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consciousness
Consciousness is defined as: spirit
animating matter
apperception of personal
presence
state or condition of
being conscious
awareness of, and, or
sensitivity to
surroundings
Consciousness
has always seemed to be separate from the physical animal body because
when life leaves the body
consciousness leaves the body as well.
Consciousness is, in fact,
the Force that motivates Life.
Consciousness and intelligence
are not synonymous.
A computer is intelligence,
it is not conscious.
An ant is conscious, it is not
intelligence.
Intelligence is a cumulative process
of discernment and
judgement.
Evolution of
Consciousness
According to the Puranas,
the consciousness of human beings evolves through four stages, each lasting
thousands of years.
Humans, as a species, have been to transitioning
from a lower forms of
conscious
awareness into a higher form of conscious awareness since the beginning of
the Axial Age when
Siddhartha Gautama
acheived Nirvana.
Those transitioning find themselves to be
separated from experience -
an observer experiencing
events and objects standing outside
of self.
The moment we see self as The Observer we naturally attempt
to re-engage
presence-of-moment reality
to become
intimately re-involved with reality.
The Gap,
between observing reality and immersion within reality, is an
artificial division
cleaved by the Rational Mind.
In non-dualistic awareness there is no
such gap; there is
only intimate being, an opening
to and participation in what is.
This is
participatory awareness and
living in the
moment.
This is being
"Integrally Conscious."
"Integrally Conscious" is living in the moment in
participatory
awareness.
To be Integrally Conscious is to be
Walking the Thinspace.
Walking the Thinspace is living both as
the "observer" and as the
"actor" - a joining of the
Rational, that vast storehouse of bodily
memory gained through life experience, with
the Mystical,
abstract intellectual
knowledge learned through symbol systems of communication.
Different cultures have come up with different terms for
Living Lucidly.
True
Liberation or integral consciousness carries with it many terms including
Nirvana,
quantum consciousness,
fully awakened,
participatory awareness,
Christ consciousness and
Buddha
consciousness.
Contemporary
neurological research has discovered distinct brainwave patterns that parallel each of the
states of consciousness identified.
To understand the multilple levels of
human consciousness Jean Gebser identified five progressive stages in the
evolution of human consciousness; archaic,
magical, mythical, rational
and integral consciousness.
These five progressive states of
consciousness may be experienced by each and every human being but to do so one
must jettison cultural conditioning.
In an
archaic consciousness mode
humans experience themselves as one with nature and with all of life in a form
of Unity
Consciousness.
In archaic consciousness there is neither subject nor
object.
In this state consciousness is not aware of itself.
As consciousness continues to evolve humans start to
become conscious of
distinctions, such as male and
female, good and
evil, and inside and
outside - a
consciousness of magical duality allows differentiation.
Eating from
the tree of knowledge of
good and evil is a metaphorical way of saying that our earliest ancestors
began to develop a consciousness that recognized polarities - duality.
They could no longer maintain
their initial state of union with the Creator.
This is further symbolized by their
leaving the Garden of Eden.
This step in the evolution of consciousness
allows humans to begin to gain mastery over the polarized world of duality that
they now experience.
"In this magic structure, man makes the almost
superhuman attempt to free
himself from the
jungle-like bonds and spell of his fusion with nature. Here lies the basis
of all sorcery and magic - rainmaking,
ritual, and
countless other forms by which
magic man tries to cope with
nature". - Jean Gebser
Millennium later
mythical consciousness gradually
emerged.
Humans, discovering the depth of their internal world
elaborated on and shared their
new awareness through the telling of myths.
The age of mythmaking
arose simultaneously in various parts of the world.
Myriad myths such as
the Ramayana and Mahabharata in India, the
myths of ancient Greek
civilization, and the myths passed on in all indigenous cultures revealed
the nature of the soul and its journey.
Mythical consciousness no longer
prevails, nevertheless, it still influences.
Each new mode of
consciousness overlays its predecessor.
The older structures still live
within the current structure, just as older parts of the brain continue to play
an important role even after the development of the frontal cortex.
Archaic, magical, and mythical forms of consciousness influence us
today although they have become overlaid with a fourth structure of
consciousness that has been emerging for millennium,
rational
dissociation.
Rational
consciousness, focused on
measure and logic, objectifies reality.
Rational
dissociation slices reality into three disparate parts;
subject is detached from
object, humans from nature and
from one another.
We alienate ourselves from that which
we objectify.
But
rational
concentration has come at a
great cost.
Since the eighteenth century
Age
of Enlightenment, there has been an excessive reliance on reason at the
expense of other ways of experiencing
life.
"Faith in reason has led to
a fragmentation of the
individual, a devaluing of the body and of feeling, to a complete negation
of all structures of consciousness other than the rational." - Allan
Ajaya
When we live solely
in the rational we lose our experience of
participation in the
numinous, which the
mythical form of consciousness brought forth.
In
rational dissociation
the mythic structure
residing in the subconscious functions as the
collective
subconscious affecting us through dreams and
metaphors rather than having
a central place in our
conscious life.
At
the height of human
rationality the effect of earlier modes of consciousness were denied,
however, since Carl Jung
showed us who we really are,
depth psychology has revealed the enormous influence
magical and mythical
conscious structures still have in our everyday lives.
This
recognition signals a shift out of
dissociated rationality to a
more inclusive awareness.
Each consciousness structure
gradually evolves over millennia.
That which is observed is now
experienced as an object.
The seat
of observation, the mind, is now identified as "I'.
The object is seen as
separate from oneself, to be manipulated for ones ends.
This
approach to life is epitomized
by the engineer, who attempts
to shape and dominate
reality with calculations, and
attempts to engineer our
lives.
The observer focuses on the object
rather than on the observing.
This attention on the object
leads to the notion of objectivity.
One forgets that his is one
of many perspectives.
He believes his perspective
is the true way of seeing - he is being objective.
Identification of ones own perspective
with the shared perspective of society leads to the disdain of other
viewpoints.
Objectification of reality,
a technique, made possible the art of science.
During the last
century physicists dismantled the notion of objectivity.
That which is observed is affected by
the very act of observing, rather than being independent of
it.
Those operating in lower modes of consciousness can not
understand the operants of higher modes of consciousness.
The way that
we experience reality changes dramatically depending on which structure of
consciousness predominates.
The rational self lives in chronic
dissatisfaction looking for solutions to problems it has devised to make life
easier or better for itself.
A new form of consciousness
has been emerging since the beginning of the Axial
Age that goes beyond rational dissociation.
The previous structures
of consciousness were exclusive; functioning in one mode, you could not
simultaneously experience other forms of consciousness.
Newly emerging
aperspective or integral
consciousness, as Gebser called it, encompasses awareness of the operation of
previous forms of consciousness.
According to the ancient
traditions of India, consciousness is self existent.
It does not arise out of or depend on
anything outside of itself such as time.
It is not evolving; it has
always existed and is inherently complete.
It is the capacity of
the human being to function from this form of consciousness that is evolving.
The writings of contemporary developmental
psychologists suggest the way consciousness develops in each person from
infancy through adulthood recapitulates the way consciousness has collectively
evolved.
Margaret Mahler, a British
psychoanalyst, has described an initial stage in which the infant experiences a
sense of oneness similar to that of the archaic consciousness.
The
developmental psychologist, Jean Piaget, found that
magical thinking develops between ages
two and four.
Piaget concluded that the culmination of cognitive
development in contemporary society occurs in adolescence with
the acquisition of abstract
reasoning, which he called "formal operations."
This corresponds to
rational consciousness as defined by Gebser.
Recently cognitive theorists have extended Piaget's model of
human development and have described
a further stage in the development
of consciousness, beyond abstract reasoning.
The evolution of the
stages of consciousness described by Gebser is also reflected in the way that
spiritual practices have changed over time.
The rituals of the early
Vedas and Tantric practices appeared the earliest.
These are both
expressions of the magical structure of consciousness.
Followers of these traditions use ritualistic magic to
gain mastery over the natural and supernatural world as well as to burn through
the world of appearance and merge with
the source of
manifestation.
The Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Puranas, which bring
into play mythological stories that help the listener to experience his true
essence as well as how to conduct himself
in the world in harmony with his divine nature, came much later.
The historical periods of evolving
human
consciousness have lead to the development of unique practices in each
period.
Each of these
approaches has the potential to lead to an awakening out of that mode of
consciousness.
It would be incorrect to assume that practices that
arose in one era are inferior or superior to those of another era.
The
practices that emerge from a particular structure of human conscious can have a
range of effects including the transcendence of the ego
identity.
The progression of humans through successive
consciousness structures is a means of developing reflective integral
consciousness.
It
allows reflection on existence in distinct and comprehensive ways.
Consciousness becomes progressively more
conscious of itself.
Consciousness finally arrives at recognition of
itself in infinite forms and
expressions as well as the formless and unnamable.
As consciousness evolves through archaic, magical, mythical, and
rational structures, it becomes increasingly able to marvel at itself and this
existence.
Integration of
these modes of consciousness into waking awareness allows reflection on the
awe inspiring manifestation
and its source.
Whereas we know conscious thought
occurs
in all higher animals,
frequency is debatable.
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