What State Are You In?

image: Astrokey44

Does the state of mind qualify as a nation state—the entity that came into being as a result of The Peace of Westphalia in 1648? Individuals, when you come to think of it, have a lot in common with collectivities. In fact, “the collective unconscious” is a term that's frequently used to describe the Weltanschauung of a society. Commonly held beliefs play a strong role in the creation of sensibility. In addition, people like countries have boundaries. The ego is the Maginot line of the self. An individual has a leader accounted for by the executive functions of the brain housed in the cerebral cortex. The heart and lungs constitute infrastructure and respond to fiats of the ANS or autonomic nervous system. A democratic country will often have a bicameral legislature like that of the United States congress, a judiciary and a president or premier who is actually defined by their cerebral cortex. All of these are accountable to the varying part of the brain. The emotional life of most people is mediated by the amygdala and prefrontal cortex. The limbic area at the top of the lower brain stem accounts for instinct. Most people are citizens of their own mentality and residents of their exoskeleton. You may possess a green card or resident visa or become a full citizen of your own private little world—in which case the only document you’ll require is that amalgam of biological and physical identity known as the birth certificate.

Read "What is it Like to Be a Fly?" by Francis Levy, HuffPost