An English translation of this paper is currently in preparation and will be made publicly available at a later date. Supplementary materials are available on Zenodo (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19429477). This paper proposes "The Principle of Direction" as a theoretical framework derived from the single formula "Abstract → Concrete" and examines whether it can serve as a principle capable of providing a unified account of human cognition and behavior. Here and throughout this paper, "the abstract" and "the concrete" are terms of art. "The abstract" does not mean abstraction in the ordinary philosophical sense; rather, it refers to the totality of internal states that have not yet taken on a specific form—such as intentions, emotions, desires, and impulses—before they take specific form as behavior or speech. "The concrete" refers to the state produced when such internal states are externalized. The aim of this paper is not to replace existing bodies of knowledge. Rather, it offers a framework that can function as a common language for connecting findings across different fields, including cognitive psychology, clinical psychology, psychiatry, addiction studies, education, law, philosophy, and sleep research. The relationship between the framework proposed in this paper and existing theories in each field can be understood as the relationship between a magnet placed behind a thin board and a metal plate placed on the front side. Existing findings in each field describe with precision the movement of the metal plate observed on the front side. What this paper describes is the movement of the magnet on the back side of those metal plates. The magnet moves the metal plate, and the metal plate moves the magnet, but neither replaces the other. First, this paper presents a set of definitions derived from the single formula "Abstract → Concrete," together with a working model—the Balloon Model—that mirrors their structure through the arrangement and movement of physical components. Next, the applicability of this set of definitions is examined across a variety of everyday phenomena. Phenomena that at first glance appear to belong to different domains—such as studying in the living room, studying in one's own room, comparison with others, self-negation and modesty, gratitude, alcohol-induced blackout, fear-induced freezing, multitasking, the flow state, addiction, mental illness, and stagnation in recovery after remission—are uniformly re-described by means of the same variables. In addition, as an intervention hypothesis derived from the above framework, this paper presents PD Meditation (a practical procedure aimed at improving autonomic nervous system function through mental imagery) and reports my own n=1 practice record in chronological order. Over a long period, I had been aware of symptoms such as excessive sweating in the armpits and nose, tinnitus, abnormal bowel movements, cold sensitivity, and shortness of breath; after carrying out this procedure, improvements in these symptoms were observed within a short period. In addition, during PD Meditation, rapid temperature rises were observed within a short time in the extremities such as the hands and feet. These changes were measured by thermography under both non-intervention and intervention conditions. This paper includes still images of those measurements, while the corresponding video records are posted separately on an external site. This paper also offers a structural account of why PD Meditation may contribute to improved autonomic nervous system function. It also describes commonalities between PD Meditation and Tibetan Buddhist Tummo meditation—for which increases in peripheral temperature have been reported in an independent context—not only in procedural similarity but also in the suggested involvement of rapid peripheral temperature increases and sympathetic nervous system activity. The aims of this paper are:(i) to present the definitions and predictions of the hypothesis system;(ii) to examine its coherence through examples of its application to human cognition and behavior;(iii) to report an intervention hypothesis derived from the framework (PD Meditation), together with a practice record including thermography;(iv) to clarify the scope and limitations of this hypothesis; and(v) to propose multiple verification experiments that can be carried out in laboratories in fields such as cognitive psychology, clinical psychology, and sleep research, without requiring special equipment. By publishing this paper as a preprint, its greatest aim is to clarify the hypothesis system and the procedures, and to indicate the possibility that researchers in each field may participate in verification within the range of their own expertise and equipment.
Hayato Kajimoto (Sun,) studied this question.