Part. 8.
The Relation of Structures and States
One way of looking at the evidence thus far is to say, as a heuristic device,
that states of consciousness (with their correlative bodies or realms)
contain various structures of consciousness. For example, the waking state
can contain the preoperational structure, the concrete operational structure,
the formal operational structure, and so on. In Vedanta, these structures or
levels of consciousness are known as the koshas (or sheaths). For Vedanta,
the three major bodies/states support five major structures. The subtle body,
experienced in the dream state (and the bardo realm, savikalpa samadhi,
etc.), is said to support three major koshas or consciousness structures--the
pranamayakosha (élan vital), the manomayakosha (conventional mind), and the
vijnanamayakosha (higher and illumined mind). The gross body/waking state
supports the annamayakosha (the sheath made of food, or the physical mind),
and the causal body/formless state supports the anandamayakosha (the sheath
or consciousness structure made of bliss, or the transcendent mind).The
reason that both Vedanta and Vajrayana maintain this is that, for example,
each night when you dream (when you are in the subtle body), you have access
to at least three major structures (you can experience sexual élan vital [the
pranamayakosha], mental images and symbols [manomayakosha], and higher or
archetypal mind [vijnanamayakosha]--i.e., the dream state can contain all
three of those levels/structures), but you do not experience the gross body,
the sensorimotor realm, or the gross physical world--those are not directly
present. In the dream you are phenomenologically existing in a subtle body
experiencing the (three) consciousness structures supported by that subtle
body and contained in that state.In short, any given broad state of
consciousness (such as waking or dreaming) can contain several different
structures (or levels) of consciousness. These structures, levels, or waves,
as earlier suggested, span the entire spectrum, and include many of those
structure-stages that have been so extensively studied by western
developmental psychologists, such as the structure-stages of moral,
cognitive, and ego development (e.g., Cook-Greuter, 1990; Gilligan, 1990;
Graves, 1970; Kegan, 1983; Kohlberg, 1981; Loevinger, 1976; Piaget, 1977;
Wade, 1996). When, for example, Spiral Dynamics (a psychological model
developed by Beck and Cowan [1996], based on the research of Clare Graves)
speaks of the red meme, the blue meme, the orange meme, and so on, those are
structures (levels) of consciousness.Why are all these seemingly trivial
distinctions important? One reason is that recognizing the difference between
states of consciousness and structures of consciousness allows us to
understand how a person at any structure or stage of development can
nevertheless have a profound peak experience of higher and transpersonal
states--for the simple reason that everybody wakes, dreams, and sleeps (and
thus they have access to these higher states and realms of subtle and causal
consciousness, no matter how "low" their general stage or level of
development might be). However, the ways in which individuals experience and
interpret these higher states and realms will depend largely on the level (or
structure) of their own development. We will return to this important point
in a moment.
The title of this section conveys a sense of certainty and scientific
exactitude that simply cannot be asserted.
The structure under discussion is a construction of Wilber's based upon the
distillation of core texts. The primary nature of the core texts is displayed
at great length without any in depth exploration of the individual texts
themselves.
Relationships between each core text are highlighted out of cultural context.
The danger with adopting such a wide sweeping 'cross-cultural' over view of
large swathes of Western and Eastern texts is completely dismissed with
blithe disregard for academic integrity.
Part. 9. follows.
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