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The first four “Terrestrial” circuits (or “The Larval Stages of Neural Evolution,” Earth being our proverbial cocoon) are concerned with physical comfort/discom
fort, territory and emotion, technology and language, and socio/sexual norms. They are supported by the sciences of neurology, ethology, sociology, and neurochemistry. The last four “Extraterrestrial” circuits are supported by the sciences of astronautics, astrophysics, genetics, and nuclear physics. These sciences take what we have learned about the laws of nature on this planet and apply those findings to the universe around it. Astronautics is the mapping out of solar systems; astrophysics is the understanding of how matter moves in that zero gravity environment. Genetics is the mapping out of the chemicals that make up the human being and nuclear physics is the science of understanding how all these little tiny things that make up everything move around each other. The mention of Zodiac signs is not meant to be taken seriously (or personally); it is merely a way of recognizing the behavioral differences between the different types of people that identify with different levels of circuitry. The concept of personality types has been clear to us for centuries under different guises and Leary purposes that this convoluted circuitry is the reason they exist.
The Bio-Survival Circuit An individual in first circuit development is concerned with health and safety, and the three stages of the first circuit are symbolized by the amoeba, the fish and the amphibian, the Pisces, Aries and Taurus. The first stage is triggered in infancy, at the first experience, or imprint, of physical comfort, at the infant’s mother’s breast. In the second stage of first circuit imprinting, the infant becomes observant and unemotionally attached to its environment and caregivers. After completion of the first stage, the infant is now ‘capable of memory, integration and evaluation of stimuli, and attack-approach in addition to ingest-approach’ (Leary 78), which means he can recognize things in his environment that will either feed or threaten him. Stage three signals the neurological attachment between infant and mother for mutual survival. Leary is unfortunately rather vague about this stage of development within the first circuit. My understanding is that since this is the last stage, the infant and mother are now primed for the political, emotional stages of second circuit communication.
Emotional-Territorial Circuit The second circuit—concerned with territorial demands, power tactics, and political domination/submission strategies—is imprinted in toddlerhood and is symbolized by species that have ‘left the water, developed backbones, mastered gravity,
p a g e 3...
exo-psychology (page one)
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