The functional complexity of the human brain.

Zoe Chase:

I have a repeat grocery order delivered weekly so the other evening I had the very unusual experience of pushing a trolley around in a large supermarket. There were some men shopping alone and there were some women shopping alone. I hardly noticed these single men and women, but I was acutely aware of the four or five married couples who were ... See Moreshopping together. I could not hear the actual words they exchanged but I could hear their voices and I could see the way they physically related to each other.

Even from a distance of 10 meters I was acutely aware of the very particular negative factors in their relationship, a very precise and detailed perception which is far too complex to put into words. My attention was not drawn to the single men and women who were shopping alone, but when a couple go shopping as a pair this seems to hugely amplify the characteristics of their relationship which is very powerfully radiated around them. I'm mentioning this here because I'm guessing it has something to do with R-Complex but I don't know what?


JA:
My views on R-complex are based on Melanie Klein's theories and that of other psychonalytic writers on early childhood development, and how that relates to pathological, normal, and regressive states in adults. What Kleinian and even Lacanian theory point to, is that early childhood processes appear very... See More different from rational adult thinking. It seems that these are processed in very different parts of the brain. That there is a totally different way of processing reality that is also part of who we are is connected to my studies on shamanism. It is the goal of those who pursue shamanism to get in touch with that part and figure it out, so that instead of functioning as part of our unconscious, in a harmful way, it can be turned towards healling.

So that's a little of the background of my theory. What more is there? Really we can expect to see R-complex being expressed when people are under stress. Shopping can often be a very stressful activity. R-complex involves a binding mechanism relating to the unconscious mind, whereby two or more people relate as if they were one mind, each performing separate functions of that one mind, but with nobody as a whole, seperately functioning person.

This doesn't have to be negative, I'm sure, even in adults. but generally, one or more will be given the role of emotionally processing the events that the group experiences. The others will take on the role of rational actors, who do not need to do emotional work, but can make cold and logical decisions. This is how R-complex regulates gender roles, so that two adults are no longer two, but function as a unity of one mind -- functionally specialising as complimentary elements in a larger, combined brain.