meditations on "information"

Consider the ways we receive information. Any, all information. Through the five senses, proprioceptively, intuitively, with our cognition, with our being. 

The body is an open sensory unit, constantly absorbing information, relating to and interacting with anything that is outside of it. Take, for example, walking. It’s a relationship with the ground. The moment our heel strikes the ground, we receive information on how hard the ground is, how far away, whether or not it’s level, how much force will be required to propel us for the next stride, etc. We don't have to cognitively interpret all of that information. Our miraculous bodies, our open sensory units, do that automatically for us. These things that carry us around have such intelligence!

And yet, sometimes bodily information is fleeting or misleading. True one moment,  gone the next. A racing heart or tightened jaw or knotted stomach helped us in one former scary situation, but the heart continues to race, the jaw to continues to clench, the stomach continues to knot even though the moment is long gone. We are tasked with the difficult challenge of discernment while navigating this human bodily condition. Bad things happen, we learn how to avoid or prevent them, neuroses develop, only to create more obstacles. The list goes on. As Jeannie Zandi says, “Mercy to the humans.”

Consider what information is. A word about meaning that contains so many facets of meaning. And unfortunately, a word that has become rather crusty at this moment in history, this age of misinformation and disinformation. The word “information” carries with it it’s often problematic sibling, “interpretation.” Interpretation is happening all the time, before we even realize its happening. Note - “information” does not always mean “fact.”

Let’s say you read a politically charged article. There's the content within the article, providing information that may or may not be rooted in fact. Then there’s the information that arises in your own body when you read it - how does it make you feel physiologically? Fearful? Annoyed? How are you reacting? There's also - stay with me here- information carried through the writing than gives a window to the mind/energy/intention/being of the person who wrote it. That’s a lot of information! 

What I’m trying to get at here is that we are saturated with information, all of the time. With our bodies, lots of information is automatically processed and acted upon, some has to be interpreted, some can be passed by, some can float through and maybe some can just be received. 

In the constant flow of information reception-interpretation-expression, there is an emphasis on delaying the time between interpretation and expression, because expression is often the most consequential. We can all think before we speak, think before we act….but can we examine that space of time that occurs after a piece of information is received and before the process of interpretation begins? What would that require of us? What do we have to gain by lengthening that space? It has the possibility to lead us to deeper questions about the very nature of existence.

In-form-ation. To imbue something into form. From an energetic perspective, there is a constant movement and flow of information that brings everything into a physical and material existence. When we are developing embryologically, it is the movement of the fluids within the embryo that eventually individuate and differentiate, bringing structures into form. What directs this intelligent movement of fluid? We could talk about DNA and genetic coding. We could talk about the Breath of Life, if we’re speaking from a biodynamic cranial perspective. From a Source Point Therapy perspective, we would refer to the Blueprint, a body of information which gives rise to, sustains, and nourishes the health of the human being. Any way you slice it, if we peer through an energetic lens, there’s a recognition that there is some intelligence operating underneath and throughout all of existence which directs a specific flow of information to manifest things into form. 

When I say “energy as information,” I am coming from a desire to expand what we consider the body to actually be, and an expansion of the knowledge we draw from when thinking about the body. This expansion applies to the whole spectrum, from the material to the spiritual. Maybe a bit existential, but this is the area of inquiry in which I dwell.