Conception is a word that I use to refer to a mental awareness, image, or theory of how the world works. From this conception we build a framework of how to interpret and associate with the world. Because of this, our life is based on conception. It makes conception, in a sense, “everything”. The inquiry of this phenomena I call Conceptionism.
THE CIRCLE OF CONCEPTIONISM
It seems, to me, that there is a circle of conceptionism. It goes something like this:
- Innateness
- Creativity
- Cunning
- Imitation
- Selfless
From selfless it goes back to innateness completing the circle.
The extreme opposites of this circle reflects other types of spectrums such as:
- Inner to outer
- Unconscious to conscious
- Self to world
- Natural to unnatural
- Awareness to ideas
- Wordless to words
In these ways, the circle of conceptions entails the entire experience of perceiving and interpreting life. More importantly, it shows that conceptions don’t just consist of ideas, thoughts, and theories, as we’d normally think but other aspects of life such as awareness, perceptions, intuitions, etc.
1-Innateness
Innateness is natural, innate, and comes from within. In this way, it does not need external prompting nor is it a reaction to anything external to us. It “just is”.
The innate conception is based in what can be called an innate “framework”. These include:
- Conception of world
- Conception of self
Upon these “frameworks” conceptions are the whole conception of everything created. It is something like a “base” or “foundation” of which all conceptions are based. Everything else is as if built upon it.
Innateness is primarily internal. It has nothing to do with the external world. Its only in the next phase – creativity – that there is a reaction to the external world.
The fact of innateness shows that there is an “original understanding” of life. This understanding, being internal, is something that nature has as if “programmed” into us, as it exists without any association with the world. We are “already wired” when born.
This innateness has several forms:
- The natural appearing innateness found in all people
- The individual innate qualities that is different for each people
These make it so that innateness is “the same but different” with everyone.
Generally, people who are innate-oriented tend to be spiritual in nature.
2-Creativity
Creativity is a reaction of innateness caused by associating with life. It is a natural response from external prompting. Though it is a response the form of the response as if comes from nowhere. In this way, it sometimes has a “miraculous” or “magical” quality.
Life naturally causes the appearance of conceptions. Without them we could not survive. Creativity is the first stage of this reaction. In some sense, it is the first “applied innateness” where innateness is applied to life. Creativity is first “conforming” of innateness to life.
In regard to creativity, I often speak of the “Three I’s”. These are really variations of creativity and how they appear. They are:
- Inspiration – This is the coming of something from within. Sometimes, it comes naturally and other times it requires some form of effort.
- Intuition – This is an understanding of things with no apparent way of knowing it. In some cases, you “just know”.
- Insight – This is really an “intuition toward a specific event or situation”. In other words, there is an event or situation that you “just know” what’s going on, even though there is no way of knowing it.
Generally, people who are creative-oriented tend to be inventive or artistic in nature.
3-Cunning
This is a combination of creativity and imitation, the next phase.
People with cunning usually have a close association with the world. That is to say, cunning is a product of world association. Without this association a person cannot develop cunning. Because this association is a result of associating with the world it creates a very strong “world orientation” that tends to make these conceptions very realistic and accurate.
Generally, people who are cunning-oriented tend to be practical and realistic in nature.
4-Imitation
Imitation is basically a repetition of something already existing. It includes:
- What other people created – knowledge and way of doing things or thinking
- What one has already done – habit
Much of life, really, is imitation. We basically keeping an imitation that works all throughout the day. In some sense, imitation is what keeps things continuous. It makes things flow from minute to minute. Imitation is valuable if it works. Because it works, we tend to do it automatically and we do it without thought. This is why it tends to keep us going from minute to minute. Sometimes, we become so accustomed to imitation that we become almost like automatons. In this way, excessive imitation tends to make us robot-like and, in a sense, “dumb”.
Imitation tends to create “abstract” ways of looking at things. That is to say, it creates a conception that is as if detached from life. This is because imitation tends to be removed from life and the world . . . you imitate something already existing. You do not work for it, develop it, or discover it. This is because imitation does not come from you but somewhere else. It does not have the world orientation that cunning has.
Generally, people who are imitative-oriented tend to be abstract in nature.
5.Selfless
Since imitation is the imitation of something other than our selves the next step tends to lead to a selfless state. That is to say, there is no self, no identity, no person, no individual. The self disappears.
Generally, people who are selfless-oriented tend to be mystical in nature.
The completing of the circle: the association between selfless and innateness
The selfless condition blends into innateness. This is because innateness has a selfless quality because it reflects innate qualities. These innate qualities reflect qualities beyond the self. They reflect qualities that we are born with. The self, in actuality, is built upon these qualities. In this way, the self and innate blend together and complete the circle.
THE SELF IN THE CONCEPTION CIRCLE: THE POLES OF THE SELF
The selfless condition shows that, in the circle of conception, the self (or selfless state) plays a big role. In the circle there what can be called the “poles of the self”. These are:
- The self-pole: creativity/cunning
- The selfless-pole: innateness/selfless
Basically, the manner of conception is associated with what “poles of the self” one is associated with.
These poles are opposite manifestations of conception based on whether the self is there or not. It shows that the self plays a big role in conception. Basically, the existence or absence of the self gives different forms of conceptions. We tend to see these tendencies:
- In general, the self is closely associated with an association with the world. The more world-oriented a person is the more they tend to reflect the self-pole. As a result, they often display creativity and cunning.
- The selfless condition tends to reflect a tendency to move away from the world and listen to ones “interior self”, so to speak.
EDUCATION AND LEARNING AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH IMITATION
Education and learning are really a form of, and are based in, imitation. In fact, one could say that education and learning is nothing but imitation.
Three forms of imitation
There are three forms of imitation in education and learning:
- Hearing – such as listening to a lecture
- Seeing – such as reading the textbook
- Doing – such as doing math problems
Through these ways one imitates. Once one finds what to imitate one replicates what one has already heard, seen, or done and one does it repetitively.
The importance of the “proper way”
Once a person is “educated” or “learned” they become experts at imitation in the proper way. One becomes “educated” or “learned” when one imitates properly. To be more precise, a person is “educated” or “learned” when they imitate properly and in the right way.
This “proper way” is determined by things such as:
- An organization, such as a university
- What a society says is right
- What works in the “real world”
The power of imitation is that it is a way of something that works in some way. Because of this, its repetitive imitation gives us the power of something that works. Once it no longer works the imitation is useless to do. In this way, imitation requires validation to be of any use. The repetitive use of imitation continues to confirm its validity.
Effects
Some effects of education and learning on the different qualities of the spectrum include:
- Education and learning cause an emphasis on imitation that tends to undermine creativity and innateness
- Education and learning can sometimes foster cunning and creativity but does not guarantee it . . . at the same time, it can also hinder it because of the emphasis on imitation
- Education and learning tend to favor an attitude or tendency of imitation as a dominate trait
The “imitative scholar”
Some of the effects of the emphasis on imitation create the creation of a specific quality in educated and learned people, of excessive imitation. I sometimes speak of this as the “imitative scholar”. I often describe this scholar in other ways such as:
- The hear, see, and do scholar
- The tape-recorder scholar
- The hear-and-repeat scholar
Being based in imitation one effect of this is that the “imitative scholar” tends to do what I call “decorating themselves with knowledge”. In other words, there is a tendency to use the imitation of knowledge or way of doing things as something similar to wearing jewelry or medals as if wearing them makes them “special”. They learn all these facts and figures and use them to make them appear “intelligent” or “smart” . . .
The illusion of “intelligence” and “smarts”
In western society there is a great illusion caused by education and learning. This is because of the intellectual tradition, which is further enhanced by the industrial revolution, science, technology, the growth of economy, and such. People think that education and learning as if automatically makes people “intelligent” or “smart”. This is especially so if they have gone to the university, have a degree, and such. But this is often not the case as people are usually doing a form of imitating, as I said above.
The imitation originating from education and learning tends to be exaggerated, causing the illusion. It is a result of things such as:
- Status and prestige
- Social ideals
- Power of some sort
All these things reflect different forms of what can be called “social power”. Because of these, “intelligence” and “smarts” actually has less to do with being intelligent or smart than one would think. Instead, they are often more reflective of “social power”.
SOME FURTHER ARTICLES
Thoughts on some aspects of art – creativity, imitation, and other things – going beyond art
Thoughts on the types of world images in creatures with mention of the self
Thoughts on insect behaviour – some initial thoughts on insects conception of the world
Copyright by Mike Michelsen
Mikes passing thoughts Blog 