When I walk (my favorite type of conscious ritualing), I often try to hold a couple of disparate ideas in mind that have presented themselves to me, either in something I’ve read, or heard, or seen, or thought of myself. As I walk I try to keep these ideas in mind, sort of like trying to concentrate on a piece of classical music, or breathing, or doing a math problem. My mind wanders just like everyone else’s, and I bring it back to focus whenever I notice that I am “off topic.” (This is usually much more difficult at the beginning of a walk because of the chatter that I’ve carried over from the human landscape, from which I am still trying to escape.)
Anyway, at some point, boom! a new train of thought or an idea presents itself which connects the other two. This is what I consider a gift from ecosystems. With the proper gratitude, then, I carry on walking, just going with it and letting more thoughts fill out the ways in which these ideas all work together, all hold together – all endure! – until I have something to speak into my trusty phone voice recorder.
The late seventeenth century philosopher, John Locke, proposed that ideas connect themselves together just as atoms collect into molecules. Of course, everybody knows this has been disproven – wait, how could this be disproven?
Qualia does connect things, and at its best it connects things to help them endure longer. In the brain, neurons that work together are connected by qualia; at least, the neurotransmitters that they share float from one neuron to the next, guided by, um, hmmm, not magic… maybe some sort of chemical attraction, some atomic polarity…but wait – at some level – at every level – the matter of the brain goes where it is going, and does what it does, because like everything else it has evolved to share qualia.
Just as a flower projects color to attract a bee (and they both get something beneficial from the relationship), so one atom attracts another atom that senses some projected qualia – polarity, shape, texture – and an enduring relationship has begun! Just so the matter of this neuron attracts the neurotransmitter from that neuron by virtue of qualia – again, shape, texture, etc. But still, we haven’t seen an idea, we can only infer its existence the way we infer the existence of wind based upon the movement of the leaves in the trees or something. We only know ideas exist based upon the effect they have upon us!
Ideas attract one another just like everything else: by sharing qualia.
So you see, ideas do attract other ideas that work together and have some staying power, just as Mr. Locke proposed. This idea that ideas attract each other just like atoms and molecules, becoming more and more complex is a perfect example of the sort of disparate thoughts I connect during my walks. And (patting myself on the back), I came up with Mr. Locke’s theory of complex ideas on my own, years before I found out he came up with it first.
Of course, I wasn’t thinking of ideas at the time, but qualia. I was thinking, also, about parasites. The connector idea that came to me was that qualia needs to endure to exist, so it has to glom onto something or it just disappears from existence, here one moment and gone the next, just like the Higgs boson or last night’s dreams. Usually it is matter – perhaps neurons – that qualia clings to, but sometimes the matter or neurons are not sensitive enough to notice the qualia that is revealing itself to them. So qualia needs to become more complex in order to endure; first it attracts other qualia, but after a certain point, complex qualia (complex ideas) begin to project something that even clumsy neurons can sense and glom onto. This is how we discover the patterns that give our lives meaning. (I suppose that explains the origins of the sense of self, or ego, but that is another essay.)
Now, I can’t help it if every once in a while I come up with ideas that mirror those of dead philosophers. It happens to any creative person. As Emerson said, In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.
In closing, let me just add that this proves the economic value of focusing on qualia instead of matter. To get wealthy from matter means taking it away from somebody else (be they human, animal, plant, or planet); on the other hand, qualia can be shared without diminishment. All it takes is the ability to notice it, and to appreciate it (and the lack of ego to share it humbly). And the more it is shared the more its value increases for everyone.