4.51 General Principles

If creativity is the intuitive level of syntaxic conceptualization of the junction between the ego and the numinous element, the first dawning of complete cognitive understanding we have called orthocognition. Orthocognition is the understanding of the principles enunciated in sections 4.1 on the collective preconscious and the "three illusions" especially those concerning the relationship between the individual ego and the numinous element, and their acceptance as a working hypothesis. Orthocognition is much like Maslow's B-cognition. It is a map of the psychic terrain, and an awareness that such relationships exist. It is the first step in the conscious control of the generalized preconscious. The word is compounded from "ortho" (correct) and cognition (in the Guilford sense) "to know that something exists."

Orthocognition involves the realization and visualization that numinous relationships exist. In other words, orthocognition is like having a correct map of the territory you are traversing in your mind; both would be helpful in not getting lost. While we have coined the word for use mainly with the great and overwhelming relationship between

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man's conscious ego and the numinous element, orthocognition in a smaller sense extends to any construct more useful than the one it replaces. Thus, the Copernician theory represents an advance of orthocognition over the Ptolemaic, Mendeleev's Periodic table an advance of orthocognition over the Four Elements theory, and the Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court has many orthocognitive insights over his superstition-ridden friends.

The mere knowledge that something exists, and the correct visualization of one's relationship to it, does much to remove superstitions and fear, and to put one on the right track in thinking.

Orthocognition is no more than this, - a first step in the syntaxic realm. Orthocognition has two aspects: a) knowledge that the numinous element exists, and b) visualization of our relationship to it, and the consequences thereof. Knowledge that the numinous element exists may be expressed in the following hypothesis. It appears to us as:
 

1. An all-powerful, impersonal, immaterial force without characteristics or form and without will;
2. Existing outside of time and space, but available to us as a suggestible medium in a hierarchy of altered states of consciousness;
3. Having responsibility for the welfare and survival of all life generally, and specifically for the development and self-concept of man;
4. Receptive to cognitive will, as is a computer terminal when the proper order is encoded, and executing that will in a machine-like impersonal, uncognized, and sometimes unexpected manner, quickly, accurately, impartially, inexorably, appropriately, elegantly, and completely.

 
1. The phenomenological world is only a partial reality.
2. Man's nature is such that he can intuit the noumenon.
3. He can therefore develop and eventually identify with Divinity.
4. This process is the chief end of man's life.

Let us imagine that a man has been knocked unconscious and then thrown into a dark dungeon so that when he comes to he is in utter blackness. His successive levels of awareness will provide an analogy to our own developing orthocognition of ultimate reality.
 

At level zero the man is not conscious.
At level one he is barely conscious and does not know where he is.
At level two he is conscious of being somewhere in an enclosed space, but because of his concussion he does not have memory of whence he came.

At level three he has explored his enclosed space and concluded that he is a prisoner within it; moreover he begins to remember that he was once outside.
Finally at level four, he recognizes the fact of his present condition, namely that he is a prisoner in a dungeon whose doors and dimensions he knows. He now remembers fully what freedom is like outside, and is beginning to formulate plans to escape.

Knowledge is power, and orthocognitive knowledge of the relationship between the conscious mind and the numinous element leads at once to power. This power must (like all tools) be used carefully and wisely. Basically the power involves the orthocognitive recognition of our relationship to the numinous element, and our visualization of this relationship as "accomplish" (we use the untensed verb form to impress in the reader's mind that this action "take" place outside of time). Since the action "lie" outside of time in the "durative topocosm" (an infinity of potential events), our visualization of it as having occurred, occurring, and being about to occur provides the nourishment to make the seed idea germinate and manifest in the physical world of space/time. (Notice how similar is the action of the Hopi Indian in the rain dance, when he performs a similar enactive representation to make manifest a hoped-for-future event which is within his heart.)

The application of our relationship to the numinous element, and the consequences thereof, may be visualized in strengthening self-concept in seven vital areas:
 

1. my body and physical health
2. my wealth and possessions
3. my loved ones
4. my work and avocation
5. my interests, associations, and social relationships
6. my creations, my gifts to the society
7. my state, nation, culture, and world, especially regarding peace and prosperity.

Each of these areas represents an expansion of self-concept away from egocentricity in the direction of freedom and altruism. Together they cover the totality of self-concept which in turn (since it represents the ego's view of itself) is directly enriched and nourished by the

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numinous element. Hence, as a consequence of our relationship to this impersonal element, we should endeavor each day to visualize whatever aspect of self-concept we want to actualize as already existing now in an ideal state, and needing only our desire and will to become manifest. In other words, this part of orthocognition aids us to bring about the necessary environmental conditions for growth.

Let us be honest enough to admit that orthocognition is a low form of syntaxic conceptualization, for it is tinged with personal and selfish will. This constitutes a danger, especially that we shall be responsible for willing some event which indirectly causes trouble to ourselves or our neighbor. (No responsible person would ever be guilty of directly willing such an event.) We should endeavor to purify our minds from selfish purpose, before such an attempt and ever try to ascend the self-concept scale in visualizing as many concrete conditions at the high end as at the low end. Such scruples also suggest that orthocognition is best practiced along with meditation, which may be much more effective in removing the selfish ego. It is important to realize, however, that orthocognition is distinct from meditation, and that it has a legitimate function of promoting positive reinforcement for our continuing this growth. The laborer in the vineyard has a right to his pay, and we have a right as we progress to be protected and made comfortable in our daily lives (though we must not allow comfort to degenerate into sloth).

While the creative aspects of the mind (which indicate it is part of the noumenon) embrace all nature, the relative ease with which the power to affect the environment may be exercised, is expressed in a hierarchy of self concept going outward from the body image through the phenomenal and environmental selves to successively embrace "my body, my possessions, my relations with my loved ones, my work, my interests, my relations, my creations and my world." The easiest of these to affect and to change is of course, "my self-concept," then come events, things, and finally other persons, society, and the universe.

It is important that we understand the uses and limitations of orthocognition. As one of the initial forms of syntaxic representation of the numinous element, it represents a way station to aid in our developmental progress, not a form to be cherished forever. Specifically it has the disadvantage of looking at the universe in terms of the welfare of the personal ego or self-concept and of the modification of that environment for the benefit of the personal ego. Since the concept of the personal ego is itself an illusion, one may well ask what if any benefits are gained by compounding an illusory process. The interim benefits are that the self-concept develops through

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orthocognition from a lesser "my" to a greater "my" (as in going along the hierarchy from "my body" to "my world"). This gradual movement from egocentricity to freedom is truly developmental and encourages ego-diffusion; it also has the advantage of helping the ego to feel secure during such an operation; the reduction of anxiety is a helpful step in such a progression. The danger is the usual one in developmental progress, namely that any one stage may prove so tempting that one willingly remains there instead of pushing on. If there be two roads to reality, one through the desert of self-denial and mortification and the other in a milk-and-honey land of delight, the austere path offers less temptation to dally than the comfortable one. The stages of self-concept interest in orthocognition are stages to be gradually surmounted, for every "my" that ties the ego to ownership or association delays development. The wise man, therefore, will realize orthocognition for what it is, an interim device, particularly suitable for us westerners for the gradual transcendence of self-concept by applying it more and more to the environmental self, and less and less to the personal self.

The power of orthocognition is akin to the power of the dreamer in the lucid dream. Both help us become aware that we are dreaming and that the dream world we inhabit in the daytime is not more real than the dream world we inhabit asleep. Since both are dreams, we may expect that mental causes may change the percepts we "see" awake just as they change the dream percepts. It is this awareness that the perceptual world is not "loose and separate," but a product of collective consciousness and hence, changeable by mental means that is the freeing orthocognitive construct.

We have discussed orthocognition as if it were always a deliberate and conscious attempt at control of the environment through visualization in the syntaxic mode, but we must note for completeness that there are many instances of such visualizations in other modes in which, without realizing that he is doing so, the individual sets in motion the same kind of archetype or mental picture which eventuates in a manifest material state or event.

For the human mind is not merely endowed (as part of the noumenon) with the power to cognize nature, it is also endowed with the power to design nature. The end objective of consciousness is not mere experience but reification. Whether we realize it or not, our thoughts affect the plastic numinous element which tends (unless prevented by other thoughts) to transform these thoughts into events. This is the secret of the self-fulfilling prophecy, for what a man can predict or visualize is (to use Koko's words) "As good as done already." As Pearce (1973:11) states: "Thinking is a shaping force in reality."

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Life is like being stunned then put into a strait jacket then dropped from a great height with a parachute. The problem is one first has to come to, then get out of the straitjacket, then activate the parachute. When consciousness is imprisoned in space, time, and personality, it is put into this position. Orthocognition is the first dawning of consciousness that it is in this fix (i.e. like the lucid dreamer that he is having a dream). Then the problem is to get out of the situation and not be beguiled by all of its allurements. Like Apollo, we are set in a great chariot for a swing through the heavens. But will consciousness reap the regard of this journey through space and time, or will there be only the usual Pussycat's report?

Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been?
I've been to London to visitthe Queen.
Pussycat, pussycat what did you there?
I frightened a little mouse underherchair.

When consciousness is encased in creaturehood, it is very difficult not to be about the business of the creature. So after all the effort of going to London we may content ourselves with frightening a little mouse, rather than seeing the Queen.
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Blofeld (1970:84) calls orthocognition "visualization" and says of it:

It produces quick results by utilizing forces familiar to man only at the deeper levels of consciousness ... wherewith mind creates and animates the whole universe; ordinarily they are not ours to command, until the false ego is negated or unless we employ yogic means to transcend its bounds. . . .

It is sometimes loosely stated than an action taken in the body (orthocognition or a physical ritual, see section 3.5 last 5 paragraphs)

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activates a cosmic source, but this is an inaccurate rendition of the event. What happens is that the SI situation takes place outside of time (and hence eternally and recurrently in time), and the calling forth of the function outside of time hence projects the manifestation into time in the here and now and in the future. This process which transforms thought into action can be performed syntaxically through orthocognition by the SI procedure which works in the durative topocosm. It can also be accomplished parataxically through the ritual repetition of a formula which sets up a vibration or cycle. Both processes are like turning on a tap to release a flow of water. They do not produce the water which flows; they merely release it or bring it from posse into esse.

To program one's dreams and to program one's (dreaming awake) normal life are very similar functions. One involves creativity and the other healing; both are orthocognitive. For in both it is SI which brings design to an otherwise chaotic state.

The stages of consciousness in man go from essential animal consciousness (mere reaction to stimuli) to self-consciousness (normal formal operations and some insight) to orthocognition (with its understanding that SI is imprisoned in time, space, and personality). Finally there comes cosmic consciousness which is at first transient in the psychedelic stage and continual in the unitive.

Bruner (1962) is only one of many who have noticed that on logical grounds scientists postulate "empty categories" (like the Hamiltonian quarternions), and then science discovers contents for the category. Teilhard de Chardin pointed out that man's imagination is a creative process which carries on the universe, and Elaide (1959) sees man as free to intervene in the ontological constitution of the universe. Polanyi (1958) speaks of the "indwelled" idea which gestates in material progress. Despite these seers, most of us do not at all appreciate the power of the logos of cognitive syntaxic process in the creative process of the universe, although we have been told authoritatively, "In the beginning was the Word."

Since orthocognition is a form of mental dimensional orientation, it is related to the structure of intellect factor of spatial visualization. The ability to orient oneself in three dimensional space can be developed into the ability to orient oneself outside of space and time, and hence to possess the means for transcending the illusion they present. In the same manner as the lucid dreamer who knows that he is dreaming (and hence gains the capacity to will what he dreams), the person who is orthocognitively aware of his orientation toward ultimate reality also comes to possess the capacity to design his life (to will what he "dreams" awake). A curious corollary of this relationship of

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orthocognition to spatial visualization is that the next metaphysical Aufklarung is much more likely to come from scientists, engineers, and architects (all high in spatial relations) than from ministers, social workers, or physicians. The religious man of the future is much more likely to be in the mold of an Einstein or a Heisenberg than of the Pope or a Protestant equivalent.

Since orthocognition represents a correct view of man's relationship to the universe, or cognitive competence in advance of affective feeling, it is in effect an example of a "reverse dysplasia" (Gowan, 1974:168-70)in which the cognitive development leads the affective. These reverse dysplasias, while rare except in the able, offer an unusual opportunity for the cognitive area to "pull" emotional areas into balance with it. They also, in the case of orthocognition at least, "telegraph" the secret of psychedelia which in the past used to be revealed to mystics during an ecstatic grace. This is the meaning of the ending paragraph The Development of  thePsychedelic Individual (Gowan, 1974:251) which indicates that the psychology now has the cognitive capacity to reveal what only mystics could sense affectively.

4.52 Is Orthocognition Moral?

Magic has been defined as the use of universal powers for personal interest and it cannot be denied that orthocognition represents a syntaxic form of magic. Honesty, therefore, compels us to think very carefully whether or not it is a licit procedure. We confess candidly that no other issue in this volume has given us the concern that this one has. The issue is very grave, for if orthocognition is proscribed, then all forms of self-help including the therapies-ministries-religions of auto and mental suggestion, Christian Science, Religious Science, positive thinking, demonstration versus environment, prosperity metaphysics, Coueism, New Thought, hypnosis, Autogenic Training, autohypnosis, psychosynthesis, personality culture, and mesmerism are also illicit.²⁵
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Having reviewed the arguments pro and con in detail, it is our feeling that orthocognition is within the modern view of man's increasing control over himself and his environment. The fission of the atom represents a powerful tool which can be used for good or evil; but no one would suggest that we erase this knowledge from our culture on that account. A similar statement could be made in behalf of orthocognition. If man continues to grow in knowledge, he must continue to grow in the discretion to use that power wisely.

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Under the restraints which have been set down in this section, we believe that orthocognition may be innocently employed.

In such a grave issue, we would do well to find more authoritative sources, which fortunately are at hand. Satrem (1968:274) points out that the saint Sri Aurobindo, far from rejecting power, (even though it may often be misused), on the contrary declared that the concept of power - Shakti - is the key to his yoga:
 

It is a mistake ... to condemn Power as in itself a thing not to be accepted or sought because naturally corrupting or evil. ... Power is divine, and put here for divine use.

4.53 Orthocognition Compared

While orthocognition represents a "new" syntaxic procedure, it is not that original. It bears unmistakable relationships to Coueism, Christian Science, New Thought, Religious Science, Positive Thinking, Autogenic Training, Psychosynthesis, and several other movements. In addition, however, there are some earlier views which have such striking similarities as to require special attention.
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The first exhibit is the thought of Thomas Troward (1909) which has been somewhat explicated in Chapter 1.

Troward (1909:85) believed that it was perfectly possible to program the preconscious (which he called "subjective mind") from a completely rational state of consciousness without need of dissociation or any altered state. Since he conceived the preconscious to be impersonal, and existing in a subjective hypnotic state, it had no desire of its own, and consequently it waited for us to make up its mind for it. He postulated that:

 
1. There is emotion in the conscious mind which gives rise to
2. Desire;
3. Judgement determines if we shall externalize this desire, if approved,
4. The will directs the imagination to form the necessary prototype;
5. The clutch of the conscious mind is allayed by sleep, hypnotism, satori, or some altered state of consciousness, during which the prototype is transferred from the individual to the general mind (from the personal to the impersonal) (from the conscious to the preconscious); the imagination thus centered now in the preconscious creates the mental (spiritual) nucleus;
6. This prototype in the preconscious is a fact of reality, and, hence,

acts as a center around which the forces of attraction begins to work so that
7. An inward and spiritual fact becomes manifested in outward and perceptible form.

We conceive this process to take place much as a master print in xeroxing has its image transferred via a light beam to a succession of copies of which it is the prototype. The key aspect is the juncture of the conscious desire with the collective preconscious. While it is evident that such a juncture can more easily take place during an altered state of consciousness (such as a hypnopompic state), Troward seems to feel that it can also be affected, at least by some, in the ordinary state.
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Our second exhibit is an example of the magic of a primitive culture which has a number of similarities to orthocognition.

Max Freedman Long (Dane, 1974) after a long study of Hawaiian Kahuna magic beliefs determined that their system involved three souls for man:
 

a) the uhane, the spirit that talks (the left hemisphere) conscious mind
b) the unihipili, the "low" mind that does not talk, but makes pictures (the right hemisphere) or the unconscious
c) the aumakua, the parental spirit or spirit guardian (the preconscious -this is the God within man). The form of consciousness that performs the miracles: called by Hawaiians "the High Self."

The Huna belief is that the three spirits are encased by three shadowy bodies composed of a sticky substance called aka. Pranic energy is called mana; it is manufactured by the physical body and is under the control of the low self. It is sent to the higher selves by means of the silver cord which connects the etheric bodies (the aka). For healing much more mana is needed by the High Self and this is accumulated and sent to the High Self through breathing exercises. So for healing the Kahuna makes a mental picture of things as they should be and sends this picture with mana to the High Self. In Hawaiian the word for prayer is hou; this word also means to "pant or breathe heavily." The Hawaiians conceive the High Self to be both male and female and a quasi-sex union between these two aspects creates the new conditions which result in healing. Telepathy, according to the Kahunas, is made up of pictures sent by the low self to the high self. Hence, telepathy and prayer are very similar. It is very interesting that the Kahunas insist on this non-talking property

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of the low self in view of the fact that modern psychology has found out that the right hemisphere cannot talk, but is intelligent nevertheless and that it also may have paranormal abilities through the use of pictures and visualization.

4.54 Orthocognition as Healing

The principle of orthocognition, plus the two examples we have given of it lends itself immediately to the application of healing. One might have said "psychic healing" indicating that healing is a kind of siddhi (see section 4.154), but it is becoming abundantly evident that healing is something natural and a power possessed by almost everyone. The differences between the everyday aspects of healing, and the esoteric aspects of levitation, for example, are so great as to require separate consideration, in this section, apart from the rarer siddhis which appear to require some kind of ASC. For healing does not appear to require an ASC. It does require orthocognition, and it seems to be some kind of twin to creativity.

The relationship between this transcendental union of the individual and general minds, and psychic healing, is beautifully stated by Green et al. (1971b):

 
As a final word, it seems increasingly certain that healing and creativity are different pieces of a single picture. Both Swami Rama and Jack Schwarz, a Western Sufi whom we recently had a chance to work with, maintain that self healing can be performed in a state of deep reverie. Images for giving the body instructions are manipulated in a manner very similar to that used by Assagioli for personality and transpersonal integration, as in his Psychosynthesis. But this "manner" of manipulation of images is also the same as that in which we find ideas being handled creatively (by two pilot subjects) for the solution of intellectual problems. What an interesting finding! Creativity in terms of physiological processes means then physical healing, physical regeneration. Creativity in emotional terms consists then of establishing, or creating, attitude changes through the practice of healthful emotions, that is, emotions whose neural correlates are those that establish harmony in the visceral brain, or to put it another way, emotions that establish in the visceral brain those neurological patterns whose reflection in the viscera is one that physicians approve of as stress resistant. Creativity in the mental domain involves the emergency of a new and valid synthesis of ideas, not by deduction, but springing by "intuition" from unconscious sources.

The entrance, or key, to all these inner processes we are beginning to believe, is a particular state of consciousness to which we have given the undifferentiated name "reverie." This reverie can be approached by means of theta brainwave training in which the gap between conscious and unconscious processes is voluntarily narrowed, and temporarily eliminated when useful. When that self-regulated reverie is established, the body can apparently be programmed at will and the instructions given will be carried out, emotional states can be dispassionately examined, accepted or rejected, or totally supplanted by others deemed more useful, and problems insoluable in the normal state of consciousness can be elegantly resolved.

Perhaps now, because of the resurgence of interest in self exploration and in self realization, it will be possible to develop a synthesis of old and new, East and West, prescience and science, using both yoga and biofeedback training as tools for the study of consciousness. It is also interesting to hypothesize that useful parapsychological talents can perhaps be developed by use of these reverie-generating processes of yoga and biofeedback. Much remains to be researched, and tried in application, but there is little doubt that in the lives of many people a penetration of consciousness into previously unconscious realms (of mind and brain) is making understandable and functional much that was previously obscure and inoperable.
 

(a) those whose healing power is emitted through the hands,²⁶ prototaxically
(b) those whose healing power depends upon images formed in the right high hemisphere (such as the "low mind" of the kahunas) in which there is a parataxic level of effect; and
(c) those whose healing power is operated syntaxically, through the word (Jesus: "Stretch forth thy hand," Luke, 6:10).

We do not include acupuncture as an aspect of psychic healing because it appears to us to be another school of medicine which deals with the adjustment of energies in the etheric body via the chakra centers. That this operation depends upon a body of knowledge and belief which is not compatible with western medicine as presently practiced is not perjorative in our view; it simply says something about Western thought in general, which is that whether religious, nationalistic, or scientific, it is insufferably arrogant. There is little to choose between the Catholic dictum that it is the only true religion;

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the British Empire view that it is the only true state, and the view of modern medicine that it is the only true prophylactic. Thus, despite the availability of a good deal of research evidence to the validity of acupuncture, we shall not examine it, as outside the scope of this investigation.

It is suggestive and interesting that in addition to the ancient tradition of spiritual healing within the Christian Church (such as "laying on of hands,") and its modern emphasis (in such religions as Christian and Religious Science), there should be at the present time, such a tremendous interest in psychic healing particularly by those in the more "respectable" sciences. Thus in a convention sponsored by the Academy of Parapsychology and Medicine (Tiller, 1972) one finds twelve of fourteen speakers with their doctorates. The work done in this area by the Greens of the Menninger Clinic, Professor Tiller of Stanford, Sister M. J. Smith, the biologist, Thelma Moss, the UCLA Kirlian photographer, and A. Puharich is well known and testifies to the academic prestige of the researchers. The literature in this area alone is so voluminous and so recent, that we cannot hope to notice it systematically, but is has progressed from a mere examination and cataloguing of effects to the development of theory, some of which promises to open the doors of our perception.

Let us particularly note that while orthocognitive healing has some similarities to the prototaxic healing enjoyed in trance "heat" and in shamanistic phenomena, it is very much different in the fact that it is accomplished in a normal state of consciousness, and seems indeed, to be more like the intuitive relationship with the preconscious which characterizes creative openness than it does even with the higher forms of ecstasy which we shall later note.

As we noted in section 4.154, the essence of psychic healing is a speed-up in time of what would normally be accomplished in a much longer period. What we are really witnessing, therefore, is the acceleration of chemical reactions. If ultimate reality exists outside of time, and if orthocognition is the dawning recognition of this fact, the consequent psychic healing as an accelerated physical process would follow immediately upon this principle.

4.61 General Information

Meditation represents the last procedure and the highest level of the creative stage. Unlike all other procedures, it involves a conscious effort to open the doors to the preconscious, through clearing and

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tranquilizing the conscious mind. Meditation is not prayer, for it does not involve importuning an external Deity. As Christian Humphreys (1968:6) remarks: "At best the method of prayer is a yearning of the heart; meditation, on the other hand, reorients the mind. . . . "

The basic principle involved in the use of meditation as an enhancement to self-awareness and as a stimulation to growth is its syntaxic contact with the numinous element; this contact involves:
 

(1) the manifestation of the numinous in a positive and controlled form,
(2) the "entasy"²⁷ (or full normal consciousness) of the ego, which results in the benefit of learning from the experience, and
(3) the tranquilization of the cogitative aspects of the mind, so that one gradually becomes conscious of its "openness" rather than its "connectedness", and of ideas flowing into it, rather than ideas being churned up by it.

Meditation sets one consciously on the path of yoga, or union with the numinous, but since meditation is a transitional procedure between the creative and the psychedelic stage, the motivations of the person embarking upon it experience subtle and often rapid changes. The Indian saint Sri Aurobindo understood this yogic development well. Satprem (1968:34) quotes Sri Aurobindo as follows:
 

One may start a process of one kind or another for the purpose which would normally mean a long labor, and be seized, even at the outset, by a rapid intervention of manifestation of Silence with an effect all out of proportion to the means used at the beginning. One commences with a method but the work is taken up by a Grace from above. . .

... yoga awakens automatically ... a whole gamut of latent faculties ... which can do for us that of which we are normally incapable. (Quoting Sri Aurobindo) "One has to have the passage clear between the outer mind and something in the inner being ... for ... the yogic consciousness and its powers are already there within you," and the best way of clearing is to make the mind silent. We do not know who we are and still less what we are capable of.

Satprem (1968:35-6) points out that meditation is only the beginning of the psychedelic life:
 

But the practice of meditation is not the true solution of the problem (though it be quite necessary at the beginning to give the push) because we shall attain perhaps a relative silence, but

at the very moment we put our foot outside our room or our retreat we shall fall back. . . .

While there are many specific techniques of meditation, they all appear to have some common elements. The key factors facilitating meditation appear to be:

1) relaxing the body, and rendering the mind insensible to it by:
    a) sitting upright in a relaxed posture,
    b) shutting the eyes,
    c) being undisturbed in a quiet, shuttered room,
    d) controlling the breath so that one breathes more slowly and shallowly;

2) relaxing the mind, and bringing it to an altered state of consciousness by:
    a) use of a mantra (or repetition of the same words, sound or tone),
    b) exclusion of distracting thoughts from the mind,
    c) developing a simple "awareness" without being consciously attracted to any particular idea or wish.

The aim is a "relaxed awareness," but in the words of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, one should perform meditation "without expectation of any results," not in the anticipation of a psychedelic experience. Or as another teacher has put it, "we don't evaluate the results of meditation by our subjective experience, but in the happiness and efficiency of our lives." The benefits of meditation are stressed as relaxation and rest, rather than as an indubitable pathway to the nature-mystic-peak experience, (although such experiences may occur). Aldous Huxley (1945:283) talks about a very similar technique of the Christian mystics in which prayer begins with mental concentration on Christ's passion, and then passes from it to the formless substratum. He notes a similar experience from the Tibetian Book of the Dead:

 
Whosoever thy tutelary deity may be, meditate upon the form for much time - as being apparent, yet non-existent in reality, like a form produced by a magician.. . Then let the visualization of the tutelary deity melt away from the extremities, till nothing at all remaineth visible of it; and put thyself in the state of the Clearness and the Voidness - which thou canst not conceive as something - and abide in that state for a little while. Again meditate upon the tutelary deity; again meditate upon the Clear Light; do this alternately. Afterwards allow thine own intellect to melt away gradually, beginning from the extremities.

Huxley (1945:290) also quotes Ashvaghosha on the Way of Tranquillity as follows:

Those who are practising 'stopping' should retire to some quiet

place and there, sitting erect, earnestly seek to tranquillize and concentrate the mind. While one may at first think of one's breathing, it is not wise to continue this practice very long, nor to let the mind rest on any particular appearances, or sights, or conceptions, arising from the senses.

All kinds of ideation are to be discarded as fast as they arise; even the notions of controlling and discarding are to be got rid of. One's mind should become like a mirror, reflecting things, but not judging them or retaining them. Conceptions of themselves have no substance; let them arise and pass away unheeded. Conceptions arising from the senses and lower mind will not take form of themselves, unless they are grasped by the attention; if they are ignored, there will be no appearing and no disappearing. The same is true of conditions outside the mind; they should not be allowed to engross one's attention and so to hinder one's practice. The mind cannot be absolutely vacant, and as the thoughts arising from the senses and the lower mind are discarded and ignored, one must supply their place by right mentation. The question then arises: what is right mentation? The reply is: right mentation is the realization of mind itself, of its pure undifferentiated Essence. When the mind is fixed on its pure Essence, there should be no lingering notions of the self, even of the self in the act of realizing, nor of realization as a phenomenon. . . .

A number of mechanical devices have been used to secure a "free-floating" state which is conscious but passive, and which gives attention inward to thought processes as they form in the mind, and attempts to go beyond them into pure consciousness. This requires narrowing the attention, restricting sensory input, and cutting down on the inpouring of random stream of consciousness ideas. Techniques used to bring about this state may involve chanting, giving attention to one's breathing, gazing into a mandala (sacred picture), mentally repeating a mantra, concentrating on a koan, or other similar process all designed to fix and tranquilize the attention.

Some systems such as Zen are rather prescriptive about methods used to induce what Christian mystics would call their "Prayer of Quiet," while others, such as Transcendental Meditation are quite permissive. Such differences suit different temperaments, and all may be useful under various circumstances. Some such as hatha yoga and Nichiren Shoshu are mainly somatic, while others, such as raja yoga are mainly cerebral. But all of these methods attempt to deal with quieting the constant inrush of distracting thoughts and percepts

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which appear to sustain the normal state of consciousness, and without which it lapses into sleep, or another ASC.

There seem to be two levels to meditation which blend into one another. In the lower level, meditation is an effort to avoid distractions such as the stream-of-consciousness babble. The slightest external noise disrupts; as John Donne (1626) said:
 

I throw myself down in my chamber, and I call and invite God and his angels thither, and when they are there, I neglect God and his angels for the noise of a fly, for the rattling of a coach, or the whining of a door.

In the higher level, these distractions cease; meditation is a joy, and "the Prayer of Quiet," (jhana-1), is reached. Meditation hence becomes the bridge between the creative and the psychedelic stages.

Barbara Brown (1974) believes that while alpha biofeedback is not necessary for the advanced meditator, it may be useful for the beginner, in helping him to track onto alpha (which of course prevents distractions). Nideffer (Shapiro and others 1972:167-185) in a comprehensive review of alpha and the development of human potential including meditation, agrees with Brown, and concludes that biofeedback may have an important future in "maximizing psychological functioning" at all levels of the creative stage. Green of the Menninger clinic (ibid:152ff) finds biofeedback useful in both healing and creativity after a series of experiments. The net effect of all this testimony is that biofeedback is a helpful procedure for advancement in the syntaxic mode, useful for establishing both creativity and meditation.

For the purpose of advancement in the syntaxic mode, Progoff (1968) advocates the keeping of what he calls an "intensive journal." It is a psychological notebook, designed "to help achieve an experience crucial in the process of personal growth", namely the initiation of an "enlargement of consciousness." This process helps the individual to reach "a direct contact with the creative principle which is at the core of life." Besides the daily log there are meditational and orthocognitive experiences designed both to accomplish therapeutic "unstressing" and positive growth toward self- actualizing behavior. Progoff counsels that the intensive journal should be used in concert with group workshops, etc.

Constituted as structure for the growth process, the intensive journal is a directed log of areas where the individual is to write daily. The areas are as follows:
 

1. Describe the characteristics of the most recent period of your life including emotions, dreams, unusual events, feelings.
2. Same analysis of the present day.

3. Personal sections to include dialogue with people, dialogue with books and other works, group experiences, dialogue with events, dialogue with the body.
4. Depth contact (ways of gaining access to one's personal potentials): dreams, dream enlargements, hypnagogic imagery and fantasy, extensions of same, inner dialogues;
5. Life history log or rememberings and recapitulations: stepping stones, intersections, Now (and the Future). As one keeps reevaluating the choice points (stepping stones) one finds that they move from the exterior events to inner events, and change markedly in a process of expansion.²⁸

Meditation can be considered as a take-off point beyond ortho-cognition because it readies the individual for the cognitive experience of altered states of awareness or consciousness.

Meditation allows the person, through contemplative self awareness or "going within" to more directly experience his higher self nature. Awareness of the numinous element is enhanced during the meditative process. And the relationship of the higher self to the numinous element is further realized, where the paradox of subject and object can later be transcended in a unity of "being." ²⁹

In considering the following forms of meditation it should also be realized that, in some of them, this process of continued experience of higher levels of consciousness is the only means of true self realization. It is considered to be the means of transcending the illusion of separateness at ordinary states of consciousness, experiencing the inner reality of higher self and moving upward to essence and unity of "being." We return again to the merging of higher self and the numinous element beyond time, space and personality, to a full cognition of the all by the all-the unity of Atman and Brahman, the attainment of Buddha nature.

4.62 Nichiren Shoshu²⁹

Nichiren Shoshu is a sect of Buddhist philosophy based upon an interpretation of the Lotus Sutras. The process of meditation in Nichiren Shoshu is practiced by the individual alone or in group meetings, or both. The recommended length of time according to its practitioners is two hours per day.

Meditation begins with a ceremonial practice of candle lighting, then chanting to the Gohonzon is begun. The Gohonzon is considered to have been divinely inspired when it was written and endowed with great power. This power can be brought into effect for the benefit of the chanter through faith and continued chanting. It is claimed that the laws of cause and effect which operate at all levels of existence

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are brought into play through chanting. Even though the words chanted repeatedly are in Japanese and are not cognitively understood, it is felt that because they are in tune with a universal energy force and are used in conjunction with belief in the Gohonzon that the results will be beneficial.

In terms of human growth, the philosophy is that chanting will awaken the higher self nature in man, regardless of his initial intent in chanting, and that he will improve as a person to higher levels of self awareness and cognitive growth. It is also stressed that the individual will be happy due to receiving benefits from chanting, and that world peace can be achieved through expanded individual happiness.

Even though discipline through regular practice of chanting is stressed, there is no emphasis upon a guru for each student nor upon asceticism of any kind. In fact just the opposite is true, for the stress is on joy and happiness attained through the receipts of benefits from chanting. Nichiren Shoshu appeals on the average to a younger group of followers than one might find in Zen or Vedanta for example. This may be due to the fact that the positive feelings connected with the solidarity of the organization, and the athletic strivings for world peace, help provide a channel for the outlet of energy and the need for belonging characteristic of adolescents. It may also provide a reinforcement of positive identity for those who have not yet internalized the identity issue at the higher level of self.

Compared with other forms of meditation, Nichiren Shoshu appears to resemble the syntaxic procedure of orthocognition. There is more emphasis on a kind of visualization of positive conditions, surrounding and affecting self-concept. This action is understandable for adolescents who at the time of the identity crisis are not perhaps ready for the higher psychedelic states of consciousness. Like other forms of meditation, then, Nichiren Shoshu is a preparation for mystic experience. The beneficial effects of chanting as facilitating "unstressing" (section 2.23) should not be minimized.

4.63 Transcendental Meditation

"Transcendental Meditation is a systematic procedure of turning the attention inward toward the subtler levels of thought until the mind transcends the experience of the subtlest state of thought and arrives at the source of the thought." "TM is a purely mental technique practiced individually every morning and evening for fifteen to twenty minutes at a sitting. It requires no alteration of life style, diet, etc. and as a technique of direct experience rather than a religion or philosophy, it does not require belief in the efficacy of the practice

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nor an understanding of the underlying theory. Wallace and others (1971) have characterized it as a "wakeful hypometabolic physiologic state," i.e., a state of restful alertness. TM is apparently a universal human faculty, not requiring any particular intellectual or cognitive facility other than the ordinary ability to think. It is easily learned by anyone in about six hours of instruction, spread out over four consecutive days from a Maharishi-trained teacher. Once learned, it can be continued without the necessity for additional instruction.*

Another "American" aspect of the packaging of Transcendental Meditation is the great interest its exponents have shown in psychological research and evaluation. Seldom, if ever, has a "cult" shown such concern about scientific accountability. Despite its recent introduction, the continued practice of transcendental meditation has been shown to:

 
1. reduce anxiety (Wallace 1970, Doucette, 1972)
2. improve learning (Abrams, 1972, Shaw and Kolb, 1970)
3. improve accuracy of percepts (Blasdell, 1971)
4. increase energy and reduce need for sleep (Wallace, 1970)
5. increase mental health (Fehr, 1972) (Goleman, 1971) (Seeman, 1972), (Kanellakos, et al., 1972)
6. reduce blood pressure, respiratory rate, and oxygen intake (Allison, 1970), Wallace, et al., 1971), (Wallace, et al.,1972)
7. reduce drug-abuse dependence (Benson, 1969, 1970), (Williams, 1972), (Winquist, 1969)
8. decrease hostility (Bose and Berger, 1972)
9. increase alpha wave production (Brown, et al., 1972).

But TM has been packaged for American tastes in more subtle ways. One of its dictates is that practitioners should not meditate more than fifteen to twenty minutes twice per day, and the occasional longer meditations should be undertaken only under supervision.

The practice of Transcendental Meditation (TM) is an outgrowth of Hindu tradition, developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi from the teachings of guru Dev under whom he studied for many years. The practice itself begins with the training of each participant. It is not required that the individual conform to strict disciplinary rules in terms of alteration of life style, nor is there an emphasis on asceticism involved. The instructor is a trained teacher who studied under the guidance of the Maharishi himself, but contrary to more formal Hindu teaching such as Vedanta, the student gradually lessens contact with the teacher as he becomes more proficient in the practice.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*This paragraph consists of a series of quotes from Levine, P., 1972. The first sentence is quoted from Maharishi, 1969.

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The training involves the presentation of a mantra or meaningless sound to the student which is only described as a vehicle that allows meditation to take place. The next step in the training is described "sitting upright in a chair with eyes closed, the student listens to his mantra as it is chanted by his teacher, and then takes it up himself - first aloud, and then silently.... Meditators appear for all practical purposes to be asleep. Yet they say their minds remain acutely aware of outside stimuli. . . . "

After the initial four lessons the student practices the meditation on his own on a twice daily basis for 15-20 minutes per session. The state arrived at during this process has been described as a wakeful hypo-metabolic physiologic state in which the nervous system naturally goes about normalizing the existing tensions and discords, biochemical and physiologic abnormalities. With the regular practice of this restful psychophysiologic experience the spontaneous occurring result is improved physiologic functioning, increased psychophysiologic stability, and improved psychological integration.

The studies are too numerous to go into detail here, but for further references one is directed to: "The Psychobiology of Transcendental Meditation: A Literature Review," Kanellakos and Zukas (1973). Briefly however, in terms of physiological changes, the Stanford Research Institute Review stated: "The physiological correlates of TM - and some of the meditational states reached by other techniques - appear to define a lowered metabolic state characterized by decreased autonomic activity, decreased emotional and sensory reactivity, decreased muscle tension, and a wakeful, alert brain."

Despite the fact that there is an initiation fee for TM, (the money goes to support the organization's research, educational, and recruiting operations), the movement has been very successful both in the United States and abroad. Various world centers, including the Maharishi International University (at the site of former Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa) have been set up. Practitioners are supposed to number over 500,000 in the U.S. alone.
Because of its interest in research, its non-insistence on a creed, and its adaptation to American life styles, it seems of all forms of meditation, perhaps the easiest for most Westerners to pursue.

4.64 Psychocatalysis: The Foundation of Human Understanding²⁹

The Foundation of Human Understanding was founded by Roy Masters, who is still its president and most authoritative, outspoken proponent of the meditation exercise and underlying philosophy.

Masters developed the meditation exercise in the early 1960's and is the sole official instructor of the technique which is presented

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to the student on a set of records along with an accompanying book entitled "How Your Mind Can Keep You Well." In each of these the student is guided through the meditation practice, and at the same time presented with the underlying philosophy espoused by the organization. Some individuals who have practiced the technique for several years have criticized the practice of presenting beliefs to the student during meditation. They claim that it runs contradictory to the purpose of meditation itself to install beliefs externally during meditation. Some have even claimed that it borders on an hypnotic process. Masters has defended this procedure claiming that he is only reinforcing deeper truths regarding dynamics of human behavior and that the individual is in a state of conscious awareness and not in an hypnotic trance.

The meditation process, which is performed by the individual alone after several beginning sessions with the record, is practiced twice daily for approximately 15minutes per session.

In very basic terms it involves sitting or lying quietly and centering the concentration on the center of the forehead. Contrary to the process of TM, however, in this form of meditation the object is not to still the mind through the imposition of a mantra. Instead, the individual is to observe his thought without being caught up in thought or holding on to a particular idea.

Masters (1971) calls this technique "Psychocatalysis" and describes it as a combination of "some of the concentration techniques of ancient Yoga with the sound logic of Judeo-Christian principles." He sees the process of the meditation exercise as a "Subjection of mind, feeling, and body, to the dictates of inner reality; the technique by which the consciousness is 'raised' to the level of observation."

4.65 Arica ²⁹

The Arica Institute was founded in 1970 by Oscar Ichazo, a South American who has combined the diverse areas of religion, esoteric mysticism, and psychology. Through years of experience he developed a holistic approach to human development based upon the elimination of barriers to positive states of consciousness. These barriers to higher levels of consciousness, according to Ichazo (Keen, 1973), are the result of ego-dominated thought which he feels prevents transcendence to the realization of higher self nature (or as he calls it 'essence') and accompanying cognitive growth.

The eclectic techniques he has developed deal with three basic areas which he considers extensions of this ego-dominated thought. These areas are body, emotion, and intellect.
A detailed analysis of the techniques used to eliminate barriers

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in each of these three areas would be too lengthy and complex to be included here. But generally they include:

1)  exercises based upon Hatha Yoga and Aikido for the purpose of overcoming "body ego" and reaching the Kath or spontaneous flowing of movement,
2) exercises designed to attain a "biological understanding of objective virtue" (Keen, 1973)leading to a harmonious emotional life and
3) meditation and chanting exercises designed to eliminate the barrier of intellect and transcend it to higher levels of consciousness where there can be a syntaxic communicating of deeper meanings of inner reality.

These levels of consciousness are experienced by nearly everyone at sometime, but it is the ability to map and integrate these experiences in the syntaxic mode of communicating deeper meaning that produced growth at the cognitive level. And in terms of its interdependent relationship with affective development, increasingly profound understanding of inner reality must take place along with ego transcendence to a higher self realization and reorganization of identity in that respect.

4.66 Zen²⁹

Zen is another branch of Buddhism and consists of several schools emphasizing different areas of practice. In terms of Buddhist philosophy, it is interesting to compare the extreme difference in emphasis and practice between Nichiren Shoshu and Zen. In the former there is no emphasis on initial intent, need for a guru, or hard work and a strictly disciplined life style to achieve the goal of understanding the self and attaining Buddahood. In Zen the emphasis is indeed on these things. In Nichiren Shoshu the initial attraction seems to be the attainment of desired things which will make the person happy and reinforce belief. In Zen the attraction seems to be the striving for understanding of self and stimulation of the developmental process

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through disciplined practice, which eventually will lead to a real joy and happiness for the individual. Whereas discomfort is not emphasized in Nichiren Shoshu, in Zen the student may be purposely exposed to it for the purpose of breaking down "mind sets" and transcending the intellect.

This transcendence of the intellect to a syntaxic experience of inner reality at higher levels of consciousness is the basic thrust of Zen in terms of cognitive development. In terms of affective development, it is the transcendence of ego to identification with higher self nature. The merging of the two comes in the attainment of Buddahood which seems to be a development of self toward identification and unity with the numinous element.

The whole process of Zen meditation is directed toward a life style of affective and cognitive development designed to answer the question "Who am I?" As Suzuki puts it; "When you ask what Zen is, I say that Zen is you and you are Zen. The questioner is the answerer. Before you ask somebody outside what Zen is, you turn inwardly and ask, who am I?" (p. 18-19).

Turning inwardly is the practice of Zen meditation. It is practiced in a very disciplined manner under the direction of a Roshi or Master who guides the student's progress, providing challenges and offering encouragement.

The meditation may be viewed under four headings according to Humphreys (1971); 1) Continuity - the regular practice of meditation, 2) Zazen - Zen sitting wherein the student meditates upon a subject given him by the Roshi or Master, 3) Koan and Mundo - The Koan is a word, phrase or saying which defies intellectual analysis and thereby enables the user to burst the fetters of conceptual thought. The Mundo is a rapid exchange of question and answer between master and student, and 4) Satori - the intuitive looking into the nature of things.

Through the experiential process of Zen in the preceding manner, the dualistic intellectual process operating within ordinary states of consciousness is strained to the point of exposing its inability to understand the nature of inner reality through analysis. This inner reality is considered to have its own set of laws which transcend time, space, and personality and which consist of seeming paradoxes to ordinary intellectual process. An example of the paradox of inner reality is the statement by Suzuki (1957) that "In Buddhist Emptiness there is no time, no space, no becoming, no-thing-ness; it is what makes all these things possible; it is a zero full of infinite possibilities, it is a void of inexhaustible contests." (P. 30).

This inner reality with its seeming paradoxical relationships can

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only be understood by breaking through to higher levels of consciousness where there is a movement inward from creativity through mystical experience to enlightenment.

The growth process concurrently toward enlightenment and realization of higher self nature is many times referred to in Zen as attaining the Unattainable. It is considered such because it is beyond intellectual analysis and must be experienced. It is also considered such because it is a movement away from dualism toward unity, a movement from a turmoil of illusion to a reality of "Emptiness" and peace. Suzuki (1971) speaks of the intellect and its role in Zen in "attaining the unattainable" as follows: "Zen never despises intellection as such, but it wants intellection to know its place and not to go beyond the sphere it properly belongs to.

4.67 Vedanta²⁹

In basic terms, Vedanta is perhaps the trunk of the tree from which all of the previous forms have branched. It sprung from ancient Hindu philosophy and demonstrates the very nature of Indian philosophy itself. According to Rao (1966) the nature of this philosophy " . . . is the search for an experience of Reality. The subject-matter of Indian philosophy, however, is not the entire reality. It is more, the true nature of the self." (p. 33). This emphasis on the true understanding of self as the key to reality is basic to the Vedantic striving for emancipation from ignorance. The concern for an accurate perception of self as a basis for understanding internal and external reality and for growth is of critical importance.

The Vedanta philosophy and meditative practice (which is an experiential validation of the philosophy) are derived from the teachings of three principle texts: 1) the Upanishads, 2) the Bhagavad Gita, and 3) the Vedanta Sutras.

The fundamental principle involved in the teachings according to Denssen (1906) is that Brahman (the eternal principle of all being, which creates and sustains all worlds and absorbs them) is identical with the Atman, the self or soul (our true essence when judged rightly). This soul is not a part of Brahman, but it is fully and entirely the eternal indivisible Brahman itself. In order to experience this "divine" nature (or higher self nature) within the individual he must "go within" through meditation.

The method which is chosen for meditation can vary depending upon the individual and is determined by the guru. The guru is extremely important in Vedanta meditation and performs a similar function to the Zen Master in guiding the student in his development. He also maintains a position of high respect for his exemplary life

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style. However, in contrast to the Zen Master, the guru in Vedanta reinforces the experiential development of the student with teachings from the three principle texts. The purpose for this seems to be to give the student a framework from which to direct his daily life and to point the intellect toward thoughts of a higher nature. This is so that as his experience validates these teachings he continues to evolve in both affective and cognitive areas and does not continue to accumulate Karma due to improper actions along the way.

In Vedanta the guru recognizes that there are many paths to the goal of emancipation from unreality and therefore the Mantra, object, or technique of meditation may vary for each student based upon the one the guru deems best suited to the student.

As a reflection of its philosophy of dispelling external illusion and experiencing inner reality, according to Denssen (1906), Vedanta meditation stresses the " . . . withdrawing of the organs of sense from everything external and in concentrating them upon one's own inner nature." (p. 8). In comparison with the previous forms of meditation this "withdrawing" may be seen as emphasizing the existence of reality only at higher levels of consciousness and being rather than the existence of reality at varying levels of consciousness. This latter emphasis is seen as an illusion.

The process of meditation taught by the guru is intended to allow the student to validate the truth of the guru's teachings and thereby acquire true knowledge of reality. In fact true knowledge is considered the means of emancipation in Vedanta. Acquiring true "knowledge" in Vedanta can be likened to the syntaxic experience of higher levels of consciousness in the cognitive area and contact with higher self nature in the affective area as seen in the previous forms of meditation.

4.68 Integral Yoga

We have seen that the procedures of the creative stage become steadily more cerebral. It is true even of the various forms of meditation. Tantric and hatha yoga, for example, depend considerably upon physical and somatic aspects. Integral Yoga, by contrast, does not. It was discovered and developed by Sri Aurobindo (Ghose), a brilliant and fiery Indian nationalist and contemporary of Gandhi's who took honors at Oxford, and later was imprisoned for agitating for Indian Independence. Renouncing politics, in the 1920's he established an ashram at Pondicherry, India, where as a persuasive writer and religious leader, he became famous for his cognitive approach.³⁰

Sri Aurobindo taught that it was possible for the conscious ego to receive the numinous element and yet retain consciousness if certain rules were followed. His method avoids the "trance" aspects of samadhi,

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and de-emphasizes the "ecstatic" aspects of mystic experience. First purification and meditation in an ashram is necessary. Then as his biographer Satprem (1968:38-9) tells us, comes one of the first signs of enlightenment - the "descent of the force."

We feel around the head and more particularly at the nape of the neck an unusual pressure which may give the sensation of a false headache. At the beginning we cannot endure it for long and shake it off, we seek distraction.... Gradually this pressure takes a more distinct form, and we feel a veritable current which descends (i.o.). . . .

This is the start of the integral yoga of Aurobindo, a pranic force which descends the spine instead of ascending it like the kundalini. According to Aurobindo this method results in no ecstatic moments, but better, complete cognition at all times. "The physical effect is almost exactly that of walking in the breeze."

As this process continues (Satprem, 1968:40-1) one becomes like "a solid cool block of peace." One experiences the descent of Shakti as a vast aquamarine blueness and an indescribable coolness (for it is endothermic, not exothermic like the psychic heat of the rising kundalini).³¹

The next effect (Satprem, 1968:42) is the emergence of a new mode of knowledge. One noticeable sign that order is surfacing in the lives of those who are well along this path is the appearance of a phenomenon we will define as synergy. Synergy occurs in at least two forms. First there is synergy within the individual who is ready for enlightenment; it is commonly found in those who have firmly established the creative routine. It depends upon the fact that while the human mind can attend to only one idea at a time, cosmic mind can attend to a great many (much like a shared-time computer). What happens is that one day, one finds oneself witnessing the fact that a number of things are going on in consciousness, all at the same time. Instead of conflict, however, all these discrete matters are managed harmoniously and effectively. The concept of the witness is an important one of which many occult writers speak.

As Sri Aurobindo puts it (Satprem, 1968:45) "The mind is not an instrument of knowledge, but only an organizer of knowledge." It should be noted that synergy, like other effects in this area is anti-entropic, that is, it contributes to order, not disorder.

In the creative stage, this universal mind (the collective preconscious) leaked creative ideas to the conscious ego (as though by osmosis through a permeable membrane) so that the ego is suffered to think that the ideas are its own. But as one becomes more creative verging

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towards the next stage, one has "openings" wherein the ego consciousness is allowed to enter the enlarged domain of the preconscious: the doors of Aladdin's cave are thrown open, and the ego is dazzled by what it finds therein, which it recognizes as coming from outside its own narrow confines. (This is the witness level.)
Having found out (says Satprem, 1968:47) not only
 

. . . that the thoughts of others come to us from the outside, but that our own thoughts also come to us in the same way from outside ... when we are sufficiently transparent, we can feel in the silent immobility of the mind, little swirling eddies which draw our attention ...

we have caught a mental vibration before it has had time to enter and rise to our conscious so that we would perceive it as "my thought."

This extension of empathy is the key to reading the thoughts of others, and to the concept of synergy which we have been discussing. The mental transparency on occasion allows us to visualize more easily, which strengthens our orthocognitive processes, and may allow us to predict, heal or scry. It may also occasionally allow us (in the manner of TV chromokeying³²) to see superimposed on the physical reality we are in, another superphysical or psychic and separate reality which appears momentarily and then fades away (just like the superimposed chromokeyed TV picture of the news event appears behind the news commentator as he discusses it, and then fades away).

The second concept of synergy has to do with activities between individuals. For with similarly advanced individuals, instead of responding with the usual difficulties and entropy which a bunch of individual minds might be supposed to cause, these individuals (as though polarized by some external magnet), all seem to operate harmoniously like the constituent parts of a unified social body. This enormously reduces the waste time and effort which would otherwise result from the random operation between these individuals.³³

A third concept is the "witness phenomenon," which was also mentioned as the last effect sometimes seen in highly creative individuals (section 4.37m). It is the result of the full preparation of the mind, having been stilled and quieted, to receive its cosmic guest.

Satprem (1968:43) points out that this ability to sustain a bit of the silence even in the workaday world leads to an important step:
 

He will have discovered the Witness (i.o.) in himself and will let himself be captured less and less by the exterior play which ... tries to swallow us alive.

Satprem quotes Sri Aurobindo (1968:78) on what western psychologists would call "dasein-choosing" in regard to untoward life events:
 

Is it not possible that the soul itself ... has accepted and chosen these things as part of its development in order to get through the necessary experience at a rapid rate ... even at the cost of damage to the outward life. . . . To the spirit within us may not difficulties ... be a means of growth ... ?

Satprem (1968:94) identifies this inner fire as "Agni:" "the self of fire," "the only true 'I' in us." The Katha Upanishad is quoted:

"A conscious being is in the center of the self, who rules past and future; he is like a fire without smoke."

4.69 Conclusion

1. Meditation is the final procedure, so at this point we are able to draw conclusions about meditation, about the creative stage, and about procedures in general. As the highest procedure of the creative stage, meditation is fully cognitive and syntaxic, but curiously enough the mind is not exercised, it is stilled. For meditation clearly looks ahead to an infusion which is both super-rational and transpersonal. This stilling of the mind in preparation for something to come, - his cleaning of the house and setting it in order to receive an important guest - this process is the hallmark of all meditational forms.

2. Meditation also involves some kind of purification of the senses, reduction of perceptual intake, avoidance of thoughts which are gross and sordid. It involves a change in attentional shift, from concepts built on percepts to prathahara (withdrawal of the mind from sensory percepts). It has some kind of cleansing quality.

3. Unlike creativity which seeks a social response to solve a problem, and orthocognition, which seeks some personal relief or benefit, meditation seeks no product beyond itself. It therefore is the only procedure to gain independence from the ego.

4. Table XI compares the various forms of meditation, with the anchor points of humanistic therapy on the lower end, and mysticism (the next stage) on the upper. It will be seen that while most forms of meditation reflect some adaptation of Vedic principles, they differ with respect to dogma, guru, discipline, objectives, and participants.

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Table XI Comparison Between Various Forms of Meditation

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It appears that in some way not fully understood as yet, creativity may be a substitute for at least some of the activities of meditation. Both appear to have unique properties in "preparing" individuals for psychedelic or mystic experience. For example, the "witness phenomena" (seen in creativity in section 4.37m) is also seen in Integral Yoga (section 4.68). Psychological and semantic flexibility (sections 4.371), and general systems theory, (section 4.38) are akin to synergy and other similar effects seen in Integral Yoga (section 4.68). There is also relation between serendipity (section 4.37d) and some similar effects found in both Transcendental Meditation and Biofeedback. Creativity, hence, like Biofeedback and Meditation, prepares its practitioners in some sense for the "Response Experience" (Jhana-1), and the "Access State" (Jhana- 0) which had earlier been thought to be the function of meditation alone. Indeed, it appears that all of the procedures of the creative level, besides their outer benefits, have in common to a greater or less degree this preparatory function for the glories of the psychedelic state.

5. One of the remarkable aspects of meditation is the absolute unanimity with which all systems, Christian, Hindu, and others name it as an indispensable component of development and deliverance. Even the name is the same everywhere (see Table XII). Meditation, said St. Teresa, (Leuba, 1925:163) is the upper limit of the range of mental activity. In this statement she indicates an intuitive realization of the difference between procedures and graces, for this is as far as man can go by his own effort. She also appears to recognize that at this level distractions are annoying. St. Francois de Sales (Leuba, 1925:167-8) says much the same, pointing that meditation often takes place with difficulty owing to distractions. Christian meditations appear to differ from mantric meditations in that thoughts of love of God are uppermost in the former, while cessation of all thought is sought in the latter. Poulain (1912:7-12, Leuba, 1925:177) adds to meditation (discursive prayer), affective prayer (in which the affections are predominant), and The Prayer of Simplicity or The Prayer of Simple Regard (quiet adoration). In yogic meditation (Eliade, 1969:84-88) having disposed of the lower form with its distractions, the yogi passes to a higher form without distraction which would fall into jhana-1, and hence into the Psychedelic Stage (section 4.71). Meditation then, appears universally recognized as the last conscious procedure instituted from man alone, involving some kind of cognitive reflection, subject to annoying distractions, but an indispensable prologue to Psychedelic Ecstasy.

Wilhelm (1962:50-1) describes three confirmatory evidences of progress towards enlightenment in meditation:

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a. the sound of men talking at a distance, like a muffled echo,
b. light in the eyes so that everything before one becomes bright,
c. levitation, a feeling of being drawn upward.

The procedures in general, across the three modes from prototaxic to syntaxic, appear to be specific and distinct methods of contacting the numinous element, generally in an altered state of consciousness (although this fact is less true with the higher procedures than it is with the lower). From sometimes gross and somatic aspects, the procedures become more cognitive and cerebral; they gain in social effect and benefit; they steadily become more developmental. They end with meditation which is suitably an invitation for something higher - namely a grace.
 
 

We now come to the psychedelic stage with its six levels of graces and with the most remarkable, emergent, and spectacular properties. The most egregious of these is mystic ecstasy, found uniformly throughout the stage, and the principle characteristic which distinguishes a grace from a procedure - namely that the procedure can be initiated, but the grace comes from without or "on high." Every culture has its traditions of mysticism; we prefer the word psychedelia, as pointing to the mind-expansion involved in the process. Consciousness indeed wakes up in a corner of space and time, and in a little ego, yet its potential is to become conscious of all space, all time, and of transpersonality.

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Table XII Comparison of Mystic and Psychedelic Levels in Christian and Hindu Sources

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As we did in the last procedure of meditation, we shall perforce lean heavily on Hindu sources, not only because they are clearer, but also because they are more amenable to psychological investigation than are Christian. Nevertheless, we shall in deference to the background of most of our readers quote as many Christian sources as are appropriate. This will lead to some seeming dichotomy, since the two religious traditions are not completely compatible. Riviere (1973:69-70) points out a doctrinal difference between Eastern and Western forms of mysticism. Whereas in the West, mysticism is looked upon as a grace from on high, for which man cannot prepare a sufficient but only a necessary condition, in the yoga tradition, this development is seen as a natural accretion of powers which depend upon the disciple's own efforts.

Webster's 1971 addendum defines psychedelic (from psyche-soul, and delos-reveal) (for its first meaning) as follows: "Relating to or causing an exposure of normally repressed psychic elements." We shall use this meaning, rather than employing "psychedelia" as a synonym for drug use. Watts (1972:354) uses "psychedelic" to mean 'mind manifesting'.

Natural psychedelic experiences occur in a wide number of differing situations, involving certain common elements:

1) The attention of the subject is gripped, and his perception narrowed or focused on a single event or sensation;
2) which appears to be an experience of surpassing beauty or worth;
3) in which values or relationships never before realized are instantaneously or very suddenly emphasized;
4) resulting in the sudden emergence of great joy and an orgiastic experience of ecstasy;
5) in which individual barriers separating the self from others or nature are broken down;
6) resulting in a release of love, confidence, or power; and
7) some kind of change in the subsequent personality, behavior, or artistic product after the rapture is over.

"Psychedelic experience" means a mind-expanding or mind-disclosing experience, and is not confined to the narrow use in terms of psychoactive drugs. It embraces mystic, peak, ecstatic, oceanic, illuminative, nature, communal, and other types of experiences having certain common qualities revealing emergent aspects of mind, and contact or union, immediate and not through the senses, with some absolute (see Gowan 1974: ch 3).

Assuredly there are gradations in these experiences; they are not all of equal depth. There are several aspects which appear to be common to them all:

1) they often have an uncanny, supernormal quality;
2) they involve euphoria or bliss to an extent unknown in most usual activities;
3) they seem to be important in some strange way;
4) there is some element of transcendence, and
5) they remain in the memory longer and more vividly than ordinary events.

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"giving up the past, giving up the future, innocence, a narrowing of consciousness, loss of self-consciousness, disappearance of fear, lessening of defenses, strength and courage, acceptance, trust, receptivity, integration, ability to dip into the preconscious, aesthetic perceiving, spontaneity, expressiveness, and fusion with the world."

Stace (1960) identifies nine qualities of the psychedelic experience as follows:

1) unity,
2) transformation of space and time,
3) deeply felt positive mood,
4) sacredness,
5) objectivity and reality,
6) paradoxicality,
7) alleged ineffability,
8) transiency, and
9) persisting positive changes in subsequent behavior.

Russell (1925:9) describes the credo of the mystic which is essentially what has been said in sections 4.1 and 4.5 as:

1) there is a better way of gaining information than through the senses;
2) there is unity in all things,
3) there is no reality in time, and
4) all evil is mere appearance.

Masters and Houston (1966:266) report:
The Integral Level. When we examine those psychedelic experiences which seem to be authentically religious, we find that during the session the subject has been able to reach the deep integral level wherein lies the possibility of confrontation with a Presence variously described as God, Spirit, Ground of Being, Mysterium, Noumenon, Essence, and Ultimate or Fundamental Reality. In this confrontation there no longer is any question of surrogate sacrality. The experience is one of direct and unmediated encounter with the source level of reality, felt as Holy, Awful, Ultimate, and Ineffable.

Bucke (1923) was the first writer to give a semi-psychological explanation to the psychedelic state. His book Cosmic Consciousness, although heavily loaded with the religious usage of the time, recorded what he called the "illumination" of 45 individuals, and thus provided a prototype for Maslow's later study on self-actualized persons. He was the first to bring mysticism into the light of psychological examination. He defined his "illumination" as follows:
 

a) The person, without warning, has a sense of being immersed in a flame or cloud;
b) he is bathed in an emotion of joy, assurance, triumph, or salvation;
c) an intellectual illumination, a clear conception or vision of the meaning of the universe; he sees and knows that the Cosmos is a living presence;
d) a sense of immortality;
e) the vanishing of the fear of death;
f) and sin;
g) the whole experience is instantaneous or nearly so,

h) the previous character of the percipient is important,
i) so is the age at which the experience occurs (which is between 25 and 40),
j) there is added a charm of personality,
k) and in some case change in appearance such as might happen to one who experienced great joy.

The every day processes of living in the conscious mind usually succeed in the average individual in successfully compartmentalizing off the preconscious. But very occasionally, we find, for reasons that we are yet unaware, the upwelling of the preconscious area, like the eruption of molten magma from the mantle of the earth. This onset of active subliminal life may appear as the prepsychotic panic reaction of Boisen (1932) in those for whom its coming is premature and prototaxic. In artists and others of parataxic outlets, it may surface as the sudden shift in life style which overtook Gauguin and transformed him from a French bourgeois to a tropical castaway. Finally, in those already creative or firmed in the syntaxic mode, it appears as a creative or higher opening, poetical, musical, or even as a theophany or mystic ecstasy.

It is even possible that the psychedelic state is somewhat different than that reported by the mystics of the past (i.e., a state of fortuitous graces), and that it embraces a larger domain of which transports, raptures, and ecstasies are merely the affective overload. If mind expansion can occur without the emotional effects usually associated with it in the past, and if the psychedelic stage is now within reach of the "normal" developmental process, then one may reasonably ask: (1) what are the disposing characteristics of readiness, and (2) what is the psychedelic state without the appearance of the conventional psychic powers?

The disposing characteristics of readiness seem to be clearly outlined in the "prayer of quiet" aspects of the higher meditative state in which distractions do not occur. The psychedelic state without conventional psychic manifestations consists in increased control over one's

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mind, one's feelings, and one's environment, so that one ceases to be a reactive being and begins (as part of the noumenon) to design one's life and future. But before going further, it is necessary to point out emphatically that it is possible to be in the psychedelic state and not have peak experiences or ecstasies. Though Bucke included Emerson "out" of his illumined elect because Emerson was too cognitive for such an experience, Maslow was wise enough to realize that there are "peakers" and "non-peakers." (The writer admits that he is one of the latter). While non-peakers might become peakers by the infusion of psychoactive drugs, it is possible to learn from vicarious as well as direct experience. The austere attitude of Sri Aurobindo on this subject of ecstasy should caution us adequately (section 4.68). For those still unconvinced, there is a little classic called The Appeal of Quakerism to the Non-Mystic (Littleboy:1916, 1964) which is very helpful. While it is certainly conducive to a good marriage for the wife to go into orgiastic ecstasy twice a week, it is not necessary; the same situation applies here.

From our individual conscious view, a psychedelic experience is an episode when the doors of the preconscious swing open and the conscious mind finds itself master in a new and enlarged domain, with awe and exaltation resulting from new insights and expanded control. From the preconscious side, the phenomenon can be viewed as a final breaking through into consciousness of psychic tension which needed the fresh air of expression. It is at last a full syntaxic consciousness of the numinous, which is finally received at the full cognitive level; it is finally housed in cognitive consciousness, which is its predestined domicile. The juncture involves both expansion of cognitive knowledge and emergent aspects of affective union, seen in the appropriate ecstasy.

All higher religions attempt to clarify this relationship of the individual ego to the general mind. Indeed, the process of life may be viewed as development of the self from ego-centricity to a merging with the noumenon in psychedelic experience. Cogitation (literally a "shaking-up") explains the discontinuity of successive developmental stages in which the ego is reoriented by permuting its relationship, first to the world of experience, then to itself, then to the beloved other (see Gowan 1974:48ff). This cycle of differential emphasis forces the ego into new experiences, breaking it loose from ego-centricity, and directing it on a sequence culminating in the full ability to understand its nature and function. Such development eventuates in cognitive access to the preconscious, which allows conscious juncture with the numinous, and the prerogatives and powers of the psychedelic state.

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4.71 Response Experiences³⁷

The initial grace in the psychedelic stage is the response experience. In response experiences one feels a sense of Presence, but hears not and sees not the Lord; in the Adamic Ecstasy one hears the Lord, but does not see him. In the Knowledge Ecstasy, one sees the Lord. In Knowledge-contact Ecstasy of degree one, one touches Him (or is touched); in Knowledge-contact Ecstasy of degree two, one penetrates Him (or is penetrated by Him). In Knowledge-contact Ecstasy of degree three, one merges with Him.

The name "Response Experience" comes from Laski (1962:100) who denies that it is a true ecstasy (though many others would dispute her), and calls it a response experience because it appears to be "triggered" by some aspect of nature. Perhaps for this reason it is often called a nature-mystic experience, and as such is frequently noted by poets, artists, writers, and other intellectuals. It is also cognate with Freud's "oceanic" experience and Maslow's "peak-experience."

As the "lowest" psychedelic experience, it contains all the basic properties of the class: the self is purified; fear and shame vanish; there is a realization or feeling that "All is one;" the concept of Gemeinschaftsgefuhl or reconciliation with all men as brothers and indeed all life is felt. Christian Scripture tells us that we must be reconciled with our brother and become purified before we can enter the presence of God, and while the preliminary conditions are met, this procedure is "low" precisely because the self does not yet identify the presence it feels as numinous. In place of merging with the numinous element, there is often merging with nature or some natural object, but all experiences of this level involve a oneness with the creation rather than with the creator.

Rufus Jones tells us of his mystical experience which occurred as a young man in the foothills of the Alps (1932:196-7):
 

I was walking alone in the forest, trying to map out my plan of life. . . . Suddenly I felt the walls between the visible and the invisible grow thin, and the Eternal seemed to break through into the world where I was. I saw no flood or light, I heard no voice. But I felt as though I was face to face with a higher order of reality.

Laski (1962:418) quotes Richard Church, the writer, as follows:
 

I felt the hair of my head tingling, and a curtain of red blood appeared to fall before my eyes. I leaned forward, clasping myself close, while the world rocked around me. And as this earthquake

subsided, I saw a new skyline defined. It was a landscape in which objects and words were fused. . . .

 
But what a thing it was, this awareness: it was so intangible, and yet it struck me like a thunderclap. It was a light so bright that it had no relation to any visible light.... It was as if I had suddenly been illuminated by being blinded by the manifestation of God's presence.

'Lastly, although there was no definite religious sentiment mingled with it, there was a continual perception of Sanctity in the whole of nature, from the slightest thing to the vastest; an instinctive awe, mixed with delight; an indefinable thrill, such as we sometimes imagine to indicate the presence of a disembodied spirit. I could only feel this perfectly when I was alone; and then it would often make me shiver from head to foot with the joy and fear of it, when after being some time away from hills I first got to the shore of a mountain river, where the brown water circled among the pebbles, or when I first saw the swell of distant land against the sunset, or the first low broken wall, covered with mountain moss. I cannot in the least describe the feeling; but I do not think this is my f