Circuits, anyone?

Elgar

Date: Mon, 22 Apr 1996 22:38:56 -0400 (EDT)

Scotto's essay on Leary's 8-circuit model using the characters of Gilligan's Island was a real scream, and highly illuminating. (It's interesting how TV likes to sneak in something subliminal and esoteric.)

I've long considered the practical realization of the model and have also wondered about the goodness-of-fit of the model, whether in the original form of Leary (Exo-Psychology_), Antero Alli (_Angel_ Tech_), or Wilson (_Prometheus_Rising_). In fact, discrepancies* among these have led me to pursue my own reorganization of the circuits. (It is acknowledged that no model, including the one presented below, is absolute.)

                                         Circuits
Organ          Pursuit        Direct Mode     Recursive Mode

Oral           Kama           BioSurvival     NeuroSomatic
Anal           Artha          EmoTerritorial  NeuroPsychic
Genital        Dharma         SocioSexual     NeuroGenetic
Cerebral       Moksha         LogicoSemantic  Metaprogramming

First, I have explored the idea that the lower and upper four circuits might more properly be seen as four parallel relationships, or, four circuits, each having a direct and a recursive mode. That is, for example, NeuroSomatic encompasses BioSurvival and works to maximize the wellness of the body through hedonic engineering, and as a result, the Biosurvival goals (e.g., safe and sound), a prerequisite for NeuroSomatic work, are recursively furthered by the NeuroSomatic goals (feeling good). Likewise, NeuroPsychic recurses EmoTerritorial, NeuroGenetic recurses SocioSexual, and Metaprogramming recurses LogicoSemantic.

Then, for comparative reference, I have identified the organs responsible for the four functions, and added the four pursuits of life from the Hindu philosophy: Kama (contact of sensory organ with object), Artha (acquisition of goods, property, wealth, power), Dharma (observance of social law and moral order), and Moksha (liberation). Some may object to the last item, Moksha, as a parallel with Cerebral. But, to differ with the Hindu sense, Moksha here would be liberation from certain inevitabilities of life and nature. For example, LogicoSemantic enables us to predict and control events for personal gain, and Metaprogramming enables us to predict and control the operation of the LogicoSemantic and other circuits.

Some of the notable departures from Leary, Wilson, and Alli include (1) the switching of circuits 3 and 4 (other animals develop Socio- Sexual activity without achieving any LogicoSemantic to speak of -- Chuang Tzu might disagree with this argument), (2) the elimination of the Quantum circuit 8 (it seems to me that such an item would represent a transcendence of the individual, and the circuit model pertains to the structure of said individual), (3) the elevating of Metaprogramming to circuit 8 (this represents the zone of maximum potential of the individual), and (4) the insertion of NeuroPsychic into circuit 6 (corresponding with 3: EmoTerritorial, this circuit governs such activity as dreaming, visionary, and hallucinatory -- the "space" states).

So there's my particular revision of the 8-circuit model. Again, this is just an experimental model, and not a tenet of dogma. Further work will be to refine this model while using it to pursue such exercises as those presented in Alli and Wilson, as well as to develop new ones. (BTW, the above work is an example of work performed in the course of the Alchemist grade of the Funny Game, which is the backbone of my funky philosophical nut-shell, 0REZ,Trigrammarian, or 0ZPXD -- though it does not necessarily follow therefrom. Those interested may refer to my FAQ.


*Discrepancies:

a. Leary and Wilson switch order of circuits 6 and 7 relative to each other.

        Leary                   Wilson

1.      Bio-survival            Bio-Survival
2.      Neuro-muscular          Emotional-Territorial
3.      Laryngeal-manual        Time-Binding Semantic
4.      Socio-sexual            Socio-Sexual
5.      Neurosomatic            Neurosomatic
6.      Neuro-electric ________ Neurogenetic
7.      Neurogenetic _____X____ Metaprogramming
8.      Neuro-atomic            Non-Local Quantum

b. Leary created a structure but didn't fill it out with detailed examples; Alli forces some traditional examples into the structure, albeit questionable in some cases.

        Leary                           Alli

5.      Neurosomatic Receptivity        Rapture
        Neurosomatic Integration        Ritual
        Neurosomatic Fusion             Charisma
6.      Neuro-electric Receptivity      Clairvoyance
        Neuro-electric Integration      Reality Selection
        Neuro-electric Fusion           Designing Tarot
7.      Neurogenetic Receptivity        Synchronicity
        Neurogenetic Integration        Alchemy
        Neurogenetic Fusion             Astrology
8.      Neuro-atomic Receptivity        Paradox
        Neuro-atomic Integration        Dreaming
        Neuro-atomic Fusion             Factor X

Followups from Leri...