The Transformational Process
Evolution-
on the Outward as well as Inward Arc- is marked by a hierarchical series of emergent structures, running in general
from the lower to the higher, and each newly emergent structure has to be
integrated and consolidated with its predecessors- a task of no easy
proportions. Not only can the higher structures tend to repress the lower ones,
the lower structures can rebelliously disrupt and overwhelm the higher ones.
The emergence of the verbal mind is simply a classic example of a higher
structure which has the potential to suppress all lower ones, and this can lead
to the most unfortunate consequences.
Atman Project Pg. 29
Notice
again that triad which we introduced in the last chapter: as the mental self
emerges and differentiates from the
body ( with the help of language), it transcends
the body and thus can operate upon it using its own mental structures as
tools (it can delay the body’s immediate discharges and postpone its
instinctual gratifications using verbal insertions). At the same time, this
allows the beginning of the
sublimation of the body’s emotional-sexual energies into more subtle complex,
and evolved activities. This triad of differentiation, transcendence, and
operation is, as we will see, the single most basic form of development, repeated at every stage of growth, and
leading- for all we know- right to the Ultimate itself.”
Atman Project pg.33
“Each
emergent level… is not so much a negation of the previous level, but rather is
a transformation ( and transcendence) of it.”
Atman
Project Pg.43
“As,
Jung so straight forwardly demonstrated, the “ mechanism, that transforms energy is the symbol. “ Hence the (later) title of Jung’s first
pioneering book : Symbols of
transformation.”
Atman
Project Pg. 43
“The
ascent of consciousness - is marked by a series of significant transformations
upward, mediated or assisted by various types of symbolic structures. At each
stage of ascent an appropriate symbolic structure- itself emerging at that
stage- transforms each particular mode of consciousness into its higher
successor. And, as we have consistently seen, once the higher successor emerges
in consciousness, the self identifies
with that structure, differentiates
itself from the lower structure, hence transcends
those lower structures and thus can both operate upon them and integrate
them. Such is the ascent of
consciousness, and it continues ultimately to Atman itself (which, alone of all
the stages, is totally beyond all symbols and all forms- they are here no longer
needed, and finally are only an impediment to the Formless.)”
Atman
Project pg.46
Ken
Wilber CW1 pg 625:
Where
It Was, There I Shall Become.
Now
it should at least be mentioned- although we cannot pursue it at length- that
just as the persona resisted the shadow, and the ego resisted the body-global,
so also the centaur ( and all levels above it) resists the transpersonal realm.
The highest potentials- the transcendent ones- are basically threatening to the
persona, ego and centaur, for they threaten the death of the separate self.
Maslow noticed this as the Jonah complex, and spoke of “ defenses against
motivation”. Desoille called it “ the repression of the sublime” A true
transpersonal therapy must handle this resistance effectively as analysts
handle shadow resistances. The same basic strategy must be used: help the
individual see that he resists the sublime and how he resists It, so that
ultimately, It may become I. The truth is that , as a person loves his
symptoms, so also he loves samsara. If not, he would already have effected
enlightenment- and samsara is notorious for lasting a long, long time.
In
a certain sense, therefore, we have to ‘die’ to our false separate self
(centaur-ego-persona) in order to awaken to our immortal and transcendent self.
Thus the famous paradox, ‘ If you die before you die, then when you die you
won’t die’; and the sayings of the mystics,’ No one gets as much of God as the
one who is thoroughly dead’ and the Zen
saying ‘While alive be a dead man, Thoroughly dead; and act as you will and all
is good.’ For the greatest potential- perhaps the ultimate potential- lies on
the otherside of death, not in any ‘afterlife’ state, but here now in this life
time, in this present moment. “ You will know in due course,” stated Ramana Maharshi,
“ that your true glory lies where you cease to exist.” Your true glory, your
greates potential lies just on the other side of you.
Where
it was there shall I become!
Transformation
and Translation
“
Each level of consciousness consists of a deep structure and a surface
structure. The deep structure consists of all the basic limiting principles
embedded at that level. The deep structure is the defining form of a level,
which embodies all of the potentials and limitations of that level. Surface
structure is simply a particular
manifestation of the deep structure…….
A
deep structure is like a paradigm, and contains within it all the basic
limiting principles in terms of which all surface structures are realise. To
use a simple example, take a ten-storey building: each of the floors is a deep
structure, whereas the various rooms and objects in each floor are surface
structures”
Atman
Project pg.47
“
The movement of surface structures we call translation;
the movement of deep structures we call transformation………
The
archetype of the magna mater- the prima materia of pleromatic chaos- may be
transformed at the body level to the concrete image of the Great Mother, which
may be transformed at the egoic-conceptual level into the idea of a loving wife. These
are genuine transformations. But, at each of these stage, and for a variety of
reasons, a specific translation may
occur. Thus, if the uroboric archetype of the magna mater is transformed into
an image of a cave (on the body level) that image may undergo translation or
displacement to the image of a cup, basket, house, womb or box…..The uroboric
magna mater is transformed into a
cave; the cave is translated into a
cup- the former process is vertical, the latter horizontal.”
Atman
Project pg.47
‘Translation
results in a different “language” or form but transformation results in a
different type of language or form.”
Atman
Project pg.47
“ The mode of self, now transformed to the egoic level, is
maintained
an
almost endless stream of specific translations…..Wherever
translation fails, transformation ensues -and it can be regressive transformation or
progressive transformation.”
Atman
Project pg.47
“We
define a sign as that form which
points to, or represents, or is involved with any element within a given level; whereas a symbol
points to, or represents or is involved with an element of a different level
(either higher or lower).
Atman
Project pg.49
“
Translation operates with signs, whereas
transformation operates with symbols.”
Atman
Project pg.49
“
All deep structures are remembered, in
the precise Platonic sense of amamnesis, whereas all surface
structures are learned, in the sense
studied by Western psychologists.”
Atman
Project pg. 49
“
In psychopathology… a particular type of transformation sets the stage for a
particular particular type disease, while translation itself governs the nature
of the specific symptoms which eventually surface.”
Atman
Project pg.49
“
Note the overall progression of the higher unity structures: In the subtle
realm, the self dissolves into archetypal Deity (as ishtadeva, yidam, dhyani-buddha, etc.) In the
low-causal, Deity-Self in turn disappears into final-God, which is its source
and Essence. Here, in the high-causal, the final-God Self is reduced likewise
to its own prior Ground: it dissolves into Formlessness. Each step is an
increase in consciousness and an intensification of Awareness until all forms
return to perfect and radical release in Formlessness.”
Atman
Project pg.84
Chapter
10: The Form of Development
“
The form of development the form of transformation- this is constant, as far as
I can tell, from the womb to God……..
The
process of psychological development proceeds in a most articulate fashion . At
each stage, a higher-order structure- more complex and therefore more unified- emerges
through a differentiation of the preceding, lower-order level. This
higher-order emergence is mediated or assisted by various types of symbolic
structures (some of the major ones that we saw: uroboric form, axial form,
image, word-and-name, concept, vision image, ishtadeva-archetype, final-God,
and then the Formless itself). That is at each stage of ascent an appropriate
symbolic form- itself emerging at that stage- transforms each particular mode
of consciousness into its higher-order successor.
This
higher-order structure is introduced to consciousness, and eventually ( it can
occur almost instantaneously or it can take a fairly prolonged time), the self identifies with that emergent structure.”
Atman
Project pg.93
“As
evolution proceeds, however, each level in turn is differentiated from the self, or “peeled off” so to
speak. The self, that is, eventually disidentifies
with its present structure so as to identify
with the next higher-order emergent structure. More precisely (and this is a
very important technical point), we say that the self detaches itself from its exclusive identification with that lower
structure. It does not throw the structure away it just no longer exclusively identifies with it. The point is
that because the self is differentiated from the lower structure, it transcends that structure (without
obliterating it in any way) and can thus operate
on that lower structure using the tools of the newly emergent structure.”
Atman
Project pg.94
“
A mode of self becomes merely a component of a higher-order self….This
can be put in several different ways, each of which tells us something
important about development, evolution, and transcendence:
1)
what is whole becomes part
2)
what is identification becomes
detachment
3)
what is context becomes content (that is, the context of
cognition/experience of one level simply becomes a content of experience of the
next)
4)
what is ground becomes figure (which releases higher-order
ground)
5)
what is subjective becomes objective (until both of these terms
become meaningless)
6)
what is condition becomes element (e.g., the mind which is the a
priori condition of egoic
experience, becomes merely an element of experience in the higher-order realms.)
The Transformational Process
Evolution-
on the Outward as well as Inward Arc- is marked by a hierarchical series of emergent structures, running in general
from the lower to the higher, and each newly emergent structure has to be
integrated and consolidated with its predecessors- a task of no easy
proportions. Not only can the higher structures tend to repress the lower ones,
the lower structures can rebelliously disrupt and overwhelm the higher ones.
The emergence of the verbal mind is simply a classic example of a higher
structure which has the potential to suppress all lower ones, and this can lead
to the most unfortunate consequences.
Atman Project Pg. 29
Notice
again that triad which we introduced in the last chapter: as the mental self
emerges and differentiates from the
body ( with the help of language), it transcends
the body and thus can operate upon it using its own mental structures as
tools (it can delay the body’s immediate discharges and postpone its
instinctual gratifications using verbal insertions). At the same time, this
allows the beginning of the
sublimation of the body’s emotional-sexual energies into more subtle complex,
and evolved activities. This triad of differentiation, transcendence, and
operation is, as we will see, the single most basic form of development, repeated at every stage of growth, and
leading- for all we know- right to the Ultimate itself.”
Atman Project pg.33
“Each
emergent level… is not so much a negation of the previous level, but rather is
a transformation ( and transcendence) of it.”
Atman
Project Pg.43
“As,
Jung so straight forwardly demonstrated, the “ mechanism, that transforms energy is the symbol. “ Hence the (later) title of Jung’s first
pioneering book : Symbols of
transformation.”
Atman
Project Pg. 43
“The
ascent of consciousness - is marked by a series of significant transformations
upward, mediated or assisted by various types of symbolic structures. At each
stage of ascent an appropriate symbolic structure- itself emerging at that
stage- transforms each particular mode of consciousness into its higher
successor. And, as we have consistently seen, once the higher successor emerges
in consciousness, the self identifies
with that structure, differentiates
itself from the lower structure, hence transcends
those lower structures and thus can both operate upon them and integrate
them. Such is the ascent of
consciousness, and it continues ultimately to Atman itself (which, alone of all
the stages, is totally beyond all symbols and all forms- they are here no longer
needed, and finally are only an impediment to the Formless.)”
Atman
Project pg.46