Analytical Tracking: An Introduction

Kevin Langdon

Polymath Systems

Copyright (c) 1987, 1988, 1996, 2000 by Polymath Systems. All rights reserved.

The Situation

All epistemological and metaphysical assumptions are unreliable, so one must start from the experience of ignorance of the meaning of what one knows, beyond the level of direct experience. Meaning consists of value attached to significance; a thing is meaningful if it makes a difference according to one or another central value, but the meaning of things is often unclear, which often leads to paralysis in the face of warring counter-intuitions.

A stream of phenomena passes through one's psyche at all times; one can either track what is there or become lost in it. The world presents many apparent paradoxes—tricks of perspective, logical paradoxes, and contradictory metaphysical frameworks and emotional reactions to logically possible alternatives; confusion is a frequent component of the stream.

The mind's automatic orientation to surrounding phenomena is continuous; sometimes it flows smoothly and sometimes there is a sense of disorientation as one struggles to tune in. At this point, kaleidoscopic thoughts, feelings, desires, images, etc., are experienced—though they are present all the time. Momentarily, experiences are not arranged into orderly sets which lock out the majority of associations while these sets are focused on by the automatic mind.

The intellect continuously makes models of phenomena it notices and judge-ments about the objects modeled. All models are limited, emphasizing certain aspects of the phenomena modeled to the exclusion of others. A model is constructed to accomplish a practical task. Assumptions made in constructing models do not necessarily apply beyond the immediate context of the model.

In addition to the mental operations at the focus of attention, there are peripheral processes which frame the context and index what is focused on for future reference; these processes form a greater part of the perceptual gestalt than do the mental models and ``intentional actions'' conceived and set in motion by levels of mind magnetized to the situation matrix.

There is also a process of questioning that proceeds in us at times. Beginning from the experience of mystery, when there is direct awareness of material beyond one's understanding, an inquiry is conducted into the nature of what is seen. The emergence of new thought provides an opportunity for observation of the state of affairs at the moment, as one momentarily admits one's ignorance. The special moments of centrality and immediacy which are experienced from time to time are also opportunities for study, but they are rapidly replaced by new stereotypes.

These experiences, when a more comprehensive level of mind is more immediately present, provide a means for coming to more awareness of the underlying subtle mind in all psychological processes. Most of the time, when extraordinary experiences are not taking place, all that can be done is to study one's habitual routines and watch the movement of attention, remaining alert for links to higher levels of mind.

Analytical Tracking

Analytical tracking is a phenomenology—a description of the objects of consciousness as experienced. Analysis and tracking are two aspects of mind. Analysis constructs and tests models of experience, while tracking is the activity of the attention as it follows events in progress. Analytical tracking attunes them to one another.

The analytical tracking viewpoint involves looking at psychic processes edge-on. Through this study, one learns the language of the innate intelligence. Knowledge of this language is the principal secret of creative work. With this knowledge, it is possible to follow the thread of attention through transitions that ordinarily interrupt it between moments of focusing. One becomes able to see ideas in an extensional form which does not depend on particular formulations.

Understanding of the operation of mind makes it possible to anticipate the movement of attention and to extract information from the valuative contexts in which it occurs. The analytical tracking method involves three elements: study of the model, observation, and detailed thinking; each of these requires a certain effort to concentrate the attention.

Over a period of time, the points of view underlying the model permeate one's understanding, revealing keys to the nature of intelligence. Consistent and coordinated application of the model to the understanding of the situation in the moment, over a sufficient time, results in a very fine capacity for crucial fine distinctions.

The method is presented for your own personal verification.

Perception creates a deep and complex image of reality but is not objective, as narrow viewpoints, expectations, and ego-based desires introduce systematic distortion. Attention is limited; attending to any one thing involves devoting a certain amount of attention to screening out distractions at the periphery of the immediate reference frame.

The mind attempts to apply existing mental organization to experiences, admitting a limited amount of material in excess of what can be covered by existing models; the function of mental attention is to extend the models through inclusion of this new material.

In addition to reflexes which are triggered when the appropriate stimuli reach threshold values, mind operates through a balancing process in which alternative models and actions are dramatized and weighed against one another. This process conditions all future cycles in which the same elements appear. The elements which enter into balancing processes include thoughts, emotions, sensations, physical impulses, associations, dramatizations, and patterns of attention.

Emotional energy takes the form of whatever emotional dynamics and dramatic elaborations are active. Valuative emotions arise as this energy is contained; physical emotions correspond to situations in which energy is lost. Hypnotic and reflexive emotions are the redramatized forms of these primary forms of emotional manifestation and are attached to afterimages used to maintain one's sense of identity in the face of unconfronted concerns.

The emotions correspond to the four principal psychic functions—as well as to the four categories of emotions mentioned above, as shown in the table below:

The physical emotions are response patterns corresponding to basic organismic needs in specific types of situations. The valuative emotions are weighed emotional responses in the service of distinct modes of integration: contemplation, creation, service, and inquiry, respectively.

The Cycle

Mind contains the functional elements of a computer and performs similar computations. Detailed knowledge of the computing system is not available to ordinary levels of thought; many subtle levels of mind are made use of without direct awareness.

All mental processes take place in cycles, sequences in which the end is joined to the beginning. It is the availability of recurrent action through the mind's cyclic nature which facilitates the appearance of routines. Artificial representations of continuity and progression obscure the cyclic character of mind.

What is ordinarily called thought is a process of revolution of cycles of associations. Real thought reorganizes one's representation of the area under consideration. Each level of mind stores, retrieves, and processes data. The levels of mind are effectively infinitely divisible; no elementary reference frame is visible. New levels continue to appear as long as one observes the objects of mind. Every level of mind is always occupied with solving a particular problem. Abstract thought serves concrete purposes but levels of thought often forget their concrete function and fail to return to the contexts from which they were invoked.

Polarity

There are two sides to every psychological process. Side 1 focuses attention on the problem aspect constituting its current object. Side 2 provides context and conditions memory. Side 1 and Side 2 cooperate by passing data back and forth, without direct awareness of one another. A problem context is Side 1 and the alternating precursor awareness of solution elements is Side 2. When there is a transition of context, Side 2 displays associative inventory and Side 1 jumps to a new focus.

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