Besting Yourself – Glossary [6]

Glossary

abstraction: a symbolic representation. Compare concept.

actuality: experienced through the senses. Compare reality.

adaptation (evolutionary biology): the teleological (goal-oriented) process of adjusting to ecological circumstance.

aka: also known as.

alacrity: quickness.

altricial: animals that are relatively immature and immobile at birth or hatching and so require parental care. Many mammals are altricial. Contrast precocial.

anger: overwhelming distress in a situation that does not match an imagined ideal. Anger is born from a sense of entitlement.

animism: the doctrine that a vital energetic force is inherent in all of Nature. Compare vitalism.

antithetical: the exact opposite.

aplomb: graceful being; poise; composure.

artifact: a tangible creative work.

assumption: supposing or taking for granted.

astral projection: an intentional out-of-body experience.

atom: the smallest unit of a chemical element. Atoms are comprised of subatomic quanta.

availability bias: the mental shortcut of assigning likelihood based on the ease with which a scenario comes to mind. Compare imaginability bias.

awareness: the quality of being conscious in the present. See consciousness.

Axial Age (8th–3rd century BCE): 20th-century philosopher Karl Jaspers’ proposal that there was a pivotal age in world history regarding philosophy and religion, during which the state (authorities) evolved their power.

BCE (acronym for Before the Common Era): a semi-secular alternative designation for the common calendrical scheme by 6th-century Romanian monk Dionysius Exiguus, who used BC (before Christ) and AD (anno Domini) to indicate years before and after the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Year zero is unused in both systems. Dates before 1 CE (common era) are indicated as BCE. CE dates are typically not denoted by suffix.

beauty: qualities which excite pleasure.

behavior: an attribution of action or inaction to a living entity.

behaviorism: a matterist school of psychology that denied the mind as a source of behavior.

being: perceiving an existence. See doing.

belief: a habit of the mind to treat ideas as true; confidence in abstractions as real.

bias: a subconscious preference.

biome: an area where organisms live with similar conditions, both geographically and climatically. What is not there makes what is harmonious.

black hole: a hole in the fabric of existence. Black holes have tremendous gravitational pull. Each galaxy rotates around a pivotal black hole. What is not there makes what is harmonious.

bliss: the feeling of joyful contentment which emanates from connection with Cönsciousness. Bliss is symptomatic of enlightenment. Compare happiness.

boson: a localized field which acts on fermions. See cöforce.

brain: an animal organ connected to a network of nerves, typically located within an animal’s head. There is no relation between brain size and intelligence.

category: a grouping by some perceived characteristic(s).

causation: an imagined linkage of cause and effect.

cell (biology): the basic physical unit of organisms. Compare virus.

challenge: a provocative invitation to enter a struggle of skill.

clarity (psychology): precision in perception, lucidity, perspicuity.

classical physics: theories of physics before the discovering subatomic matter and that matter is energy. 17th-century English physicist Isaac Newton was a towering figure in classical physics. See modern physics.

Cöcö: the universal, unified field of Cönsciousness/cöherence which localizes into individualized consciousnesses, minds, and the perception of Nature.

cöforce: a local field of effect without manifestation.

cognitive (adjective): related to mentation.

cöherence: the unified field which localizes to produce minds and Nature.

cöherence consciousness: the level of consciousness where the unity of Nature is sensed.

coherent (physics): having order.

coincidence: chance of happening.

Collective: the 99+% of humanity who live in iğnorance.

compassion: a feeling of sympathy in witnessing misfortune, often accompanied by an emotional impulse toward helpful behaviors.

comprehension: sense of understanding.

conation: volitional (willed) mentation.

concentration (psychology): pure focal awareness.

concept: a symbolic construct; a construed abstraction or idea.

conflation: blending or (con)fusing concepts.

confusion: lack of clarity, bewilderment, disorientation.

conscious: in awareness; aware of. Compare subconscious.

consciousness: a localized faculty for awareness in a living entity. See Cönsciousness.

Cönsciousness: the unified field of consciousness which localizes into individualized consciousnesses.

construal: an interpretation.

construct (psychology): a conceptual system.

construe: interpret.

content: satisfied; not wanting.

coremind: fundamental perception. Compare nattermind, willmind.

counterfactual: not existing.

counterfactual thought: imagination.

curiosity: a desire to know more (about something).

dark energy: hypothetical, mystical energy that sways the cosmos. Dark energy was proposed based upon a wrong measurement of the size of the universe and bad assumptions on when cosmogony began and how the cosmos evolved. There is no evidence of dark energy. See dark matter.

dark matter: hypothetical matter which cannot be detected, which is oxymoronic. Innumerable experiments have disproven dark matter by absence of detection. But matterist physicists refuse to give up on dark matter, as their standard models don’t jibe without it. Dark matter is figured to contribute 85% of the mass in the universe. The obvious conclusion is that modern physics is riddled with bad math.

data: symbols which may become meaningful via perception. See information.

daydream: idle imagining.

dependent variable: a mathematical variable that relies upon one or more other variables in a function for its variance. Contrast independent variable.

desire: a want.

discipline (verb): to bring or have under control.

distal: distant. Compare proximal.

doctrine: a philosophical conviction.

dogma: a codified belief system (creed).

doing: behaving; performing (a task). Compare being.

dream: mentally generated perception while asleep. Compare imagination.

dualism: the belief that existence has 2 realms: the physical and the mental (or spiritual). Contrast monism.

dullard: a stupid person.

ego: sense of self, including self-esteem.

egocentric: a worldview with oneself as the locus or frame of reference.

electromagnetism: the interactions of electricity and magnetism, which appear distinct but are intimately related. Electromagnetism is of the fundamental physics forces, affecting fields that are subject to being electromagnetically swayed. Except for gravity, electromagnetism is the ambient physical interaction responsible for practically all phenomena encountered in everyday life.

electron: the fundamental particle of electricity. As part of an atom, electrons orbit the nucleus (core).

emanate: to emit, issue, come or send forth.

emotion: a feeling developed by nattermind into a sustained mental state that disrupts awareness.

emotive: emotional or relating to emotion.

empathy: emotive mind perception.

energy (physics): the idea of an immaterial force acting upon or producing matter. Energy may also be mentally felt as a vibrational sensation. Though energy is the foundational construct of existence, energy itself does not exist. As matter itself is made of energy, this tautology tidily proves energyism.

energyism: the monistic doctrine (paradigm) that Nature is a figment of the mind. Energyism differentiates between actuality and reality. Contrast matterism. See dualism.

enlightenment: the first level of consciousness where contented quietude reigns. Compare iğnorance.

entanglement: distinct phenomena sharing an environment.

entertainment: fun.

entity: a perceived abstraction.

environ: surroundings.

environment: a designated spatial region or conceptual realm.

event: a perceived process with an outcome.

evidence: an experience that gives reason to believe.

evolution (biology): adaptation in a living being.

existence: what appears in the mind as tangible. See actuality.

exists: perceptible.

exorcism: the process of expelling an evil spirit.

extensive property: a physical property that is relative to the size (or extent) of a system, and which thereby changes when system size changes. Contrast intensive property.

fact: an experienced event.

faith: belief in absence of fact.

feel (psychology): inner appraisal of contentment.

feeling: a perceptual reaction not (yet) developed into an emotion.

fermion: a quantized field which appears as matter. Compare boson.

fictional: nonexistent. Compare truth.

field: a bundle of information at work.

fission (physics): breaking atoms apart, thereby releasing tremendous energy. Contrast fusion.

force (physics): the old-school, pushier physics term for interaction.

fortify: to strengthen or invigorate.

fortitude: strength, patience, and endurance in the face of adversity or temptation.

framing (psychology): perceiving a situation within a certain context or from a specific perspective.

framing effect: bias from framing, the bias typically involving personal gain or loss.

freedom: contentment and emotional detachment.

frustration: emotively feeling a hinderance to satisfaction.

fun: something that arouses happiness.

fusion (physics): the energetic process of multiple atomic nuclei fusing. Contrast fission.

ghost: the discontented and confused soul of a dead that haunts where it once lived.

gibe: to be consistent with or in agreement.

gravity (physics): the idea that matter has an attractive force related to its mass.

greatness (spirituality): feeling bliss in being.

gullible: inclined to believe; easily tricked.

guru: a spiritual teacher in realization.

gyre: a conceptual framework treating a physical system as a dynamic interacting with its environment.

habitat: the environment in which a life form lives.

hallmark: a distinguishing characteristic or feature.

happiness (noun), happy (adjective): a moment or mood of feeling good. Compare joybliss.

hedonist: one who believes that pleasure-seeking should be life’s primary goal.

heuristic (psychology): an efficient rule (shortcut) employed to form judgments, solve problems, or make decisions.

hoary: of great age; ancient.

idea: a concept imbued by imagination.

identity: sense of self.

ignorance: unknowing.

iğnorance: the level of consciousness where nattermind runs roughshod in mentation, causing suffering for the resident consciousness. Compare enlightenment.

imaginability bias: the mental shortcut of assigning likelihood based on the ease with which a scenario can be imagined. Compare availability bias.

imagination: the faculty for forming counterfactual mental images and perceptions. Compare dream.

immanent justice: the belief in a natural force that enforces a moral universe. The idea of karma is exemplary.

immaterial: not having physical form; incorporeal; apparitional.

immortal: extending beyond a single lifetime.

immune system: a system within a cell or organism designed to fight off infection.

incarnate: to take form in Nature.

independent variable: a mathematical variable that depends on no others. Contrast dependent variable.

indigenous: originating in a locality or region; native.

inexplicable: unable to be explained by physical mechanics.

infection: an illness in an organism caused by invasion of another organism.

infer: to guess based upon observation.

infinite: beyond measure.

information: data given meaning.

information: a perception considered of some value. Compare data.

innate: inborn; knowledge or a means of acquiring knowledge within a being without learning. The ability to learn is innate.

insight: a fresh comprehension.

instinct: precocious knowledge.

intensive property: a physical property that is independent to the size (or extent) of a system. An intensive property is intrinsic regardless of a system’s scope. Properties which are defined as ratios of extensive properties are intensive if system size is the only independent variable.

interaction (physics): a construal of functional relation between perceived entities. See force.

intuition: instant comprehension without thought.

irony: a contrast that is unexpectable.

jeopardy: perceived risk of loss.

joy: exalted happiness.

knowledge: a grasp of concepts that may have utility; the idea that something in Nature works a certain way.

learn: to gain knowledge via perception.

localization (physics): the process of creating a local effect or field from a universal field. See quantization.

love: adoration of a concept.

macromolecule: large molecule.

madness: a mind severely corrupted and weakened by nattermind and malign presences; the traditional word for insanity.

manifest (verb): to be sensed.

manifestation: a perceptible experience.

mantra: a vibrational meditation device to pacify monkey-mind into silence.

mass (physics): an extensive property of matter that measures its inertia and gravitational pull. At the ambient scale, mass and weight are much the same. But this simple relation is stressed in modern physics.

materiality: belief in physicality as real.

matter: substance which seems physical. See energy.

matterism: the monistic belief that reality is made of matter. Matterism supposes that the mind is a figment of something substantial. Contrast energyism. See dualism.

meaning: mental significance assigned to a perception, idea, or emotion. Meaning is typically related to attraction or avoidance.

meditation: pure awareness; a practice for silencing nattermind and transcendence.

mental health: a level of consciousness above iğnorance.

mental illness: iğnorance.

mentalize (aka mind perception): inferring the mental state of someone else; imagining what someone else is thinking and/or feeling.

mentate: doing mentation.

mentation: mental activity.

metabolize, metabolism: gaining bodily energy from food.

microbiome: a family of microbes that colonize a plant or animal.

mind: the noun form of mentation. Minds don’t exist.

mind perception (aka mentalization): see mentalize.

miracle: inexplicable except via energyism.

mirage: an illusion of seeing something that is not there.

model (mathematics): a numeric simulation of a system.

modern physics: theories of physics after discovering subatomic matter and that matter is energy. Max Planck, Albert Einstein, and Louis de Broglie were seminal figures in the development of modern physics. Compare classical physics.

molecule (physical chemistry): a configuration of atoms under sway of their electrons.

monkey-mind (aka nattermind): the involuntary, independent agent in the mind that instills and maintains iğnorance. Contrast willmind. See coremind.

monism: the doctrine that there is a singular reality, either matterism or energyism. Contrast dualism. See energyism, matterism.

monotheism: belief in a singular god. Compare polytheism.

mood: an emotive frame of mind.

moral universe: the belief that morality exists in Nature.

morality: principles about right and wrong regarding relations with other life.

motion: a memory of something being in a certain location at one time and then being somewhere else.

mystical: having hidden mechanism or meaning.

naïve realism (philosophy): the belief that actuality as perceived is reality; that the senses provide direct comprehension of reality, and that reality is objective, subject to subjective interpretation.

nattermind (aka monkey-mind): the involuntary, independent agent in the mind that instills and maintains iğnorance. Contrast willmind. See coremind.

natural philosophy: the study of Nature from a holistic perspective; the common method of comprehending Nature until the 17th century, before the scientific method took over.

Nature: the exhibition of existence.

neonate: a human infant within 28 days of birth.

neoteny (aka juvenilization, pedomorphosis): retention by adults of traits previously seen only in the young (in the perspective of evolutionary descent).

nervous: manifesting agitated vigor.

nominal: in name only; for appearance’s sake.

noumenon: outside of existence. A noumenon is beyond perception, as contrasted to phenomena.

now: the present moment; all that exists.

nucleon: a subatomic particle in an atomic nucleus. Each atomic nucleus has 1 or more nucleons. Protons and neutrons are the 2 known nucleons.

object: something which appears to have a material (physical) form.

objectivity: the idea that Nature is independent of consciousness. Contrast showtivity.

on tap: immediately available.

opportunity cost (economics): the value or benefit given up by doing something relative to an alternative activity.

organism: a living life form, including single cells. Viruses are not typically referred to as organisms, as they lack the ability to reproduce.

ouroboros (uroboros): an ancient symbol of a dragon or serpent eating its own tail, symbolizing the eternal cycle of incarnation.

out-of-body experience: reference frame sensation from outside the body. See astral projection.

outcome: a construed conclusion to an event.

paracosm: an imagined world. Children are prone to creating paracosms (and imaginary friends).

paradigm: a way of understanding.

paradox: a seeming contradiction between concepts which may nonetheless be accurate.

paranormal: immaterially phenomenal; beyond verification from matter-based evidence.

particle (quantum physics): the idea that the quanta that comprise the building blocks of Nature are itty bits. See quantum.

pattern: a distinctive design.

perceptible: within potential perception.

perception: the process of making sense of sensation, including determining significance and meaning.

perceptivity: (degree of) keenness in perception.

pervasive: widespread; present everywhere.

phantom: an illusory appearance or figure.

phenomenon (plural: phenomena): a perceptible object, process, or event. See actuality. Contrast noumenon.

philosophy: a set of consistent definitions for a system. The term philosophy derives from the ancient Greek for “love of wisdom.”

photon: a quantum of light; the theoretical cöforce of electromagnetism.

physical: concerning matter and sensation of objects.

physical system: a collection of objects.

physics: the study of matter and its movements. See classical physics, modern physics.

pity: compassion.

pleasure: a feeling of happiness or satisfaction.

polytheism: belief in multiple gods. Compare monotheism.

post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): a shocking event in the past echoing onto present awareness.

power (psychology): an expression of willmind absent nattermind.

prattle: to talk foolishly; to chatter meaninglessly; to babble.

precocial: animals with relatively mature and mobile young from birth or hatching. Many arthropods, fish, amphibians, and reptiles are precocial. Contrast altricial.

precocious knowledge: innate knowledge.

predictable: foreknowable; capable of being known in advance or expectable.

pregnant (philosophy, not biology): full or fraught.

presence (biology): an extra-dimensional being, especially mental interlopers; sometimes called a spirit, though spirits are not necessarily mind inhabitants.

pride: an inherent feeling of self-worth.

principle: a claim of fundamental truth.

process: a series of motions conceived as related. See event.

product (philosophy): an outcome. Compare artifact.

proper: appropriate.

property (physics): a characteristic, attribute.

protein: a living macromolecule from which cells are made and which maintains cells to keep them alive; alternately used to describe foodstuffs heavy in molecular protein.

proximal: near, close. Compare distal.

psychic: relating to psychological paranormal.

psychology: the study of the mind.

psychospace: the mental world of space and time.

quantization (physics): creating a localized appearance of matter. Compare localization.

quantum (plural: quanta): a localized energy field that appears particulate via quantization.

quantum field theory: theory about how existence is fabricated from the quantum scale up via fields.

quantum mechanics: a mechanistic view of Nature coming into existence via quantum particle assemblage. See physics, quantum, quantum field theory.

quasar: black hole discards that create a bright astronomical object.

quietude: inner silence. See enlightenment.

rage: intense anger; fury.

real: true. See reality.

reality: that which necessarily is, regardless of existence.

realization (aka self-realization,unity consciousness): the highest level of consciousness, where an individual being communes with Cönsciousness.

realm: domain, region.

recognize: attribute to a certain category by memory recall and selective pruning of outlying characteristics.

reference frame: a point of view or perspective for sensation.

reify: to regard an abstraction as existing.

reincarnation: the incarnation of a soul in someone who remembers a previous incarnation.

religion: a shared paradigmatic belief system about the nature of reality. Religions are frequently faith-based, typically dogmatic, and usually involve supernatural agents (gods). Compare natural philosophy. Contrast science.

remiss: careless, negligent.

risk: imagined loss potential.

riveting: having the power to compel attention; fascinating.

rulebase: a set of rules applicable to a system.

satisfaction: gratification; enjoyment of an outcome.

science: knowledge; also used for the study of Nature, conventionally under assumption of dualism or matterism. Contrast natural philosophy.

scientific method: sensory techniques for investigating matter and its motions. From there, progress is only made via inference or deduction, which a philosophic exercise.

self-esteem: pride in oneself.

selfrealization: see realization.

sensation: uptake from the senses. See perception.

senses: bodily organs, tissues, or cells which detect physical existence or motion.

sensible: capable of being sensed.

showtivity: the principle that the seeming objectivity of Nature is a shared subjectivity.

simultaneous: at the same time.

skepticism: questioning of a conceptual construct; disbelief.

skill: an ability to overcome a challenge.

soul: an immortal spirit which incarnates as a consciousness.

spirit: a soul; the essence of consciousness imbued with a life force.

spirit plane: a paranormal, extra-dimensional region of existence.

spiritbiome: the presences which congregate with a mind.

spirituality: (related to) consciousness level, especially leveling up awareness; freeing oneself from the clutches of monkey-mind.

stratagem: a deceitful trick; a ruse.

stress: mental suffering.

stupidity: inapt behavior from dim awareness. “Stupid is as stupid does,” was an idiom taught by American mothers to their children in the early 19th century as a retort to bullying.

subconscious: beneath conscious awareness. Compare conscious.

subjective: the perspective of an individual mind.

subsistence: in existence.

suss (chiefly British): figure out; (seek to) comprehend.

sway: influence.

symbol: an abstraction that signifies something; a datum which may acquire meaning; a conceptual element.

system: a conceptual construct of an amalgamation.

tai chi: a Chinese philosophy that includes health practices.

temporal: relating to time.

theory: an explanation based upon evidence.

theory of mind: the recognition that everyone has their own unique mind. See mind perception.

thermodynamics: the physics of heat and its relation to energy.

thought: conscious attention to symbols and concepts.

time: the idea of change, formed by memory. Time does not exist.

topology: the study of conceptual regions and fields.

trait (biology): a purposeful, often functional, attribute.

transcendence: the state of consciousness where the mind is quiet while the body is receptive to sensory experience.

transcendental: surpassing the limits of actuality.

true: real, genuine, authentic. See truth.

truth: a concept that cannot be contradicted by evidence or inference (from evidence). That said, the notion that ideas are true is oxymoronic. How can an abstraction be true? Compare theory.

understanding: conceptualization that satisfies curiosity.

utilitarian: concerning or aiming at usefulness.

vacuum energy: hypothetical energy in empty space.

variable: a symbol representing a mathematical object, typically denoted by a single letter.

virtual particle: a hypothetical quantum that flits in and out of existence to bolster the properties of other quanta.

virus: a molecular parasite. Viruses infect almost all forms of cellular life.

vital: necessary to staying alive; more generally, essential.

vitalism: the principle that life has a distinct vital energy. Compare animism.

wave: the idea of a coherent, energetic, localized phenomenon.

wile (noun): a trick/artifice/stratagem of deceit.

will: intention.

willmind: volitional (willful) mentation. Contrast nattermind. See coremind.

witness: intentionally experience.

work (physics): energy in transit; the outcome (event) of an energetic force applied to matter.

xenoglossy: being able to speak a language never learned.

yoga: an Indian (Hindu) philosophy of mental and physical disciplines for attaining realization.