This morning I visited a book store. There was a shelf full of children’s books. I recall those connect the dots books of my childhood. I remember one of 200 numbers that when they were all connected, a 747 was formed.
Today, we speak of implicit cognition, essentially a system that sorts the tsunami of data floating around the inner space of body and mind. Freud revealed the influence of past events on present moment experience. Now we understand that the past is only the tip of the iceberg (and perhaps not even a very important tip at that) of consciousness and cognitive function. Mood, physiological states, the influence of the social environment, cognitive capacities, cognitive load, and perceptual capacities all come together to form the implicit foundation. With it, we build a reality for ourselves.
And with that reality we either build a life of possibilities or just connect the dots and numbers.