the human experience is easy to understand. it’s just archetypes, schemas, whatever Freud was talking about, and a web of if-then statements programmed by the reinforcement-punishment matrix. that’s pretty much it, to be honest.

archetypes and schemas are obviously related, albeit I haven’t figured out how just yet. one is the small version; the other is the big version. take your pick.

personally, when I think of ‘archetypes’, I think of something similar to a Platonic Form. schema also sounds like a scheme. a plan. multiple features. so, with this in mind, I tend to think archetypes are the individual things, and schemas are the emergent structure from “archetypal accumulation” or picking up behaviors throughout life based on experiences, the affective perception of those experiences, and the unconscious expression of the resulting effects post-experience.

if-then statements and the reinforcement-punishment matrix are also easy enough to understand. the matrix is based on the relationship between positive and negative reinforcement, and positive and negative punishment. the if-then statement portion refers to the result an individual expects from any given action they take. that is to say, when one takes an action, they consider, at minimum in an unconscious way “will I be positively/negatively reinforced/punished for taking this action?”

And finally we reach the Freudian portion. all you need to know is that your subconscious desires will always find a way to leak out. always.

so, yes, that’s how the human experience works. you have The Things and The Symbols that represent knowledge. you have the scaffolding of knowledge used in decision making. and you have whatever Freud was on about.

everything after that is just a wrapper. the wrapper is important. do not discount the wrapper. but the wrapper is also just that, a wrapper.