Applications

Unfolding Images of Life Project
for Co-Evolutionary Exploration and Practice

Ver 1.0 for Web, August, 2003

To bring the abstract thinking of the project into concrete manifestation requires practical applications. How should these be developed?

In the project Sketch we listed the following “intended outcomes” as a first step toward this end:

Practices for Fostering Integrative Ascension

We begin by giving concrete detail to the first in the above list of “brainstorm” items. 

The most concise and generally useful single practice we know of for integrative ascension on a day to day basis—and one that works regardless of what level-of-ascension you are in at the moment—is what we described in the project Keel as the Guide for Right Action: Center, Pivot, Act (Implicate Technology Centre, 1987).  But, as we pointed out, the successful execution of this practice in times of great stress is either the result of skilled practice, or of divine grace. 

Thus, it is important to have other tools for accomplishing the equivalent of what the Guide of Right Action involves.  Tools and processes such as Byron Katie Work, Transformative ReVisioning, Centering Prayer/meditation (all of which are described below), are useful in precisely this way, and are often particularly effective as a way to re-center one's self in times of stress. 

From the author's 30 year-long exploration of a wide variety of processes and practices, the following are the most relevant for for what is in this project is called integral unfolding, emancipation or ascension. More about them can be seen at the website for Inward Bound, the service practice of Oliver Markley.

Core Processes for Releasing, Transformation and Emancipation

The following comprise a consistently effective and safe psycho-spiritual tools for handling the main problems in one's life and for liberation of the heart, mind and soul to a “higher zone” of love, compassion and joy.  All of these processes embody a quality sometimes called “shakti”—intelligent energy—as an essential working ingredient. They are psychically non-invasive, spiritually non-sectarian, and suitable for use by trained lay persons in “process partnerships.”   These processes combine to form a synergistic “tool set” in that each process not only has its own purposes and results, but also complements the others in the set such that one process can usually take up where another has left off.  They are here listed with the author's name and where to get more information so that you can investigate each of these processes for yourself.   These processes are very suitable for being learned and practiced by lay people working together in “practice partnerships.”

In addition to the items listed below, the general approach called “Twelve Step Work” should definitely be also included in any such compilation of proven methods for release and transformative ascension from the addictions and aversions that so deeply characterize life in, what the Gradient Model of Emancipation is called,   the “First Story” of beingness.  Also, three additional readings are important to mention due to their centrality as core resources embodied by the core processes described below:

Ultimately it is envisioned that all psycho-spiritual tools be transcended by direct intuition of Source Guidance (God's will as experienced and given by the depths of one's own Soul). This listing is offered in this light. 

Transformative ReVisioning Using Higher Wisdom Sources

The First Application of Transformative ReVisioning: A Case Study

“Micki” was a teacher of special education for the gifted and talented in a well known blue-collar community of Texas.  She had a problem: Every Monday, after lunch, her schedule required her to teach an experiential learning session in the class-room of an elderly school teacher [we'll call her Hanna], who seemed to go out of her way to belittle and to thwart what Micki was trying to do for the kids in Hanna's class.  Little did Micki know that she was about to become the first recipient of a new visionary process for dealing with seemingly intractable problems, one that would enable her to ascend to a “higher octave” of relationship with her “problem person,” Hanna.

Micki told me about the problem on a Sunday evening after we finished doing our preparation for the Sunday School class we would be co-teaching for adolescents the following week.  Saying to me, “You have all these visionary consciousness tools you have been investigating,” Micki then asked, “Do you have anything in your tool kit that could help me?  I'm desperate!”

I told her I had just finished designing a new visioning tool she might like to try.  She agreed, and once into it, after describing feelings about the problem situation, Micki was able to intuitively visualize a symbolically accurate image for the way she saw the problem person: she saw a prickly porcupine.  After answering a series of exploratory questions about the image and what it meant to her, she followed my suggestion to invite the energy of her Higher Self/Soul/Holy Spirit/God (however she felt most comfortable asking this) to transform the symbol of the problem person into the highest level appropriate now!  As she watched it happen, the first image magically transformed into a cuddly teddy bear.  After answering a second set of exploratory questions about the image, she agreed to invite the new image enter into her physical body, paying attention to all subtle sensations that occurred; then into her mind, heart and soul as an integrative flow. 

After we finished the process, Micki immediately asked “What was that all about? How will it help the situation?”  I intuitively responded, “Micki, don't even think about it.  Just wait and see what happens.”  

Monday evening, after returning from work, Micki called me and said: “You won't believe what happened today.  Toward the end of lunch time, I was walking toward the class we talked about, dreading what would be waiting for me.  But when I walked by the teacher's lunch room, Hanna called out to me, saying, “Hi, Micki. Why don't you come in and have a cup of coffee with me before class.  And when I sat down, her whole attitude had changed. She was actually friendly to me!” [2]

How Transformative Visioning Works

When I heard Micki tell what had happened, I had my first evidence that I had discovered a psycho-spiritual process which works at the transpersonal level of consciousness—that is, at the level where our minds are merged into what is sometimes called “collective consciousness.”  Years later, I have also become aware that the action of Soul/Higher Self in this process imparts what some healers call Shakti—Intelligent Energy—which may explain how it is that the type of transformative miracle that Micki described to me can happen, and that has happened many, many times to others since then.   But at a practical level, how is it done?

An early version of what I now call Transformative Visioning is described in a scientific journal article, “Using Depth Intuition Methods for Creative Problem Solving and Strategic Innovation” (reprinted as Selection 40 in the Creative Education Foundation's Source Book for Creative Problem Solving: A Fifty Year Digest of Proven Innovation Processes).  It begins with a modified version of what the cognitive psychologist, Eugene Gendlin calls Focusing—a way of tuning into the bodily-held sense of “how things are for me now” and “what stands between me and feeling O.K.”   Professor Gendlin's research has shown that when people focus in this way, they get in touch with a deeper, more authentic and more healing type intuition than when only mentally thinking about things of concern.

By first focusing on a single image representing on the core of “all of that” (i.e., the main thing in the currently active things of concern), and then answering an insightful set of questions about it, the user integratively engages both sides of the brain.  But the real magic happens when the user asks the energy of the Soul of the Higher Self (or whatever terminology is most comfortable), to flow on, around and through the symbolic vision, transforming it into the highest level that is appropriate at this time, then just watching as this takes place. 

Since that first application almost two decades ago, I have guided this process for both individuals and groups in many different settings, and it still amazes me that only rarely does a person doing this process not get a transformed image that proves to be insightfully useful—even for people who say that they “can't visualize.”  

The final step of the process described above became much more powerful about two years ago when I learned about the transformative power of directed breath work, and how to “breathe” energy into specific aspects of the body, mind, emotions, motivations, etc. needing to be healed.  When circumstances allow, therefore, I like to have users of Transformative Visioning “breathe” the transformed image into themselves for a number of minutes while they are relaxing deeply and listening to evocative music.  This type of breath work powerfully imprints the transformed image in yourself in ways that greatly intensify its effectiveness.

Summary

Transformative ReVisioning is a Soul-infused process that helps its users ascend to a “higher zone” of consciousness as they transform their perception of critical problems into opportunities.  If extended by the Journey Inward to Source (described after the protocol, below) it provides a direct, immediate experience of the core of one's consciousness (Level Three of the Gradient Model of Emancipation), and a way to transcendentally re-vision what would be an ideal way to live.

Protocol and Data sheets for Transformative ReVisioning

Overview

    Begin by doing a low-key interview about desires and expectations, familiarity with visualization and breath work, then a brief outline of what we will be doing today.  If there is a specific problem they want to work on, get the specific “next steps” that now occur to them as something to do about it.  Stay with Gendlin-style focusing as needed.

    Then, do initial Transformative ReVisioning protocol “as is” using the data sheets (below) as a guide—but watch the client's breathing at all stages for a few moments at the beginning of the work, and at the end.  Then, get their statement of what now occurs to do about the problem that is different from what they had in the beginning.

    Next, take the client into focused breathing for integration.  Do about 5 to 20 minutes of breath work in the following stages:

    Stage 1.  Slow in breath; relaxed out (at whatever speed the out-breath happens)

    Stage 2.  Full in-breath, long following exhale, with a pause between them

    Stage 3. Connect it all

    Stage 4. Focus breath into liver, heart, lungs, etc.  (Might be from the problem/opportunity protocol: “Where in  the body do you feel this most intensely?”)

    After doing the Transformative ReVisioning process (if part of the agreed upon work for this session), do the Journey Inward to Source protocol (described elsewhere), and from there, through a portal into an “alternative probable reality” where “the level of ascension most appropriate [for the client] at this time” can be experientially explored and envisioned as  entelechy..  Finish by having the client “breathe” the results of the session as described above, as deemed appropriate.

GUIDE SHEETS for Transformative ReVisioning

Client ______________________________________________
Guide ______________________________________________
Date  ____________

Connect info:  _______________________________________ 

Phase One: Need Finding

In Depth Focusing
(a la' Gendlin)

1. Ask, What is the main thing that stands between me and feeling o.k.? [about X]
2. What is the main feeling in it right now?…  Explore, let it change…
3. What kind of a handle (image, word or phrase) best captures its meaning? …  Let it change as well in order to continue reflecting the underlying feelings.
4. Watch both the feeling and the handle, letting both of them change until they reflect each other perfectly, giving a resonant felt shift or a-ha! insight. …       If necessary, go back and get a “fresh letting” of the feeling, taking only what is your felt sense now, as opposed to what was present before, then continue as before.
   
   [Write the insight]:

5. Does it imply anything that you might do to make things be O.K. (about X)?    If so, what?  [After writing this, go on to Phase Two, Transformative ReVisioning or end of here.]

Phase Two: Transformative Revisioning

• What are the different symbolic meanings it has?
• What part of you does it represent?
• What does it offer you that you may feel reluctant to accept?
• What may it need from you to be healed or made more balanced and whole as a way of seeing X?

    After doing the Transformative ReVisioning process (if part of the agreed upon work for this session), do the Journey Inward to Source protocol (not yet added to this Applications document), and from there, through a portal into an “alternative probable reality” where “the level of ascension most appropriate [for the client] at this time” can be experientially explored and envisioned as  entelechy..  Finish by having the client “breathe” the results of the session as described above, as deemed appropriate.

Journey Inward to Source: Connecting With Your Inner Most Self[3]

What It Is

Journey Inward to Source is an amazingly simple and effective path for achieving transcendental awareness of the Source of your consciousness (Level III of the Gradient Model of Emancipation) now.  It opens a new level of experience in consciousness for  both experienced meditators, and for those with little or now experience with the art of meditation, and who may even be skeptical about this sort of thing. 

Depending on the reasons why it is undertaken, it can lead to a portal into an “alternate probable reality” containing what your Soul has to show you regarding your ideal expression in life at this time.  Or it can simply be a great way to hang out with your innermost Self, and let the process of revitalization just happen as part of a vacation, spiritual retreat, or recreational relaxation.

Two Case Examples

Several years ago I gave a speech to a group at the Foundation for Mind-Being Research in Palo Alto, California, most of whom were experienced meditators.  To conclude my presentation experientially, I led the audience in the Journey into Source guided meditation.  Afterwards, in the Q&A/Discussion period, a woman at the back of the room, stuck up her hand and said, “How is it that in such a short time, you were able to bring us to a place that I have not been able to achieve in fifteen years of meditation?” 

Another illustrative case is provided by a workshop I did for the world-wide group of Human Resource Directors of the Baker-Hughes Corporation, a Fortune Fifty oil services conglomerate based in Houston, Texas.  I had been hired by the HR Vice President to lead an “out of the box” workshop for their annual meeting, which I entitled, “Consciousness, Creativity and the Future.”  

As many such corporate groups do, it included at least one individual who was extremely “left brained,” and outspokenly judgmental about anything that he didn't consider real.   Toward the end of this workshop, when we had time for only one more experiential exercise, this man rather tauntingly tried to bait me with the challenge that although I had told them about lots of “out of the box” things that might happen in the future, I hadn't really given them an “out of the box” experience of creativity—and would I please do what I had been hired to do!

Rising to the bait, I rather cheekily replied, “O.K… you ask for it, you get it!”   And with that, I led them in the Journey Into Source meditation, which up to then I hadn't really let myself plan to do because I was afraid it would be too far out for such a conservative group. However I I had  on the ready just in case the opportunity presented itself—which it most assuredly did, and from the most skeptical man in the group.

After the experience was completed I gave the group several minutes of quiet reflection to inwardly integrate their experiences before inviting them to share with the group—something that is a very important component of this type of work.   As soon as the invitation to share was given, all eyes turned to the group skeptic, who without any hesitation blurted out, “Well I don't know what to make of where ever it was that you took us, but that was just about the best bath of my entire life….I feel so clean!”—at which the entire group of corporate HR executives broke up in laughter.

The Method

As a process, the Journey Into Source guided meditation is safe, non-sectarian, and the essence of simplicity, requiring little more of the participant than to relax and let the process work. 

Although it is best done with a single person at a time or with a couple or small group who have already established a strong sense of cohesiveness and alignment with each other, it can also be done quite effectively with a group of strangers who have come together for some purpose.  For example, I have used it numerous times as part of my “Consciousness, Creativity and the Future” speech/workshop for both large and small audiences in corporations and not-for-profit agencies.

The essential sequence of the method is to first choose an objective for the journey, such as:

As the guide gives you suggestions to help you relax, you envision standing at the base of a very high circular stair case while you feel weighted down by all the duties, cares, worries, challenges, etc. that you normally carry as a customary part of being alive and living the lifestyle that is yours.

Then, in the theater of your mind, the guide gives you gentle suggestions that enable you to experientially ascend the circular staircase, a step at a time, while letting go of or “jettisoning” various aspects of the things that you previously envisioned as weighing you down: possessions, relationships, emotional reactions, judgmental beliefs, unfulfilled agenda, etc.; gradually ascending beyond conscious awareness of the physical body; floating upward as you release ever more subtle aspects of yourself; moving through and beyond the vibrational zone of probable reality; beyond and through the zone of possible reality; through the zone of creative emergence; and into Source.

After soaking in the vibrantly joyous and invigorating Light of Source for an appropriate interval, you either return back down the staircase to normal body awareness, or you pass back through Creative Emergence and see a Doorway, Portal, or StarGate—whatever appears to your inner vision—that leads toward the objective that you originally wanted to explore. 

At this point it isn't really appropriate to describe what might come next, other than to say that the guide is guided by the spirit of the process. [Some investigators use the word Shakti meaning intelligent energy to point to transpersonal phenomena that are natural in the regions of consciousness being explored here.]

Following the exploration of whatever alternative realities were of interest, the guide bring the you back to present time, often doing it in a way that imprints the memory of what you experienced in your body, mind and spirit, so that it has a better chance of manifesting in your life.

Depending on the situation, this is a good time to do deep breathing and to listen to music specifically picked for the purpose of helping to integrate the experience into your normal state of consciousness, which the guide facilitates for you as you continue to lay back in a reverie of contemplation.

Conclusion

     It can't be emphasized enough how simple, but powerful and of lasting value the Journey Into Source usually proves to be.  It is something that you will never forget, whether or not you choose to learn the mental discipline necessary to re-experience Source on your own.

[1] Background  In 1974 I led a pioneering Stanford Research Institute study on “Changing Images of Man” with Willis Harman, Joseph Campbell and others—an effort that visualized a new consciousness paradigm for society.  (For more on this study, see the working paper by Thomas Hurley, “Changing Images 2000”) A decade later in Houston, now teaching in the world's first university program in Studies of the Future, I found myself designing transformative consciousness tools for a new class in “Visionary Futures” that was aimed, in part, at helping graduate students realize this new consciousness paradigm in their lives, both personal and professional.

[2] Recently, a similar “miracle” occurred after I guided this process for a “haole” (anglo) land owner on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, who was repeatedly berated and at least once attacked by an angry “local” (native Hawaiian) who resented him owning this land.   Within a few days of doing the process, my client found himself being apologized to by the native Hawaiian, and now considers that nothing except the Transformational Revisioning process could account for the native Hawaiian's sudden shift in attitude.

[3] The first version of this method was published in a more complete form than given here in “Using Depth Intuition Methods for Creative Problem Solving and Strategic Innovation,” The Journal of Creative Behavior 22 (2), 1988; reprinted as Selection Forty in the Creative Education Foundation's Source Book for Creative Problem-Solving—A Fifty Year Digest of Proven Innovation Processes, edited by Sidney J. Parnes (1992).