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Bio-computer
There are many similarities between our nervous system and a personal computer. After all, the computer was designed as an extension of our own capabilities and could be expected to follow the same patterns. I first ran across the term, "bio-computer" many years ago in Center of the Cyclone, by John Lilly.
First, you've got your hardware; that's the basic unit. It has several parts. You've got a "mother board" that's got your main chips and connections. That's the "brain" of your system. You've got a screen so that you can tell what's going on; that's your "mind's eye". You could also just call that "thinking". You've got some sort of memory storage beyond your mother board, like a disc drive or two. This is like the memory that is not usually available to the conscious mind. In order to get at the information on disc memory, you must know the right combination of keys to push for access; in our "Bio" system it might take practice or even hypnosis. The whole thing is housed in some sort of chassis and connected together with lots of wires. This is, of course, the body and nerves.
Although some parts of our Bio-system are organized differently, there are more than enough similarities to keep us at this for quite a while.(When this was written, my computer was a Tandy with the big floppy disc and no harddrive. The analogy has taken on a life of it's own and evolved into LifeOS.)
As soft as a baby is, in computer terms, the delivered product is hardware. The kid enters the World with a "floppy disc drive" and very little software. Some people would say, "none at all", but we find a surprising amount of information being programed into the nervous system during pregnancy. This information, in form of hormones, allomones, alkaloids and other "messenger molecules" begins the life-long exchange between the individual and the environment. The molecules we refer to as "drugs" modify the process, perception or behavior by inserting outside information into the subject's Bio-computer.
A computer can use many different application programs to perform different functions. The potential of the computer is limited by the software, very much like the human body is limited by what it learns to do. In the computer, the "learning" necessary to perform new functions can be added by inserting a disc, while our bio-units need to be taught the new behavior.
There are several ways that we can input a computer, like inserting the disc, entering at the keyboard or from other computer networks through the wires. Likewise, our own bio-computers can be accessed in several ways. We each have our own "inner control panel" that we use to enter our own decisions from the conscious mind. The information that we take in through our senses is certainly input, some of it reaching the conscious mind, but much of it being filtered out and sent on to the auxiliary memory banks in the sub-conscious. Another way that our bio-computers receive information is through the digestive system. Vitamins are like little bits of software carrying important information for the maintenance of the total system. For the most part, these messages are more of that sub-conscious maintenance type, but some of these molecules can break through and disrupt the flow of information to the conscious mind. This is what happens in an hallucination.
Inner Control Panel
I like to think that this Bio-computer has a giant keyboard like in a big-time recording studio, with lots of blinking lights and switches. There are knobs and dials wired into the mother board and into all phases of our being. For example, we have a set of knobs and switches that control our concentration. They work like the zoom lens on a video camera. Say you are walking down a desert path; you've got your concentration set on "wide angle". You are relaxed, soaking in the day. Suddenly, from behind comes a loud noise. You spin around, your heart begins to pound and your concentration is zoomed in on the source of the noise. All of those switches were thrown, automatically, by an outside stimulus.
You can also work your concentration manually. When you read a book or draw or build something you manage the controls yourself. These switches are often manipulated by our friends and loved ones. The din of TV advertising is aimed at your control panel. Although we have lost the instruction manual for some of this equipment, practice is all that is needed to regain the use of our own controls.
I like to use switches as a model because that's the way it works for me. It feels like that when I wake up suddenly, or an interruption shifts my attention. We have all felt the jump from rest to the "ready" state. An athlete learns to throw his basic survival circuits into action at just the right moment. The training of armies is to condition these same circuits to respond to commands from a superior officer instead of the conscious mind of the soldier. Learning to meditate is learning to use that set of controls. The intelligent use of one's own equipment can release circuits of unbelievable potential.
I don't claim to be an expert on the use of all of this gear, on the contrary, I am just a beginner, but I have been switched on enough to know that it works.
Trauma
Trauma works in our Bio-computer as a special "code" to allow access to some of our habitual programs and make changes. If the organism's life is threatened, or it appears to be, all of the survival switches are thrown to the "FULL ON" position, including heightened awareness, extra strength, vivid memory and a lowering of the drive towards habitual action--a chance to change behavior. If the creature is confronted with a unique crisis it must gather as much information about this new threat as is possible; the problem may re-occur.
Of course, some of these switches are more than just on or off, and have an infinite number of positions in between. For instance, your pain control operates by degrees or can be shut off completely. The pleasure and pain switches are interlocked so that one overpowers the other most of the time.
We can carry this computer model a lot farther. We are not trying to say that people are only computers or that computers are intelligent. We are simply pointing out some similarities that can help us to understand how our own equipment works. We've misplaced the "instruction manual" for our basic equipment, and there are some people that would prefer that we never do find it. It is your nervous system, and it is your duty to learn how to use it properly.
Bio-memory
The memory system in our own bio-computer has several parts just as there are different kinds of memory in a personal computer system. We have our short-term conscious memory and our long term conscious. That memory capacity is substantial, but it is nothing to the vast unconscious memory, centered in the DNA.
"It is important to recognize that the complex activity of manufacturing the hormones and enzymes which regulate both neural transmission and the endocrine system is guided by the subtle programming coded into the genetic structure of each cell in the body. One can view these three modes of physiological functioning as communication systems. Neural transmission provides rapid communication for the whole body--requiring fractions of a second for feedback. The endocrine system inter-organ, provides slow communication--requiring minutes to hours for feedback. While the genetic structure can be seen as an organism-environment communication system requiring many generations for feedback."1 Mishlove
DNA Language
This is the deepest part of the Basic Operation Programs of our bio-computer, with the information, or "software" recorded on these sugar phosphate crystals.
The DNA double helix is arranged in series of "windings" or "coils" known as "solenoids" among those keen-eyed folks who peer into such matters. This DNA strand is organized in such a way that the coils expose themselves to each other and the surrounding cell in rhythmic patterns. These writhing coils of information are in constant communication with the outside world through their chemical messengers. As well as a string of code, the DNA is indeed a string of highly sophisticated "oscillating circuits" hidden away in the nucleus of the cell. There it is protected from damage or "access" by a formidable maze of barriers and filters as well as the roaming immune cells. Meanwhile, each cell is in constant communication all of the rest of the cells in the body. This network of cells forms a sort of "holographic memory device", that is also the Operating System. This system contains the potential for storing an enormous amount of information, possibly the entire history of that particular "bloodline"...in DETAIL! That would explain why age regression under hypnosis sometimes produces evidence of "former lives".
We have been told that our bodies are built out of proteins, powered by carbohydrates and lubricated by fats, but there is one more element that must be present before any of the others can function: INFORMATION! In order for the proteins to be assembled and nutrients to flow, there must be a plan. There must be a code that explains every relationship and operation. This code must contain contingency plans for every anticipated deviation from the master plan. This master is contained in the strands of our DNA, recorded in electro-magnetic impulses by a process that might be described as "bio-holography". Although the brain contains short-term memory loops, the main memory is contained in every cell in the body. Every molecule that enters the body carries with it the information necessary for its identification and processing.
The shape of the molecule, the relationship between its atomic micro-circuits, gives it a unique vibration that broadcasts its "call letters" and other information to other cells in the organism. Every cell and molecule in the body keeps in touch with every other through messages transmitted in the "ultra-violet" range.
Just as in the home computer, all of this information is "software" and completely invisible.
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Sources
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1 Mishlove, Roots of Consciousness, Random House, New York, 1975, p 213.
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