to geezer" tells a thousand tales. In an effort to find a way to talk about children at any level up to 18 years, I’ve developed a chart to help focus the discussion. It represents a look at the “every-child.” The progression each of us takes from birth to 18 years. It hopes to represent childhood as a “Macrostate.” It intends to represent the temporal relationships between several aspects all we children face on our journey through childhood. There are constants and there are variables. Each individual child in the throughs of here/now are the "micro state." Each child’s variable aspects move one way or the other on the chart, relative to the constant aspects like age.

Age is the top line. Each has a progression of days. Based on this metronome, we can look at correlations and relationships between individuals. Each of the conceptual continuums represented on the chart represents how most perform at any given age. 


Childhood Macrostate = All Children  *  Childhood Microstate = One Child

Developmental phases line intends to show standard physical development. It is quite a journey to go from two half cells; then growing to 50 - 75 trillion living human cells, banded together into a community that perceives itself as one being. I had done this same research some 35 years ago with the adult being. Not until the last two years did I look at what happened before adulthood.

Educational continuum shows the progression of the individual interfacing with educational opportunity outside the home, from birth to freshman in college. DC means day care. PS means pre-school. K-12 is self explanatory. F is freshman in college.

All of you out there excited about brain based research, hang on. You’re going to love this.

The next line on the chart shows Brain Wave Generation capability at any given age. In later posts we will look at the relationship between age, capacity and capability in much greater depth. 


I try next to tell the charts in pictures. 

The next line shows Brain Wave State’s specific manifest capability at any given age on the chart. 

In average development, a child from birth to the age of 2/3 range generates an electrical field with a frequency of ½ to 4 Hz. This is called a Delta brain state. The behavioral capability of this age range is considered a trance state.

Between ages 2/3 years and 6/7 years of age is called Theta. The frequency is between 4 Hz and 7 Hz. This range generates a frequency considered a Hypnagogic State. The picture below shows a boy in such a state. He fights an imaginary foe right here/now. His physical feet well planted in the real and wet world; however, his actions are fully conceived and fulfilled in the land of make-believe.

The next slide shows Alpha State behavior which begins ages 6/7 to 10/11. The Jesuit priests are a very old Catholic order of teachers. They call 7 years of age, “The Age of Reason.” This is the age at which the human brain begins to display traits of consciousness. A brain in Alpha State can generate between 8 and 13 Hz. This brain state begins to look outside itself and nuclear family for bonding and support. These individuals gather together in groups or may run in packs or may become a lone wolf.

Beta state is the last stage of development this chart considers. As beta state develops, the individual manifests the ability to perform concentrated and focused tasks. These capabilities begin age 10/11 years and can generate a frequency of 13 to 40 Hz.  

40 Hz is just the beginning of the journey. An adult, mature and healthy human brain can generate a measurable 800 Hz when needed. I wonder what its speed limit is in Hz during uncontrolled circumstances?

This truth is something that should guide our discussions about children and education. This is also fascinating information to the scholar studying the act of…………anything.

What Happened to the Erase Button?

OK. Sub-conscious self can record and it can play back. 


What if sub-conscious self records a bad solution to a "Now" challenge? 


So, imagine you're 5 years old and you learn a response that helped you survive you're bully big brother. A lot of folks get to adulthood without improving their available choices to respond to all situations. When you get poked in “that way,” you will respond in the same way you did when you were five when your brother poked you. That is, if you have not learned a better way.

Only a small fraction of those non-conscious recorded qualities become conscious accessible memories.


This is an active process, as we’ve explored in several earlier posts. This is a skill, a doing, a verb. This skill can be practiced and perform better and better over time. I’m talking about any creative action.

Another skill to consider at this point is mimicry. The capability to use a memory to relive aspects of an originating experience, turning that memory into a whole new continuum of experience.For example, the second night of a play. It is the same play; however, it is a whole new experience. That’s what a skill is, to be able to re-enact. It may seem silly to state something that seems so very obvious. As we look at developmental continuums, these simple questions become quite profound.

Every time you relive a memory, in your mind’s eye (I) or in a re-enactment, the artificial construct that is that memory tree, is reinforced as being the true action held in that memory. The fact is; it is an artificial construct, and in the same way it was the first time you lived the event.

Even if everything in the individual’s conscious memory is accurate and true, it is only a small fraction of information about the event. There is your non-conscious 50,000,000 bits/sec. processor at work, plus any other witness to the same event, Conscious, Non-conscious, Human or Mechanical. Then there are qualities of the event that we don’t have the sensory or mental capacity yet to perceive. We use tools to help see waves to which our eyes are not yet sensitive. Maybe we are sensitive to such waves, but are just not conscious of that sensitivity. Maybe we just haven't learned that wave yet.

Some folks go to work and perform the same function, the same array of motor reflex patterns every day. “Would you like fries with that hamburger?” the server asks day after day, customer after customer.

Such jobs have short learning curves and become virtually automatic after a short period. However, fry cook or surgeon, it is about the act of. We don’t reconstruct from scratch, we have the ability to re-enact the same pathways amending only what is needed to appropriately respond to the subtle changes in context. Michael Phelps swims the same stroke from pool to pool, competition to competition. He adjusts for the different competitors and pool conditions. It is his endless practice that instructs intent, not free will. Free will comes into play in practicing for the challenges of life. If you’re not prepared for life when it happens, it’s just too late.

The order in which we process information is a critical question to the one studying the act of... I have mentioned the visual illusion in previous posts. 
(See post 11/17/2011) The very structure of determining here/now is a flexible, non-conscious and learned behavior. If something new is to be seen, one must learn how to see it. These skills are learned, from conception through early childhood, with enormous efficiency. We continue learning obviously, but at a much different rate and process. 

Imagine the brain is the hardware and the mind is the software. The longer the software runs, the more the running program affects the functions of said software.

You say, so what. If I get a bad “program” just delete it. The problem is; there is no delete button, no erase button. 


This massive processor has this safety device built-in. The designer must have known that if that button were installed, we would not be able to leave it alone or would misuse it, badly.  Once non-conscious self finds a solution to a problem, even if it’s a really bad solution, it will keep it until it has a perceived a “better” solution to put in its place.

 

For years teaching the creative process, I've used the saying:

“There is no right or wrong in the creative process.

Only what doesn’t work,

what works and then what works better.”

The mind/brain complex seems to have this same protocol. A program that is not particularly effective or not socially appropriate can become increasingly difficult to alter as time passes. The pathway becomes ingrained with repeated use. With no erase button, what does one do?

Two elements are required to effect change in how one chooses behavior:

     1. Train in a “better” solution.

     2. Veto the “negative” pathway when it’s initiated and don’t veto the 

        “better” solution.

Sounds simple enough, huh? The effects of such training occur in non-conscious self. So, you won’t know if it worked until after it happened.

Cool, huh!

At every level that life shows itself to our consciousness, it chooses the action that facilitates the continuation of life. Life selects the option that resists decay into disorder, entropy and finally equilibrium.

It is only when it comes to the systems of human imagination, deep in the structure of the systematic illusion, that this rule comes apart. Our imagination, our consciousness alone has veto.

Record/Play

It’s one thing to experience a personal understanding of the workings of sub-conscious self. It’s another thing entirely to attempt to articulate the same. I guess that’s the fun of this; trying to figure out how to say things that are hard to understand.

The beauty of this subject; all of us are having the subject experience all the time. As with all illusion, it works in a given way for a given reason. Know the reason and the illusion becomes a tool.

Sub-conscious self processes information at some 50,000,000 bits/sec., all beyond our conscious awareness. Non-conscious self can playback recorded responses learned in its earliest moments; and do so right up to the last collective breath of the being.

This huge non-conscious processor can perform highly complex continuums of action; all performed without a conscious thought, beyond not vetoing said action when you finally do become conscious of it. I know this is a different way of looking at perception and intention, but this seems to be the case.

We select our continuum by consent, not by intent. Intent is learned behavior, not consciousness asserting itself. If the continuum of experience is the water, intent is the filter. The filter deselects elements of the flow that the filter was designed to remove. This is how conscious veto works.

As the visual illusion unfolds, we become witnesses to a movie, all happening no less than ½ second ago and most constructed from much earlier memories. The intent exists on the non-conscious level. Intent is constructed from the individual’s belief system. Intent is not conscious, it’s learned.

Non-conscious self responds to an event with pre-recorded actions, pasted together in a continuum that meets the perceived needs of that event. If one is not prepared for the event, responding can be highly challenging. From such moments unintended consequences occur.

Experience isn’t what happens to you, it’s what you do with what happens to you.

Past blog entries suggest our continuums are initiated in the non-conscious processes of the mind/brain. This theory appears to confound the concept of interpersonal communication. The relationship between the actor and the audience is exceedingly complex; however, it is understandable and it can be articulated through its variables. Therein lays the art.

This is a fascinating truth to know. There are near infinite bits/sec of information out there in all the potential universes. Every second non-conscious self processes at least 50,000,000 bits/sec of information, pruning the trees of what it already knows. These are the communication trees of mind/brain that populate the forests of our understanding.

A woman I came to know in the 1990's, Dr. Jean Houston, wrote a book years ago by the name of “Mind Games.” This book was a guide to what Jean called inner space. I found this book in a spiritual bookstore in Davis, CA in 1976.

The second book I bought that day was entitled “Thought Forms.” It was originally published around 1911. Interestingly enough, both books encouraged release of conscious control and letting the continuum of events unfold with your conscious perception playing witness.

What we do with that collective information is what non-conscious self processes to determine the 50 bits/sec flow of information conscious self perceives and presents as now. There is a huge volume of information kept in our memory trees and we may never be conscious of any of it, if we don’t need it.

Two well functioning eyes can send the brain 10,000,000 bits/sec. Out of all that information gathered from the visual field only 40 bits/sec are applied to what is consciously seen. Researchers have found that to be the speed limits of conscious vision. Can you imagine what's in the other 9,999,960 bit/sec.?

Who's Driving the Bus

We are not conscious of what we are not conscious of. If you pick any start time and call it zero, you will not be conscious of that "zero time" event for ½ second. That is the lesson of the 1/2 second delay.

That being said and taking my little straw through which to see and flashlight to light my way, I went to look behind Oz’s curtain.

One of the human anatomy lab classes I had required me to dissect, with three lab partners, a human body. That experience was one of Dr. Phil’s “life changing moments” for me. I was in the lab every extra minute I had. I don’t think I did very well in that 8:00 am anatomy lecture; but, I got an "A" in that lab.

She was a 96 year old woman who passed from heart/lung issues. She gave her physical remains so I could learn of what stuff we are made. This was one of the most serious and formative educational experiences I ever experienced. She was from LA and smoked 80 of those 96 years. With respect and great care we located and evaluated each of her parts down to the smallest detail. All of her parts were there. Why did she stop working? Hell, why did she work in the first place?  

Life brings a quality to the matter it manifests; a quality that is greater than the sum of its parts. It is a capability to resist decaying into equilibrium.

What is it that resists? The living cell is the seat of life. We see the effects of life; but, where is the life itself? Is it the DNA? Well, no, it isn’t. DNA doesn’t think. DNA is the cells parts store; and, an automated parts store at that. If not the DNA, where are the “brains” of the cell? Where else in the cell could the controller be? The work of Dr. Bruce Lipton has shown the brain of the cell is actually the membrane (cell wall), within which the living cell contains its components. There are resources, structures and molecular machines within. No sign of a choice maker, only choice implementers.

Epigenetic:

As it turns out, control is not in any living cell at all. Control comes from the context within which the cell resides. It's the environment that directs the mechanism that is the cell.

I've loved physics all my life. Was a member of a national award winning physics club in high school. I remember Uncle Al once said:

The influence of the field, the environment or context is not just the water in which we swim, it is the determining agent in every action we do, all the way down to the cellular level and beyond. This is true on every scale. Now, a touch of humor.

There are tons of tools in this post.

Just Say No.

Just Say No. Literally, our only conscious choice, Really!

This has nothing to do with former first lady Nancy Regan.

What? Conscious participation in creation of the moment boils down to NO? 

In the moment of now, we are not conscious. 

That takes at least a half second to occur. Last post established this fact. When the light bulb lit up and I got how this works, WOW!

Sub-consciousness is the 50,000,000 bit/sec gorilla in the room. Little 50 bits/sec consciousness is not able to cause any action to happen. Does this surprise you? It did me!

The only tool consciousness has, in expressing any action, is the veto.

Again, the proof of this is illuminated by it's timing. "Readiness Potential" is an expanding energy expression presented by the brain, resulting in the potential for a continuum of action. This expansion in amplitude, if not vetoed, will lead to action. Whether it's a simple or complex action, it begins before we are aware we’re going to do or perceive anything at all. The only influence we have to alter the act, occurs .02 of a second before said act. That is the afore mentioned power to VETO.

At 50 bits/sec, the amount of information consciously available to the actor in the moment is limited at best. I once heard consciousness described as a person standing in the middle of the Dallas Cowboy football stadium, in the pitch black dark. This person has one eye closed and is looking through a straw with the other eye to find his way. The only light he has is a flashlight. Everything he would ever need is right there, he just has to find it and then remember where it is if he or she ever needs that information again.

What the sub-consciousness does and can be trained to do is the gift within this. The limitation of bone makes it possible for the miracle of skeletal muscle to perform its miraculous act. The fact that limitations are an asset must be considered as each limitation's primary function. Limitations are all a form of a tool.

If you're struggling with your limitations, look first at how they serve you.

How the Computer Won Jeopardy

Not to keep you wondering, the reason the computer won the Jeopardy game with the people: the computer had a half second head start. That’s right, an entire half second. This is significant in so many ways to the composition of now.

Oh yes, that is what I'm saying. What we perceive as here/now, happened no less than ½ second ago. What happens in that ½ second becomes the systematic illusion, perceived as now. Understanding this process is invaluable for anyone wanting to perform the act of, anything. A powerful tool, if you know what to do with that half second.

Here’s the story of the chart:

This research started by attempting to time the biological process of stimuli/perception that leads to conscious awareness. Along this path, researchers were running into temporal anomalies. The timing wasn’t adding up  as expected.

So, instead of poking the subject in the finger, they found a way to poke the location inside the brain, during open skull surgery, that "lights up" when the subject's finger was poked. They found that whether the stimuli occurred on the finger or inside the brain, it took ½ second for the participant to become consciously aware of said stimulus.

In further research, while attempting to determine when the participant believed he or she experienced said stimulus, the subject perceived that time span as eight one hundredths of a second. Researchers call this a “backward referral of subjective experience.”

In review: an event occurs, marked as zero or start time. A process apparently ensues that, resulting in conscious awareness of said past event occurring that pesky 1/2 second earlier.

Conclusion: each of us quite literately writes the play we are playing. By necessity, we write ourselves as the central role. The character you write for yourself could be hero or villain; however, you are always the central character.

Experience is not what happens to you, it’s what you do with what happens to you. This is what happens in that silly little half second. You are writing and producing your "Now" play. It goes on at one half second o'clock. At the price of being boring some times, it never fails to be open when your conscious is on.

This research was conducted by Dr. Benjamin Libet. His work during the mid 1970s through the 1980s is fundamental to current understanding of the timing of consciousness. His open brain experiments have been duplicated 100s of time and are widely accepted in the neurological science community. This fellow’s story is amazing.

This truth, as a tool, is a double edge sword. It cuts both ways and requires the utmost respect to use. More on this as a tool later.

In the sixties and seventies it was not legal to do this research, as it was linked to subliminal advertising. The U.S. governments tried to control and even expunge this information from the public knowing. Can you say “FEAR!”

Before I close today’s post, I’d like to check the score on concepts so far:

“Here/Now,” expressed as the present.

“Perception,” expresses witness.

“Time – Space – Matter – Energy,” expressing continuing creation.

“Self – other than Self,” expressing the concept that there is an out there,

          out there.

“Bandwidth,” expressed as measurable units of information,

          having a flow rate and volume.

“Consciousness” (50 bits/sec) and

“Sub-consciousness” (50,000,000 bits/sec) expressing one being.

“The Half Second Delay,” is expressed as the length of time it takes

          for a here/now present event, to be experienced consciously.

When I add about this many more concepts, it will add up to one single idea worth talking about. No, REALLY.