*In earlier posts, the webmaster Michael Carroll has asked us not to post copyrighted material - a sensible precaution. I believe that posting quotations (in this case, a paragraph of a chapter of a book - i.e. part of a part of a whole) of another's work, for non-commercial and research/educational purpose is allowed under copyright law (if the source is cited). I do this constantly in academia and I will assume the same rules apply here. If I am in error please let me know. The following is from Steps to an Ecology of Mind, by Gregory Bateson. I am quoting it out of context, but I hope it will still make sense given the discussions of First Access in Whispering. The words that I have CAPITALIZED are words that were italicized in the original. I recommend that you read the passage aloud. "Of course, the WHOLE of the mind could not be reported in PART of the mind. This follows logically from the relationship between part and whole. The television screen does not give you total coverage or report of the events which occur in the whole television process; and this is not merely because the viewers would not be interested in such a report, but because to report on any extra part of the total process would require extra circuitry.  But to report on the events in this extra circuitry would require a still further addition of extra circuitry, and so on. Each additional step towards increased consciousness will take the system farther away from total consciousness. To add a report on events in a given part of machine will actually DECREASE the percentage of total events reported. "We therefore have to settle for very limited consciousness, and the question arises: How is the selecting done? On what principles does your mind select that which "you" should be aware of?" (p. 432) Whispering has a quite a bit to say about the fact that much of our "selecting" is done by our nervous system and sensory apparatus (see pages 13+). For instance, we don't perceive individual electrons that may pass through our body. Likewise, the "image" that you are seeing before you as you read this post has been neurologically transformed and altered as the sensory information passes through the various nerves and cells that lead to the lobe of the brain that processes visual information. What you are seeing is an edited version of reality - A version that is edited in ways that you and I do not comprehend. OK. I have accepted the idea of First Access and Bateson's description of our inability to represent the whole in the part. However, I am still a bit unclear about what constitutes First Access. Feel free to comment on the vignettes below. 1. I am lying on the floor doing a Feldenkrais lesson. With my knees bent and my feet on the floor, I am gently rocking my left leg back and forth. Occasionally, I will push my foot into the floor. I am not directly perceiving my foot am I? Any sensation, any feeling, that I have of my foot, no matter how direct it may seem, is simply news of a difference. The sensation itself is a transform of an event, not the event itself. The feelings I perceive of my foot are First Access, yes? 2. I am a participant in a psychology study. Five flashes of light happen successively in the laboratory.  Unknown to me, there was a 5 millisecond picture of my dissertation advisor with a frown on his face in one of the flashes. Although I was not consciously aware of the image, I later evaluate my research ideas more negatively than I had earlier. The picture of my advisor was First Access, yes? Do we need to make a further distinction of First Access that does not make it to f2 (i.e. conscious/linguistic mappings)? Thanks - Ryan