7/4/05 - I've come up with a concept that I believe can help us understand our minds better. I always think in shapes, and this is how, after reading a lot of philosophy lately, I was able to come up with this concept.

1. The top sphere: This sphere represents the instinct of man and the lower animals. This forms the basis of everything you do. It is mainly innate, with a few learned qualities. I believe this sphere to represent everything such as fight or flight, and other survival instincts, and for man, the concept of perfection, as his highly anthropocentric mind will let him perceive it anyway. This sphere represents no abstract capabilities, and unites man with the lower animals, and nature. I would also like to theorize that at this level your memory is slight, and your concept of time is completely minimal. You might understand the alternation of day and night, and the change of the seasons, but that's partially innate and partially learned for survival. Abstraction capabilities like planning, and scenario creation are next to zero.

2. The bottom sphere: This sphere represents the growth of man's brain beyond the basis of animal instinct, and is made possible by a bigger brain, and more memory for reflection. I would like to point out that the flat surfaces that are at the tips of the spires represent our innate instinct. As our memories expanded, we lost the connection between concepts as they moved further apart. Notice that as our minds expanded, the sphere itself did not grow, but the fundamental concepts remained intact and we began to question them and grow, but we maintained a spherical base, which represents our very slow, slow changing instincts.

Now, we can start to hypothesize about the graph. The space between the spires is the area that we call reason. We try constantly to link the flat surface areas to each other to regain our far distant, pure ideas of instinct, which have become muddled and subconscious. We are constantly trying to bridge these gaps to regain our former picture of the world, but we also desire to maintain our capacity. We can do this, and I'm working on a frameworked plan right now. I know it sounds crazy, but it's at least a working model that I can change as I try to defend it. I'm really thinking that this idea can give us better insight into math problems like Zeno's paradox, and other infinitive issues. I can literally picture this in my head when I think, and it totally helps me rationalize. I'm going to do a more thorough work up later. This is just a temp. Let me know what you think!