Let us start with energy.
I do not profess to be an expert in biology and biochemistry but I know enough that I think I can make some decent general statements relative to the creative and flow of energy.
A doctor once told my dad that health and medicine can be reduced to a pretty simple formula, not unlike the buy and sell of real estate.
Specifically, in real estate, we hear people repeat this formula over and over again:
Location, location, location...
And a similar formula can be repeated over and over again in health and medicine:
Circulation, circulation, circulation...
Everything the mind and body needs to function properly needs to move, come together, supply energy and building products to the mind and body, and then, after energy has been released and used, waste products need to be detoxified, recycled, and/or removed from the body so that the mind and body can keep functioning properly...
With our body, we have instruments and our own powers of observation (and/or that of our doctor's) to actually see -- and then interpret and evaluate -- what is going on inside and outside our body. We have microscopes, X ray machines, CAT Scans, MRIs, Ultrasound machines...and so on...We can actually take pictures, and/or a surgeon can actually go inside the body to take a look at, an 'organ of interest'...the heart, the liver, the pancreas, the kidneys, and so on...
In the brain, visual pictures can also be taken of the different 'sub-structures' that perform 'sub-functions' that come together to provide the complete workings of the brain...
But we cannot see an 'idea', a 'concept', a 'generalization', an 'abstraction', a 'classification', a 'category', a 'distinction', a 'stereotype', and we cannot see what we say 'houses' all of these different type of 'non-empirical' ideas -- which is what, in English, we call our 'mind' as differentiated by our 'brain'.
In English, we differentiate our 'mind' from our 'brain' because our brain we associate with 'physical', 'physiological', biological, chemical, and 'bio-chemical' 'processes' whereas our 'mind' we associate with all our 'thinking' and 'conceptual' -- non-empirical -- processes.
Labelling becomes important here because we 'make decisions on what we are going to do' based on how we 'label' something....which can get us into the problem of 'bad decisions based on false or bad label stereotyping'...
If we label something as a 'brain dysfunction' -- say, something like a 'tumor' or 'epilepsy' -- we advise the person experiencing this type of problem (assuming that he or she agrees with this assessment or perhaps even if he or she doesn't) to go see a doctor and/or a 'brain or neurological specialist'.
If we label something as a 'mental disorder' or a 'personality disorder' or an 'emotional disorder', then we are more likely to advise the person experiencing this type of problem (assuming that he or she agrees with this assessment or perhaps even if he or she doesn't) to a 'psychologist' and/or a 'psychotherapist'...
Bridging the gap between the two -- i.e., between the 'brain' specialists and the 'mind' specialists -- we have the 'psychiatrists' who are trained in both medicine and in psychology and psychotherapy.
The 'mind-brain split' -- just like the 'mind-body split' -- has created a 'mental problem' of gigantic proportions -- a 'conundrum' if you will -- for thousands of years....with many of our finest philosophers and psychologists trying to get to the bottom of this 'conundrum' and get it straightened out...
Generally, without much success.
Freud spent years trying to complete his 'Project for a Scientific Psychology' -- and finally gave up. He started out as a 'neurologist', then became a 'hypnotist', and then finally a 'clinical psychologist', 'psychotherapist', and 'psychoanalyst'....but he couldn't solve the age-old mind-body, mind-brain conundrum...Welcome to the club...It is a large one.
Thinking 'dialectically' means that you opt to use a lot of 'hyphenated words' such as 'mind-brain' and, in my case, here in Hegel's Hotel -- 'Gestalt-Adlerian-Psychoanalysis' or 'GAP' Psychology. Or alternatively what I call 'DGB Quantum Psychoanalysis'.
This doesn't mean that I have any secret answers to the age old 'mind-body' or 'mind-brain' problem; just that I recognize the danger of making bad decisions on the basis of bad or inappropriate labels; and also, that I recognize that the 'mind' and 'brain' function together 'holistically' which is why I prefer to use the lable 'mind-brain' when i am thinking about this conundrum.
In the body, we know that a wide assortment of different things have to happen in order to give us 'energy'....We need 'food' which breaks down into 'sugar' or 'glucose', we need 'sunshine', we need 'oxygen', we need 'water', and we need 'good circulation' to get everthing where it needs to go to: specifically, to all the millions of different cells in the mind-brain and body....
Now psychologically speaking, 'energy' can be differentiated and this is one of the ways in which we can differentiate the different schools of psychology from each other -- i.e. what types of 'energy' do they talk about', and how many different types of energy do they talk about?
Energy turns into 'processes', or processes turn into energy (depending on which way you want to dialectically look at it -- or both); and processes turn into 'structures' like 'body structures or organs' and/or visa versa with structures turning into processes...and in the 'mental' sphere of things we can talk about energy turning into psycho-processes which in turn turn into psycho-structures (or 'psycho-organs' or 'ego-states' and 'underlying subconscious templates')....
And now we have the begining of talk about 'personality theory' and/or 'models of the psyche/personality' and/or 'character structure'...
And away we go to the races...
But it all starts with talk about different types of 'energy' creating different types of processes creating different types of structures and/or visa versa with different types of 'psychological structures' creating different types of 'psychological processes' and different psychological processes creating different types of 'psychological or psycho-energy'.
Verbs turn into nouns and nouns turn into verbs...or so we make them so...
Once we start talking about different types of 'psycho-structures', then we are talking about different types of 'classifying' and 'sub-classifying' parts of the mind or mind-brain that we either totally or partly cannot see.
In the area of 'personality theory', there is nothing visual to support what we are doing...
It is all based on watching people behave...and then making 'inferences' and 'judgments' based on 'commonalities' and 'differences' in behavior...
That is why B.F. Skinner (much as I didn't like what the man stood for) said that we don't even need to talk about 'personality theory' in order to understand and 'predict' human behavior....Skinner was the founder -- or at least one of the main founders -- of 'Behaviorism'.
Skinner said that we can just visualize the 'personality' as a 'black box' that we really don't even need to find anything about, we don't need to go 'inside'...
Because all the answers to this 'black box' and how it works can be found and determined by 'watching' and 'conditioning' 'overt behavior'...
Sorry, but that is not my perspective. I have spent much of almost 40 years 'investigating what is inside the black box, and how things work inside there'...
And I don't believe in 'conditioning'...I believe in 'learning' as a 'dialectic process between teacher and student'; not with some laboratory researcher telling me what I am going to learn by 'positively' and/or 'negatively' 'reinforcing' me... Unless there is 'mutual consent' in which case again, the process becomes 'dialectical' as opposed to 'unilateral'....One of the biggest problems of our society and our times -- like all societys and all times -- is one of 'non-transaparency', 'narcissism', 'unilateral decisions' and 'manipulative underhanded cover operations' from individuals, corporations, and governments...
But I am getting ahead of myself...
Back to the 'black box' -- man's 'mind-brain' and the largely 'invisible' energy, processes, and structures that run it...that we 'interpret', 'judge' and 'classify' based primarily on some combination of personal and/or clinical experience...
We will take this up again tomorrow...
If we use the metaphor of 'energy-process-structure' (EPS) and apply this triangular concept to the workings of 'the mind' or the 'mind-brain', then here is the type of thing/structure (and dynamic process) we can come up with...
1. 'Nurturing energy'....leads to a 'nurturing process'...leads to a 'nurturing structure' -- 'The Nurturing Ego'
If we also look at the dynamics of 'power' or 'degree of self-empowerment', 'self-image', and 'self-esteem', then we can divide or 'split' The Nurturing Ego into two components or facets: 'The Nurturing Superego' and 'The Nurturing (Co-operative, Approval-Seeking) Underego.
Thus, we now have:
1a. The (Therapeutic) Nurturing Superego;
1b.The (Submissive) Nurturing Underego;
2. Following this line of thinking, we also have 'Narcissistic Energy' leading to a 'Narcissistic Process' leading to a 'Narcissistic Structure' -- 'The Narcissistic Ego' which is then 'split into'...
2a. The Narcissistic Superego;
2b. The Narcissistic Underego.
3. We also have 'Dionysian' ('hedonistic', 'pleasure-seeking) Energy' leading to a 'Dionysian Process' and a 'Dionysian Structure' -- 'The Dionysian Ego' which is then split into:
3a. The Dionysian Superego;
3b. The Dionysian Underego;
4. We also have 'Apollonian Energy' leading to an 'Apollonian Process' leading to an 'Apollonian Structure' -- 'The Apollonian Ego' which is split into:
4a. 'The (Righteous, Organized) Apollonian Superego';
4b. 'The (Rebellious, Organized) Apollonian Underego';
5. In the 'middle zone' of the 'ego-state' portion of the personality, we have:
5a. 'Romantic Energy' leading to a 'Romantic Process' leading to 'The Romantic Ego' (which can be split into 'top zone' (Superego) and 'bottom zone' (Underego) as well but we will leave it here in the 'middle zone'.
5b. 'Enlightenment-(Democratic, Egalitarian) Energy' leading to an 'Enlightenment Process' leading to an 'Enlightenment Structure' -- 'The Democratic-Enlightenment Ego';
5c. 'Mediating (Negotiating, Compromising, Problem-Solving, Conflict-Resolving) Energy' leading to a 'Mediating Process' leading to a 'Mediating Structure' -- 'The Central (Mediating, Executive) Ego.
From top to bottom, this leaves us with:
1. The Nurturing (Therapeutic) Superego;
2. The Narcissistic (Self-Interested) Superego;
3. The Dionysian (Hedonistic, Pleasure-Seeking) Superego;
4. The Apollonian (Righteous, Organized) Superego;
5. The Nurturing (Submissive) Underego;
6. The Narcissistic (Self-Interested, Defiant) Underego;
7. The Dionysian (Hedonistic, Pleasure-Seeking) Underego;
8. The Apollonian (Rebellious, Deconstructive, Organized) Underego;
9. The Romantic Ego;
10. The Enlightenment (Democratic-Egalitarian) Ego;
11. The Central (Mediating, Executive) Ego.
Together, these eleven ego-states above represent the actions of the 'Divided and/or Wholistic Ego'.
All of these various 'ego-states' are partly supported 'energy', 'processes', and 'structures' (EPS) happening below the surface of the personality in different stages and areas of the 'subconscious';
12. The Dynamic, Creative-Destructive Symbolic Dream, Fantasy, and Nightmare Weaver;
13. The Id (a mixture of seemingly irrational creative and destructive, sexual, sensual, and aggressive energy pushing upwards to different and interconnected ego-states in 'The Wholistic Ego';
14. The Transference, Memory, Experience, and Learning Template;
15. The Symbolic-Mythological Template
16. The Evolving Blueprint of The Potential and Actual Self, Spirit, and Soul.
At this point in time, this is where 'energy', 'process', and 'structure' takes me in my DGB model of The Personality, The Psyche which stands as the foundation for 'DGB Quantum Psychoanalysis'.
Remember, this is only a continually evolving model of how the psyche and personality works.
The model is only worth talking about -- and keeping -- to the extent that it can be demostrated to be 'functionally useful'....If it is like an 'unused bag of clothes lying in the middle of the living room or bedroom floor with the clothes in the bag not being worn -- then get rid of the bag, or at least the clothes that you are not using...
The same goes for the different, individual 'compartments' within the model....Either they can be shown to be 'functionally useful' to talk about in themselves, in that they reflect some aspect of our 'phenomenological existence', and they can be shown to be 'interwoven into the whole of the model' which again reflects an important part of our 'phenomenological existence' -- or if this is not case -- thrown the unused portion, the unused 'compartment' of the model out...
Life is a dynamic, dialectic process between getting 'good nutrition from our food (or in this case, 'ideas') and also having a good 'detoxification' process at work in our mind and body as well which means that we 'detoxify' by throwing out those ideas that we don't find useful. We don't 'hoard' introjected and/or bad (unuseful and/or toxic, pathological) ideas that are causing us trouble and harm...In this regard, we all need to learn how to be good 'self-psychotherapists'...
Either this model helps you in this process or -- throw it out...Don't be an 'introjective hoarder'...
Enough for today,
-- dgb, Saturday Aug 21st, 2010.
-- David Gordon Bain,
-- Dialectic Gap-Bridging Negotiations...
-- Are Still in Process...
