Charge . and . Feeling

The physical world is a state of perpetual change. So, too, for consciousness. Are there any similarities between the way that matter changes and the way that consciousness changes ? . My answer is Yes.

[Note: I use a particular model of consciousness : consciousness is made up of will, mind and feeling].

In the physicists’ world of sub-atomic particles the relationship between matter and energy is given by Einstein's equation : E = mc². This equation means that matter and energy can be made interchangeable. However, there is, in my view, a qualification that needs to be added. The ability of energy and matter to interchange is constrained by electrostatic charge.

The function of charge is not clearly understood in conventional physics textbooks. In part, this is because the process of change is also not clearly understood. What causes change to happen ? . What is the role of charge in the process of change ? . It is always helpful, when considering a difficult problem, if one can use an appropriate analogy in some other department of knowledge. Since I want to compare matter and mind, where can I find, within the field of consciousness, an analogy to charge ?

The analogy that I am looking for is that of .'feeling'. There are a multitude of emotions, but only three kinds of feeling. Feeling is either positive, negative, or neutral, and is a basic ingredient of any emotion. I define an emotion to be a mental concept that is energised by feeling. [¹]. Charge bears some close resemblances to feeling. Compare these statements.

There are three kinds of charge : positive, negative, neutral.

There are three kinds of feeling : positive, negative, neutral.

Within the domain of matter, charge acts on an individual particle. When we consider consciousness, then feeling acts on an individual mind. Within evolution, matter is created before individual units of consciousness are created. Charge can be viewed as the evolutionary basis of feeling, that is, charge is the model on which feeling is based. The way that charge functions is the same as the way that feeling functions.

Charge acts in two ways, as does feeling. Charge helps to maintain a stable, long-term, energy pattern in an individual particle or atom, whilst nevertheless producing random current movement. So too a person’s temperament (such as introversion or extroversion), based on a preference for a particular feeling (such as hate or love), maintains a stable energy pattern ; nevertheless, the person experiences short-term oscillations of feeling superimposed on his temperament. In both examples, changeable (unstable) flows of charge or feeling are superimposed on stable background patterns of charge or feeling.

In evolution, charge (within matter) evolves into feeling (within consciousness). To understand the function of charge we look in reverse : by understanding the function of feeling, we thereby know the function of charge. Feeling is the agency of change within consciousness. Therefore charge is the agency of change within matter. The more charge that a unit of matter possesses, the more it can change.

The significance of change is profound.

The ability to change is the pre-requisite for causality to operate.

If a unit of anything cannot change then it cannot be involved in causation. If anything cannot change then it can neither be acted on by something else nor can it act as a cause on anything else. If charge could not produce movement of particles, then any applied power (such as a battery or a transformer) would produce no effect – electrical circuitry would not work.

Feelings govern the way that a human wants to interact with other humans. So correspondingly, charges govern the way that energy and matter interact. The changeable flow of charge produces random patterns of current movement, or ‘spontaneity’. Likewise, the changeable flow of feeling also produces the spontaneity of short-term relationships. But spontaneity is inadequate to sustain long-term relationships or patterns of stability. Long-term relationships are maintained by will. Within units of matter the long-term patterns of stability are maintained by will too, only here ‘ will ’ means force.

[Within my theory of philosophical Idealism, force means the power of god’s will within objective mind to keep the overall total of charges balanced to zero. See the article Synthesis of Mind and Matter.]

The number in brackets at the end of each reference takes you back to the paragraph that featured it.

[¹]. To understand the differences between feeling and emotion, read my article ‘Emotion’ on my websites The Subconscious Mind or Discover your mind.

See References & Links page. [1]

Copyright © 2002 Ian Heath
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Ian Heath
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