Self-organization, as we described in Chapter 2, is one of the most important natural processes. It is how nature solves problems. Our inner implicit world is not dependent on cognitive direc- tion and largely relies on natural self-organizing processes to successfully function.7 Connecting
explicit conscious, cognitive awareness with inner implicit processing is how we actively contribute to our survival and well-being. Before a thought emerges into consciousness numerous implicit processes occur. When the necessary preparation has self-organized there is a rise in emotional intensity that emerges as a conscious self-directing thought, such as I’m hungry.8 Unfortunately,
there are many things that interfere with a healthy flow between implicit processes and conscious awareness. Trauma, negative attitudes, pathological injuries, social problems, drugs, violence, and all too many more things interfere with that connection. The barriers, inhibitions, and dysfunc- tions are all part of the discomfort that motivates clients to seek therapy. Mirroring Hands is able to open that connection, and we know the connection has been opened when the client observes movement and sensations occurring in the hands as if all by themselves, independent of conscious thoughts and directions.
The connection that Mirroring Hands opens enables an in the moment, conscious awareness of the sensations that are emerging from internal processes. The client’s appreciation of their own aware- ness usually starts when they become aware that their hands seem to be moving all by themselves. This is an indicator that the connection has been made. Once the connection has been made, it becomes possible to be aware of the ongoing inner processes that are emerging as thoughts, ideas, realizations, and even resolutions. These emergent properties and qualities enter into the client’s consciousness in numerous ways. It might be in their felt experience, such as breathing changes, relaxation, or other shifts in energy levels; in emotive perceptions, such as relief, surprise, or happi- ness; or in beneficial thoughts, such as insight, understanding, or knowing what to do next. These therapeutic insights and realizations are the natural emergent properties and qualities of implicit
5 Siegel, D. J. (2016). Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human. New York: W.W. Norton, p. 5.
6 Di Bernardo, M. (2010). Natural selection and self-organization in complex adaptive systems. Rivista di Biologia, 103(1), 89–110.
7 Camazine, S., Deneubourg, J-L., Franks, N. R., Sneys, J., Theraulaz, G. & Bonabeau, E. (2001). Self-Organization in
Biological Systems. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
8 Scherer, K. R. (2009). Emotions are emergent processes: they require a dynamic computational architecture. Philosophical
The Practitioner’s Guide to Mirroring Hands
problem-solving. The sudden insight into how to resolve the issue was not formed as thoughtful words internally, but the internal milieu produced a set of processes and activities in the brain that the conscious mind translated into a beneficial thought.
Problem-solving through self-organization occurs within the implicit inner space as a natural func- tion of an adaptive complex system. Many of these processes occur at the molecular level, which is, of course, the domain of molecular and quantum physics. We address the quantum in Chapter 15 and in Appendix B, but bear in mind, as you consider the reasons behind your client’s “strange” experience of their hands moving as if all by themselves, that this experience is arising from changes in the client’s deep biology, including molecular activity in the chromosomes9 and the interaction
of ionically charged molecules in the neurons and synapses.10 These fluctuations shift the balance
of possibilities of the system to form probabilities in response to feedback and self-organization. In quantum theory, probabilities fluctuate as a result of changes to the waves of energy that are flowing through the possibility field.11 Some of these probabilities become actualities and emerge
into consciousness in ways that we can both observe and, at the same time, have a subjective feeling about. This subjective feeling is called qualia, which is similar to saying a felt sense.12 We will discuss
in Chapter 15 the finest subjective sensitivity, which we call our quantum qualia, but for now, as you can see, there is still so much for us to understand. We are at the growing edge.
It is not essential, however, to understand at a deep level in order to do good therapy, although it is both exciting and important as we move forward in the development and evolution of our under- standing of psychotherapy and other healing arts. The following section describes an extraordinary piece of recent research which was a serendipitous opportunity that could not be missed. It gives us insight into the therapeutic advances that are possible when we learn how to tune in to inner processes that function at molecular and quantum levels of energetic activity. In this experiment, physical recordings of activity within the brain were made, which were then able to be translated by the researcher as what the subject was thinking.
9 Jorgensen, R. A. (2011). Epigenetics: biology’s quantum mechanics. Frontiers in Plant Science, 2, 10. https://doi. org/10.3389/fpls.2011.00010.
10 Schwartz, J. M., Stapp, H. S. & Beauregard, M. (2004). Quantum physics in neuroscience and psychology: a neuro- physical model of mind–brain interaction. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 360, 1309–1327. doi:10.1098/rstb.2004.1598.
11 Krauss, L. M. (2011). Quantum Man: Richard Feynman’s Life in Science. New York: W.W. Norton. 12 For a definition see: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qualia/.