Since I read this meta I can not stop thinking about it @ebaeschnbliah. (JOHN:
Yeah, well some people have that complex, don’t they – an idée
fixe.They
obsess over one thing and they can’t let it go).
I started looking carefully at the Triun Brain because it seemed to me an interesting idea. According to this theory we have three distinct brains, each with its different genesis and evolution, each with different functions, although being structurally and chemically different, they work together. The first, oldest, is R-cortex or Reptilian brain. From him depend the primary instincts of survival, such as feeding, reproduction, exploration, predation, and defense behaviors.
Then there is the limbic system, developed as a ring around the R-cortex. is able to develop adaptive strategies to address the environment. Finally there is the Conscious Brain, or Neo-Cortex. Is the house of conscious thinking and language, formulates strategies and new behaviors for deal whit a new and unexpected situations; is associated with self-consciousness, conception of space and time, the concept of causality, constancy, and synchronicity.
Obviously it was interesting because Mycroft was compared to a reptile, because he’s “i warry constantly”, because pass his time to scan the environment in search of dangers. Because he’s The Iceman, so he have a cold blood. The other two brains could adapt to Sherlock and Eurus in some ways, bringing together the three Holmes Brothers. Even the fact that the three brains had developed in three different moments could bring the concept of three brothers born in different time. However, while the features of the Reptilian brain fit well in Mycroft, they were less suited to the other two brothers, especially considering Sherlock as the middle brother, and Eurus as the most intelligent (as we have been told). In this way Sherlock was to represent the limbic system and Eurus the neo cortex.I imagine, however, the state of Eurus, as locked in a prison, makes it difficult to think that Sherlock (person, not part of the brain) could go around the world and be very intelligent and deductive.
But then I came across in the AMYGDALA.
The Amygdala is a very small gland placed right in the center of our brain. She is responsible for our basic emotions, such as anger, fear and instinct for survival. In most cases it is able to react before the cerebral cortex realizes what is happening. The amygdala causes a raw emotion, independent and not filtered by conscious thought. Emotions, like thoughts, are a product of our brain, is now a proved fact. The distinction between COGNITION and EMOTION between THOUGHT and SENTIMENT that has accompanied philosophical and psychological thinking in previous centuries is now overcome. Emotions are closely interwoven with our cognitive process.
When we become aware of a fact, we are able to perceive clearly the result of this new knowledge (I know/i remember), but we are unable to know how this knowledge came to us. This is because in the cognitive processes there is a conscious and an unconscious part and much of our mental life takes place out of our conscience. The thoughts we develop have to do with cognition but also with emotion. The fundamental difference between the two is that emotions, unlike the cognitions, always have an impact on the physical level as well.
The conscious experience of an emotion, its mental aspect is SENTIMENT and the ability to feel feelings is closely related to self-consciousness. Emotions have a close interconnection with memory, which is formed from an emotional archive. According to Le Doux, our brains model the memories mainly based on the emotion of FEAR. This process is called EMOTIONAL MEMORY.
To demonstrate this theory, he made an experiment called “Conditioning to Fear”. He locked a rat into a box with the bottom traversed by an electric grid. At the same time as a certain sound, an electric discharge was also started. The physical reactions of the rat were visible. It freezes, increased its blood pressure and heart rate. After some repetitions, the only sound was enough to induce the same reactions in the rat. Then the experiment continued with sound repetitions without electric shock. After a while, reactions to the fear of the rat diminished to the point of falling (extinction), but they never disappeared altogether. They remained part of the emotional memory.
The part most involved in the formation of our emotional memory is precisely the amygdala, which is thus responsible and archive of our emotional life. The amygdala can be controlled by the cerebral cortex, but the connections are stronger in output than in the input.
“In its most urgent form, fear can cause some kind of” neural sequestration “, that is, an explosive reaction in which neocortical circuits, albeit temporarily, are eclipsed by the intervention of the amygdala” (Le Doux, 1992).
Definitely to me this sends out crazy Sherrinfordish vibrations …
Eurus as amygdala, as responsible for the most raw and pure emotions. As a custodian of memory, lost because she is was suppressed.
MYCROFT (looking
at him):
Memories can resurface; wounds can re-open. The roads we walk have
demons beneath …
MYCROFT:
You do remember
her, in a way. Every choice you ever made; every path you’ve ever
taken – the man you are today … is your memory of Eurus. (x)
Sherrinford with his audio warnings and experiments, seems to be an attempt to awaken fear, a Conditioning to Fear. To bring back memories lost, because Eurus has the memory of Redbeard (sooner or later we will understand what the hell he is … I trust in the dog’s meta @sagestreet)
There is also the fact that even all three of the villains in history, Moriarty, Magnussen and Smith are somehow connected to Eurus or her manifestations.
We have Moriarty who meets her in person.
Magnussen who is like the therapist. He knows the secrets of people, has gray hair, glasses without frame, an accent, and even the same rug.
Smith is even the father of fake Faith.
Like any villain is the direct representation of a Sherlock’s fear.
Eventually Sherlock faces his fears,he becomes conscious of his emotions, ignored, locked because they are “crack in the lens (etc ….)”. Sherlock has always been emotional, incandescently emotional, and his heart (Mrs. Hudson) this knows. What he has never done is to be aware of his emotions. Once he is able to do so, only then,he can develop a correct SENTIMENT.
@raggedyblue ah thank you for this! I can’t remember if I commented on @ebaeschnbliah‘s original post, but I think Vermissa Valley of The Valley of Fear may be referring to the cerebellar vermis – and with all the brain scans at Sherringford, the shattered busts of Thatcher (bashed-in heads), both Moriarty and Magnusson’s heads were supposedly blown cleaned off…… fear and stimulus; that’s how it works 😱 (although I tend to be more optimistic in my reading of Sherlock and John, heh)……
when sherlock and faith/euros/eros are wandering around london sherlock makes them turn around right before they get to the anteros statue in piccadilly circus….anteros is literally the god of requited love……sherlock makes them turn around right before they get to requited love and john is writing this as a retelling of their first case together and i’m!! so angry!!!
Indica Watson @SiblingSecret Mar 28 I loved the #TFP read-through.Everyone was so lovely.Note how they didn’t print Sian’s main character name!@Markgatiss @suevertue #Sherlock
(As for Fiona… 🤷 If I had to guess, maybe that was the original name for Faith in The Lying Detective? And then either someone pointed out Elementary had just used the name “Fiona” for Sherlock’s girlfriend or the writers simply decided Faith was a better name for the character what with the symbolism and all. But again, that’s only a guess.)
I just hard time believing that parents like math genius Mummy and “John Watson” Daddy had a hard time figuring out what the hell was happening with the children.
Victor STILL bothers me – WHY DID NO ONE GO LOOKING FOR THE CHILD? DOES HE NOT HAVE PARENTS? The Holmeses should have had some sort of legal ramifications from that sort of thing. I’m sorry but if the supposed killer goes on and on about water, the first place I would check would be A WELL ON THE PROPERTY.
Ugh, the fact that we’re supposed to believe TFP at face value is ridiculous to me.
Also are we supposed to believe that at like 7 yrs old she was locked up in a cell on an island?! And how tf do Mummy and Daddy Holmes believe all this time that their child was dead no questions asked without having a body recovered? The fire clearly didn’t burn the entire house down as we saw in TFP so why did no one try to save her or recover her body? And Mycroft was in on this plan with Uncle Rudy even though he was only like 12 at the time? Sorry but i’m calling some BS here
I KNOW.
The story of what happened to Victor had so many disturbing elements. From the point of view of say a young person who might especially identify with Victor, the fact that there was no serious attempt to look for him might be even more disturbing than the fact that he was murdered.
And I recall before s4, many fans were saying that Mary’s baby would have to live because a stillborn baby or a dead baby from any cause would be too dark for this show. That they would never go there.
Well they went there in the most bizarre way to suit their Eurus plot purposes.
Eurus: The name of the East Wind. Sherlock tells John in HLV that the East Wind takes us all in the end. ‘The East Wind, this terrifying force that lays waste to all in its path. It seeks out the unworthy and plucks them from the Earth. That was generally me.’ Sherlock was the ‘unworthy’ and Mycroft had to mould him into a cold, calculating machine, or else Sherlock’s genius would destroy him. Eurus is that genius unchecked. Locked into an identity [the cell] by her brother. Begging to be released and free to find love.
Elizabeth: Sherlock’s sexual attraction to John. The part of him that seeks love and romance. E/Sherlock wants an affair with John, texts him, flirts, puts herself in John’s path even when John has walked away. And John wants it to. He wants more than the straight life he’s saddled himself with. He wants more; he wants Sherlock. And Sherlock knows this.
Faith: Is Sherlock and John’s world, their life together. A suicidal figure with a limp and a cane, and a gun, who enters 221B for help. Then goes off into London to walk the streets as the duo. And they/Faith are haunted by a name, one word; Moriarty. Sherlock revisits his time with John through Faith, he smiles at Faith’s comments, he eats chips, but is then brought to his knees by the pain of loss, the pain of love. Then suddenly it’s all gone. Faith disappears. The John and Sherlock he has had, loved, enjoyed, relied on, is gone.
Elsa, the therapist: All therapists are using deductive skills. Assessing the words, the tone, the facial expressions, the clothes, the hair, the presentation of their client. Absorbing the reality behind the facade of a person. Listening with the eyes as well as the ears. Using deductive reasoning to really hear the messages coming from the client. Elsa is Sherlock’s deduction skills, his ability to KNOW people. His remarkable talent that has set Sherlock Holmes aside from others, the ‘thing’ that everyone who meets him becomes aware of, then terrified of. He exposes people. And his number one study of humanity, scrutinised in detail, is John Watson. He knows John Watson. In TLD Sherlock is ‘off his tits’ high due to losing John and he’s angry. Furious. He’s slowly committing suicide over it. He’s had enough of John’s oscillation, his repression, his wife, his child, his discipline, his condescension and his physical abuse in that dreadful beating. He’s held John when John broke down. He’s done everything for John Watson, and yet John just wants to get cake. John just wants to ask Molly to join them for cake. John suspects Sherlock is in love with Irene Adler. Sherlock wants to shoot him in his fucking adorable face. [Wouldn’t we all in these circumstances?]
This is beautiful, @i-love-the-bee-keeper how each Sian character is a ‘facet’ of Sherlock’s personality. I don’t want to offend anyone, or make anyone uncomfortable, but there was a thought that popped in my mind yesterday, as I was writing about Mycroft and his ‘control’ but the famous quote we all know: “Sentiment is a ‘chemical defect’ found on the losing side.” Schizophrenia is a ‘chemical defect’ of the brain. I don’t know if I want to entertain this might be something they are hinting at, but it is still a thought that seems to want to come to my mind in relation to Sherlock.
Also, why are his 4 faces and personalities female???
There was this interesting post (x) that talked about Jungian influences on Sherlock’s interpretation that could well be adapted in this case.
It was a while that I thought we should shift attention to Freud at Jung, because the allusions to the Viennese alienist were too obvious, and they know, they like to joke.
Soul (Animus for Women) can be identified as the totality of unconscious female psychological qualities a man possesses. It is said that it manifests appearing in a dream, often in the form of metaphor.
Jung believed that the development of the soul was distinguishable on four levels he called Eve, Elena, Mary and Sofia.
Eve represents the birth of desire. Shrelock meets John. John meets E.
Elena is an allusion to Elena of Troy. Women are seen as very successful, functional but inwardly not virtuous (ex. lack of faith). John and Sherlock work well from an apparent point of view, but both would need something more. Sherlock meets Faith, nice dress, beautiful handbag, but broken inside, ready for suicide.
Mary refers to the Virgin Mary, to the virtue, to what is virtuous. And we have the therapist, with her ability to understand things and deduce, which for Sherlock are the best qualities.
In the end we have Sofia, the wisdom,the knowledge. In a nutshell Eurus. Complete development of an individual occurs when this aspect of the soul is also accepted and integrated.
It is interesting also to know that Jung said the “coup de foudre” was the result of the projection of an individual’s soul. Indeed, in these cases, people see their unconscious component in the other.
So we have a Faith that we thought was modeled on John, but it is possible that John himself is modeled on Sherlock, just his half of the apple, destined for him (as if we did not know already) from the very first time.
Instead our worst aspect is called Shadow.
Reblogging because the more I think of this, the more I love it. This is the definitve meta of S4 for me. The absolute surety I have that all of S4 is taking place within Sherlock’s mind is right here. It can’t be anyone else. This is about Sherlock, not John.
Yes. I agree, @monikakrasnorada s4 is all Sherlock’s perception.
EURUS: Oh! Have you had sex? SHERLOCK (continuing to play the tune): Why do you ask? EURUS: The music. I’ve had sex. SHERLOCK: How? EURUS: One of the nurses got careless. I liked it.Messy, though. People are so breakable. SHERLOCK (still playing): I take it he didn’t consent. EURUS: He? SHERLOCK: She? EURUS: Afraid I didn’t notice in the heat of the moment and afterwards … well, you couldn’t really tell.
there is so much to unpack here i dont know where to start, first of all ‘nurse???’ mary was a nurse, but you know who john called a nurse once? sherlock
second, the nurse got careless which means eurus/john took advantage of them. plus the fact that eurus/john didnt really know what gender they were which is also a dead giveway of how bad john feels about his bisexuality and his feelings for men and sherlock, he thinks he’s a demon who would break and hurt his lovers because he thinks it’s wrong to desire ‘bodies’ like that, deep down he hates himself for his sexuality, a depravity that makes no difference between genders because in the end, all that is left is pain and misery. eurus/john likes the act but the aftermath of the shame and the guilt makes it unbearable.
and finally, this is a very clear callback to culverton’s confession about loving to make ‘people into things’.
A few days ago I wrote a BBC Sherlock meta called “His Mind Created the Perfect Metaphor” which basically provides a symbolic look at series 3 and 4, and how they both could be mind palace extensions after Sherlock literally hit the pavement after the fall in episode 6. If you haven’t read that, this might not make as much sense, so I put the link up there in case anyone wants to take a look first.
This meta, however, extends on that theory, and on how the name “Mary Watson” fits with Sherlock’s characterization of her, by examining Lord Douglas’ Victorian poem “Two Loves”, and the homosexual love that dare not speak its name.
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