Short idea (113): From a developmental point of view, I think that Sensation must have been the first adaptive psychological function to appear (every living cell senses — as do human infants). Imagination assumes Sensation and builds on it, and I think it must have been the second function to appear (dogs dream). Thinking assumes Imagination and Sensation and integrates them into itself, and, I think, it must have been the third of the functions to appear (language is needed for thinking; infants don't yet have language). Reflection, Evaluating, Moral and Ethical Reflection, and Planning integrate Sensation, Imagination, and Thinking, and I think it is the fourth function to arise and probably does not arise in everyone. Wisdom couldn't develop without being able to build on the previous four functions and there would also have to be character traits present such as courage. And, if there is any psychological function further along than Wisdom, perhaps some Unifying function, it would develop, if at all, only after everything else was in place and functioning.

Short idea (124): Even old wise men can have delusions, even many delusions.

(Psychological Paradoxes & Puzzles — 11)

A Paradox: The gods are real and they are not real

If Freud and others are right, it is as if we have two minds, that is two ways of thinking. Typically, one is active at night when we are asleep, while the other is dominant during the day when we are awake and alert. The two ways of thinking are as different as night and day. The purest example of the night-time mind would be a dream, and the purest example of day-time thinking would be a rational, logical, scientific chain of thought. In sleep we relax away from the strict rules of rational thought and reality testing only to shoulder them again when we begin to awaken. Being rational and logical requires work, whereas, in the night-time mind, whatever is is real, and no evaluating is required. It is possible for the night-time mind to emerge and even take over in the day, and it is also possible for a person to think logically within a dream. For most people this may happen sometimes, and for some it may happen quite often. For some people, the rational, reality testing mind may be all but absent, even in the day, and waking consciousness then takes on a dream-like feeling where impressions and intuitions and feelings and inclinations rule without challenge and without control.

 

Psychological Exercise 6: The Whole Picture

This is an exercise to demonstrate "the Whole Picture" with respect to perception of colors and to feelings and moods.

The last few pages contain the "punch line" or the "moral" of the exercise.

Each of the next 25 pages will contain an image of a color such as this

 

and also a multiple choice question.

You may choose more than one answer for each.

In some cases, no answer may fit perfectly.

Please feel free to come up with your own answers. That is, please don't feel limited by the choices.

There are 29 pages (including this one), and, for the full effect of the exercise, it is necessary to go in order and not skip ahead, especially not to the end.

These questions are not meant as a quiz or test, so there are no ratings as to right or wrong, correct or incorrect or even a place to record your answers.

The questions are meant only to stimulate self-exploration and thought about the meaning and place of good and bad feelings.