For several years now I’ve been putzing around with a dissertation chapter &, subsequently, draft of a paper about the functional delimitations of consciousness. I’m starting to think about it again after a conversation with a philosophy student who had some ideas to share on the subject, & then I stumble across a passage I dogeared a few years ago in D.S. Wilson’s Evolution for Everyone (p. 112) about Elain Arthur Aron’s work on sensitivity. Wilson says,
They argue that a fundamental axis of variation in both humans & other species involves the processing of information. Information is a mixed blessing; too little can be disastrous, but too much can be overwhelming…A nervous system designed to process lots of information simply must be different from one that forges ahead inattentively. Highly sensitive people (HSP)…can’t avoid processing information. Indeed, their sensitivity appears to be quite general, including pain, bright lights, coarse fabrics, loud noises, & drugs in addition to mental processing. A person who reports having a rich, complex inner life & being deeply moved by the arts also tends to report being sensitive to caffeine & starling easily.
What is more surprising to me is not so much that this b0lsters my argument & points toward sources I need to track down (that possibly steal my thunder) but that it describes one of my children to a “T.” So, even more important, I need to track down The Highly Sensitive Child to bolster my parenting…
Hey Cassie! For some reason I’m not getting my darned messages. I still need to get that book. Sitting here with the sensitive child right now helping him do his homework & wish I had the book.
Dr. Lynn,
You will find the book you are searching for very informative and enlightening. As I have a child who his highly sensitive and has a nervous system that is not cooperating. I look forward to reading your thoughts on this subject.
Cassie