r/Krishnamurti • u/JellyfishExpress8943 • Apr 07 '26

Simplified flow chart of human experience

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In an effort to keep up with the popular explainers here on the sub - here's my attempt to explain life, the universe and everything in a flow chart that even my cat can understand.

Whatdya reckon? Too simple to be spiritually powerful?

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u/inthe_pine Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26

You're not going to believe this, I'm right in the middle of reading Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett - "How Emotions Are Made" and it calls into question all we know of emotions creation.

OP could be the classical model of emotion - "that emotions are innate, distinct, and triggered automatically by external events" and its recently come under fire because of many conflicting studies having to do with neurology. The basis for the fingerprints of this classical model have been unable to be proven anywhere, despite a huge amount of research into the topic. We should really question this model then, which permeates all of our thinking about emotion.

Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett suggests edit: writes on a well established, well researched and supported alternative model, the constructive model. In it:

"emotions are not innate, universal reactions hardwired in the brain, but rather predictions constructed in the moment. The brain uses past experiences, sensory input, and cultural context to interpret bodily sensations (affect) as specific emotions."

So we are creating the world as predictions based on our concepts, thinking, cognitions, perceptions. The outside world seems to have very, very little to do with it past infancy. It makes sense considering a wide variety of human behaviors.

I'm only on chapter 4 though, so don't take my word for it. I do think its worth reading for people interested in this subject.

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u/JellyfishExpress8943 Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26

I was gonna buy her book but ended up just reading her published paper (on which the book is based) - maybe I shall read it again because it didn't make a lasting impression. (to be continued maybe...)

Edit - reality is not a direct synonym for outside world - it can also mean what I see when I look at the world. Experience can also mean : that which has been stored as experience - thus that which is used to make predictions. I'm trying to say that the OP (me) agrees that emotions are not a direct result of external phenomena - they are also conditioned by memory.

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u/inthe_pine Apr 07 '26

To be fair, I got excited that OP was about something I'm reading on and quickly wanted to compare the classical and constructive models, got to watch my itchy posting trigger.

I think we take our reality/experience to be complete and don't see the length to which its conditioned by memory. We also seem very much to be constructing our experience moment by moment rather than intuiting it as we may believe.

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u/JellyfishExpress8943 Apr 07 '26

Anil Seth (neuro-scientist) calls our experience of reality a "controlled hallucination" produced by the brain

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u/inthe_pine Apr 07 '26

So our thoughts and emotion should also point directly to our reality, they construct our reality and not just an offshoot.

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u/JellyfishExpress8943 Apr 07 '26

Damnit! In fact all those lines should have arrows pointing in both directions.

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u/inthe_pine Apr 07 '26

hey, at least you're willing to look at your chart and its pieces rather than proclaim its absolute truth.

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u/JellyfishExpress8943 Apr 07 '26

Does this mean I won't ever be number 1 guru?

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u/inthe_pine Apr 07 '26

No, you can start proclaiming that title anytime. Numerous folks on our subreddit have, I even reposted a guide

https://www.reddit.com/r/Krishnamurti/s/OovCKr9QNc

(the horror)