Flow states: synesthetic hypothesis

 

The flow states deliver the stream of knowledge from the the P-Zone to man

 

SYNESTHESIA

 

Synesthesia was discovered at the end of the 19th century by Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin. Synesthesia is a mixture of sensations. It is eight times more common in writers, musicians, artists, scientists and other creative people.

 

According to Ramachandran & Hubbard (2001)*, there is an explanation. We are all born with intertwined connections between different parts of the brain. These connections are then trimmed during development to create the characteristic modular architecture of the adult brain. Synesthesia appears when there are partial connections between adjacent regions of the brain that have not been properly trimmed. If this occurs between brain regions responsible for recognition of numbers and colors, then there will be a number-color synesthesia. If a connection exists between sound and color regions, there is a tone-color synesthesia, etc.

 

Synesthetic abilities are present in all people. They affect a person's ability for conceptual and abstract thinking, as well as the perception of the flow states. One can assume that synesthesia may be one of the tools for sensing the flow states and decoding information. Most people have synesthesia as an auxiliary tool and its work is unconscious in nature.

 

For synesthetes, their abilities are an additional sensory system, an important element of their perception of the world. Apparently, synesthesia combining the abilities to perceive the flow states and vision (visual-flow synesthesia) causes people with this type of synesthesia to live in the flow and facilitates their desire to learn more about the flow. * Therefore, we use the visual-flow synesthesia as a supplementary tool for the formulation of synesthetic hypotheses describing the internal structure of the flow states and the ways humans perceive the flow.

 

 

FLOW STATES AND HUMANS

 

Wildlife cannot exist and evolve without flow conditions. People, unlike other mammals, may not simply experience the flow states but also use it for development, creativity, and improvement of their quality of life.

 

During evolution, humans inherited the brain stem, limbic system, and neocortex.

Humans also inherited the perception of the flow states through the limbic system. However, the neocortex in humans is developed significantly more compared with other mammals including primates. Thus, the cerebral cortex in humans serves as the operating system to analyze the flow. The flow activates the respective brain regions that translate the flow to the levels of consciousness, the subconscious mind, and the physical body.

 

It seems that people are frequently experience the flow. Normally, our different psychological states are associated with processes of entering the flow or experiencing the flow states.

 

COMPONENTS OF FLOW

 

To understand the components of the flow states, let us turn to the analogy. Almost everyone has a mobile phone. In order to talk via the phone, the information first needs to be encoded at the transmitting station. Then, the signal is transmitted to the antennae and further to the next antennae until it reaches our handset phone. The decoder within the phone will convert the signal into speech, and then the cycle will repeat until the end of the conversation.

 

An interaction between the flow and a human is very similar. Although, in this case, a human is an antenna, a decoder, and a telephone, while the role of transmitting station is performed by P-Zone (the area of ​​human potential). It is important to note, P-Zone is not separated from the human, and it is a part of his or her super consciousness.

 

Visual-flow synesthesia allows me to visualize my own personal flow states and the flow of others. This ability has helped me to identify the cyclical nature of the flow and isolate the elements of its components:

 

I. Primary flow.

II. Symbolic flow.

III. Transferring flow.

IV. Returning flow.

 

I. Primary flow

 

Primary flow  - a forerunner flow.  This flow affects not only creative achievements as it is generally believed, but also the physical state of the organism as a whole. Therefore, the primary flow prepares the human body for the changes that will accompany the perception and transformation of new information. Soft meditative preparation of the body is the best way to become ready for the perception of the flow.

 

Primary flow also helps in psychological adjustments, related to the concentration of a person on a task. It is exactly at this moment a person synchronizes his or her skills with the complexity of the task and goes through the stages described in detail by M. Chisksentmihayi, text on Fig. 1A.

 

When the primary flow is stabilized, it turns on the symbolic flow.

 

II. Symbolic flow

 

Symbolic flow – is a transportation of symbols from the zone of potential (P-Zone) to a subconscious mind. Intuition is the vehicle of the symbolic flow.

 

Man began to use symbols long before speech. Albeit lacking language, man was able to take in information, process and store it, and even send it to other people using gestures, sounds and symbols.  Symbols allow us to perceive new ideas - therefore they are necessary for our communication with each other. Due to the symbolic models, ideas spread around the world. This explains the effect of concurrent scientific discoveries. A symbol is an element of knowledge. Symbols are able to concisely store large amounts of knowledge. Symbols also store knowledge of the unconscious and human P-Zone (the area of ​​human potential).

 

The role of an antenna for human intuition is performed by concentration on the task. Concentration helps adjust the right brain hemisphere to perceive the flow and allows the intuition to fully transfer the symbols in the subconscious mind, text on Fig. 1B.

 

Correct concentration is the search for the right questions. It is important to understand that the concentration is not planning or formulation of desire. Detailed objectives or excessive planning at the stage when a question is just asked strongly influences the answer to the question. This obscures intuition and leads to wrong decisions. In fact, the wrong concentration is a trap of consciousness that often occurs under the influence of a group opinion or human discourse.

 

Upon the wrong concentration, there is a deviation from the axis of the symbolic flow. As a result, the person either loses some knowledge of the P-Zone or gets synchronized with other people's symbols or information. This is another trap of consciousness: despite the fact that the person obtains foreign information, he or she intakes it as their own.  Consequently, there will be a distortion of human identity that, eventually, may lead to a loss of individuality. That is why the answers obtained outside of human symbolic flow are incorrect.

 

Symbols delivered by intuition merge with the symbols of the subconscious mind like halves of folding puzzles. Their connection is perceived by the person as an inspiration - when "suddenly" there are answers or a new perspective on what is happening. This is an inspiring part of the flow; and yet while it is very difficult to put into words, everyone who has lived through those moments can understand what it is.

 

III. Transferring flow

 

Connection between the symbolic fragments in whole modules creates a source of knowledge in the subconscious mind. As soon as the process is completed, the new information launches a transferring flow that goes to the left-brain hemisphere.

 

At this time, the person tries to translate what is perceived by consciousness into language. This is a difficult phase, for it requires a complete immersion of the person in himself or herself. This may cause a loss of the rapt attention that the person needs to decode information.

 

Note that the flow is perceived by consciousness before language can explain the flow. Even before there is a transferring flow, we have caught what is going on, we have understood it at the level of consciousness. Left-brain hemisphere activity - it is a translation of the already perceived information to the level of speech.

 

There is another trap of consciousness where the distortion of information may occur. Interpretation of information is always dependent on human perception. That perception depends on our development. No matter how much a person is intuitive, synesthetic, sensitive, etc. - without education and continuous learning about new advances in science, culture, and technology, a human can not be a high quality "translator" of the knowledge from the P-Zone.

 

IV. Returning flow

 

Returning flow - it is the resulting, closing phase of the flow. This flow occurs after the activity of the left-brain hemisphere. The energy of the returning flow gives us strength for physical action, and it determines what result we will achieve.

 

This flow also determines which area of the P-Zone will be activated next time and what circumstances need to be present in order for it to activate.  We can say that the returning flow is a GPS-navigator providing the coordinates of human development and influencing the content of the next flow.

 

One characteristic of the flow is the time of its action. Time is a factor of human perception. Internal perception of time affects the concentration of a human. When people are stuck in the past, in the hope that the decisions from the past will be effective in the present, there is a strong obstacle to concentration and a strong interference to decode the information. A similar situation arises when a person hangs in their dreams for the future. As a result, the person is unable to recognize the opportunities offered by the flow states. Time is also a significant factor that allows synchronization of relationships between people. It is safe to say that the human ability to be in the present is the key to success and the ability to live in the flow.  

 

GROUP FLOW STATES AND SUCCESS

 

The success of a person is the work of the whole team. The success of an individual correlates with the success of the people who surround him or her. That is why the flow states are crucial for the development of the group. The highest achievement of the group is when all members of the group synchronize their perception for the pursuit of a common goal. In this case, human achievements and intra-group cooperation grow in a special way, providing recognition and material success for the whole group. This cooperation creates a feeling of joy from the work process regardless of the complexity of the tasks and the intensity of external circumstances.

 

Teams that fail to develop flow towards the goal suffer from excess entropy. This is reflected in lack of understanding, the internal resistance of the people, and the high level of anxiety of the groups. Typically, in such organizations, a malevolent atmosphere is accompanied by a formation of smaller groups fighting against their potential enemies.

 

CONCLUSION

 

Flow activity is of great importance in the decision-making process. The proposed hypothesis of the flow state is a model of action and is originally designed for the practical application of the flow states.

 

This model takes into account the available knowledge about the flow, human consciousness, and thinking processes - thus, it opens up the prospect for further interdisciplinary research of the flow states.