A tree manifests itself in the physical world as color and shape (qualia), and these are signs which, when combined, we perceive as a tree. In the mind, we conceive a different qualia: a symbol. We have a conception of a tree that manifests itself as something beautiful, or useful, or merely interesting.
Both manifestations of a tree (inner and outer) occur because of our ritualing. We know that we can change the outer landscape by consciously ritualing, for we do this all the time. But I am not talking about the material construction and destruction that we are so good at, I mean changing the outer landscape conceptually, how we conceive it, inwardly, in our minds.
If we are a craftsman of some sort, the solution to a problem often comes to us when we reframe what we are looking at. We re-conceptualize our task. then we can, say, change the way we are holding a tool and finish the project. So it is that new qualia can change the mind which can change the body which then changes the outer landscape.
Now, the same is true for the inner landscape, which is truly built to reframe the world. Our handicap is that we are evolutionarily skewed toward outer landscapes and signs. Symbolic thinking is just too new, but with a little practice at conscious ritualing we will latch upon symbols with greater strength.
In a curious and fascinating book called “Saving the Appearances,” Owen Barfield makes the case that the landscape our senses sense today did not exist until we evolved to perceive it that way. Well, the landscape of tomorrow depends on what our senses sense, and that depend on the qualia we cultivate in our inner landscape.
Reason and imagination allow us to see around the corner, into the past and the future. They let us think of things that do not yet exist. The world then tunes itself to our conscious ritualing. We can change the world, by learning the language of ecosystems, and it doesn’t have to take a long time, as evolution generally does.
Be qualiadelic