Interlude Circumambulating the Fourth Dimension
Here we present four additional papers - a series within a series that takes us on a guided detour, a spin through psychological hyperspace. All of a sudden, somewhere between the 8th and 9th papers in this seven-part series - The Enneagram as Mandala - we find ourselves on totally new ground, with a need to delve more deeply into matters that are critical for coming to grips with the spiritual approach with which most readers will be least familiar - the 'path of realization'. Herein we gather the remaining conceptual tools necessary for the successful completion of our journey.
What follows is a brief description of the four papers in this sub-series -
How Many Facets Can a Non-Existent Jewel Have? - Three Path-of-Realization Tales. On closer inspection we see that the 'spiritual' qualities are windows on psychological hyperspace, and not at all like the 'qualities' that objects in our mundane world possess. They are quintessential paradoxes, the characterological riddles on which our personalities are founded. The WIZARD OF
OZ, the CONFERENCE OF BIRDS, and the KING AND THE CORPSE.
Picking Ourselves Up By Our Bootstraps - Non-linear Nesting Orders in Myth and Ritual. The liminocentric structure of consciousness manifests in myth and ritual as nested storylines that loop back on themselves, and
in synecdoche, the 'master trope'(or figure of speech). These two are related,
and as human beings we utilize both in order to become creators of our own worlds.
Implications of the work of Mary Doniger O'Flaherty on Indian myth, and
cultural anthropologist Terence Turner.
Taking (Hyper)Action in Lucid Dreams - the 'Enneagram of
Paradigm Shifting' and the 'Enneagram of Self and Ego'. In preparation for taking action from a Hyper-perspective, we must turn mundane consciousness 'inside out'.
That which looks like 'conflict', 'contradiction', and 'anomaly' in a lower-reality, when embraced as 'riddle', 'archetype' and 'mystery', can turn LUCID the dream in which we find ourselves. What practical steps can we take in order to do this? Using the Enneagram to model the psychology of the 'personal paradigm shift' and the transition from an Ego-centered personality to one centered on the 'Self', we extrapolate from the work of Gregory Scott Sparrow on lucid dreaming to arrive at an understanding of the kind of 'affirmations' that would be necessary for an individual to affect such profound change.
This 'inner circuit' of papers may seem to threaten to take us far afield. Think of it, however, not as an obstacle, but as one last rest-stop on the journey to our goal. Superfluous, indeed. But satisfying. And it actually prefigures our conclusion,
and makes it more easily accessible in the long run. What looks like a circuitous route can sometimes turn out, after all, to be a shortcut.
|
