Week Thirteen: Cognition

To Live is To Know

This is a very interesting idea. I think that the Varella idea defining an autopoetic system as one with cognition is a thought provoking one. In a sense, it really just redefines cognition, removing it from the exclusive domain of our brain. Instead, cognition is the ability of a system to react and respond to changes in its environment in such a way as to ensure its survival. Such a system is forever (at least until its death) in the process of becoming itself.

Part of me feels that they are simply changing a definition, which is cheating. But the idea sticks with me. I had TMJ last week and the first thing I did was label it. That was my brain working. Then, my brain figured out what to do: massage and ice until my acupuncturist got back into town. But, despite that treatment, it kept hurting.

Then I started to consider the possibility that a process was underway in my jaw, that the bones, ligaments, blood and whatever else involved make up a system that was in the process of rectifying itself, or attempting to. Varella's idea of cognition helped me to respect that process more, and to almost communicate with that system as if it were a separate entity with a separate brain. All of which helped. But, the true cure was my acupuncturist's needle, which plunged in and unblocked the whole thing. It was like clearing an accident of the bridge, suddenly traffic was flowing normally again. Still, it was all very illuminating.

Memory and Magic

I think that this comes back to the issue of what the brain is, and how it limits our experience. The brain is our little bucket that we dip into a giant and robust river flowing past us. We dip our bucket in and pull it out and examine the contents, thinking that we have some representation of reality. The truth is, we have a tiny piece to look at. It cannot be a representation of the whole river. And, as humans, we can only manage a small bucket. We can't take on any more than that. It's like the river is "that which is" as Bohm said (sorry-was that physics?). We just can't appreciate that much. Magic takes advantage of the limitations of our small bucket.