26 Mar The sensory migration from the real world to the digital world
The sensory migration from the real world to the digital world
An article by Chantal Lapointe on two lectures given by
Philippe Perennès
PART TWO
How can we counteract this sensory migration phenomenon?
The first thing we must consider in order to find ways of dealing with this situation is the fact that the child lives more outside the “self” than inside; that is to say that a child has not yet developed a large degree of self awareness. The following excerpt from a work by Adeline Dubreu-Béclin focussing on the effects of screen exposure on psychological development (in L’évolution psychiatrique 83 (2018) p. 399-414), will throw some light on this situation:
“The emergence of thinking and the development of the psychological sheath require first of all a solid physical foundation. In order for the self to find its place in time and space, the child must experience “holding,” (being “held”) by the parent. The child needs parental “holding,” but also must be given time to engage with the surrounding world through sense perception. The dominant factors in the young child’s life are physical growth and the development of motor coordination. The entire psychological life of the child is expressed through movement, at least up until the moment when the ability to speak is acquired. The child’s motor expression is of course a reaction to organic needs, but it is also the child’s first way of communicating with the surrounding world. This interaction is vital to the formation of the sense of self as subject, and also to the creation of a “space” for thinking. As the child stumbles along, exploring the surrounding world, motor intelligence is gradually raised to the level of mental imaging. Therefore, we can attest to the importance of the solid physical and rational foundations which lead to the development of the sense of the self as subject. This leads us to conclude that overexposure to screens at an early age, by disturbing this double developmental foundation, alters the emergence of thinking.”
This means in reality that in order to develop awareness as an “I” or “self,” the child must have the benefit of both sensory experiences and relations with human beings. This reality must absolutely be taken into consideration.
Children are the future of humanity, and Perennès shares Saint-Exupéry’s view that: “As far as the future is concerned, the important thing is not to foresee it, but rather to make it possible.” We must make it possible for children to develop, which means making it possible for something, or rather someone, that we do not yet know, to emerge. We have to commit to “allowing freedom to develop.” But how? How can we allow a child to become what he or she truly is? We must start by not putting obstacles in the way of what wants to emerge, by not allowing something we would like the child to be or become get in the way of what the child truly is. Perennès explains that the three pillars of Waldorf education are designed to respond to that very need:
- Cultivating a clear intention
- Developing manual skills
- Developing and educating all the senses
1. Cultivating a clear intention:
There is a clear distinction to be made between the intentionality of the child and that of the adult. The child’s intentionality is still more or less instinctual, and is closely linked to life forces: hunger, thirst, the need to feel safe, etc. And if this primitive instinctual intentionality, turned exclusively towards one’s own self needs, persists in adulthood, it becomes a problem. Intentionality must of necessity evolve over the course of one’s life – but towards what, and how?
In the training course Rudolf Steiner gave in 1919 in Stuttgart to the teachers of the first Waldorf school, he spoke of how in the evolution of a human being one can see a certain interiorization of the will forces accompanied by a movement of feeling towards the thinking sphere. Insofar as we can consider feeling to be the “motive” for willing, we can sense how thinking gradually penetrates and gives intention to the forces of willing. Instinct appears therefore as what we could call an “inferior” state of willing, and can be clearly expressed in the physical forms in which the various animals appear. In Study of Man,Rudolf Steiner points out how we see in the very bodily form of birds, bees, beavers, their instinctual ability to build their dwellings. He goes on to say that on higher level, even in some animals, the will no longer expresses itself as instinct, but rather as “impulse,” which is more internal in nature, whereas instinct is driven by something external. On an even higher level, will becomes desire. Yet, even though “impulse” is “constant” throughout the course of one’s life, “desire” is not always present, “it wells up and then recedes.” Instincts, impulses and desires are manifestations of animal nature, which ceases to be the case when they are sufficiently internalised to be perceived by the “I”, and although animals may have desires, we cannot say that they have motives. The highest forms of will are the “wish, or desire” to “do better next time” (to improve oneself). A “plan” results when a wish/desire takes on a “clearer contour” and aims at a concrete goal. The “plan,” after having matured for some time, then becomes a “resolve.”
In order for this evolution of the will to take place, to become more human, less egotistical, more in tune with one’s community, it must be carried within the hearts of the adults with whom the child is in contact, the adults that the child will imitate and take as role models. Educators, and all the adults in a child’s surroundings, must be imbued with intentionality that is not animal in nature, but rather as human as possible. This of course requires that the educator’s intentions not be determined by questions of money, but rather by more noble motives, until such time as the same intentionality can blossom within the child’s own heart.
Of course, deep-rooted intentions can very well lurk far beneath the level of our normal consciousness. We are not always aware of why we do something or other, why we end up at a certain place. And yet, the intentionality reveals itself in the very actions we take. Therefore, as adults, we must practice careful introspection. It behoves us to examine our actions to attempt to become aware of our deep-rooted intentions.
- Developing proper knowledge and skills
What we do is who we are. Obviously, a child cannot look back over his life to discover who he is. Until such time as the child reaches an age where his or her own actions can become a defining life feature, a child defines his or her own being by what the parents do: “My daddy is… he knows how to… My mommy is…”. Writing one’s own biography entails engaging with the world of time and space, and in order to do this, the child must experience the ability to make the surrounding real world move. Children who do not manage to make things work or move are fragile: they are either withdrawn or become troublemakers. In this respect, art activities and handicrafts are precious tools.
- Educating all the senses
The first thing we need to do is to become familiar with all the senses (see the explanatory note at the end of the article). The next step is to cultivate the senses, to care for their development. This is why more and more kindergartens and day care centres are choosing to locate in a natural setting (http://www.communityplaythings.com/resources/articles/2018/long-term-effects-of-nature-based-education).
A fundamental characteristic of true perception of the real world is coherence. When a child picks up a piece of wood, he feels its weight, sees its shape, can taste it, smell it, explore the nuances of its various colours, make sounds with it, test its strength, etc. If Waldorf schools reject the use of plastic toys, it is because the child needs this coherence of perceptions that plastic does not offer: plastic objects all have more or less the same weight, taste, and uniform texture. External sense coherence fosters inner coherence.
Thus, to counteract the effects of sensory migration, Perennès suggests that we put into practice the three pillars found in Waldorf education:
- Clear intentionality to allow the child’s own intentionality to develop,
- Development of manual skills
- Development of the senses.
Counter measures
These three pillars are of the utmost importance in today’s world, although they seem to go against the generally accepted concepts held by current thinking and which Perennès brings to our attention. We only have to refer to the dominant role played by “public relations” as inspired by the ideas of Edward Bernays, who has developed a method based on the notion that in order for a democratic society to function properly, there must be an invisible form of government that decides for all its citizens while leaving them under the impression they are free (Edward Bernays, Propaganda, comment manipuler l’opinion en démocratie, Zones, Paris, 2007, p.31.). “The minority,” so he writes in his book Propaganda, “has discovered that it can influence the majority in order to reach it own ends. It is now possible to mould public opinion and to manipulate the masses into using their own individual strengths to further the aims of the minority. And considering the way our current society is structured, this practice is virtually inevitable. Nowadays propaganda has become a necessary part of everything that is of any importance on the social level: politics, finance, industry, agriculture, charities and education. Propaganda is the executive organ of the invisible government.” It was thus that Bernays was the first to use the methodologies of psychology, psychoanalysis and social science as tools for social manipulation.
Perennès also draws our attention to another individual, B. J. Fogg, whose contribution is more recent and not to be overlooked. He has a PhD in Psychology and is the founder of the Stanford Persuasive Technology Labwhere he experiments with the techniques of persuasion and seduction and has developed what he calls Captologyas well as Designing for Behavior Change(Our goal is to explain human nature clearly and map those insights onto the emerging opportunities in technology. http://captology.stanford.eduComputers As Persuasive Technologies = CAPT. http://captology.stanford.edu/about/what-is-captology.html, ) Captology is “the study of the use of computers as persuasive technologies. It includes design, research, ethics and analysis of interactive digital devices (computers, cell phones, websites, wireless technologies, mobile apps, video games, etc.) designed to influence peoples’ attitudes and behaviour.”
Fogg’s approach is based on the equation: B = MAT (B = behaviour, M = motivation, A = aptitude, T = trigger). “In order to use technology as a tool for persuasion, it is important to become clear about what actually causes behaviour to change.” And the three aforementioned elements: motivation, aptitude and trigger, “must all converge in order to produce a specific behaviour.”
According to Fogg, there are three components to motivation: immediate sensation, anticipation, and sense of belonging. There are two ways to enhance aptitude: “You can train people to gain skills. That is the more difficult way, persuading someone to learn new things. The best solution is to simplify the behaviour being targeted.” As to the trigger, it can be “a reminder, a deadline, etc. Basically, a trigger tells someone “do it now!”
Perennès sums this up by saying that in order to get a salesperson to actually go meet a client, for example, we appeal to the reptilian brain, the survival brain, by pleading necessity and urgency. Then, we appeal to the brain’s limbic system, the emotional brain, and we give the final blow by appealing to the neocortex, the part of the brain that supports reflection. As far as aptitude is concerned, by making things as simple as possible, by making no demands, we do not foster the development of skills but create the impression that we do have skills. True skill development is biographical in nature, says Perennès, and requires bodily control. And the trigger is something that comes from the outside, a logo, a sense perception that causes something in the mind to click.
With this approach, we make sure that it is never the individual’s intention that takes precedence, or is even called upon. On the contrary, we appeal first to the individual’s emotions and drives. And when Fogg speaks of intentionality, he means the intentionality of the programmers. (Intentionality is what distinguishes between a planned effect and a side effect of a technology », in B.J. Fogg, Persuasive Technology, Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do, Morgan Kufmann Publishers, 2003, p.16).
In an article on social media and neuroscience published in Science et Vie, James Williams, an Oxford scientist now carrying out research into the ethics of attention, and who formerly worked as a Google advertising employee, explains: “In the short term, these tools distract us from the things we have to do. In the long run, this can distract us from the life we would like to live… These technologies appeal to our impulses and not to our intentions.” (« Netflix, Facebook, Google…Notre cerveau adore ! (Our brain loves them!) Science & Vie, No. 1208, Mai 2018, p. 77)
And in video games as well, which has been one of Perennès’ fields of research (Philippe Perennès, Rencontre avec les quatre sens corporels. La désincarnation par les jeux vidéo, FESWF, 2006.), there is no freedom. The intention is always that of the programmer. One can only play the game according to what has been programmed, and the description always says: “If you want to win, you have to …”
What to do in this situation?
We must realise that each time a child is put into a true perceptual situation, every time the child is placed in a context where the perceptions come from the real world and not a virtual one, this constitutes a vehicle for incarnation, and the experiences will remain with the child. Therefore, we must create “little islands” of meaningful activity. This means providing the child with situations geared towards reality, in which the child can perceive real things, “Because, when we truly perceive things, we are on the way to meet the world.”
Philippe Perennès quotes the words of Robin Schmidt: “Up until the present, it was always heaven that was transcendent. We had to transcend the earth and its conditions in order to reach heaven. The digital world is a world in which we live without our bodies. … The earth has become a distant place, foreign to us. It has become something we enter only by crossing a barrier, through practice, by willful decision. It is thus that the earth becomes transcendent.” (Robin Schmidt, Prendre le risque de l’Autre. L’émergence de l’hospitalité, Laboissière en Thelle, Triades 2017, p. 53-54)
It is therefore a question of allowing children to experience the earthas often as possible, through mountain hikes, nature walks, or, very simply, by allowing them to play outdoors.
Let us create little islands where experiences have to do with reality, experiences which will make the future possible.And in order for this to happen, says Perennès, we must develop a clear vision of the nature of a salmon! A salmon swims upstream against the current, and it is up to us to develop a “salmon mentality.”
NOTE
There is no consensus at present as to the actual number of senses possessed by the human being. It all depends on how the question is approached: visible organs, receptor functions, biological processes. Rudolf Steiner identified 12 senses that he groups according to their “fields of experience.” Wolfgang Auer explains that this point of view was first put forward by Charles Scherrinton in 1906, when he identified corporeal perception (proprioperception) as constituting a true sense (c. f. W. Auer, Mondes sensibles,Triades, 2009, p. 12). Maurice Merleau-Ponty thought along the same lines. R. Steiner considers a human sense to be “anything that allows a human being to recognise the existence of an object, a being, or a process in a way that he can legitimately place that object as existing in the physical world.” (Anthroposophie, un fragment, Triades, 2008, p. 29). The twelve senses identified by R. Steiner are divided into three groups. The first group includes those senses by which the human being becomes aware of the body’s existence; this is the field of proprioperception. These are the senses of touch, movement, life, and balance. The second group includes those senses which allow the human being to become aware of his surroundings: sight, taste, smell, and the sense of warmth. In the third group, he places those senses which are focussed on the inner life and “reveal what is hidden”: hearing, the sense of speech, the sense of thinking, and the sense which recognizes the “I” of another human being. (c.f. Albert Soesmann,Our Twelve Senses). These last senses are exclusive to the human being and make it possible to reach the psychospiritual realm, to truly acknowledge the being of another person.
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