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Thought of the Week Archives
July 2000
July 3
- (See quote of June 26)
If one alienates certain facets of oneself, one will render the self-image
fraudulent. The alienated facets (i.e., the now 'unconscious' shadow)
will nevertheless remain but will be projected so as to appear to exist
'outside', in the environment or in others. Therapy consists in contacting
the shadow and eventually re-owning it, so that one's sense of identity
expands, so to speak, to include all of the aspects of oneself which were
once alienated. In this fashion, the split between the persona and shadow
is healed, and the individual consequently evolves an accurate and acceptable
self-image, a more-or-less correct mental representation of the total
psychophysical organism. And that is precisely the aim of Ego-level therapies.
- Ken Wilber
Psychologia Perennis: The Spectrum of Consciousness
from Paths Beyond Ego (p. 27)
Wilber, Ken, "Psychologia perennius: The spectrum of consciousness," 1975,
Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 7, 105-32
July 10
These [developmental] crises can be precipitated by stress or spurred
by psychological or spiritual practices. They also can occur spontaneously,
expressing inner forces that compel development, whether the individual
wants it or not. These developmental forces have been described by such
terms as the drives for individuation, self-actualization, and self-transcendence.
Their result is a dynamic tension between the forces of growth and the
seductiveness of the familiar, between the pull of transcendence and the
inertia of routine. John Weir Perry, a Jungian analyst, observed:
Spirit [is] constantly striving for release from its entrapment in
routine or conventional mental structures. Spiritual work is the attempt
to liberate this dynamic energy, which must break free of its suffocation
in old forms. ...
During a person's developmental process, if
this work of releasing spirit becomes imperative but is not undertaken
voluntarily with knowledge of the goal and with considerable effort,
then the psyche is apt to take over and overwhelm the conscious personality.
... The individuating psyche abhors stasis as nature abhors a vacuum.*
In other words, rather than tolerate stagnation, the psyche actually
may create crises that force development. ...
- Roger Walsh, M.D., Ph.D., and Frances Vaughn, Ph.D.
"Problems on the Path: Clinical Concerns"
Paths Beyond Ego: The Transpersonal Vision (p. 133-134)
July 17
Rather than using sickness as an opportunity to beat yourself up, or
set off on a crusade to figure out why bad things happen to good people,
better to try and use illness and pain for what they were designed for
-- to get your attention. Understand that though you may not have crated
[illness and pain], you sould may still be attempting to communicate something
to you through them. We are not so much responsible for our illnesses,
says author and Buddhist teacher Stephen Levine, as we are responsible
to our illnesses. The question is not so much what to do about
our suffering, but what to do with it.
- Gregg Levoy
Callings: Finding and Following and Authentic Life (p. 31)
July 24
Noticing how we try to avoid it is a way to get in touch with basic
groundlessness. Refraining -- not habitually acting out impulsively --
has something to do with giving up entertainment mentality. Through refraining,
we see that there's something between the arising of the craving -- or
the aggression or the loneliness or whatever it might be -- and whatever
action we take as a result. There's something there in us that we don't
want to experience, and we never do experience, because we're so quick
to act.
Underneath our ordinary lives, underneath all the talking we do, all
the moving we do, all the thoughts in our minds, there's a fundamental
groundlessness. It's there bubbling along all the time. We experience
it as restlessness and edginess. We experience it as fear. It motivates
passion, aggression, ignorance, jealousy, and pride, but we never get
down to the essence of it.
Refraining is the method for getting to know the nature of this restlessness
and fear. It's a method for settling into groundlessness. If we immediately
entertain ourselves by talking, by acting, by thinking -- if there's never
any pause -- we will never be able to relax. We will always be speeding
through our lives. We'll always be stuck with what my grandfather called
a good case of the jitters. Refraining is a way of making friends with
ourselves at the most profound level possible.
- Pema Chodron
When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times (p. 35)
July 31
Intelligence is the discernment of the essential, and to discern the
essential there must be freedom from those hindrances which the mind projects
in the search of its own security and comfort. Fear is inevitable as long
as the mind is seeking security; and when human beings are regimented
in any way, keen awareness and intelligence are destroyed.
The purpose of education is cultivate right relationship, not only
between individuals, but also between the individual and society; and
that is why it is essential that education should, above all, help the
individual to understand his own psychological process. Intelligence lies
in understanding oneself and going above and beyond oneself; but there
cannot be intelligence as long as there is fear. Fear prevents intelligence
and is one of the causes of self-centered action. Discipline may suppress
fear but does not eradicate it, and the superficial knowledge which we
receive in modern education only further conceals it.
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Education and the Significance of Life
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