Area 3. About forming thoughts that enter the conscious stream.
Area 3 of the conscious pathways begins in the cortex and reaches to the thalamus.
When the incoming trails of conscious instants enter the cortex to form records–fused patterns–they go on to energize related areas of the network the new record was just built into. And as energized areas gather, they routinely overlap to resolve on and pattern that is thus reinforced and propelled to the thalamus.
To review, in the description of the model’s core concept, we saw how impulse trails are formed, and we saw that when an impulse trail from a sensory neuron group reaches a set of thalamus groups, we experience an instant of consciousness in us, a sensation.
Then, when we followed the trail into the cortex, we saw how a permanent record of that sensation is made fitting into a network of records, with the trail’s left-over energy sinking into that network to energize an area of (the new record’s) its related records keeping that area briefly energized
Now when these energized areas gather … (as records of incoming conscious instants are formed) … they often overlap in the networking … on a common pattern … and as we’ve seen before … when they overlap on the same pattern … that’s a resolution … that defines what they have in common …
And since this pattern is intensified … or reinforced by the overlapping energy … (… due to the accumulating, converging energy on the common pattern) … a new trail is propelled onward …
And in this case … when the trail leaves the cortex … it reaches and energizes … a set of thalamus groups … which (puts) we experience as a thought … in the conscious stream … with the set of thalamus groups … defining the component qualities of the thought …
Now just as we physically experience a sensation … when a series or levels of neuron groups … from a sensory group to the thalamus … are energized at the same time … in this case … the series or trail of neuron groups … that we simultaneously experience … as a thought … are fewer … than those we experience as a sensation … so although a thought is distinct … it does seem less colorful than a sensation … because there are fewer energized neuron groups … making it up …
So the factors that form resolutions … that in turn … determine the thought we experience … are first, the current conditions … that make up the number of energized areas present … (that overlap … in the networking)
And second … the character or makeup … of the record network itself …
So we can organize thoughts by the three kinds of resolutions they form: that defines the past, the present … and the projected … or future … (as a number of areas overlap … in the networking …)
First: In this case … the current set of energized areas overlap … right on … a record that was made in the past … so this resolution defines a past … because it is an exact record of a past experience …
So … when the overlapped pattern … is on the same permanent record … that was formed in the past … the thought … is a memory … (a first order record) … or replication … of a previous experience …
The second or “present” kind of resolution is … a new definition … that immediately resolves … the current set of present conditions …
We call the result … the point where they are related … a resolution or the result of reasoning or creative thinking …
And third kind of resolution … and thought is a projected or potential resolution … which is formed … when the current set of energized areas … must use a temporal record … or a series of steps to achieve a resolution … because it provides the most direct route to a resolution … to define a resolution … where current energized areas overlap …
So the initial combination of qualities … defining the current state … matches the same set that occurred … and was recorded in the past … and the projected resolution then defines a resolution … for the current set … had the same set of qualities that was resolved … in the past …
So the core qualities making up the present set of energized areas … is the same … as the beginning set or core qualities … that was present in that past … and that lead to a resolution …
In other words … this resolution takes steps to achieve … and the beginning and ending sets of core qualities … match the beginning and ending of a temporal record … that … through a series of steps … successfully formed a resolution … in the past …
Later … we’ll see how a cyclic pattern guided by … a temporal record … directs the series of steps … that helps us achieve (serves as a guide …) … for achieving the projected resolution …
Thinking:
As patterns of impulse trails … cycle through the thalamus … forming a series of thoughts … we are thinking …
It works like this. Each thought we experience … in the thalamus … as an instant in the conscious stream … … immediately re-enters the cortex … where a record is made … and an area of its related records is energized … and since this newly energized area often overlaps with other energized areas present … it affects the nature of the next thought … which is related to it … and the next thought … does the same … because its presence also affects the nature of the next resolution … supporting … the cyclic process we call thinking …
As this process continues … the cyclic pattern goes on to form a “train” … or “line” … or “unfolding” thought …
Dreaming
We also resolve current sets of energized areas … in cycling patterns … when we sleep …
So … what happens to all the energy … in the energized areas … that’s not used to form a resolution … energy that’s no longer potentially needed for forming a new trail or a new resolution?
Well, typically … after a day of resolving … many of the network’s energized areas haven’t been resolved … i.e. haven’t been used … so there energy hasn’t moved onward … towards getting a resolution … a key job of this system … so … at the end of the day… there are still many energized areas … that haven’t been used …
And when we sleep … activity in these areas … beginning a similar shifting process that resolves and dissolves … the remaining areas that are still energized … forming and weaving the nonsensical stories … we call dreams
So as stories are formed and stories settle … when the energy is moved along … we experience a “clean slate” … a refreshing lack of energized areas … when we awake … a fresh backdrop: for the next day’s resolving work
Promoting resolutions
We instinctively and purposefully find ways to generate thoughts from our current sets of energized areas … because resolving … simultaneously energized “information” … is key part of this system’s work …
So towards achieving a resolution … for maintaining circulation … we frequently … shift the factors involved … to encourage and promote … resolving patterns … of thought …
Therefore … towards fulfilling the work … of resolving current states … in this part of the nervous system … we instinctively try … angle a way … to get resolution … for the set of current conditions … we face, which as we’ll see … is often influenced … by the level of preceding intensity … they carry with them …
And to do that … based on the earlier part of this theory … we often try to instinctively try to make changes … to the set-up … of gathering energized areas … in the networking … to change the factors that form resolutions … thoughts …
In other words … we make changes (change the factors) … to achieve a common pattern … so … to get the resolution we seek … we may do … one of more of the following:
a) First, we can we can change the number of … and/or nature of … the current set of energized areas … so we add or take out energized areas because sometimes there are too many or too few … to get a clear or satisfying resolution.
So by changing the current combination … by adding new conscious instant, for example, we may add enough precision to get an overlapped pattern … and we may take out energized areas may clog a possible overlapped area for occurring … or we may just get a fresh set … or we may build new networking to have a background/network that can resolve the current energized areas … or …
b) we can enlarge the energized area(s) … to get the overlap we seek … so we can refresh our memory … for example … by repeating an instant … and its record … to generate further energy into the circuitry …
So when there is already an energized record … by repeating the same statement … it directs energy … not only to reenergize the same networking … but it penetrates further into the network … making more record available … which may make it possible for overlapping … when there was not the possibility before …
We do this when we repeat a word … or refresh our thinking … or ask someone to repeat something … which generates the added energy onward … to energize further networking … like a trail is scanning past records to form a resolution
c) Next … we can add new networking … (medical school) to get overlapping …
Or finally, we can engage someone else … in a conversation, for ex. … sharing networking … to get a resolution