There's one idea that I've been meaning to share

There's one idea that I've been meaning to share: there's one similarity of patterns that can indicate that consciousness is not only a product of natural selection but a manifestation of the very structure of life.
In a nutshell, once reading Richard Dawkins' The Extended Phenotype, it occurred to me that the three levels of life that Dawkins views there: genes, the organism, and group are suspiciously like Freudian the id, ego, and super-ego.
I hope there will be a post where you can see my explanations (in particular, why I think it's correct to identify the orgasm with the ego) and speculations on this matter.

What Can the Possible Turn into?

I found it's curious that the state of mind of a practicing Zen Buddhist is akin to the state of a particle in a quantum superposition. Furthermore, there's also an interesting similarities between quantum effects and how some hierarchies are formed. I'd also recall that for quantum physicists, the idea that sometimes the future can affect the present (that is, that there's the oppositely directed time's arrow) is not at all new.

There were these two posts - Hypothesis: Res Potentia and Res Extensa Linked By Measurement and Is The Possible Ontologically Real?  - by Stuart Kauffman on 13.7 Cosmos & Culture blog in 2012 where he argues that 'perhaps the "possible" is ontologically real and the world consists of two realms, "Possibles" and "Actuals."'
Ontologically real in this case means that the future can affect the present.

'...in the famous double slit experiment yielding the famous interference bands, that any single photon simultaneously possibly did and possibly did not go through the left slit'
Let me remind you that the riddle here is that a single proton seems to 'know' that there's a second slit there; even if we assume that the proton passes through only one slit, it behaves as if it 'knows' that there's the second. Thus, if we accept the Kauffman's point of view that the photon in this case exists in the Possible, then its present state is determined not by its past but its future state.

'Possibles evade the Law of the Excluded Middle. So too does Feynman's claim about the photon possibly going through the left slit and simultaneously possibly not going through the left slit.'
Any impact on the particle, for example, by measurement, leads to the collapse of its wave function, as a result of which the state of uncertainty disappears.

Some believe that there's a problem here: if quantum superposition collapses to a fixed state, what happens to all the other possible states? In other words, at first glance, there's a loss of information then. But it looks like there's a satisfactory answer: the information in this case turns to the structure (to the ties, in Buddhist terminology) so when the wave function collapses, the particle becomes part of a larger system - see here - 'Because superposition becomes a shared property of the system and its environment, we can’t any longer see the superposition just by looking at the little part of that shared state corresponding to the original system.'*

It's interesting that the mind of a practicing Zen Buddhist seems to have the same pattern: there's a state of mind when you're free from your past (which means that you have the freedom to choose), and you can have this state as long as you remain independent.** Here it's appropriate to recall that another name for the Possible is the Potential (and in this case it is also equivalent to independence.) The analogy can be continued: as for a particle in a quantum superposition, for Zen mind the Law of the Excluded Middle doesn't matter; and this state can collapse for the same reason: if you somehow lost independence. Therefore, I believe, quantum effects can explain the work of any mind: it's just because very few can afford to be in quantum superposition, most can never realize how their minds work.

In the same way, it seems, can be explained the principles of the formation of hierarchies: the transition of independence (ie, the Potential) of the members to the structure of the hierarchy*** (the Actual.) Note that the formation of hierarchies in this case means an increase in entropy since the collapse of a wave function = an increase in entropy. I've never heard of any pandits thinking about independence as the Potential; in particular, I've never heard that economists somehow took into account independence while describing human behavior, although mergers and associated with it the loss of independence by the players is a universal pattern of development for almost any economic situation - is it so phantom what they lose? Meanwhile, when it coms to political decisions, it's not uncommon that a choice is made in favor of independence and sovereignty and to the detriment of economic expediency. So at least among elites, the understanding that independence is as real as economic benefit clearly exists. Think also about the fact that any large company at one time definitely overcame the temptation to give up its own project for the sake of short-term benefits.

Think also about this: when it comes to complex systems that exhibit some kind of order, everyone is inclined to look for a hierarchy at their base. But, at least, the mind is not the case: it's based on parity - Freud was a genius when he guessed that at the core the psyche lies conflict, that is, parity - this can be the reason why the self remains so elusive to physiologists: it's as if nowhere and everywhere. 
  
PS There is another idea that I've been wanting to share, and which I probably do in one of the following posts: it's about another similarity between two patterns that, on the one hand, is clearly evident, on the other, not noticed for some reasons.

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*As I understand it, the assumption that unrealized scenarios of the future turn into the structure makes it possible to avoid the need for the multiple universe theory.
 **The choice in this case doesn't take place between all possible states, but between the possibility to maintain one's independence and the possibility to lose it.
***In other words, we can think of human hierarchies as vampires feeding on the potential of their members.

Zen Intuition: The Ability to Anticipate the Future

 See also Zen Intuition and Zen Intuition: The Ability to Perceive a Situation as a Whole

Zen intuition in particular manifests itself as the ability to anticipate the future (usually it's limited to what concerns you), and in this cese it enables you to understand a situation without thinking: you begin to understand what is happening around when you see what will happen next. But very often stupidity is the inability to see what will happen in the long run, which is not the case for Zen mind: in fact, Zen intuition, that is, mu, is also the understanding of what you should do in the long term although often you cannot predict what exactly in the long term will happen; it also entails an exciting and rather extravagant way of living - if you have nothing against this, Zen practice will make you a wise fool: you'll know exactly what to do though without knowing why* - you're not a prophet - but on the other hand, you'll also know what determines the expediency of your actions.**

The ability to anticipate the future is also directly related to creativity. You cannot create anything

This post is about the legacy of Stephen Hawking, which is ambiguous. On the one hand, of course, his pursuit of the truth gives him the right to be called a Buddhist to a much greater extent than the author of The Science Delusion, for example.
But on the other hand, now by default it is assumed that his choice - he preferred to continue to live after losing his independence and self-reliance - was absolutely right; and in this sense his glorification sends a wrong message. The truth is that independence and self-reliance are not only the ultimate goal, but also the ultimate truth: all the rest is their derivatives. No one can lecture others when it comes to life and death, but everyone should always have the choice, and in this way we will overcome the sad legacy of the Abrahamic religions.

The Koan of the Day

Money is not a goal but the best possible way of human relations.

Zen Intuition: The Ability to Perceive a Situation as a Whole

 See also Zen Intuition

Zen intuition could be considered twofold: first, it's the ability to perceive a situation as a whole; and, secondly, the ability to anticipate the future (usually it's about your future.) In fact, these are two sides of the same coin: if you're perceiving a situation as a whole, every present moment is coming for you from the future, and vice versa. The practice described in this blog just such a perception develops.

The ability to perceive a situation as a whole is what distinguishes a mature person: first of all, it allows you to highlight the essence of the information you're receiving, gives you acumen, and the ability to distinguish any attempt to manipulate you. Whereas fatigue, absent-mindedness, the transition to a more infantile level usually lead to tunnel vision, which very often use all sorts of rascals.

To perceive a situation as a whole means that you're equally aware of all the things you're looking at, but this doesn't mean that while doing this, you don't see the essence of what's happening - quite the contrary - this means that your attention doesn't stick to the details. I came across tests for attention where you're offered to read some text containing, among other things, some figures, and then you're asked to repeat them from memory. Something more stupid is difficult to come up with: in this way you're picking up the habit of focusing attention on the details and not seeing the main things. When you're reading, it's important to see the essence: what happened in the story? Has the situation changed for the better or for the worse? And so on. The figures listed there are as a rule completely unnecessary for you: usually it's just a matter of etiquette to look more convincing.

Sometimes being too mindful can even be harmful

It's equally important to be able to highlight the essence during a conversation, if only because in this case it's often important not what they say, but what they mean. Then if you direct all your attention to what you were told, there is a high risk that anything they say you'll start to take literally and thus become susceptible to deception and manipulation. During a conversation, you should rather understand the true intentions of people: what is behind their words.

Here's a test: https://goodwithpeople.uk/  for how skillful you are in recognizing fraud (from professionals, by the way); their method is about analyzing details - for me it never worked. Even more, deception is often accompanied by suggestion, and if you focus all your attention on the details, then to suggestion you'll become especially susceptible. In my experience, a deceiver or manipulator is often impossible to catch just by looking at the details - every single trait of his or her behavior may not cause any suspicion - in this case, you should look not at the details, and not even at the very interlocutor but at the whole situation; ie, use the technique described here: assess the situation through the point Seika no itten - that is, your intuition is mu: the sense of reality of a professional, shall we say. Then you can go further and try to see the pure female aspect of your interlocutor, as described here and here, and then to understand what is behind it. And remember that people often lie without any rational purpose - just to make an impression.

But my advice, don't try to be (and especially to seem) very insightful during a conversation and leave the analysis for later. A conversation is a game: at times you should be attentive, at times, a bit vague. It's better to seem a bit vague while being skeptical inside. Try to stay neutral and remember well what was discussed and then come home, restore the conversation from memory, and analyze it - for me it works best.

Another important thing you you should keep in mind whenever you try to identify who is standing in front of you is that there are, roughly speaking, two types of people: those who act on their own behalf, and those who act on behalf of some group or corporation (religious propagandists, for example), which often allows them to look pretty confident and convincing (of course, such a division is very arbitrary, and sometimes media exposure, watching a movie, for instance, is enough to make a person fall under the influence of some idea.) Communication with people of the latter type can be especially difficult for you since this mentality is opposite to the mentality of a Zen follower, but in the long run, that reliance which gives them confidence at the same time is their weakest spot - ancient Chan masters were right: ultimately, the lack of support, independence and self-reliance provide much more advantages than dependence and availability of support.

See also Zen Intuition: The Ability to Perceive a Situation as a Whole

It's not enough to say that at the heart of any depression are always ties: depression is the feeling of inability to break some bonds. But in fact, you can break any bonds if you start with the most pleasant and cherished.