Caleb Gategno and Ada Yonath: Gategno a mathematician, Yonath a chemist, Gategno an Egyptian, Yonath an Israeli, born three decades apart, understood thinking as beginning with awareness.
Awareness:
I walk into a room. I'm aware I'm here for a mathematics exam. I'm aware of other people in the room. I'm aware some of them are also here to take the exam. Others are here to support the rules and processes of the exam taking. I'm aware of windows. I'm aware of people on an athletic field outside. I'm aware of the aroma of food being cooked. I use my awareness to choose an optimum position in the room to take the exam.
Now I focus my awareness on the screen in front of me. I'm aware of an exam item. I'm aware it represents a rule and process. It requires me to operationalize a rule and process through to a conclusion. I'm aware there are 40 more items. I'm aware they need to be completed within 120 minutes.
I become aware of someone tapping on a desktop. I'm aware of participants in a sporting event outside the window. I'm aware of clothing representing team identities. I'm aware of the movement of my fingers on a keyboard. I distinguish words and numerals. I'm aware of briefly vocalizing an action before suppressing my speaking. I breathe deeply to calm and focus myself.
All of my processes that support my awareness are in operation.
Associative
Situational awareness of my context -- people, places, things, and events -- supported by my experience.
Sequential
Awareness of rules, processes, hierarchies, and the passage of time.
Listener
Awareness of meaningful sound, the discernment of what is meaningful, actionable, and useful being the essential condition.
Observer
Awareness of essential information, the exam item on the screen. Awareness of symbolic information, the team logos on the athletes.
Mover
Awareness of the neuromuscular activity of my fingers on the keyboard.
Reader
Awareness of letters, numbers, words; recognizing them as symbols and sound; interpreting them into meaning.
Talker
Awareness of the neuromuscular activity of my breath passing through my speech processing system.
All of these awarenesses come into complex and well-timed orientation to produce the material with which we think.
And sometimes they fumble, mumble, and trip. That's where demanding discipline comes in.
Next: Intention is the project plan for gaining control over your awarenesses and setting them in motion toward a goal.
Warm regards,
Francis Sopper
REFERENCED IN THIS LETTER:
Caleb Gategno: https://atm.org.uk/caleb-gattegno
Ada Yonath: https://www.nobelprize.org/stories/women-who-changed-science/ada-yonath/