When a tiny dust or pollen particle encounters water vapor high in Earth’s atmosphere, the water vapor coats and freezes it into a tiny crystal of ice. This tiny crystal is the “seed” from which a snowflake will grow.
New qualia in the mind is like this seed. At some time in the last fifty-thousand years, human beings began to pay attention to these qualia seeds. We ritualed with them, turning them into thoughts, symbols, ideas, and all the rest of the landmarks and pathways of our minds.
Even though every snowflake is six-sided, each is unique because of the unique dust particle around which it is formed. Qualia, as well, is unique – unique to the mind in which it manifests itself. And therefore, we all have unique, inner landscapes.
Unlike the hexagon in a snowflake, though, which is the fittest form to help a snowflake endure, our thoughts have come to be shaped by the human landscape. We need to get back to ecosystems.