Body Langauge - Act 12

Reality is happening as per the forces in play and the organisms able to move within the scope of that possibility.

Those organisms move towards what they need and what they think they need, they move away from what is threatening to them and those needs. The way they contract and expand, reach out and retract, they way they signal and they way they remember forms the emotional language of biology.

Biological Conditioning
When choosing an action, instincts take precedence. For this thought experiment I have chosen 4 main biological instincts.
1- Survive - the ancient fight flight part of our nervous system will take over when threat is imminent.
2 - Eat, drink, evacuate
3 - Procreate
4 - Move towards pleasure and away from pain, is actually woven throughout the first 3 instincts, but I have included it separately for another reason. That of the individuals, preferences, skills, sensitivities which influence what they are attracted to or are curious about. This will come to drive the way they communicate, relate and contribute within groups.

Social conditioning
Humans, like other creatures that rely on complex social networks for biological advantages, are necessarily “checking” in with and receptive to each others signals.

We call this language of signals, emotions. Though they may include written and spoken symbols and words, smells, and tone of voice. Physical motion or Body language remains the bulk of the signal. Our gestures can most quickly become either the act, or the promise of an action.

From reward to punishment, affection to violence, or anything on the spectrum between obvious pleasure and pain. We remain subconsciously attuned to acceptance and rejection and it operates at a level far below our reasons or rationale.

Conditioning is Memory, but not all memory is conditioning
Pain is fear and much of fear is a focus problem - arises from believing there is a seperate self that has alternate futures that we must apply force to control.

We may become personally attached to memories that we place a value on. We do this when we come to believe that they will offer us pleasure or save us from pain. These “personal memories" must either increase our sense of safety or offer hope.

Other kind of memories are free to come and go, they do not upset us,(we stand nothing to lose or gain personally from their adherence) and are easily updatable when fresh evidence is experienced.

If somebody tells me that gravity is a hoax, I don’t get upset. If they tell me to stop eating animals because its cruel and unnecessary, I am more likely to “bite” depending on wether I have “identified” myself as a vegan or carnivore. If there is any pride, guilt or shame being used in the language, we may feel that as being “controlled” rather than respected.

Knowledge is powerful - but it has 2 edges
Knowledge is memory that has been validated either via personal experience or of those we deem qualified or trusted, such as experts. Knowledge is always in a process of being improved upon, updated, and giving fresh context, as such it is not so much a collection of static “facts” but more like the threads that we weave to make a map of reality. As a governance tool, it is very useful for sharing ideas and reaching consensus.

Revealing that we have knowledge is a way to build trust. When people trust us, we receive a different kind of emotional energy from them, it is less threatening and may feel like acceptance, safety or even affection.

Demonstrating expertise, can open doorways into elite groups and higher paying roles in the community. We can easily begin to store knowledge as "Personal memories” that offer us personal benefits.

It is very easy to begin comparing everything we see to our "knowledge maps". Looking for advantages, gain or just safety, this unfortunately leaves us more and more with our opinions and less with our senses.

Group Think
If we are carrying deep fears and insecurities from earlier miss-understood experiences, (trauma). We may seek attention and affection from people by offering them an agreeable front. We may try to share the same knowledge, language and customs so that we can belong to their group.

When we bolster our social insecurities by storing knowledge as a personal memory, we may become personally threatened when it is challenged.

This is the mechanism operating in “group think”. Its not wrong or right, but it is real and as such it is good to understand it. We may be more free to choose as individuals, and less likely to restrict other people attempting the same.

Pain
Pain is very real also, to increase the level of suffering, add fear, add denial, add resistance, add non acceptance and the belief that there is no alternative and that this pain will continue. To increase pain, add memory and tension.

To relieve pain, let go of all non essential tension, accept the sensation as it is without adding any meaning to it. When we strip it of meaning and memory, we stop taking it personally, it becomes a matter for biology to handle and our body handles matters of biology as the expert it is.

Much of the tension we hold in our smooth and skeletal muscle fibres is from fear of future pain, based upon the meanings we associated with past pain. Some of it is from real physical harm, most of it from emotional pain that is now manifesting as “inappropriate” responses to current situation.

Fear is memory, but not all memory is fear
Clear and present physical danger is useful fear, it exists in the realm of the senses and requires imediate action.
Threat to our “personal memories” our ideals, values and opinions - is trauma, it is a by-product of social conditioning that alters our focus. It also changes our ability to move and be moved.

Passion
If we are clear of social conditioning and free to see the world outside of "personal memories”, there is usually very little to fear in this exact moment. If we listen to our biology in the absence of fear and tension, we may notice that we are not that hungry, thirsty, hot, cold or horny in this particular moment.

In these times of personal freedom from the “needs of our conditions and conditioning, we may retain enough sensitivity and energy to notice and move towards what else we find interesting, beautiful or intriguing. Everyone I have ever met is uniquely sensitive and interesting in something.

When we relax the tensions from social conditioning, the need to impress, earn money, respect and belonging. We may begin to notice the “thing” that floats our personal boat is quite extra-ordinary, it may not even exist yet.

Body Language
The bulk of our direct interpersonal language is gesture and posture based. The memories we hold and the underlying moods or states of tension they recreate become part of the way we move, feel and communicate.

They effect the way we project trust, confidence, insecurity, threat and even kindness. The way we move displays how well we understand and use energy and how gracefully we apply force. Our body langauge shows how happy and open or closed and controlling we are.

The posture we take on also effects what we remain sensitive to, it effects the way we receive information. Tension tunes us like the strings on a guitar. To what degree this is important, I do not know, why dont we examine that in the next chapter.

=8-P

Wisdom as Action Series
Act 1 - Do you remember?
Act 2 - What is Love?
Act 3 - Feeling Swell
Act 4 - Bound to be Free
Act 5 - Trust Issues
Act 6 - Knowledge
Act 7 - All you Desire
Act 8 - Virtue Reality
Act 9 - @tension
Act 10 - Rote learning vs Understanding
Act 11- Morality Paradox
Act 12- Body Language