Thursday, October 18, 2007

A Spiritual Fact

You can turn off the lamp but you can't turn off the Light.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Let me give a small example. But to begin with, note that repression is not transformation. We
might say that repression is one type of failure to cleanly transform (there are also arrest, fixation, dissociation, and regression). Should the self, in the process of transforming from, say, the typhonic realm to the egoic, encounter severe repression of, for example, aggression, then the ascent of consciousness is halted with regard to that facet of self. Or rather, from that stage on, the anger impulse will be raw-translated with regard to any deep structure which subsequently refuses the impulse. Thus transformation upward is distorted because, at every stage past the repression, the impulse is mistranslated. And this mistranslation means that the individual cannot represent these impulses to himself with appropriate signs, but only with symbols, and these symbols represent the hidden aspects of self which now remain lodged in the lower levels of his
own being. We might say that these symbols represent those aspects of the self which originate at a different level of consciousness (in this case, the typhonic) and cannot make it up to the present level. Without the repression, the anger would simply transform easily to the ego level, enter awareness as a sign, and the individual would correctly translate his situation as, "I'm madder'n hell!" With repression, however, an aspect of the self remains at a lower level, cannot properly transform, and therefore enters awareness only as a symbol (since symbols, not signs, represent different levels)—and hence the individual mistranslates the true form of his present reality. And this mistranslation circles compulsively around a symbol lodged uncomfortably in his translative process, generating mystery in his awareness.
-- Ken Wilber, from The Atman Project.

If I may believe K. Wilber, I am now a centaur. ;>)
I will try to finish the book and find out what I think about it.

Joe B said...

implementation vs idea

Ideas don't have coporeal existence and therefor can NEVER be destroyed. An implementation is coporeal and will ALWAYS be destroyed.

Form and Where Form Appears (Emptiness) are different sides of the same coin. A lump of clay contains all possible sculptures. A canvas contains all possible paintings. A computer contains all possible programs.

How many seeds does an apple contain? How many apples does a seed contain?

Sophia said...

Sigurd,

Whew, that Ken is not exactly an easy read! What happened to plain simple English. :)

Sophia said...

Hi Joe,

You're starting to get Aristotle-ish when you talk about substance and form. :)

Anonymous said...

Sophia,
Exactly!!!

Jim said...

I read this stuff by wilbur, left here by sigurd, and I think it is fundamental psychological activity of the angelic/human system of spirit, not the HUMAN/Spiritual Psychology which this 'complicated' systemic stuff is like 'biology' to, I mean this is like scientific microscopy of psychological systems, mostly angelic, meaning that this stuff is basic to animal life forms and is beneath the HUMAN. However, like science, some need it, nothing wrong with it if it is your bag.

Sophia said...

Hi Jim,

Can you tell me what you mean by "angelic"? Thanks.

Jim said...

Sophia, 'angelic' is the living systems, each with a very narrow and specific purpose in some larger angelic system. Like your autonomous systems, we contribute to the 'unconscious' of ourself, anyone. I say that the basic creation of life, and that includes the stage and set in which creatures move and have being, that these basics are the 'angels' and each does its' job eternally and will continue until something disables the functions. I see these systems as living entities and know that they are to be ruled by the human, controled and made to function rightly, they are to serve us, not us them. Something like that.

Love to you and yours.