Between the body and the environment, the brain and the nervous system . . .

Between the input and output of the senses, the processing, like the phone and computer, the mind is “Learning” . . .

The “construct” . . . “The Personality” . . . “The internalization of the outside world” . . .

Becoming conscious here, taking flight, one has to follow specific directions, methods . . . moving from that initial concrete material physical/social orientation into the abstract . . . talking about context here, and levels of functioning . . . on the one hand there is the rational, and on the other, form and energy . . . from the mirror into change.

With intent and the figure/ground . . . one is continually active in the Life World within the Greater World.

The “singular ego” is just the start . . . there’s not just two divisive minds, conscious and unconscious, with problematic shadows. One begins engaging one’s multifaceted Self, a connection/interconnection with the “Bigger Picture,” an integration with all of oneself, the Gestalt.

“In fact, the very name Toltec means “artist” in our native Nahuatl tongue. This is not confined to the traditional understanding of the word as painters, sculptors, or poets. Nor does it only apply to members of my ancestral tribe. This designation extends to every human being on this beautiful planet. The Toltecs believe that every person is an artist, and the art that we create is the story of our life.”

Ruiz, don Jose. Shamanic Power Animals: Embracing the Teachings of Our Non-Human Friends (Shamanic Wisdom Series) (p. xv). Hierophant Publishing. Kindle Edition.

“Yet unlike other animals on the planet, humans have a creative mind that is unmatched, a mind with the power to invent stories about what it perceives. In fact, this storytelling power of the mind happens automatically and without ceasing. This is why, in the Toltec tradition, we say that the mind is constantly dreaming and that our reality is a Personal Dream.”

Ruiz, don Jose. Shamanic Power Animals: Embracing the Teachings of Our Non-Human Friends (Shamanic Wisdom Series) (p. xvi). Hierophant Publishing. Kindle Edition.

“He summarizes the idea as that a celestial body can serve as the substrate (mawū) for someone’s imagination if they cannot apprehend the intelligible world and are not able to completely abandon their desire for bodies. He then describes what good souls (that is, the category “somewhat good”) can expect. They will “imagine wonderful, delicate images and forms which they may enjoy.””

Lit, L. W. C. van (2017-03-31T23:58:59.000). World of Image in Islamic Philosophy (Edinburgh Studies in Islamic Apocalypticism and Eschatology) . Edinburgh University Press. Kindle Edition.

He continues by explaining why these images are so delightful. It is because they are “nobler” (ashraf) than what we encounter here on Earth, “as these murky things (al-kudūrāt) do not mix with them,” he adds. This may be a reference to the materiality of our Earthly world, which Suhrawardī characterizes as dark and obscure, and contrasts with the immaterial intelligibles, which are light and clear. For Suhrawardī, apparently, even though celestial bodies are still material, their matter, ether (athīrī), is of a finer quality and is less dark and obscure than Earthly, elemental (unurī) matter. This makes these images not only nobler, but also more endurable (abqā) and less dim and weak (abad an kalāl wa-malāl), which, finally, makes them more enjoyable (aladhdh).”

Lit, L. W. C. van (2017-03-31T23:58:59.000). World of Image in Islamic Philosophy (Edinburgh Studies in Islamic Apocalypticism and Eschatology) . Edinburgh University Press. Kindle Edition.

So, the way I got my system set-up, it makes one wonder what is possible in knowledge and self-development, and our place in the universe.