Living in an Automatic World, with a Manual Mindset

October 23, 2024

In the complexity of the universe, from the smallest quarks and atoms to the intricate neural networks in our brains, everything seems to operate automatically. These systems interact based on the laws of physics, environmental variables, and their own internal structures. But where does the mind fit in?

When you look at yourself, you see more than just these automatic processes—you experience something singular and continuous, and you feel your influence in it. This experience is mental, physical, and social, all at once. Despite the overwhelming complexity of the physical activity about us, our experience seems unified. All the diversity of systems—billions of neurons firing, trillions of atoms interacting—are focused into one single, cohesive experience. This singularity is what we call consciousness, and it’s not just passive. The whole can influence the parts.

This means that the mind, arising from the body’s complexity, is more than just a byproduct of physical processes. It can exert influence back on those processes, guiding thoughts, actions, and shaping the way we interact with the world. Our experience is not just a reflection of physical activity—it’s a force of its own. The mind, as a whole, connects all the parts and shapes them into the singular experience of "you."

○

BODY

The Living Boundary

Your body is not one boundary. It’s boundaries all the way down.

○ is body as interface. It’s the place where inside meets outside, where you open and close, where you breathe in air, take in food, receive touch, absorb experience. It is not a wall. It’s a selective membrane—alive, responsive, and always in motion.

Try This

Close your eyes and feel where your body ends and the air begins. Notice how many tiny sensations are being woven into that one felt “edge.”

Explore: Φ Mind • Soul ⊙ The Whole

Φ

MIND

The Field Between

Φ is mind as field—the living medium between center (•) and boundary (○). It’s the whole relational space where signals from the body come in, where awareness from the center flows out, and where the two blend into conscious experience.

Try This

Notice your body breathing by itself. That’s ○. Now notice that you’re noticing. That reflective awareness is flowing from •. Then feel the space in which both are happening. That’s Φ.

Explore: ○ Body • Soul ⊙ The Whole

•

SOUL

The Aware Center

• is soul as center—not a substance lurking somewhere inside you, but the point of view from which everything is seen. It is the structural center of the whole circumpunct.

Bodies change completely over a lifetime. Memories blur, identities shift. And yet, there’s a sense that the one who was there then is the same one who is here now.

Try This

Close your eyes. Notice your breath. Then, gently, turn attention back toward that awareness itself—not the objects in it, but the fact that knowing is happening. That’s •.

Explore: ○ Body Φ Mind ⊙ The Whole

⊙

CIRCUMPUNCT

The Whole You

⊙ is the circumpunct: a circle with a point at the center. The circle is the boundary that holds everything that is “you” as a single system. The point is centeredness—the soul that experiences from within.

Instead of thinking, “I have a body, I have a mind, I have a soul,” you can think, “I am ⊙: a whole being whose body, mind, and soul are three faces of the same process.”

Try This

Feel your body as one shape (○). Notice the space of awareness in which thoughts arise (Φ). Sense the quiet center that’s aware of all of this (•). Then soften your attention to hold all three at once. That’s ⊙.

You are not on your way to being ⊙. You are ⊙, right now.

Explore: ○ Body Φ Mind • Soul