Go Beyond the Mind
After a short hiatus in her series of reflections, Cynthia Bourgeault continues with a new post drawing upon Jean Gebser’s Ever Present Origin and his perspectives on Integral consciousness.
Go Beyond the Mind, LESSON 13
When I say that the ability to access and sustain the Integral structure of consciousness is developmental, I mean just that: it is fundamentally a question of physiology, rather than of moral virtue or mystical yearning. We cannot think, pray, meditate, or conceptualize our way to it. It is fundamentally a matter of preparing the entire body to receive it. To embody it.
The Abkhazian-born Kebzeh teacher Murat Yagan once commented: “Spiritual practice is fundamentally about strengthening the nervous system.” I believe he is 100% correct here, and that the failure to recognize the full implications of his observation has been the largest single impediment to would-be-integralists trying to till the inner ground for this emergent new structure of consciousness. As in the classic case of the word “repentance” (metanoia in the original Greek, noia being “mind” and meta being “greater than” or “beyond”), what’s actually being asked for here is not to “think differently,” but to “go beyond the mind.”
… what’s actually being asked for here is not to “think differently,” but to “go beyond the mind.“
Cynthia’s newest reflection is part 13 in an unfolding series. You can find links to all prior posts in this series at the bottom of the page here.
Jean Gebser (1905-1973) was a German-Swiss philosopher, linguist, and poet, best known for his theories on how humans transition through particular ‘structures of consciousness’. Cynthia recommends the book Seeing Through the World by Jeremy Johnson, as helpful introduction to Gebser’s foundational work.
