Self-Psychoanalysis Prologue

I'm working on putting together a post entitled "Self-Psychoanalysis," but before I do, I wanted to write up this brief prologue to cover a certain preliminary issue, namely, the manner in which my psyche contains and uses data.

Having spoken to a few other people, I have realized that this issue may not only be of interest to anyone that might read these posts, but also of interest in establishing a foundation upon which the reader can begin to construct a comprehension of why I communicate in the way I do. Many individuals have told me that I communicate oddly; many more have leveled very specific criticisms against my style of communication, saying that it is overly technical, indulgent, or even arrogant. While my motives may be a valid consideration, I shall forego such a discussion at this time to instead describe a certain psychological process that I deem not only relevant but also imperative. It must be understood that everything described herein is a consciously enforced schema, such that it is almost a natural habit, but a learned one and an intended one.

I divide the actions of containing and using data into three categories: Acquisition, Processing, and Retrieval. Acquisition describes those events that occur upon initial exposure to data. Processing describes those events that follow Acquisition and result in the data being embedded into the psyche. Retrieval describes the event of later drawing upon this data embedded into the psyche to affect communication.

The first stage of Acquisition is Perception. This is the moment that the data is encountered by the physical senses. As this occurs constantly, it is necessary to insert divisions to indicate the beginning and end of any particular event. For this purpose, basic, instinctive pattern recognition is applied, and events are thus subdivided into units. Each individual unit is stored in the psyche as a package of raw data, which I would term the Perception Package.

The second stage of Acquisition is Analysis. In this stage, a syntactical analysis of the Perception Package itself is performed. This operation is intended to extract from the raw data a syntactical signifier, much as a doctor would perceive the uniqueness of a strand of DNA of one species from any other. While performing this analysis, it is not permitted that any other factors be taken into consideration. No external psychic contents can be allowed to interfere or influence this most basic analysis. The result of this analysis is another package; let us call it the Syntax Package. The Syntax Package is then bonded to the Perception Package, much like two oxygen molecules.

The third stage of Acquisition is Interpretation. It is only at this stage that the rest of the psyche is permitted access to the newly acquired data. First, the contents of the Syntax Package are compared to other psychic contents in order to determine significance. In the majority of cases, the syntax is found to be identical to other psychic contents and both of the bonded Perception and Syntax Packages are immediately destroyed. I tend to be very forgetful of mundane, day-to-day information, and this is definitely one of the reasons. It is almost instinctive for me to consciously destroy memories of events that have no meaning to me. In fact, the only way I perform well in life is by having a separate psychic routine particularly designed to handle daily life for me, but that is another discussion. If the dual Perception-Syntax Package passes this initial criterion, it is permitted to proceed into the psyche, where it undergoes thorough examination. The best way I can think of to describe this process would be as if it were a student being evaluated by a board of his teachers, except in this case the teachers are various significant psychic contents, particularly paradigms. After this examination is complete (a process that can vary in length from the span of a few seconds to, literally, a few years), then the psyche creates an object to signify this data and all meaning, present or potential, the psyche has possibly been able to derive from it. This object is a unique object in that, once made, no other psychic content will ever share the same identifier (this is also the reason that I often forget names of people or movies etc. I can instantly access my memory of the object through its unique identifier, but the name of the person or of the movie etc. is such an insignificant element compared to the vast stores of thought and contemplation that have gone into constructing its identifier, that it is as if I have to search through all that to find the name buried somewhere in the bottom). Generally, in terms of thought-space, this last object is vastly larger than the original dual package it is derived from. I would call it the Identity Package. It is bonded to the other two, as a water molecule, and the whole is passed on to the Processing function.

The first stage of Processing is Placement. The Identity is examined as a whole, and fit into the thought-space of the psyche in the appropriate place. The only way I can describe this is as if there were a color-coded three-dimensional grid and it was as simple as checking the "color" of the Identity and then placing it in the appropriate region (and no I don't think in colors). If you could compare thought-space to the universe, it is like placing stars in certain regions, some tend to clump together, others are totally alone, some make up whole galaxies, etc.

After Placement comes Integration. This is the tricky part. Integration is like drawing lines that stretch out from one point to a million others, and from a million other points back to the one. It is more than that though because integration also can change lines that have already been drawn for other things. Each of these lines is basically a linkage with a determinant factor. For instance, a line between one Identity and another could be a causal or directional line, or it could be omni-directional. There could also be different attributes assigned, such as a link due to general similarity or difference, a link due to similar function or opposite function, etc. The reason could be more specific as well, such as, an Identity that was a construct of a thought process initiated by a different Identity, or group of Identities, etc.

After Integration comes Trial. This is an ongoing assessment of the Identity. It is a matter of how many times that Identity has been activated, and the result of each activation. If the activations have a generally positive result (the Identity proved useful) then the "virtue" of the Identity is raised. If not, it is lowered. Trial also considers the position of the Identity in relation to other Identities. Over time, an Identity can assume influence over others, guiding and directing them. Or it can be an important or crucial asset in the work of a higher-order Identity. If an Identity does not endure the trial phase, it can sink into recesses of the conscious that I rarely access and be mostly forgotten, or even disappear entirely.

Finally, there is the action of Retrieval. Retrieval occurs when psychic contents need to be expressed or otherwise accessed as a response to real events. The first stage of Retrieval is Identification. Identification constructs an array of parameters used to define the necessary psychic contents to be accessed. Similar to Placement, Identification functions as a coordinate system of thought-space. The relevant thought-space is brought under scrutiny, and from that thought-space relevant Identities are assembled. Depending on the parameters necessitated, these Identities may return other Identities as data links set up by Integration. Once all the relative Identities are assembled, the Identification process is complete, and the entire structure of psychic contents thus assembled is passed on to the next function.

That function is Formulation. Formulation uses the psychic contents assembled through Identification to construct a response to the real event. For instance, if the real event is a decision, the psychic contents assembled through Identification will be relevant to that decision and will each be allotted a degree of input based on their already established ranking within the psyche. If the real event is to construct an answer to a question, similar activities will occur toward that aim, etc.

Finally, once the response to the real event is determined, the last function, Translation, occurs. Regularly, this is mostly a matter of literal translation of psychic contents into the English language (I have told people many times that I don't think in English, I think in terms of the identifiers assigned to Identities, and it is not until the need to express psychic contents arises that the translation to English occurs). If the real event to be acted upon is a matter that is not linguistic, then Translation determines the real action that must occur.

This then is the summary of how my psyche contains and uses data. In the following post I will be presenting a summary of what I have termed Higher-level Conscious Ego Functions, which are conglomerations or structures of Identities that serve as significant portions of the ego.