Binary States of Mind

Consciousness is always changing; sometimes the changes are slow and barely noticeable, and at other times they are rapid. Any realistic theory of consciousness has to incorporate the element of time. However, time is defined by its relation to that which does not appear to change. In my ideas on consciousness I use two axes as the framework of theory since I want to compare an unchanging view of consciousness with a dynamic view. One axis is a dynamic and changing perspective on reality (the time reference is the present). The other axis is a static and unchanging perspective on reality (the time reference is the past).

The dynamic view of reality is a functional one, by which I mean it focuses on what consciousness does. By contrast, a causal view of reality focuses on how consciousness came to be what it is. Now causes are unchanging (a cause produces the same effects whenever it is activated), whilst functions are dynamic. I use these terms to define the difference between the existential and the psychological perspectives that I use.

The causal view is the psychological perspective.
The functional view is the existential perspective.

Existentialism takes the person as he is now, ignoring how he came to be. The states of mind that the person prefers to respond to are those of free will and choice.
Psychology takes the person as he has become, since it is his own history that is important for determining how he is now. The history of the person has helped to produce his present reality. So the state of mind that has the greatest effect on him is that of determinism.

In general, if we examine the main psychological factors – beliefs, attitudes, values, etc – operating on a person, then we can assign them into two categories. The factors that are flexible (that is, accepted by choice) can be assigned to his existential perspective. Whereas those that are fixed and inflexible can be assigned to his psychological perspective.

A Digression on Determinism or Karma

Our childhood sets the major social themes of our existence. The problems that we face in childhood create the significant problems that we have to face and surmount when we are an adult. The ways in which we respond to these problems shapes, even creates, our character, needs, beliefs and attitudes.

The major issue with childhood is that we have to face significant problems before we are mature enough to handle them in harmonious ways. If we become too stressed then we will make negative interpretations of our experiences; if we regularly repeat the same negative interpretations then this repetition creates psychological determinism.

There are several forms of determinism: some are rigid (such as the social class that a person is born into), whilst others can be more variable (such as the effects of childhood conditioning). I need a general-purpose term that can incorporate any or all forms of determinism. The Indian term karma is ideal for my purpose. [¹].

Overall, karma embraces the long-term effects of a person’s behaviours, actions, and thinking. The most important way to understand the concept of karma is that it is the effects of the fixed ideas, beliefs and attitudes that the person carries with him through life (and lifetimes): these aspects of character help to generate a person’s actions and behaviours.

Ideas like reincarnation and karma have metaphysical connotations. This is why I prefer the term “karma” to “determinism”. Karma implies influences that have shaped our character from past lives on Earth. If the reader dislikes such metaphysics, then he/she can simply use the term “determinism” wherever I use the term “karma”.

However, my use of the term “karma” is more inclusive, and therefore slightly different, from Indian use. The reason for this is that Indian spiritual and philosophical theories do not show much understanding of the subconscious mind – and the subconscious mind is home to a specific form of determinism, that of abreaction.[²]

Karma has two forms:
a). One form relates to the person’s behaviour and fixed beliefs (that is, beliefs which have formed his character). Whatever the person does produces an effect.
b). The other form relates to specific ways of thinking within the subconscious mind; when this form is active, the person’s mental states oscillate in a dialectical way. So I call this form dialectical karma.

Abreaction is a dialectical process, and so relates to the dialectical form of karma. The other form of karma is the one described in traditional theories, and includes everything that is not caused by abreaction.

Now I return to the two axes of consciousness. The static axis relates to the person’s fixed beliefs and attitudes, or those aspects of himself that have become more or less rigid over the process of time. The person is usually unwilling to change these aspects, and so they indicate the influences of determinism from the subconscious mind. In contrast, the dynamic axis relates to the ego, or personality, or that aspect of a person which uses the conscious mind. The static and dynamic axes can be denoted in the following ways.

Psychological reality is that of determinism/karma: static and rigid.
Existential reality is that of free will and the ego: dynamic and changeable.

A person is the sum of his/her existential consciousness and psychological consciousness. Another way to put this view is that the person is the interplay between ego and determinism.

Determinism and Freewill

In order to place the traditional philosophical issue of determinism versus free will on a realistic footing, it is necessary to think of them as being on different axes of reality. So my theory of consciousness has two axes to it: one axis embraces all the issues associated with determinism, and the other axis all the issues associated with free will. Hence I treat consciousness as being binary in its form.

When some aspect of reality is assumed to be a unitary phenomenon, and yet produces paradoxes in our understanding of it, then it is likely that the phenomenon is really a binary one.[³]. By assuming that consciousness is binary in its form, I can solve problems that appear to be insoluble within a viewpoint based on the unity of consciousness. This binary nature of consciousness can be approached from several angles. I give some examples below:

I consider consciousness to be a binary arrangement. It consists of a static structure (karma, or fixed beliefs) plus a particular perspective on life (the ego). Meanings, values and choices arise from the interplay of perspective with static structure. Static structure relates to the social side of consciousness, or the social forces that produce determinism within the young child, whilst perspective is individual and dynamic.

The dynamic perspective limits what is conceivable.
The static structure limits what is possible.

Determinism is either
(c). Causal, when it is produced over time (the traditional view of karma),
or
(d). Dialectical.

Since the content of the dialectical process is the person’s fixed beliefs and values, both forms of determinism interact with each other. The full picture of determinism is that it is causal and dialectical. Whereas free will is functional, an aspect of the ego.

The individual meshes together free will and determinism, the functional and the causal, under the dialectical influences of his/her social situations (the “ups and downs” of his/her relationships). The ups and downs of relationships cause anxiety or stress for the person.

The particular formulation of free will and determinism arrived at is constrained by the individual’s pattern of anxiety. Or the way that the individual balances free will with determinism is governed by the way he or she handles anxiety. The anxiety puts limits on both what is conceivable and what is possible. Anxiety is analysed in my articles on Emotion, on the Home page.

[¹]. My article on Determinism is in the Psychology section, in the book Living in Times of Change.[1]

[³]. There are many paradoxes in atomic science, which cannot be solved. This is because science assumes that reality has only one axis. When two axes are used to classify science, the paradoxes disappear. See my articles in chapter 4. [3]

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Ian Heath
London, UK

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.	Two Axes of Consciousness I became an existentialist when I was 20, when I read the book The Sickness unto Death by Soren Kierkegaard. In my late 40s I began developing my own system of psychology. In my exploration of consciousness I use both existentialism and psychology, since I find them to be mutually complementary. Why should consciousness be examined in this way? I eventually realised that the most effective way to examine consciousness is to use two different viewpoints for the examination.
Sub - Headings
Digression on Determinism or Karma
Determinism and Freewill
References