One significance of Auras is that the type of Attention from others to our Aura determines the quality of our relationships. For instance, humans might fall in love with someone who attends to their Core Aura. What is the basis of this attraction? Attention from others to our Aura is a basic human need. The dual emotions of loneliness and the joy of companionship are indications of how important Attention is for humans. People including children even prefer negative Attention to complete neglect.
Internal Summary: Core Concepts including Auras
Aura Significance: True Love = Attending to Core Aura
Attention from Others: A Fundamental Human Need
Time for an internal summary. Where are we in this vast work of mine?
Previous Sections, Chapters, and Notebooks attempted to persuade the Reader of some distinct Core Concepts related to the current Section.
1) Living Systems have an Information Digestion (ID) System that translates raw data into a useable form.
2) Attention is a key component of this ID system.
3) Attention is the basis of cellular, hence an organism’s intelligence.
4) Integral Membrane Proteins (IMPs) provide the biological substrate for Attention, hence cellular intelligence.
5) There exists some kind of Life Force associated with Attention and the ID system that organizes a revolving door of billions upon billions of inanimate molecules into a cohesive unit that is somehow committed to survival.
6) This Life Force could not be one of the four fundamental forces of Physics. They are too impersonal, not specific enough, not holistic enough to aim at the survival of a distinct entity that has a dynamic and ever-changing content. Our collections of organized molecules are somehow able to tap into the smallest unit of energy – a photon’s quantum – to fulfill our bizarre urge to survive as a unit. The Big Four don’t have the necessary focus to employ quanta of light in this holistic fashion.
7) This Life Force (living intelligence) seems to emanate as an Aura. Rather than from a centralized command center in the cell’s interior, this energy field (Aura) seems to radiate both inwards and outwards from the cell membrane.
What is the significance of Auras?
Employing the above constructs, prior sections illustrated that the quality of our relationships with others is determined at least in part by the type of Attention that another pays to our Aura and vice versa. As our relationships with others has a huge impact upon the quality of our life, Auras are quite significant.
Type of Attention to Aura à Quality of relationships
To understand this relationship between Auras and Attention, let us first explore the meaning of Aura in this specific context. What is an Aura?
According to our model, the cell’s IMPs generate a field (not electromagnetic) that becomes cellular Attention. The fields of our myriad cells then unite to become our collective Attention which emanates as holistic organizing Aura. The IMPs as mentioned provide the building blocks of our sensory-motor network. As such, the cell’s Aura is directly related to what it responds to and how it manifests – its behavior in relation to stimuli.
IMPs (cell’s sensory-motor network) à Attention’s Aura (holistic organizational force)
Just as with a cell, our Aura is related to how we manifest – what we are interested in – uniquely attuned to – specifically engaged with – what we are feeling and doing. Just as with the cell, there is a sense of immediacy, even urgency, associated with our Aura. Current events generally trump the past, unless of course a past event is super-charged with Feeling.
Our Human Aura à Attuned to Our Particular Interests
Our Human Aura is orders of magnitudes more complex than the Cell’s Aura. The reason is simple. Our Aura is the merging of the living Auras of some 70 billion cells. This merger results in a greater complexity of senses, urges, desires, and behavior patterns than that of a single cell. This complexity yields emergent properties that were not possible for the single cell with its relatively simple senses and behavior patterns (the IMPs).
Human Aura >>> Cellular Aura
What are the results of this increase in complexity? What are some of the emergent properties resulting from the merger of billions of living fields into a single unified field that is us? Well maybe not so completely unified sometimes. While not unified, at least coherent. Something, or at least a council, seems to be in charge of decision-making for the greater organism.
In examining Wife Laurie’s definition of ‘nice’ in regard to relationships, we found that we humans have both a Surface Aura and a Core Aura. (Note: Rather than clear boundaries, there appears to be a continuum between the two types of Auras.)
The Surface Aura is associated with our general urges as a human being, e.g. hunger and social time. Due to its general nature, the Surface Aura, as the name suggests, is skin-deep – related to superficial appearances, rough categories, general, non-specific attributes or behaviors. For instance, some features of my Surface Aura are: 72-year-old Caucasian, American, retired father with brown hair.
The Core Aura is associated with the specific urges, passions, activities, and feelings that motivate a Person’s behavior. Our Core Aura is heavily linked to the drives and events that are intimately linked to a Person’s innate nature. Our Core Aura manifests in a virtual infinity of ways that are specific to us, our personal history and inner makeup. Leggo constructions, if you are my grandson; my tenant - swing dancing ; Laurie - biking; my friends - sports and politics ; my daughter - social justice; me - writing about this bizarre topic.
Let us summarize the differences between these Aura types with some broad equation-like statements.
Surface Aura = ƒ (Urges that drive General Human Nature)
Core Aura = ƒ (Urges that drive Innate Nature)
According to our current model, true love or friendship occurs when two humans invest their mental energy in (pay Attention to) each other’s Core Aura. Laurie considers anyone who pays Attention to her Core Aura as ‘super-nice’. In contrast, people who are respectful of my Surface Aura are ‘nice’, but not necessarily the ‘super-nice’ of ‘true love’ or ‘deep friendship’. To exhibit true love or deep friendship, we must pay Attention to a Person’s Core Aura, not their Surface Aura - internals, not externals.
True Love or Friendship = Paying Attention to Core Aura
Of course, there are many confounding factors in this equation. For instance, someone might crave Attention so much that they mistake Surface for Core. A woman who believes that someone who loves her, when this person is only attracted to her physical beauty rather than her independent personality, fits this category.
Why is Attention to someone’s Core Aura so important? Why is it so attractive, nourishing, even intoxicating when someone, anyone invests his or her mental energy of Attention upon our Core Aura? More specifically, why did I fall in love, albeit briefly, with an online woman who claimed to ‘love’ my paintings and my queer, as in cross-dressing appearance – earrings and nail polish?
Could it be that Attention from others is a fundamental human need? Like food, water, air and sleep, is it possible that others must invest their mental energy in us (our Core Aura) if we are to lead a healthy, happy life? Could it be true that Attention is an essential ingredient in our psychic health?
As evidence for this notion, cross-cultural data crunching reveals that a sense of community is a decisive factor in longevity. Conversely, broad-based, cross cultural data analysis indicates that loneliness is just as great a risk factor in our long-term health as alcoholism or obesity.
We all compete for Attention on some level. This urge starts very early in our lives. Witness the smallest infant cry for someone to pay Attention to them. Or the child regularly demanding, “Mommy, mommy! Look at me!” with increasing intensity and volume if their demands for Attention are not met. As another indication of Attention’s importance, note the intoxicating feeling of joy when another notices and enquires about the real ‘you’ - that which is the center of your heart’s desire – especially those events and emotions that are linked to your innate nature (your Core Aura).
Inclusion is healthful; exclusion is hurtful. Experiments have even shown that humans experience emotional pain when they are shunned by a group of people or even if rejected by a preprogrammed computer. It is evident that evolution has programmed us to feel pain when excluded and happiness when included.
Inclusion à Happiness; Exclusion à Emotional Pain
The ambiguity arises when others pay their Attention to our Surface Aura, while ignoring our Core. The individual goes away dissatisfied and confused. Everyone was nice enough. But were they really? They were ‘nice’, but not ‘super nice’ and ‘super nice’ is what we need to nourish our soul – provide us a reason to live.
What are the repercussions of a lack of Attention from others?
When the Core Aura is neglected, the child, teenager or even dog acts up – getting into mischief. In one extreme case, young adults murdered their neglectful parents. It is as if children would rather receive negative Attention, than no Attention at all.
Lacking Attention from others to our Core, our Aura withers and die. To fight against this shriveling of the soul, we might burst out in rage. Are mass murders committed to get Attention in our isolated society? These severe examples point to the importance of Attention to our well-being.
To better understand the logic behind these extreme responses, i.e. patricide and mass murder, let us offer a metaphor. I was choking on a piece of chicken. After realizing that those around me didn’t know what to do, I began flailing about. This extreme behavior alerted the chef to my situation. He performed the Heimlich maneuver to save my life. Better excessive behavior than die from lack of oxygen.
Similarly, better extreme actions than die from lack of Attention. The metaphorical logic indicates that lack of air is akin to lack of Attention to our Core Aura. Oxygen is an essential ingredient for the Body, while Attention from others is an essential ingredient for our ID system. An extreme response is warranted and even called for when essential nutrients are lacking.
Lack of oxygen ≈ Lack of Attention to Aura
Oxygen for Body ≈ Attention for ID System
Oxygen is essential nutrient of Body.
Attention from others is essential nutrient of Human ID System.
Extreme Response warranted when Essential Nutrients lacking.