Mind Files & The Looking Glass

Internal representations externalized.

After learning more about the brain and how it functions, in particular, the discovery of “One Face, One Neuron” I have tried to implement a practical and personal approach to this system/understanding. Let me try and walk you through it.

When I fall in love. The Other, literally becomes a part of me. Dendritic structures in my brain, start to resonate with all stimuli associated with the other. I take artistic angles and brush strokes when perceiving the other. Perceptually painting and framing them into beautiful neuronal Cathedrals.

Our brains, our nervous systems, are black boxes from the outside world. From “reality”…

I have never perceived the ones I love outside of myself. When a breakup or death happens. When the external stimuli cease to satiate the internal representation of the other…, I fall into depression and withdraw. That Neuron is frantically firing to stay active and on a biological level, to stay alive. In the past, I have let these Cathedrals burn. Let the dendrites decay away… Causing me to barely recall the other’s image. Pain has the ability to paralyze this neuron associated with the other. Or, it has the ability to help preserve it. I hope and strive for the later. All the love we have ever felt for anyone has been, and always will be, internal. How can we best manage our internal representations of the ones we come to love?

Throughout the day I come across articles, songs, quotes etc. That invoke the part of me, that’s associated with an imprint of the Other. In the past, I have silenced these thoughts and impulses. Let them become deleted and filed away. I love the other in me, it might not be an accurate representation of the other. But it’s within me, and mine to cultivate and appreciate. Mind-Files allow a space for that relationship to still exist. A chance to not sever the internal connection. The love I feel for the Other, is a love I still feel. It is, in essence,. a process of loving myself.

I create various mind-files and store them in the cloud. Thoughts and feelings captured in the moments of reflection. When I am feeling disconnected from my authentic self. I read over these Mind-Files, I let them flood my momentary depression washing away my insecurities and fears.