Hello Everyone,
I have a couple of inputs into AQAL theory
The first has to do with the relationship between structure – stages and state-stages.
There was a time when the higher states such as causal and non dual were merely tacked on top of the structure stages to indicate higher potentials of the human experience. Ken teased them apart in order to indicate that the states are available at all levels ( waking, dreaming, deep sleep for example ). This also helps greatly in realizing why sages can have non dual states and yet unpack them in low structure – blue or orange level application. Part of this new understanding also defines enlightenment as mastery of the highest states and stages available at whichever period of history ie enlightenment evolves even though one of the components of enlightenment is access to a timeless ‘state’ or the participation in that reality which does not evolve. All good so far – in fact great because we are freed from structural prisons drawing their authority from state-experience.
One way of expressing this distinction in AQAL theory is the Wilber – Coombs lattice – essentially a matrix with structures on one axis and states on the other.
Structures
Super Integral * * * *
Integral * * * *
Pluralistic * * * *
Rational * * * *
Mythic * * * *
Magic * * * *
Archaic * * * *
Gross Subtle Causal Non dual Stages
( from Integral spiritualty p 90 )
This differentiates them but I sense there is a deeper integration between them which a different model might express. For example while they are different it is true that the deeper ‘states’ are more readily available at the higher ‘structures’. The deeper states and structures also both transcend and include the lower or shallower ones.
Try this representation
oops won't paste - will have to put a link here:http://www.simplysacred.com/States&Stages.htm
and might need to open the image in a browser to follow my drift.
We can see that the structures are represented by levels ( not pre-existing planes but developed evolutionary morphic fields ) and the states by spheres.
The self ( UR) arises in different ways within these different fields ( UL) . It experiences a stable sense of self identity on the levels ( structures ) and different depths of this ‘self’ in the spheres ( states ).
Important paradoxs are solved by this model. At the lowest structures the deeper states are still available but because there are more ‘layers’ to the self they are experienced with less permanence and also through the veil of the lower identity. The experiences of the deeper states at lower structures are peak experiences that only become more or less stable at higher structures. Once the identity becomes stably ‘trans-mental’ then the ‘waking state’ actually exists inside the normal ‘state’ of the self which is subtle. The subtle state is carried into dreaming and the events of the waking day happen ‘inside it’. Once causal identity is stably established in third tier structural stages then that identity can express through the subtle and waking states and stages without losing its essential anchoring in causal. Thus higher structures and deeper states have an intimate connected relationship.
This model also has application in helping to explain the ‘pre-trans’ experience. Many people associate the soul or subtle state experience with childhood and make ‘mind’ and egoic development the problem because they ‘miss’ the more participatory experience that childhood or a more emotionally oriented identity had access to. If the subtle and causal states are available through interpenetration of the spheres above then it makes sense that the less ‘solid’ or more transparent the identity structure is the more ‘flow through’ from deeper states there will be. Once the ‘self’ emerges into mental development the sense of self identity becomes so strong ( the ego ) that it excludes many of the deeper state experiences. This also explains why many people use drugs, meditation, sex and so forth to break for a little while the hold of the egoic self so that ‘bleed through’ can occur. There are also many paths that lead to a dissolution of the ego in a vain attempt to get back to a more diffuse experience between the states. As we know the developmental trick is to go trans-mental where the subtle state or soul experience can be found directly rather than filtered through the lower identity. This is also why it is so important that the higher levels of state and structure stages become incorporated into our mental understandings of Kosmos so that children will not have to equate developing the mind with exclusion of the subtle state experience.
Another useful way in which this model can inform understanding is that it helps in the whole emptiness/ form debate. The experience of causal consciousness is more easily and stably obtained at the higher structures but does permeate them all. In the past those who reached the higher ‘states’ through introspection or some other technique did not have the structures available to introduce this state intelligently into the world and so therefore we have had the ‘world-denying’ tendencies of those who are trying to ‘stay causal’. As the structures are being built in consciousness so that the causal states are able to permeate through the subtle and waking then we have an added dimension to collective awakening. While it may take a long time for a significant portion of the population to reach third tier consciousness, as more do they increase the power and potency of the causal ‘state’ through their ‘sangha’. Thus the causal state experience is more available at all structural levels. This also has its dangers of course. The experience of ‘being the one’ interpreted through a red or amber structure stage can have violent consequences. Once again we have the need for an understanding of these processes in order to observe them for what they are and help integrate them into our emerging global culture.
Ok so that’s point one.
Point two involves the whole development of the subtle fields and the process of reincarnation on both the individual and planetary level.
As Ken is currently busy pointing out ( and I look forward to his presentations in Overview and Superview where some of these issues will no doubt be addressed ) post- metaphysics must jettison the idea of pre-existing levels of ‘reality’ which both modernism and postmodernism have deconstructed.
In his “Excerpt G “ on subtle energy fields he attempts to reconstruct the important parts of the great chain without reference to ‘involution’ but as a developmental process. Essentially as forms become more complex so the fields through which they express become more complex. These morphic fields are like probability waves which become Kosmic habits . They are in effect subtle structures without recourse to ontologically preexisting ‘molds’.
Following this view we have the development in the human evolution as well as the planet of the physical life sphere, the biosphere and the noosphere.
The issue of reincarnation refers to the survival of some sense of identity in subtle dimensions or fields which are trans-mental. We quite naturally have those states where body mind has been dropped but is there any ‘survival’ of those states when the physical body dies? They would need some structure in order for that to occur and that structure would need to be some form of subtle body. That experience of identity in a subtle body could then have an influence on other subtle levels and states but would not have its own independent bodies of expression unless ‘in incarnation’.. So now we are talking about souls of some description or another. In order to derive souls developmentally we might postulate that as the higher structures develop the sense of self is able to shift its centre of gravity there and thus survive in some way the death of the form.
This of course might work theoretically but talking about the soul is the very thing that postmodernism did away with so I understand that it is necessary first to build a logical structure of development that produces higher subtle structures before talking about what might inhabit them independent of the gross world identification which is still largely in control of our worldviews! In fact in my humble opinion and from my perspective Ken Wilber’s ( and other integralists ) greatest contribution to humanity is his capacity to workably and sustainably reintroduce the human spirit to human consciousness. This involves nothing less than a form of planetary healing. It s like opening a door in the wall for someone who has painted themselves into a corner.
Ok but lets take a breath and go into the reincarnation debate for a moment. Experientially most people who follow a path into the higher structure stages and states become aware of a living community of souls. By this I do not mean the past transmission of awakened consciousness through a specific set of teachings or a tradition. I mean a living community of beings. Now at deeper levels there is no separate identity even of souls so this community is an illusion but it is a deeper illusion that the community of personalities! The experience of the self on its way to realization as the SELF does spend time in these transpersonal dimensions or subtle realities. And the question is whether the subtle experience and identity exists independently.
Another experiential reason for postulating this is the experience that many people have at a certain level of development when they become conscious of capacities and potentials that awaken suddenly. This is also the experience of the ‘higher’ self. There does seem to be two rather definite and radical transformations of core identity that have previously been called soul and spirit with associated ‘dark nights’ between them. These could correlate to the subtle and causal selves which have an independent existence. They would not need to be pregiven but could be understood developmentally. Once consciousness developed to a certain level – say subtle - it is able to maintain a form of self identity that can inform subsequent incarnations. This model of states and structures above also lends itself to this idea. A soul then is not pregiven but ‘earned’ or developed as some traditions maintain.
Whether or not reincarnation can be added to a developmental model however there is another consideration that I find fascinating. Holons tetra-arise and there is some debate over what is a holon and what is merely the social aspect of a holon. For example is a nation a holon or really just an aspect of the social side of the human holon. Similarly we might say that the sense of a planetary ‘identity’ is really just a compound social identity. Let’s assume for the sake of argument that the planet as a whole could be considered as some form of holon – that is Kosmically considered on all levels rather than just as a biosphere or ‘gaia’.
Now let us consider the social environment of such a holon. Statistically it is reasonable to assume that ‘life’ whether guided by random processes or some form of subtle intelligence has also arisen on other planets in our galaxy and if not in the galaxy then in the universe itself. Further lets postulate that life on some planet has developed to a structural level beyond that of the highest level on our planet. And I know that different ‘forms’ that evolve on different planets may have widely different forms of consciousness. But lets say that human consciousness and therefore human ‘enlightenment’ is not the highest form in the Kosmos. Let’s say that previous civilizations have left what Wilber called ‘gossamer tracings on the spiritual mind’ when referring to past sages on earth. They would not even need to be existing now but only to have existed. Furthermore if we took reincarnation on the human level as a possibility could it also be possible on a planetary level? What would that look like?
Part of this is to point out that if you can rebuild the spiritual traditions from a tetra-arising evolutionary perspective then the door is open to the extension of the concept into other areas such as extra terrestrial intelligence for example. Indeed it might upgrade that whole inquiry. At the moment we have Seti looking for physical signs of intelligent life but as it takes light billions of years to reach us from another galaxy the time/space search area is going to be very small for a very long time. Perhaps the antennas we need to build are on subtle levels and if something like a galactic or universal noosphere exists then we are only likely to become aware of it when our own planetary consciousness is unified via a synthetic and integral approach.
Best
Bruce Lyon