The Work greasing the spiral?
Ken Wilber talks about meditation as greasing the spiral. Apparently, meditation is the only practice shown, in studies, to help people move faster up through the spiral of development.
I would be surprised if not The Work greases the spiral in a similar way. It would make a good research project for somebody.
There are at least two aspects to this greasing...
The Work, identity and the self-line
One is what the work does with our identity. It widens and deepens, embraces more, becomes more porous, less tightly held. Then it shifts out of the seen into the seeing itself. And eventually, or so they say, it can release into realized selflessness.
Beliefs is what our identity is created from, and by allowing beliefs to be seen and fall away, our identity also falls away, one belief at a time. What is left is wakeful space, inherently absent of any characteristics, allowing them all to come and go as part of the seen. And with no I anywhere.
So in this way, The Work greases the self-line, from identification with the seen (this human self) to the seeing, to realized selflessness.
The Work and widening circles
The Work also seems to grease any lines that tends to go from egocentric to ethnocentric to widening worldcentric, such as the cognitive (view) and empathy (ethics, circles of care, concern and compassion).
As more of what is seen out there is also seen in here, there is naturally a widening of our view and circle of care, concern and compassion. We recognize in ourselves what we see out there. Less and less out there is foreign to us. I see myself in more and more of what used to be wholly other: in more and more people, in all beings, ecosystems, the Earth, past and future generations, and eventually Existence itself beyond and including all polarities.
There is a deepening sense of recognition. What I see out there is also in here. What I see in you, I recognize from myself.
And there is a deepening sense of belonging. What used to be so completely other is not so anymore. The boundary of I and Other becomes more porous. More and more, I see the seamless whole that these boundaries are placed on top of. There is a deepening sense of belonging... to humanity, to this life, to Earth, to Existence beyond and including all polarities.
With recognition and a sense of belonging, the circles of my view and compassion naturally widen, and widen, and widen.
Labels: development, projections, spiral dynamics