LS Re: The self (was Catechism or FAQ)


Bodvar Skutvik (skutvik@online.no)
Wed, 26 Nov 1997 11:22:16 +0100


24 Nov. Diana wrote:

> Bodvar Skutvik wrote:
>
> > 15. If the world is composed of values then who is doing the valueing?
> >
> > No one in the Subject/Object sense, but to a human being who
> > straddles all quality levels, only one is highlighted at a time.
> > Bodily sensations, needs or urges (instincts) bring focus to the
> > Biological level. Impulses from the social "body" we identify w h,
> > bring focus to that value plane. In our culture the focus dwells
> > mostly on the Intellect; reality is tinted by the attic window
> > glass, but attention shifts easily.
>
> ...which begs the question: Who's doing the focusing?

Diana and Squad.
If I just say "Quality" it sounds a little glib, so let me tell about
a scientific finding which is very disturbing for the SOM and
promising for the MOQ. Yes, THE proof I'd say. Back in the early
sixties the American neurologist Benjamin Libet performed a series of
experiments, among them one to find exactly when we make up our minds
when we act. He chose such a simple feat as bending a finger, but the
setup was very complicated and foolproof. The gist of it all is that
there is always an electrical "evoked potential" in the brain
approximately half a second before a person does a voluntary act, but
the strange thing is that however spontaneous the "guinea pigs" tried
to be, the potential peaked BEFORE they consciously decided to
bend the finger! Some "authority" initiates the act before a
person makes up his/her mind!

Libet and all other who commented on this (it was a great stir about
the 'free will' implications) spoke about 'the subconscious', 'the
subliminal' and 'deeper levels' .. etc. But it is plain that if an
entity decides before the subject itself, then it is not subjective,
and as it takes place within the person, it is not objective either
(it will be argued that even if we aren't aware, we perform billions
of acts. Yes, exactly). As I see it, this is the Quality at
work: pre-intellectual, pre-everything! The subconscious of
psychology has been has been classified as "subjective" up to now,
but Libet's experiment called the bluff of this platypus.

At what Value level does the impulse originate? I would say
Biology, and that it takes a little time before it "surfaces"
Intellectually. Libet also found that the act could be aborted which
I interpret that the Social level has a vote here (if the act had
been indecent it would not have been carried out). But neither
Intellect nor Society need interfere, the body performs its best when
Intellect (thinking) is absent.

Who is doing the focussing? The same who initiates the act and
who chooses what level is to deal with the task or challenge at hand?
Quality all the way!

Bo

PS. There was another experiment in the series that was even more
disturbing, but it is enough for now.

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