The Space Between

In our minds, perspective happens in what I call the Space Between. The Space Between is what exists between an event (e.g., a thought) and a reaction to the event (response). For example, you have a thought about going to the grocery store. What do you do with that thought? You can immediately get off the couch, grab your reusable bags and grocery list, and head to the store. Or you can sit and think about when you want to go, what store you want to go to, what you need to get, and decide to go later. Maybe you brush it off and continue watching the movie you had started. Whatever the option, the thinking about how to react to the thought happens in the Space Between. That space can be small and almost automatic (e.g., if you were to get up right away and go to the store), or the space can be big (e.g., if you spend time thinking about what to get and where and when to go). How you react depends on your perspective. If you love cooking, your perspective might be that having a house full of groceries is very important, so you might get up and go. But if you are more of a get dinner-delivered person, and the groceries are just handy snacks, then your perspective is different, and the grocery store is not such a time-dependent act for you.

In the Space Between, when your brain senses that a decision is needed, to save time it analyzes the situation, compares it to what is in your memory, and begins to make a decision on what to do. This happens fast and is not always correct. When time is short, we use our experience and heuristics (rules of thumb), or our intuition (a dimensional gut feeling) that we have developed to make decisions. Our decisions might not always be correct, but they can be helpful. This ability to use heuristics developed from our earlier fight-or-flight response. If we are being attacked, we don’t have time to stand there and think about what our response will be. We need to react. And even now, in our modern world, for everyday easy decisions, you might not have time, nor need time, to stop and ask for advice or opinion—your brain just decides and acts without much involvement from your mind. If you do not have a well-developed perspective (or lack a developed level of consciousness), the Space Between is very small, if it exists at all. This is shown on the left side of the figure below. But if you can open up the Space Between, then there is room for perspective (and consciousness) to expand. This is shown on the right side of the figure below.

Academics have different names for these varying styles of perspective, such as Orders of Consciousness, Stages of Mental Complexity, Forms of Mind, etc., with the name being related to the way the researcher defines the style. For me, I see development of the mind as a fluid phenomenon. When we move from one defined style or perspective to another defined style, we pass through or exist in a style that is between the styles. In fact, some people spend their entire lives between styles. I believe that development includes identifiable styles and intervening periods, which I call Phases of Mind.  Expanding your Phase of Mind is an activity addressed in The MOST Approach.  Get your copy now for more information!