What's In Your Mind?

The waves of existence

To give insights into why Bush won the election yesterday, a friend sent out the following text, from (or after) the "integral thinker" Ken Wilber, synthesizing the works of Dr. Clare Graves on the levels of existence as well as Cowan and Beck's spiral dynamics theory). This article catches my attention: it is the first time I see a model describing human evolution!

"Spiral dynamics and the waves of existence.

The first six levels are "subsistence levels" marked by "first-tier thinking." Then there occurs a revolutionary shift in consciousness: the emergence of "being levels" and "second-tier thinking," of which there are two major waves. Here is a brief description of all eight waves, the percentage of the world population at each wave, and the percentage of social power held by each.

1. Beige: Archaic-Instinctual. The level of basic survival; food, water, warmth, sex, and safety have priority. Uses habits and instincts just to survive. Distinct self is barely awakened or sustained. Forms into survival bands to perpetuate life.

Where seen: First human societies, newborn infants, senile elderly, late-stage Alzheimer's victims, mentally ill street people, starving masses, shell shock. Approximately 0.1% of the adult population, 0% power.

2. Purple: Magical-Animistic. Thinking is animistic; magical spirits, good and bad, swarm the earth leaving blessings, curses, and spells which determine events. Forms into ethnic tribes. The spirits exist in ancestors and bond the tribe. Kinship and lineage establish political links. Sounds "holistic" but is actually atomistic: "there is a name for each bend in the river but no name for the river."

Where seen: Belief in voodoo-like curses, blood oaths, ancient grudges, good luck charms, family rituals, magical ethnic beliefs and superstitions; strong in Third-World settings, gangs, athletic teams, and corporate "tribes." 10% of the population, 1% of the power.

3. Red: Power Gods. First emergence of a self distinct from the tribe; powerful, impulsive, egocentric, heroic. Magical-mythic spirits, dragons, beasts, and powerful people. Archetypal gods and goddesses, powerful beings, forces to be reckoned with, both good and bad. Feudal lords protect underlings in exchange for obedience and labor. The basis of feudal empires -- power and glory. The world is a jungle full of threats and predators. Conquers, out-foxes, and dominates; enjoys self to the fullest without regret or remorse; be here now.

Where seen: The "terrible twos," rebellious youth, frontier mentalities, feudal kingdoms, epic heroes, James Bond villains, gang leaders, soldiers of fortune, New-Age narcissism, wild rock stars, Attila the Hun, Lord of the Flies. 20% of the population, 5% of the power.

4. Blue: Mythic Order. Life has meaning, direction, and purpose, with outcomes determined by an all-powerful Other or Order. This righteous Order enforces a code of conduct based on absolutist and unvarying principles of "right" and "wrong." Violating the code or rules has severe, perhaps everlasting repercussions. Following the code yields rewards for the faithful. Basis of ancient nations. Rigid social hierarchies; paternalistic; one right way and only one right way to think about everything. Law and order; impulsivity controlled through guilt; concrete-literal and fundamentalist belief; obedience to the rule of Order; strongly conventional and conformist. Often "religious" or "mythic" [in the mythic-membership sense; Graves and Beck refer to it as the "saintly/absolutistic" level], but can be secular or atheistic Order or Mission.

Where seen: Puritan America, Confucian China, Dickensian England, Singapore discipline, totalitarianism, codes of chivalry and honor, charitable good deeds, religious fundamentalism (e.g., Christian and Islamic), Boy and Girl Scouts, "moral majority," patriotism. 40% of the population, 30% of the power.

5. Orange: Scientific Achievement. At this wave, the self "escapes" from the "herd mentality" of blue, and seeks truth and meaning in individualistic terms -- hypothetico-deductive, experimental, objective, mechanistic, operational -- "scientific" in the typical sense. The world is a rational and well-oiled machine with natural laws that can be learned, mastered, and manipulated for one's own purposes. Highly achievement oriented, especially (in America) toward materialistic gains. The laws of science rule politics, the economy, and human events. The world is a chess-board on which games are played as winners gain pre-eminence and perks over losers. Marketplace alliances; manipulate earth's resources for one's strategic gains. Basis of corporate states.

Where seen: The Enlightenment, Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, Wall Street, emerging middle classes around the world, cosmetics industry, trophy hunting, colonialism, the Cold War, fashion industry, materialism, secular humanism, liberal self-interest. 30% of the population, 50% of the power.

6. Green: The Sensitive Self. Communitarian, human bonding, ecological sensitivity, networking. The human spirit must be freed from greed, dogma, and divisiveness; feelings and caring supersede cold rationality; cherishing of the earth, Gaia, life. Against hierarchy; establishes lateral bonding and linking. Permeable self, relational self, group intermeshing. Emphasis on dialogue, relationships. Basis of value communities (i.e., freely chosen affiliations based on shared sentiments). Reaches decisions through reconciliation and consensus (downside: interminable "processing" and incapacity to reach decisions). Refresh spirituality, bring harmony, enrich human potential. Strongly egalitarian, anti-hierarchy, pluralistic values, social construction of reality, diversity, multiculturalism, relativistic value systems; this worldview is often called pluralistic relativism. Subjective, nonlinear thinking; shows a greater degree of affective warmth, sensitivity, and caring, for earth and all its inhabitants.

Where seen: Deep ecology, postmodernism, Netherlands idealism, Rogerian counseling, Canadian health care, humanistic psychology, liberation theology, cooperative inquiry, World Council of Churches, Greenpeace, animal rights, ecofeminism, post-colonialism, Foucault/Derrida, politically correct, diversity movements, human rights issues, ecopsychology. 10% of the population, 15% of the power. [Note: this is 10% of the world population. Don Beck estimates that around 20-25% of the American population is green.]

7. Yellow: Integrative. Life is a kaleidoscope of natural hierarchies [holarchies], systems, and forms. Flexibility, spontaneity, and functionality have the highest priority. Differences and pluralities can be integrated into interdependent, natural flows. Egalitarianism is complemented with natural degrees of ranking and excellence. Knowledge and competency should supersede power, status, or group sensitivity. The prevailing world order is the result of the existence of different levels of reality (memes) and the inevitable patterns of movement up and down the dynamic spiral. Good governance facilitates the emergence of entities through the levels of increasing complexity (nested hierarchy).

1% of the population, 5% of the power.

8. Turquoise: Holistic. Universal holistic system, holons/waves of integrative energies; unites feeling with knowledge; multiple levels interwoven into one conscious system. Universal order, but in a living, conscious fashion, not based on external rules (blue) or group bonds (green). A "grand unification" [a "theory of everything" or T.O.E.] is possible, in theory and in actuality. Sometimes involves the emergence of a new spirituality as a meshwork of all existence. Turquoise thinking uses the entire Spiral; sees multiple levels of interaction; detects harmonics, the mystical forces, and the pervasive flow-states that permeate any organization.

0.1% of the population, 1% of the power.

Leap to second tier thinking (leap from L6 green to L7 yellow): With the completion of the green meme, human consciousness is poised for a quantum jump into "second-tier thinking." Clare Graves referred to this as a "momentous leap," where "a chasm of unbelievable depth of meaning is crossed." In essence, with second-tier consciousness, one can think both vertically and horizontally, using both hierarchies and heterarchies (both ranking and linking). One can therefore, for the first time, vividly grasp the entire spectrum of interior development, and thus see that each level, each meme, each wave is crucially important for the health of the overall Spiral.

As I would word it, each wave is "transcend and include." That is, each wave goes beyond (or transcends) its predecessor, and yet it includes or embraces it in its own makeup. For example, a cell transcends but includes molecules, which transcend but include atoms. To say that a molecule goes beyond an atom is not to say that molecules hate atoms, but that they love them: they embrace them in their own makeup; they include them, they don't marginalize them. Just so, each wave of existence is a fundamental ingredient of all subsequent waves, and thus each is to be cherished and embraced.

Moreover, each wave can itself be activated or reactivated as life circumstances warrant. In emergency situations, we can activate red power drives; in response to chaos, we might need to activate blue order; in looking for a new job, we might need orange achievement drives; in marriage and with friends, close green bonding. All of these memes have something important to contribute.

But what none of the first-tier memes can do, on their own, is fully appreciate the existence of the other memes. Each of the first-tier memes thinks that its worldview is the correct or best perspective. It reacts negatively if challenged; it lashes out, using its own tools, whenever it is threatened. Blue order is very uncomfortable with both red impulsiveness and orange individualism. Orange individualism thinks blue order is for suckers and green egalitarianism is weak and woo-woo. Green egalitarianism cannot easily abide excellence and value rankings, big pictures, hierarchies, or anything that appears authoritarian, and thus green reacts strongly to blue, orange, and anything post-green. 

All of that begins to change with second-tier thinking. Because second-tier consciousness is fully aware of the interior stages of development -- even if it cannot articulate them in a technical fashion -- it steps back and grasps the big picture, and thus second-tier thinking appreciates the necessary role that all of the various memes play. Second-tier awareness thinks in terms of the overall spiral of existence, and not merely in the terms of any one level.

Where the green meme begins to grasp the numerous different systems and pluralistic contexts that exist in different cultures (which is why it is indeed the sensitive self, i.e., sensitive to the marginalization of others), second-tier thinking goes one step further. It looks for the rich contexts that link and join these pluralistic systems, and thus it takes these separate systems and begins to embrace, include, and integrate them into holistic spirals and integral meshworks. Second-tier thinking, in other words, is instrumental in moving from relativism to holism, or from pluralism to integralism.

The extensive research of Graves, Beck, and Cowan indicates that there are at least two major waves to this second-tier integral consciousness: With less than 2 percent of the population at second-tier thinking (and only 0.1 percent at turquoise), second-tier consciousness is relatively rare because it is now the "leading-edge" of collective human evolution. As examples, Beck and Cowan mention items that include Teilhard de Chardin's noosphere, chaos and complexity theories, universal systems thinking, integral-holistic theories, Gandhi's and Mandela's pluralistic integration, with increases in frequency definitely on the way, and even higher memes still in the offing...."

So, Bush victory, simply... a victory of blue meme over green meme?

Another description of God

I just read that book The nature of personal reality, by Seth, a spirit channeled through Jane Roberts in the 70’s. Some say that the success of the "Seth books" was one of the key drivers of the New Age movement! On a number of the many websites dedicated to Seth/Jane Roberts, I find this beautiful excerpt:

"What you call God is the sum of all consciousness, and yet the whole is more than the sum of Its parts. He is not one individual, but an energy gestalt. He is a psychic pyramid of interrelated, ever expanding consciousness, that creates simultaneous and instantaneously, universes and individuals that are given duration, psychic comprehension, intelligence and eternal validity.

Its energy is so unbelievable that it does indeed form all universes; and because its energy is within and behind all universes, fields and systems, it is indeed aware of each sparrow that falls, for it is each sparrow that falls.

Dimly remembered through what you would call history, there was a state of agony in which the powers of creativity and existence were known, but the ways to produce them were not known. All That Is existed in a state of being, but without the means to find expression for Its being. All That Is had to learn this lesson, and could not be taught.

From this agony, creativity was originally drawn, and its reflection is still seen. All That Is retains the memory of that state, and it serves as a constant impetus toward renewed creativity. Desire, wish and expectation, therefore, rule all actions and are the basis for all realities. Within the dreams of All That Is, potential beings had consciousness before any beginning as you know it.

In Its massive imagination, It understood that the cosmic multiplication of consciousness could not occur within that framework. Actuality was necessary if these probabilities were to be given birth. All That Is saw an infinity of probable, conscious individuals. These probable individual selves found themselves alive within a God's dream and they clamored to be released into actuality. All That Is yearned to release them and sought within itself for the means to do so.

Finally, with love and longing It let go of that portion of itself, and they were free. The psychic energy exploded in a flash of creation.

All That Is loves all that It has created down to the least, for It realizes the dearness and uniqueness of each consciousness which has been wrest from such a state of agony. It is triumphant and joyful at each development taken by each consciousness, and It revels and takes joy in the slightest creative act of each of Its issues.

All individuals remember their source, and now dream of All That Is as It once dreamed of them. And they yearn toward that immense source... and yearn to give it actuality through their own creations.

Now in the same way do you give freedom to the personality fragments within your own dreams and for the same reason. And you create for the same reason, and within each of you is the memory of primal agony — that urge to create and free all probable consciousness into actuality.

The connections between you and All That Is can never be severed, and Its awareness is so delicate and focused that its attention is indeed directed with a prime creator's love to each consciousness.

All That Is knows no other. It does not know whether or not other psychic gestalts like Itself may exist. It is constantly searching.

All portions of All That Is are constantly changing. All That Is is constantly seeking to know Itself, for seeking itself is a creative activity and the core of all action.

You, as a consciousness, seek to know yourself and become aware of yourself as a distinct individual portion of All That Is. You automatically draw on the overall energy of All That Is, since your existence is dependent upon it.

The portion of All That Is that is aware of itself as you, that is focused within your existence, can be called upon for help when necessary. This portion of All That Is looks out for your interests and may be called upon in a personal manner."

Spiritual awakening and the "waves of existence" framework

Here is an attempt to explain to my boyfriend my "spiritual awakening" using Ken Wilber’s "waves of Existence" model:

"A few weeks ago, I shared with you stuff that I had read presenting a model of human evolution, i.e. the evolution of human consciousness, through spiraling waves (both in history and in one's life). Remember, it went like this:

1. survival-instinctual (beige)
2. magical-animistic (purple)
3. "power gods" (red)
4. truth force, right/wrong, good/evil, us/them (blue)
5. science, achievement, rationalism, materialism, strive drive (orange)
6. human bond, sensitive self, community, ecology, pluralism (green)
7. integrative (yellow)
8. holistic, universal (turquoise),

with 1-6 being "first-tier", or "survival" levels, and 7-8 being "second-tier", or "higher consciousness", transcendental, mystical, etc.

I was making the comment that Bush was a blue/orange while Kerry was an orange/green and that the late election was the victory of "lower consciousness" over "higher consciousness". The model has been used to resolve conflicts, e.g. in reconstructing post-Apartheid South Africa, hence the use of colors to distract away from the racial divisions.

What has been happening to me (what I often refer to as my "awakening"), I would describe, using this model, as a jump from orange to turquoise (or to yellow/turquoise, i.e. 2nd tier). For the first 29 years of my life, I was pretty much a bright orange, and what happens sometimes with me now is some sort of oscillation between orange (the old state) and second tier (the new state). This is what you (or others) might perceive as instability, insecurity, not knowing myself, etc. Especially for example when I get to see my bright orange family of origin. "Shifting to a higher level of consciousness" does not happen without pain, feelings of inadequacies, awkwardness, uneasiness, necessity to shed the old skin if you wish (this is sometimes called spiritual emergence or awakening when it refers to jumping to second-tier consciousness). (…)

My desire and goal (personal development goal) is to establish residence in second-tier consciousness. To avoid oscillating back into orange as I do sometimes, as I did for example at times this week-end (takes the form of doubts in my head about the validity of my path). For this I need work on myself (at many levels, including physical, emotional, etc) and spiritual discipline (meditation, i.e. more direct spiritual experiences).

My second desire and goal ("career" goal) is (using that model) to help as many people as possible make the shift from orange or orange/green (i.e. the level of consciousness I've had most of my life: I feel somehow more gifted speaking to the oranges than speaking to the greens because I am more familiar with them) to second-tier consciousness."

Am I a Utopian?

Marco, although I have addressed this particular issue twice with him before (here and here) insists that, if I think that I can make the world any better, this is "very utopist" and "out of perspective". I reply:

"I am NOT a utopist at all! To make something/someone better (if such is your wish) there is only one method: ACCEPT it the way it is!! What a beautiful paradox. Then and only then can you do anything about it/him/her – only after you've demonstrated that you could BE it/him/her. When you read from Wilber's "waves of existence" or related materials, I think you will see what I meant if I mentioned things getting better. I guess I meant "unfolding towards higher levels of consciousness" or whatever. The world is not becoming any better than, say, you as you grow... see, it's more like growing. A grown-up is not better than the child it used to be, it's one and the same, it's just another stage. The acorn becomes oak tree – this is the natural way of things."

The mean green meme

I send to Marco the "waves of existence" framework piece from Wilber, and add to it the following comment about "the mean green meme" (one of the points Wilber is most insistent on in his writings):

"One of the key comments on this model is this: our current Western culture is dominated by the green meme: liberalism, multiculturalism, pluralism, etc. And this "wave" has the important drawback of flirting with its own destruction. Here is why (from Wilber):

"Pluralism, multiculturalism, and egalitarianism, in their best forms, all stem from a very high developmental stance, a postconventional stance (early vision-logic, postformal cognition, green meme, etc.), and from that postconventional stance of worldcentric fairness and care, the green meme attempts to treat all previous memes with equal care and compassion, a truly noble intent. But because it embraces an intense egalitarianism, it fails to see that its own stance – which is the first stance that is even capable of egalitarianism – is itself a fairly rare, elite stance (somewhere between 10 and 20 percent of the population). Worse, the green meme then actively denies the hierarchical stages that produced the green meme in the first place. Pluralistic egalitarianism is the product, we have seen, of at least six major stages of hierarchical development, a hierarchy that it then turns around and aggressively denies in the name of egalitarianism!

Under the noble guise of liberal egalitarianism – and under the sanction of the intense subjectivistic stance of this pluralistic and relativistic wave – every previous wave of existence, no matter how shallow, egocentric, or narcissistic, is given encouragement to "be itself," even when "be itself" might include the most barbaric of stances. (If "pluralism" is really true, then we must invite the Nazis and the KKK to the multicultural banquet, since no stance is supposed to be better or worse than another, and so all must be treated in an egalitarian fashion – at which point the self-contradictions of undiluted pluralism come screaming to the fore.)

Thus, the very high developmental stance of pluralism – the product of at least six major stages of hierarchical transformation – turns around and denies all hierarchies, denies the very path that produced its own noble stance, and thus it ceases to demand hierarchical transformation from anybody else, and consequently it extends an egalitarian embrace to every stance, no matter how shallow or narcissistic. The more egalitarianism is implemented, the more it destroys the very capacity for egalitarianism."

And, of course, the solution is to simply acknowledge that there is a valid relationship that says: world-centric better than ethno-centric better than self-centric, i.e. when you have reached the world-centric stance, don't forget that a lot of your classmates are still ethno-centric, and that therefore your stance is HIGHER than (and not as valid as) theirs."

What is the glory of God?

I quite like this article I found here, from modern (and now quite controversial) teacher Andrew Cohen:

"What is the glory of God? What is the defining expression of that which transcends yet includes all things?

The glory of God is the shattering realization that everything is always perfect. The glory of God is the inherent perfection of all things at all times, in all places, through all circumstances. Even earthquakes, disease and bloody warfare—that's all the glory of God too. The glory of God is the inherent perfection of all things as they are. You see, from an absolute perspective, the eye of the Self sees only God and makes no distinctions whatsoever. Heaven and hell, good and evil, everything known and unknown, seen and unseen are all recognized only to be different expressions of that one inconceivable mystery beyond name and form. Beyond all pairs of opposites, the glory of God is all there is—just absolute, incomparable perfection.

Before time and space, before the universe was born, there was nothing. Then suddenly from nothing came something. There was an explosion, and what we all are right now—including you and me—is that explosion in motion. That explosion in motion is one radiant being—conscious, whole and undivided.

Enlightenment is the direct recognition of one's own true face as none other than that radiant being—conscious, whole and undivided. And it is the recognition of the utterly complete and always perfect nature of that true face that releases the sense of individuality from identification with the hypnotic grip of ego consciousness.

But there is more to Enlightenment than the liberating discovery of the inherent perfection of the absolute or non-dual nature of all things. And that is the emergence of a powerful imperative to evolve. When something came from nothing, and the explosion in motion that is all of life came into being, a perpetual state of becoming was born. In the spiritual revelation, that movement is experienced as an impersonal command from the Self to transcend, to evolve, to utterly transform this world so that it can become a dynamic, living expression of the perfection that it already is. This spiritually inspired passion, which arises from the Self, unleashes the fire of absolute love and ego-defying compassion into this world. It is always a force to be reckoned with. Its unceasing demand is evolution and its tangible expression is to create order out of disorder. Indeed, the boundless creativity of this evolutionary impulse in action strives to manifest higher and higher expressions of miraculous wholeness and integration. This call for transcendence and evolution experienced in the spiritual revelation is the unrelenting scream of the Absolute beckoning all who have the ears to hear and the eyes to see to surrender wholeheartedly for the sake of that evolutionary imperative.

This ceaseless imperative to evolve is also the glory of God. And the greatest paradox is that that glory is both the radiant, ever full and complete, always perfect ground of all that is and the very foundation and essence of that explosion in motion that strives to manifest higher and higher expressions of wholeness and integration."

But, there is no scientific proof of Spirit (or is there?)

A friend who has awakened spiritually shares with me some of the challenges he runs into when he tries to share with his girlfriend his new discoveries. One of her main objections is "there is no scientific proof for this". I endeavor to provide him with a tool to counter that objection, an argument I read in Wilber’s The marriage of Sense and Soul: the distinction one has to make between scientific domain and scientific method:

"The key here is to understand and make the distinction between scientific domain and scientific method.

What she is trying to tell you, is that what we generally call "science" (i.e. the study of the phenomena of matter) does not prove spiritual things. Well, it is normal, given that it is not its domain of study!! Matter, indeed, does not, and never will, prove Spirit. In order to know a particular domain, one must apply methods of study (scientific or not) to that domain.

Now, the scientific method (generally characterized by the production of reproducible results), you can apply to all domains, and it has been applied (by the Buddhists, Hindus, etc) to the spiritual domain for the past 5,000 years (this science of spirit is much older than our science of matter!)

She needs first to see that there is such a thing as the spiritual domain, and this is where you can help her: she does not see the spiritual dimension of life, the same way you did not see it prior to your awkening, exactly like seeing a 3D object in 2D). Only then will she be able to recognize that thousands of people (e.g. myself) apply scientific methods to the study of that domain. The key experience is called meditation. The experiences are absolutely reproducible: nowadays people measure the brainwaves associated with different meditative states, etc. Even if she has not reached a meditative state yet, she cannot NEGATE that there is something called meditation while there are thousands and thousands of books on the topic, millions of practitioners, etc (you can show her that if she does not see it).

By the way have you shown to her Wilber’s "waves of existence"? Does she object? Or the "perennial philosophy", i.e. the order of things as described by about all the thinkers/philosophers who have walked this Earth: matter < life < mind < soul < spirit, with the sign "<" meaning, here, "is transcended and included by"? What she is looking at is matter, life, mind, soul maybe, but she is not looking at spirit, QUITE SIMPLY (i.e. you guys are talking oranges and apples) – she does not see this dimension of life – yet.

Spiritual, mystical people, i.e. people who have opened to this dimension of life, which TRANSCENDS and INCLUDES all the other dimensions, are in general happier, more stable. You can see this, simply, when you scan their brain and look what brainwaves they produce vs. non-meditators, given that to meditate is in fact to train your brain to be more performant, it is to maximize your human potential, it is to evolve – this is what she needs to understand. This is a "proven", established fact also. (What else would we do that for, she thinks?)"

If it is true, why isn't everybody talking about it?

My friend tells me that, after the "no scientific proof" objection, his girlfriend has a new objection: "if what you say (i.e. that Spirit exists) is true, then why isn't everybody talking about it?" (e.g. magazines, TV, newspapers, etc). My answer, using Wilber’s "waves of existence" framework (and its "colors") as a shortcut:

"This is where evolution comes into the picture – the fact that only a few people at this time are "second-tier" (i.e. have recognized that We Are All One, the core spiritual truth, i.e. that Spirit is what transcends and includes all things). There is no critical mass yet. Critical mass will be reached at some point and things will shift (this is the hundredth-monkey theory, cherished by all New-Agers). Right now our world is dominated by blue/orange/green thinking. This is slowly changing: e.g. spiritual cinema, Hollywood actors turning spiritual, more and more articles about meditation, spirituality, spiritual best-sellers like Power of Now and Conversations with God, emergence of Wilber’s integral philosophy and all things integral, etc. Evolution is like that, by definition: you must depart from that which is, to go towards that which is not yet.

Another rational way to look at things: self-centric < ethno-centric < world-centric: does she admit that there is a hierarchy there, that world-centric is more noble than ethno-centric, itself more noble than self-centric? Then you can simply show her how the evolutionary shift we are talking about is going from self-consciousness to world-consciousness. Basically we are shifting our consciousness from operating at the ego level to operating at the Whole-level (Whole = All That Is = the Universe = God)."

The wave raises all the boats, yet again

I have just received this beautiful email from Marco today! What a blessing! Here it is:

"Time has passed since I last wrote more about myself. The reason for my silence is that quite a lot has been happening in my mind. I wanted to stabilize my thoughts/awareness to be able to have a good grasp of the situation.

I must admit that Ken Wilber's writings have been and continue to be a big catalyst for my thoughts/awareness. However, much of it was there before, phrased differently, some of it there but unexplained. Thank you for the hint. The thing about Ken Wilber is that it permitted me to conceptualize and organize much of the thoughts/awareness that was present, and thus permitted me to step further, which I believe is happening right now.

For a long time I haven't been contemplating as seriously and clearly as I am now. I have been in a rather slow evolution, confused for quite some time. You noticed it very well when we met (I didn't at the time): I was bored! Well I'm getting out of it, I see the path, but I'm not there yet. I have started re-interpreting some parts of my thoughts/awareness and I started re-interpreting my past and my past growth. I do that mainly through dialogs with my self and I find them quite successful. (…)

Reading Ken Wilber I realize where on "the scale" I am, and where I'm going. I equally realize how the level where I am now is not yet to be transcended, there are still things to live out, figure out, and become aware of at this level. However, I can already start tasting slowly the fruits of the next level. Lately I have been able to get glimpses of it and I'm starting to feel it possible. Incredible thing this awareness! (…)

When I said I can get a glimpse of the next level, I meant that I (very) slowly feel the possibility of detaching my mind from my Self. The 3 page letter you sent me, or the No Boundary book, are great tools for achieving it. Rationally, I'm ready."

Buddha and Jesus are our future, not our past

Email to a friend:

"Indeed, it is a mistake to imagine that enlightenment is something to reach, as it is a mistake to think that there is anything imperfect in our past, given that our past brought us exactly where we are now… It’s a bit like – a metaphor I use a lot these days – being angry at a plant because she cannot speak, or think!

I find Wilber’s writings very helpful for getting rid of these confusions (sometimes introduced by a limited understanding of Buddhism, or other Eastern religions): understand all this (enlightenment, etc) in terms of evolution. As I read the other day somewhere, Buddha and Jesus are not figures of the past, they represent our future, our potential as humans. With the idea of evolution, of individuals as well as of peoples, it makes perfect sense."