CCCI Part One: S.A. in Relation to Evolutionary Development

[Jeremy Chance]

Hi All,

This is a very long section, punctuated by headings rather than Chapters. We don't have enough time in the school to do this section justice, so I developed three questions: one dealing with a basic Alexander concepts (endgaing/menaswhereby definitions), one requiring the student to do their own thinking (no direct text reference, answer by inference only) and one with an answer that is NOT what most people will answer (hence I called it a 'trick' question).

Read on and take the test (but don't read the answers till you answered!) 

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1. Alexander wrote: “This all points to a general weakening in the psycho-physical directing and controlling forces of the human creature, a weakening which has been brought about by the fact that man has continued ... to rely upon instincts which have survived their usefulness and upon the harmful guidance of defective sense registers (feeling).” CCCI, Part One, Mind-Wandering Recognized as a Shortcoming — Its Relation to Self-Preservation, p.16) 

Do you consider that faulty sensory appreciation has its basis in the physical condition of our organs or is it related to other mechanisms?

Note there is not direct text reference for this question. Alexander never addresses directly the issue of whether “sensory appreciation” is also related to defective sense organs—he uses the term “defective sense registers” but what is a “register” in modern physiological terms? Alexander does make it clear that our idea of what is happening is one key aspect of the fault.

My personal response to this question is to define "sensory appreciation" as the summary interaction of direct sensory perception (defined as the molecular interaction with the environment through our sense organs) and mental conception (defined as the mental image produced in our mind on the basis of the raw sensory data that is being transmitted through our molecular interaction with the environment). In Alexander's reference "defective sense registers" this can not mean the actual organs themselves. If this was the case, what possibility does thought have to repair defective organs? Using the popular analogy of a computer - faulty sensory appreciation is a software problem, not a hardware problem. It is the calibration of the data that is faulty, not the actual data. This is extremely important. If the actual data that is being imputed from the environment through the molecular interaction of our various sense organs was at fault, could software overcome this limitation? Writing now I think - yes, maybe. But I do not believe that is the problem. I think the data is always as it is, faulty sensory appreciation is just that - our APPRECIATION of the data is faulty, not the data itself. So it is not a problem with the physical organ, it is to do with the mental conception imputed by us on to the data we receive through our sense organs.

2. Explain the difference between the principles of “endgaining” and “meanswhereby”.

In a footnote to to the section entitled “Comparison of Evolutionary Processes in the Savage and Civilized States” Alexander writes:

“I judge from the numerous queries received from readers of Man’s Supreme Inheritance that many people are not quite clear as to what is meant by the expressions ”means-whereby” and ”end-gaining.” In the endeavour to make my meaning clear, I would point out that whenever a person sets out to achieve a particular ”end” (whether this ”end” is the development of potentialities or the eradication of defects, peculiarities, or misuse) his procedure will be based on one of two principles which I have called the ”end-gaining” and the ”means-whereby” principles.

The “end-gaining” principle involves a direct procedure on the part of the person endeavouring to gain the desired ”end.” This direct procedure is associated with dependence upon subconscious guidance and control, leading, in cases where a condition of mal-co-ordination is present, to an unsatisfactory use of the mechanisms and to an increase in the defects and peculiarities already existing.

The ”means-whereby” principle, on the other hand, involves a reasoning consideration of the causes of the conditions present, and an indirect instead of a direct procedure on the part of the person endeavouring to gain the desired ”end.” This indirect procedure is that psycho-physical activity, associated with constructive conscious guidance and control and with the consequent satisfactory use of the mechanisms, which establishes the conditions essential to the increasing development of potentialities. Under these conditions defects, peculiarities, and misuse are not likely to be present within the organism.

3. What is the primary controlling factor of the human organism? (trick question!)

In the section entitled: “The Human and the Inanimate Machine Compared and Contrasted” Alexander writes:

“The function of sensory appreciation will be clear to us if we stop for a moment and consider the human organism as an animate machine, and compare its mechanical processes with those of an inanimate machine. The reliability of both machines is dependent upon the standard of reliability of their controlling, propelling, motor, and other mechanisms, the controlling factor taking first place as causing the other mechanical factors to work co-ordinately and to give the best results in practical use.

But the all-important difference from our standpoint between the animate and the inanimate machine lies in the quality and function of their respective controlling mechanisms. In the inanimate machine, the controlling mechanism is limited by the fixed nature of its own make-up, and by certain fixed conditions in the other mechanisms without which it cannot operate. In the animate machine, or human psycho-physical organism, the controlling mechanism is a wonderful psycho-physical process by means of which an almost unlimited use of the different units which make up the whole may be brought about, so that at one moment a correct use and at another an incorrect use may be commanded.

This psycho-physical process is that essential factor in satisfactory human development which we call sensory appreciation. When functioning adequately, this sensory appreciation has a wide field of operation, and our ability to reach the maximum of our potentialities depends upon the standard of its reliability. This being so, it will be obvious to the most casual observer that, if we are to continue to develop satisfactorily, our sensory appreciation of the working of the mechanisms concerned with the movements of our bodies and limbs in the activities of life must be reliable.

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That's it for this week!

cheerfully

Jeremy

ja...@mac.com

090-2284.0869 (Japan +81)