IN THIS ARTICLE, we examine the functions of the brain and the mind from the perspective of Design. In the closing chapter we look at the Designs of Woody Allen and Drew Barrymore to see how they access and use their minds.

Mental solutions or worry?
One way or another, the mind has almost completely taken over every aspect of our lives. We are trained in the Western "educational system" (oxymoron) to try and think our way through life, and then we wonder why "our" thought processes always brings such disasters when "our" expectations are not met. The fact of the matter is that for most people, "thought processes" are borrowed, and consequently any expectations are not "ours."

Personally, I have never resolved anything to completion satisfactorily through thinking about it. Since the mind is split into at least two hemispheres, that have at least two completely balanced and opposed thinking processes, there are at least two answers to any single problem. If I think I prefer one choice, thoughts linger in the back of my mind that I could have chosen the other, or, if I had spent a little more time thinking, I could have had a host of new choices. There is never a settling point unless I give myself a time-related deadline to reach an answer...and in that process, I open myself up for worrying!

When the mind goes into overdrive, we energize worry. It is my considered viewpoint that there are only two good reasons to worry. One is that you are getting well paid for doing it. The other is that you really enjoy worrying. At least through getting paid to worry, you can take care of other agendas in your life with the money you earn. But through worrying for yourself, there is no possible outcome, except head, heart, and other aches.

The brain in the design chart

The image shows the placement of the 9 Centers within the Design chart, and also highlights the Hexagrams in the Wheel that correspond to the Gates in the Crown, Ajna and Throat Centers.

In the Design chart, there are two Centers that relate to our mental functions taking place in 3 distinct "streams of thought." When a thought process is (hopefully) completed, it can find expression at the Throat Center, through one of 3 different particular expressions. For a thought to be vocalized in "right" context is a matter that has nothing whatever to do with the mind’s functioning. I shall attempt an explanation.

The Crown Center is our place of "inspiration." In the East, there is a clear understanding of "Prana" or "Chi," or "Life Energy," that is drawn in through the Crown Chakra in parallel with breath that enters through the Mouth. When we in-spire, or breathe in, we draw in energy in the form of Oxygen through our Mouth, and at the same time, have the opportunity to draw in "Prana" through the Crown Chakra, "located" at the top of our head. With the drawing in of Prana and Oxygen, come the potential cognitions of our environment, and the energy to relate with it.

Inspiration arrives as a pressure of energy that seeks to be drawn into, and engage with our body. Any pressure seeks to find a release, and the place in the human makeup that releases energy is the Throat Center. As inspiration evolves during its passage from the Crown Center, through the Ajna Center to the Throat, it undergoes transformations through four stages (four Gates/Hexagrams) that turn a pressure into the spoken word. It can take a lifetime of working with one’s thought processes to recognize the difference between expressed thoughts that can be comprehended by others and those thoughts that cannot. Knowing when to say something and when to keep quiet is a great wisdom. Through understanding one’s Design chart clearly, there need never be a misunderstanding here. Having an inspiration, a mental pressure, does not imply that something has to be worried about, or spoken. Knowing when to "release the pressure" and speak out has nothing whatsoever to do with the pressure of the mind, but everything to do with one’s Type and Decision making process, that relates to another part of one’s Being altogether.

In brief, there are 5 "Types," most of which are passive and responsive to interactions brought to us in our life experiences. There are 7 Decision-making processes, none of which are based on information processed by the mind.

The gates of the mind
In the Design Chart, there are three ways in which our cognitive inspirations enter, through one of three Gates or Hexagrams the 64, the 61 and the 63.

Through Gate 64 comes a multiplicity of sensations, with an inbuilt question of whether it can all "add up" and make "sense" or not.

The 61 is the Gate of "Inner Truth," wherein lies access to knowledge of our True Being, if only it can be grasped.

The 63 is the Gate of questing any apparent forward movements in our world, with an inbuilt pressure to actually doubt that any such movements are possible.

With the 64 comes realization (or not) through the 47, at the other end of the Channel, 64 - 47, (Colored Green) the Channel of the Sensing, the Abstract mental process. This is the mind stream that wakes you up with a sudden "Eureka!" And for an instant, everything makes perfect sense! But then... the moment passes.

With the 61 comes reevaluation at the 24, at the other end of the Channel, 61 - 24, (Colored Blue) the Channel of the Eternal Thinker. Inner Truth is sent around and around and around in the mind, until a flash of rationalization comes, and in an instant, everything can be known, but for an instant.

With the 63 comes solution through the 4, at the other end of the Channel, 63 - 4, (Colored Red) the Channel of Logic, when the piece fits the puzzle, and the problem is solved, for now... The 63 will presently have another look and become pressured to find an even better or different solution. And on, and on it goes.

Even at a point of resolution at this stage of the mental process, there are still two more Gates/Hexagrams to traverse before anything can be related to another person through speech. The pressure can be intense.

The expression of the mind into language
The Abstract mental process of the 64 - 47 proceeds to the Throat Center through the Channel, 11 - 56, (Colored Green) the Channel of Curiosity, the Seeker.

The 11 is the Gate/Hexagram of an attunement to the world emanating from a sense of inner peace. As a hexagram, it is made up of the two trigrams that portray "Earth on Heaven." The 11 is a Gate that is potentially free to explore ideas arising from having "made sense" of something, through the 64 - 47, the Abstract Mindset. The expression of the Abstract thought process happens at the 56, the Gate of Stimulation that tells "how it is," related to "how it was," or, in the best of worlds, "how it might be." It is an expression of belief based on review of what does or does not "makes sense." In historic perspective, we know perfectly well that what apparently makes sense in one instance makes perfect nonsense in another!

The Channel of the "Eternal Thinker," the 61 - 24 proceeds to the Throat Center through the Channel, 43 - 23 (Colored Blue), the Channel of Individuality, also jokingly known as the "Genius to Freak" Channel. When the 61-24 in a flash arrives at a split-second of knowledge, the 43 can have an "insight." It is more accurately an "in-hearing." There is a moment of a sounding in the brain of something beyond what has been previously known. So, how does the new view get imparted to a potentially doubting and disbelieving world? Through the 23, the Gate of Assimilation. The 23 says: "I know!" With an underlying: "Please don’t expect me to be able to tell you exactly how I know! Trust me on this..."

This 43 - 23 Channel is affectionately known as the "Genius to Freak" Channel because there is a good chance that whatever the 23 says will not be related to previously acceptable "knowing," and therefore, whatever gets said can either blow people’s minds by its level of genius, or alternatively...freak them out completely!

The Logic Channel, the 63 - 4, traverses the Brain and proceeds toward expression at the Throat Center through the 17 - 62, (Colored Red) the Channel of Acceptance and the "Organizer." The 17 represents the Gate that formulates opinions that are based on a viewpoint of where the thought process might lead in terms of the future. The expression comes at the 62, the Gate of "Details" at the Throat Center, in the form of "I think this is reasonable." In the end, probably what gets said at the 62 will sound reasonable, but it does not necessarily mean it is in any way more correct than any other expression. Since modern culture is future oriented, and we have been trained to become fixed on our future, we will generally be convinced to accept a "logical," reasonable expression. (We may find out later that it was nonsense, and just a temporal, apparently reasonable viewpoint).

Summarizing our mental expressions
When we look back at the 3 ways in which we can express mental concepts, we see there is a "Sense" system ( 64 - 47 - 11 - 56, Colored Green) that is pressured to select from an overview of the multiplicity of possibilities in the past, "tried and true," fabled and believable scenarios, in its attempts to clarify our present moment. It is likely to be quite conservative if imaginative, but acting under a pressure to "make sense of life."

There is the "Logical" approach, (63 - 4 - 17 - 62, Colored Red) that is pressured from a deeply held doubt that we are going to manage unless we are constantly suspicious about everything and everyone in our life. It constrains us to constantly shift our viewpoint by fixing its sights on the future, "for the general betterment of things." It is fueled by our vitality for life, but is also quite conservative and, is under pressure to "make reasonable rules that work!"

There is the Individual "way," (61 - 24 - 43 - 23, Colored Blue) that breaks through the bounds of the "accepted" and the "believable" through a pressure to express "knowing." Flashes of insight are pressured to go through a dramatic transformation process to become language, and depending on the individual’s skills with speech, and their ability to "speak in turn," the language either conveys completely new and brilliant concepts, or falls flat in irrationality.

However the mind ends up expressing, we have unfortunately come more and more to rely on its abilities. For instance, politicians and the "talking heads" on TV do their best to express things of interest and things "worth worrying about," but they generally end up expounding on an amazing quantity of reasonable, sensible, conceptual mental garbage.

The design charts of Drew Barrymore and Woody Allen
Drew Barrymore was born February 22nd, 1975 in Culver City, CA, into the Incarnation of the Sleeping Phoenix. Her Inner Being is waiting for a dramatic change in the ways of the world she perceives around her. In the meantime, she lives the life of an incurable romantic who is constrained, quite literally, to busily look for love in all the wrong places. Despite and through her relationships, she undergoes a great personal transformation that empowers her spirit to become more and more brilliant and present in her life.

In her Design chart, she has indications of great motivation, and can keep herself frantically busy without really appreciating to whom and what she is committing herself. She has the defined channel of Emotional Moodiness (39 - 55) and consequently is subject to mood swings that at times can find her either depressed or elated. What she can learn about herself is that when she swings into a deep mood, she is reaching into her place of deepest creativity, where she accesses a part of herself that is profoundly connected to her Spirit.

Drew has an open Ego Center and is consequently difficult to impress, along with an undefined Self Center, which inclines her towards losing her personal "sense of direction" from time to time. That apart, she is very adroit in pointing out "the way" for others. With an undefined Spleen Center, she is susceptible to picking up and living out the fears of others (see June’s article on Fear).

In terms of mental concerns, Drew has an undefined Crown Center containing the 61, activated by her conscious Mars, which puts her under great pressure to find her truth in life. In her Ajna Center, she also has the 43 activated by her unconscious Mars and Mercury, giving her unconscious access to insights and concepts that can be difficult to implement or express. Mars energy can be intense and driving, particularly an undefined Centers, and particularly with an undefined Mind. Drew can find herself constrained to energize a mind that is constantly attuned to other people’s problems (particularly for the men in her life), on an assumption that the problems are actually her problems. They are in fact not her problems, but that need not stop her worrying about them!

Any undefined Center reflects back the world to itself. An undefined Crown or Ajna Center has an inbuilt means to answer other people’s questions, but not one’s own. If for any reason Drew finds herself with a furrowed brow, she is using her mind to resolve someone else’s misunderstandings of life. As I suggested earlier, hopefully by getting worried, Drew is getting well paid for it, otherwise, hopefully she is enjoying it! The recommendation however, would be for her to drop worrying altogether!

Woody Allen was born in Brooklyn, New York on December 1, 1935. He is born into an Incarnation of Planning, which is for the well being of his family or community. However large or small that community might appear to be, everybody is recognized by Woody as a potential community member, and Woody only finds real satisfaction in his life when his community or "family’ are happy.

Woody is an Emotional Projector in his Design, with a defined Mind. A Projector is someone who succeeds in life through being recognized and invited to interact with others. As an Emotional Projector, Woody needs to trust his feelings in everything he does. Feelings run in waves of peaks and troughs, and in Woody’s case, can drop him into deep despair or launch him into ecstatic heights. Anyone who experiences these dramatic mood swings can be enormously depressed but can also access some of the most profoundly creative resources known to mankind. Apart from being enormously creative, Woody is also enormously caring and generous, although, much to his amazement, he does not always receive back the generosity he bestows on others. Anyone with a defined Emotional Center needs to beware of expectations in life...they never turn out as one would suppose!

Woody has an undefined Sacral Center that implies he can become exhausted when active for extensive periods, but can be very clear in directing the use of others’ energies. He as an undefined Self Center giving him the ability to play many roles and to be a different person in everyone’s eyes. He has an undefined Throat Center that inclines everyone to hear whatever they want to hear from him, regardless of what he is actually intending to say. His Gate 56, activated by Pluto gives him the ability to be a great storyteller, without him necessarily knowing how much his stories affect his listeners.

Woody has a definition between his Crown and Ajna Centers in the Channel of the Abstract, where his mind is constantly striving to make sense of life. With Neptune in the 64 in the line of "futility," Woody has the kind of mind that can drive itself to the edge of despair, (if he lets it!) in that nothing ever completely and conclusively makes lasting sense, thus implying that there is no point in life. Whenever Woody acts out his working mind for the benefits of his movies, he can encompass every conceivably crazy possibility of how and why life does or does not make sense; when he takes his thoughts personally and seriously, he gets entangled in a process that has no conclusion. The Mind is never capable of being satisfied.

When Woody remembers his intrinsic feeling nature and remains aware that his feelings guide him accurately in life, he has the opportunity to relax out of an intense mental worrying, and settle into a place of great personal clarity. Riding the waves of life through highs and lows is Woody’s way, and in following his way he fascinates and supports himself and his community with his great creative spirit.

In conclusion

There are untold things about which we can worry and convince ourselves that the worry is "worth it." The mind seeks to take over our lives, but is excluded from so much because it cannot know; it can only make conjectures based on past information. When we move away from our incessant need for mental stimulation, we start to remember other parts and sensations available to our Being. Getting out of our minds and we start to find our relaxation, health and wellbeing, and allow our minds to return to their real job of overseeing and commenting on our lives.

There are only three steps in life: From the Head to the Heart, and from the Heart to our Being. We must recognize what our head’s real function is, and allow it, while we move our attention towards what deem is really meaningful in our life, our heart’s desire. Without getting stuck in our wishes, we can then make the step towards being who we really are - perfect in the scheme of all things. For after all, we are only here to be ourselves, and that is something the mind will never comprehend!

Next Month: Anxiety and the Emotions!

© Chetan Parkyn, March 2002