A knot is a method of fastening or securing linear material such as rope by tying or interweaving. It may consist of a length of one or several segments of rope, string, webbing, twine, strap, or even chain interwoven such that the line can bind to itself or to some other object—the "load". Knots have been the subject of interest for their ancient origins, their common uses, and the area of mathematics known as knot theory.
The above is what you can read on Wikipedia which goes on to offer this;
While some people can look at diagrams or photos and tie the illustrated knots, others learn best by watching how a knot is tied. Knot tying skills are often transmitted by sailors, scouts, climbers, cavers, arborists, rescue professionals, fishermen, linemen and surgeons.The boffins that write for Wikipedia left out knitters and embroiderers, who are skilled in creating decorative knots and even more skilled in untangling threads that get knotted up. I was fortunate to have a mother who taught me how to knit and embroider when I was six years years. I was fortunate to have a father who was a fisherman and rescue professional. I was less fortunate to "tie the knot" with a man who flunked knots when he was a boy scout.
In the year 2000, I trained and gained professional qualifications as a massage therapist, a modality in which the term "knot" is a useful euphemism for 'sections within the various muscles of the body that have constricted and create pain that is consistent'. Techically: myofascial trigger points.
It is a rare person who has experienced the pain of a knotted muscle, yet many people are unaware of how much tension they hold within the muscular structures of their physical body. As a person who has long been conversant in energy medicine and subtle bodies, I have eschewed the esoteric approach for the pragmatism of a hands-on strategy. I teach the average person the basics about their anatomy and physiology. I teach simple human biology. The facts not the foo-foo; the foundational knowledge that wannabe healers need to possess about themselves before they will be able to access their subtle body matrices without throwing a spanner in their works.
Over the decades I have heard many people, read many stories about folks following their 'gut instincts', believing those urges, those pumps, those propulsions are indications of a Higher Self, an innate wisdom at work.
In his book Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious, Dr. Gerd Gigerenzer, the director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, defines "gut reactions" as a judgment that is fast and comes quickly into a person's consciousness. The person doesn't know why they have this feeling yet it's strong enough to make them act on it. "What a gut instinct is not is a calculation. You do not fully know where it comes from." According to Gigerenzer a gut reaction can be so accurate because gut reactions make great use of the amazing capacities of the brain that nature has spent eons evolving in order to help us survive.
"Gut feelings are based on simple rules of thumb," says Gigerenzer, "what we psychologists term "heuristics." These take advantage of certain capacities of the brain that have come down to us through time, experience and evolution. Gut instincts often rely on simple cues in the environment. In most situations, when people use their instincts, they are heeding these cues and ignoring other unnecessary information."
Baby, do you understand me now?
Sometimes I feel a little mad.
But don't you know that no one alive can always be an angel?
When things go wrong, I seem to be bad.
But I'm just a soul whose intentions are good:
Oh Lord! Please don't let me be misunderstood . [2].
He reminds us not to simply make decisions " like a bookkeeper -- list all the pros and cons and then make the decision, after weighing everything. That is the classical rational approach." This approach to decision making can cause us to ignore our intuition and our gut instincts and it can be too slow to get us to where we need to be. "In some situations, that demands too much information. Plus, it's slow. When a person relies on their gut feelings and uses the instinctual rule of thumb "go with your first best feeling and ignore everything else," it can permit them to outperform the most complex calculations." [1]
I am not in full agreement with Gigerenzer because he cites professionally trained people as proofs for his theory and your average person is not trained at all to recognise the difference between a short-sighted survival instinct and a refined intuitive hit. Your average person-on-the-street knows zip about how their physical body actually works. They are all gut and no mindfulness.
By the way: do we really need a book explaining how "gut instincts" work? Gigerenzer, no doubt, is writing for a target audience: the American psyche. The dumbing down of Americans continues. The Max Planck Institute for Human Development eh? Here's one for ya - The Two Thick Planks Will Fix What's Wrong Widdya Society for the Conservation of Sardonic Writers.Bloody Nora!!
Gut instincts are the form through which fear-based responses function. They are tricksters and teachers. They are Loki whose function within the rich tapestry of human mythology has been misunderstood and devalued because we are human, because we are dense, because we are enchanted with romantic notions of "no guts, no glory".
Technically: feces starts to be formed in the gut. It follows that 'gut instincts' are derived from your inner waste treatment plant. That first-thought-best-thought mantra is way tricksy, because the first thought is a crude emission. Our Elders have always counselled patience and it is preferable to wait a beat for that second instinct to bubble up than to agree to something, to react in a habituated fashion only to think to yourself later on.....wait a minute! On second thought....
That first "gut instinct" will dupe you and beliefs such as first-thought-best-thought are the sprinkles on that cupcake. First thought-best thought only pans out when you know what you are about in the first instance - few people do. Gut instinct is NOT a refined nor disciplined intuitive knowing: it is simply a burst of energy. A fart.
Gut instincts are the Gunslingers - they shoot first and ask questions later.
The Lokasenna
When the sea god Ægir held a banquet, his servants Fimafeng and Eldir offered praise to those in attendance. Disgusted by what he perceives as sycophantry, Loki killed Fimafeng; as a consequence, the gods drove him away. But Loki was not so easily removed. He returned and demanded a seat at the table, citing a blood-oath that Odin had sworn with him.
Once seated, Loki proceeded to insult everyone at the table. He mocked Bragi, god of poetry, as a "bench ornament" and "backward in battle." He castigated Odin for injustice and allowing "faint-hearted" warriors to win. And of Frigg, Odin's wife, Loki said, "You are Fjörgyn's daughter and have ever played the whore." Loki spared no god his sharp tongue.
Finally, Thor came in and responded to Loki's taunts with a threat to knock off his "shoulder-stone" (head).
Faced with an angry thunder god, Loki decided discretion is the better part of valor and made himself scarce. But the gods found him hiding in salmon's form and dragged him to his doom.
With the entrails of his son Narvi they bound him to the rocks.[3]
Gigerenzer talks about how becoming fear based in our behavior rather than intuitive can even lead to fatality. "After 9/11, many Americans stopped traveling in airplanes and drove on highways instead. I looked at the data, and it turned out that in the year after the attacks, highway fatalities increased by an estimated 1,500 people. They had listened to their fear, and so more died on the road. These kinds of fatalities are easily avoided. But psychology is not taken very seriously by governments. Most of the research about how to combat terrorism is about technology and bureaucracy -- homeland security. In this case, educating the public about their own gut reactions could have saved lives." [1]
This will take your head off: how many of those 1,500 people were organ donors? How many people waiting on transplant lists received a gift of life because some Americans were too scared to fly...and perhaps reckless drivers? Some ledger keeper may have the statistics on that, for where Death walks, Regeneration is never far behind.
Gratuitous Plug
There are over 114,500 Americans waiting for a life-saving transplant. Registering takes only a few minutes.
Our small monkey-minds are too knot-clustered to truly encompass the forces which have guided the evolution of all life in the cosmos. I suspect if we were to understand, a mere inkling of knowing would scare the bejebus out of us. Wannabee wiccans want to lift the veil. Wannabe wiccans are food for what lies on the other side. Now there's a gut instinct for ya! Try not to run.
Our gut instincts are conditioned reponses as Tom Kenyon illustrates in his real-life experience: Wrong Instincts. Of course it's a mere coincidence that Tom received his FGO* whilst in Australia.
My ol' teacher said that people make all sorts of promises on a full stomach, which they then break when hungry. Do not allow your gut to call all of the shots, all of the time..
Referenced Links
[1] How We're Wired for Gut Reactions - Dr Tian Dayton, Huffington Post, 26 April 2009
[2] Lyrics to "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" written by Bennie Benjamin, Gloria Caldwell and Sol Marcus for the singer/pianist Nina Simone, who first recorded it in 1964.
[3] Loki: Evil....or Just Misunderstood - Kevin Filan at Widdershins
Image: Loki stone, Kirkby, Cumbria. Found at Esmeralda's Cumbrian History & Folklore
*FGO - fucking growth opportunity
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