Second Order Associations (podcast $)

Different memories of the same events tell different stories, leading to associations offering different levels of insight.

“I never read. It prevents me from thinking.”
— Paul Adrian Maurice Dirac, physicist

Dreams exemplify what I’m calling first and second order associations.

Dream #1…

Dream #2…

I’ve described these dreams, but not the meanings of them. If you were to make up stories, these narratives are weirdly possible, but the messages of these dreams are different from what first appears. The messages have little to do with the primary plot lines. Their meanings lie with the events and associations attached to the characters.

The primary plot line of the first dream follows from its “first order associations,” as I’d like to call them. These are the objective associations we draw from the setting and actions. In the first dream these were the factory, the maze, the disorder, the aimlessness, and the conflict. In the second dream these were the local familiars, the unfamiliar clergy, the sea, the children, navigation, instruction, and being under water.

These elements provide a series of stage sets, or containers. These do not carry the deeper meanings any more than stage sets reveal a plot. The real meaning, or message, relates to what these characters and situations mean to me, not the general associations we ascribe to them.

I’m calling these deeper meanings “second order associations” because their meanings depend on each other rather than any common, social, or generally understood reference. Second order associations are deeper constructions that are weakly connected to and poorly understood in the social context.

First Order Associations
Second Order Associations
Fear
Grief
Interpretation
Actions
Be Skeptical
True Ignorance is More Powerful Than False Knowledge