Affective Development (1)

In recent blog entries I have been at pains to clarify both the transcendent and immanent aspects of spiritual development in terms of ascent and descent (which operate with respect to both aspects in a dynamic complementary manner).

Though Band 3 is primarily concerned with the transcendent ascent, because of the complementary nature of both transcendent and immanent aspects it likewise entails to a degree a corresponding immanent descent.

However at this stage the transcendent aspect is still likely to dominate.

So all going well, Band 3 culminates - analogous to reaching the top of a mountain peak - with the attainment of a pure form of transcendence, where true intuitive awareness (as emptiness) is seen as beyond all phenomenal form.

However as always with respect to human development success in this regard is necessarily of an approximate nature (where considerable imperfections are likely to remain).

Then Band 4, as I portray it, relates to a certain consolidation of this development.

However as full consolidation likewise requires mature attainment with respect to the corresponding immanent direction, this entails the on-going development of Band 5.

So from one perspective, Band 5 is concerned with the transcendent descent.

Thus having attained to a pure form of spiritual awareness (as emptiness) the task now is to gradually learn to successfully integrate this holistic vision with material phenomena (of form) through progressive levels of increasing detail.

Expressed another way this entails the successful integration of rational analytic ability with the holistic contemplative vision.

In my writings I have identified this stage primarily with Band 5 (Level 1).

Then at the next level attention is primarily given to the continuing immanent descent, where again all going well one reaches the very bottom of the subterranean depths of the personality, so as to finally uncover the true nature of primitive desire and the consequent lifting of life-long repressions.

When this phase is successfully negotiated, hidden desires are no longer involuntarily projected into conscious experience but rather can be smoothly coordinated through the will with spiritual motivation.

With immanent descent then successfully negotiated, whereby one reaches a trough with respect to the uncovering of primitive desire, the next task is to negotiate the immanent ascent, which I associate with the final level (i.e. Level 3) of Band 5.

So one now attempts to successfully harness one’s instinctive energy - now suitably refined - emerging from the depths below, so that it can again be successfully integrated with all one’s activities. 

So just as we initially identified the transcendent aspect with the cognitive, in complementary fashion we can identify the immanent aspect with the affective mode.

Looked on in an equivalent fashion the task of Band 5 (Level 3) is to successfully integrate both in holistic and specific terms the affective domain of the senses and feelings with all the varied phenomena experienced in everyday living.

This then prepares the way for a true spiritual marriage in the personality where both cognitive and affective modes (now operating in a balanced complementary fashion) can be smoothly harmonised in a dynamic two-way manner, without undue attachment arising, through the central volitional role of spirit.

And the unfolding of this spiritual marriage then properly relates to Band 6.

However I wish to return here to the precise nature of affective response.

As we have seen when development commences - which strictly occurs before birth while one is still a foetus - neither differentiation nor integration of psychological structures have taken place.

So at the initial stage, the (unconscious) holistic nature of phenomena remains directly enmeshed with their specific (conscious) identity. This entails that a collapse takes place with respect to the background dimensional context of space and time, which is thereby directly confused with the local identity of phenomena. So in a manner akin to sub-atomic particles, the psychic objects of experience can enjoy but an extremely short-lived existence, whereby they immediately pass from memory.

Indeed this is the root nature of physical instinctive response, whereby the holistic unconscious - designed for the integrative aspect of experience - is directly confused with the local conscious nature of differentiated phenomena.

And because the external and internal aspects of experience have not yet been separated, affective sense response (with respect to the objective world) cannot be distinguished from affective feeling (relating to subjective reality).

The first general stage of development i.e. Band 1 is then largely directed to differentiation of the conscious from the unconscious aspect of experience.

This means in turn that sense response with respect to objective phenomena likewise becomes gradually differentiated from subjective feelings.

In this way objective phenomena acquire a more permanent existence where they can become successfully located in a corresponding stable dimensional framework of space and time.

Though this indeed represents a crucially important stage, an inevitable price in psychological terms must be paid.

Because the emphasis during Band 1 is primarily on conscious differentiation, mature development of the unconscious cannot thereby occur. Therefore insofar as integration takes place, it is largely of a reduced nature designed to support an emerging increasingly fragmented worldview.

Thus the growing capacity to clearly distinguish specific phenomena (in affective and cognitive terms) leads to a corresponding reduction in true holistic ability which directly depends on the unconscious. In early childhood this holistic ability is indeed present though of a necessarily confused nature. But growing development with respect to the conscious aspect of experience typically is associated with significant repression of the immature unconscious.

So remarkably, when specialisation of conscious ability - especially of a cognitive nature - takes place at Band 2, the holistic nature of reality is no longer even recognised in mathematical and scientific terms.

Initially with the commencement of Band 1 (Level 1), the 3 fundamental polarity sets remain confused with each other.

Thus form cannot yet be properly distinguished from emptiness (with both physical and material reality remaining completely enmeshed with each other).

So gradually during this time the infant learns to distinguish the self as in some sense distinct from the general environment. However, no clear distinction has taken place as between both the affective and cognitive modes and the external and internal directions of experience.

Thus sense perception and feeling still operate at a highly primitive level where the conscious nature of local phenomena cannot be properly distinguished from the holistic nature of all phenomena.

At Level 2, with the continuing separation of conscious from unconscious, the infant gradually learns to distinguish whole from part reality. This likewise leads to the separation of the affective from the cognitive mode allowing for emergence of more distinctive sense response. However, initially a considerable degree of overlap as between the holistic and specific nature of phenomena remains, with feelings still confused with perceptions.

Then with Level 3, the separation of external and internal aspects of experience gradually unfolds enabling the clearer distinction of (objective) sense perceptions from (subjective) emotional feelings.

So with the three specialised levels of Band 2, where the conscious becomes differentiated to an extreme degree from the unconscious aspect of experience, these clear separations with respect to the three fundamental polarity sets likewise reach their zenith.

Thus (physical) form can now be clearly distinguished from (spiritual) emptiness; the specific parts in any context can be distinguished from the overall whole; finally the (external) objective can be clearly distinguished from the (internal) subjective aspect of experience.

This is especially the case with respect to the cognitive mode as exemplified in a highly specialised manner through the modern development of science and mathematics. Here the conventional - and largely unquestioned - paradigm of understanding entails an enormous amount of reductionism (that excludes entirely in formal terms the unconscious aspect of experience).

So physical phenomena (of form) are interpreted without respect to a spiritual dimension (of emptiness); wholes are then treated in a merely analytic quantitative manner (as the reduced sum of constituent parts) and finally, physically phenomena are given an abstract objective existence (as if somehow independent of the enquiring mind).    

However this specialisation of conscious ability in cognitive terms, also has considerable repercussions for the manner in which the complementary affective mode operates in modern society.

Therefore it is increasingly now accepted in our secular culture that affective experience of phenomena can occur in the absence of any spiritual considerations. Indeed this belief above everything else underpins the philosophy of materialism that lies at the root of modern consumer society.

Then the qualities which objects possess - that are conveyed through the senses - are understood as belonging to distinct objects (without consideration of a wider holistic context where their interdependence with all other objects is recognised).

Likewise from this perspective the two-way dialogue as between the (internal) self and the (external) world of objects, which the appreciation of true value requires, is largely ignored.

So feelings positive and negative thereby directly arise in response to the perceived qualities which outward object phenomena are believed to possess.

In this way one - unwittingly - becomes a slave to one’s selfish desires that are continually mediated through this one-way relationship with phenomena.

Though there is admittedly more acceptance in society of the creative role of the unconscious, with respect to artistic endeavours, because of the lack of any integrated understanding of its role, it thereby remains largely untrained and misunderstood.

Thus from one perspective, the dominance of conscious related activity in modern society depends on considerable repression of its unconscious counterpart.

This leads then to the involuntary projection of primitive desires into conscious life whereby their true holistic nature is misunderstood become directly identified with conscious symbols.

So the paradox of modern life is that despite our best attempts at exercising conscious control (though remarkable developments in science and technology) we are increasingly becoming victims of misunderstood unconscious forces, that are now threatening to undermine the very structure of society.