A systems view of biological health

Section 2: Theory

40.1 : Surviving extremes: Imprints

This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 : also see my full Copyright statement.

Given that the body is loosely coupled, and that this becomes even more loose under pressure, the extreme is a form of temporary fragmentation.

Obviously this is not literally fragmentation - but rather a situation in which the parts dealing with emergencies have discarded any interest in paying attention to anything except the main threat to existence. Just as you would sit in you home phoning friends, but if you smelt burning or heard an unusual noise you would say somehting like "I have to go - I'll call you back later...". Or when you are driving a car you know there are advertising signs on the side of the road, but they disappear into liminal perception when the road feels a little dangerous.

So the telephone line that is the Vagus nerve is the first - but not the only - place to be affected when the phone is put down. And it is not so much a Vagus problem - rather, the Vagus is exactly like the phone line entering your house - it is the callers who have made a decision not to use the phone line, and will only recommence the conversation when the pressing issue has passed and they once more have spare attention to give to the nuances of relationality. Meanwhile they get on with their normal tasks, but without the nuanced optimisation that occurs when they are in conversation.

Given that this kind of de-coupling occurs particularly during overwhelm (Plan B+), the fragmenation holds two parallel states simultaneously - though not everyone is aware of both:

1. Firstly there is a remnant Plan A+ (high energy survival responses, manifesting in inflammation, muscle tightness and hyperarousal), and
2. superimposed on that is a Plan B+ (Vegetative survical responses, manifesting as numbness, dissociation, and exhaustion).

Just like two Japese soldiers still fighting on a desert island (the last one surendered almost 20 years after the official end of the second World War) these overehelm imprints fight on until they receive a recognisable signal that the war is over - that the cause of the overwhelm has passed. Both exhibit numbness and qualitative loss of embodiment to some degree (though obviously more in Plan B+) - because in Plan A+ it is not useful to be particularly aware of the body, so the Opiod-Cannabinoid numbing begins quite early in the survival-response sequence.

Interestingly, a theory has been proposed [1] that connects the principle of Gestalts to these Imprints. Dielenburg (2024) changes the definition of a "fixation" in such a way that it becomes extremely similar to the phenomenology of Imprints observed in a clinic setting, and that experienced by individuals. To quote :

Imprints - because of their survival nature often tend to incorporate survival physiology - but the principle that they are similar to Gestalts and are formed in similar processes ends up with a model that is very reminiscent of their behaviour.

My personal experience of attentive gestalts - becoming fixated on a specific object - is that they are definitely set up more easily and strongly with survival-critical emotions, and de-program (de-adapt) in the same way that trauma Imprints de-adapt. The presence of a generic way of dealing with adaptation as small sentient, not-so-intelligent but powerful programs (or Conscious Agents [4]) - that act in the deep cellular physiology, the sensory system, the behavioural system, and systemically - is on reflection, to be expected.

References & Notes

1  Dielenberg, R. A. (2024). The biological foundations of fixation: a general theory. Academia Biology, 2(3). https://doi.org/10.20935/AcadBiol7360

2  This is an important distinction, applying to generational Imprints, thought-forms/ideas/beliefs (as Gestalt entities in their own right), and several other phenomena that arise in the treatment room

3  Items 2 and 3 are (more) evident in high level, usually chronic Imprints (as might be the case in DSM trauma diagnoses) - rather than smaller Imprints

4  Conscious Agents : see paper by Hoffman DD, Prakash C, Prentner R. Fusions of Consciousness. Entropy. 2023; 25(1):129. https://doi.org/10.3390/e25010129 – and a simpler version at Consciousness & Its Physical Headset - Donald Hoffman - 2/15/2024 Caltech and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hu6BEXoPqQ - which in turn are similar to the descriptions and functions of thoughts by Eckhart Tolle.
Also see Unihipili in Models of Consciousness (4): Spirit (PDF) and The Three Selves (PDF)

5  ... because it has a purpose (think of the broomsticks) that is almost inevitably linked to survival, so will not stop unless it receives tidings of safety

 

Introduction   |   Theory   |   Summary   |   Practical   |   Audio   |   Appendices