RE: Homeostatic mechanism

PaR (par@nu-world.com)
Sat, 11 Apr 1998 15:15:14 -0700


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>The two examples are actually slightly different.=20

Yes.

>Compare this
>to moving to a different culture: you cannot avoid it, it is a
>persistent pressure forcing you to re-value your old maps. People who
>move to a new culture do change, and does not return to their old
>selves when they move back to the old land.

Yes. This is why I like to move a lot. It is one way of expanding your =
cognitive map.

>One could perhaps model this as elastic and plastic deformation: if
>you squeeze a rubber eraser it will quickly return to its original
>shape, but if you leave it clambed overnight it will be permanently
>deformed.

Exactly! Some people, after dramatic life experiences, change their =
cognitive=20
map *permanently* so that *they do not return to a state of =
homeostasis.* And that is=20
exactly what I was talking about as a goal in my first message.

Except I mean this change in a positive way. For example, I have read of =

a Jewish surviver of the holocost, and he was exstatic about every day =
he was still=20
alive. That was such a horrible experience for him - which he used as a =
"relative=20
reference point" - that everything else he experienced afterwards was =
wonderful by=20
comparison. Although ideally you would not have to go through a terrible =
life=20
experience to acheive this.

"Once a man's [or woman's] mind has been stretched to a new dimension,
it never quite returns to the shape it was before." -- Oliver Wendall =
Holmes

>"Good" is ... it changes.=20

Agreed. That was partly my point.

>I think the concept of flow (a la Mih=E1ly
>Cs=EDkszentmih=E1lyi ) is a good model for when we achieve true
>happiness.=20

I agree. I have read "Flow..." and I think it is a wonderful book. I
highly recomend it. Although I don't know how you remembered
his name correctly. :-)

>So
>it is the task of moving from one situation to the other that is
>important, the start and end states are less important (even if it is
>of course much easier to feel good while moving towards a better
>state).

Agreed. It is the journey, not the destination. (OK, so it is BOTH). :-)

>It is not the dynamic personality that is troublesome (we already
>switch our personalities slightly to fit the situation), it is having
>a highly dynamic set of core goals and values that is bad. If they are
>too fluid, they shift before any goals can be achieved and hence the
>individual becomes very inefficient.

Also agreed. I misunderstood what you meant. Dynamic personality
is not the problem. *Self-conflicting* dynamic personality is a problem.

Sin,
Jason

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