Overview Sketch

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

Ver. 1.0 for Web, August 2003

“[When] man deal[s] with energy defined by the principles of conservation, he understands it only as a scarcity. This is reinforced by the fact that the primary source of energy he can perceive and understand is solar supply. This supply is suffused through the whole planetary system and works its way up through all the patterns of life. Because there is limitation and dependency within this system, there is also competition. Thus the strong, the aggressive, and the highly conservative forces dominate. As long as man’s primary supply of energy is subject to such scarcity, there will be no system of social democracy that can last long upon the Earth. It is imperative that man change his viewpoint and look toward physical infinity and the reality of God if he would bring forth upon the Earth a brotherhood of peace and prosperity . Within this change of viewpoint he will find both the physical and the spiritual answers for which he has been looking.”

“In the New Testament, Paul teaches, ‘The love of money is the root of all evil.’ Did you say that?” “ Close, but those were not my exact words. As Aramaic was transposed to Greek, some of the practical simplicity of my message was absorbed into the more abstract nature of Greek thinking. Aramaic was a people’s language, not a scholar’s language. That’s why I chose it. In addition to that, Paul had his own way of carrying the message of love, according to the needs and understanding of those he served.

“GREED is the root of all evil. In the presence of greed, people go to extremes, and in the presence of extremes, the idea of scarcity is invented. When scarcity is invented, fear sprouts up like weeds in a garden. Every negative emotion known to man is born from fear. “

Statements attributed to Jesus in Love Without End: Jesus Speaks…
by Glenda Green [emphasis added]

Click here for other quotes

We are now being strangled to death, I believe, by these authoritarian systems that no longer have any rationale or spiritual innocence; it is time for the revolutionary energy of the Direct Path to be released and Christ’s and Buddha’s vision of a free, empowered humanity to be born at last. On that birth depends the future.

Why would the divine have created us in the first place if the only meaning of our being created is to escape the “illusion” of creation, transcend all its particulars and events to enter into what is beyond?

Perhaps the deepest and richest answer to this question—and it is an “answer” that the Direct Path embraces in its difficulty and challenge—is that we are placed here as a seed of the Divine within time, space, and matter to unfold fully all our divine powers and capacities within them: We do this not to escape the “illusion” of creation but to divinize not only ourselves but also reality from within it .                

The Direct Path: Creating a Personal Journey                      
to the Divine Using the World’s Spiritual Traditions              

by Andrew Harvey                   

What is life? The American Indians had a traditional saying that “What is, is a three-fold miracle. The first miracle is that anything at all exists, rather than nothing-ness. The second miracle is that some of what is, is alive. The third miracle is that some of what is alive is self-aware, including awareness of the three miracles.” This self-referential awareness of life seeing itself as an endlessly evolving physical/biological/mental/spiritual reality is symbolized by the classical image of ouroboros , the snake that swallows its own tail.

This Overview Sketch describes the current status of a project focusing on advancement in the underlying images and concepts of evolving consciousness and life that both visibly and invisibly shape the way we live. This project seeks to be both exploratory and experientially practice-oriented in its fostering of evolutionary transformation, both in ourselves and in our images of life and reality—i.e., its about not only “talking our walk,” but “walking our talk.”

We initially chose ascension as a “deeper” or “more core”—and thereby a “higher leverage”—focus for this endeavor, even though we knew that it was a “politically incorrect” term for many intellectuals, and the project materials you are now reading reflects this decision. As described in the Dialog Highlights, however, we have been persuaded to move away from ascension as the principal concept organizing the project, and to instead use the metaphor of unfolding . “Unfolding” connotes both gradual and sudden progress, and the revelation of that which is hidden within, and it appears not to have any significantly negative connotations. Where suitable, we will occasionally use ascension/unfoldment, and also use such synonyms as advancement, maturation, evolution, transformation, integration and enlightenment, all of which are defined in the project Glossary.

Mission/Focus

We seek to manifest a critical mass of individuals and groups in society, who are interested in manifesting their own higher wisdom sources, and in helping others do the same, toward the end of inspiring the evolutionary ascension and integration of world views, visions and life styles for a more compassionate, just and enlightened wisdom society. Essentially, we seek to reveal and clarify the entelechy of evolutionary unfoldment and how it can be more perfectly realized.

The core of the project is both radical and conservative: radical in the sense of getting to the root of the relevant issues; and conservative in the sense of conserving and propagating the wisdom inherent in the Perennial Philosophy, as appropriate for our time.

During its initial phase, this endeavor should be thought of as “basic” research, in that we are doing it for its own sake and are guided by the pure spirit of inquiry, rather than by explicitly applied motivations. Of course we expect that it will lead to results that are useful in proportion to the purity of our vision, understanding, language and examples. Although the undertaking of activist, change-oriented applications, is explicitly beyond the scope of this initial, core phase, we expect that a variety of useful applications will follow, and our method of approach is designed to facilitate this.

Defining Unfolding/Unfoldment/Emancipation/Ascension

We define ascension, emancipation, unfolding and/or unfoldment as the conscious evolutionary process and result of élan vital, expressing itself in the creation and evolutionary development of matter ( physiosphere ), life ( biosphere ), mind ( noosphere ), and spirit ( theosphere ). The central image used in this project is that of maturation or enlightenment from less to more integrative modes of beingness, as portrayed either of two metaphors making up what we have come to call a Gradient Model of Emancipation:

Gradient Model of Emancipation

Described in detail in the project Keel, the Gradient Model of Emancipation is offered due to its potential utility to help visualize the way in which the unfolding of ascension or enlightenment has been understood by wisdom leaders since ancient times; and as an analytic “map” to help visualize the need for “state-specific” protocols for healing and transformative ascension to the next “story” of integrative life.

The movement from each major zone or “story” 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 sometimes—to rather badly mix a metaphor—perhaps appearing more as a pathway of crazy mirrors in a carnival fun house, than as orderly steps up or down.

Thus, we suggest that an ascending image of good and evil be one which transcends and integrates the property of polar opposition and duality.

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

• The First and Second Story in the Gradient Model of Ascension are 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).
• In his book, A Brief History of Everything, Ken Wilber provides three graphic illustrations (which parallel our Gradient Model of Ascension) using the metaphor of a ladder with ascending rungs or levels of consciousness : Nine basic levels; Ladder climber, and view; and Some examples. Further, in his Four Quadrant Model, what Wilber calls Tier Two and Tier Three are synonymous with the Second and Third Story in our Gradient Model ; with the First Story (Zone One) in the Gradient Model covering the first tier “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 carefully points out, with increasing levels [of what we call unfolding / 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” ).

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.

Prior Work and Refined Focus

In addition to general guidance from the wisdom sources listed in the bibliography, this project specifically builds on the integrative research tradition and understandings set forth in:

• The SRI report of a project funded by the Kettering Foundation, The Societal Consequences of Changing Images of Man (1974; published as a book edited by O.W. Markley and Willis Harman in 1982, now out of print)
• An essay written for the Fetzer Foundation by Thomas Hurley, Changing Images 2000: Integral Approaches to Re-Imagining and Re-Making Ourselves and the World, A First Sketch of Questions, Perspectives, Possibilities , (1999)
• The theoretically integrative writings of Ken Wilber—especially his book, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution(1995; revised edition 2000)
• Dean Brown’s book, Cosmic Law: Patterns in the Universe( 2002),
• Working notes by Oliver Markley on My Work with Plant Spirits(2003)
• The Institute of Noetic Sciences Synoptic Empiricism project (various reports of which exist).

Setting this project apart from the principal foundational resources listed above, is our emphasis on the following set of synergistic concepts which we believe possess profound potential for the empowering of integrative advancement at this particular time in history:

• The conative (i.e., that which deals with the will , motivation and intention — especially in “wise choosing ” —as contrasted with the cognitive, affective and somatic aspects of mind)
• Conditioned Co-Production
• Forgiveness and love
• Good and evil
• Sovereignty
• Entelechy
• Dharma.

Additionally, because our method of approach includes aligning with prior efforts at the Institute of Noetic Sciences and elsewhere, we will also employ terms such as: Co-Evolutionary, Co-Intelligent, and/or Co-Creative Cooperation.

Method of Approach and Project Components

We base this project on a foundation of rigorously defined and internally consistent framework of philosophical concepts and purposes, which are meant to empower, rather than to limit creativity as the project unfolds. Our method of approach is generally to abandon conventional rationalistic “planning” methods as we follow our own “higher guidance” and the open-ended evolution of this project as it follows the Dharma.

We envision this work as involving an emerging integration of co-creative partnerships involving personal, interpersonal and transpersonal levels of consciousness:

• Personal: partnering between the lower and the higher aspects of one’s being
• Interpersonal: partnering between two or more individuals, at all levels of aggregation;
• Transpersonal: partnering between humans and other dynamic entities in all levels of the ecology, and a “higher” integration of partnering at the Personal and Interpersonal levels

The principal components of this Ascending Images project are as follows.

• The Summary— a brief overview of the project intended to help new readers decide if they want to see more, and if so, where to go next.
• The Overview Sketch— this document that serves as both as an comprehensive introduction and a review of progress to date.
• The Keel— a succinct conceptualization of the desiderata for integrative ascension, both individual and social. It is meant as a compendium of ideas precisely enough defined to serve as foundational building blocks for the co-evolutionary/co-intelligent/co-productive applications that we expect to flow from this new beginning.
• The Dialog Highlights— a journal of personal statements by the authors why we are doing this study, and our answers to critical feedback from reviewers, plus significant contributions from readers of this material.
• The Applications— a collection of ideas, both proven and speculative, of appropriate and practical ways to foster transformative advancement.
• The Gallery— a collection of items (i.e., pictures, music, sculpture, architecture, fictional and non-fiction stories and articles, and other works of art) that depict project-related themes.
• The Bibliography — reference listings to resources used.
• The Glossary— a lexicon of key terms not covered in the Keel.

These components will be periodically updated by the Core Team of the project.

Envisioned Outcomes

Although the initial phase of this project is done without regard to potential applications, the project has a number of envisioned activities and outcomes, which we expect to be both expanded and refined as the project continues. In addition to the great list of ideas beginning on p. 63 of Changing Images 2000, they include:

• Improvement in the level of public discourse about evolutionary transformation —both by means of terms that are defined in foundational documents of the project ( e.g., Unfoldment; centering, forgiveness and love; entelechy; Dharma) and broader desiderata that may emerge from a dialog on Unfoldment among wisdom leaders (e.g., “leveling the playing field” of opportunity and social justice in all domains, including distribution of wealth).
• A review of relevant data and models having strong implications for evolutionary ascendance (e.g. the cladistic tree of biological evolution and punctuated equilibrium in holarchical systems generally; remote viewing and other types of psychic research; the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and various data sets and forecasts rating nations regarding human rights and related quality of life indicators, scenarios for a better world government).
• Linking to images of Unfoldment in life from many sources, including stories, mythologies, and works of art (e.g., classic teaching stories of Sufism, Hasidism, and other traditions; The immortal “mono-myth” of the hero; Blake’s artistic rendering of ascension from the Inferno through Purgatory to Paradise in Dante’s Divine Comedy ; the mystical musical compositions of Arvo Pärt; participative theatrical productions such as Up with People )
• Promising theoretical innovations and experiments (e.g., the application of quantum physics to psychokinesis in healing and ascendance; remote viewing or intuition of personal and social entelechy; EEG biofeedback technology for “enlightenment” training; exploration of what might be termed “ascension-oriented activism” as contrasted with “confrontation-oriented activism”)
• Suggested practices, policies and/or interventions, including an annotated list of selected practices for releasing ? transformation ? ascension to higher levels (e.g., the traditional AA Twelve Step method for addition recovery; Gendlin’s Focusing Partnership Communities; Byron Katie Work; Centering Prayer; Yoga and meditation; others too numerous to list here.)

Progress

The principal outcomes of the work thus far accomplished includes:

• The receipt of critical feedback on our first draft materials and its reflection in the current iteration, posted on the Internet courtesy of the two co-sponsors of the project: Foundation for Mind-Being Research and Inward Bound.
• The discovery of critical insights leading to the Gradient Model of Emancipation, conative “co-production” (manifestation), and the Guide to Right Action
• The beginning list of applications that serves as an “existence proof” of the practicality of ordinary people being able to experientially realize all levels of ascension depicted in the Gradient Model.

“Next Steps” for the Project

The principal activities to be undertaken next are:

• Refinement and extension of project materials, via continuing research by the Core Team and dialog/feedback from wisdom leaders representing a wide variety of communities both about their ascension-related methods and experiences and about the project itself.
• Hosting and/or facilitation of a face-to-face meeting regarding the thrust and next steps for the Second Phase of this project with a small group of wisdom leader colleagues for deeper and more intimate sharing than is possible via remote dialog processes.
• Refining the scope of the project to a few tightly focused activities for PHASE TWO in addition to continuing the broadly open-ended dialog process, and when needed, updating the principal project documents, to reflect significant progress or changes of direction.
• One of these would be to pilot-test an offering of practical tools and processes for unfolding wellness such as are described in the project Applications.
• Another would be to investigate how this project could best support the unfolding of a network of what demographic researcher and analyst, Dr. Paul Ray, calls New Progressives, toward the end of political activism in alignment with the desiderata set forth in this project. Ray’s work on “The New Progressives” is described in a brief sketch on The New Political Compass.
• Identification and collection of artistic media—including myths, stories, architecture, graphic images, music, etc.—which illustrate ascension and how it may be fostered in various aspects of life
• The juxtaposition of the Gradient of Emancipation with other key gradients by Hawkins, Wilber, Maslow, Loevinger, Kohlberg
• Exploring how best to inventory and publicize level-specific tools, processes and algorithms for releasing, transformation, and ascension/emancipation—both individual and organizational—that have proven efficacy and ethical appropriateness.
• In the longer term, we envision various types of face-to-face gatherings of therapists, ministers, educators, and other leaders in business and politics who feel the call to help empower—and be empowered by—this approach. One of these might be a course in Social Entrepreneurship focusing on how to apply the ideas and images of this project.

Questions to stimulate discussion and dialog

Comments are invited--both about the contents of the above Sketch and other project documents. Some questions by way of beginning:

• What do you find that connects with you most deeply?
• What do you know that would extend our understanding of integrative unfolding and how to foster it in ourselves and our society?”

In particular, as you look at the list of envisioned outcomes, what specific things would you suggest that should be added to the list of examples in each intended outcome? Are there other intended outcomes that you think should also be specified?

• How would you suggest the Sketch (or other project documents) be improved?
• What other questions do you suggest be posed to stimulate discussion and dialog? .