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Integral World: Exploring Theories of Everything
An independent forum for a critical discussion of the integral philosophy of Ken Wilber
Lexi Neale studied in 1966-1969, B.Sc. Zoology and Psychology, London University. In 1972 he met his Master, Prem Rawat, in India. He is still with him doing Integral Practice. As an Enlightenment Master, Prem Rawat teaches a time-honored Integral Practice that he calls Knowledge of the Self – as in Know the Knower. It involves deep absorption meditation practice (First Person), listening to guidance from the Master (Second Person), and participating in service (Third Person). Lexi Neale is affiliated with The Prem Rawat Foundation, an award winning charity providing aid for the relief of human suffering. Contact tprf.org and wordsofpeaceglobal.org (wopg.org), and [email protected].
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EVOLUTION A SECOND TIER VIEW
Lexi Neale
In each case, there is a “Something” behind it all, some Kosmic Mystery - and no harm in that. Except that it leaves us none the wiser.
It seems my mission of late is to upgrade Integral Theory to Second Tier by means of a Second Tier model called the AQAL Cube, as opposed to Wilber's AQAL Square. The dimensional shift to a third axis, and a subsequent additional set of Quadrants, is in differentiating AQAL physical locality (AQAL Square) from AQAL non-physical, non-locality to form an AQAL Cube. AQAL non-locality is the dimension of Consciousness, as a non-local reality co-existent and co-evolving with this AQAL local reality we call Life. In my ongoing dialogue with Ken and other Integral Scholar luminaries, some progress is being made in that they no longer dismiss me out of hand; there is too much Second Tier progress being made in Quantum Consciousness research and Noetics for them to do so. Nevertheless, “the natives are restless” and issues such as this need resolution.
Quantum Consciousness research is providing overwhelming evidence that Consciousness is non-local, and interacts with locality to create Life-forms. My argument is that Wilber's AQAL (Life) Square is in flatland, because it does not include co-existent co-evolving AQAL Consciousness. And for good reason: The AQAL Square is perfectly valid as a First Tier model. I am a fan of Ken as long as he makes no pretensions that his AQAL Square is nothing other than a First Tier model. What, then, makes the AQAL Cube Second Tier? It is because in First Tier, non-local AQAL Consciousness is fused with its local AQAL counter-part called Mind. AQAL Mind is the local enactment of non-local AQAL Consciousness. The First Person AQAL Cube is the first time that Consciousness has been phenomenologically differentiated from Mind. My full argument for all this is to be found in three successive papers: “A Meta-Theory of Integral Relativity”, “Decoding Quantum Consciousness” and “AQAL Cube Octo-Dynamics” (see end). The latter paper identifies the areas of Integral First Tier flatland, and ends with showing how Integral Theory's view of Evolution is a First Tier view. What, then, is the Second Tier view of Evolution?
“Evolution”, as it is debated conventionally AND Integrally, is always about evolution in this local, physical universe. Admittedly, the Integral debate does extend the issue to evolving through the Spectrum of Consciousness, but only in the context of First Tier awareness as physical Life/Mind processes. Even though Ken's Spectrum of Consciousness extends to Subtle and Causal Levels, our evolution into these higher Levels of awareness is nevertheless physically “explained” in the AQAL Square context of fulcrums (UL), correlated physical structures (UR), in Cultural (LL) and Social (LR) awareness.
All this, of course, is a classic, be it Integral, view of the organic evolution of Life-forms into greater awareness, which is the result of sentient individuals living incrementally more progressive (complex) lives that their progressive offspring, in turn, take incrementally further. This says a lot for the evolution of AQAL physical structures, but says little about the evolution of the individual awareness beyond the context of the single life of that individual. As a result of all this vagueness in trying to “explain” any purpose to this individual process, as a part of “explaining” evolution overall, is a problem that has existed for as long as evolutionary theory itself: Some “engine” of progress has to be invented that drives the whole thing along. Religions say it is a “God” etc; Philosophy says it is a “Primum Mobile” etc; Science says it is “Entropic” etc; the Arts say it is a microcosmic inspiration to emulate the macrocosm. In each case, there is a “Something” behind it all, some Kosmic Mystery - and no harm in that. Except that it leaves us none the wiser.
In First Tier awareness there is no end to this debate, and for good reason: First Tier Mind (local) has not yet differentiated from First Tier Consciousness (non-local), and is fused to physicality. First Tier Mind therefore cannot prehend Consciousness. First Tier Mind, as a fulcrum construct, disintegrates in the death of the individual organism. As a result, the First Tier debate addresses the evolution of physical forms that are born and that die. In Second Tier, however, it is a whole new ballgame. In the first paper of my trilogy, “A Meta-Theory of Integral Relativity”, the Second Tenet of Integral Relativity states: “Consciousness cannot be created or destroyed, but can be transformed from one state to another”. In other words, the evolutionary debate in Second Tier is about the continuity of Consciousness as the co-evolution of the non-local Knower, the experiencer, aka Consciousness. Second Tier Consciousness realizes that it is the AQAL Consciousness monad that inhabits those physical forms, and that has evolutionary continuity from life to life. Without that evolutionary continuity of the individual Consciousness monad, the evolution of Life-forms per se makes little sense. Even Wilber's First Tier Integral model, in making no allowance for the co-evolution of non-local AQAL Consciousness, has to try to explain the physical evolution of Life-forms in the vague spiritual terminology of “Eros” and “Agape” drives, which advance the debate no further than any other Primum Mobile “explanation”.
In Second Tier, Evolution is a non-issue: The origin of Life is Consciousness.
In Second Tier, Evolution is a non-issue: The origin of Life is Consciousness. The individual Consciousness monad evolves through the Spectrum of Consciousness, from proto-consciousness to Pure Consciousness, via the correlated Life forms it intends and inhabits through the Spectrum of Energy. The imperative for the non-local Consciousness monad to evolve via local Energy vehicles, from the survival imperative to the Enlightenment imperative, is simply the imperative to complete that most natural of cycles called a return to the Source. The Ocean sends a droplet of water up in a cloud of unknowing with a request: “Bring me back the wealth of your experience”. In other words, the true engine of evolution is not so much somewhere “out there” as “in here” regarding each individual's awareness, for whom the best survival advantage is an expanding awareness. The evolution of a culture, of a species, depends on the evolution of its individuals, and an evolving Consciousness makes this a non-local issue.
Local (physical) evolution is about experiential change towards complexity, such as that of an evolving human Enlightenment vehicle. Non-local evolution is about the evolution of the correlated clarity of Consciousness, as the AQAL Knower. Either way, the co-evolution of Mind and Consciousness is the imperative of Form, or Existence, to return to Formlessness. This is the true engine of evolution.
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