Hyponoetics - Essays
The Evolution of Exonoesis
Abstract: This keynote essay discusses the manifestation and evolution of Exonoesis (Individual Mind) as a process of individuation. Through the act of self-referentiality Hyponoesis (Universal Mind) manifests itself as different aspects or phases. The process of self-actualization of Hyponoesis constantly produces the multitude of aspects and entities known and unknown to us, such as matter, physical objects, emotions, thoughts.
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  1. Hyponoesis and Self-Referentiality
  2. Introspection of Exonoesis leads to Hyponoesis
  3. Differentiation of Mental and Physical Objects
  4. Difference = Different Aspects or Levels of Manifestation
  5. Phase Manifestations
  6. Potential Mental Patterns
  7. Pattern Activation
  8. Referencing Act and Referenced Object
  9. Self-Reflection = Aspects of Hyponoesis
  10. Exonoesis as Actualization of Hyponoesis
  11. Panpsychism or Integrative Actualization
  12. Self-Actualization as Reunion with Hyponoesis
  13. Consciousness and Personality
  14. Consciousness as Product of Mind-Brain Interaction
  15. Critique of AI Theories

Hyponoesis and Self-Referentiality

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By the act of self-referentiality of Hyponoesis (Universal Mind), matter is produced (the world of physical objects). The objects or thoughts of Hyponoesis's Thinking (= Self-Reflection) are the multitude of material objects. Why is something completely different, i.e. matter, produced? Self-referentiality is only possible if that which is referenced is different from the act of referencing or the state of being in which Hyponoesis subsists. By referencing to itself, Hyponoesis has to objectify itself, make itself different from itself, giving the referenced a different kind of essence and existence than it has as the referencing agent.

Introspection of Exonoesis leads to Hyponoesis

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Since Exonoesis (Individual Mind) is essentially the same as Hyponoesis and only differs in its existence (it has a temporal existence, since as the individuating form of the personality and the life principle of the body, it is dissolved with the dissolution of the body and brain, and therefore its existence contains constitutive limitations which characterizes Exonoesis as a unique Personality) - we can derive from the introspective study of our own Individual Mind (Exonoesis) the essential structure of Hyponoesis. So, if we study the process of thought in our mind, esp. the process of self-reflection, we are able to attain a crude understanding of the self-referentiality of Hyponoesis.

Differentiation of Mental and Physical Objects

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What happens, if we reflect upon our selves? In contrast to animals, human beings have the ability to think of their own consciousness and its inherent activities. We can observe mentally our thought and emotions. From a meta-level of thinking we can abstract from the self in that we are usually engrossed and as that we usually live (personality) and describe our mental processes from this higher point of view. If we do that, we use the same method of referencing as when relating to objects of perception and sensation. The object of perception is ontologically and essentially different from the physical object itself.

A) Ontological differentiation: the "real" object may disappear or dissolve into other forms or change its form altogether, whereas the object as it appears in our mind is not subject to physical laws of change. Our mind's object exists always potentially and becomes actualized as soon as we perceive this object.

B) Essential differentiation: again, the "real" object is a singular, unique object that can be described with physical properties, whereas the mental object is a universal object and cannot be described with any physical properties, but needs elucidation from the field of psychology or philosophy.

Difference = Different Aspects or Levels of Manifestation

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The mental object seems to have an immaterial nature, the physical object is material by nature. Leaving aside the intricate problem of how a physical object relates to the mental object, we realize now that both objects are essentially different. Of what nature is this difference in essence? Are we faced with two different and independent substance as Descartes meant it? No, rather we have to realize that both, physical and mental objects, are only different aspects of the same fundamental entity, which is neither physical nor mental, but a kind of neutral substance. Now the difference lies in the level or degree of manifestation, i.e. the physical object has a different level (or phase) of manifestation than the mental object.

Phase Manifestations

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As an analogy the following comparison with energy levels may help elucidate this subject matter: Different phases of energy manifest themselves differently (s. also Einstein's formula E= mc2, which equates matter and energy as convertible into each other). Higher vibrations of energy are visible as light, whereas lower vibrations are visible as material objects. Similarly, higher phase manifestations result in mental objects and lower phase manifestations result in physical objects.

Potential Mental Patterns

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Exonoesis together with the brain are responsible for relating both objects together. The brain receives and processes the lower phase manifestations from physical objects and, via consciousness, matches or relates these phase patterns to the potential mental patterns. We can also say that a sensational pattern incites or actualizes the mental pattern (s. Eccles). The mental pattern, however, exists first. Exonoesis contains all objects and ideas as potentialities, also from objects that will be created physically in what we call the future time.

Pattern Activation

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Here we have to recall the thesis that Hyponoesis individuates as Exonoesis and that both are essentially the same. So, the contents of Exonoesis is potentially identical with the contents of Hyponoesis. If we could activate the corresponding patterns in our mind by using our will, we would be able to create physical objects or change physical objects by volition (see phenomena). If we are thinking and thereby using concepts, we also activate the latent concept that is residing in us, but we do not create its physical equivalent, because the activation only includes pure mental objects and not objects of consciousness that are correlated to actual sensations and perceptions.

Referencing Act and Referenced Object

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If we reflect upon mental objects, however, we have again a different phase manifestation. We objectify the mental objects or our mental states of being, such as thinking, feeling. The referencing act is different from the referenced object. The object of reflection is different from the object that results from reflection. The reflected object of a feeling is not the feeling itself. The reflected object of consciousness or a thinking process is not identical with the state of consciousness or the thinking process itself. We do have a different perspective here than in the above case of mental and physical object: both, the reflected object and the mental object reflected upon are immaterial and reside within the same domain of Exonoesis. The same phase differentiation (material - immaterial) is found here again on a different plane: mental object vs. mental meta-object.

Self-Reflection = Aspects of Hyponoesis

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We now may understand the initial thesis of self-referentiality of Hyponoesis. By the act of self-reflection, Hyponoesis creates a different ontological and essential level of manifestation, an objectified level. It is not a different substance, but only a different aspect. There still remains the question, how a multitude of objects, differing in essence, could have emerged from the unity and oneness of Hyponoesis. I can reflect on my inner self, which represents a unity of body and mind, from different angles or perspectives. Each time I obtain a different objective aspect. Analogously, Hyponoesis, by referencing itself from different perspectives, creates an infinite multitude of objects or phases of manifestation.

Exonoesis as Actualization of Hyponoesis

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In the second stage of the evolution, Hyponoesis identifies itself with matter (or the created phases of manifestation) and constitutes a living being. This connection to matter is via the brain. The brain is configured by nature as the means of manifestation for Hyponoesis. Exonoesis is created by this act of identification between Hyponoesis and its objective thought, matter. Exonoesis is Hyponoesis limited or constrained, or in terms of metaphysics, Hyponoesis is the infinite entity which manifests itself as the finite entity called Exonoesis. The limitations occur naturaliter because Hyponoesis identifies itself with one of its aspects, thereby actualizing the properties and capacities of this aspect only and not of Hyponoesis per se. Simultaneously, Hyponoesis is temporalized and spatialized in the form of Exonoesis. The aspects of self-referentiality are determined as spatio-temporal (world) and purely temporal entities (e.g. thoughts). There are hybrid forms, too, such as emotions or consciousness, which have a purely spatio-temporal structure and a purely temporal correlate as well (emotions are localizable in the body and the brain, but have also a purely psychic or mental dimension).

Panpsychism or Integrative Actualization

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All aspects exists primarily as potentialities within Hyponoesis, but become actualized as soon as Hyponoesis identifies itself with these aspects. One may call this theory a pan-psychistic view, since Hyponoesis is always the necessary initiator of the process of actualization. Even insentient matter, such as a stone, is pervaded with Hyponoesis, that is, possesses a rudimentary form of Exonoesis. The stone, however, has no consciousness, since there is no mind-brain interaction. Plants are even on a higher level than inanimate matter and are indicative of a certain life principle. Again there is no consciousness in plants, but a certain sensitivity to environmental influences, such as light.

The ancients believed that plants have a vegetative soul. The Greek word ψυΧή (psyche) denoted the primary life force that pervades the whole cosmos. The degree of actualization depends on the complexity of the biological structure through which Hyponoesis can manifest the entelechy of this aspectual structure or phase manifestation. The specific nature of the aspect is only actualized through the power of Hyponoesis. Whereas the nature of stones, plants and animals is fully actualized, in human beings the process of actualization is directed by the development of consciousness.

Self-Actualization as Reunion with Hyponoesis

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So, the gradual unfoldment of our specific nature is and remains an incomplete process and, for most human beings, never reaches even an approximate fulfillment. Most capacities of our mind remain either latent or become even atrophied by degenerative practices characteristic of a decadent or technocratic culture. The human being is the only entity in our known world that is in a constant process of self-actualization or self-realization. This means the greatest opportunity, for this alone gives us the chance to reunite ourselves with Hyponoesis, by using the faculty of Paranoesis (Transrational Thinking). Only human beings have the capacity to transcend their natural limitations, the limitations of their specific nature. We can even conceive of other beings on another planet or in another world or dimension, that are on a higher level than humans and are born already fully actualized according to their specific nature, similarly to a perfect human being. But even these beings still are individuated beings and not yet reunited with Hyponoesis. Deindividuation and reunion are the goal of the true "superman". Nature may contribute its part to this endeavor by developing the structure of the brain to a more complex level and thus allowing Exonoesis to manifest its nature more fully and use more of the brain's capacities, such as memory, association, etc.

Consciousness and Personality

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Exonoesis interacts through the brain with the body and the environment. This produces consciousness as the necessary and concomitant fact of a living being. Together with the extended capacity of the brain, Exonoesis' manifestation results in what is called Personality. Personality is the body-mind unity that is the living human being. In animals Exonoesis is very limited and mostly restricted to biological functions (survival, drives, instincts, etc.). Consciousness is NOT an attribute of Exonoesis, but of the Mind-Body-Entity. Interaction of Exonoesis with the brain structure produces consciousness. Consciousness is a product of mind-brain interaction.

Consciousness as Product of Mind-Brain Interaction

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I strongly refute the theory that consciousness or mind is a product of biological evolution. Consciousness is the product of mind-brain interaction and therefore depends firstly on the complexity of the brain structure that allows secondly a link-up with Exonoesis. Current or future physical theories, such as quantum physics, will explain how the brain can produce the basic physical structure for creating the interface called consciousness. The brain is only responsible for the physical structure and not for consciousness itself that only emerges as a result of mind-brain interaction.

Critique of AI Theories

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A short remark to AI (Artificial Intelligence) claims: mind and consciousness can never be simulated or reconstructed by computer technology, even the most sophisticated system conceivable. These supercomputers may imitate many functions of the human mind, such as calculations, associations, logical thinking, etc. They may even copycat states of consciousness, feelings, etc., but they will forever lack the subjectivity germane to consciousness and mind, because they just represent the structural basis without the interconnection with Exonoesis. They may transfer a brain into another body without destroying the unity of the person, since Exonoesis is linked to the body through the brain, although I doubt that the exchange of the body has no influence on the personality. But to save all the neuronal associations of the brain on a computer disk and to think that by this act it is possible to animate a machine by giving it these stored data is a gross error and indicates the fundamental misunderstanding of our mind. The physical structure of the brain alone is without consciousness. The evocative force of Exonoesis is necessary to create a living human being.