The Nervous System- Part 1- Spinal Cord
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Introduction:
The illustrations below show how the human nervous system meaningfully integrates experience synapse by
synapse at the spinal level. Meaning and learning evolve throughout our life, according to how our nervous
system is structured . Elements of experience are learned piecemeal and gradually assimilated into more
coherent complex actions and thoughts. Each element of experience can be considered a unit memory. For a
baby, grasping with the fingers is one of the first things we learn. We are born much more helpless than other
animals and must learn nearly everything through conscious effort even before we have language to assist us.
As we shall see below, proprioceptive simulation, in the regenerative mode of System 4, is indispensable
to this learning process. The proprioceptive nervous system tells us how the body is positioned in space, even
for a baby grasping with its fingers. Proprioceptive neuromuscular spindles, the tiny sensory organs located
throughout the muscles of the body, are structured to allow simulation of anticipated actions before they are
carried out. There is a simplified illustration of one at the end of this article.
So learning is more than just a causal process of conditioned responses to external stimuli, although this
plays a part. Learning also involves anticipation of a future desired result and a process of simulation to
achieve it. Input from both a causal past and an anticipated future must find mutual reconciliation in current
action sequences. We are biologically structured to span space and time and integrate history.
As we learn and assimilate behavior piecemeal it tends to becomes automated as habitual at the spinal level.
The spinal cord is an unconscious brain that is nevertheless invested with an intuitive (or instinctive) capacity
to make adjustments according to proprioceptive sensory input. As we mature, language greatly enhances our
cerebral abilities to consciously simulate experience in abstraction and formulate far reaching plans that
nevertheless require continual adjustment according to the ever changing flux of circumstance.
Note: A review of System 4 Terms is recommended. The meaning within each of the nine Terms is
developed in brief, along with a brief outline of the transform sequences of Particular and Universal Sets. A
more complete explanation of the meaning implicit within each Term is given there. It will make the develpment
here easier to follow.
The illustrations below show how the human nervous system meaningfully integrates experience synapse by
synapse at the spinal level. Meaning and learning evolve throughout our life, according to how our nervous
system is structured . Elements of experience are learned piecemeal and gradually assimilated into more
coherent complex actions and thoughts. Each element of experience can be considered a unit memory. For a
baby, grasping with the fingers is one of the first things we learn. We are born much more helpless than other
animals and must learn nearly everything through conscious effort even before we have language to assist us.
As we shall see below, proprioceptive simulation, in the regenerative mode of System 4, is indispensable
to this learning process. The proprioceptive nervous system tells us how the body is positioned in space, even
for a baby grasping with its fingers. Proprioceptive neuromuscular spindles, the tiny sensory organs located
throughout the muscles of the body, are structured to allow simulation of anticipated actions before they are
carried out. There is a simplified illustration of one at the end of this article.
So learning is more than just a causal process of conditioned responses to external stimuli, although this
plays a part. Learning also involves anticipation of a future desired result and a process of simulation to
achieve it. Input from both a causal past and an anticipated future must find mutual reconciliation in current
action sequences. We are biologically structured to span space and time and integrate history.
As we learn and assimilate behavior piecemeal it tends to becomes automated as habitual at the spinal level.
The spinal cord is an unconscious brain that is nevertheless invested with an intuitive (or instinctive) capacity
to make adjustments according to proprioceptive sensory input. As we mature, language greatly enhances our
cerebral abilities to consciously simulate experience in abstraction and formulate far reaching plans that
nevertheless require continual adjustment according to the ever changing flux of circumstance.
Note: A review of System 4 Terms is recommended. The meaning within each of the nine Terms is
developed in brief, along with a brief outline of the transform sequences of Particular and Universal Sets. A
more complete explanation of the meaning implicit within each Term is given there. It will make the develpment
here easier to follow.
A Simplified Outline of System 4:
The following simplifies the essence of System 4 as much as possible. Keep in mind that language is limited
in the degree to which it can describe how the System works, so that meanings must be interpreted
contextually. Meaning is implicitly defined by the way the System works in each specific circumstance. The
methodology of the System requires a fit with phenomenal experience. It delineates the structure and process
of phenomenal experience, and the human nervous system at the spinal level has structurally evolved to work
in precise accord with System 4. Since System 4 is structural rather than behavioral it embraces all possible
varieties of behavior.
The Universal Hierarchy:
As explained elsewhere on the website there is a System 4 hierarchy involving 4 active Centers(C) that
implicitly give direction to one another as follows:
(C1)IDEA ->(C2)KNOWLEDGE ->(C3)ROUTINE ->(C4)FORM
The words associated with each Center are very general indications of meaning associated with the
structural development of meaning within each of the nine System 4 Terms as they may apply in any
circumstance. It is noteworthy, even remarkable, that these four words structurally define coherent meaning
within each Term as they dynamically relate to one another in the evolving matrix of interactions through the
12 Step Sequence outline below. We can easily see that the hierarchy applies to any human activity. There is
always an Idea that gives direction to our learned Knowledge that in turn directs a Routine of visceral and
muscular activity that results in an altered Form of the body with respect to the Form of the environment. The
hierarchy is universal and is designated by Term 9 of System 4.
If we focus on the neurological and muscular processes that animate us we can see that the four words in the
universal hierarchy have biological correlates as follows:
C1 - Idea is associated with the Electronic Processes going on in our central nervous system. There is a
specific pattern of electrochemical activity associated with the generation of every idea.
C2 - Knowledge reflects our history of learning, including our evolutionary history as a species. Knowledge is
implicit in the neurological structure of our bodies that allows us to integrate our experience meaningfully. This
includes our personal history of learning and the synaptic connections that have developed in our nervous
system as a result. Knowledge in this biological respect thus embraces how Cell Processes are organized to
interrelate. Knowledge is invested in our body's infrastructure.
C3 - Routine relates to ongoing Body Processes, to the muscular actions that animate us and the activity of
visceral processes such as breathing, blood supply, digestion etc., that fuels muscular activity. Body
Processes involve the concerted activity of the body's organs.
C4 - Form relates to the physical form of the environment, that is, to its material composition. The human body
is clothed in atoms and molecules just as all things with physical form are. The integration of the body's
actions thus alters its external physical Form with respect to ongoing Environmental Processes that the body
interacts with.
We can thus reinterpret the universal hierarchy as it biologically relates to human behavior as follows:
(C1)Electronic Processes ->(C2)Cell Processes ->(C3) Body Processes ->(C4)Environmental Processes
(C1) Idea ->(C2)Knowledge ->(C3)Routine ->(C4)Form
The Particular Sets and Term Sequences:
The above four Centers define the meaning implicit within each of the nine Terms. Six of the Terms are
particular and three Sets of Particular Centers follow through a repeating Six Step Term Sequence in the
following order:
1.-T1 - Perception of need in relation to response capacity.
2.-T4 - Ordered sensory input alternately from the environment or simulated.
3.-T2 - Creation of idea as a potential action response or creative concept.
4.-T8 - Balanced response to sensory input stimuli as a motor output to muscles.
5.-T5 - Action sequence of muscular activity with proprioceptive feedback.
6.-T7 - Sequence encoded as a unit memory for recall to T1 and another sequence.
All of the Particular Terms except T8 have an Expressive Mode that is causally conditioned from past
experience, and a Regenerative Mode that simulates an anticipated action. The Particular T8E is always
Expressive and acts as a pivot for transformations between Expressive and Regenerative sequences. A total
of 12 Steps are thus required for all three Sets to complete a whole sequence of 3 Four Step Cycles. In each
Step, Expressive and Regenerative Particular Terms from the three Sets interact to span past and future.
The three Sets follow one another through the Twelve Step Sequence one Step apart. Each such Sequence
follows a 12 Step path through the nervous system, synapse by synapse. There can be many parallel
Particular Sequences active at once through parallel neural pathways since the nervous system is structured
with the same number of synaptic junctions in each pathway. The Universal Sets integrate all Particular
pathways into a coherently organized and meaningful activity.
The Primary Universal Set and Its Transform Sequence:
Term 9 is the Universal Hierarchy associated with the Primary Universal Set U1. It begins each Cycle in the
Term 9 position where it stays for two Steps. T9 has universal access to relevant memories from the Quantum
Sensorium called the Void and it identifies them as relevant Ideas for recall. Then it transforms mid Cycle to a
Regenerative UT8R term concerned with universally balancing available energy resources to fuel action needs
in all the various Particular pathways. It budgets energy expenditures. Each Cycle ends after four Steps when
the Primary Universal Set transforms from UT8R back to T9 to begin the next Cycle.
The Secondary Universal Set and Its Transform Sequence:
The Secondary Universal Set U2 begins each Cycle in the Term 3 Position which is concerned with the
Transference of Idea into Form, via the coalescence of Knowledge with Routine. As T9 accesses relevant
Ideas as memories, T3 integrates then as a coherent action plan that can translate them into Form. In Step 2
of each Cycle U2 transforms to T6 which is the Corporeal Body of a whole human being. Term 6 does not
transform in Step 3, but the Primary Universal Set transforms to UT8R which coheres with it. This works like
the coherence in the Space Frame side of System 3. This budgets energy resources to an integrated
proposed action plan implicit in T6. In Step 4 the T6 Term transforms to a universal T2E idea term, where
UT8R coheres with it again. This explicitly commits resources to an integrated planned Idea pattern. At the
end of each Cycle both Universal Sets transform back to their original positions.
Note: A review of System 4 Terms will be very helpful in what follows.
Summary of Term Transformations Step by Step:
System 4 may be summarized in chart form as follows. Expressive and regenerative particular terms, as well
as universal terms, are shown for each sequential Step. Regenerative Terms are shown in bold. The Primary
and Secondary Universal Sets are shown in color.
Step Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set U1 Set U2 Cycle
1 T8E T7R T4E T9 T3 #1
2 T5E T1R T2E T9 T6
3 T7E T4R T8E T8R T6
4 T1E T2R T5R T8R T2E
5 T4E T8E T7R T9 T3 #2
6 T2E T5E T1R T9 T6
7 T8E T7E T4R T8R T6
8 T5R T1E T2R T8R T2E
9 T7R T4E T8E T9 T3 #3
10 T1R T2E T5E T9 T6
11 T4R T8E T7E T8R T6
12 T2R T5R T1E T8R T2E
New sensory input from the environment comes via T4E in Set 3 in Step 1. Sensory input T4E is always
tensionally coupled to memory recall T7R to begin a related simulation sequence that will anticipate an
appropriate response. Memory recall must always be coupled to sensory input in order for our thoughts,
feelings, and actions to be relevant to ongoing circumstantial input. This must also be reconciled with the
previous action sequence T8E (simultaneous motor instructions to muscles) in order for there to be a smooth
transition from sequence to sequence.
The Sequence Illustrations:
The above twelve Steps are illustrated below one Step at a time, showing how the three Particular Sets and
two Universal Sets interact in each Sequence Step. Each Term is illustrated with a brief description of how it
works in relation to the nervous system of a human being who has just suffered a scalding burn to the
forearm. It takes considerable concentration to follow and fully understand the sequence. Once understood
however, it can be applied to understand how the whole nervous system integrates experience meaningfully.
The following simplifies the essence of System 4 as much as possible. Keep in mind that language is limited
in the degree to which it can describe how the System works, so that meanings must be interpreted
contextually. Meaning is implicitly defined by the way the System works in each specific circumstance. The
methodology of the System requires a fit with phenomenal experience. It delineates the structure and process
of phenomenal experience, and the human nervous system at the spinal level has structurally evolved to work
in precise accord with System 4. Since System 4 is structural rather than behavioral it embraces all possible
varieties of behavior.
The Universal Hierarchy:
As explained elsewhere on the website there is a System 4 hierarchy involving 4 active Centers(C) that
implicitly give direction to one another as follows:
(C1)IDEA ->(C2)KNOWLEDGE ->(C3)ROUTINE ->(C4)FORM
The words associated with each Center are very general indications of meaning associated with the
structural development of meaning within each of the nine System 4 Terms as they may apply in any
circumstance. It is noteworthy, even remarkable, that these four words structurally define coherent meaning
within each Term as they dynamically relate to one another in the evolving matrix of interactions through the
12 Step Sequence outline below. We can easily see that the hierarchy applies to any human activity. There is
always an Idea that gives direction to our learned Knowledge that in turn directs a Routine of visceral and
muscular activity that results in an altered Form of the body with respect to the Form of the environment. The
hierarchy is universal and is designated by Term 9 of System 4.
If we focus on the neurological and muscular processes that animate us we can see that the four words in the
universal hierarchy have biological correlates as follows:
C1 - Idea is associated with the Electronic Processes going on in our central nervous system. There is a
specific pattern of electrochemical activity associated with the generation of every idea.
C2 - Knowledge reflects our history of learning, including our evolutionary history as a species. Knowledge is
implicit in the neurological structure of our bodies that allows us to integrate our experience meaningfully. This
includes our personal history of learning and the synaptic connections that have developed in our nervous
system as a result. Knowledge in this biological respect thus embraces how Cell Processes are organized to
interrelate. Knowledge is invested in our body's infrastructure.
C3 - Routine relates to ongoing Body Processes, to the muscular actions that animate us and the activity of
visceral processes such as breathing, blood supply, digestion etc., that fuels muscular activity. Body
Processes involve the concerted activity of the body's organs.
C4 - Form relates to the physical form of the environment, that is, to its material composition. The human body
is clothed in atoms and molecules just as all things with physical form are. The integration of the body's
actions thus alters its external physical Form with respect to ongoing Environmental Processes that the body
interacts with.
We can thus reinterpret the universal hierarchy as it biologically relates to human behavior as follows:
(C1)Electronic Processes ->(C2)Cell Processes ->(C3) Body Processes ->(C4)Environmental Processes
(C1) Idea ->(C2)Knowledge ->(C3)Routine ->(C4)Form
The Particular Sets and Term Sequences:
The above four Centers define the meaning implicit within each of the nine Terms. Six of the Terms are
particular and three Sets of Particular Centers follow through a repeating Six Step Term Sequence in the
following order:
1.-T1 - Perception of need in relation to response capacity.
2.-T4 - Ordered sensory input alternately from the environment or simulated.
3.-T2 - Creation of idea as a potential action response or creative concept.
4.-T8 - Balanced response to sensory input stimuli as a motor output to muscles.
5.-T5 - Action sequence of muscular activity with proprioceptive feedback.
6.-T7 - Sequence encoded as a unit memory for recall to T1 and another sequence.
All of the Particular Terms except T8 have an Expressive Mode that is causally conditioned from past
experience, and a Regenerative Mode that simulates an anticipated action. The Particular T8E is always
Expressive and acts as a pivot for transformations between Expressive and Regenerative sequences. A total
of 12 Steps are thus required for all three Sets to complete a whole sequence of 3 Four Step Cycles. In each
Step, Expressive and Regenerative Particular Terms from the three Sets interact to span past and future.
The three Sets follow one another through the Twelve Step Sequence one Step apart. Each such Sequence
follows a 12 Step path through the nervous system, synapse by synapse. There can be many parallel
Particular Sequences active at once through parallel neural pathways since the nervous system is structured
with the same number of synaptic junctions in each pathway. The Universal Sets integrate all Particular
pathways into a coherently organized and meaningful activity.
The Primary Universal Set and Its Transform Sequence:
Term 9 is the Universal Hierarchy associated with the Primary Universal Set U1. It begins each Cycle in the
Term 9 position where it stays for two Steps. T9 has universal access to relevant memories from the Quantum
Sensorium called the Void and it identifies them as relevant Ideas for recall. Then it transforms mid Cycle to a
Regenerative UT8R term concerned with universally balancing available energy resources to fuel action needs
in all the various Particular pathways. It budgets energy expenditures. Each Cycle ends after four Steps when
the Primary Universal Set transforms from UT8R back to T9 to begin the next Cycle.
The Secondary Universal Set and Its Transform Sequence:
The Secondary Universal Set U2 begins each Cycle in the Term 3 Position which is concerned with the
Transference of Idea into Form, via the coalescence of Knowledge with Routine. As T9 accesses relevant
Ideas as memories, T3 integrates then as a coherent action plan that can translate them into Form. In Step 2
of each Cycle U2 transforms to T6 which is the Corporeal Body of a whole human being. Term 6 does not
transform in Step 3, but the Primary Universal Set transforms to UT8R which coheres with it. This works like
the coherence in the Space Frame side of System 3. This budgets energy resources to an integrated
proposed action plan implicit in T6. In Step 4 the T6 Term transforms to a universal T2E idea term, where
UT8R coheres with it again. This explicitly commits resources to an integrated planned Idea pattern. At the
end of each Cycle both Universal Sets transform back to their original positions.
Note: A review of System 4 Terms will be very helpful in what follows.
Summary of Term Transformations Step by Step:
System 4 may be summarized in chart form as follows. Expressive and regenerative particular terms, as well
as universal terms, are shown for each sequential Step. Regenerative Terms are shown in bold. The Primary
and Secondary Universal Sets are shown in color.
Step Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set U1 Set U2 Cycle
1 T8E T7R T4E T9 T3 #1
2 T5E T1R T2E T9 T6
3 T7E T4R T8E T8R T6
4 T1E T2R T5R T8R T2E
5 T4E T8E T7R T9 T3 #2
6 T2E T5E T1R T9 T6
7 T8E T7E T4R T8R T6
8 T5R T1E T2R T8R T2E
9 T7R T4E T8E T9 T3 #3
10 T1R T2E T5E T9 T6
11 T4R T8E T7E T8R T6
12 T2R T5R T1E T8R T2E
New sensory input from the environment comes via T4E in Set 3 in Step 1. Sensory input T4E is always
tensionally coupled to memory recall T7R to begin a related simulation sequence that will anticipate an
appropriate response. Memory recall must always be coupled to sensory input in order for our thoughts,
feelings, and actions to be relevant to ongoing circumstantial input. This must also be reconciled with the
previous action sequence T8E (simultaneous motor instructions to muscles) in order for there to be a smooth
transition from sequence to sequence.
The Sequence Illustrations:
The above twelve Steps are illustrated below one Step at a time, showing how the three Particular Sets and
two Universal Sets interact in each Sequence Step. Each Term is illustrated with a brief description of how it
works in relation to the nervous system of a human being who has just suffered a scalding burn to the
forearm. It takes considerable concentration to follow and fully understand the sequence. Once understood
however, it can be applied to understand how the whole nervous system integrates experience meaningfully.
| Meaning, Behavior & The Sequence Illustrations of System 4 - Part 1 12 Sequential Steps in Three Cycles By Robert Campbell 2006 |
Muscle Spindles:
The simplified diagram below is adapted from Cunningham's Textbook of Anatomy. It does not distinguish between
nuclear bag and nuclear chain fibers, nor between different sources of motor innervation. These tiny bundles of a
few muscle fibers are enclosed in a sheath and connected to parent muscles throughout the body. They can be
independently activated by gamma motor neurons that constitute about 30% of the motor neurons in the ventral
horns of the spinal cord. They are thus situated throughout the body to simulate activity independently of the parent
muscles of the body. In doing so they generate proprioceptive feedback about the body's anticipated changes in
position in any given action sequence, before it is carried out.
The simplified diagram below is adapted from Cunningham's Textbook of Anatomy. It does not distinguish between
nuclear bag and nuclear chain fibers, nor between different sources of motor innervation. These tiny bundles of a
few muscle fibers are enclosed in a sheath and connected to parent muscles throughout the body. They can be
independently activated by gamma motor neurons that constitute about 30% of the motor neurons in the ventral
horns of the spinal cord. They are thus situated throughout the body to simulate activity independently of the parent
muscles of the body. In doing so they generate proprioceptive feedback about the body's anticipated changes in
position in any given action sequence, before it is carried out.
Selective recall of appropriate techniques, via the transformation from T7R to T1R in any Particular Set, excites a
pattern of electronic simulation among the neural cell bodies of the gamma efferents in the ventral horn of the cord.
This initiates a pattern of motor innervation to the neuromuscular spindles which generates a pattern of proprioceptive
sensory feedback. It is from this feedback that we get a "feel ' for an action before committing the body to act.
pattern of electronic simulation among the neural cell bodies of the gamma efferents in the ventral horn of the cord.
This initiates a pattern of motor innervation to the neuromuscular spindles which generates a pattern of proprioceptive
sensory feedback. It is from this feedback that we get a "feel ' for an action before committing the body to act.