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awakening
October 2009 
Reflections on Awakening, part 11
Posted on Jul 30th, 2008
by 
Daroy
Daroy
A summary of the evolution and present deficiency of human consciousness as described by cultural philosopher Jean Gebser (1905-1973):
During archaic consciousness man is totally embedded in the world, is identical with it and perceives himself only in actively relating to a multitude of other elements. It is a time characterized by the emphatic absence of dualistic opposition, an era of microcosmic and macrocosmic harmony.
In the course of magic consciousness man gradually grows away from his complete entanglement with the world; he begins to face the world in its sleep-like outlines. ... The more man released himself from the whole, becoming “conscious” of himself, the more he began to be an individual, a unity not yet able to recognize the world as a whole, but only the details ... which reach his still sleep-like consciousness and in turn stand for the whole.
Mythical consciousness leads to awareness of the soul, the inner reality of man, a process which in myths is expressed as a reflection in water, as a voyage across the sea, as a discovery of self. An explicit knowledge of self emerges, but remains embedded in the cosmic forces which complete and balance it. The individuated point of the magic structure is expanded into an encompassing ring ... whose movement leads from one phase of the moon to another, ... from birth to death, spring to winter; from the tides of the earth to the tides of the body which blossom forth, bear fruit, and attain completion ... . In this the cosmos itself forms a circle. ... For mythical man the movement of his own soul became visible in the reflection of dream and myth, and in this way he became aware of the actual movement of the world, a previously egoless world of total merging.
Mental consciousness brings about the unfoldment of perspectival, directed thinking and thus the objectifying and measuring of the world from which man now breaks loose, keeping his distance and representing the world as his own opposite. Man steps out of the sheltering, two-dimensional circle and its confines into three-dimensional space. Here he no longer exists within polar complementarity; here he is in confrontation with an alien world — a dualism ... . Here we can no longer speak of unity, correspondence, or complementarity, not to mention integrality. This situation is the prerequisite for conquering and exploiting the world, for measuring and analyzing it, for splitting it up and categorizing it as environment (Um-welt), Old and New World, First, Second, Third, Fourth World, etc.
After observing and measuring the world from mental distance, man is led back into her womb through integral consciousness; at present he deliberately and responsibly re-integrates into the cosmic unity which he gradually left - actually, had to leave - in the course of his consciousness evolution and individuation. As opposed to magic consciousness, however, the current integrative process will weave him into the world along with the knowledge of himself and his relationship to his surroundings which he has gained in the meantime. We are dealing with the bringing about of an integrum, i.e., the re-establishment of the inviolate and pristine state of origin by incorporating the wealth of all subsequent achievement.
(Italics refer to quotes from Gebser's work The Ever-Present Origin; speculative illustrations by Daroy Lin)
During archaic consciousness man is totally embedded in the world, is identical with it and perceives himself only in actively relating to a multitude of other elements. It is a time characterized by the emphatic absence of dualistic opposition, an era of microcosmic and macrocosmic harmony.
In the course of magic consciousness man gradually grows away from his complete entanglement with the world; he begins to face the world in its sleep-like outlines. ... The more man released himself from the whole, becoming “conscious” of himself, the more he began to be an individual, a unity not yet able to recognize the world as a whole, but only the details ... which reach his still sleep-like consciousness and in turn stand for the whole.
Mythical consciousness leads to awareness of the soul, the inner reality of man, a process which in myths is expressed as a reflection in water, as a voyage across the sea, as a discovery of self. An explicit knowledge of self emerges, but remains embedded in the cosmic forces which complete and balance it. The individuated point of the magic structure is expanded into an encompassing ring ... whose movement leads from one phase of the moon to another, ... from birth to death, spring to winter; from the tides of the earth to the tides of the body which blossom forth, bear fruit, and attain completion ... . In this the cosmos itself forms a circle. ... For mythical man the movement of his own soul became visible in the reflection of dream and myth, and in this way he became aware of the actual movement of the world, a previously egoless world of total merging.
Mental consciousness brings about the unfoldment of perspectival, directed thinking and thus the objectifying and measuring of the world from which man now breaks loose, keeping his distance and representing the world as his own opposite. Man steps out of the sheltering, two-dimensional circle and its confines into three-dimensional space. Here he no longer exists within polar complementarity; here he is in confrontation with an alien world — a dualism ... . Here we can no longer speak of unity, correspondence, or complementarity, not to mention integrality. This situation is the prerequisite for conquering and exploiting the world, for measuring and analyzing it, for splitting it up and categorizing it as environment (Um-welt), Old and New World, First, Second, Third, Fourth World, etc.
After observing and measuring the world from mental distance, man is led back into her womb through integral consciousness; at present he deliberately and responsibly re-integrates into the cosmic unity which he gradually left - actually, had to leave - in the course of his consciousness evolution and individuation. As opposed to magic consciousness, however, the current integrative process will weave him into the world along with the knowledge of himself and his relationship to his surroundings which he has gained in the meantime. We are dealing with the bringing about of an integrum, i.e., the re-establishment of the inviolate and pristine state of origin by incorporating the wealth of all subsequent achievement.
(Italics refer to quotes from Gebser's work The Ever-Present Origin; speculative illustrations by Daroy Lin)
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