ILLUMINATING THE I OF THE BEHOLDER

My “Mind’s Kitchen”

 Each mind inhabits a private universe of its own devising. Diane Ackerman

To say that something is in the eye of the beholder means that it is a matter of personal opinion. To say that something is in the I of the beholder means it is myopinion. I am the human self of the beholder. But when I try to understand my mind, I run into trouble.

My understanding of my mind is handicapped because I have to use my own subjective mind to gain understanding of my own subjective mind. As a perceiver, understanding the way I see things becomes circular. I become both the subject and the object of my investigation. My  beliefs that determine the way I see things, exist in my mind. The biggest problem knowing my subjective mind is that I have one. This blog is about illuminating the way Isee things.

When I look at the way I see things, I am trying to illuminate the I of the beholder. The way Isee things, including the way Isee myself, is always the result of my subjective view. I am the object of the examination but I can’t be objective. Objectivity is the subject’s delusion that observing can be done without him. Heinz von Forester

The Mind’s Kitchen. Metaphoric thinking may be helpful.

You can tell a lot about a restaurant’s recipes by sitting at a table and sampling the food, but to really know what is going on, you have to look in the kitchen, Human consciousness is like themind’s recipes,Leonard Mlodinow. To really know what’s going on, I have to look inside my “mind’s kitchen,” where the recipes of the mental processes of my mind are prepared. My mind’s kitchen is full of recipes for the way I see and do things. And all of them are not known. This metaphoric view of my mind’s eye might help me look inside my mind to see where and how my thoughts originate.

 I believe Diane Ackerman’s opening quote explains that my own reality, my “private universe”, is of my own devising. Since much of this devising is hidden and unknown to me, how do I illuminate it? Thinking of my mind’s kitchen preparing my thoughts and beliefs, allows me to investigate and illuminate these recipes. I can start with what is now well known: everyone’s mind’s kitchen is full of cognitive biases. These are known aspart of everyone’s recipes for the way they see things and do things. I have made it clear that getting acquainted with our cognitive biases was an objective of my future blogs. Therefore, I should begin by looking at  the popular Confirmation Bias: Confirmation bias, also called myside bias, is the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs, theories or preconceptions.

 I can ask myself: “Where do my subjective beliefs come from (the recipe)? Am I confirming my existing beliefs or preconceptions? Do I believe to be true what I want to be true? Can I consider my beliefs hypotheses? Am I being objective? Can I be? Objective: Purely based on hard facts, uninfluenced by emotions or personal prejudices; not dependent on the mind for existence.

The situation turns circular as perceivers struggle to understand the process of perceiving. Human subjects turn into their own objects.  Humberto R. Maturana