ASSOCIATIONS

Associations seem to be a natural characteristic of the way in which we think. That is, our brains are wired in such a way as to link similar forms of environmental information together automatically. We do this in basically two ways. First, there is a natural propensity to label people and objects based on some prominent characteristic and then categorize them into associative groups. After we categorize the groups by sex, hair color, skin color, profession, economic status, educational background, and so on, we then associate whatever experience or knowledge we have about the group with everyone and everything that has those same characteristics. For example, if we have a painful experience with a person who has a skin color different from that of our own, we will automatically associate everyone with that skin color with the qualities of that one experience.

The second way we associate is by linking extraneous sensory information with some event. We will automatically associate what we are smelling, tasting, hearing, or seeing along with the quality of energy of the primary experience. For example, a child getting spanked will associate all the other environmental information that his senses are inadvertently picking up with the pain he is feeling from the spanking. What he hears, smells, tastes, and sees will all be connected with the intensity of the force being applied to his body. So if there was some song playing on the radio or a distinctive odor in the air at the same time that he was experiencing pain, he will associate the song or the odor with the pain.

Now, both these environmental distinctions (a certain song and a certain smell) will be connected with negative energy in his mental environment. When the child was getting his spanking he may not have even noticed either the song or the smell because his attention was obviously focused in other directions. However, in the future whenever he hears that song or smells that particular odor, they will automatically cause him to experience the negative energy connected with the spanking. Even if it is years later, and he is enjoying himself with the last thing on his mind being the memory of that spanking, if he hears that particular song or smells that particular odor, it will carry him back to that time as if it were the present moment, changing his experience from happiness to anger, sadness, or guilt.

Of course, this same principle also works for positive experiences. A perfect example is many couples have "a song" that they associate with some intense sexual or loving experience. When they hear "their song," it will mentally put them into the feelings of the experience the song is associated with. In fact, the song can eventually come to symbolize the quality of the entire relationship where all the memories and emotions connected to those memories will run though their consciousness upon hearing the song.

Associations are an automatic function of the way in which information gets organized in our mental systems. Most of these associations are inadvertent, meaning we have positively or negatively charged energy connected to various elements of the environment, and we aren't consciously aware of it. We can see, hear, taste, or smell certain things that, in turn, cause us to feel emotions and not know why because we don't consciously remember connecting the extraneous sensory information with the primary event.

THE ENERGY LOOP BETWEEN THE PHYSICAL AND MENTAL ENVIRONMENTS

None of us has access to "all" the environmental information that exists in any given moment. Our senses aren't constructed to allow us to pick up (see, hear, touch, taste, or smell) everything at once. If we can't be aware of it all, then we must have some mechanism by which we pick and choose what we do become aware of and give our attention and consideration to. What we learn creates an energy loop between the inner and outer environment. We can call this energy loop perception. "Perception" is recognizing—with our eyes, ears, nose, taste, and touch—in the physical environment what we have already learned about it. Mental energy works in conjunction with our physical senses to separate, categorize, and organize environmental information based on the distinctions we have learned to make. We recognize what we have learned in the environment because it is already inside of us. There has to be a mental framework to accept the information; otherwise, it gets rejected, labeled as meaningless, or not perceived at all, unless of course we are willing to construct a framework for it—being open to learn.