What is the truth?

The human capacity for learning is a result of millions of years of evolutionary process. As a product of human evolution, the learning process is based on the need to acquire information and understanding... knowledge of the realities of the world... true knowledge or 'truth'. The truth finding process depends on insights which are reliable because they involve the interplay of empirical observation or 'data' and experiential understanding or 'theory'.  Truth doesn't have to be demonstrated... or proven. Truth is there and nothing can change that. Not believing that something is true does not make the truth go away. Truth is ineluctable...  inescapable. Truth is the authority but to be motivated to search for truth, the mind must not be closed. If the mind is closed it is easy to mistake authority for the truth and it is difficult to unlearn a lie.  If people are conditioned to accept authority as 'truth' and if they feel comfortable with their sense of security in 'knowing the truth', then when they are challenged with the real truth their sense of security is compromised and they feel threatened . In a process of 'cognitive dissonance' they attempt to defend themselves from the facts which could make them vulnerable and confused...  they  fear what might be the truth... and so they react with resistance and self-justification; they   refuse to accept the 'new' truth and even fight the truth and this includes the messenger of the truth.  If on the other hand, the mind is open and free, authority is not mistaken for truth and questions are asked instead using the intelligence of moral or 'spiritual' insight... 'intuition'.  Motivation for the pursuit of truth is a function of engagement of psychological and moral or 'spiritual' development resulting in personality integration which is characterised by holistic perception and complete cognition. Hence the importance of education for freedom to  grow through learning... to cultivate intuitive intelligence or  'creative intelligence'  i.e. education of the personality as a whole or 'holistic education'. Holistic education involves intellectual independence 'independence of mind' as having the freedom and the courage to question authority in order to pursue the 'truth'. Truth as knowledge of reality is fundamental to accurate evaluation and creative decision-making required for effective adaptability and survival. 

Problem of Evil

  

             Problem of 'Evil' as an Issue of Education                     
  The problem of evil: what is evil? where does it come from? Why does it persist? So-called 'evil' is human wickedness which is a function of human psychopathology and not a function of the the nature of the human personality or 'human nature'. The human species is a social species which depends on complete development of its moral faculty for effective socialization necessary for species survival. Those people considered to be 'evil' are really just retarded in the sense that they are not fully human. They are not healthy specimens of the species because they lack the intuitive intelligence and sense of empowerment which results from complete moral or 'spiritual' development. They are disempowered as a result of arrested development and will compensate for their sense of disempowerment by their drive to hold onto the power of control over other human beings. When this drive is combined with authoritarianism and dominance their influence can be deadly.       

Man's 'animal nature' as the human personality or 'human nature' is not 'evil'. The human organism has an instinctive responsibility to itself to develop its humanness as a function of moral consciousness or rational 'conscience' the source of guiding values for living... the source of self-empowerment which is required for adaptation to changing social conditions or 'adaptability'. Normal human psychological development involves the construction of conscience. So what is evil, where does it come from and why does it persist? The so-called 'problem of evil' can only be understood in terms of the psychology of human development. Evil is the socially unnadaptive and destructive behaviour of human wickedness. When development of rational conscience is arrested at the level of ego-needs for security and self-esteem, the result is a process of neurotic development or 'neurosis' which is characterised by a pervasive sense of powerlessness which becomes the source of negative emotions and internal conflicts leading to the construction of immature irrational conscience. It is the failure to develop mature rational conscience which is the source of evil and evil persists as a result of the failure to recognize the importance of providing the conditions required for complete psychological development.... conditions of love as human solidarity without conditions i.e. 'unconditional love'. The problem of evil is an issue of education. Social adaptability is compromised with education which disempowers... authoritarian education. Hence the importance of education for empowerment... for responsible freedom... freedom from fear, freedom from dogma, true freedom or 'inner freedom'... 'freedom to learn' and 'freedom to work'. We can fight evil with education for human empowerment ... education based on respect for biological principles underlying the nature of human nature... education of the whole person as a whole or 'holistic education'. 

What is Human Nature?

    

        The human species is a social species, the human organism is a social organism, the human brain is a social brain and human nature is a social nature. The human personality or 'human nature' is an open natural system which is multidimensional and subjected to the forces of a changing social environment. Human nature can be defined in terms of the integrated functioning of intrinsic motives for behaviour or 'instincts,' instinct-like desires, drives or 'needs', wishes, impulses, feelings, emotions, thoughts, volitions, aspirations, reasoning capacities, beliefs and so on ... all involved in the organismic striving for steady state equilibrium as unity of personality or 'personality integration' which is required for holistic perception,  accurate evaluation and effective adaptability to ever-changing social conditions... required for self-preservation. A system which interacts with its environment acquires qualitatively new irreducible properties... 'emergent properties'...  which emerge as a result of the interaction of the various parts of the whole system. The nature of human nature can only be understood from the perspective of the 'systems approach' or 'systems thinking' of systems theory. The characteristic emergent property of human nature is development of the intrinsic potential for consciousness of moral or 'spiritual' values... moral consciousness or 'conscience'. Rational conscience is the source of  moral intelligence or 'social intelligence' required for social cooperation necessary for continued survival of the human species.                              

What is 'Schizophrenia'?

     So-called ‘Schizophrenia’ as a Process of Uncontrolled     

                      Spiritual Emergence or ‘Spiritual Emergency’  

    Much needless suffering results from ignorance of the multi-dimensional nature of the human psyche, human personality or 'human nature'. Insights into the workings of human nature or ‘the nature of human nature’ are revealed by combining scientific research in western psychology with concepts provided by Eastern psychologies such as Buddhism which are concerned with human psychology on the level beyond individual self-image, the ‘persona’ or ‘ego' as a concept of the self which is created by the mind. These insights can be applied to the study of the healthy healing process involving psychic overload of uncontrollable spiritual growth i.e spiritual emergency or so-called 'schizophrenia'.

     The psychiatric profession has created one of the greatest myths of our time by describing so-called 'schizophrenia' as a nonspecific disease or ‘mental illness’. It was German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin (1856-1926) who originally coined the Latin name 'dementia praecox' meaning 'prematurely out of one's mind' because he believed that this supposedly devastating condition resulted from irreversible mental deterioration.  Later it became clear that the term was a misnomer and in 1910 a new term was provided by the kind and humane Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler (1857-1939), teacher of Carl Jung and professor of psychiatry at the University of Zürich where he headed the famous Burghölzli Clinic. Bleuler coined the term 'schizophrenia' for 'splitting of the mind' since  the condition seemed to involve a mental separation between thought and emotion.The  term is derived from German 'schizophrenie' from Greek 'skhizein' meaning 'to split' and 'phren' of unknown origin meaning 'heart or mind' so that ‘schizophrenia’ actually means 'broken soul' or 'broken heart’. Although there is still no universally accepted definition of the term, it has been applied to various conditions including a set of socially and culturally unacceptable thinking and behaviour patterns thus making it a model of ‘unwanted conduct’.

     In fact so-called ‘schizophrenia’ is not a disease nor is it a hopeless condition. It is  a brilliant condition which is the concern of the psychology of the transpersonal or spiritual dimension of human nature i.e. 'transpersonal psychology'. In this light schizophrenia is a personal 'story' of a natural and temporary self-healing and self-organising process involving the dissolution and removal of illusions and false beliefs which originate from social conditioning. In this sense schizophrenia is a transformative process, a crisis of transformation or ‘psychospiritual crisis’. Furthermore it can be understood as a part of the human condition and as a process which reveals information about the nature of the human psyche or ‘human nature’.  

    The human species is a social species, the human organism is a social organism and human nature is a moral, spiritual or ‘social’ nature with instincts for social cooperation and social harmony i.e. ‘social instincts’. Social instincts must be cultivated in a process of development of moral consciousness or ‘conscience’. The function of the conscience is to preserve the integrity or ‘wholeness’of the personality. Rational conscience is the product of moral, spiritual and social development resulting in transformation of the self and the knowledge of one’s human nature or ‘self-knowledge’. Self-knowledge is prerequisite to social or spiritual intelligence required for effective social adaptability. The process of moral or spiritual development is also known variously as 'individuation', 'self-realisation', 'self-actualisation', 'spiritual renewal', 'spiritual awakening', 'spiritual rebirth’, 'enlightenment' or 'spiritual emergence'. Spiritual emergence is a gradual and controlled transformation process which results in the understanding of the ultimate connectedness or ‘unity’of all things.

     Spiritual emergence is a gradual dynamic, fluid, naturally ordered and integrated on-going process of personal psychological development. It involves moral or ‘spiritual’ development to greater maturity and spiritual awareness. It is a process  which takes place over a period of years and involves personal evolution from the limited sense of self or 'ego' and its egocentric perspective to the expanded sense of self beyond ego, the ‘higher self’, the ‘authentic self’ or 'Self'. Transcendence of the ego or ‘ego-transcendence’ and its transpersonal perspective allows for expansion of consciousness and heightened awareness resulting in an inner sense of emotional liberation. Intuition is purified and sharpened thus allowing for a clearer more accurate perception of reality and the discovery of ideas and behaviours which are effective for social adaptability. Spiritual emergence is the source of personal power because it allows for the attainment of knowledge of one's true nature (‘self-knowledge’) as the source of motivation for personal productiveness and creativity or ‘work’ i.e. self-empowerment’. Each person is at a different stage of spiritual emergence depending on the level of moral or spiritual development which they have reached.

"In the most general terms, spiritual emergence can be defined as the movement of an individual to a more expanded way of being that involves enhanced emotional and psychosomatic health, greater freedom of personal choices, and a sense of deeper connection with other people, nature and the cosmos. An important part of this development is an increasing awareness of the spiritual dimension in one's life and in the universal scheme of things. Spiritual development is an innate evolutionary capacity of all human beings. It is a movement towards wholeness or 'holotropic state', the discovery of one's true potential." (Stanislav Grof)

      Complete psychological development depends on education (at home and at school) which offers conditions of freedom as freedom from dogma or ‘inner freedom’. Growth through the freedom to learn allows for the complete development of the person as a whole. This so called 'holistic education' is based on respect for the biologically based motives for learning or ‘human needs. Human needs include both 'lower' psychological needs for security and self-esteem - the 'ego needs' - and 'higher' psychological needs for moral development, the instinctive yearnings for human values, the spiritual needs or ‘metaneeds’. Motivation by the metaneeds or 'metamotivation' allows for the discovery of one’s true potential.

      If in highly sensitive individuals the process of spiritual emergence is blocked for whatever reason then they might undergo a period of crisis or ‘emergency’ involving the rapid formation of essential adjustments for effective adaptation. The transformation process of spiritual emergence can be so dramatic as to become uncontrollable ‘spiritual emergency’, also known as  transpersonal experience, transpersonal crisis, psycho-spiritual transformation, psychospiritual crisis, spiritual journey, hero's journey, dark night of the soul, spiritual opening, psychic opening, psychic awakening, spiritual awakening, enlightenment, kundalini awakening, kundalini process, kundalini crisis, shamanic initiation, shamanic crisis, psychotic-visionary episode, ego death, ego loss, alchemical process, positive disintegration, post traumatic stress disorder with psychotic features, night sea journey, psychosis, shamanism, mysticism, gnosis, inner apocalypse, and so on. Spiritual emergency is characterised by spontaneous alternative consciousness states or ‘realities' in which the person experiences unbearably distressing psychic overload involving chaotic and overwhelming sensory experiences which in fact offer invaluable opportunities for personal growth and positive transformation. Spiritual emergency is a process of healing and renewal which involves the dissolution and removal of illusions and false beliefs originating in the programming of social conditioning. The conditioning leads to the formulation of aberrant thought complexes and these prevent the person from making accurate evaluations of their social environment. Inaccurate evaluations lead to inappropriate decision-making and non-adaptive behaviour patterns. In a period of crisis, the person instinctively surrenders to the organismic process which involves the temporary separation of thought and emotion (‘ego-loss’) which is necessary for the reassessment of their thoughts without having to deal with the emotional implications. The apparently bizarre speech and behaviour patterns reveal the passage from lower to higher consciousness states in which the person experiences a series of varying stages or ‘episodes’. These can be frightening and confusing to onlookers because they appear to be out of context with everyday reality and as a result they are often misunderstood. They are mistakenly believed and discredited to represent ‘symptoms’ of disease or ‘mental illness'. Perceived as pathological they are considered to be medically ‘treatable’. In fact the apparent 'symptoms' are manifestations of a spontaneous healing effort by the organism as a whole. The person eventually learns to grow beyond fear based ego-consciousness, beyond cultural conditioning and the ‘conditioned self’, beyond the expectations of others and towards the new transpersonal, moral or ‘spiritual’ dimension of awareness which allows for development of personal potential and effective social adaptability.

The successful outcome of spiritual emergency depends on the correct understanding, respect, encouragement and support which allow it to reach full completion (Stanislov Grof.)

References: refer to www.HolisticEducator.com/SpiritualEmergence.htm