THE UNFOLDING SELF: VARIETIES OF TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCE
Ralph Metzner
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"Out of the turmoil and darkness of dying comes the sparkling vitality of the newborn self. This new self is connected to the eternal source of all life, that source from which we all derive, the divine essence within."
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"The alchemists were concerned with nature as a living, divinely infused interrelated totality."
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"Archetypal images are found in virtually all cultures and during all ages, thus representing a kind of universal language."
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"According to the Jewish Kabbalah teachings, evil occurs when the function of discrimination or judgment (Gevurah) is separated from its natural complement – loving kindness or mercy (Hesed). The implication is that discriminative judgment must be integrated with kindness or compassion for this opposition to be transformed. A similar moral attitude is implied by the Buddhist teachings that advocate a balanced integration of discriminative wisdom and compassion."
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"We may transcend a sense of separateness by meditating on the perception of oneness."
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"By going to my center, my central axis, I can experience the central axis, pole, or pillar of the world – the cosmic hub, the navel of the world (omphalos)."
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"Divinity is the fire of life within every being."
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"Modern scientists have concluded that all phenomena are interrelated in complex networks of energy transformation. Teilhard deChardin's concept of the noosphere, a network of thought ecompassing the planet, is one such idea. The notion of networks of individuals who share a common interest and provide information and support to one another has enormous potential for furthering individual and social transformation."
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"God stands in the same relationship to the universe as Self stands to the body and personality…in the words of one of the aphorisms of the Gurdjieff student A. R. Orage; 'God is the I of the universe.'"
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"The human psyche is purified, transformed and loved by the fire of God, with which it becomes increasingly unified."
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"The tree of life symbolizes the interdimensional central axis, with its energy centers and branching channels, that is our connection with the realms of spirit and hence immortal life."
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"The language of symbols is common human language. It is the language we still use and understand – in dreams, in poetry and art, in the visions and voices that tell us of the sacred and the mystery."
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"We are not the victims or the effects of uncontrollable external circumstances: the journey of transformation is within us. Therefore, we choose the destination."
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"Those who are asleep live each in a private world; those who are awake live in the one Great World." Herakleitos, ancient Greek sage
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"Pilgrimages by groups of people to holy places – whether Chaucer's rowdy band of travelers on the road to Canterbury, devout Christian monks on the way to Jerusalem, or Muslim caravans on the road to Mecca – all share the same purpose: travelers seeking God, seeking to find the Self."
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"We fulfill our destiny by exercising our free will."
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"From the many to the one, from duality to unity – the direction of growth and evolution is toward integration, toward oneness."
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"Each human being is, in essence, a divine spirit of pure light. This light can come 'down' or 'through', into mind and body, into outward expression and manifestation."
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"The mandala is the central symbol of individuation, integration, or wholeness. One could say that a key component of the transformation of vision in psychospiritual development is the perceiving of the visual field as a kind of mandala. American Indian vision seekers have reported that they see the 'circle of the Sky' touch the 'circle of the Earth', forming one great hoop…it is Buckminster Fuller's sphere of 'omnidirectional awareness', moving always with us."
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"The eye or voice of conscience…is the eye of the Self within."
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"Evolution, or order of process, is more than just a paradigm for the biological domain; it is a view of how a totality that hangs together in all of its interactive processes moves. This dynamic totality spans a vast spectrum from the subatomic processes to social and further on to noetic (mental and psychic) processes." Erich Jantsch, 'Evolution and Consciousness: Human Systems in Transition'
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"Humanity is truly at an evolutionary choice point: we know in our hearts that either we are going to have to grow up very fast, change ourselves in radical ways, or we will destroy major portions of the biosphere and perhaps ourselves as well. We have a desperate need for greater awareness of our own inner dynamics and processes if we are going to survive the present global crisis."
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"The atom is, in many ways, seen to behave as much like a wave as a particle. It can perhaps best be regarded as a poorly defined cloud, dependednt for its particular form on the whole environment, including the observing instrument…Both observer and observed are merging and interpenetrating aspects of one whole reality, which is indivisible." Fritjof Capra, 'The Tao of Physics'
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"The evolutionary transformation of society and of humanity must take place first in the individual, and the transformation of the individual requires a turning inward, toward self – not in narcissistic self-absorption but in aware self-confrontation."
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"Whether we speak of union with God or with the Tao, of cosmic consciousness or of wholeness, there is a common core here in all of us. We are one in this – further, we are interconnected with the natural world and the cosmos in which we live."
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