THE REAL REVOLUTION
Going beyond the "ordinary," to experience what is meaningful in and about the life we live and then learning to apply this knowledge in our life represents the challenging educational goal of the real basics.
Millennium PortalTo move toward that goal, then, shouldn't we first learn about the act of transcendence? That is, aren't we seeking to bring forth the innate potentiality that each of us has in order to cultivate the art of living in a meaningful way to the highest degree possible? As I mentioned earlier, isn't that what knowledge is for?
Revolutions, in that they surpass what was either thought or done before, offer an outstanding example of how knowledge has served as a transcendent function. Consider the Declaration of Independence written in 1776. The ideas expressed in it then, formed the basis of our democracy today. The creation of this document was a transcendent act, a new beginning for the establishment of human rights, because it revealed that the thinking of the time some two hundred years ago rose above a repressed totalitarian or aristocratic form of government to one that honored the sacred ideals of equality and freedom.
When looking back over a much greater period of time encompassing the past 10,000 years, the history of civilization reveals even more dramatically the significant and extraordinary nature of the transcendent power of thought within us. It is a story of the unexpected, the unusual, the astonishing.
For instance, just think of how our conceptions and experiences of the world have radically changed from some of these major revolutions: the agricultural, Copernican, Descartian, Kantian, Newtonian, French, American, Industrial, Marxist, Darwinian, Freudian, Atomic/Nuclear, sexual, technological, and even literary. Each one has had an enormous effect on the way we live today, both good and bad. Yet, in the most meaningful and fundamental way, they all represent the initial transcendent activity of thought that went beyond the thinking of the time.
Biophysical ChronologyEven more remarkable about this phenomenon of transcendence is that only in the last few hundred have we begun to radically change our lives through new and applied ideas in science and technology. We now can travel faster, see farther, communicate better than ever before. Thinking has come a long way, a very long way from the prehistory of our species. Its roots that lead to our special, self-reflective form of consciousness are embedded in the biological sense with the sudden emergence of life itself. Chapter Three will define more fully the meaningful aspects of this ascending development of the life-process.
First, however, an understanding of our own personal development is necessary in contrast to the larger one of human evolution and the onset of consciousness. Both disclose an immediate and parallel example of a transcendent activity. In our daily life this revolutionary process is ongoing. In the study of consciousness, it is characterized initially by four modes of awareness, as illustrated below, that greatly effects our intellectual and emotional growth (I say “initially” because I will be adding a fifth state--Meta-Consciousness--that encompasses the others):
PERSONAL CONSCIOUSNESS DEVELOPMENT
1st stage + point mode
present
2nd stage --------- + --------- line mode
past future
3rd stage + --- + --- + ---- + --- + construct mode
imagination
+
4th stage ------------------------- transcendent mode
{+ stands for your }
To begin with, we have the “point mode.” In about the first eight months of our life, we are preoccupied with only the here and now, with what can be experienced through the sense of movement, touch, smell, taste, sound and sight. Our ancient ancestors began the same way, and continued in this mode throughout their life.
Many generations would pass before they would transcend this immediate point mode of experience into something entirely new--the second stage of expanded awareness that is called the “line mode.”--a larger world view. At this time, concern is now felt for both the past and future, not just the present.
In our daily experience this mode arises instantaneously. A certain sound or musical composition, for instance, can initiate in us thoughts of a previous time or of an anticipated one. The same holds true for the other senses. Our present moment has become enlarged in a meaningful way; that is, the experiential onset of the time dimension in our lives has increased and refined our sensibilities.
In about the second year of life, our consciousness expands even more when we move into the “construct mode.” In this third stage of development, we begin to be concerned with things that we may never have experienced. Breaking away from our present historical and sensory reality, we are now engaging in imaginary play. Notice how a child, for example, can use his or her imagination in playing with toys, making a drawing, expressing new words--constructing some activity never thought of or experienced before.
A creative adult often uses a child-like imagination to represent meaningful, new realities that might go far beyond our present one. Consider George Orwell’s Animal Farm in which the animals speak, experience emotion, try to think rationally, or exhibit other human traits.
No purely rational adult would believe this to be true, yet through the unbounded imagination of a child-like mind--why not? The creative imagination discloses the transcendent activity within our minds. It also has much to say in a powerful way about what we humans are and what we might become.
Another writer who is an excellent example of the enlarging transcendent activity of the imagination is James Joyce. In his book, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, he records the development of a person’s mind. At the beginning of this novel, we are shown the world of a child through the eyes of a child. The narrator says of the child, “He felt his body small and weak amid the throng of players and his eyes were weak and watery.” Joyce is reconstructing an early period of a human life (actually his own) with the use of his imagination.
The sense of empathy and identification with this child as revealed in the narrative is an act of a great imagination. It is also an act of transcendence for the reader that, by going beyond his or her encapsulated and maybe self-concerned reality, can come to understand the universal reality of being a child, a vulnerable yet unique and valuable reality. In the process, the adult mind can now be said to have become deepened and refined through the transcendent activity of the imagination.
In the evolutionary process of human development, the transcendent third-stage phenomenon of the imagination appeared in our primeval ancestors only after many thousands of years in the second stage. In our personal life experience, time and change accelerate dramatically. In just a few years, we leap into the realm of imagination. Finally, around nine years of age we reach the fourth stage of our intellectual and emotional growth considered the pinnacle of mental development--the “transcendent mode” of consciousness.
It is a more detached, objective stance toward reality, one that is concerned with ideas, objects, and people for their own sake, not just in relation to our own sometimes selfish intentions and desires. What percentage of human beings might we guess have reached this level of awareness?
As the history of wars and crimes reveal, the percentage is small especially for the ones that ruled. More will be discussed concerning this unfortunate reality and the moral foundations needed to help in changing it.
For the purposes of this discussion on the transcendent activity, however, I think that we can say that too many people have not gone beyond the earlier stages of development. They may be somewhat imaginative, but they can’t think rationally about life, that is understand or view themselves in it in a detached and objective way. Governed by earlier modes of experience, they usually live exclusively at the whim of their emotions and senses, of their personal remembrance of past experiences or thoughts about the future, or of their private fantasies. They cannot seem to move beyond their subjective self. The objective and transcendent stance doesn’t develop. The end result is that intellectual and emotional growth stops.
An important part of a meaningful education cultivates the awareness that we should not always be thinking about just our own satisfaction. Once this rationally-based understanding arises, we have entered the fourth level of consciousness. Within our own being the whole process, beauty and power of the idea and reality of transcendence has emerged.
In many daily life activities, though this fourth mode of consciousness is to be sought--trying to be a rational person-we should still not assume that the other three modes of living are not important. Each mode has its own unique and significant value, if understood as an inner transcendent activity that discloses the dynamic, and most importantly, the meaningful living-process of our personal life.
With the point mode experienced in the here and now by our emotions and senses, we are going beyond the limitations of an unfeeling and unrefined sensibility. In the second mode, our experience becomes enlarged through the memory of the past and the anticipation about the future. Entering the third mode of the constructive imagination furthers this transcendent process. Then when we become objective about these three modes of everyday experience, that is understanding ourselves as if we were someone else looking on at our existence, then the fourth mode of experience has appeared--the transcendent one.
Unlike our ancient ancestors, we have the exciting privilege of experiencing all these modes of awareness as we so choose. Later chapters will indicate in more depth the extraordinary and revolutionary attributes, qualities, and power of all four of these modes of living.
At this point, however, I would like to emphasize that a meaningful characteristic of a real basics world view is that it transcends all these stages. It is in the fifth and final mode of consciousness, "Meta-Consciousness"--one that gives us the awareness, as we have now, that these four stages not only exist but also that each one can greatly enrich the potentiality for meaningful experiences.
Being Really Awake!!
META-CONSCIOUSNESS
The development of human potential has acquired increasing significance in today’s world. In Meta-Consciousness I believe we release that potentiality within us to the greatest degree, for once it is known to exist, it represents a sacred center where the freedom of our thought takes place. It is a revolutionary place that has the ability to develop and think in new, sometimes radical, ways.
Our dignity rests in this transcendent knowledge, especially in the realization that all initial change, whether major or minor, begins in the transcendent activity and freedom of thought within us. As the authors of Emergent Man, Julius Stulman and Erwin Lazlo, have concluded: “The real revolution is not in the ghetto or on campus, but in people’s heads.” 1
Is it true that the real revolution begins in our heads--what we think? Well, isn’t it true that before any conscious activity begins, there must first be an idea that precedes it? If it isn’t true, then wouldn’t any human action taken without any previous thought be considered thoughtless? Surely a person seeking to become intelligent (a good definition being to understand the cause and effect of something which requires ideas), even trying to reach the highest state of consciousness, doesn’t want to be characterized even for a moment as thoughtless.
Since we do have ideas, we are not usually thoughtless, the important consideration is whether they are meaningful. The independence of our thought offers this initial meaning. The ability to have ideas at all and then various ones, too, is the basis of our sense of freedom.
In the discussion ahead, I will present the most meaningful ideas beginning to emerge about ourselves. They have to do with the infinite, the eternal, the nature of reality, and our relationship to it.
In essence, they are about religion, for, as Frank Mortyn says, “Religion is life striving for its completest fulfillment, and anything which contributes to this fulfillment is religious, whether it is associated with the idea or not.” 2
In its more practical applications, this knowledge explores two basic questions: (1) how we come to know the world and ourselves and, (2) how this knowledge can help us enrich the experience of life.
Let us begin with the idea of personality. As personalities each of us is the highest expression of life, aren’t we? No cow, porpoise, or monkey, for instance, has the various attributes of a particular personality as we do. Most importantly, we are the only creatures that seek a meaning to life.
And now by the revolutionary understanding of our own evolution, we are finally awakening from a long sleep with the meaningful realization that the quality of all life, not only our own, largely depends on the way we think and then act on that thinking at this very moment. The evolutionist George Gaylor Simpson speaks to this observation:
Through this very basic distinction between the old evolution [organic] and the new [psychosocial], the new evolution becomes subject to conscious control. Man, alone among all organisms, knows that he evolves and he alone is capable of directing his evolution. For him evolution is no longer something that happens to the organism regardless but something in which the organism may and must take an active hand. 3
The active “hand,” though unseen, reveals its powerful and meaningful presence in the transcendent dimension of our internal thought. It is our most personal reality. Evolution has given us this new reality that we now know has become subject to conscious control. The revolutionary idea brought forth from this new, personal reality is that it is rooted in freedom and aspires to more freedom to be something even greater than it already is.
In using this freedom wisely, a meaningful education requires that we learn to evolve by ourselves, consciously. Defining the deep dynamic source for our transformation is the first step: what actually places before our mind the ideas that it will consider and maybe use as a guide for our life?
The question about the source of our thought processes and consequent actions is a real basic question to answer. Just as our survival depends upon knowing the source of the water we drink, so to does the enrichment of life depend upon knowing the source in ourselves that can initiate a revolution in our thinking.
Cognitive psychology and therapy along with evolutionary studies seem to have done the most meaningful research in this area. The real basics, however, offers a further consideration of an underlying dimension and interpretation in defining the source of our most personal reality--an ontological approach.
DEFINING THE SOURCE
If we observe the illustration of the “pyramid” of understanding which is a Rosicrucian mystical symbol and is used as the “Great Seal” on the one-dollar bill, the eye at the apex of the pyramid (represented here by a "+" sign) has great meaning. Once we come to understand this image, the source for our personal reality we see as not very far away at all. In fact, it is the closest thing to us where everything begins and ends and the root of all revolutions in the external world. This tiny peak of awareness is the “act of attention.”
When asleep in a dream, but not in dreamless sleep, this act of attention follows the parade of images passing before its "all-seeing eye.” In contact with the “DEEP CENTER” of an ineffable dimension, it discloses the still point in a turning world that looks out of our being--a pure, transcendent activity that reveals what is there. At each and every conscious moment, we are this transcendent act of disclosure.
At this deepest level of experience, we are not dependent on or conditioned by something else--the past, family, culture, social situation, neuroses--as we usually are. This point is beyond the realm of the free association and dream analysis techiniques used in psychoanalysis. No desires or unconscious feelings are present here, only pure consciousness.
In Jungian therapy that explores the ancestral themes from the collective unconscious, that deals with the ego, introversion and extroversion, the anima (the female principle) and the animus (the male principle), its dynamics are not present here either. In this transcendent place of disclosure, we simply exist as a non-contingent self beyond any of the, at times, anxiety-producing circumstances of life.
ACT OF ATTENTION
The act of attention operates from out of and within this “all-seeing eye” that runs through both our conscious and unconscious realms of being. In the unconscious, it may be repressed or hidden from our normal awareness, yet its potentiality to suddenly appear is ever-present.
When awake as we are now, this attention functions as the focusing and operative center of our thinking life; it governs the desires and goals, the sort of ideas we hold at the forefront of our consciousness. All this transcendent activity is relatively new in evolution. As the psychologist Carl Rogers writes:
The ability to focus conscious attention seems to be one of the latest evolutionary developments in our species. This ability can be described as a tiny peak of awareness, of symbolizing capacity, topping a vast pyramid of non-conscious organismic functioning. 4
The ability to focus on a problem or any activity, especially to direct our attention to something that seems to be important, has given the human species its present level of awareness and world view. Pure, transcendent, creative, this revolutionary though tiny peak of awareness extends down to the broad base and deepest center of our being at this and every moment. In its basic awareness, it presides over our non-conscious bodily functions to a great extent like a ruler over its subjects.
When acting as a ruler, it discloses a desire to act according to some end. This ability to focus, to direct the attention to something with an end in mind is initiated and governed by the will. Without a will, we all would become subjects like our non-conscious body processes.
The development of a strong will is an an important part of a meaningful education, since it is the initiating and controlling factor in our life. Such elements of mental health as personal responsibility and self-control derive and maintain their qualities through the use of a strong will.
Cultivating the will is an ancient ideal of the Western world. The will is idealized because it is considered as essential to the nature of both God--"Thy will be done."--and man. It is a fundamental attribute of ultimate reality. Though we can’t see this dynamic inner reality sustained by a focused attention, as we could an object in the external world, a concentrated look on someone’s face or just the observance of some dedicated action--running the extra mile, withstanding or overcoming difficult circumstances--reveals the presence of a strong will.
The potential power of this inner reality to enrich the life experience should be fully explored. Studying history, religion, literature, science, and the arts offer many examples of the attentive will at work--the source of creation. The difference between winning a battle, writing a great work of prose or poetry, discovering something new and revolutionary about nature, or composing/playing a magically transforming series of musical sounds, often depends on the concentrated will. Persistence, endurance, courage--all these admiral qualities arise because of the will. The will, as the creative expression of a focused attention, forms the basic force behind any worthwhile accomplishment. Any education that does not pay homage to this reality is meaningless.
Yet to be fair in proposing a meaningful education, a strong “willfulness” is not the only way. It also includes the attitude of “willingness” idealized by Chinese thought and “will-lessness” idealized by Indian thought.
The Chinese seek the limitation of willful desire by just learning to flow with the great Tao of nature. In concrete terms, instead of using our will to, say, swim against the tumultuous waters of a raging river, rather we should flow with the current, so as not to tire ourselves out and maybe drown. Life also can be enjoyed more if we flow with it, instead of trying to be too dominant (Western) or too withdrawn (Indian).
In Indian thought the ideal person is to be without desires (no will), whether for changing a situation or for dominance over it. Only by learning to suppress all our desires, can we be truly free.
Each of these three views--willfulness, willingness, and will-lessness--offer insights for the presentation of a meaningful education. In later chapters, the particular significance of these insights will be discussed. At this time, however, the focus is on the meaning and value of willfulness--the Western ideal--along with the act of attention itself.
In his life-long study of the rise and fall of civilizations, historian Arnold Toynbee concluded that their success or failure depended on the will of the people. Challenge and response--did they rise to the challenge of the day or fall into apathy or discord?
More specifically, did they direct their full attention to the challenge? The answer is that most of them didn’t. Only a few are left. Is our civilization heading to the same end? If it is, do we have the will to reverse this path to destruction?
Similarly, as an important representative and force of a civilization, does each of us have the will to not only get a meaningful education but also to apply it in our daily life? If the old saying is true, “Where there is the will, there is a way.” then there is hope, both for ourselves and future generations. Everything depends on the will.
The initial challenge in any good educational process should be to bring forth an insightful dialogue about the will. As a basic and powerful force within our own being, it represents a meaningful and transcendent activity for self-creation.
Used irrationally, however, the will can lead to self-destruction. Since the quality of a civilization rests with the quality of the individual wills that compose it, there are only two choices before us--self-creation or self-destruction. The response to this challenge requires that we direct our precious attention to the basic knowledge necessary for self-creation.
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