Autism and Sensing; The Unlost Instinct

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Sensing is the preconscious world before interpretive thinking and conscious awareness.

It's a cognitive realm most babies move on from in the first weeks or months of life and by age 3-5 most children remain relatively consciously aware and interpretive thinkers.

But what of those with a range of visual, verbal, body agnosias, for whom the interpretive messages are blocked, slowed down, processed outside of context, outside of real time processing... do we see someone 'not home'? Do we presume mental retardation, emotional disturbance, do they look 'autistic'?

Perhaps this is sensing by default, by virtue of blocking or diminishing the capacity for interpretive processing. But certain personality traits are more prone to inner worlds than others, such as those with the idiosyncratic trait who might lose track of external 'normalities', those with the artistic trait who naturally map and sense their world. And one can have a range of reasons why sensing becomes more easily or overly developed as one's main system of navigating the world.

And what type of thinking exists in a world before interpretive meaning, before any conscious concept of 'I', 'us' or awareness of any existance of oneself or the world beyond the given moment?

I wrote of such things in a book called Autism and Sensing; The Unlost Instinct which is published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Featured in this slideshow is a synopsis of some major ideas explored in that book followed by the poem, called The System of Sensing, which is taken from that book. I have set this to a range of my art works featured on my website. This 'disk' range represent a range of alternative perceptual-cognitive worlds, just as sensing and interpreting are such worlds.

The photos featured are of me and taken from my website where there's a wider photo gallery.

The music is my own composition and played here by a wonderful musician and friend, David Moscoe.

Further info can be found at

http://www.myspace.com/nobodynowherethefilm
http://www.donnawilliams.net
http://www.aspinauts.com

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Tags:

• sensing
• cognition
• autism
• asd
• autistic
• donna+williams
• development
• child+development
• psychology
• neurology
• arts
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[gahana108]

Donna, I love your stuff! Seems to me that you are free of ego. I am in the process of writing a book about autism and spirituality.

From what I've seen, the non-verbal autists are highly evolved. What are your thoughts on that? Thanks! Blessings! Gahana

[1210donna]

I do find that many people on the autism spectrum have strong inner worlds, some are highly empathic... perhaps a side effect of faceblindness where one senses minute shifts in tone and movement patterns (more subtle than body language).  I do find the more meaning deafness/meaning blindness, body disconnectedness, the more highly sensing some people often are.

[AutisticWhoLives4God]

The words seem to contradict themselves, but trust me, they are true.

[captainoats112]

sometimes i feel there is a whole lot of wonderful and mysterious things going on in autistic's brain but they cannot communicate it

[gasmbay]

truly, connecting without words is the most authentic form of connection!

[ascend2luv]

Donna, thank you for this video, and the powerful message many are beginning to hear those words, and understand the evolutionary aspects of autism, I was particularly moved by words "I handed them self before the ego" - thank you for being you - Namaste :D

[plumcrzyfool]

great video, Donna! It's an enjoyment to witness your expression and a relief to find persons so relatable to myself. thanks!

[SweepingMedia]

DW,I just discovered your work tonight. WOW.I am officially your number one fan. Great work my friend.I believe you to be a person who will bring many of our communities together. So much to learn,so much to fret over.You have lessened my anxiety and have reminded me to not be afraid of the my child's future,but to be a father that will nurture that path to maturity and a path to express his own talents when he figures out what they are.Like you did,Donna.Lucky for us-ChrisG,Dallas,Tx

[nioosh2707]

wow

no one is perfect...right?

it is wierd to say that...