A Mason's Work

[00:01] So, this week, we're moving further along in our exploration of conscious awareness,
[00:06] building on the framework we established over the last couple days.
[00:08] If you remember, we started at the Tuscan stage, that raw stage, that pre-evaluative
[00:13] state of pure sensation.
[00:16] And then yesterday, we talked about that Doric stage, where we start to see the egoic sense
[00:21] of self-development and that sort of structural perception where we begin to label and categorize
[00:25] our experiences.
[00:26] Today, we're going to start to talk about the Ionic order of architecture.
[00:33] Now, for those of you that don't know, and perhaps I probably should have done this in
[00:37] previous episodes, but the Tuscan order of architecture is that first order, it's a round
[00:43] column, and it's really structurally strong.
[00:47] The Doric order is a fluted column, which is similar to the Tuscan, but has a little bit
[00:53] more adornment.
[00:53] When we talk about the Ionic column, we're talking about the column with a little scroll-like
[00:59] spirals at the top.
[01:02] And in our mapping of consciousness, the Ionic stage is where we move from simply labeling
[01:06] things to the act of sort of a reflective intellect.
[01:10] If the Doric was about naming the sun, the Ionic was where we start to scroll or talk about
[01:17] what the sun means to us.
[01:18] It's where meaning, the layer of meaning is created.
[01:21] So what does that mean to us in terms of awareness?
[01:24] At the Doric stage, we have this very sort of black and white connection to the world
[01:29] between me and the world.
[01:32] The Ionic stage is where we begin to think about those thoughts, about the metacognition.
[01:37] It's the level of awareness where you aren't just experiencing a sensation or labeling it.
[01:43] You're analyzing the label itself.
[01:46] It's where we begin to find the sort of first tier of subtleties and nuances that we often
[01:51] miss when we stay stuck in those rigid sort of Doric labels we've given it.
[01:56] So think about a difficult conversation.
[02:00] For example, the Tuscan level might just be the sort of heat in your chest or the sound
[02:07] of your voice or the tingling in your fingers or legs, depending if you're in fight or flight
[02:13] mode.
[02:14] The Doric level is labeling it.
[02:18] I am upset.
[02:20] He is mean.
[02:21] Uh, I am frustrated.
[02:26] The Ionic level is where you step back and ask, why am I calling this frustration?
[02:31] What is the history or the story I'm telling myself right now?
[02:35] What is the, um, the sort of cause and effect relationship between what I have labeled the
[02:43] experience I had and the label I gave it.
[02:46] It's this first level of sort of reflective awareness where we begin to gain sort of really
[02:53] meaningful agency where we can say, listen, uh, what I'm experiencing and what I'm feeling
[02:58] may be mislabeled.
[03:01] We gain this flexibility to move past these misconceptions and begin to dial into our system,
[03:08] uh, you know, unscrolling or undoing that, uh, that labeling process.
[03:14] We can correct our misidentifications to our early experiences.
[03:20] And as we build these labels, uh, we're going to begin to create this evaluative process again.
[03:26] And I've talked about that over the course of the past couple of weeks and ways to go
[03:30] from sort of one level to the next, um, by unscrolling this scroll at the top of the Ionic,
[03:36] uh, sort of a column, we get to then see the chain of cause and effect in a meaningful
[03:44] way.
[03:45] We can begin to approach that point, uh, over the next couple of episodes where that
[03:50] Ouroboros, that head meets that tail and the Ionic intellect that I, the Ionic sort of,
[03:56] uh, phase here of consciousness is the, the first sort of, uh, every step is necessary,
[04:02] of course, but the Ionic is that necessary bridge of self-reflective analysis.
[04:06] Uh, just like I warned you in the previous stages, there's a trap here as well.
[04:12] You can get so caught up in the intellectualization or the sort of reflective process here that you
[04:19] lose touch with your feelings.
[04:21] You lose touch with the Tuscan level of awareness itself because you're so busy focused on the
[04:26] naming and trying to create this perfect architecture of names, uh, you know, this integrated set of
[04:33] labels that are so complex and nuanced that you lose the sensation that was originally attached to
[04:39] it.
[04:39] So be mindful as you're sitting in certain sort of parts or domains of your experience where that
[04:46] Ionic process has gone awry.
[04:48] Uh, and you essentially have created a story that you're following that's no longer connected to the
[04:54] sort of sensations and data you're experiencing.
[04:56] This is a, one of the early places that a lot of folks get trapped is essentially buying into the
[05:03] story instead of the data driven.
[05:05] Here's the sensation, here's a proper label for it.
[05:08] And then here is an analysis of what's going on.
[05:11] Uh, this is essentially a potential place that you want to be sort of watch out for tomorrow.
[05:18] We'll talk a little bit more about how, uh, this level of awareness then turns into, uh, sort of a
[05:25] more complex understanding, uh, and a more nuanced way to interact with your environment.
[05:31] See you then.