Playgrounds Are Network Play At Work

Thank you for your great answers and I feel each response is a variant of the same underlying phenomenon. In other words, there’s no “reason” why children love seesaws and swings, rather their bodies and minds (just as it is for all living beings) evolved to feel good when (1) riding on a wave and while (2) their animal mind is subliminally referencing their hearts. The periodic rising and falling, acceleration and deceleration averages out into a feeling of weightlessness, and in this state I believe that the neurochemicals and hormones that record a state of tension/stress in body tissues, and are the basis of unresolved emotion as physical memory, dissolve into an overall sensual state via natural opiates that likewise inhabit those same tissues. This is then perceived of as a condition of resonance with the surroundings, and it is pleasurable indirectly because of these hormonal/neurochemical affects, but fundamentally because the environmental inputs have been ingested into the system and converted into a heart like rhythm. Consciousness is a wave, and the heart is its metronome. Given that while swinging on a swing the physical center of gravity rockets from the tip of the toes to the top of the head, all this motion averages out into the anatomical midpoint, the heart region and as a reconciliation of the two brain bipolar mandate. And if the mind’s subliminal focus beam of attention can remain fixated on the heart while riding said wave, this is apprehended as a feeling of flow centered in the heart. This feeling reconciles the two brains divergent agendas. All true feelings have this morphology and what makes a feeling go “bad,” is the collapse of such a frame of reference.

Why the heart? Because it is the most powerful and rhythmic muscle of tension/release and which is ever present and which can therefore sustain the feeling of flow IN INTERPERSONAL INTERACTIONS (if referenced) and which then leads immutably to sociability.

Why is a wave synonymous with sociability? Because consciousness is synonymous with a network, and therefore sociability is a physical/physic manifestation of a network consciousness, a small subset of the overarching pattern. Sociability adds energy to the network by turning physical energies into emotional bonds by way of Pavlovian conditioning most especially during the earliest imprinting phase of life. Turning raw physical energy into feelings for other things adds energy to consciousness, i.e. the network.

Why is consciousness as a wave adaptive? In other words, what good would it do for human beings to evolve a liking for swings and seesaws, why do waves feel good?

Because the anatomy, physiology and neurology of animals is organized so that episodic change can become periodic change thorough a wave function. Life is buffeting an animal from every direction and at intermittent intervals, how to cope? Internalize it as a feeling. In this way, physical, kinetic energy is captured and then is transformed through Pavlovian Conditioning into consciousness, (the dog projects its “self” into an object of attraction) i.e. psychic energy. This adds new energy to the system and also provides a calculus so as to predict where potential energy is going to be. Now, the matter of harvesting that potential energy remains.

Back in the eighties I hired some Portugese masons to build a walkway and a small patio. They did all the digging by hand and when they ran into a big rock that had to be moved, after excavating around it so three or four men could get around it and secure a hand hold, they began to sing. It was beautiful watching and hearing an ancient tune organize their energies so that soon the massive rock began to rock back and forth with increasing intensity until at just the right moment with a great heave it was up and out of the hole and on a sled. Through the song they each know when and how hard they should apply force because they were in sync in time with the song. I learned a very important behavioral principle from watching them work. Mass can be converted into moving energy by virtue of a wave. A wave function allows force to be coupled, amplified and synchronized so that that which does not conduct can be made conductive. This is how energy is harvested. Since consciousness is organized around a wave pattern, then individual’s psychic energies can be coupled and synchronized to increase the application of force around a collectively focused object of resistance. This is why kids like to ride on swings and seesaws, and dogs like to play and go for car rides. Play is how the network works at evolving  nature.

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Published December 11, 2010 by Kevin Behan
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47 responses to “Playgrounds Are Network Play At Work”

  1. Christine says:

    Hard to grasp mentally but beautiful in it’s simplicity and divine origination.

    So then, when a rescue dog ‘picks’ you, is it connected with this phenomena? Is it because they can feel that the person is on the ‘down’ side of their ‘up’ wave and so are able to keep it moving?

  2. kbehan says:

    Like is attracted to like, but only opposites can connect, therefore the rescue dog that picks an owner is feeling how easy it is for it to complement the owner’s “charge.” Same charge, dog and owner are alike in terms of this deep energy, but dog can graft onto the wave function by becoming owner’s opposite and yet equal. So if someone goes into the shelter and sees a dog cowering in the back of its kennel while the other dogs are clamoring to be let out, if the person has a similar charge that they need to resolve they will feel themselves drawn to that particular dog. Another person walks into the shelter and the dog throwing itself against the gate with the most intensity they might perceive as the most desperate to be freed, and so something imprisoned in them is attracted to this particular dog. So the first dog snaps at children, and the second dog tears around the neighborhood and kills the farmer’s chickens. Learning to work with either of these dogs in terms of how they reflect what’s unresolved within, gives that particular person the will to resolve that unresolved emotion, however their intellectual tendency will be to concoct a psychology for what the dog is doing and that will merely dig a deeper hole. Additionally this dysfunctional behavior will viscerally please the person because the dog is expressing something in its behavior which is not being expressed directly and actively by that person, if they are even aware of it.

  3. Heather says:

    A curious friend of mine went to a shelter and came away with a dog, and she wonders where to start focusing his “animal mind,” with a lot of ungrounded/nervous energy that expresses as an unchanneled mess of phobias and dysfunctional behaviors. She considered leaving him as she found him, but at the beginning something told her she should try to make contact so she keeps at it. One thing that bodes well is his preference to eat out of a hand while being groomed and/or stroked. She hasn’t asked for advice, but I offered my two cents that the process of building trust wouldn’t leave the dog floating in a sea of random human thought, free to choose from a list of alternatives. She becomes the source of all good and pleasurable things (of course understanding that she will inevitably scare and overwhelm the dog on occassion, especially since her experienice is in the area of dominance/control training and she told me she lacks patience, but she is not too worried about this prospect, dogs are incredibly resilient and she means well.)

  4. kbehan says:

    The most important thing she could do over the next few weeks, is crate the dog indoors so that its earlier imprint can’t get too much traction and being how it categorizes its new owner, and then take the dog for long quiet walks in the woods to begin the bonding process. For some people this seems a lot to ask as they think that by including the dog in every aspect of their lives, especially with lavish attention indoors, that they are building a bond. But not so in many cases.

  5. Algorab says:

    The heart is a muscle, the idea that it sustain the feeling of flow IN INTERPERSONAL INTERACTIONS’is silly to anyone who has ever held a heart or done a necropsy.

    BTW Are people with artifical hearts no longer able to sustain these interactions? Of course not, because the idea is bunk.

  6. Christine says:

    I’m finding it a challenge to connect with my animal mind; happily working away at it so I can FINALLY pull all myself together‼ lol 😀

  7. kbehan says:

    I have heard from someone with a heart transplant that he can no longer be startled, one can sneak up on him and jump out in the scariest way, and he cannot be startled. But nevertheless, if someone has a heart transplant or artificial heart, although I don’t know if they can walk around with it, they most likely have the physical memory of life before transplant and can still feel flow of blood through veins and arteries all of which centers in the middle of their anatomy, and which latest science has shown there to be nerve sensations arising from blood vessels. So my argument is that the animal mind as opposed to the intellectual mind is very attuned to these feelings whereas the intellectual mind will weight some rational linear cause and effect precept as the reason for things. So the question for you to address is why do we move our hand to our heart when we feel moved? What’s the point of that?

  8. Algorab says:

    I don’t believe that for a second, startle occurs in the brain, not in the heart. We have brain imaging to prove it. The model, on the face of evidence, becomes increasingly complex, the hand-waving begins.

  9. kbehan says:

    Since the brain is the executive function organ, in other words, the heart can’t move a muscle, therefore everything going on in the body must be mirrored in the brain, so no doubt brain imaging shows that the brain is involved in emotional experience since ultimately it must lead to action, just as for example your computer’s cpu is involved in translating this website into a display on the monitor, but it’s an interpretation of the brain scan that says that the brain is the source of the feeling, there’s no direct evidence that it is. Apparently, if in your model, there is no purpose to one moving their hand over their heart when emotionally moved, then this is a model of hand waving. So why in the model you subscribe to is it that in all cultures around the world people move their hands over their hearts when emotionally moved?

  10. Christine says:

    @Algrab RE: “…Of course not, because the idea is bunk.”
    You pose an interesting perspective and I’d like to hear more. However, I have a favor to ask of you…being a person of sensitive nature, I find parts of your comments to be harsh and hurtful. When I read such statements, the feeling (for me)is similar to receiving a slap upside the head (even though it was not directed at me).
    It would be interesting to me to hear you elaborate on the reasons why you disagree with with Kevin and the underpinnings for your arguments, as I do so enjoy a lively discussion!

  11. Algorab says:

    The heart CAN move a muscle. It can move itself. Something that anyone who ever took a cell culture class knows. The reason brain imaging shows the brain is involved in emotional experience is because that is where it takes place. Again, brains studies can stimulate emotional, out of body, hallucinations, fear, ect. by stimulation the brain… no such action is possible by stimulating a muscle – and that is all the heart is. You might as well argue that emotions are SEATED in the gluteus maxiumus… one muscle is as good as another.

  12. Christine says:

    Hmmmm….it’s interesting to me that, for the most part, those who disagree with NDT theories typically resort to ‘name-calling’ (e.g.The heart CAN move a muscle. It can move itself. Something that anyone who ever took a cell culture class knows. I feel like I’m being called “STUPID”) and a condescending attitude, which is not conducive to lively discourse. It certainly does not attract me to your ideas nor is it intellectually stimulating. So there‼ >:P

  13. Algorab says:

    Christine, you need to learn to deal. There was no name-calling involved so take responsibility for your own feelings of inadequacy. It is a fact that anyone who has taken a cell culture class… or really anyone with decent knowledge of biology knows what I stated. It is not a put down, a simple fact.

  14. Christine says:

    Still condescending and no substantive facts to speak of…so shuffle up that deck and deal.

  15. kbehan says:

    So why don’t we move our hand over gluteus maxiumus?

  16. kbehan says:

    I am aware that the heart muscle contracts and relaxes, in fact, it’s the epitome of a wave pattern with the synchronizing of its valves. “Heart can’t move a muscle” is a word play on a common expression and its meaning is plain so you are hoisting yourself on a trivial point that skewers your credibility. I don’t think you even know what you’re railing against. If you can, pick a point and stick to it and we can articulate a genuine point of distinction. Otherwise feel free to spare yourself the agita.

  17. Algorab says:

    The heart is not the epitome of wave pattern, curious to see your math on this. I don’t expect you actually did any math on this.

    You were hoisted on your own petard by using expressions, and metaphors when you should have used citations from peer-reviewed work.

  18. PHYLLIS says:

    Algorab, What is this “cell culture” that you feel makes you an expert? We all know the heart is a muscle. Do you know why the heart beats and how? I do- electrical energy. I am trained to detect this energy. When I am deeply hurt I feel it in my heart. My brain is busy with how do ‘I cope?’, ‘where do I go from here?’. I never have “hurt” in my brain because of an emotional issue.
    Make your point and don’t presume to diagnosis an individual based on a few statements. You were out of line to say Christine has feelings of inadequacy. Only insecure people have the pathological need to belittle others. I find your attitude a pain in my gluteus maxiums.

  19. Christine says:

    Algorab, where are your citations from peer-reviewed work that disprove NDT theories?

  20. Algorab says:

    Cell culture is found by inputting ‘cell culture’ into a search engine. I actually know what it is so compared to you, I am an expert. You are not trained to detect energy.

    You too are a pain in the gluteus maxiumus, which is more evidence against the ‘heart’ hypothesis. Thanks for your support.

    I don’t have to do any work to disprove NTD, it is held as false until proven correct. That’s the way it works in the adult world.

  21. kbehan says:

    Sir, or Madam, you lack manners. You should be bold enough to address a point directly.

  22. Algorab says:

    Please tell me how I lack manners?

  23. kbehan says:

    Make a study of dogs and you’ll see.

  24. Algorab says:

    So you can’t tell me. Well done. You should be bold enough to address a point directly.

  25. kbehan says:

    You are absolutely right. There is absolutely nothing I can tell you.

  26. Donnie_O says:

    Algorab, you (like most of the critics that post on here) are avoiding Kevin’s question about why it is that all people in all cultures around the world put their hands over their heart when they are emotionally moved. The people on this site are asking you to clarify your position and offer an explanation of dog behaviour based on whatever model it is you follow. Instead, you proceed with rude and arrogant, sweeping statements while avoiding any questions or criticism aimed at yourself. Glenn Beck called; he’d like his debating style back.

  27. Algorab says:

    Donnie_O you are rude, arrogant and prone to sweeping statements. Now that I’ve lobbied the idiocy back to where it belongs, I will explain things to you.

    In the adult world, when someone makes a claim, they are required to prove it. You are accused of a crime.. they need to prove it. You claim a drug works on a disease, you are required ot prove it. You make a claim that a widget will improve the efficiency of a process, you are required to prove. Merely claiming something is not enough, so I do not take Behan’s claim seriously since he has not provided any empirical support for his claim.

    People all over the world put the hands to their head when emotionally moved.
    http://panic-away-review.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/panic-attack.jpg

    Glen Beck is more correctly applied to Behan. He makes claims and demands that you treat them as Truth with a capital T.

  28. PHYLLIS says:

    Algorab: My understanding of cell culture is the growth of cells under controlled conditions as in the research using stem cells. I fail to see how this would explain anything regarding heart function. When a heart has a cardiac episode as in an infarct the area affected no longer functions. It even changes color, it does not grow new cells- Google it.
    Measurement of electrical energy generated by the heart is done using an ECG machine found in all medical facilities in North America. I have been trained and licensed to perform ECGs in government accredited facilities.

    A few points regarding the heart:
    • Scientists recognized a connection between the heart and emotional energy as early as 1625.
    • Emotional stress, be it depression, anxiety, loneliness or constant stress have been identified as putting an individual at risk for heart disease.
    • And from published articles:
    Most people think of the brain as the core of a human being, housing emotions, memories, thoughts, and controlling all bodily functions. But consider this:

    * The heart generates 60-to-1000 times more power and electromagnetic energy than the brain, making by far it the most powerful organ in the human body.

    * With a fetus its heart forms first, before the brain.

    *If the heart’s connection to the brain were severed, it would keep right on beating, pumping blood to the rest of the body and more. No other organs are capable of this. In the 1970s, a new branch of medicine called neurocardiology was created when scientists discovered that the heart has its own elaborate nervous system. It sends information to the brain and throughout the rest of the body with each and every heartbeat.

    New research proves that the heart produces its own very powerful magnetic field, a field that extends out from the body up to twelve feet in diameter. The heart’s electromagnetic field–by far the most powerful rhythmic field produced by the human body–not only envelops every cell of the body but also extends out in all directions into the space around us. The cardiac field can be measured several feet away from the body by sensitive devices. Research suggests that the heart’s field is an important carrier of information.

    It appears the heart has its own powerful and unique intelligence, which tells us that it’s not simply the organ that pumps our blood and keeps us alive. Take the large number of heart transplant recipients who have reported incredible changes after transplant surgery. There have been reports of odd new cravings, handwriting changes, musical preferences, and even strange new memories that don’t seem to be their own. These are simply transplanted along with the heart, and the recipient experiences them as if they were his own, just like the heart’s previous owner did.

  29. kbehan says:

    I am not making claims, I am making an argument. In the adult world, people argue by first understanding what the other is saying, and then remaining focused on a point as they build a counter argument. So my argument isn’t that people don’t touch other parts of their body when moved or even their heads (as when they’re out of their minds as in terror, grief, etc.) because the physical center of gravity, and hence the emotional center of gravity, can move anywhere throughout the body, especially under extreme forces of emotional acceleration. But why do they ever touch their heart, especially when moved by feelings of rapport, connection and profound love? Why not always touch the head if the brain is the center of emotion, and why for that matter is there any need to touch any part of their body at all if emotional experience is wholly a function of the brain? They touch the part of their body to complete a circuit, to reconnect with their emotional center of gravity. This is why we say we feel “touched.”

  30. kbehan says:

    If what I’m saying is idiocy, why are you here?

  31. Christine says:

    @Phyllis…so appreciate your insights and knowledge; communicated in a manner conducive to civil discourse!♥

  32. Heather says:

    Critics seem to come out of the woodwork and need an audience, perhaps algorab should have a party with subaru et al.

  33. kbehan says:

    These are amazing scientific facts that you’ve synthesized beautifully. My theory, based on watching dogs, is that the heart reconciles all the internal energies of the body/brain so that it is converted into a smooth wave function, and this makes animal consciousness coherent. In other words, the perception of change, energizes the Central and Enteric nervous systems and the heart is what smooths this out into a coherent, energetic template if you will, and this is adaptive because it always fits the formula for an efficient action that will ultimately add energy to the system. THEN, the Central nervous system as the executor of action has something to process into overt physical action and this is where behaviorism goes wrong because it gives the Big-Brain credit for the resulting intelligent action. This powerful electromagnetic field of the heart as you’ve noted may very well be that smoothing out dynamic, that is an exciting finding. By the dog focusing its subliminal beam on its heart and feeling whether or not its shoulder area is relaxed or tight, this determines its perception of any change or stimulus. A dog’s body/mind as an emotional battery contains both the physical memories of soft forequarters, (weightlessness and flow) and rigid forequarters, (weighted-ness and resistance). If the dog’s habit of mind becomes overcoming resistance effectively to achieve weightlessness and which requires being in sync with its surroundings, then he exhibits a self-confidence and emotional elasticity so that he can generate a trait on demand (prey or predator) in order to suit the emotional context of any given situation. The situation is made to conform to the dog’s desire for flow. On the other hand if it gains relief by load and overload, which is by the way how a nerve synapse works unlike the heart muscle which is an electromagnetic synchronizing of valves, then the stress hormones and social brittleness become its habit of mind and it becomes emotionally paralyzed in either the prey (hyper-submission to implosion) or predator (hyper-defensive to explosion) modality when in a moment of intense change. So to put all this information on this website into a few concise statements: the goal in Natural Dog Training is to soften the dog’s forequarters by helping it focus its subliminal beam of attention on its heart because it is able to ingest a preyful aspect, be it by taste, touch, smell or sight, into its gut. Then a dog can automatically, innately and spontaneously generate a trait-on-demand by way of a DESIRE FOR FLOW rather than going by instinct or habit (and this can never happen by thought) in order to be efficient and coherent in its actions, i.e. synchronized in a state of emotional suspension. This heightened emotional capacity is why dogs are the most social animal on earth.

  34. kbehan says:

    That’s the problem with the reality of quantum physics. Every particle has an anti-particle that wants to annihilate it. Fortunately the body/mind has solved that problem by having a heart.

  35. Christine says:

    @Phyllis…please cite your sources; I’d very much like to do some perusing!♥

  36. Heather says:

    So emotional elasticity is synonymous with heart, without such elasticity there is no ability to project the physical center of gravity into an object. Seems like it is simple to select for heart vs. tacking it on as a training exercise.

  37. PHYLLIS says:

    Christine, Here are some sites. Much of my information comes from my education, my family that is predominately medical and engineering and friends with similar interests. In my statements I tried to stay away from ‘emotional’ and concentrate on facts that can be proven scientifically.

    http://www.suite101.com/content/emotional-health-and-your-heart-a14837

    http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/11023208/ns/today-today_health/

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1024491/

    These are also interesting and informative:
    http://nobelprize.org/educational/medicine/ecg/ecg-readmore.html

    http://medgadget.com/archives/2010/02/device_measures_magnetic_field_of_heart_providing_a_new_tool_to_diagnose_the_organ.html

    http://www.sol.com.au/kor/20_02.htm

  38. kbehan says:

    Instinctively a dog can project its physical center of gravity into the form of a thing, but if it doesn’t “let go” then it goes by reflex or habit and this is where emotional capacity comes in. If it softens in its heart, then it can synchronize and all the resulting energy feels energizing rather than unbalancing.

  39. Algorab says:

    kbehan says:
    December 18, 2010 at 12:48 pm
    If what I’m saying is idiocy, why are you here?

    The idiocy I am refering to, should have been obvious. I thought by writing “Donnie_O” it would have given it away, specially since I used the same words he used on me.

    I also don’t think that ignoring false claims does anyone any good. Ignorance is a blight on society, anti-science anti intellectual movements are alwyas on the go, as seen here. They must be fought at every front. From people pushing Oleander soup to cure cancer to Bobby Jindal signing anti-science legislature. Looking away, doesn’t help.

  40. kbehan says:

    If this is idiocy, why are you so threatened? Also, why don’t you invite me to discuss my ideas on a science forum somewhere just by starting a thread so that the ridiculousness of what I’m saying can be made plain for all to see as opposed to posting anonymously on this small site which really won’t do your quest much exposure?

  41. Heather says:

    Just to clarify, the idea is for the dog to ‘let go’ with respect to a prey object that you want the dog to have. So object selection is key, eg why start with a soft toy if what you want to work with is a dumbbell.

  42. Algorab says:

    Phyllis, I appreciate someone looking stuff up, and I applaud you for citing references.

    That being said, you over-reach by claiming that the heart has ‘intelligence.’ If you read this word, it is a short-hand way for a scientist to describe changes brought by various processes. They don’t really believe it is an ‘intelligent’ organ. It is no more intelligent than the kidney that slowy dies from diabetes or increases it’s output to hyperhydration. It’s just chemistry.

  43. Algorab says:

    “I am not making claims, I am making an argument.”

    I think you need to look up the definitions of these words. A claim is an assertion. You assert that all cultures put their hands over their hearts when moved. This is an unproven assertion, and as evidence by the picture I linked, also false.

    In the adult world, people know what they are saying. If anything, you could have started with the heart/hand assumption as your premise and presented your argument from there. It would still be wrong, but from an rhetorical standpoint, technically correct.

    Babies, touch their genitals and their mouths…. if anything they are all feeling, so maybe the seat of emotion is in your junk.

  44. Donnie_O says:

    So that’s your whole argument, is to throw people’s words back at them? How adult of you. You must be a lot of fun to hang out with, Subaru or Algorab or whatever you decide to call yourself next time you get kicked off of here for being a jerk.

  45. kbehan says:

    New program. If you Algorab want to participate here, you will have to identify yourself and be verified, no more handles allowed other than the people who have already verified their integrity by virtue of their honest discussion and so are grandfathered in. For now I’ll just handle it personally until we set up the mechanics. Send me an email and we’ll figure it out. Otherwise, you may start a thread on some legitimate behavioral site and I’ll be happy to test my claims, assertions, model, theories with anyone interested in logical discourse.

  46. Christine says:

    Thank you Phyllis for the links. Should be interesting to browse on those wintry days when you just can’t get outside!

  47. Heather says:

    There is a false dichotomy somewhere in all of that ranting I’m sure, but the brain (vs the mind) is tricky. The key to resolving arguments, and emotion, in forums like these is in the information, ie, understanding the conflicts of interest a person has (so you can guess as to what their “safety”, path-of-least-resistance, position is and make it uncomfortable to stay there). Sometimes there isn’t enough information in the virtual world. Or too much information –I don’t have to meet Algorab in person to know that he’s not a madam, haha.

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Books about Natural Dog Training by Kevin Behan

In Your Dog Is Your Mirror, dog trainer Kevin Behan proposes a radical new model for understanding canine behavior: a dog’s behavior and emotion, indeed its very cognition, are driven by our emotion. The dog doesn’t respond to what the owner thinks, says, or does; it responds to what the owner feels. And in this way, dogs can actually put people back in touch with their own emotions. Behan demonstrates that dogs and humans are connected more profoundly than has ever been imagined — by heart — and that this approach to dog cognition can help us understand many of dogs’ most inscrutable behaviors. This groundbreaking, provocative book opens the door to a whole new understanding between species, and perhaps a whole new understanding of ourselves.
  Natural Dog Training is about how dogs see the world and what this means in regards to training. The first part of this book presents a new theory for the social behavior of canines, featuring the drive to hunt, not the pack instincts, as seminal to canine behavior. The second part reinterprets how dogs actually learn. The third section presents exercises and handling techniques to put this theory into practice with a puppy. The final section sets forth a training program with a special emphasis on coming when called.
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