The Religion of Tomorrow: A Vision for the Future of the Great Traditions - More Inclusive, More Comprehensive, More Complete by Ken Wilber

Author:Ken Wilber [Wilber, Ken]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781611803006
Publisher: Shambhala
Published: 2017-05-01T21:00:00+00:00

Conclusion

We have been looking specifically at shadow elements in each of the major structure-rungs in development, and the general conclusion is that all of the levels of development, bar none, potentially possess some form of shadow material. Dealing with shadow material is the “negative” aspect of Cleaning Up, or working to fix what’s broken, malformed, or dysfunctional in each structure and state. The positive side of Cleaning Up, the “flourishing” side, deals with strengthening and celebrating what’s right, what’s working, with every structure and state. (In a separate treatise, some colleagues and I are working on a full-spectrum Flourishing guide, where we outline and categorize the key selective strengths and positive virtues of every major structure-rung and every major state-realm in existence, along with practices and exercises that have been demonstrated to activate and cultivate each of these. Please stay tuned for that, tentatively titled “Integral Flourishing.”)

What we learn from shadow material is that it is a direct result of the very form of evolution itself. Evolution is an ongoing process of transcend and include (or negate and preserve, or differentiate and integrate), in every realm it touches, and something can go wrong with either one of those core aspects of evolution, which each time produces a different type of shadow material specific to the particular structure or state where the malformation occurs. In general, if something goes wrong with the transcending or differentiating component, then the self fails to adequately let go of its present level or stage (in either structure or state), and some aspects of its own being remain fused with, or stuck to, elements of that level, producing a fixation, or an addiction, to those elements, which are now split-off from, and dis-owned by, the main currents of consciousness (and the proximate self) and relegated to the unconscious, as shadow impulses or even full subpersonalities, which are then often projected onto others. On the other hand, if something goes wrong with the include or preserve component, then the self fails to adequately integrate and embrace aspects of its own being, and an avoidance, or allergy, to those aspects is created, while those aspects—like those previously fixated to—are split-off from, and dis-owned by, the central/proximate self, or main currents of consciousness, and relegated to the unconscious as shadow impulses, or full subpersonalities, and from there often projected onto others.

The net result of these developmental miscarriages is that the central or proximate self (the functional, finite, conventional self-sense, through which the True Self, or pure Witness, views—and communicates with—the world) is reduced from an authentic self to a false self plus a shadow. This shadow—as material that one denies ownership of—creates a gap, or fissure, in the self (a perforation in consciousness), and that gap, or “hole,” is filled with painful symptoms (the felt energetic components of a crushed and broken consciousness) and puzzling symbols (the conceptual lies, or defenses, meant to conceal the core material from awareness by presenting it as something other than it is). Both

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.