Expansion of the horizon of the human being

Expansion of the horizon of the human being and overcoming pain and suffering In this blog I will talk about the expansion of the human attentional field and their fundamental role in human and social evolution. It seems to me that little has been said about the function of attention in evolution. Maybe it’s because the different levels of work of the consciousness (sleep, semi-sleep and vigilia) have not been sufficiently studied, just as the structure of the attentional field, has not been sufficiently observed. Yet it is thanks to the attentional field that the human being has been able to overcome several determinisms. When I speak of the attentional field I referred to the Silo concept of presence and copresence. In Psychology Notes 1. Silo explains the structure of the attentional field, the presence and the co-presence. Attention is a capacity of the consciousness to observe both internal and external phenomena. Last week I was fortunate to participate in a chat related to these themes. The chat of the book club is on Psychology Notes I. The participants read the book and exchange comments and experiences. It’s interesting to compare our experience, in such a way, through descriptive psychology. But Psychology Notes include more than a book, it’s a complete work with four major texts. Psychology I. was presented in 1975 in Corfu, Greece; Psychology II and Psychology III in 1976 and 1978 respectively in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria Island. Psychology I. studies psychism in general as a function of life, in its relationship with the environment, and in its human expression. It goes on to describe the characteristics of the “apparatuses” of the psychism—the senses, the memory, and the consciousness. Finally, it includes a development of the theory of impulses and of behavior. These texts provide the book club participants a preliminary overview of the descriptive psychology, establishing ideas and themes that the author explores and develops. In our chats we exchange on various topics; evolutionary demands, organism, adaptation, and the human being simultaneously transforms its environment and himself. One thing that amazes me with human beings is the structuring works of the consciousness, the capacity to pay attention, to receive, to compare previously recorded data and the extraordinary mechanisms of reversibility. Reversibility is defined : through attention the consciousness orient itself toward the sources of sensory information, which is called apperception and memory called evocation (searching information in memory). According to Silo, consciousness can be defined as the system of coordination and register realized by human psychism. In descriptive psychology, we can exchange and comment on our experience. It's thanks to the register, we can have a sensation of our experience and memory. Attentional field of presence and copresence Has we said earlier, the attention is a capacity of the consciousness to observe both internal and external phenomena. Silo describes two attentional fields; the presence and the copresence. These fields are given with both external as well as internal objects (external object: perception, sensation ; internal objects : abstraction, register, representation, etc.). In the act of perception, human consciousness is attending to an object, and operates acts in comitance with others apparatus (senses and memory). When consciousness makes an evident aspect of the “present”, we talk about the field of presence, while aspects that are non-evident operate in the copresence” - we talk about the field of copresence. We “count on '' those copresent aspects even when we are not attending to them. This is because the consciousness works with more than it needs to pay attention to; it goes beyond the observed object. The degree of intensity of recording and evocation is related to the consciousness fields of presence and copresence. Whenever the attention is working there are objects that appear as central, and others that appear on the periphery in a copresent fashion. The consciousness directs acts toward objects, but there are also other copresent acts which are unrelated to the theme or object presently being attended to. The same thing is experienced in the different levels of consciousness. As we mentioned earlier, unfortunately the levels of consciousness have not been sufficiently studied; he referred to the levels of sleep, semi-sleep and vigilia. At these levels the presence and copresence attentional field are active. One level of consciousness that is fully studied is the vigil level. With knowledge, for example, the mass of copresent information matters when it comes to focusing on a specific theme. Knowledge is understood within this horizon of copresence; thus, when the horizon of copresence expands so does the capacity to establish relationships. Through history human beings were able to expand their copresence, adding information, data and memories to their process and by doing so they were able to develop knowledge and liberate themself from various determinism. The field of copresence is supporting substratum on which the consicousness is relying on to configure reality, internal and external look. Through history human experience accumulated elements within the human comprehension, concepts, ideas, form ect were configured in the field of copresence and presence.. Presence and copresence together configure an individual’s image of the world. Aside from concepts and ideas, the consciousness also has copresent elements such as opinions, beliefs, and assumptions, which are not being thought about and to which it rarely pays attention. When this supporting substratum on which the consciousness is relying changes or collapses, it is the image of the world that changes or is transformed. Launching search in the copresence Why am I addressing the theme of the expansion of the field of co-presence in parallel with the evolution of the human being and of society? Because it’s in the field of co-presence that we find the origin of associatives and abstraction processes, which are necessary for advancement of any solution. Most of the time we were not really awarded of the operation of the consciousness in the field of copresence, but we certainly were aware of the search we launched. Take for example the work of researcher, scientist and engineer, think of all those moments where being grappled with a problem, these guys had to put aside this problem to come back to it later with a solution. It is as if once “launched'' into the co-presence, this problem continued to occupy the interest of consciousness without us being totally aware of his work of relation and associations and abstractions. And then all of a sudden, a few hours later, a few days later, the solution appears obvious in front of our eyes. To launch a search in the field of co-presence is fundamental for the evolution of the human being and society. During our chat in the book club, one of the participants mentioned the COVID19 which is currently occupying space in the co-presence of all of humanity. At this moment, even if we don’t have a treatment, it is safe to say that in the coming weeks, and months a treatment will arise from this collective search and the works of many researchers and doctors. I think the same goes for transformation of the world, and moving forwards to a better world. It seems to me that this clamor resided in the heart of the human being for generations. The future holds salvation memories and hope of liberation. These memories are still active in our copresence. When I speak of salvation, I mean the profound peace of mind that is at the center of many religions and spiritual groups, which is related to the state of being free from suffering and pain. Human consciousness and direction toward specific stimulus As we said earlier since the beginning of time human consciousness has followed the path that liberates it from pain and suffering. With the advancement of science and technology we saw many diseases cured thanks to medicine, many problems related to communication, housing, education, transportation, and food were resolved thanks to technology. Even if it’s not obvious, we still are on a path to liberate ourselves from pain and suffering. Today our journey is delayed because of all the confusion around the world. To conclude I would like to share with you this text from Silo, which resumes my thoughts on the present moment and our incapacities to move forward. After an immense period of time had passed, human life began to flower on this planet. But with the passage of millennia, the peoples and the nations began to grow separate and distinct. There was a time to be born, a time to laugh, a time to suffer, and a time to die. Individuals, peoples, and nations, building and growing, succeeding one another until at last they inherited the Earth. They ruled the waters of the oceans and flew faster than the wind, and they crossed the mountains. And in voices of the storm and with light brighter than the sun, they demonstrated their power. Then they looked back and saw in the distance their blue planet, their gentle protector, veiled by clouds. What energy has moved all this activity, what motor has propelled the human being through history, if not rebellion against death? From earliest times, death has dogged humankind’s footsteps like a shadow. And since ancient times, death has found its way into the human heart and tried to conquer it. What was at first an unrelenting struggle driven by the necessities of life became a struggle driven by fear and desire. And two roads opened: the road of Yes and the road of No. At that point, all thought, all emotion, and all action became torn by doubt over whether to choose the Yes or the No. “Yes” created everything that allowed humankind to surpass suffering. “No” added suffering to pain. There was no person, no relationship, no organization free of its internal Yes and its internal No. Then the separate peoples and nations began to connect one to another, until at last the civilizations came together, and the Yes and the No of every language was heard simultaneously in the farthest corners of the Earth. How will human beings ever triumph over their shadow? By fleeing it? By confronting it in incoherent struggle? If the motor of history is rebellion against death, I say to you now: Rebel against frustration and revenge! For the first time in history, let us stop looking for people to blame. Everyone is responsible for what they have done, but no one is to blame for what has happened. If only with this universal judgment we could declare: “No one is to blame,” and with this establish a moral obligation that every human being reconcile with his or her own past. This will begin here today in you, and you will be responsible to see that it continues, reaching those around you until it has spread to the last corner of the Earth. (Silo, Speak’ Madrid)