storymind.jpg (11001 bytes)
Hidden in the dramatic structure of stories is a model of the mind...

Directory:

Home

Story Mind Basics

The Minds of Men & Women

How to Solve Problems

A Model
of the Mind

The Math Behind the Model

Applications
of Mental Relativity

The Mental Relativity Tapes

Press Coverage of the Story Mind

Letters & Replies

********* 

 

Your letters,
Melanie's Replies

by Melanie Anne Phillips

Geoff:
I believe I understand what you are saying, but it borders on polar metaphysics a lot more than on electronic media. (Though the electronic media is secular metaphysics, isn't it?)

Melanie:
Not polar, but a quad pattern (four items). Externally, the four items are seen as Mass, Energy, Space, and Time. Internally, the four items are Knowledge, Thought, Ability, and Desire. Each forms a platform or standard from which to measure the other. It is the interference pattern created between the two platforms that determines whether an organic mind is content or not with its environment, and in what specific ways. All four items of either platform balance among themselves. If the value of one goes up or down, the other three must, in some combination, make up the difference, such as when energy is transformed into mass, it is not only mass which is increased but also space, and often time is decreased.

Geoff:
Structure, itself, already implies a stasis between (effectively) opposing forces. In simplest terms, structure is any attempt to counter entropy...to halt the tendency toward chaos, as such, the dynamics of structure are in place between collective human effort and the natural tendencies of the physical universe.

Melanie:
Entropy and chaos are two completely different items. In fact, entropy (the force that drives a structure to the arrangement of least potential) is a force that saps energy to make mass. Chaos, on the other hand, is the complete lack of a structure. The two merge at unity, where one cannot have structure because there is only a single item, the mathematically perfect point. One item alone cannot define a structure, so there can be no order, hence, chaos reigns. At the same time, with no energy in the system because the structure has collapsed to unity of a single mass, entropy is absolute.

There is no way to break apart this theoretical unity, for as a mathematical point, it has no surface area or disuniformity, and therefore has no "handles" for chaos to pull it apart. Similarly, the point itself must contain all chaos, for order is zero, and therefore no potentials can exist and entropy is absolute.

As for nature Vs human tendency, you might look at the physics of a black hole as a dynamic equivalent to the psychology of a prejudice or blind spot. In Mental Relativity, when we refer to structural comparatives, we use standard notation and call them fractals. When additionally looking at dynamic comparatives, however, we cannot call them fractals, for they are not the spatial record of the interaction of order and chaos, but the temporal record of the forces of entropy and extropy. We have coined the term "frictals" (a blending of "friction" and "fraction") to describe iterative relationships BETWEEN non-linear equations.

Geoff:
Parallel systems exist in the form of directionless human activities.

Melanie:
Although theoretically conceivable, there is no such thing as a true parallel system, for chaos will inevitably affect any attempt at parallelism to make it different in some way or ways. Only if one limits the scope of consideration to a certain magnitude or resolution, can two systems appear to run in parallel, for the differences are beyond the PRACTICAL limits. The only system wholly like itself IS itself.

Geoff:
I believe you are describing "precessional" effects which do not necessarily mirror or trace the action of something else as is suggested in the term "parallel". Conceptually, precession probably allows your model greater freedom or less restraint, anyway, and it will remain the least predictable effect of associated events.

Melanie:
In fact, our frictal model is absolutely predictable in a closed system. For example, if we were to make a model of a brain, we could absolutely predict the kinds of thoughts and feelings such a brain would have, based on the relationship of the neural structure and biochemical dynamics. BUT, let gravity flux, let a stray cosmic ray pierce the skull, and chaos is at work. At that point, all bets are off, for a single chaotic event might eventually alter the entire fabric of the fractal/frictal interface. So, such models are useful only as the most accurate description of the conceptual nature of the system, but must also pay homage to the uncertainty principle.

Geoff:
If there is a problem with the concept, it would be that there must first be a thing, then its precessional effects.

Melanie:
In fact, this is not true. Must there be a neurology for there to be a biochemistry? Which came first, the chicken or the egg. The very word, "precession" contains a structuralist bias "pre" and "cession" which assumes a radiation of sorts from a structural imperative. If one frees oneself from the word, one can imagine system that seeks equilibrium between the structure and dynamics without favoring either as the instigator.

Looking at this model holistically, rather than linearly, one can see how the more immediate response of a structure influences the dynamics in a precessional manner. Conversely, however, the changing consistency of the dynamics can alter the environment in which the structure operates, slowing or speeding some "transmissions" , halting or creating others.

In the brain, the biochemistry is not only controlled precessionally from the neurology, but glandularly by the hypothalamus, hippocampus, pituitary, pineal, etc. These glands, in turn, are responsive to sensory stimulation, both internal and external, and also to biochemical stimulation through the foods we eat and the air we breathe.

Neurons fire when fired upon. But, of course, they require not just one stimulation, but many. Sometimes the stimulations occur all at once from several tendrils of one nerve or several other nerves, which is called "spatial summation", and other times the trigger is due to a "long term" build up of potential by repeated stimulation by the same or different neurons, which is called 'temporal summation".

Because the neuron fires when the chemistry between the inside and outside of the skin of the neuron's body (or "axon") creates an action potential, it is also possible for the biochemistry to change the outside chemistry and either force or prevent a firing that would have "normally" occurred in a precessional system.

This kind of balanced equilibrium is at the heart of our model of the mind. That is why we call it "Mental Relativity", for it deals not with the linear nature of the brain, but the holistic system of the mind.

Geoff:
There is no precession without a structural entity, so the inter-dependence idea is a bit lopsided, but, on the other hand, it is the prime directive of structure to arrest/control any dynamic entering its domain. This is the problem with a simple polar model of the universe: There is an inevitable resolution of any two interacting polar forces - standoff, conquest, or annihilation. In fact, language, itself, is structure. Communication may or may not be a precessional effect of it

Melanie:
Again, we differ. Dramatica, our theory of story, states that the minds of all individuals operate according to the same structural/dynamic system. The specific values that are placed in the variables of those equations, however, are due to the unique sensory and organic experiences of each mind. This means that the basis of communication is not solely a linear transmission of information, but a resonance of systems that functions as a platform for communication.

We order information and experience according to the platform we share in common. Without an identical platform, there would be no way to determine what, in a communication, was order and what was chaos. So, again, communication is an interdependent equilibrium between the structure of language, albeit verbal, written, visual, or symbolic, and the dynamics of mind which function as the key to the code.

Geoff:
I believe, too, that it is due to precessional effects that we are often faced with the incongruity of the differences between things seeming to be simultaneously heightened and blurred. It seems as if some lines are drawn harder with less effect.

Rodney Colin in his books: Theory of Celestial Influence and Theory of Conscious Harmony offers some pretty good perspectives on cyclical harmonics relative to human factors. I don't recall whether his work in the early 50's specifically acknowledged precession, but he describes, at least, , another vector to tangency in suggesting a sort of spiral action orbiting in time along those paths.

Melanie:
Spirals are the best way to visualize the relationship between structure and dynamics, and between space and time. If you look at our models for Dramatica, you will find that a quad of Mass, Energy, Space, and Time form a structural base in a horizontal plane. If we intersect that with a vertical plane representing a similar quad of Knowledge, Thought, Ability, and Desire, a spiral pattern (in fact a quad helix) is created along the interface between the two planes.

This interface mathematically describes the maximum size of a closed system that can be "appreciated" while still "appreciating" a maximum depth of resolution into the closed system. In other words, it maps out the depth of field or "latitude" of the mind in looking large and looking small, in looking temporal and looking spatial and still seeing it all at once as a single system.

Geoff:
He also writes, by the way, about the influence those who carry certain knowledge or maintain a specific psychological focus have on the world -- reminiscent of some of the premise of your foundation, tantric Buddhism, even happy face buttons, etc.

If I have misunderstood what you've said, I apologize. It's a large world, and I have a limited repertoire from which I interpret it. I am not in any way trying to correct what you've said, but I spent years immersed in the gray area between polarities and was really frustrated by the seemingly insurmountable Fact of them. That was why I burned my first book, a sort of anti-dialectic that did develop a parallel paradigm pretty well, but at one point I realized that its structure wasn't much more than a twisted derivative of the original poles...the serpent ate its tail.

Melanie:
In fact, the moment the serpent eats its tail is when the closed system is finally described. That is the moment at which linearity and unity are both one. If you think of a spiral, look at it as a "slinky" toy, stretched out. From the side, it is a never ending sine wave. From the end, it is a continuous circle. Both are true, but the reality is neither a sine wave nor a circle, but a never ending spiral which we can observe as either a circle or a sine wave, but never at the same time/place.

In fact, the most concise description of the differences between male and female minds is to say that one sees the sine wave followed by the circle, the other the reverse. That is a temporal comparison. In spatial terms, neither male nor female sees only one side and then the other, but stand at a position where one is clearly seen and the other at an oblique angle. To one mental sex the circle is most clear and the sine wave oblique. To the other the sine wave is most clear and the circle oblique. If we were truly to see only one or the other, the two sexes could not communicate at all. But since we each see both time and space, one more clearly than the other, there is both common ground and also unique perspectives that both draw us together as one and separate us forever as opposites.

Geoff:
I stumbled across the idea of precession in physics. The principle gave words to the shadows I sensed out there, and as I began to venture down those trails, information, implication, sensibility, and clarity compounded fiercely and I was hurled into another space. That was 1983 and when I regrouped, I ran like hell from it. It was my second bite of the apple. My second book began as a derivative of a small piece that experience, but set in ordinary terms in a simple story. I lost sense of what I was doing after 100 pages and completed it anyway a couple years later...it looks like that. What I did learn beyond all the disenfranchising rhetoric is that there is a purpose to emotion.

In the end I became afraid of the pursuit of interpretive, esoteric overlays of human existence. After all the conceptualizing, the skilled verbal manipulations, the validations gained by endless borrowing and selective cross referencing, truth, itself is wordless, breathless encounter for which none of the foregoing has application. While the rewards seem to increase in proportion with the cohesiveness of the dialogue, it's the fact of the (a) dialogue, itself, that is the reward. Communication becomes it's own thing regardless of the subject...probably why alcohol works for a lot of people.

When the circus came to town, I sneaked a look under the tent, and learned that it was a collection of heels arranged on wooden boards. My understanding of it was dim and a little disappointing until I returned to the gang to explain what I had seen. That's when it all started to make sense.

I think it was a 20/20 or Prime Time or one of those magazine shows on TV that ran a witness test in which a guy ran into a classroom and stole a purse or something. The class was then asked to identify the thief. I don't recall anyone having gotten it right, but most of them swore what they described having seen was the Truth...enough to convict in many cases. The grand epiphany was when the thief walked back into the room to introduce himself. All were surprised. My own empirical slant is a derivative of that kind of experience. I don't know why a child starves or if there is an operant fourth dimension impinging on our lives, but bet no matter how much I focus on a 4th dimension experience, I'll never get it right or really do anything about it, and I could feed a dozen kids for a year on the books I've bought to contribute to my understanding of what's cosmically Right...pretty embarrassing irony.

I am not particularly encouraged by the present state of social structure. Polarization is on the rise. LA's present condition seems to me to be a model of what's rolling out for the rest of the country. It is being overwhelmed from "below" with nothing to attract the more successful businesses. Bloomingdale's, a NY department store, is planning 5 or so CA locations. I'm hard pressed to understand how the limited amount of disposable income in southern California will support another high-end retail store.

Wasn't it last year (for the first time I've ever seen it) that they started having "sales" before Christmas? Federated, Bloomingdale's owner, bought all the 83 Broadway/CHH stores which were failing miserably after failing miserably 3 years ago. The failure of Broadways is evidence of the disappearing middle. Target and the other big discounters cater to a more survival-oriented culture. Barney's, Neimans, Nordstroms, etc. hit the other end, and claim to be doing well.

The mid-income-oriented stores don't sell much without holding "sales" and they don't make their margins with those sales...can't make it up in volume. The sales attract a fearful middle wanting to hold on to where it is and lower income shoppers reaching for the occasional brass ring. Seems banal, but shopping patterns are a reflection of a society through it's personal economics, and the image portrayed in this is that of mitosis-like hourglass separation between strata.

I mention the above in response to your optimistic outlook for the future. Perhaps I've not purged the perceptions of polarity as well as I should, but we see separation on the rise economically and politically, and electronic media as the prime mover between haves and have-nots as it conveys to the have-nots just what the haves have in a manner never before available in the history of the world. Despite any higher order pursuits on the margins of humanity, the world is vastly more physical than anything else, and any significant change is rooted in that physical venue.

Technology, ironically, displaces income and also informs what that income could have had. I believe that there is no economy without the industrious conversion of resource materials into value-added product. That's what pays for everything else. It's what everything else feeds on. Technology has removed a lot of shovels from a lot of hands and pushed the income benefits to the technologists while the base population continues to grow. Parallel technologies, in the meantime, are perfected to provide a catalogue of inaccessible lifestyles to increasingly idle masses.

Corporate mergers in manufacturing, distribution, and media continue to create an ever more powerful elite which is also handily purging potential corporate dissent in the name of cutbacks, downsizing, and rightsizing which serves as well to catapult a number of individuals out of the shrinking middle segments....if I were to become optimistic, I'd have to renew my subscription to Aquarian Age Magazine and deny almost completely that this is a physical arena in which we find ourselves at present. What am I missing?

Melanie:
The only thing your are missing is to accept paradox. You are seeing all the structural elements and all the dynamic flux, trying to be objective and evaluate them from the same perspective as a good, scientifically trained mind would. But the key to understanding the whole system is to realize one cannot perceive it all from a single perspective, just as one cannot make the particle model of light work under the same contexts as the wave model of light. Clearly both are at work, but it requires shifting one's view to see both sides.

Similarly, half of what happens in the world or in ourselves can be seen in one point of view, but the other half will appear chaotic or not appear at all. Only by shifting perspective can we appreciate the other side. As a result, the gestalt of what we observe will always seem to be a paradox. If we embrace the paradox, however, and place it in ourselves as an offshoot of our own inability to place our minds in both a temporal and spatial mode of consideration in the same time/space, then what we observe becomes both understandable and satisfying. We see the whole system, not by one standard, but from two perspectives, not all at once, but one half followed by the other.

This is where the serpent eats its own tail. It is also where the paradox of life, becomes a unity of soul.

Sorry you burned your first book.

Melanie

Copyright Melanie Anne Phillips


Brought to you by


Owned and Operated by the Creator of StoryWeaver & Co-Creator of Dramatica
Serving more than 12,000 writers since 1997

Get the Writer's Survival Kit Bonus Package
FREE with ANY Purchase!

Writing Software Buyer's Guide
About Our Store

 We'll Beat ANY Price!
     90 DAY Return Policy

Movie Magic Screenwriter 2000 Movie Magic Screenwriter
pad
List price: $269.95
Your price: $179.23
(
Academic: $99.95)
Storyweaver Software-<br>Your Step-by-Step<br>Guide to a Complete Story!
Our
Bestseller!
Storyweaver
Step by Step Story Development Software

pad
Just $29.95
Dramatica Pro 4.0<br>Story Development<br>Software Dramatica Pro 4
Story Development

pad
List price: $269.95
Your price: $179.23
(
Academic: $99.95)
20 hour Writing<br>Course on CD ROM<br>featuring Dramatica 20 hour Writing
Course on CD ROM
featuring Dramatica

pad
$19.95
Dramatica Tips & Tricks Book Dramatica Tips & Tricks Book
pad
$19.95
Dramatica Software<br>Companion CD ROM Dramatica Software
Companion CD ROM

pad
$19.95
Dramatica Writers DreamKit 4.0 Dramatica Writers DreamKit 4
pad
$49.95
Hollywood Screenwriter Hollywood Screenwriter
pad
$49.95
Final Draft 7 Screenwriting Software
pad
List price: $249.00
Your price: $199.47
(
Academic: $129.42)
Power Structure
Story Development
Software

pad
List price: $269.00
Your price: $159.95
Power Writer
pad
List price: $159.95
Your price: $99.95
How to Create
Great Characters
Online Workshop

pad
$49.95
How to Create
Great Characters
DVD Video
$19.95
How to Make Your Movie
An Interactive Film School

pad
List price: $89.95
Your price: $49.95
The Dramatica Theory<br>2 hour audio program The Dramatica Theory
2 hour audio program

pad
$19.95
PACKAGE DEALS
$59.95 & Up
Master Storyteller:<br>Improve your<br>Writing Skills! Master Storyteller:
Improve your
Writing Skills!

pad
$29.95
The Story Mind:<br>Structure Vs. Passion The Story Mind:
Structure Vs. Passion

pad
$9.95
20 hour Writing<br>Course on CD ROM<br>featuring Dramatica StoryWeaving Seminar
pad
In Person - $199.95
Online Video - $99.95
Dramatica Theory Book Writing with
the Story Mind
1 hour audio program

pad
$9.95
Writing Characters<br>of the Opposite Sex Writing Characters
of the
Opposite Sex
2 Hour Plot Class<p>Learn how to<br>plot your story! 2 Hour Plot Class
Learn how to
plot your story!

pad
$19.95
Mental Relativity Book: The Psychology Behind Dramatica Mental Relativity Book: The Psychology Behind Dramatica
pad
$19.95
Dramatica Pro 4.0<br>Story Development<br>Software Mastering
Dramatica Pro
Online Workshop

$49.95


Prefer to order by Mail or Fax?
Click here for information.

Questions? Email customer-service@storymind.com

We'll beat ANY Advertised Price! REALLY! 
AND, if you see a lower price within 30 days of purchase
we'll refund the difference!

90 Day Full Money-Back Guarantee!
Return item within 90 days for a complete refund
of your original purchase price!

Get the Writer's Survival Kit & Sampler FREE
with ANY Purchase!

StoryWeaving Seminar
Join the creator of StoryWeaver & co-creator of Dramatica
for a two-day writing & story development seminar
Click here for details!

Visit the best writers' site on the web:

storymindad.gif (9491 bytes)


Subscribe to the Storymind.com
Writing Tip Newsletter!

Available at the Storymind Store:

Software for Mind Analysis & Problem Solving

Dramatica Pro

Dramatica DreamKit

Books:

Mental Relativity: The Story Mind

Audio:

Mental Sex

Products for writers based on the Story Mind Theory

Accessories:

Dramatica Software Companion CD ROM

20 Hour Dramatica Course on One CD ROM!

Dramatica Theory Basics 2-hour CD Set

Writing with the Story Mind CD

Books:

Dramatica Tips & Tricks Book

Dramatica Theory Book