One of the better models of the mind, likely with fairly ancient roots, separates it into three dimensions: cognitive, affective, and conative. The cognitive covers the linguistic and symbolic modes of thought. The affective deals with emotion and feeling. The conative deals with action and activities. Simplified terms for these would be Thinking, Feeling, and Doing. Each of these dimensions has a range of motion, which requires regular action to be maintained.
In the conative dimension, this can be seen in the actual movement of the body. If put through the full range of motion regularly, the human body can be capable of tremendous expression and freedom. If attention is not paid, the range of movement begins to limit due to residual tensions and anatomical adhesions. Restoration of full mobility then requires potentially long and painful actions to undo what inactivity has created—the cognitive dimension for the foundation of behaviors.
In the affective dimension, the key is learning to fully experience and express emotions rather than stifling them. Our emotions are a relatively rapid way of evaluating events; however, habits of repressing emotional responses, ignoring them, or attempting to think them away create tensions and adhesions similar to what happens with the body. Rather than having the full range of emotions to express your experiences, durable “moods” develop, which limit emotional expression and variation. This can lead to single moods dominating the mind in severe situations, creating emotional monotony. The affective dimension forms the foundation for values.
In the cognitive dimension, the key is to continue to explore and expand how you can and do your thinking. Acquisition of skills at attention, evaluation, and discernment go hand in hand with skills for communication, expression, and creation. Suppose you only review what you already know and consistently return to the same sources without integrating new sources. In that case, the cognitive dimension will become fixated and dull. The cognitive need to be challenged by integrating new information and novel interpretations to maintain its range of possibilities. The cognitive dimension forms the foundation of beliefs.
Each of these dimensions overlaps to some extent and has ways of trying to interact. Often, these are most apparent in conditions of conflict between what two dimensions are experiencing. When the affective dimension feels at odds with the actions of the conative dimension, tensions arise in both the emotions and the body. When the affective dimensions are at odds with the cognitive attitudes, they arise along with a tendency to ruminate upon specific events in a way that holds the attitude in place. When the cognitive dimension is at odds with the conative dimension, a kind of inertia sets in which can only be overcome by actions of will.
Being fully free to use all of these dimensions in their full range is an ideal, not something anyone has access to at all times. Life experiences will limit our ranges, either because we weren’t prepared or because we took actions that were, by necessity, imperfect. Developing practices that aid in mobilizing these dimensions and compensating for the residual damages of incorrect actions is vital to maintaining health and expressive range.
Orienting by Desire: Structures and Challenges
Take a look at the current expression of your Challenges. How is one of these Challenges influenced by, or dependent on, internal structures of the mind such as language and culture, as well as the dimensions discussed above. Try to get a sense of how the structural elements of the mind are leading to your challenge and how becoming aware of them can help transform the Challenge and how you address it. Then restate your Challenge in three to seven words as clearly as you can.
Setemheb 