Dchimself

This user is a participant in the Motivation and emotion unit, 2010. See also: Textbook

This page is an e-portfolio. Also see other participants' pages.

One is currently a 'mature' undergrad student at UC. Not a genius but generally competent, with, it may be said, a skeptical attitude to many things; evidently there is much self-delusion in the New Age and elsewhere. According to Paulo Coelho in 'The Alchemist' nobody believes another's truth: yet i am an energetic master in whom Samadhi occurred at age 55, with a life task of establishing a 'green' sustainable healing community near Canberra, in association with others who presumably agreed before this incarnation and will share or otherwise relate to this vision. The vision includes helping others to their own enlightenment event, given the energetic ability mentioned above and other things not mentioned here. So as to help raise the collective consciousness, sine qua non: international agreements not worth their paper will not change things! The name of this community is The Sanctuary, as specified by a committee on the next level of reality (remember 'My Fathers house has many mansions'?) and channeled to me through a 'psychic' friend (i.e., one whose sensorium is working as intended: Heavens! a teleological suggestion).

Enquiries are welcome; expressions of disbelief are irrelevant and will be ignored. Reality is only known through direct personal experience, not by hearsay, and many are at present motivated by Freudian denial and unconscious fear. But by definition anyone in denial does not know it; neither did i when younger and myself in such a state. Therefore, know thyself!

PS God is only known by (temporarily) being at one; this is the knowledge principle referred to by T.H.White in his story of 'The once and future king' about Arthur as taught by Merlin using said principle on his pupil by temporarily turning him into a fish or whatever. DChimself 08:16, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

E-portfolio 21 August 2010

The following remarks centre on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in particular his meta-needs and the top of said hierarchy namely self-actualisation and beyond. The unusual experience I have in this area is too valuable and useful, indeed necessary for humankind, for me to pretend ignorance. This despite likely even inevitable negative egoic reactions from others.

Yet such experience is evidently available to many at this point in the human story. Perfection and sainthood is NOT required, and is NOT something I claim, or ever wish to.

It was about this date 10 years ago that my Self-Realisation (Cf., the Buddhist Enlightenment) occurred.

Reactions in some people to this claim have varied from disbelief to jealousy, and include apparent cognitive dissonance, also underplaying or diminishing my experience. These are dishonourable responses. I do not see myself as self-actualised; this is an ongoing process. Even so there has been discovery of a particular energetic ability, apparently from a past life as a species of metaphysician: this was unknown on a conscious level before it emerged.

My experience of ‘At-one-ment’, as described by Christian; Sufi, and Hindu mystics, is held to be a specific emotional state according to the Behavioural Barometer established and copyrighted by Three-In-One Concepts, Burbank, CA. This on the body level of awareness, higher harmonics of which are Proud on the subconscious level (as well one ought to be!) and Aware on the conscious level. In a world in which most are not yet Aware. And its negative is Unwelcome on the subconscious level, as would be expected from the ego.

Hence the strongest antipathy from those with inflated egos. Inflated ego may be positively correlated with intellectuality in our time.

This matrix in my experience as sometime therapist works very well; it has internal consistency, even beauty just as does the periodic table of the elements discovered by Mendeleev. Note ‘discovered’, not made up: discovered by hundreds of specialised kinesiologists over some years in terms of reactive English keywords common to all clients, no matter what their mother tongue. Eventually an assembly of 144 specific keywords on three levels of being, positive mirrored by negative. Thus conscious Anger relates to subconscious Fear of Loss and on the deeper level bodily Separation. R.D. Laing made much of the birth process as traumatic; also investigated by Arthur Janov, both unpopular authors in mainstream psychology.

Psychology seems to be unaware of discoveries in allied fields. No mention of the Chinese energy Meridians in Reeve (2009), or the fundamental emotions historically associated with them despite apparent confirmation by some contemporary anatomical and electrical investigations (e.g., Hiroshi Motoyama, one of whose publications I have). I can feel my own meridians to some extent, presumably the Yogis of antiquity were similarly or more sensitive.

Self-healing of ‘incurable auto-immune’ ulcerative colitis 20 years ago centred on dissipation of excessive energy of subconscious Guilt from childhood trauma in my large bowel meridian, consistent with Chinese medicine but an experience and paradigm not yet admitted to by nominal authorities in the field: Western medicine still in the Dark Ages; Freudian denial (itself a motivation!) rules still.

No mention of cellular memory in psychology: yet I have experiential knowledge of this in my own system, including a sudden and florid appearance of typical smallpox pustules all over right arm and back (together with unmistakable marks of the original inoculation at age 9) following some work in specialised kinesiology decades later. Photographs sent to the Australian centre for immunisation information; my E-mail ignored by the ANU professor/Nobel prize winner who originated this particular inoculation.

No mention either of Kundalini arousal and rotation, also experienced by self (and by a friend in identical fashion), and apparently a pre-requisite for enlightenment: it does something to the brain because that is where it moves around and is felt. Another psychic at the local Spiritualist church said she experienced spontaneous yoga postures when her kundalini became active: what is the motivation for such spontaneous behaviour??? Not egoic.

So what is my motivation for (long) pursuing my dream of ‘an authentic Shangri-La’ (as I have been informed it shall be)? Firstly I know it is possible, dependant primarily on a cohort of individuals who have healed themselves -or are at least willing to face themselves (in particular their shadow side described by C.G. Jung) to that end; a sine qua non for further personal and societal development. (refer Mohandas Gandhi: “Change yourself”). Secondly, human society is undeniably in a fix which no-one appears able or willing to correct on the causal level, so someone has to. Without interfering in others’ karmic debts or recreating karma for oneself. Thirdly, there may well be some remaining pathological (?) desire to ‘do well’ in my own psychology so as to secure the love and approval of parents not apparent in my own childhood. Such ‘pathology’ (yet in some cases meant to be; karmically appropriate) inarguably motivates many, e.g. some workaholics and politicians. But at least I am aware of it and can now use it in a positive manner.

Indeed motivation is primary in psychology: how to persuade or encourage people to consume more and more and not question authority! “Consume. Be silent. Die.” That famous renegade behaviourist who started all this Gruen transfer effect etc.

Human beings have creative ability: to my mind creation begins with an act of imagination (the historian Sir Kenneth Clark noted that a senescent society is marked by a loss of imagination) and is then dependant on emotional energy for manifestation in physical reality. And ‘enthusiasm’ while not a specific emotion includes the holy name ‘Hu’ as in Human = ‘God-man’. But everything is holy anyway.

Yet people can over-motivate themselves via particular personal development courses to engage at odds with their actual life-task (i.e., that to which they are genetically and hence psychologically most suited); a kind of hysteria or ungrounded energetic state. Balance is all; attitude is all, the uncommon point of free will choice, the head informed by the heart.DChimself 08:16, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

26 August 2010

Decided to look at the top of Maslow’s hierarchy to see how far he got in his understanding compared with my own experience and consequent understanding. This is evidently an evolutionary stage in human psycho-spiritual development, as suggested by the Jesuit anthropologist Teilhard de Chardin in his Noosphere theory: for which to eventuate we need many more enlightened people!

Also, incidentally, theorised by various contemporary philosophers or self-styled Spiritual teachers: but they seriously mislead many to the extent they suggest that the enlightenment event concerns the intellect or the mind. Having not sufficiently clarified or kept in check their own minds. (i.e., not yet neutralised false beliefs or cultural biases, and not yet expressed that repressed emotional energy/psychic pain from childhood which underlies an overactive ‘monkey mind’ ). Their unresolved anger is in their faces, for all who have eyes to see.

How many in this area write from actual life-experience? Biographies capture attention more than do empty words. The following attempts, in its penultimate paragraph, to point out one aspect of Spiritual motivation:-

At last, Enlightenment!

In this moment everything you know, or think you know, becomes irrelevant: the entire Multiverse becomes irrelevant; your loved ones become irrelevant, you yourself become irrelevant. Only the loved One exists and is relevant.

The One is above space and time. In this moment of absolute bliss you are the One; you are complete, wanting nothing - indeed you ARE nothing. And yet at the same time you are everything that is; was, or ever shall be.

In you is infinite love and infinite possibility; immense creative potential. And in infinite love there is no room or place for anger or vengeance: these are of Man, not of God.

This moment can save the world. Out of it you, even imperfect as you are, are changed, and your thoughts and attitudes are changed towards this pre-eminent goal, in whatever task or ability is yours.

At once human and divine, with all the responsibility which flows from this Realisation.

dc 19 April 2010/ reference event of August 2000.

Someone will hopefully address the question of what (unconscious and pathological dynamic) motivates suicide bombers and terrorists: for example an introjection from some Mullahs’ psychopathology into a vulnerable or weak psyche without ego-strength, or one wallowing in unforgiveness and hatred? Also touches on the famous statement of Jesuits and one behaviourist re. childhood programming,.

Amazing how we can motivate ourselves from a mere belief, especially an egregious religious belief. That facility surely speaks of a mind beyond mere neurochemistry or bioevolutionary origins. Emeritus professor Valerie Hunt (1995) Infinite Mind: The Science of Human Vibrations, Malibu: Malibu Publishing Co. says the mind is an energy field that surrounds and interpenetrates the physical body, (i.e., not a mere product of brain activity). Consistent with my infrequent experience of out-of-body travel, when I noticed that I still had emotions and was able to think: sceptics will suggest this was at most a mere energetic projection from a living brain; at least, my imagination. But this reality was checked as valid by a visit in the flesh to the same location two weeks later.

Years ago I concluded the mind influences the nervous system at the quantum sub-atomic level; more recently some academics have come to the same understanding. Not to say we are correct!

Some basic physics: metaphysical reality is merely a harmonic of physical reality. Hence many realities, each perceived as physical when a being’s attention is focussed or detained there- by our own awareness only. Logically we already exist on or have access to all levels.

Higher harmonics in theory contain higher energy levels hence ‘Spiritual’ motivation is in theory more powerful than any other – as exemplified by Gandhi, for example. Of course more is involved than this simple schema.DChimself 08:16, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

E-portfolio 3 September 2010

Struck again by how much uni resembles being at high school, and by how much the world knows not, as exemplified by the majority of students and staff. This is painful and lonely for me given I am under advice to ‘Allow others to have their own opinions’ (suggesting that I have the ego-strength to override others: heavens! I could have been Departmental Secretary after all, given less personal integrity and less respect for others).

If more people knew what I know (i.e., the answers to the questions of ultimate philosophical and religious concern) the world would change overnight. Am I being hypocritical by pretending ignorance and behaving like any other student? A Piscean chameleon.

This is not me: I am not being myself! No doubt one of Maslow’s metaneeds is to be oneself, applicable at all levels of development. Refer Thomas 33: ‘Jesus said, “Preach from your housetops that which you will hear in your ear”. Matthew 5:16 also had some advice on the subject. So I shall report my experience (as related to emotions and motivation) in this portfolio.

To me a thought (i.e., an interpretation of an event or situation) is primary and is followed by a fleeting emotional response which underlines its meaning or significance for the individual, as influenced by Weltanshauung and personal beliefs or mores. Yet some things (e.g., murder or rape or gross inequity) are beyond cultural relativism and absolutely should evince disgust, for example. Given that emotions are identical across all cultures (and on a less evolved level across species) this is simply how we know for sure what is good and bad. (Yes I know these terms are of heuristic value only).

Am getting fed up with reading books written by those who do not know, trying to figure everything out intellectually or scientifically, based on false premises: do we have the time for that, even if it were possible? The Gordian knot of world problems begs for a different approach, as already indicated in Greek myth, no doubt also appreciated by C.G. Jung. The sword of truth must be allowed to cut through people’s shadow sides, to begin with. This is an individual responsibility, and such introspective responsible people are the Greek heroes. Mankind afraid of his own shadow!

One uni lecturer has already admitted she is unwilling to investigate her own brain or mind; a common fear whose psychodynamic origins, reinforced by Freudian misunderstanding, Hollywood exaggeration and religious dogma, she probably does not understand. If one tried to explain, the defences would come up immediately, so that is not the way. Is a psychologist ‘One who investigates any psyche except their own’? But psychology per se does not investigate the psyche in any case.

Thank God I have friends including on higher levels of reality who are aware, with whom a conversation is more meaningful. The authentic Spiritual teachers (e.g., Melchizedek and Joshua ben Joseph) must have had tremendous courage and resilience to manage such a class; motivated by tremendous compassion in such a thankless task!

I take the liberty of adding that last motive (maybe not ‘tremendous’) to my own portfolio, when it became clear to me after working through my own childhood trauma (e.g., being frozen in fear whenever my teacher came close in primary school, not to mention a general fear state at home) how much suffering others had and still have, in the form of psychosomatic disease which kills or blights in later life, as it did in me for 20 years prior to my initial psychological awakening.

Maslow was of the opinion that some emotion could be ‘too much’ for a person. In my experience this is not so: according to specialised kinesiology the human system has circuit breakers which prevent emotional overload, and in one case I experienced incredibly powerful collective human grief which was sufficient to stop my breath, but I survived. This is consistent with yin-yang meridian theory in which grief involves the lung meridian, and with cultural practices of breast-beating in grieving women to free up the overload or blockage and reset the circuit.

This case related to a vision of the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami 12 months before it occurred, when I was literally hit with said Weltschmertz. A soundless voice told me my relatives would be safe, and that I would be ‘given more’, in which case I expect more visions of world disasters in future.

Will anything less change human irresponsibility and complacency? These geological events are not accidental, but are anthropogenic on an unconscious metaphysical level: simple cause and effect. Included in irresponsibility is a denial that we are collectively that powerful; but did not Joshua say we could ‘move mountains’? It is a mistake to believe in fairy stories, but these are not fairy stories.

In a similar case on the day of the Canberra bushfire I and a friend were planning a run along Deek’s Drive in what was then a pine forest. That morning I (unusually) asked Spirit what I should do that day, and immediately received a very strong gestalt message to “Stay where you are!” Our usual run would have burnt us to a proverbial crisp.

I understand that an open mind includes open Chakras, through which such metaphysical messages are received. The Chakras connect to the Meridians, in which emotions flow, hence an emotionally blocked individual is unable to perceive such messages. This ties in with the case of a young lady with diagnosed cancer of the pineal (or pituitary, I do not recall which) gland for whom Spiritual healing was necessary. Her Spirit Guides conveyed to me that she was drinking alcohol to offset the pain (which she then admitted), and it turned out that she was in fear of a gift of clairvoyance or similar related to the particular gland, so was blocking that gift via a disease process.

I hasten to add these are uncommon events in my life; most of the time I plod along like others appear to. But I am told that most peoples’ minds are closed in our present society. Mine certainly was to begin with. As an indication of the effort which may be required, it was necessary inter alia for me to undertake an esoteric meditation on my major Chakras twice a day for 7 months before they were open and clear of negative energy. Such work is not possible before resolution of psychodynamic material blocking the meridians (i.e., repressed emotions), which itself takes both time (some years) and courage.

The extent of this problem (Arthur Janov calls it primal pain) in society is of course in Freudian denial, as it is in individuals.

Incidentally, I object to being given a ‘Cheatsheet’!! Such a title comes from an individual projecting his/her own self-perception, and I reject such a thought: it has no place in my psyche. Do not worry about this; it is just that having largely cleaned out my system i have to be especially careful not to sully it again.DChimself 08:16, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

E-portfolio 11 September 2010

Aaahr! It be me again (Devonshire dialect). Self-determination theory has some validity. The 'dialectic' is true, but there is more to it than probably admitted by Ryan & Deci. For example, environmental sit-you-hate-ions arise AS REQUIRED as a teaching mechanism in order to facilitate psycho-spiritual evolution. Our shadow self is automatically projected onto and reflectd by the consensus reality we inhabit, at both individual and collective levels. WE do it!!

An aware person then simply enquires "What is the lesson for me in this situation?". For example, an impulse in self not to finish these degrees upon enquiry was attributable to a subconscious belief that 'Life is a struggle' acquired mostly from my mother. It was then necessary to detach from that belief in meditation and substitute a more positive one. Without these academic quals. it would be more difficult for me to persuade (perhaps unaware) others of my capability in respect of The Sanctuary.

People are indeed inherently active: this was part of the definition of a living organism given by my biology teacher in school. But i also know what it is like to have close to zero energy in a depressed state. Competent is how i regard myself and have been described by others: many competencies appear to develop in past lives (not yet admitted to by science despite considerable case study evidence).

Relatedness can also be met by relating to God, as in the yogic path of bakhti (Devotion). Indeed 'no man is an island'. Many relationships are based on unmet childhood need and can be co-dependancies which delay or prevent individual growth.

As to a need for power, it was written in the 1930's that our society is characterised inter alia by excercise of power without responsibility, e.g., the infamous political ploy of "Don't tell me that, then i can say i wasn't told!" Such a need is surely pathological, touching on personality disorders.

God gives real power to those who have demonstrated an ethical or moral ability to handle it (e.g., around 20 years qualification period for an authentic gift of Spiritual healing); even so it can be taken away if it is abused.

To understand spiritual motivation it is necessary to accept many truths not yet admitted to by mainstream psychology or philosophy, or rather subject to disbelief following the various intellectual so-called enlightenments in recent history. Yet God is part of the US declaration of independance. One such truth is teleology; surely not so hard to admit to given the established fact of biological evolution?DChimself 00:25, 11 September 2010 (UTC)

E-portfolio 20 October 2010

Now finished essays in environmental governance and physiological psychology which took a lot of work and time; almost forgotten how to use this wiki! Becoming clear that psychology does not know that emotions are a variety of kinds of creative (life) energy, of both valences. They were categorised in traditional Chinese medicine a long time ago and associated with the 12 bilateral acupuncture meridians that carry either valence of specific basis emotions; for example the stomach meridian carries contentment or disgust. Motoyama showed how to measure them in 1974, in considerable electronic detail with graphs etc. In one review, his book was disregarded on the grounds that no controls were presented. Perhaps the reviewers did not read his book properly; it appears to be not readily available (i got a second-hand copy a couple of years back). It would have confounded their unconscious desire to find no evidence for meridians (?), as was their 'scientific' final conclusion. Nobody wants to upset scientific apple carts; and very few if any researchers or reviewers describe how they ensured that their own minds were clear (or indeed open!) to begin with. This touches on depth psychology. Papers by forensic psychologists can be an eye opener; these people are a breed apart. Manfred Clynes was another who described a means of measuring emotional response in the form of his sentic apparatus. Convincingly, he obtained distinct graphs for basic emotions, clearly valid across different nationalities, just as facial expression is valid across ethnic groups. No mention of him in the textbook! Has anyone done a factor analysis of words for emotions as was done for personality characteristics? The psychodynamic confound is a theme that runs through experimental psychology; we find what we want to find, we will not find if we do not look. There are two sorts of anger, as i think Gordon Allport (?) also distinguished: new and old. New anger is gone by the next day; old anger relates to an unconscious unresolved issue or trauma, and the person will still be ruminating on it for days after the particular button has been pressed. Positive affect is constructive; negative affect is destructive, unless it is somehow turned around or used/expressed. Some iconoclasts may use negative affect as their primary motivation. Nagative affect is destructive to the body, however. We have executive function (i.e., free will), despite the cop-out in psychology that this is for philosophy to deal with, and despite learned pessimism etc. DChimself 04:50, 20 October 2010 (UTC)

E-portfolio 23 October 2010

OK on PANAS i scored 34 positive and 13 negative: one is not, and is not required to be, perfect! As discussed, Dr. Candace Pert wrote a book 'Molecules of emotion' years ago to the effect that neuropeptides carried emotional messages (she discovered the opiate receptor in the brain). Around 100 neuropeptides are now known. Some are produced simultaneously with the neurohormones such as GABA, endorphins. No mention of her work in the textbook, nor of these neuropeptides. What is wrong with psychology? We also know from Motoyama's work that information is transmitted relatively slowly (slower than nerve impulses) in the meridians, as measured by skin conductivity at specific points identified by Dr Reinhold Voll. The meridians are said to be located in connective tissue or at muscle/connective tissue interfaces. The neuropeptides are carried in large vesicles manufactured at any point in the neuron including the axon, and travel slowly down through it. We might anticipate some anatomical feature that is associated with neuropeptide manufacture and/or transport, therefore. Of course any cell can manufacture neuropeptides, not just neurons. The brain may originate these transmitters, then there may be a cascade effect through other than the nervous system. In her latest book 'Everything you need to know to feel Go(o)d', Pert focusses on blissful feelings and points out that electrical charge and frequency (Cf. ion pumps across membranes) is also altered in cells with neuropeptide receptors, such that there is in theory an electromagnetic transmission/reception of emotional state between individuals. This may account for empathy. This reminds one of Neil Cherry's theory that susceptibility to mobile phones etc relates to specific EM frequencies of ion exchange in cells (i.e., windows into the physiology) rather than an overall heating effect, still ignored by the powers that be with vested interests. DChimself 00:39, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

E-portfolio 7 November 2010

Great! Yesterday's paragraphs were not saved. Shall try to remember them. Memory of course is linked to emotion; an evolutionary survival adaptation. Finished the Textbook Chapter, thank God and perhaps other beings. No-one is alone, and in my experience every thought is known and recorded: we are all transparent, which fact might upset the machiavellis of this world.

A. N. Whitehead's concept of the Universe is basically correct: God does indeed exist and participate including via subsidiary aspects or beings. But there are many universes making up a multiverse; creation appears to be continuous as understood in astronomy and physics. Around one million universes so far, i gather, each with its own administration.

Went through some emotional processing on Friday and Saturday, just in time to finish the Chapter (hence some minor changes) and in particular the PPT slides with voice-over. A person's being is also found in their voice and it was better that i let go of some more introjected stuff from my father. Some of this material can take on a life of its own, and can be communicated with on that basis in meditation. Given that it has life, it is not appropriate to destroy it, but rather send it back to its source; or to the Source. Grief was the emotion associated with this material, which had to be expressed as part of its disposal, around 10 minutes in total.

Given that such material is sub-conscious, few know how much is within. A lot, in my case which is probably not unusual. Roberto Assagioli recognised that a lot of programming occurs in childhood, independantly of Freud and his followers. There is in most people a veritable reservoir of repressed psychic pain from childhood, and a not unreasonable fear of disturbing it. Hence : "Do not mess with my mind!" Given that the outer world is reflective of the inner world (i.e., we project our unconscious stuff onto the world at large) this explains both why the world is in a mess, AND the common fear of change in a person's normal life. Few want to change externally because it means a dialectic change internally, which might shake up the existential reservoir, and bring it to consciousness (which would be incredibly painful). Better to kill another human being than face all that pain, as some incompetent Primal therapists are said to have discovered. Hence so much apathy in the world, and the delay in paradigm shifts (the old brigade have to die off first).

In line with the above, there may be a strong response to my Spiritual motivation chapter and mutimedia coverage, to deny or otherwise rationalise it away, perhaps as my private delusion. Hence attitudes to any new discovery -Rupert Sheldrake being a prime example, whose book on morphic fields was recommended to be burnt (not very scientific!) by the then editor of the journal 'Nature'. The psychics i know just raise their eyes and shrug at the prevailing ignorance in the world, to which i might add the unwillingness to open the mind (for there be Dragons!). A mind that is effectively shut down in order to contain painful psychodynamic material is also not open to perceptions of metaphysical reality, and the help that is available from people and angels (who are also people) on that level.

DChimself 03:59, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

E-portfolio 10 November 2010

Trying to upload multimedia assignment; foiled by delays of variable length in PPT slides appearing on screenr.com. screwing up my timing. Upload speed a miserable 389 Kb despite Telstra wireless broadband, have to establish when is best time of day.

Read chapter on growth motivation in Reeve (2009). Quite insightful on his part; but the answer to evil in Man was given by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn : "No man does evil unless he first convinces himself it is good". We are at once created and evolutionary beings, in whose biological gene pool are very problematic (animal?) genes predisposing to all sorts of human mischief, yet nothing is more powerful than human Will as Roberto Assagioli probably realised (it is in his theory of psychosynthesis). This topic is generally ignored in psychology.

Had recently to face and dispose of two attitudes in self, namely perfectionism and associated arrogance. It is now clear that they have coloured my life to date, at least since they were introjected in childhood.

Best not to describe my childhood, a barrier to self-actualisation and self-realisation. Paradoxically such a hurdle can contribute towards more efort or Will than otherwise.

It is now clear that in terms of spiritual development humility is a much safer attitude, even though it can be overdone. And Self-realisation (Enlightenment) is not the end but is a new beginning: there is a long way to go. Yet such a new beginning can save this world.

It seems i am more than moderately adventure-seeking, no doubt positively correlated with an actualising tendency. DChimself 05:34, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

E-Portfolio 20 November 2010: conclusion.

Part of my motivation to read psychology was to find out what if anything the discipline (that last word suggestive of a silo mentality not allowed to stray into an inter-disciplinary perspective?) had to say about my life-experience which includes various metaphysical experiences after my mind opened in my mid-40’s. Another reason relates to a perception that in our present ‘intellectual’ society, extra paper qualifications are necessary to establish credibility in the eyes of others in terms of my life-task of establishing a different kind of community as a practical or pragmatic and measurable hence provable model for others.

In our present society in which most minds are figuratively (and literally in terms of neurophysiology or structural neurology) closed for psychodynamic reasons, mention of experiences outside such a limited consensus box is a threat to such unadmitted general psychopathology, and likely to be met not only with denial but also active antipathy, consistent with the various ego-defence strategies identified by W. and A. Freud, Melanie Klein et al.

Nevertheless the metaphysical realm is a source of help, greatly needed at this juncture for the world as a whole. Information percolates down via personal inspiration; it is not derived de novo at this low level.

Needless to say very little is presently admitted about such experience, except that (in accordance with Freudian denial in the referee) it must be indicative of insanity. Yet our present society as a whole is arguably insane, as indicated by unsustainable practices; psycho-somatic disease, and pervasive greed (e.g. the ‘American Dream’) and fear (e.g. of losing one’s job) as major societal motivation. Also a large proportion affected by diagnosed mental illness at some time in life. A Pueblo Indian chief commented on this evident insanity in a conversation with C.G. Jung in the 1920’s or 1930’s, in which he suggested that thinking only with the head (i.e., out of touch with emotional indicators) was the problem.

Plato described human awareness in his metaphor of the cave in which the inmates could only perceive shadows of reality; in Buddhist thought psychological denial of reality is fundamental. H.G. Wells pointed out the danger in trying to explain reality to others in his story of the sighted man in the land of the blind, who became public enemy number one and obviously needed an operation to remove his eyes and so restore him to sanity. Arthur Janov has described many case studies of individuals who faced their pathology in order to transcend it (a necessary part of their self-actualisation process). In Greek and all other mythologies, including Revelation in the Bible, the stories are descriptive or symbolic of individual psychological development: the hero’s journey described by Joseph Campbell.

Such pathology is basically derived from psychological programming in childhood, as known to Jesuits and confirmed by the behaviourists in psychology. But it can include past-life experience too. For example, temporary apathy (lack of motivation) in myself was traceable to a very short life in Africa in which ‘I’ died of starvation; thus a core belief in the psyche: ‘Why bother, I am just going to die anyway’. This is an obvious area for transpersonal research; much radically empirical data has already been collected and reported by various authors.

I am not convinced that self-esteem is irrelevant to motivation, given imperfections and unadmitted influences in research. Surely if it is low there would be a perception of lack of efficacy or external locus of control (is it possible in the context of general systems theory to perfectly isolate these related factors experimentally?) and hence little motivation: I have lived this one in terms of a lack of self-confidence related to academic endeavour derived from experience in primary school in which no result was ever good enough, even though above average. Hence unimpressive subsequent results in secondary school and at university decades ago, despite an IQ apparently in the top 0.2% of the population. This last is no guarantee of sanity! An inverse correlation may exist in this part of the bell curve, dependant of course on the definition of sanity.

A negative core belief, e.g. that one is an ‘idiot’, energises the inner saboteur (i.e., Jung’s ‘shadow side’) to ensure that the belief is not threatened. Other core beliefs such as ‘life is hard’ taken on from a parent add to the shadow side and its influence. A fundamental lack of nurturing (i.e., no receipt of unconditional love) in childhood, as inevitably experienced by many in our present and past society, adds further to the difficulty or challenge, perhaps giving rise to a self-perception/belief of being unworthy.

Yet something in the psyche rises to meet these challenges. What that is, is suggested in the Wikiversity textbook chapter on Spiritual Motivation. Further, my own experience simply IS that God exists and helps those who ask or otherwise merit help, including via subsidiary entities such as Angels and Cherubs (I gather we are a different class of entities, namely evolutionary and open ended rather than simply created and limited). My experience thus validates and perhaps extends Whitehead’s process philosophy and cosmology.

I finally conclude that the influence of both Free Will and Soul are fundamental in human motivation, for which refer to James Hillman, and more especially Roberto Assagioli’s theory of psychosynthesis.

The book ‘First Pilgrim in Paradise’ (Anderson, in press 2011?) describes an extreme case of self-transcendence and authentic God-Realisation at age 69 while maintaining a physical body and normal (i.e., imperfect) personality on this minor planet, following a lifetime’s devoted effort along these lines, and despite a childhood not dissimilar to mine. He has a M.Sc. degree, and was offered a Ph.D. but chose otherwise.

Despite being told his achievement is unique in all the Multiverses, unlike many supposed Spiritual masters or teachers he has no ‘airs and graces’ and appears entirely normal, even unimpressive. This last is probably significant: he wisely adopted an attitude of humility to begin with.

Needless to say he will be regarded as insane by some supposed experts. I accept his experience and claim because some of my experience is similar, and these experiences are consistent with the reported experience of others, including some friends who have obviously helped many without recognition or material reward.

His motivation is unclear; I understand he began with the clear intention (i.e., Will?) to ‘realise the highest Spirituality possible’.

120.158.97.245 07:14, 20 November 2010 (UTC)