I love the first moments of the day lying in bed. Whether supine (face up) or prone (face down), the experience of being horizontal to the earth is easeful. Awake but still lying down, my mind takes inner vacations. Some locations, in the category of ‘most instagrammed places’, I return to frequently. Others are new sites. I don’t plan itineraries but take what comes. So much about these prone vacations is ideal. The places to visit are fun. I enjoy the companionship of my inner self. The pace is just right – no time pressures. This is my downtime self. 

When down, my thoughts are unforced. I like them a lot. They are smooth and insightful. They don’t ‘face’ anywhere. I want to capture them. As soon as I arise to put them on paper, however, they change. My experience when I wake up is more than a transition, it is almost a transformation. My downtime-self reverts to my uptime-self.  Just the movement of arising from level with – to right angles with – my bed is enough to call my erect self to attention. 

As my mode of being switches, so my inner flow changes as well. The gentle flow of thoughts of my downtime-self evaporates. How can I get the experiences of my downtime mind to be carried gently into my erect mind? This is not a trivial question. It plagues my erect experience – the one that faces the world. The one that must choose a direction. While lying, my body aligns with gravity. My erect world, perpendicular to gravity, faces forward or backward or sideways and rests on my feet or in my seat. I think that my sense of time is different for my erect self. The very term ‘homo erectus’ comes to mind. My erect self is almost a different species (exaggeration) from the prone one. It responds to the requirements of others.

Hmmm. Some people can write while lying down, but I find it uncomfortable. Perhaps it is because my prone thoughts and my erect thoughts are different and serve different purposes and I don’t know which ‘I’ I am invoking. There is no doubt in my mind that orientation plays a significant role in who “I’ am at any moment. There are different personalities at play here. 

I know I am a specimen among many of the human species. I fully imagine that other humans have different ways to orient their meaning, as well.  Is it true for others that the roots of orientation to the outer world align with orientation of their bodies in space?  I think the answer is ‘yes’.  My question, as always, is to what degree are the inner supports for my cognition similar to the inner supports for the consciousness of others? I’m curious about how your consciousness changes with your orientation in space. Care to share?