The Racing Loop

When I was seven, my friend got a racing car set for his birthday. It was awesome! The little electric motors fired the cars around the track at amazing speeds, and we’d race each other, imagining we were the drivers.

After a few days of play, I had a flash of inspiration. The track came with pieces for building hills and corners. “What if we connected them to make a giant loop, so the car could go upside down?”

I described the idea to my friend. He thought I was crazy. It was so clear in my mind, but he just couldn’t see it.

Still, I convinced him to try.

We spent hours connecting pieces of track into every configuration we could imagine. Each attempt failed. The car would lift off the track, or it would fall mid-loop when it lost contact. Without constant connection, it had no power.

It seemed the idea really was crazy!

But near the end of the day, with nothing left to lose, I gave it one more try. I removed one piece from a bigger loop we’d built. I lined up the car and fired it down the track. And this time…it worked!

The car shot through the loop like a rocket, stuck to the track like glue.

I looked at my friend, and I could see it on his face. He wasn’t just watching. He was imagining himself in the car, feeling the loop.

He finally saw what I had seen all along.


Stories matter!

But not just because they can be personal.

Every idea you hold has a shape. It’s not just information - it’s a form, a terrain in your mind. And you can’t expect someone else to just “install” it like an app. You have to guide them through it. You have to let them feel the bends and curves for themselves.

That’s what a good story does. It doesn’t just explain the idea. It lets someone move through it. It lets them live the shape of what you’re trying to share.

This isn’t just poetic, it’s practical. There’s a way of thinking about the mind that explains this. It suggests that the way we process ideas isn’t flat or linear, it’s shaped. What we care about, what matters to us, actually bends the space of thought. And when we share a story, we’re not just transferring information - we’re helping someone else move through that shaped space.

If that idea feels familiar, it’s because you’ve just lived it. And if you’re curious to explore this further, there’s a model that puts this into words:

How identity, emotion, and thought emerge from motion through a meaningful terrain.

It’s called the FRESH Model and you can dive into exploring it here:

The FRESH Model - Consciousness Without Ghosts.

You’ve already felt the loop. Now see what else the terrain holds.

And next time you share an idea, ask yourself:

What shape does it take? And how might someone else feel their way into it?

This story didn’t need to be true to work. Because what mattered wasn’t the memory, it was the motion. That loop wasn’t from childhood. It was shaped here, for you. And still, I hope you felt it.

So why does this matter? What’s different about seeing the mind this way?

Looking at consciousness through the lens of shape and motion helps make some really abstract questions more approachable. Questions like:

  • Why Do You Feel? (Weighted Qualia)
  • How Do You Understand What Someone Else Is Thinking? (Theory of Mind)
  • Why Do You Get Lost In A Movie Or A Story? (Suspension of disbelief)
  • What Is Going On When You Act Without Thinking? (Unconscious processes)
  • Do You Really Make Your Own Choices? (Free will)
  • What Does It Mean To Be Ethical, And Can That Be Measured? (Quantified Ethics)

These aren’t just deep questions. They’re practical ones. And when we think of the mind as something shaped by what matters, we get a way to explore them that’s testable - not just philosophical.

But those ideas are all stories for another post…