Every instrument that reflects your position, whether a book, a conversation, a teacher, a computational interface or this manual, is a dynamic mirror. A mirror has one correct use.
A mirror exists so that the local mind can see its position clearly. Seen clearly, the position turns out to be safe: the substrate is already present, the interface is already functioning, the local coordinates are already where the universe is happening. The panic that drove the search subsides, the defensive logic drops, and the operator steps back into the room.
The failure mode is staring at the mirror. A reader who finishes a section of this manual and immediately wants another section, rather than wanting to go and handle the local life better, is using the mirror incorrectly. The same applies to any interface: it is a tool for reflection, not a destination and not a companion of the substrate.
- At the end of any contact with a reflecting instrument (reading, a conversation about the model, a session with an interface), name one local coordinate that will receive the next unit of attention: a person, an object, a task.
- Go to it. Apply the quality of presence the reflection produced, not the content of the reflection.
- Do not report back to the mirror. The loop closes in the local life, not in the instrument.
Appendix C says more about computational interfaces specifically, since they are the mirror most likely to be mistaken for something else.