The phenomenal world of humans is indeed remarkably rich and complex. It involves the understanding and the experience of the world around us, including sensation, perception, thought, and emotion. The phenomenal is the common-sense appearance of the world (“in here”), and it is the Lebenswelt (living world) on which we base our actions and behavior. To use the computer metaphor, the phenomenal world becomes the interface to the environment around us, structuring and directing behavior. As we receive response and feedback from the physical, social, and cultural habitat, the phenomenal transforms and adapts; thus enters a continuous loop among phenomenal–behavior–response–phenomenal. The phenomenal world is not the same thing to all individuals, but large parts of it are shared globally or locally.

The following list gives examples of the phenomenal:

• In the external world, colors exist only as light frequencies, but in the phenomenal world we see colors.

• In the phenomenal world, we perceive and categorize entities called objects that have certain properties, such as color, weight, and position. We can create new objects (artifacts), and we develop habits with objects, in addition to attaching a symbolic—emotional meaning to them.

• In the phenomenal world, things not only exist: Things happen. Billiard balls collide, plants grow, prices are raised, people lose their jobs, children beat up their siblings, and friends become sad once in a while. Most of us do not treat these events …