[From Dag Forssell (950702 2100)]
Since I get CSG-L digests only once a day, I don't know if anyone
has commented on my post on the subject Science or Mush, [Dag
Forssell (950630 1855)], where I said:
It is another matter to internalize the concepts and recognize
the implications.
It seems to me that the small fraternity of people who "get"
PCT find it compelling and come to "feel it in their bones."
Everything you experience and think about is illuminated in a
new way when you "get" PCT.
My post did not call for an answer, but I have thought about it
myself and would like to expand on it a little.
To say "feel it in their bones" is to invoke magic, I suppose. It
is a common term with vague meaning.
What I want to express by this is that I accept that I am in fact
a physical being, organized so that I in fact am an autonomous
living perceptual control system, or more precisely a system of
many interacting perceptual control systems, neural as well as
biochemical. I accept and sense that I do in fact control my
perceptions at all times, and that my control of my perceptions
always explains everything I do and experience. I can demonstrate
the operation of my own hierarchy of perceptual control systems at
any time to myself and to others.
I recognize that what I experience and do emerges from the
operation of the mechanisms we call perceptual control systems, and
that "it is all perception." I am acutely aware of those of my own
higher level perceptions which I consider important and control
strongly and consistently. I am comfortable in this awareness,
since I have given careful thought to the things I have selected as
important to me. (PCT and HPCT loom large among my personal
priorities and the importance I myself place on them compels me to
invest in their further development. Compel is not quite the right
word; it is a natural control process). I can imagine and test
controlled perceptions in others by observing how certain
perceptual variables are kept consistent and by asking questions
about these in different ways and evaluating the responses.
The functional principles of PCT and HPCT have combined in my mind
to develop systems concepts explaining my various experiences to
myself. The systems concepts of PCT and HPCT are now integrated
with my many other systems concepts, explaining my understanding of
physical science as well as my human experience and social
interactions to myself. I find it useful and calming that PCT and
HPCT helps me understand myself and others with great clarity in
all situations.
I appreciate that PCT and HPCT provides a very simple explanation
for the basic biology and evolved complexity of interacting
perceptual control systems in living organisms of all kinds, each
one made up of as little as two or three neurons, repeated in a
network of simple architecture but with awesome capability.
PCT and HPCT are simple, consistent with physical science, and
provide useful guidance in daily life. No other explanation I have
ever heard of comes close in any of these dimensions.
I feel PCT in my bones.
Best, Dag