Ever since human beings sat in a circle round a fire, sharing the warmth and rubbing shoulders in a display of equality and regularity, the concept of communication has been personified by the circle. All points are equidistant from the middle. This still comes out strongly in handwriting analysis today. The way we make the letter o tells a lot about our communication style. Driven by the old-mind impulses, we tend to close our o formations tightly if we can keep a secret or we don’t talk a lot, and on the other hand, if we have a high volume of language we may tend to leave them open at the top.

    There are many other ways in which we physically carry on with old-mind symbolism today.

    When Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) was first brought forward, it was the result of watching known and effective therapists engaging with their patients. It was noted that there were certain eye movements following particular actions. Looking upwards, a person is most likely creating. Looking downwards, there are feelings involved. Chide a pup or a child for bad behaviour and the head motion is immediately downwards. Eye motion has meaning when it’s lateral as well as moving in the vertical plane. In most people, the future lies to the right, and the past to the left. This is consistent with the symbolism of space diagram in the Handwriting section on this site. In the west, we write in an easterly direction, into the future, which is extravert and linked to discovery and progress. In eastern cultures, writing is formed in columns or else it travels to the left, which is the introvert style, the frame of reference that checks all present behaviour against past and weighs it against cultural norms.

    Arranging concepts vertically is part of human custom, too. Mankind has traditionally allied many symbolic concepts with natural formations that stand up tall – the mountains, the trees, the sun and the moon in the sky. These are the overhead forms that relate to creation, both literal and conceptual.

    There are certain tall symbols that have always taken advantage of this. The presentation of them always evokes a positive reaction in the mind. We need to look up for the sun, and sun signs are always positive, invoking concepts relating to inspiration. The tree, for another example, has had a long history of standing for the connection between earth and heaven, offering the pathway if not to paradise at least to increased understanding, up there in the spiritual zone.

    Is it any wonder, then that man has always built totems? When we look at a picture of a totem, we find the emphasis on vertical structures, with the liberal application of colour. The feet belong on the ground, in darkness. The head sits high, where creation takes place.

    The computer monitor works like a modern totem. It’s all there, the colour, the structure, the conveying of information, the zones. We sit at it, gazing, and we search for meaning. There's a lot of esoteric information conveyed.

    Does it sound like any wonder that it brings up old-mind processes?