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Keel

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

Ver 1.0 for Web; August, 2003

Keel n. The principal structural member of a ship, running fore and aft on the center line and forming the backbone of the vessel, to which the frames are attached.

The Keel of this project is envisioned as a set of desiderata for evolutionary ascension to a “level playing field” of sustainable abundance with sovereignty, mercy and justice for all, i.e., a “wisdom society.”

The Keel is a compendium of concepts meant to empower the emergence of new tools and approaches— and new ways to use old tools and approaches—through which the average person can find release from suffering and enjoy the benefits of transformative ascension to full self-effulgence and sovereignty. But these materials are not themselves written for the average reader. Rather, they are intended to be like yarn and threads of different colors which to use as the “warp and woof” of fabrics yet to be woven, for purposes of fostering personal and social ascension.

During the first, “basic research” phase of the project, for purposes of philosophical clarity, we develop the most precise terms we can find, from whatever culture or author they may be found dealing with the project mission. As the Keel develops over time, it may frequently take the form of comparing and contrasting synonymous terms for purposes deepening our wisdom about ascension. In subsequent phases of the project, oriented more toward practical application in the world at large, we expect that some—perhaps many—technical terms will need to be translated into “street language” for ease of understanding by lay audiences.

The content of the Keel will periodically be refined to reflect the insights of ongoing research and feedback from readers, the gist of which will be covered in the Dialog Highlights document.

This Keel document is organized as follows:

• We begin with a set of eleven proposed characteristics of images, or desiderata for integrative ascension.
• These are followed by a series of philosophically “primitive” terms and laws of invariance underlying manifestation of reality at all levels.
• Finally, definition of other key concepts we expect to have central importance in the realization of the project mission, including a three-level Gradient Model of Ascendance, and an integrative Guide for Right Action thought to be universally applicable at all levels of ascension .

In his essay, Changing Images 2000: Integral Approaches to Re-Imagining and Re-Making Ourselves and the World, A First Sketch of Questions, Perspectives, Possibilities , Thomas Hurley updated the earlier SRI Changing Images of Man study, in part by proposing the eleven “ Characteristics of Integral Images.” These are such essential desiderata for ascension, both personal and collective, that we begin the Keel of this project by quoting directly from Hurley’s seminal contribution:

How well does the “emerging image of man” proposed in Changing Images of Man hold up a quarter-century later? Very well, on the whole, although our understanding and appreciation of different dimensions of that image have grown deeper and more nuanced. Here I try to incorporate the key points in the original and add perspectives that have developed more richly or fully since then. No such list can be definitive, of course, so I offer the following observations as an invitation to further dialogue and inquiry.

Emerging integral images of what it means to be human will:

Convey a holistic sense of perspective or understanding of life.

• Help us overcome the fragmentation and alienation produced by modern life and the industrial-era worldview. In this sense, they will fulfill the functions played by all effective cultural myths, according to Joseph Campbell — the mystical, cosmological, sociological, psychological and editorial.
• Illuminate our participation in the “universe story” — the evolutionary role we play as conscious, self-reflective beings in a participatory universe. In this regard, they will provide both a sense of our continuity with our evolutionary lineage and a sense of our unique capacities and characteristics.
• Be intellectually, emotionally and morally compelling.

Foster an appreciation for the nature, interdependence and interpenetration of the four irreducible and interdependent faces of reality — the inner face, the outer face, the personal face and the collective face.

• Provide a meaningful framework for the continuing exploration, in depth, of the inner world, the outer world and their profound interconnectedness — perhaps not just in human beings but in all phenomena.
• Illuminate the potentials for mutually generative and nourishing relationships between the individual and the various collectives in which he or she participates, while helping us value both what is distinctively personal and what is necessarily collective in our lives.
• Highlight the holonic nature of reality, illuminate both the developmental potentials and pathologies in each realm, and deepen our understanding of the evolutionary dynamics of the whole.

Entail an ecological ethic and an understanding of ecological principles, emphasizing the total community of life-in-nature.

• Recognize the intrinsic value of the non-human world.

• Illuminate our embeddedness in the material and natural systems of the planet, the solar system and the cosmos.
• Foster a sense of belonging to the whole that nourishes us personally and guides our collective decision making.
• Validate our experience of both love and pain for the world as expressions of our interconnectedness.
• Provide an intellectual, moral and practical basis for preserving biological and natural resources, restoring ecosystems and living in harmony with nature.
• Inform the design of human activities, structures, processes and communities in accord with ecosystemic principles and environmental limits.
• Inform our policy and decision making concerning the development and use of technology.

Foster an appreciation for the essential embeddedness of self-in-society.

• Give meaning to our participation in society and inform our engagement both as citizens and as members of diverse communities of concern.
• Illuminate the characteristics of healthy communities.
• Affirm the opportunity of each person for creative or meaningful work.
• Declare that an appropriate function of all social institutions is the fostering of personal development, societal well-being and ecological health.
• Inform and enrich our experience of relationship.

Promote global consciousness and an ethic of global citizenship.

• Highlight the physical, social and spiritual oneness of humanity as a species, emphasizing that the well-being of any part of humanity is related to the well-being of the whole.
• Inform personal and collective decision making that recognizes the interdependence of actions taken at every level of the global system.
• Portray the collective potentials of humanity as a “global brain” forms, including our capacities for collaborative intelligence, co-creativity and collective consciousness.
• Clarify the characteristics of healthy societies and a healthy global system.
• Provide a vision of the continuing development of the species as a whole and a sense of how each of us contributes to that.

Entail an ethic of personal development and transformative lifelong learning, placing intrinsic value on the development of each individual’s potentials.

• Provide a positive, life-affirming vision of human potentials that emphasizes our ability to learn and grow throughout life.
• Illuminate the full spectrum of integral human development and the various developmental streams that comprise it — of self, cognition, emotion, sexuality, morality, spirituality, etc.
• Highlight the plasticity of human beings and our capacities for healing and well-being.
• Provide inspiration, practical guidance and support for integral personal development.
• Foster an appreciation for the richness, beauty and value of psychosexual and gender-based differences in experiences, perspectives and ways of being.
• Orient us toward the spiritual ground of our lives and being; help us know our true nature as greater than the “separate self” defined by culture and conditioning.

Highlight the creative, constructive powers of human consciousness and the connections between mind and the physical world.

• Provide an understanding of how we construct the world we experience and how, by making those processes conscious, we can increase our capacity for choice and open up possibilities for experience and action that might previously have been unavailable to us.
• Foster an appreciation for the development and use of our multiple ways of knowing, being, doing.
• Value both “masculine” and “feminine” qualities and capacities, active and receptive modes of consciousness, agency and communion.
• Emphasize our capacity for both adaptive and generative learning — for both responding effectively to what arises and initiating creative, purposive actions that bring forth a world expressive of our essential values and highest sense of possibility.

Acknowledge our co-evolutionary relationship with the tools we develop, including our “inner” or “noetic” technologies.

• Guide our continuing reflection on the impact of technology in our lives.
• Inform an evolving vision of the role of technology in human life and the life of Gaia.
• Provide the basis for a practical ethic of technology development and implementation.

Be multi-leveled, multi-faceted, and integrative, accommodating various culture and personality types.

• Provide continuity with existing images, valuing their distinctiveness while coordinating their differences at what O. W. Markley and Willis Harman called “a higher level of complexity and coherence”.
• Help us hold apparent paradoxes of human experience and development in creative tension.
• Foster an appreciation for, and dedication to the preservation of, the diversity of people and cultures.
• Promote cultural synergy.
• Illuminate the integrity and interpenetration of the physical, biological, psychological, social and spiritual dimensions of our existence and experience.

Involve balancing and coordination of satisfactions along many dimensions rather than the maximizing of concerns along one narrowly defined dimension.

• Encourage balancing of personal lives to encourage well-rounded development and the balancing of social, economic, environmental and spiritual considerations for societal health and sustainability.
• Provide for the assessment of personal, organizational, societal and whole-system health on multiple dimensions.

Be experimental, open-ended and evolutionary.

• Foster an understanding of, and active interest in, the co-evolution of culture and consciousness, including the continuous refinement and extension of our images of what it means to be human.
• Illuminate the role played by core images in organizing human experience and activity.
• Highlight the importance of our developing and maintaining societal capacities for collective reflection and learning.

Primitive Concepts in The Evolutionary Ascendance

or Unfolding of Life

We now turn from desiderata for a wisdom society to the building of a foundation of ascension-oriented concepts through which these ideals may be realized. Our technical image of the universal story of creation and evolutionary ascendance of life, synthesized from the wisdom traditions of the world and from contemporary scientific theory, is as follows.

In beginning, Sunyata (vacuum), and Ayn Sof (radiant fullness)—the non-dual “empty-fullness” of the Absolute.

Then, through the “Big Bang,” came duality, first expressed as the primordial substance called ylem, an early manifestation of the energy called élan vital;

Via the four primitive elements, potential, dynamism, form and qual, combining in various ways to form the emerging patterns of manifestation guided by the expression of metatronics (cosmic law);

Into mass, space, time and material reality involving life, mentation, and evolutionary ascension which continues at an accelerating pace.

The four primitive elements—whose function is to form a bridge of emanation from the Absolute Non-Dual First Cause through the implicate domain of abstraction into the dualistic explicate domain of manifestation that we call “reality”—are all nouns having no hierarchical relationship, and each is a primitive, thereby preceding definition, out of which we assert that other primitives, propositions and situations, emanate. Operating under cosmic law (“metatronics”), they are necessary and sufficient conditions for manifestation, and they combine to form the “arrow” of manifestation, entelechy and ascension. Although each, being a formally a primitive term, precedes definition, they may be illustrated as follows:

1. Potential: alternatives that may occur depending on the context determined by the other three basic elements
2. Dynamism: the impulse from which you put out your hand
3. Form: a sacred geometry such as the tree of life, or a wedding ring.
4. Qual: unlike the other three elements, is rarely discussed, may be illustrated as, the feeling, mood or mental orientation you get when you experience something.

Because of the “metatronics” of duality ( “first one, then two, then 10,000 things” ), an intrinsic part of life as we know it involves the devolution of the Absolute into the individualized experience of Self vs. Other (apart-ness, the source of loneliness), and of that which has come to be known as Good and Evil (good as that which integrates and causes evolution—as opposed to—evil as that which separates and causes further devolution). [See Ancient of Days, a water color by Blake, which served as the frontispiece to America, depicting Metatron (the mythical arch-angelic being from whom emanates the universe of form), with one finger on a leg of the divider (“devil”) symbolizing time , and three fingers on the other leg, symbolizing space. ]

The metaphysical physicist, David Bohm, theorized that “all that is” which includes “all that is not” composes one unbroken whole in flowing motion. He called this “the holomovement ” of a hidden enfolded order, called the implicate order (the domain in which metatronic law functions), an order of process and transformation out of which the explicate orders (or explicate domain— the physical and sensory world) unfolds.

In addition to the above, the keel of this project is based on the invariances of the cosmos, the things that never change. In Cosmic Law: Patterns in the Universe (Brown, 2002), the eight universal invariances are described in a chapter for each:

I.    The Law of Nothingness. The beginning of everything and the end of everything is the void.  The power of the void is accessed in meditation, in mystical timeless experience in flowing resonance with Nature.  The whole universe emanated from the void and progresses to the void.  Quantum mechanics shows that society may someday enjoy the boundless energy that can overflow from the fluctuations in the vacuum point.  This Empty place is where we go for purification and rebirth, in meditation and in Life.

II.   The Law of the Progression of Contraries. For everything there is a contrary:  the interplay of Male and Female, Good and Evil, light and darkness, and the Hegelian process of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis,  “Joy and Woe are woven fine, a clothing for the Soul Divine” – William Blake

III.  The Law of Concealment. Most of the universe is unknown to us. 99.99... % of things have not yet been invented.  Life is a mystery.  Our deepest thoughts have not yet been revealed.

IV.  The Law of Revelation. In a flash we see it – the “aha” experience.  The view from Mount Olympus comes into focus.  What once was only hinted at darkly is suddenly, in this luminous moment, perceived in fine detail!  Science, self-knowledge, learning  are progressive revelations.

V.    The Law of Emanation. The acorn becomes an oak.  Love becomes a baby.  An invention becomes a technology, with the support of the Universe.  Invention is the mother of necessity.  Come forth with exuberance.

VI.  The Law of Sustenance.  Life, projects, manifestations, universes are supported through the multifarious things that they need.  We are unaware of most of the things that we need, yet we are innocently sustained by providence.  You get what you need, guaranteed. Live with vigor.  Enjoy your birthright!

VII.  The Law of Dissolution. That which comes forth will eventually withdraw.  All things born will decay and die.  Death is to be celebrated as is birth, they are symmetrical processes.  “Die before you die.”  Die with grace.

VIII.  The Law of Return. Beyond the path from innocence to experience, we come back again innocence in rebirth, bringing with us only the essentials that we choose to carry forward from earlier manifestations.

Due to these laws of invariance, evolution and devolution are continuously intertwined.

Without them, concepts such as integrative unfolding / ascension would be meaningless.

Other Key Concepts

Life

Of some 16 dictionary definitions, only the 12 th (life as an animating force; a source of vitality) comes close to being useful for our project, and even this one is circular . As we begin this project, we choose a limiting definition — life as that which replicates by means of physical DN A — and in so doing, are deliberately open and inviting for equally precise, but ascending definitions for life that go beyond this limited definition in ways that are equally precise, but more general.

Ascension [please see the dictionary definitions of ascension in the Glossary ]

As used in this project, Ascension is the process and result of élan vital, expressing itself in the creation and evolutionary development of matter ( physiosphere ), life ( biosphere ), mind ( noosphere ), and spirit ( theosphere ). In addition to dictionary definitions shown in the Gallery, we see ascension as being co-defined by the concepts of entelechy and sovereignty.

Synonyms of ascension used in this project include: emancipation, advancement, maturation, evolution, unfolding, transformation, integration, and enlightenment.

In his book, A Brief History of Everything, Ken Wilber provides a useful perspective on ascension when he uses the metaphor of a ladder with ascending rungs or levels of consciousness. Three graphic illustrations from this book may be seen here as: Nine basic levels; Ladder climber, and view; and Some examples.

Gradient Model of Emancipation

The Gradient Model of Emancipation can be thought of as a road map of evolutionary maturation/liberation from less to more integrative modes of beingness and well-being, personal and social. A central purpose of the model is to exemplify how concepts such as self, good and evil, if seen as having level-of consciousness-specific meanings, can lead to a great deal more clarity and practical benefit.

Stated in a different way, self, good and evil each have quite different meanings at different levels of consciousness associated with what we may call ‘degree of emancipation (or ascension, enlightenment, etc.). The reason they need to be thus treated (as briefly noted in the evolutionary cosmology sketched above), comes from the intrinsic property of twoness— that is, of social reality consisting of what can be referred to as “self” and “other” which is at the root of fear/love, competition/ cooperation, and other polarities needing to be integrated for well-being, both personal and global.

Because this is a gradient model, it involves a graded series of levels or zones—visualized as having both vertical and horizontal dimensions, portrayed via two metaphors :

1. Vertical dimension : A three-story house, with stair-steps representing smaller incremental differences in beingness (‘states of consciousness’) between much more profoundly differing zones (or ‘levels of unfolding’), symbolized by the first, second, third and ‘meta’ stories of the abode;
2. Horizontal dimension: A target-like mandala, with two concentric circles having various levels of ‘distance’ from a core circle (the ‘bulls eye’ that represents the Source of Being).

First Story (Zone One: The outer ring; the ‘egoic periphery’ of self):

• Motivation primarily by reactive conformity to patterns of domination and/or submission;
• ‘Win-lose’ competition between ‘I and it;’
• Frequently caught up in dramas having great interpersonal intensity, and in victim/abuser/rescuer patterns, with strong habitual attachments and aversions based on judgments regarding good, evil and other polarities of life;

Second Story (Zone Two: The inner ring; the ‘heart that connects’):

• Motivation more by responsive acceptance of and proactive harmonization with patterns of control
• ‘Win/win” collaboration between ‘I and Thou’
• Increasingly serene in the practice of compassionate acceptance, cooperative sharing and unconditional love
• Good and evil and all polar opposites accepted compassionately

Third Story (Zone Three: The central core of Self as Source):

• Motivation by pure creative impulse based on Unity Consciousness in ‘Eternal Nowness’
• Total awareness/no separation of self and other with ‘the peace that passes understanding;’
• Transcendence of good and evil and all polar opposites;

Integral Story (Meta Zone: Harmonious integration of all levels or zones with appropriate action in each):

• Motivation increasingly by ‘ natural beingness’ (of body, mind, heart, spirit, etc.) flowing with the ‘Dharma’ (God’s will), both with and without such concepts as dual and non-dual. Often this shows up as level-appropriate, responsive ‘matching’ or ‘mirroring’ of expression to the level of the ‘other,’ but coming from a discernibly higher (or ‘meta’) level yourself.
• Win/Win hybrid competition/cooperation, as proves feasible; Win/Lose if not, recognizing that ultimately, there is no such thing as winning or losing, just flow.
• Life dramas that increasingly follow the well-worn path Joseph Campbell, in the Myth of the Hero called ‘the Monomyth’ because it shows up when ever and where ever required for the regeneration of civilized life.
• Level-appropriate integration of good and evil and all polar opposites

Although there is a definite gradient of evolutionary unfolding or ascendance within each major zone or “story,” the jump from one to the next represents the equivalent of a quantum shift, in that each represents a very different “paradigm” of beingness ( metanoia— a fundamental transformation of mind), and the stairs connecting them can be large or small, and perhaps sometimes—to rather badly mix a metaphor—appearing more as a pathway of crazy mirrors in a carnival fun house, than as orderly steps up or down.

On Contraries and Negations in the Model. Leaving aside the concept of Self for the moment, Good and Evil reflect an understanding of what is desirable and what is not. The concepts of good and evil shift with time and culture. Most definitions of good and evil are contrary in nature, i.e., they are polar opposites. For example: good as creative and evil as destructive.

Note that light and love have no contrary, but they can have a negation (i.e., the absence of light is dark), often wrongly seen as a contrary. This idea of negation is more fully developed in the book, Cosmic Law(Brown, 2002):

There is another ‘world’, the world of abstractions, where things have no contraries, absolutes such as aesthetics, algorithms, archetypes, certainties, essences, ethics, experiences, humanity, ideals, laws, logic, love, mathematics, and proofs. These absolutes have negations, but a negation is not a contrary. A negation is rather an absence of something. We need the dark along with the light to make a picture. Painting, photography and music are arts of light and shadow. The universe is 99.999% dark, with only a few hundred billion galaxies twinkling here and there, mere points of light on a pure black velvet background. … Nature must love the dark, she made so much of it!

Throughout the lower levels of the First Story of the model, we never get away from evil—it is like the rungs of a ladder on which we climb as we ascend to higher levels of emancipation. In the Second Story , however, evil becomes seen as an integral part of all that is, to be accepted with compassion, rather than resisted or merely tolerated—it is experienced as more of a negation or relative absence of good than a contrary . At the highest level (the Absolute) represented by the Third Story, good and evil are transcendentally integrated into a seamless whole, and are therefore undefined. Finally, with full-out integration (or, more accurately, the highest degree of integration that skillful means can come up with in any given moment), the stance is to be ‘integratively meta’ to the whole menagerie of polar opposites: self and other, good and evil, male and female, evolution and devolution, etc.

We suggest that an appropriate image of self, good and evil be one which sequentially unfolds from being caught in polar opposition, moving through various stages to integrative harmony. This insight should have significant implications for practical applications— e.g., in pointing toward level-(of consciousness)-specific tools and processes for individual healing and well-being; as well as to ‘integrative activism ’ rather than ‘confrontational activism’ when working for social change. Among other benefits, it greatly increases the practical feasibility of co-creative [and co-evolutionary/co-intelligent/co-productive, etc.] partnerships at the three levels of consciousness (personal, interpersonal, and transpersonal) described below

Comparison with other models. Other models, of course, exist that cover this same gradient sequence, often in more complex fashion. As one indication of cross-model compatibility, please note that:

• The Gradient Model of Emancipation spans the levels of consciousness depicted in Ken Wilber’s three graphic images noted above.
• The three ’s Second and Third Story in the Gradient Model are synonymous with what Ken Wilber, in his Four Quadrant Model, calls Tier Two and Tier Three; while the First Story (Zone One) in the Gradient Model covers the “stair-step” progression that Wilber sees as being covered by the Spiral Developmental Model of worldviews developed by Beck and Cowan ( www.spiraldynamics.org) .
• Further, as Wilber so carefully develops, with increasing levels [of what we call unfolding and/or ascension ] , there is a parallel increase in integration (i.e., at the bottom, views and images are characteristically hierarchical, where “up is better and down is worse.” In the middle, all polarities are seen as essential ingredients in the given-ness of nature needing to be integrated rather than judgmentally evaluated. And at the top or “core,” all is transcendentally “nondual” without consideration of hierarchical or integrative distinctions; in this way, it is fully integral or “whole” ).
• The First and Second Story in the Gradient Model of Emancipation are also synonymous with what Arthur Deikman, in a model described in his article, The Spiritual Heart of Service , terms Instrumental Consciousness (the Survival Self) and Receptive Consciousness (the Spiritual Self).

We offer this model due to its potential utility to help visualize the way in which emancipation, ascension, or whatever term you prefer has been understood by wisdom leaders since ancient times; and as an analytic Road Map to convey the need for ‘state-specific’ protocols for healing, and to help guide an unfolding sequence of releasing?transformative unfolding?emancipation to the next ‘story’ of conscious co-evolution. As soon as possible, the work described here will be extended by juxtaposing—both graphically and textually—the Gradient of Emancipation with other key gradients by authors such as Hawkins, Wilber, Beck, Maslow, Gibb, Loevinger, and Kohlberg.

Consciousness

In the Glossary his book Radical Nature: Rediscovering the Soul of Matter, Christian de Quincey, provides a useful set of distinctions in which consciousness has two fundamentally different meanings:

Philosophical, where “consciousness” refers to a state of reality characterized by interiority, subjectivity, sentience, feeling, experience, self-agency, meaning, and purpose. Anything that has any of these has consciousness., Anything that does not would be non-conscious—blank, void, vacuous, wholly objective. In short, it is contrasted with wholly non- conscious things (whatever they might be!).

Psychological consciousness, on the other hand, refers to a state of consciousness (e.g., awake, dreaming, joyful, fearful, mystical) above threshold awareness. Psychological consciousness is typically contrasted with the un- conscious, which is below threshold awareness (e.g., asleep, trance, coma, habit, instincts). Unconscious is not the same as non- conscious—the former still has some psychic or subjective activity present, the latter is wholly objective.

A third meaning of consciousness refers to higher mystical or spiritual states of consciousness typified by experiences of oneness, interrelatedness, compassion, and love. However, because spiritual consciousness is a state of consciousness (albeit higher or highest), it too qualifies as a form of psychological consciousness. It is typically contrasted with “unenlightened” or “unevolved” ordinary states of consciousness.

In this project, we are exploring a simplified definition:

consciousness as the relationship between the observer and the observed.

Nature

Nature is the world of materiality and life. It is the material expression of God, operating through divine principles. Nature is that which we align with in order to ascend in harmony with all that is. The Guide for Right Action (“Center, Pivot, Act”)—detailed at the end of this Keel— is based on the understanding that by coming into alignment with Nature, our actions based on natural impulse are intrinsically trustworthy. As shown in the next item, prakriti is an ancient Sanskrit word that defines nature in evolutionary terms.

Sattva, Rajas and Tamas—The Three “Gunas of Prakriti”

Prakriti is a Sanskrit word for nature, more specifically, for the process through which

Source (Brahman) manifests into what we call nature, as in both devolution and in evolution.

Guna is a unique Sanskrit word that denotes an essential element of nature, more about which is said below.

The three gunas of prakriti are a core element in the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, the sacred scripture of India. They set forth a clearly defined set of evolutionary stages of ascension that deepen our understanding of the Gradient Model of Ascendance as both hierarchical and integrative.

In the more common, “folk” interpretation of the three gunas, they appear as hierarchical, in which higher is better and lower is worse:

• Tamas (the lower side of Level I in the Gradient Model) is the principle of inertia resulting in reactive conformity with (or resistance to) the rules of society and often, cruelty; this way of living is said to bear the fruit called ignorance .
• Rajas (the upper side of Level I) is the principle of motivity leading to passion and control and often, greed; this way of living is said to bear the fruit called restlessness and pain .
• Sattva (Level II) is the principle of poise conducive to purity; said to be “the action in all inaction, and the inaction in all action,” this way of living bears the fruit called harmony and joy . [We note that although sattva seems never to be described as having a negative side in published commentaries on the Gita , members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) have many jokes about people at this level being overly passive or “So heavenly they are no Earthly good.”]
• Transcending these, is the (Level III) state called Nir-Guna —where one has ascended beyond the effects of the three gunas. This way of living is beyond ordinary causation, and bears the fruit called liberation ( moksha ) and bliss ( ananda ) . Although it is more frequently a temporary experiential reality for most seekers than the continuously conscious experience of reality said to be there for the fully enlightened, this core of beingness is nevertheless immediately available to all in the way described below in the Guide to Right Action.

In more advanced treatises on Vedantic thought, however, the three gunas are viewed in a more integrative way, as primal “strands” of prakriti, forming an inseparable triad, in which each has a tendency to overpower the two others. In this cosmic ontology, it is the preponderance of one or another of the three gunas over two others in varying degrees that brings forth all varieties of objects in the universe.

In these two differing images—one in which the three gunas are depicted as hierarchical in terms of value, the second as more integrative—illustrate that the ancient Vedic seers understood ascendance in both ways. And in advanced texts such as the Prajna-paramita ( Conze, 1973; Rabjam, 1998) , the most perfect path to liberation is to be perfectly natural in precisely this integrative way.

Élan vital

Élan vital is the “life force” behind all manifestation, at all levels, physical, biological, mental, spiritual. The term comes from Bergson. All evolution, from cosmic beginnings through the cladistic tree of life and beyond, are all expressions of the same underlying élan vital. All causality, including motivation and creativity is an expression of élan vital. Enthusiasm (filled with theos) is the direct experience of this élan vital. We look for the description of mechanisms of élan vital, not in physics (even quantum physics), but in places like the Perennial Philosophy, transpersonal psychology, prayer, etc. Compared with entelechy, élan vital is the energy vector, entelechy is the goal.

Entelechy

Entelechy n. 1. In the philosophy of Aristotle, the condition of a thing whose essence is fully realized; actuality as distinguished from potentiality. 2. In various philosophical systems, a vital force urging an organism toward self-fulfillment: “Courage is the affirmation of one’s essential nature, one’s inner aim or entelechy.” ( Paul Tillich). [Late Latin entelechia, from Greek, entelekheia, complete reality: Enteles, complete, full ; en + telos , perfection, end (see kwel in appendix ) + ekhein, to have (see segh - in appendix ]

Note that for Aristotle, Essence is the beginning/end of things. Following this definition, we may say that the purpose of evolution is to find its entelechy. This is a core co-definition of ascension.

Sovereignty

In the third dictionary definition ( Sovereignty: Complete independence and self-government ) , sovereignty takes on very different qualities at different levels of ascendance in the Gradient Model (from reactive “up-against-ness” involving domination/submission at one extreme, to a totally harmonious state of one-ness with all that is at the other)

As meant by the U.S. Constitution, sovereignty deriving from the independent authority of the individual is an inalienable right. We are all created equal in the sense that, at the core of our being, we all possess the ultimate Source of sovereignty .

Servitude is the antithesis of sovereignty, and an inescapable aspect of “First Story” beingness . Conformity with social convention is a type of servitude; conformity with cosmic law is not—it is sovereignty. Compassionate acceptance may or may not be servitude—it depends on whether the source of the impulse is more based on “First Story” or “Integrative” beingness. For more on this, please see the item on Centering, below.

Perennial Philosophy

Philosophia Perennis is a term coined by Leibnitz and popularized by Aldous Huxley in his 1944 book, The Perennial Philosophy. It refers to the sacred literature expressing the transcendental experience of non-dual beingness, the so-called “highest common factor” of all the world’s great religious mystics, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism (Vedanta).

[From the Introduction to the Bhagavad-Gita (Translation of Bhagavad-Gita by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood.) by Aldous Huxely]:

At the core of the Perennial Philosohy we find four fundamental doctrines.
First: the phenomenal world of matter and of individualized consciousness--the world of things and animals and men and even gods--is the manifestation of a Divine Ground within which all partial realities have their being, and apart from which they would be non-existent.

Second: human beings are capable not merely of knowing about the Divine Ground by inference; they can also realize its existence by a direct intuition, superior to discursive reasoning. This immediate knowledge unites the knower with that which is known.

Third: man possesses a double nature, a phenomenal ego and an eternal Self, which is the inner man, the spirit, the spark of divinity within the soul. It is possible for a man, if he so desires, to identify himself with the spirit and therefore with the Divine Ground, which is of the same or like nature with the spirit.

Fourth: man’s life on earth has only one end and purpose: to identify himself with his eternal Self and so to come to unitive knowledge of the Divine Ground.

In Hinduism the first of these four doctrines is stated in the most categorical terms. The Divine Ground is Brahman, whose creative, sustaining and transforming aspects are manifested the Hindu trinity. A hierarchy of manifestations connects inanimate matter with man, gods, High Gods, and the undifferentiated Godhead beyond.

Conation

Conation (or the conative —as contrasted with the cognitive, affective and somatic aspects of mind) is that which deals with the will , motivation and intention, especially in “wise choosing. ” [See Glossary for dictionary definition.] It is important to note that although the nature of motivation shifts markedly across the three levels of the Gradient Model of Ascendance, the Vedic image of mind and spirit has the conative (perceptive and choosing/intending) function of mind as identical with the Observing Self ( Atman , the non-dual personalistic aspect of Brahman, Level III/Ultimate Core Beingness in our model). This is of fundamental importance as it lies at the core of both Conditioned Co-Production discussed below, and the Guide to Right Action described at the end of this Keel.

Co-Production

Conditioned co-production (sometimes referred to as co-dependent arising), is a central, though somewhat elusive concept of Buddhism, about which a great deal of literature exists. 

As presented in Michael Attwood’s website, summarizing the teachings of his Buddhist teacher, Urgyen Sangharakshita, founder of the Western Buddhist Order: “The Buddha's realization has been described in various ways e.g. as Nirvana (extinction) or Bodhi (awakening). In conceptual terms the Buddha talked of his realization as Pratitya-Samutpada . Of the many translations of this important concept, conditioned co-production [is] the most common. There are many descriptions of this concept in Buddhist Literature. One of the more traditional renditions of it is:

“Imasim sati, idam hoti, imass' uppada, idam uppajjati;
Imasim asati, idam na hoti;
Imassa nirodha, idam nirujjhati

“This being that becomes, from the arising of this, that arises;
This not being, that does not become;
From the ceasing of this, that ceases.”

For purposes of this project, conditioned co-production may be defined as:

the mechanism of manifestation from the Absolute to the relative,

triggered by “the action in all inaction, and the inaction in all action,”

of Source Beingness (where conative intention resides),

flowing as the Dharma, according to the conditioned laws of metatronics,

from the implicate order of pure abstraction

to the explicate domain of created reality.

The practical import of this understanding is: When one acts in harmony with the Dharma, the principal of conditioned co-production naturally attracts unpredictable events that are supportive of one’s intention, leading to serenity. When one acts in disharmony with the Dharma, the principal of conditioned co-production naturally attracts unpredictable events that are obstacles to one’s intention, leading to suffering.

And when, as in the above poem, one realizes that at the non-dual root of consciousness, “all dharmas are empty,” one achieves the level of ascension termed “Core/Zone III” in the Gradient Model.

Dharma

Over and above the minimal definition of dharma shown in the Glossary, a more satisfactory definition is provided in Buddhist Scriptures, the introductory teaching book for beginners by the noted Buddhist scholar, translator and commentator, Edward Conze:

Dharmas, dharmas: (1) The one ultimate Reality, (2) an ultimately real event; (as reflected in life: righteousness, virtue; (4) as interpreted in the Buddha’s teaching: doctrine, Scripture, truth; (5) objects of the sixth sense-organ, i.e., of mind; (6) property; (7) mental state; (8) thing; (9) quality. (Glossary, p. 245)

The word ‘Dharma’ … is deliberately ambiguous, with up to ten meanings. On page 198, for instance, we find ‘dharmas’ first used twice in the sense of ‘properties’; at its third occurrence it means ‘teachings’; two lines later the meaning has shifted to ‘events’, only to move on to ‘true facts’ a little later on. ….The authors of the Buddhist Scriptures were in fact unwilling or unable, to state their message without a liberal use of technical terms. We may regret this, but to pulp the holy scriptures and regorge them in colloquial , strictly non-technical English would only turn precise spiritual teaching into vague and insipid uplift. The Scriptures as they stand cannot be read without some mental effort, and they demand a minimum of intellectual agility and attainment. (Introduction, p. 14)

In this project we conceptualize dharma as it is treated in such advanced texts as the Prajnaparimita: the flow of events, thoughts, etc. In Veda, Dharma has the quality of flowing. The universe expresses itself dynamically through the flow of the Dharma. This meaning of Dharma is nicely illustrated by the nursery song:

Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream.

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

In this song, stream represents Dharma ( Dharma is empyrean —the river of life as described in Dante) ; row represents intention (conation), and dream represents consensus reality (maya or illusion). The song points to the “easy path” of emancipation and ascension—effortless effort—that is denoted by the term passive volition as used in biofeedback work.

Finally, from our own reading of the Conze’s translation of The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines & Its Verse Summary, we find the following ‘primary teachings’ of this wisdom document of great interest, especially at a time when we are looking directly at how to translate the theory forming this Keel into meaningful applications:

          All dharmas are isolated                     All dharmas are empty                        End all outflows

Co-Evolution, Co-Intelligence, Co-Creative Partnering: Three Synonyms

Co-Evolution: When two entities change over time in such a way that changes in one effects changes in the other. In biology, a trait of one species has evolved in response to a trait of another species, which trait itself has evolved in response to the trait in the first.   

Co-Intelligence ( From Tom Atlee): “Co-intelligence is the capacity to live well WITH each other and life, creatively using diversity and uniqueness, consciously evolving together in partnership with nature, and consciously transforming culture. Co-intelligence is intrinsic to all living systems and can always be improved. We can use it for organizational development, better family relations, community renewal, and creating a more just, democratic, sustainable and wise society.”

“I think of co-intelligence as an entirely new place to stand vis a vis social change and our role in it. To proclaim co-intelligence as a social goal is to stand on Square One of a Wisdom Culture. Square One is the first square on a game board. Those of us who are trying to consciously build a co-intelligent culture are stepping into a different game which is, in a sense, just beginning. Everything in the old world, the old structures, all the experiments and methodologies, even the problems and catastrophes - everything - is a resource for what we're about to do. And what we're about to do is different in kind from what we've done before or thought we were doing before. …

“At a societal level we can call it societal intelligence. To promote it and model it is to play a different sort of game than we're used to playing. …

“I define societal intelligence as the capacity of a whole society to engage well with its circumstances - especially to creatively deal with challenges and changes within it and around it.”

Co-creative partnering: The method of approach of this project assumes the full-out realization of co-creative [and co-evolutionary/co-intelligent/co-productive] partnerships involving personal, interpersonal and transpersonal levels of consciousness:

Personal: partnering between the lower and the higher aspects of one’s being. The lower aspect is the ego self (the sense of self that is experienced as apart from, rather than a part of the higher aspects of the Self). The higher aspect is what, through the centuries in various cultures has been called the Higher Self, Atman, the soul, etc. Insights and guidance for this level of partnership may be found in all of the classical wisdom traditions of the world, particularly in what is called the Perennial Philosophy— The “highest common denominator” of all the world’s great religious mystics, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.

Interpersonal: partnering between two or more individuals, whether in business settings or personal relationships at the level of family, work group, tribe (including business firms, professional associations, and other such institutional forms), nation, planet etc. Note that this collaboration takes place both in the exterior world of language, visible behavior, etc. and in the interior world of alignment with morphogenetic fields of thought forms, zeitgeist, etc. Wisdom for right action at this level is a key goal of this project.

Transpersonal: partnering between humans and other dynamic entities in all levels of the ecology in which we live and have our being, as well as integration of partnering at the Personal and Interpersonal levels. Although clearly beyond what the “dominant paradigm of Western Culture” currently finds credible, insights and guidance for this level may be found in the literature and practice of Perennial Wisdom, “deep” ecology, transpersonal psychology, and Gaia theorists, indigenous shamanism of various cultures, etc. Regarding this level of consciousness, the term, “OurSelf,” is sometimes spoken of as an experientially valid concept. Please note that—as briefly described in the Dialog Highlights —spiritual guidance from transpersonal wisdom sources led, in large part, to the undertaking of this project.

Abundance

If we live in trust, in natural balance with the ecology of nature, there is plenty for everyone. Most writers on “sustainability” emphasize the threat of potential shortfalls of resources due to problems such as over-population. In this project, recognizing that we attract that which we co-productively focus on, we emphasize the role of ascension in abundance rather than being motivated by forecasts of resource scarcity, recognizing that to use the gift of abundance wisely, we need to harmonize with nature.

Compassion

Compassion is empathic “feeling with” the experience of another, even if the other represents values that may differ from one’s own. Compassionate acceptance, as in Level II beingness, means accepting something just as it is without judgment, as contrasted with “tolerating” something you disagree with or find unpleasant. Compassionate acceptance, however, does not necessarily mean agreeing with or being in alignment with something. I may compassionately accept Level I emotions, motivations and/or actions that I can observe causing pain to others, without seeing this as something that I would chose for myself.

Forgiveness

The compassionate acceptance that is a key characteristic of Zone Two in the Gradient Model of Emancipation is realized by forgiveness and love. A metaphor for forgiveness is to liken resentment as drinking from a bottle of poison every day; and forgiveness as simply putting the poison aside. A recently developed approach developed at the Stanford Forgiveness Project is described at www.learningtoforgive.com.

Love

The first dictionary definition of love is an intense, affectionate concern for another. But sacred wisdom sources see it as much more, as in the definition: God is Love. We believe that, together with élan vital, love is a core ingredient or energizer of ascension, and that the experience of love is common to all levels of ascension. Love, like grace, is a gift that cannot be earned, or deliberately caused, but is always there when we are open to it.

Trust

Trust is reliance on the action of the Dharma. Research on biofeedback shows that people who have a deep trust in the essential goodness of the universe can succeed in biofeedback more quickly, easily and deeply because of their capacity to let go of the need to be actively trying to change things, and use what is called passive volition as contrasted with active volition) instead.

Science and Error (A great deal more on this theme is covered in the Epistemology chapter of Cosmic Law)

Science is the study of nature. Scientific method is the process of making observations, guessing ( abducting ) models, and making new observations . ( Abduction is a word used by philosopher C.S. Peirce, denoting an inference that is neither deductive nor inductive, but intuitive in nature.) Although materiality-based sciences such as physics are not adequate for our project on ascension in and of themselves, the process of science itself has core relevance. It helps us understand the universe. Like the Perennial Philosophy (which, not being measurement-based, is quite different from science), it leads to revelation. Science is doubly fallible. That is, observations are always faulty and theories are always approximate. In this sense, they are subject to error.

Error is the gap between is and ought. However, the understanding of this gap is subject to two different types of difficulties common to all idealizations: 1) We don’t have perfect knowledge of what ought is; and 2) We don’t have perfect knowledge of what is is.

Ought can only be selected or chosen by intuitive or subjective vision, even if it is developed by a rational algorithm. And the understanding of what is, is subject to four key sources of error: inaccuracy, imprecision, indeterminacy, and entropy.

Error correction drives evolution. Thus, using traditional language, sin, or evil, is the driving force toward entelechy; that which is necessary for evolution and perfection.

Algorithm

An algorithm is a reliable recipe for producing a desired result. In the evolution of society the invention of algorithms has accelerated our mental capacities. Algorithms for the invention of algorithms are doubly important, as in the delineation of the basic creative process. An algorithm important for ascension is the “Guide for Right Action,” described below.

Right Action

Superficially, the concept of “right” action necessarily involves the making judgmental evaluations regarding right vs. wrong, good vs. evil, etc. And this usually appropriate at lower levels of ascension, as in the “First Story” depicted by the Gradient Model of Ascendance. But the wisdom literature is clear that through use of concepts such as Dharma and entelechy, “right action” is more than just that which is in conformity with conventional ideas of right and wrong. It is action that is in harmony with Cosmic Law and the evolutionary/devolutionary flow of reality.

For example, consider the ancient Guide for Right Action, described below.

The Guide to Right Action: Center, Pivot, Act

What we have chosen to call the “Guide to Right Action” is a carefully developed application of the traditional yogic focus on well-centered Attention, Intention, and Action, set forth in a two book series, both of which were authored and published by the Implicate Technology Centre of London: Beyond the personality: The beginner's guide to enlightenment (1987) ; Towards effortless activity:  the advanced guide to enlightenment  (1988). It is a universally appropriate process across all levels of ascension. But a critical prerequisite to its appropriate use is the ability to discern whether or not you have successfully centered yourself.

Centering is a process emphasized in many psychological and spiritual traditions. In simple terms, it is the process of focusing and moving toward alignment with the core of your being, ultimately, in the stillness of the Absolute. In more technical terms, to “center” is to move in the direction of being mentally (= cognitively, affectively, conatively, somatically) neutral . That is, not in reactive stress regarding perceived or imagined loss of control regarding attachments and aversions. Stated another way, to be centered is to have one’s experience of beingness shaped by intrinsic rather than extrinsic factors. In this sense, centering is becoming sovereign.

Pivoting is the resetting of your perception/intention (= conative orientation; see Conation [above] for more on this) — from conformity to ideas, moods, etc. in which you are attached — to alignment with the actuality of how things are, as perceived from a centered space. In other words, you have successfully pivoted when, experientially, is and ought are integrated into a harmonious view of how things are, rather than being a “gap” that “stands between you and feeling O.K. ”

Acting in this way is to simply express one’s impulse with trust in the process. Having pivoted one’s perception/intention within a centered space, impulse is given to us by the Dharma, and the goal (entelechy) becomes clear.

This Guide is a reliable path to action through which the higher (i.e., “Third Story”) wisdom resident in us all can be accessed and used even though we may experience our lives, for the most part, at lower levels of ascension. It should be pointed out, however, that the successful execution of this guide in times of great stress is either the result of skilled practice, or of divine grace—and as noted above, a critical prerequisite is the ability to accurately discern if you are able to center yourself in any given situation.

Specific tools and processes for ascension described in the project Applications document (e.g., Byron Katie Work , Transformative ReVisioning, Centering Prayer/meditation ), are often necessary for doing the equivalent of what the Guide to Right Action involves; and the Gendlin Focusing process, also described there, is the best way we know to learn how to discern if you are centered—and if not, why not. In more general terms, recent sources such as the following are useful:

• Essential Spirituality: Exercises from the World’s Religions to Cultivate Kindness, Love, Joy, Peace, Vision, Wisdom, and Generosity, by Roger Walsh (1999)
• The Direct Path: Creating a Personal Journey to the Divine Using the World’s Spiritual Traditions, by Andrew Harvey (2000).
• A new ‘enlightenment trilogy:’ Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior (1995); The Eye of the I: From Which Nothing is Hidden (2001); and I: Reality and Subjectivity (2003), by David R. Hawkins