Hi Tom Thanks for the feedback. Here is something that I 'think' is very important with regards to "changing our ways". Re: Semantic Blockage If we are inspired to become saner human beings; and change and improve our human relationships, by applying a "structural approach", we have to be on the lookout for those factors that work to block our efforts. ." Sanity must be based on the most efficient use of the human nervous system in accordance with its structure, and will thus bring about the full working of human capacities, which at present are still semantically blocked by faulty handling of the apparatus" ( Science and Sanity, page 328). "Sanity means adjustment and without the minimum of the best structural knowledge of each date concerning this world, such adjustment is impossible". Science and Sanity, page 727. Among the behaviors that Korzybski considered as examples of "faulty handling of the apparatus" were behaviors he labelled "identification", "allness", "elementalistic'', among others. Following this, I 'think' of "semantic blocker/blockage" as " anything (symbolic, chemical, physical, etc.) that operates against "full working of our capacities" towards sanity. And since a fundamental feature of that capacity is our ability to evaluate our evaluations, a ''semantic blocker" would be for me "any 'thought', 'feeling', attitude, belief, act, etc., that blocks (in general, or in particular instances) our ability to evaluate our evaluations: Anything that operates to block the attainment of structural knowledge at a date/place. Here are other examples of other such 'blockers'. Identification of words with the processes they represent, habits, world view, fears, level of self-esteem, values (things we hold dear), social and educational conditionings. previous knowledge, drugs and alcohol over use; non awareness that we abstract, (select what we attend to; assign meanings; leave out information bits etc. ); unawareness of assumptions being made, confusion of orders of abstracting ( not distinguishing between words, symbols, and the processes they represent; not differentiating between observations, descriptions, assumptions, generalizations, speculations, and whatever is going on at unseen levels), prejudices, signal reactions, cultural, social, religious, and other conditionings, language, brain lesions, exhaustion, to name a few. I must emphasize again that the above do not necessarily operate as blockers. They qualify as 'blockers' only when they work against adjustments toward sanity. "How 'blockers' operate at neurological levels" calls for some speculation. Here is one. We 'know' that neural circuits are in constant interaction with each other, sometimes reinforcing, sometimes restraining others. I can well imagine that at those times when I 'feel' afraid say, the more active neural circuits related to this state, might send 'commands' that effectively block or diminish the activities of other circuits: circuits that might be involved say, in critical evaluation of the situation. Of course my experience of fear might, at another time, trigger critical evaluating. So I am emphasizing again, that it is not so simple a matter to say that some things are blockers, or create semantic blockage, and some things do not. In terms of "non-elementalism", and " context", the particular situation must be taken into account. Anything can create semantic blockage if it functions to block evaluation of our evaluations. If we are concerned to change our ways of 'thinking' and understanding ourselves and what's going on around us, we have to be on the look out for semantic blockers. They are usually easy to spot in others - not so easy to find in ourselves. (Others are seen as stubboirn; in our case, we are committed, steadfast, reliable, etc.) For one reason, the ''blockers'' block our looking. It requires a lot of courage and determination to find and remove them when appropriate. The '"wedge of consciousness'' provides us with a powerful psycho-logical tool towards this end. ___ The Wedge of Consciousness. ___ __ A self-monitoring device. __ _ _ We are most times while awake - asleep to ourselves and to what's going on around us. With some effort, and determination, and practice, we could be more awake. The "wedge of awareness" (woa), or "wedge of consciousness" (woc) is a management tool we can use to increase our wakefulness. For what reasons do we need to be more awake you ask?. Well for one: In a world of change, and diversity, the more asleep we are, the more out of touch we are with what we are doing; the more unaware we are likely to be of consequences; and the more unaware we will be regarding how what we are doing, is affecting us and other; the less opportunities we will have to recognize how often we create our own problems, and so on. The "wedge of consciousness" or "wedge of awareness" arose from simple origins - a wedge we usually use as a door stop. Among other uses, a wedge functions to hold something open; or stop something from moving about. The shape of the wedge is important in terms of its use. The thin edge facilitates access; and offers less resistance, and less disturbance than the thicker edge. These are important factors in a world where the more we attempt to change or disturb something, the more resistance we are likely to encounter. So now. Imagine a wedge (the kind usually used as a door stop). Let the thin edge of the wedge represent an instant - a very tiny increment of psycho-logical and chronological time. Now recall those times when in a situation you might have said "Wait a minute": or "Hold on": or "Let me think about this": "Hey, what's happening here?"; "What am I doing?"; "I can't believe I am saying this, or doing this" or "Said that, or did that; or "I can't believe I said that, or did that " and so on. The exact words are not important here. It has to do with the time-binding folk wisdom expressed in the phrase "count to ten". Now remember we are talking here of an "instant of self-awareness". An instant of awareness that allows us to say to ourselves: "Woa". An instant of our time when we can "woc" ourselves into another mode of self-conscious awareness, and enable us to change approaches, attitudes, directions, and so on. Now let's move up the wedge from the thinner to the thicker parts. This expansion up the wedge, can be related to expanding the symbolism, significance and usefulness of the instant. So in this expansion the instant of self-awareness can now extend to include the following. The very edge of the wedge can be thought of as "A Decision Point - an "Opportunity for a Change in Direction. Going towards the thicker parts, we can represent as follows. " I can stop what I am 'thinking' , saying, doing, and so on. I can decide that it's ok to continue what I am 'thinking', saying, doing, etc). I can decide to modify or change what I am doing. I can decide to re-view and re-evaluate what I am doing; and so on. The instant of self-awareness can also be likened to the jerk that a horse is given to signal a change in direction or movement. In other words our nervous systems (as an automatic self-evaluating and self-protective action) from time to time, pull us up short; jerk us into awareness from being submerged into whatever behavior we were indulging in at that time.. When this happens, it's up to us to "move up the wedge" as suggested above, and take advantage of the opportunity; and put the instant to good use. The "semantic pause", "the wedge of awareness" is something each one of us can experience and explore for ourselves. It sometimes comes as a feeling like a "mini shock", and a "jerk" . I believe that each one of us, has at some time or the other experienced this "jolt". What I am doing here is giving a label, and signifying these occurences, as "important and general self-management opportunities". As mentioned above these "woas" come automatically. But we can increase the frequency of these "woas" through training ourselves in being more self-aware. This includes being more aware of what we are 'thinking' , 'feeling', saying to ourselves, saying to others, writing, doing, worrying about, dreaming about, hearing, and so on. Without these instances of awareness (pauses, woas) we have little chance to change, or improve ourselves or our management of a situation: we have little chance of developing skills in general-semantics or any other discipline. Developing in a discipline involves continuing monitoring for the "non-discipline", automatic, habitual behaviors, and behaving according to the requirements of the discipline. Learning to do something often involves doing things differently, and doing different things than we have been doing. This is not easy. In terms of the principle of "least action", we are more likely to continue along automatic behavior tracks than to "woa" or "woc" ourselves and change. (If you are presently working at quitting smoking, or dropping a habit, or developing a habit; or can remember times when you were working at some kind of change, then you will easily recognize the difficulties of change). One way to increase the frequency of your "woas" or "wocs", is to carry some little item in your pocket or handbag, as an external reminder. Or wear a ring on a different finger; or a watch on a different hand. Every now and again, you will see these objects, or feel the discomfort of having them in not usual places. This will give you the opportunity to ask yourself questions like the following: "Where am I at this moment.?". '' What am I doing?" "What am I supposed to be doing?". "How am I doing what I am doing?" "What am I 'thinking' or 'feeling'.?". "Do I want to indulge in this kind of thinking- feeling"? And others you will formulate for yourself. After a while, your habit forming nervous system will incorporate this new practice and it will become automatic. In other words, with sufficient practice, without further effort on your part, you will find that your "woas" (not woes) and "woc" show up with increasing frequency. And the external reminder will have served its purpose. (By the way: We seem to be able to "woc" others with greater ease and frequency than we "woc'' ourselves. Let's practice "woccing" ourselves first. I 'think' you will agree that it's only fair to check up on ourselves first; to be involved in correcting ourselves first; to be involved in improving ourselves first - before doing it to others). We were born into, and are immersed in particular environments (cultural, language, home, religious, social, work, etc.). Our behaviors are usually automatic responses, generated by our uncritical acceptance and conditioning, by the demands and expectations, from these environments. The "woa of consciousness" gives us a chance to move from automatic, unwanted, unproductive, stress producing, behaviors, toward more creative and self-directed, and self-managing behaviors. Without an awareness of what we are doing; and how we are doing what we are doing; without some internal self - monitoring process; we have little chance of making necessary adjustments and corrections towards improving ourselves in chosen areas of activities. . We need the occasional "wedge of awareness". And we need to "woc'' ourselves out of automatic self-distressing behaviors, into more satisfactory ways, more imaginative ways, healthier ways, more intelligent ways, of being with ourselves and others. Milton Dawes/96 A Universe of Rythms. To paraphrase Korzybski: In a world of diversity and change, when we discover something that seems to remain relatively invariant, then we are unto something of great significance and importance to us in understanding ourselves-and-our-world. "Relative invariance under transformation" is a general-semantics generalization of the important scientific and mathematical principle "Invariance of principles and laws under transformation of frames of reference. I propose that "rhythms'' like ''structure'' constitute such an invariance. You could think of ."Relative invariance under transformation" as a fancy way of saying something "A'' is structurally similar to, is like, some other thing "B". And also another way of saying "Although "A" has changed, broadly speaking, there are some features of "A" that have remained relatively unchanged. We are "talking relative invariance" when we say "Like father, like son"..Laws, rules, regulations, policies, mission statements, maps, etc., can all be considered examples of the relative invariance principle. (Times, location, personnel, etc., might have changed, while policies, rules, etc., might not be updated - sometimes detrimentally so). Metaphors, analogies, models, explanations, theories, maps, etc. can also be considered examples of relative invariance. In addition to the various ways we have been writing and 'thinking' about objects, and our perception of objects, we can also apply the relative invariance principle to increase our understanding of this process. . To facilitate this approach, I invite you to imagine you are observing a very densely packed swarm of bees: and imagine that you don't know, and cannot see, that there is an invisible barrier (let's say, a star trek-like force field) that surrounds and move with this swarm; creating a boundary which cannot be crossed by a bee. Now visualize what you might observe watching this swarm from a distance , far enough away so that you are unable to see individual bees. Now imagine a very large number of densely packed interacting and interrelating subatomic particles, each moving at tremendous speeds in diverse directions. Also imagine some kind of force field accompanying this 'swarm of particles' . This force field prevents most of the particles from flying off in all directions as the bees would without their surrounding force field. (Now don't be picky here.. I know that a swarm of bees tend to stay together. So imagine an unruly swarm that ignores the rules of swarming). In terms of "relative invariance " this eventful subatomic activity, this swarm of particles, can be likened to that swarm of bees. We could now consider an object as "A structure that remains and appears to us relatively unchanged through all the various changes of directions and movements of its constituent 'parts-ticles'. A structure that remains topologically relatively invariant through all the tremendous activities and energetic interactions of its constituents.". Now for a change of rhythm. (By the way. I invite you to see if you can sense other changes in rhythm while reading this story. Keep in 'mind' that "rhythm'' is not only about sounds and music). "Relative invariance" is very much involved in the communication process. Communication works well when what I think-feel is well represented by what I say. And what I say, or intend, is well received, and represented, by a listener's interpretations and meanings. The principle is also useful in helping us to improve our general understanding of various, seemingly unrelated features, of our world. If for instance, we know that something "A", is like some other thing "B", then knowing something about "A" can help us to understand, expect, and even make predictions about "B". The principle of relative invariance under transformation constitutes a fundamental characteristic of scientific activities. Lliving and non-living systems exhibit the relative invariant cycle of coming into being, growing, and eventually declining or going out of being. We often, to our distress, ignore this relative invariant rhythm, when we expect "a good thing to last" or remain the 'same'. Another area where the relative invariance principle can be useful has to do with our notion of "self". So let's suppose the 'object' we are examining is our ''self''. In terms of the principle, a ''self'' can be considered as ''Those aspects of a human organism that remain relatively unchanged through a diversity of changes and transformations of other aspects of the organism''. Each one of us can determine for ourselves, what we have discovered in our own thinking-feeling-behavior -attitudes- beliefs-values-needs-fear-pleasures-and so on, that have remained relatively unchanged over the years, and places. . (The hyphens serve to emphasize the interrelatedness of these various factors). Speaking for 'my self', what I have discovered as an invariant over the many years and different places, involves what I describe as a "persistent drive to understand two things: What this universe is about. And consciousness." . With respect to this, and applying the relative invariant principle, I have arrived at a place where I evaluate "rhythms" as one of the most invariant characteristics of universe. (I am still working on consciousnss). You might recall Korzybski's "Structure is the only content of knowledge". Well if we include the time factor, this statement can be translated to "Rhythms (structure and structural changes) are the only content of knowledge": You only have to remember that "structures change over times and places".. "Rhythms'' can be considered in terms of " a measure of structural transformation". And ''structural transformation'' can be considered in terms of how a system changes with respect to different times and places.. . Terms related to ''measure of structural transformation", include "frequency, vibration, pitch, cycle, wave, recurrence, periodicity, pulsation, variation, rate of change, patterns of change, fluctuations, speed, (change of position with respect to time), how often, ups and downs, going with the flow, to everything a season, comings and goings, among others. Our personal and more easily observable rhythms involve our swing and sway, and various other movements when we walk, for instance. When we are abroad, criminal types recognize us by the way we walk, look around, and so on. Our rhythms are different from the rhythms of the 'natives'. We recognize friends, acquaintances, and others, from a distance, and in not so well lit places, by the relative invariance of their movement rhythms. The pitch of our voice, our intonation, our speaking speed, when we are being affectionate, or when we are excited, angry, distressed, nervous, and so on, illustrate variations in rhythms. We move around differently when we feel good, compared to how we move when we are not feeling so good. We listen, learn, understand, eat, sleep, do a variety of things, and so on, at our own pace. We recover from physiological and psycho-logical injuries, at our own pace. (Some of us may be very forgiving. And others may hold a grudge for a lifetime. Some groups hold a grudge for centuries.) Other rhythms involve our personal, domestic, social, work related, and other habits and activities. Age differences, social standing, moods, and so on, find expression in our rhythms. In our many relationships, personal, intimate, social, cultural, political, international, etc., an invariant source of a variety of problems, conflicts, and disagreeableness, can be attributed to a "clash of rhythms". In the workplace for instance, more and more employers are beginning to recognize that some individuals do not shift easily from night shift to day shift. In international politics, many politicians, not having a knowledge of, or caring about differences in rhythms, often create social-cultural-economic-and other problems that persist for many years. This usually occurs when certain practices or policies are imposed on another, without alloting sufficient time for a change in that culture's rhythms. On the road, many accidents occur when a driver makes a sudden stop, or lane change, or change in speed. In general, sudden changes in rhythms, that do not allow sufficient adjustment time for others often create problems. In medicine, some doctors are beginning to recognize that some medication and treatment and operations are more effective at certain times of the day. The rhythms of adults are usually very different from the rhythms of little children. But the rhythms of grandparents often seem much more adaptable to the rhythms of little children even more than the mothers and fathers. 'Nations' exhibit rhythms, observable in their level of economic, population, international stature, military, etc., growth and decline. We could define a culture in terms of relative invariant behaviors of a 'people' in terms of beliefs, speech patterns, music, dance, and so on. There are cameras that produce sharp pictures, despite shaky hands. Although I know little about the technology involved, I would take a bet that the invariance principle has been applied. The recording industry would not exist without some application of the relative invariance principle. In our everyday living and interactions, our communication with others, in our efforts toward self-development and self-improvement, etc., how often we are conscious of our abstractings ( remembering that we have not included all in our experience, interpretations, beliefs, verbalising, etc.) can make a very big difference. As human individuals, we literally disturb each others rhythms This cannot be helped. If we live in the 'same' world, and interact with each other, we will 'disturb' each other's rhythms to lesser and greater degrees. And sometimes, we react quite strongly to such disturbances. In terms of "rhythms", a characteristic of a 'good' houseguest is, the person who does not move things around, leave things lying around, do things etc., which requires a host to put things back, pick up things, undo things, and so on. In other words, a characteristic of a 'good' houseguest is, "a person who is sensitive to, and does not unduly disturb the rhythms of a host". Sometimes, we even disturb our own rhythms when we push ourselves too fast, and too much. And when we take on more than our psycho-physiological systems can adapt to in a given time period. When you are waiting impatiently for someone, or for something to happen, you can be sure you are experiencing a difference in rhythms. And when things don't go the way we expect them to, or want them to, look for a difference in rhythms as a possible source of the problem. We often create much problems for ourselves as individuals and as a species, when we attempt to hurry the universe, or "push the river" - and sometimes when we dam it. . . But through awareness of, and a sensitivity to rhythms, we can some times create a harmony of rhythms - at least for a while: For would you believe it? Rhythms have rhythms. In other words "rhythms'' like anything else also change. Here is another way to get a 'feel' of rhythms. Imagine a tree, or better yet, look at one: a tree with lots of branches and leaves. .'Observe' the variety of movements and rhythms. If there is a light breeze, the leaves might be doing a fluttering dance like the leaves of an aspen.. This will be different from the rhythms of the smaller branches; which will be different from the rhythms of the bigger branches. If it is a very big tree, the trunk may not show much movement , or any movement - but it also has its complex of rhythms Can you specify a rhythm for the trunk? And another rhythm of the leaves? And can you 'think' of any structure that cannot be associated with a complex of rhythms?. In other words, I am proposing , ''Everything, as far as we know, can be thought of in terms of rhythms". And that 'thinking ' in terms of rhythms is not just a "philosophical exercise'', but also has practical benefits. 'Thinking'. in terms of rhythms can be very helpful in improving our personal and other relationships. Including "rhythms" as one of our management tools can help us better avoid and manage stress; become more patient with ourselves, and develop more patience, tolerance, and understanding in interacting with others. In solving problems, and making decisions, including 'rhythms" as a variable could be an important move. For instance in many everyday situations, we often create our own problems by not asking ourselves such questions as "How often has this happened? Is this something that is likely to happen again? "Is there a major difference in rhythms involved?" And so on". A sensitivity to "rhythms" can improve our judgment, help us to anticipate and manage change, recognize trends, and much much more. And now for another change in rhythm. You may recall the wise old folk saying "You can take a horse to water, but you can't make it drink". Or this one: "Don't cross the bridge, 'till you come to it". This was about ''rhythms''. Don't you 'think'? Milton Milton