“The place or the medium of realization is neither mind nor matter, but that intermediate realm of subtle reality which can be adequately only expressed by the symbol.”
Carl Jung, Psychology and Alchemy
My Not-so-unexpected Love Affair with the Transpersonal
I encountered transpersonal psychology a few years ago while going through some painful experiences. Encounters with death and the approaching of mid-life placed me in a psychological state that was difficult to navigate. I lost interest in what surrounded me; the values and objectives I thought defined me lost their appeal, and I felt purposeless, empty and alone. I sought help to make some changes, starting with how I approached my career and engaged with emotion. I could sustain Yoga as a type of physical exercise, and I started exploring mindfulness and meditation. Slowly, my coaching evolved to incorporate psycho-spiritual practice, quickly falling into the rabbit hole of exploration that took me to my studies with the Alef Trust and to the decision to explore my transformative experience without the distractions of corporate life. I am fortunate that I can take some time off for study and research, and I intend to make the most of my transition into “maturity” by rediscovering more creative ways to live. Transpersonal studies offer a framework that works for me, a space where theory and experience mix. An open mind and a bit of discernment open up an ambivalent psychological state where there is no “either…or”. Having finished my first year, I would like to explore the module on integrative practice further. Integrative practice multi-dimensional approach to learning has reminded me how I thrive at the periphery and has replaced a feeling of separation with one of interconnectedness. I am reclaiming my creative spirit, lost to a flashy career and years of playing the Londoner. I have been awakened from the emptiness of city life, with its narcissistic outlook and the constant need for achievement, and I am looking for something simpler. Knowledge is so full of itself nowadays; reason a dry and patronising master without a bit of imagination. Intuition does not diminish intellect but enhances it, and when they work together in balance, we can look at the world with the enthusiasm of a three-year-old.
Beyond Scientism
I forgot how fun it is to ponder about the mystery of existence. Questions such as “Who am I?” and ” Why am I here?” are the basis of a myriad of mythologies, philosophies, and religions and, potentially, the main drivers of consciousness evolution. In Western cultures, secular paradigms of existence come from the seventeenth-century scientific revolution. This movement took ancient Greek philosophers as the basis of a path to knowledge based on reason. Seventeenth-century science intended to crack "The Mystery" through cross-disciplinary studies underlined by logical-mathematical systems that could model physical reality. The era's debate was between the disciples of Plato, who held essentialist views, and those of Aristotle, who held empirical views. The empiricist won, and science started to focus on natural phenomena governed by the laws of physics, events that could be logically modelled and replicated by experimentation. The scientific method slowly broke up with the humanities, looking down on metaphysics as the superstitions of lesser minds. The advances of the Industrial Revolution further influenced the scientific world, which started working towards a theory of everything, creating a materialistic belief system that defended deterministic models of existence based on Darwin's evolution.
Psychology, as an emerging branch of science dedicated to the study of the mind, was caught between materialistic science and metaphysics and, unable to bridge the philosophical gap, ended up focusing on areas that allowed for objective experimentation, such as behaviour and cognitive development. However, as scientific research showed interest in consciousness and started to study subjective experience from a cognitive perspective, claiming it to be an epiphenomenon of brain activity that could be mapped to perception, the metaphysical dilemmas were back. Towards the end of the twentieth century, it was sufficiently clear that naturalistic views and empirical research methods, no matter how sophisticated, were not sufficient to account for complex subjective phenomena and the lines between superstition and science started to blur. In physics, discoveries such as quanta's dual wave-particle nature and non-locality and entanglement properties challenged Darwinian determinism. Einstein’s relativity exposed the observant-dependent quality of experimentation. In mathematics, Godel’s theorem refuted any possibility of creating complete formal systems that avoided self-reference and paradox. A corporate-like mentality in the natural sciences, now an expensive endeavour reliant on funding policies, started to cast doubts on the objectivity of academic research and, in consciousness studies, post-materialistic views emerged to challenge what was seen as scientistic dogma. Transpersonal psychology is one such view. It grounds the analysis of subjective experience on scientific terrain as it honours the mystery of existence with all its metaphysical implications and, therefore, recognises dimensions of consciousness beyond cognition and sense perception. Although initially based on a perennial philosophy favouring a contentless consciousness studied through mystical ideals and neuroscience. It now incorporates complex dynamic models and metaphysical dualisms to explore consciousness as an inherent quality of life, where mind, matter, and more abstract states of being interact and actively participate in the evolutive process of life. Click for Refences
Embracing the Goddess
Join me in a transformative journey and embrace the alchemy arising from a healthy tension between opposite forces, the complex inner evolution that Jungians call individuation, a form of dualism with infinite in-betweens, not choosing either spirit or matter since we can evolve from both. Lets connect with our inner bohemian and welcome a wild instinct that can be harnessed to create new ways of being. As I continue exploring integrative practices, this space becomes a creative prototype that may evolve with us as we grow ourselves. My own “case study” on the benefits of an integrative approach to self-growth potentially expanding into a research project and beyond. Watch this space!
The Goddess That Lies in Chaos
The self is just as mysterious an entity as existence itself, a sense of observing and being observed amid a contentless awareness devoid of conceptual form and the boundless love of an open heart. The Buddha called it Anatta, a moment-to-moment manifestation of an essence that is at the same time everywhere and nowhere, a luminous clarity that exists beyond concepts but paradoxically requires them to be expressed. Attachment to conceptual representations of this light, to fixed ideas and identities, is what we may call the ego, the “I” narrative we create and hold on to, believing it to be unique, unchanging and fully formed. But when we engage awareness as the observer and the observed, we realise that the ego is an everchanging process of what we perceive of ourselves and around us; this opens us to levels of consciousness where we can sense ourselves as part of something greater, removing the sense of separateness that is the source of our suffering. I have come to see the value of such mystical views, and although I still struggle with the idea of absolute transcendence, I recognise the need to accept and experience the unknown and come to terms with the fact nothing endures but change. From a psychological point of view, these views can be liberating, but they can also create a different type of attachment. We can get attached to the ideal of enlightenment and spiritual life, bypassing the “on-the-ground” needs and responsibilities that are still pretty much part of our existence. Where is the sweet spot? Where is the balance? I believe this to be a psychological choice: the self, psyche, or do I dare to call it the soul? looking for a state of equilibrium between opposite forces in a constant state of ambivalence. My views stem mainly from the work of Carl Jung and the concept of individuation, defined metaphorically as the alchemical process of turning metal into gold. As alchemists peel layers of ego, facing and integrating the shadows that always accompany the light and the chaos that is the counterpart of unity, the essence of their subjective experience is revealed as a consciousness that is innate, unknowable and can only be expressed symbolically. Although I deeply resonate with Jung’s views, my awareness is experienced beyond a mind/body dualism, it feels more like a chaotic emergence that, in line with integrative principles, brings a self-reflective consciousness capable of creating new realities to foster multi-dimensional growth. This is what I call the Goddess that lies in Chaos, a constant iteration between sentience and the Void, manifesting a reality created by both imagination and sense perception, a conceptual interpretation of “The Mystery”, which will eternally remain mysterious. Click for Refences
The Mystery The participatory process of creation I am calling the Goddess that Lies in Chaos. A multi-dimensional, infinitely self-replicating dynamic modelled by the Mandelbrot fractal, the geometrical structure that results from continuously iterating the circle function f(x) = x2+c with 0 and complex numbers. In Samkhya philosophy, the continuous iteration of f(x) represents an eternal and ever-evolving self that arises with the play of two ontological realities: Purusha, the Knower and Prakriti, the Field X=0 represents Purusha. The Quantum potential, the unmanifested. The paradoxical consciousness that is at the same time immanent and transcendent. C represents Prakriti. The complex dynamics of existence, the energetic manifestation of a world created by the constant movement of the Gudas: Tamas (unconscious instinct), Rajas (uncontrolled ego-centred mind power) and Samta (detached observing equilibrium).
Sentience A thermodynamic feedback loop encoded in life-determining organisms. It provides a bi-directional, self-regulatory logic that determines the formation of structures and the ability to collaborate and adapt based on hedonic responses (move towards pleasure and away from pain). Tamas: the biological, instinctual manifestation of Prakriti
Ego The “I” created by brain processing and sense perception, unaware of the process of change The ego consciousness is Maya, the attachment to mind and matter; and to specific snapshots of f(x) that are asserted by social interaction and affirmed as markers of identity. Rajas, the cognitive manifestation of Prakriti.
Alchemy The noetic quality of subjective experience that creates meaning from phenomenology. Aware of the process of change and the Quantum potential, simultaneously observer and participant in the self-regulatory function. Samta, the imaginal manifestation of Prakriti.