IS Chapter 2 on Stages

Listen to Part One and Part Two of Cameron Freeman and Ken Wilber.

Hi Ken,

I have just finished my doctoral thesis in philosophy – and much of my research/writing is based on your own extensive writings (Thanks!), which means I’ve wanted to ask you some pretty burning questions for some time now… As numerous discussions at ISC have confirmed - my basic intuition that the evolution of consciousness into second-tier (trans-rational stages) is best approached in a way that can “hold paradox” – and so most of my questions tend to focus how paradox resists the attempt to fix in place value-hierarchies founded upon binary oppositions such as: inside/outside, upright/degenerate, sacred/profane, higher/lower, etc.

So here's my questions:

1. How do these discoveries about “stages of development” make sense of the fact that many of our great religious teachers (Christ, Mother Theresa, St. Francis, the Old Testament prophets) have tended to serve the poor, stand up for the most vulnerable, and reach out to those excluded by the Powers that Be, while these same figures simultaneously challenge and provoke those who sit at the top of the socio-cultural hierarchy?? There seems to be a sacred subversion in the Judeo-Christian tradition (particularly with Jesus of Nazareth) that privileges those without privilege – particularly those at “lower” stages of development (sinners, outcasts, nobodies), while simultaneously marginalizing that which puts itself at the center – particularly those that proclaim themselves to be closer to God. This observation seems alarmingly “out of whack” with your own evolutionary snap shot of vertical growth into higher stages of development all the way to (ever-present) Godhead

2.        There is no doubt plenty of evidence to suggest that “stages of
development”
provide an accurate conceptual snap shot of something that’s actually happening in the real world – let’s say Kosmic habits laid down by previous evolution. So while we know THAT there are stages of development, I’m not convinced that developmental holarchies provide a “skillful means” for actually showing people HOW to evolve into higher stages… isn’t the really important question not merely demonstrating THAT there are higher stages but rather HOW we grow through the stages, how a person can move into the next stage of their development?

3.        In this regard, is there any reliable evidence on the “dynamics of
transformation” when it comes to the evolution of human consciousness, what call “the form of development” (Atman Project). In other words, are there any invariable patterns that connect across different stages and map out the actual process of transformation from one level to the next? If so, it seems we need not be too concerned with identifying where people are at in the spectrum of consciousness (i.e. ranking) but rather with how anybody at any stage can further their own development and move to the next stage of consciousness in their own particular case?

4.        While I think that your Pre-Trans fallacy has been enormously helpful
affirming the need for vertical growth and development, my question is: are there pre-rational states that can facilitate vertical growth into trans-rational stages of development? When I say pre-rational states, I basically mean connecting with our emotions: experiences such as grieving, expressing our sadness, befriending the shadow, increasing our capacity for being vulnerable, and even sexual yoga and the loss of the self engendered in Dionysian states of intoxication, etc…  As a Christian meditator, I awaken to the love of God in Christ (trans-rational) by confessing my habitual survival patterns and re-owning my unconscious pain (pre-rational)… For example, within our punishing behavior is the seed of its opposite – sadness; with an increasing capacity to be vulnerable (pre) we come into contact with our authentic power (trans), while within every defect (pre) is a treasure (trans), just as in actually feeling into our creaturely mortality we open ourselves to the inexhaustible energy of the Creator, and so on… In other words, are there are some pre-rational STATE experiences that are deeply spiritual or religious?
For it seems to me that the Pre-Trans distinction can be put to use to avoid the messiness of embodied existence and our unconscious pain (the pre-rational), by driving a dualistic wedge into the heart of Being…

5.        Does vertical growth happen in only one developmental line at a time?
Or do a whole collection of developmental lines move to their next stage as a person furthers their own vertical development?

6.        Given that various lines of development oscillate between various
polarities – one stage emphasizes autonomy, the next emphasizes communion, etc – is it fair to say that the human condition is constitutionally ‘dis-jointed’, that we will never really balance these contradictory tensions, never really be at one with the Non-dual Heart, wherein opposites coincide? Or do these opposing tensions begin to be integrated at second tier awareness so that one is simultaneously selfish and selfless, Apollonian and Dionysian, masculine and feminine, etc…

7.        Stages of development have been used historically in the service of
various forms of human power and prejudice: politics, race, religion, etc… How do we avoid the danger of psycho-spiritual inflation when making value judgments about “higher” and “lower”? In other words, how can we skillfully communicate stages of development to other people who cannot themselves see higher stages, without looking like a fascist imposing his/her view of the world on others?

8.        Given that stages of development can be sub-divided into levels and
lines, with over two dozen lines of development, it seems that a person can never actually be AT a certain stage – even a persons “center of gravity” will oscillate over 2-3 stages across numerous different lines of development in any given situation… Given this, how helpful is an integral psycho-graph when it comes to actually providing an accurate snapshot of where a person is at in their development? I mean, quite frankly, the first time I looked at your developmental holarchies in the UL I didn’t know whether I was a psychotic or a sage, and now I’m basically just concerned with becoming an integrated and free-function human being… rather than getting to a “higher level”

9.        Have you ever felt like you were climbing up, when in fact you were
falling down? Have you ever felt like you were falling down, when in fact you were climbing up?

Thanks Ken

Cameron Freeman,

Adelaide, South Australia

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