this system describes the totality of life experiences possible for any person who lives in a socialized mass, in a reductionist sense. its what happens when people live communually.
everyone will find their place on the 'map', because this is the way life 'plays out'. there is no reality outside of it at this point in so called 'time'.
aligning the mind with systems that describe the whole may cause spontaneous awakening
please observe the limitations (in a reductionist sense) of so called ego based existence :)
consensus
in these 3 stages the views, values and beliefs the individual has are a total reflection of the society they are born into. they have no desire to cross reference their social beliefs with the beliefs of other societies. e.g. if they were born into a society that held the view 'all alcohol is bad for you', being taught this as a child by their parents - they would grow up believing that 'all alcohol is bad'. there is no need for experimentation outside the social / familial norms. they believe what they are told and find their purpose through authority structures. these people correlate to the 'conformist' and 'ritualist' of robert k merton's theory of anomie and social structure. they make up the largest majority of any social mass. these are the people who insist that you must: vote, go to church, go to school, love the queen, eat 5 fruit and veg a day, etc.. their identity is drawn from the world around them - they have no identity, or views of their own
1) in the first stage the person's view of life is pretty similar to the drone of a beehive, or the working ant. work is the purpose of life. the service offered here is for the society at large, at the level of the product line. they have no desire to rise to higher positions in their work related role. they work as a means to survive. they have no appreciation for the creativity, or individuality of those who are reflected by the individuated, or spiritual stages (the last statement rings true for all the conformist stages). people born into the individuated stages who have parents / families in the conformist stage, find their identity by rebelling from their parents views, values and beliefs - which for various reasons is a painful process.
people in all the conformist stages view relationships through the filter of the societies / beliefs of how men and women should relate to eachother. the man and woman have distinct roles and do not act outside of the parts they are 'supposed to' play. e.g. the woman will cook, clean and be an extension of the man's desires. homosexuality, or bi-sexuality will be seen as something that is wrong (if the religious beliefs the society has adopted state this, the people in this stage will reflect it).
2) in the second stage (as reflected by the symbol) the person desires to rise to a higher position in the society they are born into. their beliefs, views, etc are still an extension of that society and they have no desire to change things. they (like stage 1) may complain about the way things are from time to time, but will not have any creative ideas on how to make changes to cause a happier life for themselves, neither will they accept the creative ideas of others that can cause a revolution in the way things are. they will acknowledge education as a way to improve their position. they will attend universities as a way to attain this education. their view of others increases when they find out what type of degree that person holds. they want marriage, children, stable work, a holiday every year, etc..
a woman in this stage may don a 'power suit' and adopt a masculine persona in the office as a way to gain respect from her colleagues.
3) this person holds 'power' in the societies terms. it is here we find owners of large corporations, franchises, etc. this stage can also reflect the people who attend, or a part of institutions that are deemed 'superior' in their country of origin and around the world (amongst people who are in the conformist stage in different countries) these institutions are educational in nature and are seen to be elitist in some way.
a person in the conformist stages 2 and 3 would desire for their children to attend one of these institutions. the person who attends these places would be very proud of their achievement (their view of themself is gained through what the society says).
these people have knowledge of how society 'works' and because of this, are able to take charge. they are the managing directors, prime ministers, celebrities, and so on
as is seen by the symbol representing the 3rd stage of conformity, the journey 'upwards' never ends..
a note, in the book dark eros - thomas moore speaks of how the dictates of and conformity to the moral codes of a civilized society causes a compression within the still very active primal brain and how this compression is causing a distortion of our natural desires. these distorted desires are reflected by people who belong to any stage of individual experience. it is the part that most people suppress and are ashamed of - it is the part carl jung called the shadow
guilt gained through the idea of deviation is a large part of the conformist stage, it may however be most intense in the first stage of the individuated experience of life..
individuated
in the individuated stage, the person desires to find their identity irrespective of how they have been taught by the society / family at large - they desire to learn to think for themselves. the first 2 stages are traumatic, as the person is forced out of their comfort zone, which represents normality - family, security, nationality, racial identity, gender role, relationships in general.. it is where a person learns what they want through engaing in what they dont want. obviously, this process denotes the fact that this person does not yet know who they are. this knowledge doesnt tend to be known until the 3rd stage of individuation. the individuated stage is potentially extremely eruptive and volatile, but their are also great gifts to be found within
1) in the first stage, the person feels internally that they do not resonate with the ideals that are promulgated from the conformist's experience of life, not knowing how and 'why' they feel this way, 'causes' them to live a facade amongst their family and peers. externally, they adopt the life of someone who holds conformist views - in private life they will begin research into a different way of thought and action. their double life is lived through fear of judgement and reprisal from those who are in the conformist stage.
the person in this and the second stage find a sense of belonging in groups, which in some way 'protect' them from the reprisals of the conformist stage. in the first stage the group activity will be kept 'secret' from their friends and family who belong to some level of conformity. this is a very traumatic stage - it is where the family and society at large punish the individual for being different (causing the double life).
ive recently been working with people from eritrea, who were persecuted / tortured in their country of origin for holding christian beliefs (eritrea as a country only acknowledges islam). all of these people belong to the first stage of individuation, you can imagine the psychologial state that underpins this stage.
a note: these eritrean people have found themselves in this country and are reflecting the first stages of individuation. as a support worker, it is expected that myself and those who do the same work, help these people find positions of security within this country - effectively creating conformists out of them (the people who write policies are 3rd stage conformists and have no understanding of the deeper cyclical process of life). although, this is a christian country (which resonates with the beliefs of the eritrean people) the only way forward for these people is through the stages of individuation and not 'backwards' to the conformist stage (as they belong to the individuated stage). travelling backwards will only cause all that they have worked for to fall into meaninglessness at some point. we only find comfort through progression, however, most find it difficult to move into the unknown. the way i have dealt with the eritrean people is to subtly point towards the development of their 'individual' traits / characteristics / gifts.
the following is true for all stages of experience, progression through each stage is not easy for most and is often denoted by the life being lived seeming completely meaningless. the person often becomes depressed. it is through the depression that the new ideas reflecting the next stage emerge. as the 1st stage of individuation progresses to the 2nd stage, the ideas that emerge is the relativity of all life from all points of view..
2) in the 2nd stage the person is angry, this anger is directed towards the society at large and is great fuel for the journey that this person goes on to gain a greater understanding of life from as many different view points possible (as denoted in the symbol) - an understanding of the relativity of all life is what this person is beginning to attain. the anger also helps this person rebel and retract from the beliefs, morals, views, etc that they have picked up from the consensus. although they believe the rebellion to be complete, most of these people still hold some consensus views and may never totally rebel from them all. as was said earlier, a total picture of their identity is not yet attained at this point and for this reason there (in most cases) will not be a total plunge into the abyss. this person has many different ideas on how society can function in a different way, most of these ideas have been gleaned from writers who have been inspired in some way. people in the 2nd individuated stage recite the works of those who have been inspired by visions of a different social order, the people denoted by this stage do not have revolutionary ideas of their own. they are inherently directed to join groups, this is where they find their identity. this gives rise to certain political, hierichical and rebellious behaviours within said groups. on the outside this person looks and sounds like a rebel and is liberal in their outlook, those who are close to them (if only for a short while) will observe that they hold conservative (conformist) views, as they still partially resonate with the consensus, which in most cases (if they are strong enough to admit it) would horrify them. this resonance with the consensus views that are so anathema to them is the cause for rebellion, not realizing that what they most want to rebel from is themself, causes them to 'attack' the reflection of these traits they see in the outside world. i.e the person who gleanes as many conspiracy theories possible, totally conforming to the ideas that they have been told attacks the society for being sheep. when looking closer into the lives of these followers of conspiracy theories, it is often seen that they are working in positions that have no meaning to them, they have in some way surrendered to authorities they do not care for and are afraid to take the plunge into fulfilling their desires through their own creative efforts. this is a very angry and polarized person. polarized from the society at large and potentially polarized from the groups they 'belong' to. if they rebel from one group they will quickly find another group in which they find their belonging. alternating from group to group, is a way to find their identity through knowing what they are not.
all people in the second stage of individuation are highly idealistic and tie their 'success' to the achievement of their ideals.
every revolution that has been staged by these people has lead their group of followers into a puddle of shit and played directly into the hands of the system they have tried to rebel from - hahaha, because again, they have failed to comprehend the deeper processes of life - here the blind have led the blind
all people in the 2nd stage do not respect people who have no desire to travel, or study and understand the relativity of life. they project their own needs onto others and expect (conformity) their own needs to be reflected by the outside world.
the amount of information some of these people pick up can cause them to have a sense of the relativity of all life. these people may not have any desire to join groups and will not be able to align with any one system of thought. this person may be a loner. when this loner archetype becomes active the next stage of individuation is about to take form..
3) this is the prometheun. it is at this stage that the individual, through retracting from all 'external' focus and activity becomes inspired, by the knowledge that they are the thing which must change. this 'inspiration' can take many forms, the consistent thread amongst these people is reflected by the gandhi quote 'be the change you want to see in the world'. this stage, by and large, reflects the person who has in their possesion and can capitalize on some form of genius. this person has the innate capacity and ability to transform and revolutionize anything they put their minds to. this inspiration can make some of these people aware of the cycles of life as have been reflected through the entirety of history. these people have magical and even electric personalities. it is not often obvious by their appearance. they are mostly always engaged in private, personal projects, if they are not too dissilusioned with life - dissilusionment at this stage reflects a belief that is left reverberating from the 2nd stage of individuation, if one of these people is not willing to act on their innate gifts and abilities, it means that they have not fully stepped into the void and are in some way still holding onto some past wound. they need to step into meaninglessness and depression, retracting from the outside world is the doorway to the inspiration.
some of these people become inspired through meditation, or some form of spiritual practice - they become enlightened to the nature of themself.
the largest amount of people in society belong to the consensus. this amount decreases through the individuated and spiritual stages.
simply put:
consensus = 70 %
individuated = 25%
spiritual = 5%
very rough statistics
the concept of time can break down for these people. in the conformist stage the person views time as a means for productivity, which they see as work as a means for survival. from the 3rd stage of individuation onwards through the spiritual stages, the person has an expanded view of time and space. this is how einstein managed to conceptualize these 2 in a different way..
extremely creative and able to see things in a totally different way to those in the consensus and earlier individuated stages. this person serves as an inspiration to others in society. their work is always based on their innate gifts, which have not been taught to them - they simply 'have them'.
summary: this person is inspirational, revolutionary, steels fire from the 'gods' and brings it back to society to make change.
the person in the 2nd stage is totally polarized from society, because of their beliefs. in the 3rd stage, the person is engaged in work for the benefit of society and may take up any position within that same social structure. they are in the world, but not of the world. again, their persona may mask the unusual and revolutionary ideas this person has. they often go unnoticed - they have enormous potential. there may be a brief fling with spirituality, but they will always return to themselves as the final authority.
spiritual stage of experience
it is important to distinguish between spirituality and religion. religion belongs to the consensus, the religious person has not yet stepped through the phases of individuation and is therefore still 'commanded' by dogma. the spiritual person engages in practices that inform them of this phase of reality, they always cross reference information they receive against their own intuition, rather than simply having blind faith.
1) as said earlier, the progression from one stage to the next is denoted by meaningless and even depression. in the 3rd stage, the person's desires are seen through the needs of their ego. in the spiritual stage the person begins to feel very small in relation to the collective, they may attribute this feeling as a response to a 'calling'.
humility begins to take the place and they in some form desire to 'serve' others.
many people who are actually in the individuated stages believe themselves to be spiritual. the reason for this, is that their ego's have been so traumatized by the individuation process that they turn to spiritual teachings in order to find a reason for the 'un-deserved' suffering. they also turn to spirituality to 'heal' the wounds they believe have been caused by this suffering. the point is, the suffering and 'dissilusionment' which follows, is the basis for them to find their identity away from the consensus state. you can always tell that this type of person is travelling through the individuated stages, because they will not yet fully have comprehensive knowledge of their own identity and will not be able to self actualize their life based on their own desires. there always exists the fear of some external authority, be that the judgement of others, or what might happen if they throw all caution to the wind and left everything behind - starting a new life from fresh.
in the first spiritual stage, the person desires to serve others and does not expect anything in return. they deserve to 'purify' their ego from the 'distorted desires' mentioned earlier, which are inherent to the ego (the shadow side). this process can begin in the 3rd stage of individuation (be the change you want to see in the world) note: many people recite that gandhi quote - the difference between them and 3rd stage indivuation / 1st stage spiritual, is that these people live it.
3rd stage individuation and 1st stage spiritual, in various degrees have some innate psychic capacity. the selfless service and spiritual practices of 1st stage spiritual people develop this 'ability' to a greater extent. these people also begin to have visions which seem to explain to them the nature of what is deemed as the 'g' word
2) the person in the 2nd stage can start to attract followers, because of what they seem to know about reality, 'god' and the souls journey through the ages. in every case i have seen this person has been directed by their ego. they may have moments of true inspiration (spiritual), but it is always seen that they either need their 'followers' to prop their ego up in some way, and / or are i suppose, fake guru's. the thing is, all truth is communicated at the level of the thinking mind, be it here or anywhere else. the basis of 'reality' is not the product of the thinking mind, nor is it dependent upon the person who can abstract 'truth'. truth is the need of the mind which thinks. its meaning is the communication itself. it can go no further than this. i think that spirituality is the ego's procession from chaos to peace. it is a way of developing the character so that the person cannot be harmed by life's circumstances (which of itself is fair enough). the person in the 2nd spiritual stage is the master of character development, they can understand in a second, the deepest needs of those they come into contact with and reflect those needs back to them. it is in this way they gain followers. their followers are usually dissilussioned / traumatized and seeking validation in some way. this person is happy to validate them, because they are validated in return. the product of the union between spiritual master and follower is greater spiritual gifts, like psychic ability, visions, manifestations, healing ability, etc..
as shown in the symbol, these people oscillate between spiritual unison they 'believe' to be outside of this reality and ego based needs inside this reality (in the form of the need for validation from others). the unison outside of this reality still only happens in the mind. there is no outside, or inside - only the same thing assuming different forms i.e. the 'you' who 'thinks' theyre reading 'this' and the me who 'apparentely' wrote it
every process from consensus to spiritual is directed by the ego. from the consensus to individuated stages - the ego is their own. in the spiritual stage - the ego is called 'god'. freud nabbed this in his description of superego. as he aptly noted, the more you follow the superego's wishes, the more guilty it makes you. i only see guilt as the need for people to wish to become 'pure'. that purity is attained in the next stage of individual experience
3) this is the person who reflects some form of 'cosmic consciousness'. whether people believe in a deity or not, (i do not) is completely irrelevant if you are one of the rare few to meet one of these people. they are the essence of humility, they dont seem to need sex, this form of sexual ascetism is not based on the suppression of their desires - the desire for sexual expression simply does not exist in them. this person, it seems does not possess the distortions expressed by the shadow side of the persona, but they totally accept the person that does. they see everything as a manifestation of. they possess the spiritual magic we hear about in myths. if you ever meet a person in this stage, it will change the way you think about everything
theres not much more i can say about this person.
i learnt this description of life from a system of esoteric astrology a few years ago, although simplified - the facts stated here should obviously seem true to the person reading. i have adapted it in several ways in order to explain it in a way that can be expressed to people who do not use astrological language. i woke up one morning with the symbols in my head and they seem to fit. there is one stage that this esoteric system has not recognised - which is the system playing out as itself. it was believed by the man i learnt it from that each person progresses from consensus to spiritual over large periods of evolutionary time (from life to life). i dont see this. this system reflects the ego's transition between states, yes, but a person doesnt have to travel from consensus to spiritual to become enlightened / liberated. liberation / enlightenment can happen at any stage. if liberation / awakening happened at 2nd stage consensus, it would leave the system playing out by itself, without any person acting within that stage, or any other for that matter. the spiritual person 'thinks' they have attained a higher stage of evolution to the individuating person, but this only exposes their ignorance - the system plays itself out and has nothing to do with the actions of any individual 'inside' it. a description of liberation could be made in this way - simply remove anything personal and add no story to what has been said:
its not that i swim, but
it is possible for a person to swim in the system of life.
a person can die in the game of life.
anything that happens is the system playing itself out.
everything that happens is the system playing itself out.
also, a further adaption is the application of the symbols. i realised that they can be used as an oracle to answer questions to 'problems' that people in the various stages may find they have at any point of their lives. the answer can be found by analyzing the symbol directly to the right of the one that represents the problem. i.e, if you look at the symbol representing 2nd stage individuated and see that the problem is not knowing in which direction to turn to achieve something. the 'answer' attained by analyzing the next stage is to stay in one place, with no interruption. the direction to take will be intuited, you should then follow this intuition to the completion of the desire it represents.
i also think that an analysis of this system alongside the symbols will increase the intuitive faculties of the person who works with it, but i cant really be bothered to test it further
peace
