Aims for living beings (Conversation about the central importance of them)


Since I've talked to countless people over the years about these topics, and their opinions have often found their way into my manuscripts, I call the dialogue partners here CP.



Aims (for living beings)


Aims (often synonymous with values) consist of networks of neurons and synapses. These act as knitting patterns and mark or generate a path to get there when activated. In doing so, they structure the brain and, in direct succession, people and the world.


“You say that all living things are oriented towards goals. How did you come up with that?”, GP was curious.


“I was wondering why people do what they do. And I have repeatedly observed that goals (as midpoints) shape people - as long as they are in the waking state of attention. "


"And outside of wakefulness?"


“Are you in sleep, or similar states in which the midpoints have slackened and the brain structure changes drastically.


The difference between wakefulness and sleep is that in the former, the midpoints provide structure; The frontal lobe plays a significant role in the goals pursued here. In contrast, they are sometimes reduced to zero during sleep (the frontal lobe is then partially blocked - such as the logical functions). So, these midpoints have little influence on the brain, which can therefore conjure up the strangest images.


Not infrequently it is somehow stimulated emotions that are experienced unbridled as reality with vivid fantasies.


So other mechanisms and laws are active.


Of course, everything continues according to substances and laws - only according to other goals. "


"How do you define 'aims?"


“To create a structure that leads to the desired end point of a path. Two things are needed for this: On the one hand, humans have to form a structure in themselves, and they have to see the world in a structure that shows a suitable path. And this is how all living beings do it because their original goal is survival. "


“That means that the living being structures itself, takes itself into a different shape?” Asked GP.


“No, the respective goal forms this form.



If you want to know yourself, ask about your goals.


The most essential point is their nature: if they are not fulfilled, they urge, depending on the instantaneous or general value in oneself with feelings, to be somehow achieved.



"Aims are very important in your theory building," said CP.


"In fact, everything is structured," I nodded. "Take the system life. In every living being, there is a spectrum of goals that relativize, detach, connect with each other, form co-operative groups, cover up, wrestle for supremacy, and organize themselves into a partially alternate hierarchy. Goals are added, others change or go out. Each target has, or generates, its opponent, if other targets are touched and run the risk of being compromised. And every action takes place through a set of goals that each develop structures, compromise, reinforce or weaken. Many goals change in the course of life, except for the very low-lying, for example, the life instinct. This one always remains, even if you are very old."


"That sounds very complicated," said CP.


"It is, too," I nodded again. "The whole system is incredibly diverse and nested. That makes it so difficult to tell exactly where the driving forces of action come from.

Every behaviour, if traced back, will have its source in the life instinct. There are usually many intermediate stages between this and the current behaviour. That's why it's often hard to find the connections. But the younger a living being, the easier it is to determine. In the course of his life man differentiates more and more. It builds up more and more, depending on the goals it carries. "


"Can you never get to the bottom of the psyche?"


"Not in the smallest detail. But if you want to try to recognize yourself, it helps to know that everything is designed in one of midpoints - like the goals of the SELF, which are in the brain and play an important role.



Ultimately, people are always circling around the same goals, only the content is different. The ultimate goal is, as a rule, the life instinct, which, it seems, always wants to grow, wants more and higher, closely followed by the goal of orientation, showing man his environment, which is of value to him, in positive or negative Meaning, in order to be able to react accordingly. The most important design factor is then the group - starting with two people - the society in which one lives. The goal of being recognized is arguably one of the strongest in life. Thus, the society in which one lives can totally become one's own world, that is, it can express one's goals, in other words, values that include, but are not limited to: have been firmly anchored in the socialization process."


"You say there's no life without a midpoint?"


"Let me redefine what I mean by 'midpoint': it means the world that is created to reach a goal. Everything else is more or less shielded. He selects from what he finds and believes he has a value for the goal, and gives shape to the world. Imagine the unimaginable: completely without goals. In you, the goal would no longer be to survive, to satisfy your needs, to orient oneself. From the very beginning of the first life in the world, you would find the goal of survival, which created the 'sight' and brought the found world into a form.


A strong goal can completely take over the human being for a period of time and structure it completely. This can be seen very well in the phenomenon of love, or when you have a task in front of you that completely engages you. Everything in one is aligned as much as possible."


"They said the goals in man are hierarchical. Do you mean that there is a command centre in the brain?"


“No, they don't exist. By this I mean that the more important the goals are, the higher the rank is. To achieve this, neuron cells join together to form collaborative groups, ensembles. The hierarchy can change constantly. "


"When and how did these networks actually come about?"


"The baby already has almost the entire amount of neurons at the time of birth, but only a small part of the neuron processes and synapses. These multiply after birth at a breathtaking pace and network the neurons, it forms a lot of networks. These are then reinforced or dissolve again. "


"By what rules?"


"It depends on what value they have and how intensively they are used. Experiences with the environment determine which networks of neurons become stronger, endure and which are not."


"Crucial for this are the experiences that the living beings makes in the different stages of life?"


"The more important something is for a living being, the more it learns in this relationship. Neuronal networks are amplified, reshaped or re-formed. "


"Do the individual neurons only react to a specific impulse?"


"No, they can form structures for different impulses with different neurons, they have a multiple function, so to speak: For the respective goals, many nerve cells have the possibility, in milliseconds, of an impulse with other cells, which have an equal potential in themselves to organize. Take about a life-threatening situation. This structure over various activated neurons lightning fast your shape. The more life, the survival is affected, the stronger the activities. "


"So, no order is given from 'above'?"


"The 'command' is the perception, the impulse, which is then translated into reactions - if there is a goal for it, and the impulse has the corresponding valence."


"What determines the valence?"


"The goals that lie in one."


"But if you say that the life instinct is usually at the top of the hierarchy, then it would have to be found somewhere!"


"He lies as in the primal structures."


"Could one define the goals in humans as Neuron mergers, which among other things be stimulated by stimuli to form a figure? "


"Yes. And in the same way that neurons can have multiple functions, so too are the individual goals: they can organize themselves into groups - into goals that can form action forms. At the same time, various goals are being stimulated in parallel, forming together forms. "


"Let me repeat: the impulse, the stimulus from outside or inside activates targets, these activate further neural networks and these again solution programs."


"That's the procedure," I confirmed.


"When you go from one midpoint to the other, is it like switching from one neural network to another?"


"Yes, the midpoint is made up of co-operating networks with their respective weights."


"Once again asked: Everything is subject to goals?"


"Yes, whether inorganic or organic."


"So not just the living beings?"


"Look: After the big bang there was mostly hydrogen, helium and some lithium. From these gases galaxies with solar systems and planets developed under great pressures, and all the elements we know today formed during this time. All this was inorganic until a certain point in time. "


"And defeated goals?"


"Everything has the goal of forming a figure according to the laws. Exactly that is also subject to everything organic. What they all have in common is that they are guided by goals. From this perspective, there is no difference between the inanimate and the animated. With the latter, only 'the goals of survival are added, which have led to ever more complex structures.'


--- Gestalt psychology ---


After a break, CP continued.


"You certainly know Max Wertheimer, who said: 'There are relationships in which not everything that happens as a whole derives from the way the individual pieces are and are composed, but conversely, where - in a pertinent case - what, what in a part of this whole happens, determined by internal structural laws of this its whole. '"


I nodded. "These internal structural laws result from goals in man; they record for what he is receptive to, important to him, and save this as a wholeness. For example, listening to music is, of course, the melody and not the individual instruments. This holistic view is an important feature of all living things. "


"Wertheimer's Gestalt theory, then, seeks to clarify the laws by which the brain joins elements into a whole," concluded CP.


"These are not explained by the laws of the individual parts or their sum," I added, "because when you add something, there are different laws. But they explain themselves by the respective goal, which brings all parts with its midpoints into a shape appropriate to the goal.


Holistic recognition makes sense to handle situations better and faster. "


"I'll summarize it again," said CP. "The holistic view of the brain has the goal of being able to make quick decisions - if it were to go into all the details every time, then this delays its capture or its decision. This holistic view arises in man through experiences that he has already made in similar situations. But since these are only similar, that does not necessarily mean that they are appropriate for a goal or that it correctly indicates a lying one. "


"Right. As a rule, this results in a figure that can be dealt with without losing himself in details. But it can also cause the brain to create something wrong. This can have unpleasant consequences, because you can live with these 'facts', which you can call suggestions, that influence attitude and behaviour. It is the cause of confusion of the most diverse kind. The creativity and imagination of the brain are limitless, it 'explains' everything. Especially if you do not know or recognize something. If you notice this and it is important, it corrects the goal."


--- Universal scholar ---


"And you say everything in the universe is shaped by goals," CP was curious.


"Everything has the goal to form a figure according to the respective laws. Everything is aligned with goals. "


"Also a lifeless stone?" CP smirked.


"By 'lifeless stone' you probably mean something lying around somewhere. Well, I would like to say: First, there is movement within the stone, because it consists of atoms or even smaller particle waves, which are not motionless and also run according to laws. And secondly, when this stone is moved, then it forms with its environment, the circumstances of a particular structure according to the laws. That's what I mean when I say: everything has the goal of forming a figure according to the laws. "


"Could a stone form a structure even without laws?"


"How come? This is impossible because the laws are inherent in the substances. Nothing can happen without laws, because the substances are laws!"


"And so you came to the conclusion that everything has the goal of forming a figure according to the laws."


“Right, this happens completely automatically. It is not that a stone has a consciousness that is out to obtain information. He's not alive. But since, as I said, everything runs according to laws, the goal automatically arises to create structures according to the laws of nature.


The same thing happens to the living beings, except that here the goal of survival is added. This goal shapes the human being. This is what I call midpoint or midpoint-mechanics.


Imagine a person who has no more goals. So do not eat anymore, drink, etc. What would happen to that? "


"He would probably die."


“By the way: without a goal, the placebo effect wouldn't work either. The goal here is to achieve something through medication. This creates a midpoint that pulls in everything that is useful for that goal. Of course, also experiences that were made when you were already taking any medication that helped. The logic of the brain is: If a suitable drug, which comes from a competent person, is taken against this disease, then this goal will also be fulfilled.
As a result, the previous internal structure in this relationship can change up to the fulfillment of the goal: from illness to health. "


"And this is done by the brain just because it" recognized "a drug that helps in his view?"


"Yes that is enough. Unless, for example, the consciousness (better: the perception) gives the information that there is no active ingredient in the drug or that one does not trust the person who prescribed the drug. This would severely limit or negate the effect.


--- Awareness Restriction ---


The vast majority of human reactions are unaware. Consciousness becomes only a very small part, and always when something important occurs. Then information about the consciousness is obtained. If they are relevant, the brain processes them with the midpoints.


All other reactions and behaviours take place via the general, more or less strong, attention or automatically. "


"But that must be an incredible amount of goals with their midpoints that shape the people!"


"Yes, you can say that. Just such a simple act as picking up a newspaper requires many learned goals that have been summarized and then run automatically.


Time and again, I hear that people have trouble understanding that everything is guided by goals, including themselves. I think it's daily life that makes them fail to understand that sentence. Because everything is so natural, what happens. If they dig deeper, then they could see that every action, every movement is guided by goals and moves them. For example, the handle to the glass of water and drink from it. "


"Many people I've talked to actually have trouble understanding what 'goal' means," CP nodded. "For them, one goal is to complete a task or strive for something. But such a simple thing, such as bringing a spoon to your mouth, is not a goal for them! "


"Because it runs automatically, without paying more attention to this process. If they were to get to the bottom of this, they would come closer to the fact that every single hand movement must first be learned. The motivation was goals.


Because that's just the treachery for the realization that simple actions are taken for granted and not further think about it. Not realized that very specific goal-oriented processes are behind it. "


"Yes, that's right," said CP thoughtfully.


“Lots of amazing achievements by people who are often based on island talents, e. B. to remember a large number of things in a limited time, to perform complex arithmetic operations in a few seconds or to learn a new language in a short time, would not be possible without a goal. This provides the structure that leads to the solution. Even artificial intelligence, which works with algorithms, does not come to a conclusion without a specified goal. "



--- Thinking habits ---


I took a short break. Then I continued:


"Until the 16th century, people knew virtually no laws. Everything was determined from God's perspective. But even in our time, many are far from seeing everything controlled by goals, thinking that most things happen by themselves anyway, and still viewing consciousness as something metaphysical or something. These views have passed from generation to generation and still shape some philosophers and people who deal with these issues. Everyone else usually just takes it that way because they do not even think about it. "


"Why don't you often see that goals shape you?"

"Simply because you believe that you shape yourself with your consciousness."


"What if they were to throw their antiquated views overboard and start thinking that consciousness is indeed just a brain information provider?"


"Most people are too caught up in their views, their habits of thinking. In the least, the goal is to get to the bottom of the processes in them, to deal intensively with the course of their consciousness, as with this topic. Added to this there are innumerable people who live in the world of esoteric mysticism and, if they accept this insight, injure their world. For consciousness is an essential element in the mystical view of the world, which is shaped by a metaphysical goal with its midpoint in them. "


"You mean they create this goal themself? "



"For sure."



"The truth does not interest them, do you mean to say that," said CP.


They are interested in the truth,"; I replied, but only in its truth.


One can call this the drama of the blinded person. Its midpoint, the mystical world, surrounds it like a bell shielding all other views and evidence. "


"Pity," said CP, "I find it always very exciting to hear and discuss new views."


"I feel the same way," I nodded. "Unfortunately, every one of us has a world view that has more or less strong persistence. Changes made become dear settings are made reluctant.


For example, branded images and ideas of the culture in which you grew up are transported from generation to generation. Only too rarely are these questioned, and if so, often with bad feelings, because they question the structures they have created: in themselves and in society. Resistance quickly builds up, trying by all means to maintain the old structures. "


"Self-knowledge apparently does not belong to the goals of many people," said CP.


"I have that impression too. Self-knowledge comes through self-observation. Who does that?"


"Funny, I enjoy watching myself and sometimes have to laugh heartily when I've seen things wrong or insisted on an erroneous point of view. By introspection, one comes closer, sees moves in ones that have not yet noticed, especially in new or critical situations.


Maybe it's also because I can accept myself and my behaviour, with the sentence, 'What happened, had to happen as it happened.' "


"I feel the same way," I confirmed. "That's why I enjoy talking to you. I've learned a lot from you already. "


"The compliment I can give back, the discussions with you are very stimulating for me.


What goals should one have?", he continued.


“I can't answer that like that. My goal is to dictate something to others, not within me. Everyone has their own values. I can only speak for myself here, for my goals: The most important thing for me is to know the truth. I can be completely absorbed in the knowledge.



What comes to mind is that dissatisfaction always depends on the level of expectation. "


"You mean, the decisive goal is crucial?"


"The more you have achieved a goal, the higher the satisfaction - and vice versa. Here you can find roots for euphoria or depression. Therefore, one should think carefully, which goals one undertakes. Are it wrong goals, for example, that cannot be achieved, then you open the door to bad mood or depression. False goals can severely burden the psyche. "


--- life attitudes ---


"Do you have ideals?"


"Not really, unless you count the truth."


"Would wealth and fame give you something?"


"If I had the sense of wealth, then I would have to write for the people according to their expectations. So fairy tales, sex, crime. These would not be desirable goals for me. I am absolutely satisfied with my life, in which I search for new insights. I have nothing of wealth, because what I want to know is primarily in me and rises spontaneously. So, much money would not help me in this respect.

And fame could possibly create vanity in me that does not help my actual goals, but rather hinders them. It could stop me from time to time questioning my theses and possibly insisting on them, even against legitimate objections.

There are enough examples of famous personalities. "


"You are different than most people."


"I did not aspire to that. I am the way I am, and so am I. "


"Why do people strive for greatness, for wanting to have more and more?"


"One reason will be vanity. An essential element of life is the recognition in the group, the society. The general reasons will lie in the