A boundary specifies a difference - a difference specifies a boundary. The self-conscious mind would appear to be the boundary that has recognised the difference it has created.

    <p class=default>
      
        In all such cases, the basic phenomenon is always the same: operational closure of 
        elements in separate levels inter-crossed to constitute a unity. When such level crossings 
        and tangledness are interrupted, the unity vanishes. Autonomy arises at this point of 
        intercrossing. The origin of life is no meagre example of this general law.
      
      
         More significantly the self-conscious mind is the domain which enables awareness of this 
        general law. In the case of the self-conscious mind the operational closure is self 
        created by a cognitive generalisation of the idea of boundary and difference. A boundary 
        specifies a difference - a difference specifies a boundary. The self-conscious mind would 
        appear to be the boundary that has recognised the difference it has created. 
      
    <br/>

      
        From this starting point, we thus assert the primacy of the role of the observer who draws 
        distinctions wherever he pleases. Thus the distinctions made which engender our world 
        reveal precisely that: the distinctions we make - and these distinctions pertain more to a 
        revelation of where the observer stands than to an intrinsic constitution of the world 
        which appears, by this very mechanism of separation between observer and observed, always 
        elusive. In finding the world as we do, we forget all we did to find it as such, and when 
        we are reminded of it in retracing our steps back to the act of distinction, we find 
        little more than a mirror-to-mirror image of ourselves and the world. In contrast with 
        what is commonly assumed, a description, when carefully inspected, reveals the properties 
        of the observer. We, observers, distinguish ourselves precisely by distinguishing what we 
        apparently are not, the world.
      
    <br/>

      
        Varela, 1975
      
      
         
      
    <br/>

      
        From Varela's perspective the self-conscious mind can be viewed as a self-sustaining 
        design process - a continuously redefined solution which constantly changes the nature of 
        the boundary it conceives and, therefore, the continuous stream of differences it 
        perceives. The novelty and appropriateness of the interface of boundary / difference, 
        relies on the openness of the self-conscious mind to the experience of 
      
      
        <i>World 1</i>
      
      
         and 
      
      
        <i>World 3.</i>
      
      
         
      
      
        <i>In short, </i>
      
      
        <i><b>experience</b></i>
      
      
        <i> is dependent on the state of consciousness which the framing of World 2 provides.</i>
      
      
         Seen in this light the role of complementary brain functions is to expand both the 
        perception and actualisation of experience. 
      
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        At present the dominant approach used to actualise experience is via a verbal language. 
        This I suggest has mistakenly led to the self-conscious mind being attributed only to the 
        left hemisphere of the brain. To be self-conscious there is a prerequisite to be aware of 
        ideas, the requirement for a stable code based on memory and language, but that language 
        does not necessarily have to be verbal. The research of Bogen (1969a,b) and Howell (1982) 
        reveals that both brain hemispheres provide a repertoire of complementary functions, and 
        that the collective neuronal firing across the whole brain structure is accessible to 
        consciousness. In other words, the right-brain can, and does, have its own language of 
        representation. This language can, and should, be allowed to operate in conjunction with 
        verbal language to reveal the full potential of the 
      
      
        <i>designerly mind.</i>
      
      
         As will be described in the following sections, the means of making this work in reality 
        are not simple or easy, but are extremely necessary if designers are to achieve their 
        fullest potential. 
      
    <br/>

      
        
      
    </p>