EXPERIMENTS IN the TRANSFORMATION OF BEING
ANIL MITRA PHD, COPYRIGHT © April 2004
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MAIN IDEAS, AIMS AND ARGUMENTS
While Prologue to a Journey in Being is a brief introduction to the journey, the following describes what is relevant for the experiments
Journey in Being is a journey into all being, into the nature and story – or history – of being and into being itself
What is Being? And what is the purpose of the focus on being?
As used here, the being of an individual – of any entity – is what it truly is and that includes its possibilities and potentials
Being and knowledge of being have both definite [actual] and indefinite [possible] or unrealized aspects. It would be absurd to claim that human being has realized or knows all possible kinds or aspects of being or to claim that there is no knowledge or realization at all
A purpose to the focus on being is that the concept of being includes the indefinite: what is unknown and unrealized but what is possible; focus on being is an invitation to an ultimate adventure
Because of the indefiniteness, coming into knowledge and realization is and must be a Journey into Being
Journey Into Being Itself
… a journey in understanding of the possibilities or potentials of being; of knowledge and traditions of knowledge – for all being and understanding
… and in transformations in being – experiments in realization of possibilities; of traditions of experiment with being
Experiments in the Transformation of Being and Metaphysics, Knowledge and Action are the two main paths of the journey
An Individual Journey
Journey in Being is also my journey, the story of my coming into the ideas and paths that make up The Journey. The story of my life is a part of the journey – but this document is not intended to be a vehicle to tell an intimate story of my life. What is significant is how I came to undertake and continue the journey, especially to the extent that the origins are essential in understanding and founding the journey
The journey described in this essay, a story of being and of my travels in being, covers a vast territory. I now see that only some parts of the journey were logically necessary to where I have arrived. However, in the beginning and during the process I did not know what was necessary and I could not have fully articulated the nature of the result. Therefore, in a sense the entire journey was necessary. Throughout, I was sustained by a sense of wonder and of trust in the being of the universe
I always seek responses from readers. I am encouraged by and appreciate kind words and praise but I have learned most by responding to challenges that have ranged from careful criticism to total and sometimes hurtful if careless negation of my thought and being. You may learn something by tracing the path described here. However, the spirit of my journey includes the following. In addition to wonder, I have also been sustained – especially when the sacrifices seemed to be a burden – by the thought that I may make a contribution to our journey. I have always thought that while the particulars of an individual journey may be erratic or quixotic, the universal journey is necessary and is built upon individual effort. In that sense, at least, the distinction between failure and success is thin; to fail is to not have undertaken your mission
Relations Between Our World and the Absolute
It may seem to some individuals that this is an invitation to reject our immediate world. That is not true. It is sometimes necessary – effective – to turn away from the details to achieve understanding. However, that understanding is an understanding of the details and how they stand together. The understanding binds together our common world and the absolute or infinite
From Journey in Being: There are two great sources of meaning: first, experience and enjoyment of and action in the immediate world – the life and relationships of the individual and, second, in the process, in arching from individual being to universal Being. The approach to being through experiment weaves through both sources of meaning
It may sometimes seem that I am asking readers to give up their most firm and sound beliefs – the system of common belief that is the foundation of our unspoken concept of the world. That, too, is not true. What I ask is for an extension of the common system of belief. The normal concept of the world undoubtedly has validity within a certain domain and we do not appear to be in a position to extrapolate beyond that domain. How then can I say anything about all being or the one universe? The answer to this is in the foregoing discussion. Sustained by wonder and intuition, my search started in the world-as-I-experience-it and continued there through many avenues and over many years. Yet, despite many attempts including analysis of belief and knowledge, I could not give to my intuition the label of knowledge. Finally, I turned away from extrapolation and examined the concept of nothingness where I found, as stated above and as detailed in the body of this essay, that nothingness contains, in a sense, all being the entire one universe. The journey is a travel through human knowledge and through our world to this ultimate point that is a foundation to and meshes smoothly with all being and the system of common belief
In some systems of thought, the world as we experience it is all illusion. Here, we find that the world of experience, the forms of intuition and the system of common belief are practical guides to our world, essential to living in that world, that do not constitute an illusion when not held as absolute. The world of intuition where we experience time, space and the distinctness of individuals is embedded in the most inclusive perspective in which nothingness is the womb of being. Thus it is valid to experience space, time, individuation, pleasure and pain and the other forms of intuition such as causation; and it is also valid to know a world that e.g. contains but is not in time and in which the individual – you or I – is identical to all being that stands with the ability to be distant from the individual and his or her singular attributes and experience
Experiments in the Transformation of Being
The processes of knowledge, science and technology are experiments in transformation. However, focus is especially on the transformation of being itself. Examples from the traditions include western mysticism, Yoga, psychotherapy, meditation, the Shamanic vision-quest, the classic Heroic Journey-Quest. As described in the body of this essay I have considered these traditions critically, constructively and experimentally and have often adapted the traditions to my purposes
While I have taken up and continue to experiment with a number of classical approaches in transformation of awareness and being, the foundations of my experiments are in what I call the dynamics of being. A detailed discussion of the dynamics of being and its use is taken up later
The central and fundamental idea of the dynamics is that an individual can experiment with, learn about and often overcome what are seen as limits to his or her own being. The process may be seen as a variation or generalization of the scientific method or of the Socratic approach to criticism and ideas. What are the final limits to an individual being? The argument from nothingness shows that there are no limits except logical limits e.g. one cannot have property X and not X or be object A and not A at the same time. However, even this restriction does not have the force that it is often thought to have. For different objects A and B, it is usually thought that being A implies being not B. However, there may exist compound objects C whose state of being is a compounding [in quantum theory the term is superposition] of A and B. In general, all objects partake of a compound character similar to that of C. This follows from the fact that every state of being is equivalent to all states of being and is not at all dependent on quantum ideas
The question of low probabilities is approached by seeking an analog to catalysis in chemical transformations – the agent of catalysis in the case of being is mind or intelligence. Moral considerations are significant in justifying a search for perceiving and realizing states with limited likelihood
My Inspiration
My development has many influences and inspirations. Most of all perhaps are the influence of my mother who listened to my most absurd and incomprehensible thoughts and my journeys in nature where I received so much inspirations in ideas and experienced so much contact with The Source
Horizons – The Journey continues but has come a long way and some Mileposts for the Experiments are:
Dynamics of being and its foundations in Metaphysics
Foundation of transformations of being
A set of complete but minimal experiments in the transformations of being
Integration of ideas and experiments in the Journey-Quest
Other developments described in what follows
The Journey Continues…
The next phase is a return to the focus on the experiments described in the second section of the main essay
As far as knowledge and ideas are concerned, I must again turn away from what clear light I have seen and toward intuition and diffuse light to sense and seek what further truth there may be
Journey in Being Website
Anil Mitra
April 27, 2004
OUTLINE – 
links
go to the topic in the table of contents; descriptive links go to the text
Prologue - above | Introduction
| Dynamics of Being
| Becoming
| Journey
| The Experiments
Becoming includes: Perception and Vision-Quest | Dreams and Hypnosis | Yoga and Meditation
Latest Revision and Copyright | Footnotes
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROLOGUE - ABOVE
Purpose and Nature of the Experiments
What is a Transformation of Being?
The Value of Transformations of Being
The Discipline of Transformation
1 The Dynamics of the Real and of Being
1.2 Introduction to the Dynamics
1.3 Twenty-One Examples of the Dynamics
2.1 Dynamics as Bridge between Modes of Knowledge and Being
2.2 Further Experiments with the Dynamics
2.3 The Dynamics of Being and its Theory
2.4 Some General Aspects of Dynamics
1.2.2 Vision, Dream and Hallucination
1.2.3 Focus: Perception and Vision-Quest
1.3.1 Nature: Immersion and Navigation
1.3.5 Experiments in the Transformation of Being
1.3.6 Arching from Human to Ultimate Being
1.4.3 Ways of Release; Catalysts
What Will a Theory of Dreams Do?
2.1.1 Dreams, Hallucinations, Imagery and Thought
2.1.3 Physiological Correlates of Dreams
2.1.5 Dreams as Transitional Between Deep Sleep and the Waking State
2.3 The Meaning and Function of Dreams
2.3.2 Meaning and Significance of Dreams
3.1 A Short Introduction to Yoga
3.1.4 Related systems: Physical Arts
3.1.5 The Yoga of the Bhagavad-Gita
3.1.7 Yoga, Vedanta and the Journey in Being
3.1.8 Experiments with the Yoga systems and Transformations of Being
3.3 Meditation, Yoga, and Life
3.3.1 Openness to Life, Others
3.3.2 Changing Negative Emotions and Patterns
1 Wilderness Journey-Quest: Preparation
2.2 What I Learned at the Lake
3 The Journey-Quest: Nature and Process
1 Kinds of Experiment: Principles of Elaboration
2 Experiments in the Character of Mind and Being
3 Experiments in Function: States and Processes of Being
3.1 Memory, Attitude – and Concepts
4 Experiments involving Extension in Time
4.1 Learning and growth; development of the functions
4.2 Personality and its Development; commitments
4.3 The dynamics of being; becoming; local / non-local
4.3.2 Elaboration of Examples of the Dynamics
4.4 Arching from the Individual / Here-Now to the Universal
5.1 Experiments in Metaphysics or Knowledge and Action
5.2 Transformation of Being: Journey-Quest – Wilderness
5.2.1 Objectives-Itinerary: outline
5.2.2 Perception: Awareness, Attention, Attunement, and Nature Sense
6 A Complete, Minimal Set of Experiments
7 Results, Prospects and Plans
7.1 Some Additional Experiments
experiments in the transformation of being
Metaphysics included an important concern with the possibilities of being. This essay is an account of experiential and experimental approaches to transformation and construction of being. The experiments are balanced by the ideas – especially of the previous section
The conceptual approaches of Metaphysics are also experiments – with ideas; and, since knowledge is a form of being, understanding is also transformation of being
However, the Experiments emphasize transformation and construction of being itself in all aspects – physical, mental and potential
Purpose and Nature of the Experiments
Purpose and Nature of the Experiments
Metaphysics introduced the Principle of Being that all being is accessible to every being. This is the principle that the self is the ultimate or, from Vedanta philosophy, the true self i.e. the ultimate discovered subjectively or Atman is Brahman, the ultimate discovered objectively. The Principle of Being was demonstrated conceptually. It is the purpose of this section to demonstrate the truth of the Principle of Being through actual transformation. This will complement the development described next
The sources to which I have appealed include metaphysics, yoga [and meditation,] the journey- or hero-quest, dreams – their use and analysis, the vision-quest, science and its methods and generalization in the dynamics of being or of the real. These topics are elaborated in the core essays. All of these topics draw from at least one tradition. The breadth and depth of the traditions is much greater than I anticipated from a casual acquaintance. The variety of yoga systems, for example, shows that the view of yoga as a system of received concepts and practices is incomplete even if it is powerful. My emphasis so far is primarily in metaphysics, the theory of the dynamics of being, and to the nature, concept and use of dreams. The work in metaphysics forms a theoretical foundation for the dynamics; however the latter required experimentation as described in the section on the dynamics, below. Those experiments include meditation, somatic effects of awareness, journey-quest in wild places. By bringing together the classical disciplines and binding them with what I have learnt and discovered in metaphysics and dynamics of being, there results one fluid system
This body of this essay is identical to the section, Experiments in the Transformation of Being of Journey in Being
Experiments in the Transformation of Being includes:
In this introduction: the nature and possibilities of being, means and values of transformation. The discussion is based in the treatment of knowledge, metaphysics, possibility, being, mind, genesis, cosmology of the section Metaphysics or Knowledge and Action of Journey in Being
Dynamics of Being: an approach to or means of transformation based in understanding of the nature of possibility, discovery, limits and experiment
The Discipline of Transformation: the essential discipline is classified as Becoming and Journey
The Experiments contains a discussion of kinds of experiment, a catalog of the variety of experiments, and a set of experiments that is designed to cover the possibilities of transformation but takes advantage of the understanding of the nature of being
What is a Transformation of Being?
The following processes count as transformations of being:
The following actual processes are examples: conception and development of the organism / death / acquisition of knowledge / development or change of personality / origin of the universe / origin and evolution of social groups
All known or actual processes. Transformations of the very being itself are emphasized – it is essential that transformations of being are not restricted to normal growth
All hypothetical changes or processes that are possible will count as transformations of being. It follows trivially from the Principle of Being that all hypothetical transformations with possible initial and end states are possible. What states are possible? A state is possible, i.e. it may exist if its concept does not involve contradiction. It is not necessary, for a transformation of being to be possible, for the being itself to recognize its own identity through the transformation; it is sufficient that some sentient being could. Therefore, as examples, the following hypothetical transformations are possible transformations of being:
Water into wine / creation of the universe from nothing / a bacterium spontaneously transmutes into a zebra / Jesus rising from the dead / a man simply ceases to be, becomes nothingness. The issue that these transformations appear to contradict common sense / physics is addressed subsequently
…and all imagined and unimagined transformations where the initial and end points may exist
If A ® B is possible, i.e. a possible transformation, then B ® A is possible; if A ® B and B ® C are possible, then A ® C is a possible
As noted above, it follows from the Principle of Being, that all transformations with possible initial and end states are possible. That is trivial
The following considerations arise: what is possibility and what is possible; what transformations are likely, probable or feasible and what are the backgrounds against which probability and feasibility are or may be evaluated; how may an organism or being change -magnify- the probability of a transformation from its value when measured against a background of inert physics or change feasibility based on a normal view of limits; what transformations are meaningful and desirable – and are there ways in which transformations that seem to lack meaning actually have meaning or transformations that actually lack meaning may be given meaning? The considerations are treated and elaborated in what follows
Possibility
Earlier, especially in Metaphysics or Knowledge and Action [section in Journey in Being] I introduced and elaborated the concepts of the possible [1] and of nothingness. I noted that anything that is possible is necessary; i.e. will obtain in some phase-epoch of the universe. This is equivalent to what I called the Principle of Being, that all being is accessible to every being; in particular, it was seen that the universe is equivalent to nothingness
The Principle of Being is equivalent to the statement that there are no limits on beings; more precisely, the only limits are logical e.g. it is not possible for a being to be a spider and not a spider at the same time[2]. In other words, everything that is not logically impossible is possible or, simply, provided the logical condition is kept in mind, “everything is possible”
The requirement of possibility eliminates logical contradictions such as a state in which an object is, for example, both black and not-black. Note that in traditional logic that corresponds to the traditional view of reality [objects that are black and not-black are not possible objects] such logical contradictions are avoided and the introduction of any contradiction implies that all assertions are true; however, there are reasons to consider non-traditional objects of the kind in question. One reason is that “impossible” objects lead to conceptual completeness and true contradiction is avoided by tracking the consequences of hypothesizing or positing impossible objects. A realistic reason is that at some level reality may be constituted of such objects; it is then an exercise to see how traditional being and logic result from the indefinite level. Such considerations were also taken up in Metaphysics or Knowledge and Action
Means or Ways
However, possibility and feasibility are not identical. Thus, what is possible in general may be impossible in a phase-epoch of the universe in which certain laws of physics hold – whether exactly or even approximately. “The” laws of physics always pertain to a phase-epoch of the universe but are not universal in any absolute sense; this is not the point that the laws are approximate but, rather, that they have genesis and end that are co-extensive with a phase-epoch. Further, something that is physically possible may be extremely difficult. In terms of probabilities, some physical possibilities are colossally improbable relative to a phase-epoch of the universe and its laws – but, against the entire universe as background the physical improbability is replaced by universal necessity
Therefore, practically, physical probability – i.e. for the physics of a phase-epoch of the universe – is significant though not absolute concern
A first practical issue concerns the question of what possibilities are likely and, when possibilities are unlikely relative to the physics of an inert universe, how may probabilities be magnified? The first general answer is that life is a magnification of probabilities. First, given appropriate conditions, life has its origin in the magnifying effect of time. In other words, the probability of an occurrence is a definite quantity when a context and a period of time are specified. Over many such intervals of time the probability is magnified. It may be argued that the probability of the origin of life on earth relative to the original inert planet was small; however, clearly, relative to the universe – especially in its equivalence to nothingness as shown in the metaphysics of Metaphysics or Knowledge and Action – the probability is not small; rather the origin of life over and over becomes necessary. In our world, once life began it served to magnify probabilities; perhaps catalyze is a better term than magnification of probability; life served to catalyze the path from material to new living forms through the mechanisms of evolution. Thus, the origin of life takes probability out of its raw physical realm; this kind of transition is repeated at various turning points. This is not the whole story; the seeming improbability of the outcome, given even the origin and evolution of life and of turning points, can be explained away: the actual outcome was not determined from the outset and is one of a large number of physical possibilities that were no longer colossally improbable once life began. Each possibility would still have a small probability but the likelihood of occurrence of one the possibilities opened up by the origin of life was no longer microscopic[3]
A second, general, answer to magnification of probabilities – of catalysis – is in the origin of intelligence and mind [as we know it.] The ability of mind to catalyze change is – at least one aspect of – intelligence. The origin of mind and intelligence as we know them constitute an evolutionary transition that takes probability out of one realm and into another; in the case of conscious intelligence, the organism acquires meaning – as we know it – and participates in evolution
The role of knowledge and action in interaction is essential:
Knowledge or knowing is a form of being; so the ways of knowledge are ways of transformation of being. Even the most rational growth involves experiment and hypothesis for otherwise there would be no new knowledge. In the field of knowledge and knowing, the extreme contrast to rational process there is the direct in-tuition of mysticism
Knowledge also shows some possibilities and ways of transformation. Thus, knowledge and action, separately and in interaction are involved in the transformations. A rational transformation would be one in which action proceeded from knowledge; the extreme contrast to rational transformation is direct action which may be either chosen or, in some situations, necessary. Actual transformations, in which knowledge and action are iterative but not binding interaction, lie to the interior of the continuum whose extreme points are rational transformation and direct action
Given the equivalence of nothingness and all being and the lack of clear boundaries between knowledge and being, between mind and mind, between individual and individual – there is no absolute distinction between transformation by knowing and transformation by becoming
Meaning and Value
First, consider meaning or significance
That a transformation is possible does not make it significant or meaningful. For example, consider transformation of a being A to a being B. How can that be meaningful if there is no being C [which could be A or B] which is aware of and into whose life the transformation enters in some constructive way? The existence of meaning is guaranteed as follows from the section Metaphysics or Knowledge and Action of Journey in Being: if the transformation occurs in a phase-epoch U of the universe, there is a phase-epoch U’ in which beings A’, B’, and C’ exist that are similar to A, B, C of U and for which C’ has the “desired” awareness and construction. How is significance introduced? The first step is the introduction of meaning as just described; there is a variety of examples in the section Metaphysics or Knowledge and Action of Journey in Being. Beyond this the construction of significance requires imagination and experiment and this is one of the objectives of considering Transformations of Being. A transformation is significant to the extent that it is a realization of the ultimate possibilities of being or a construction or pathway to that realization. Initially, significance is founded in the actual being as described, for example, in Mind in Journey in Being and subsequent sections on mind and being
Meaning and significance are related to ethics and aesthetics. Human ethics and aesthetics are not insignificant but it is not assumed that received value is ultimate value or that being and value are separate realms; see the section of Ethics, Being, Knowledge of Journey in Being
Now consider value
Not all possibilities are desirable; and of those that might be desirable some are intrinsically more desirable. I use the word “intrinsically” in the following way. One outcome or an endeavor may be intrinsically more valuable than another but may require so much more in the way of effort and resources as to be practically less desirable
What is desirability or value? Ethics or morals are one way of representing value. Here, ethics is not understood in a limited way of judging outcomes [the good] or actions [the right] but includes the moral value of, for example, a way of living or an endeavor. Ethics can be discussed in terms of the good [and the right] or comparatively in terms of “better” or “worse.” If an outcome is good it is desirable. However how to compare alternative outcomes – some way of deciding or seeing what is the better of any two of the alternatives is needed
The title of this section includes value but not morals or ethics. That is because morality is not the only way in which value is seen; beauty and truth are other important examples of value. Although truth, beauty and morality intersect they are independent concepts. It is not the purpose here to provide a full account of value [axiology] but to point out the kinds of value and the possibility of relationships. In fact, relationships are necessary since all forms of value must enter into making choices
There may be an objection to the use of the word “value” due to its supposed economic origin. However, as we have seen in the discussion of language, there is no necessary relation among the historical uses of a word – not even a family relation; for, when the use of a word has diverged sufficiently from its original use the one word becomes two distinct symbols
The questions of significance, meaning and probability are not independent. If two outcomes have equal significance then, all other things being equal, an attempt at construction of the more probable outcome will be chosen more often. However, a less likely but more significant outcome may be chosen over a less significant but assured outcome. There are situations in which choice can be reduced to a calculus but there does not appear to be any universal calculus of choice. Rather, risk is involved; the risk cannot be fully calculated and involves a real component of danger and potential loss; the whole being is involved; and, to the extent that choices are not exclusive, a distribution of effort and other resources is possible; the organism is alive
In choosing paths of action, there is a commonsense relation between effort, likelihood and value: an outcome may be sought or a path may be undertaken when the likelihood is low and the effort is high provided that the value is sufficiently high. This approach may also be used, intuitively or in a formal way based on some kind of measure, to compare alternative paths or outcomes. Actual efforts, likelihoods are not known in advance and it is not clear that values can be made quantitative. Therefore, in general, comparisons are rough and intuitive and conflictual; as noted above, the organism is alive. In limited contexts, quantitative assignments and comparisons may be possible; however, in general, judgment is required in determining actions or desired outcomes. Imperative values are not exceptions to this description since the value is then infinitely positive or negative. There is, however, a problem with imperative values of the form “X is imperative.” Roughly, the imperative form is rigid: if imperatives are allowed then there may be an imperative Y that, together with X, results in a contradiction. Further, the concept of the imperative is undermined by the fact that the meaning of a value cannot be given for all situations
What makes an endeavor worthwhile, then, is a function of estimates of effort, likelihood and value
The Value of Transformations of Being
Transformation is of intrinsic value. The following are secondary reasons
Incompleteness of knowledge as a mode of transformation
We saw earlier that knowledge and the use of technology are incomplete transformations of being. That is, even if an individual knew everything that could be known, his or her being would still incomplete relative to what is possible – except that, perhaps, only the ultimate being can “know everything”
The result of meditation
Meditation reveals layers of mind; this suggests the arbitrariness of boundaries and the possibility of transformations
The question “What is Metaphysics?” has shown that Metaphysics cannot be restricted to activity of the mind
… action and being [becoming] are essential to a full nature of metaphysics and to the process of metaphysics
There is a role for direct experiment where failure – including death – is loss … but see discussion of the nature of death below
The Discipline of Transformation
The discipline is classified according to an incomplete distinction: Becoming / Journey
The Dynamics of Being is an approach to transformation of being. The problem of transformation may be stated by saying that there appear to be limits to the possibilities of being. However, it was seen in the Prologue and, in more detail, in Journey in Being, that there are no absolute limits. Limits are relative in that certain transformations are improbable or infeasible. It was also seen that being is in possession of the means to magnify raw probabilities, to find ways to enhance feasibility. The dynamics of being is that means; it uses the faculties of being and is an approach based in the nature and origin of being
Dynamics of Being defines a class of experiments and the concept of experiment
1 The Dynamics of the Real and of Being
1.1 The Principal of Being
The principle of being is that all being is accessible to every being. This follows from the dynamics but, when recognized, motivates and guides it. The principle is discussed in Journey in Being
1.2 Introduction to the Dynamics
Being has a sense of the real; this includes limits to individual being
Distinctions between the one real and the many senses of the real are not ultimate
In some settings a disruption of the sense of the real is pathological; but an excessively firm sense of reality, too, can be pathological: rigidity, extreme conservatism… often the sense of the real appears firm but, usually, if the individual examines his or her history the sense of the real is found to be fluid. In the absence of ultimate realizations, this is as it should be…
That a limit is part of the sense of the real does not make it real; the only a priori certain limits on any given being are those that are limits on all being; this was shown to be true in the section Metaphysics or Knowledge and Action of Journey in Being; and the only limits on all being are logical limits; a limit is a logical limit if the concept of its transcendence involves a contradiction
An approach to discovery of the nature of limits is through experiment; one becomes aware of the sense of limits as real limits; there are various experiments with limits including physical experiment with one’s being and concepts from the history of culture including science; limits are overcome in individual life and in evolution
The distinction between individual life and evolution – all being – is apparent but not real
Individual being is not the finite sense of the self; even though that sense is tied in with survival and the sense of the real
The dynamics of being is an approach to transformation – from the everyday to realization of the ultimate
1.3 Twenty-One Examples of the Dynamics
The examples from my experience range from specific to general and among elements of the world; and from the immediate to the remote. Each example involves some issue or context. The context becomes dynamics as follows: initially the situation is experienced; then, patterns are noticed; generalizations are made and confirmed; the process becomes automatic; then a combination of focus and retreat results in communication between conscious and unconscious processing; at the level of the unconscious the dynamics enters the being of the individual; at this point the issue becomes dynamic; further development involves repetition of the previous steps which may but need not be intentional
Common elements among the different examples are noted; the individual becomes aware of the idea of a dynamic; the concept of the dynamics is applied to being itself, to what it experiences as limits and to its transformations
1. The phases and issues of a life: experience, learning and substance at various levels
2. Interpersonal dynamics and its reflexive evolution. Self–observation and consciousness; evolution of reflexivity and agency… Cultivating awareness of consciousness, its contents, its varieties, its dynamics including relations to events in the “external world” and to other mental phenomena including the unconscious
3. Dynamics of real choice and real action. E.g.: dynamics of loss and death. …relation to self–observation
4. Body awareness and healing. Learning to see and recognize and healing and its power… Implicit in this discussion are implications for what is called the medical model. The value of this model as a framework is acknowledged. However it ignores or tends to ignore individual ability to learn, individual values, real values, agency, agency and healing, and individual variations. The process involves dynamics of healing; entry into the dynamics; dynamics of the autonomic system in interaction with the central nervous system. Bio-feedback is included; however the process also requires openness to phenomena, observation and cultivation of observation of phenomena and relationships between action and phenomena, observation of relationships by comparison of multiple instances, cultivation of this process; i.e. the process includes identifying phenomena that are the variables in a feedback loop and identifies the feedback as one of the variables. Also see discussion on the art and technique of observation, below
5. The dynamics of relationships and the evolution of shared projects. Love, society, friends, influence
6. Dynamics of relationships
7. Development of body kinetics. This starts at birth and can be cultivated dynamically
8. Perceptual dynamics in relation to the real and their development form an example. Example: for the absolute, eternity is an instant
9. Dynamics of creative acts and activity: research, art…other creative endeavors. Music – primal and cultured; dynamic integration of art, emotion, action – individual and social… My development: pushing modern knowledge to its limits to find limits, and to find the absolute or non–absolute nature of those limits
10. The elements of my life and relation to the universal – and their integration. The modes of being: nature, society, mind and the universal; the modes of process: action, dynamics, evolution; the modes of relationship: caring, meaning, force
11. Personality dynamics. The crux of personality dynamics has to do with fixity and freedom in patterns of feeling and behavior in relation to self, world and others. In this dynamics, thought is important but subservient to feeling and potency. The actual freedom can in a relationship is limited only by its potential; the dynamics includes discovery of that potential. The following dimensions open up: [a] approaches to presentation and energy: preparation with openness, interpretation – individualism vs. mutualism, anticipation and transformation to advantage, lack of anticipation and use of detachment, use of mood in general to advantage, flow; [b] risk: what is it, opening to it, contact, and accepting the unknown and unpredictable consequences; opening to the other and to failure and success; learning about the potential of the relationship; [c] catalysts: openness to change, diffusion, disintegration, plasticity of self. Personality as a concept. Sources o