The birth of meaning into a world of caprice

The world of meaning for any creature is bounded by the measure in which that creature is able to react to its perception of the world. Paying attention to the world that is bounded by reaction ability is described by Leslie White as "reactivity meaning".

There are four levels of reactivity of an organism to its environment: 1) Simplest response wherein the organism responds directly to stimuli, 2) Conditioned response is best represented by the "Pavalovian Response" wherein there is a response by association, 3) Indirect association takes place when a tool is used to acquire desired object (an ape knocking a banana from a tree with a stick), and 4) Symbolic response wherein a symbol becomes the object causing response, which entails the creation of a symbol representative of an object.

These four different responses are evolutionary but are different in kind. Only humans are capable of all four levels of reactivity. Only humans have the capacity for creating a relationship such as "house" with an object. We might appropriately state that the evolutionary development of mind is a "progressive freedom of reactivity". "Mind culminates in the organism's ability to choose what it will react to."Our animal nature leads to immediate response to stimuli and our ego leads to this reactivity being held in abeyance until further consideration. The brain becomes a form of "internal gyroscope" that keeps the organism balanced and keeps the environment at a distance and sorted out.

The ego forms a protective force that organizes perception and bodily control. Most importantly the ego helps the organism avoid anxiety; it provides a rallying point whereby all that is alien to the organism can be monitored and controlled.

In order to separate the ego from the world it seems that the ego must have a rallying point. It must have a flag about which to rally. That flag is the "I".