Steve Andreas > Articles > Escaping the “Black Hole” of Judgement

Preference

From the infinite wellspring of possible perceptions we actively select what to pay attention to, according to our needs, desires and interests, and this narrows what we are aware of. Habitual selection further limits what we are aware of, as we systematically ignore large areas of potential experience. The best we can do is to have an awareness that flexibly scans events, so that nothing is ignored for very long. The more information we have available to us about events, the better we are able to determine what is relevant to solving problems and satisfying our needs and desires.

Preference is a detailed personal experience of liking some aspect of our experience more/less than some other aspect, a comparison which might sound like the following, if described in words:

“I like the feel/sound/look/taste/smell of A in the present, or the consequences of A in the future, (much, a little) more than B in a certain context C for an outcome D when I’m feeling (very, a little) E.” This full experience includes all the following detailed sensory-based elements, at least implicitly:

1. The person experiencing the preference.
2. The value preference (liking/disliking).
3. The sensory criteria being applied to the experience.
4. The time frame of the evaluation.
5. The two (or more) things or events compared (A, B).
6. An analog comparison (more/less than).
7. The degree of the comparison (a lot, little, somewhat).
8. The context (C).
9. The sensory-based outcome (D).
10. The state of the person (E).
11. The degree (very, a little) of state E (tired, full, alert, etc.)