Talk:Awareness Reduction Mechanisms

Awareness Reduction Mechanisms

This topic needs thorough discussion. I am unsure how to handle it.

What I am sure of:

• ARMs deal directly with the CQ of the PU. Their purpose is to control how much consciousness resides in the PU.
• ARMs are a subclass of DMs. As such, they help with survival and defense mechanisms.

What I am not sure of/conjecturing:

• ARMs seem to make use of the holes in the glass. This needs discussion here. I know that Mike would say that the holes in the glass are created by experiences of hurt, trauma etc. It makes sense. But consider the following. Could it be that ARMs are the ones that create the holes in the glass? Given a host of bad experiences, it is clear that the CQ is lowered. But what lowers the CQ? The experiences themselves, or some mechanism that assesses the toxicity level of its surroundings and adjusts the CQ accordingly? Both are possible in my eyes.

The main reason for my incertitude here derives from the fact that I am unable to name a single ARM. That is, in the context of what the word means: Awareness Reduction Mechanisms, no mechanism springs to mind to me. How is CQ reduced? I remember having a discussion on this topic with Mike several months ago. It revolved around the same topic, and I asked how the PU is even capable of "pushing consciousness out of itself". I argued that the RMC is the one that controls the level of CQ in the PU, for it is the RMC that "dips its toe" into the PU, thereby making it conscious. It is the RMC which is the source of the consciousness in the first place, which, as I had argued, ought to be the controlling factor of it. I agree with Mike that the PU surely must have some method of control here, too: The Awareness Reduction Mechanisms. But I ask myself what they might look like.

All methods/mechanisms that are listed in the ARMs section of the Spiritwiki are indeed Awareness Redirection Mechanisms, or mechanisms employing Informational Positioning, or both, and - in my eyes at least - not Awareness Reduction Mechanisms.

Why? Because they do not reduce awareness.

Awareness Redirection Mechanisms redirect awareness. (There is no reduction of CQ here) Basically, they make us pay attention to certain things, and avoid other stuff, without us even noticing it.

Informational Positioning makes use of the limited CQ present in the PU. The higher the CQ, the less room for action does IP have and vice versa. Just like Awareness Redirection Mechanisms, IP does not alter the CQ. It merely uses the fact that the PU with its current CQ cannot encompass all information, and places information into places that are not easily reachable by the PU with its current CQ. Consciousness has not been reduced one bit by this process. It is merely revolving around allocation of information in a way that reduces disjuncture and generally all forms of stress.

• Diversion/Distraction: pure Awareness Redirection Mechanism.

• Rationalization  : Awareness Redirection Mechanism coupled with IP (Some infos are tucked away, others focused on, and others perceived but downplayed by putting specific tags on them.)

• Distortion  : Same as Rationalization. One could say Rationalization is an ad hoc one time solution, while Distortion perpetual, consistent reshaping of reality in an attempt to suit the unmet needs of the individual.

• Repression  : pure IP

• Projection  : Awareness Redirection Mechanism, choosing to displace a reality onto someone else. It combines several "higher level strategies", such as aggressive control of Awareness (of both, the person applying projection, and the one that prompted it).

• Denial  : mainly IP, with some parts of it redirecting the information towards "nothing". Without a strong work from the part of IP, denial couldn't work, as the awareness of the PU would be constantly confronted with the "facts" as interpreted at the time of the experience.

It is an attempt to show that ARMs are not being used here. It is not clear to me how awareness is reduced. None of the above mechanisms needs reduction of awareness. They all trick our awareness in some way, instead of reducing it. However, it is also clear that Awareness is reduced somehow, because if we look at people who constantly use Awareness Redirection Mechanisms, and IPs, we consistently see that their CQ is also lower than that of a person who does not need to implement such methods as much. My conclusion is that ARMs must run parallel to the other two processes in the background, thereby actually reducing the CQ of the PU. It is plausible to me that ARMs either make use of, or actually create the holes in the glass.

Thoughts?

Regression

There are generally two types of regression. See malignant and benign Regression, Michael Balint.

Benign Regression

Benign regression aims at reconciling disjuncture by allowing the person to experience a state which typically was more free, open, loving, allowing, or generally more pleasant. "Regressing" into an earlier phase in life in which the PU was relatively unpoisoned by the toxic socialization process has therapeutical effect. If the regression was sufficiently strong, then

a) it might give the current day psychological status a strong message.

b) it will allow the merging of the previous, pleasant state with the current unpleasant state, thereby reconciling psychological disjuncture.

c) after the regression is over, it will encourage the person to act as if she was in a relatively unpoisoned state, thereby merging (or at least lowering the discrepancy of) emotional states with psychological states. This has a lasting effect, until the toxic socialization undoes this effect.

A strong regression experience might necessit a small therapeutical intervention, explaining the person what exactly happened, for a maximum benefit of the experience.

Malignant Regression

Malignant regression happens when the psychological system chooses to use regression as a means to avoid unpleasant experiences. It is an avoiding mechanism. The aim and end result of a malignant regression is the psychological status quo of the whole system. (after the regression) --Aim (talk) 12:16, 13 November 2017 (UTC)