Who Can Change Human Nature?
by Walter Lang, 1971.
"You can't change human nature" is a folk saying heatedly rejected by socialists and humanists and by a good many psychologists. Human nature, they say, is essentially good. Give it a chance, and it will prove so. Their recipe is simple: remove anxiety, abandon discipline, take the guilt out of sex, guarantee social security. If possible, sing the Red Flag. Then sit back and wait for Utopia.
Crime
This experiment has now been going full-blast for half a century, and the results are pretty obvious. Instead of greed dissolving before affluence, it expands to meet its opportunities. Crime-rates soar to match living standards. Instead of serenity, insecurity; instead of tolerance, jealousy; instead of a noble freemasonry of science, Doomwatch; instead of health, a planet sick from pollution.
Given security and affluence, human nature, it seems, is highly unconcerned about changing itself at all, and the suspicion grows that, left to itself, it will always "regress to the mean". In the West, the mean seems to lie somewhere between Bingo and Buchenwald.
Are we then fated to inevitable decline, chaos and extinction? Is it just not possible to change human nature?
The Afghan writer Idries Shah would disagree. He would probably say that human nature can certainly be changed, but that the process is a little more subtle than we suspect.
Mass
In some fourteen books during the last ten years, he has presented (though never quite explicitly) many facets of the same extraordinary idea: that at various points in history, specially prepared people appear on the scene and act as an oxidizing agent for the human mass. Though they transmit an evolutionary impulse, this role is unsuspected, and to all appearances they are engaged in some quite mundane activity. What they are really engaged in is human engineering: changing human nature in respect of their own time and locality and in terms of a purpose in the distant future. From the nucleus which forms around these people, a new cultural epoch may arise.
This idea, ludicrous as it might seem in a Cola and Cadillac age, is probably an implied basic in many world religions. Only the West, self-oriented, finds it implausible.
Shah's fifteenth title, Thinkers of the East, is an anthology of material by or about some of these Secret People. It records the actions they took, the teachings they gave and the stories that are told about them. Even at cursory reading, a deep and subtle psychology is apparent. Such men, it would seem, affect their immediate environment by "rub-off", and their own immediate circle, by what might be called "subjective drama".
The latter, if it admits of analysis at all, seems to involve submitting selected people to carefully contrived life situations while they are in an exactly calculated mental and emotional state. Under these precise conditions it seems that experience does teach. There is an ethical and perhaps also an intuitional gain which, if implications are to be believed, becomes permanent.
The process seems unknown in the West and there is no word for it in English, but "action teaching" and "experientalism" are terms coming into vogue.
John Fowles, the novelist, probably without inside information, but with some insight, based his bestselling novel The Magus on a similar if somewhat romanticised idea. He called it "The God Game".
Essays
Could such an activity really have gone on all through history? Implausible as the idea seems, it is currently attracting a great deal of attention in academic as well as popular circles. Idries Shah's writings are now being paperbacked in America and all his books are being reprinted in Britian this year. His One Pair of Eyes program on TV produced a flood of letters and his material is currently in use in five universities. The Book of the Book, which some English reviewers last year regarded as a heavy joke, is now studied in Stanford University's psychology department. A British publisher has just commissioned a series of essays by specialists in a number of sciences to analyze the value of these ideas in their own disciplines.
The present book, Thinkers of the East, is at surface level, pleasant bedside book entertainment, with a gentle, fey, moral content. Read receptively-- and in conjunction with the psychological processes listed at the beginning-- the simple stories may yield insights of great strength and power. The readers emotion, strangely enough, may not be surprise, but nostalgia.
from The Evening News, London, Wednesday, March 3rd 1971, no. 27, 715.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Transpersonal Psychology (I)
(Selections from "The Arica Training", by John Lilly and Joseph Hart, found in Transpersonal Psychologies, 1975, Charles Tart ed.)
John Lilly: Graduate of the California Institute of Technology, and received his Doctorate in Medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1942. as well as having been trained as a psychoanalyst. He has done extensive research in various fields of science, including biophysics, neuro-physiology, electronics, and neuro-anatomy. Dr. Lilly has done many years of study and research on sensory isolation and confinement. He spent twelve years working on research on dolphin-human relationships including communications and then spent two years at Esalen institute, Big Sur, California, as a group leader, resident and associate in residence. He spent a total of eight months in Chile studying the Arica system with Oscar Ichazo, and now directs Human Software, Inc, a center to investigate consciousness in Malibu, California. Dr. Lilly’s books include … and he has written numerous scientific articles.
Joseph E. Hart, A.B., M.A., Ph.L., Stl. Was formerly director of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences of Parks College of St. Louis University. He was one of the 54 Americans who trained with Oscar Ichazo in Arica, Chile and then he served as a teacher and one of the directors of the Arica school in New York City until July of 1972. He is now associated with John and Antoinette Lilly at Human Software, Inc, Malibu California.
History and Development
On July 1st 1970, fifty-four North Americans, most of them from Esalen and Big Sur, met in a lecture room of the city hospital of Arica, Chile, to start ten months of intensive training under a Bolivian by the name of Oscar Ichazo. Little was known about Ichazo’s background then; not much more is known now. But Claudio Naranjo, John Lilly and Kathy Bliebtreu and John Lilly had made trips to Chile earlier in the year to meet Oscar and had brought favorable reports back to the West Coast. [for those who haven't heard it, Naranjo's 'favorable report' can be heard here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl1yJjGaDQo ]
The little that Oscar has stated about his life can be put very briefly. He was born in 1931 and raised in Bolivia and Peru. His father was prominent in Bolivian politics. When Ichazo was six and a half, he began to suffer very violent attacks during which he had great pain, fear of death then the experience of leaving his body. As the result of these early experiences, he determined to gain control of his own consciousness and overcome these attacks, so he studied Samurai techniques and Zen meditation , was introduced to psychadelic drugs and Shamanism, studied Yoga, read in philosophy.
When he was 19, he was accepted for training by a group in Buenos Aires who were studying consciousness-raising techniques, Zen, Sufism and the Kabbalah. After being with this small group for about 2 years, he began to search for further training in the East, Hong Kong, India and Tibet, where he studied Yoga, Buddhism , Confucianism , the I Ching and Martial Arts.
There is some indication that [Ichazo] became a member of a Sufi school in Afghanistan but left to return to La Paz, Bolivia. Certainly he either came under the influence of the school that taught Gurdjieff, or at least, studied under students of Gurdjieff. For both Oscar and Gurdjieff groups use the teaching device of the 9-sided figure, the Enneagram, though Oscar claims to have worked out the ancient meanings and uses of the Enneagram himself.
His first group of students were Chileans from Santiago where he was lecturing at the Institute for Applied Psychology. When he moved to Arica, some of these students moved there with him and became his assistants in teaching the North American group.
332: After 6 months of introductory exercises a new phase of more intensive training began for the North American group. At that time, 5 of the original group, including Claudio Naranjo, were separated from further training; John Lilly also left, to return to the U.S. All training in Chile ended in 1971 and the group returned to the U.S.
Those who wished to open a school in New York for giving the “Arica Training” and continue working with Ichazo, were to meet in September in NY with 44 of the original members and Ichazo. The Arica Institute in America was incorporated and began giving the first 3 month training to 76 students at Marriott’s Essex House Central Park South on October 1st 1971. A second and third 3-month program followed, and in January 1972 a center was opened in San Francisco. In June, 1972, special training, “The Temple”, was offered to all those who had finished the three month course. Then followed the “Open Path” training to prepare teachers, who now number about 250, with centers in New York, San Francisco, Santa Monica and training programs in a number of other cities.
When a child is born he is pure essence, a natural being in an ordered cosmos, one with all men and with God, instinctive, loving. This is the perfect state of innocence, but the child must grow. Under the influence of his surroundings, parents, society, he begins to develop a personality for survival, the Ego, between 4-6 years of age. The awareness of the joy and harmony of his essence dims until he is conscious only of his ego, which is fighting for survival in a threatening world. This lack of awareness of the essence leads to the unhappiness which many feel as part of man’s condition in this world. But if the ego with its constant fear can be eliminated, man can return to his original state of being in essence with the addition of all the knowledge his life experience has given him.
This knowledge and experience can now enrich the essence which can function more fully in harmony with the cosmos and is now that of an enlightened man.
The ego affects the whole of man, his thinking, his emotions, his bodily movement and energy, which are represented by three centers: the Path, the intellectual center in the head; the Oth, the emotional center in the heart region; and the Kath, the movement/energy/instinct center about 4 finger widths below the navel.
One of the first steps towards enlightenment is to break the hold of the ego on the thinking center—the Path—since man in ego sees himself, others and the world only in terms of his ego structure
333: the Ego functioning in the Path wants the mind to control the emotional center and the movement-instinct center, the Kath. So it is necessary to learn to think with the whole body by the use of the mentations....
To break the hold on the intellect, one must understand his personal ego structure. Each person in ego has a definite pattern of thinking—a fixation. There are 9 basic fixations, usually shown in the form of an Enneagram: the Enneagram is a teaching device used by the Sufi school and developed by Ichazo. Far from being an arbitrary symbol, it has very carefully worked-out interior and exterior dynamic relationships between each point and the whole. It is the subject of constant meditation and study. The relationships are so complex and rich that it would be impossible to explain them in a limited article. To overcome the feeing of unhappiness and emptiness, the individual in Ego searches for something to fill the void according to his fixation
*9- Indolence: this person seeks love outside himself and makes no effort to find his essence and peace.
*1- Resentment: always angry with himself and others for not being perfect.
*2- Flattery: needs an approving audience. Many entertainers belong to this group.
*3- Vanity: strives for degrees, positions of importance, power over others
*4- Melancholy: never happy with the present, always looking toward a happy future
334:
*5- Stinginess: desires anonymity and to view life from the sidelines.
*6- Cowardice: needs a strong leader to follow, one who can be protective
*7- Planning: always planning what to do and what must happen, always disappointed at the outcome
*8- Vengeance: destructive of self and others out of a sense of injustice.
The ego leads each person into his own fixation Trap, or false substitute for his experience of his own essence. Each fixation has a “trap”, a habitual way of acting that stems from the ego. A person who falls into the trap associated with his fixation will remain in that recurring action loop until such time as he realizes that it is getting him nowhere. At that point he is ready for the “Idea” that will put him through the door of the trap and into his Essence.
Traps
*9- Seeker: he is always seeking outside himself for the solution of his problems, running from guru to guru
*1- Perfection: while demanding perfection of himself, he also expects perfection in others. Of course, he always hates himself for not being perfect and is always disappointed in others.
*2 – Freedom: although dependent on others for constant approval of himself and his actions, he is fighting that dependency in order to be free from social disapproval and approval.
*3- Efficiency: he has little patience with inefficiency in others, is looking for more effective and quicker methods of achieving his goals. Thus he may be rather inefficient himself.
*4 – Authenticity: for this person, the really real mate will always be just around the corner of the next hour or day or year. With such a mate, this person will then be fulfilled and so, authentic.
*5- Observer: for him, life is fascinating to watch from a safe, hidden place but is much to terrifying to take part in.
*6- Security: since such a person lives in fear—life is always threatening—he always seeks something or someone as protector against impending disaster. He will seek to build up a solid fortune, or will become the devoted follower of a strong leader.
*7- Idealism: he is concerned with manipulating the present so that the future will be perfect and the fulfillment of his ideals. When the future becomes the present he is disappointed and must begin working again towards his ideal.
*8- Being aware of living in a very unjust world, he is very sensitive to any unfair actions or thoughts directed at him. His immediate thought is that of revenge.
When the “traps” are recognized as being a source of unhappiness leading nowhere, the person is ready for and eager to accept the proper “idea” for him These “ideas” are but particular facets of the eternal essence which can bring man to an experiential knowledge of his essential self, and so to internal peace and happiness. Experiencing these ideas is dependent upon baraka, divine energy, which must permeate the person. Drawing on baraka is accomplished through meditation, breathing, chanting and other exercises:
*9. Holy love: the Seeker is seeking for someone to truly love him so that he can feel loveable. The experience of Holy Love reveals that his essence is pure Love. Then he is both loving and loveable.
336:
*1. Holy Perfection: the seeker for Perfection from the outside, experiences that his essence is perfect. He can relax.
*2. Holy Freedom. The experience of the essence forces man from a dependence upon the approval of others and introduces him to the freedom of living the cosmic laws
*3. Holy Hope: the seeker for efficiency, resting in his essence, finds that all things are functioning and will continue to function most efficiently according to the cosmic laws. The continual functioning of the cosmos doesn’t depend solely upon his efforts; there is hope for the future whatever he does or doesn’t do
*4. Holy Originality: Once he realizes that his essence originates from perfect being, then he knows that he is really real now, and not sometime in the future.
*5. Holy Omniscience: The observer , storing up knowledge of life by viewing it from the sidelines, steps into life when he experiences his essence. Then and only then can he truly have full knowledge of life.
*6. Holy Faith. For one seeking security, his essence will give him the assurance that nothing from outside him can hurt his essence, not even physical death, and he is truly his essence.
*7. Holy Work. For the idealistic planner of the future, the touch of the essence will bring him to live and work in the moment, fully and happily.
*8. Holy Truth. Once the seeker for justice realizes, that his essence follows truly the cosmic laws, which are immanently true and just, he will be satisfied and at peace.
Transpersonal Psychology (II)
The Original Arica Training, pt. 2
Breaking the hold of the ego on the emotions, or Oth center, follows much the same pattern of becoming aware of one’s predominant passion and counteracting it with the proper virtue. The passions are the emotional survival systems of the ego. A person with a given fixation would generally react to life in a habitual way. He will feel all the passions at sometime or another, but his predominant passion will set the emotional tone of his personality.
#9. Laziness: for the ego indolent, the ego will persuade him to be very lazy in searching for his essence, though he may be hyperactive in finding ways to avoid working toward his essence.
#1. Anger: the ego will keep the person in resentful anger because he is not perfect, nor are the people around him.
#2. Pride: the ego-flattery is dependent upon the approval and applause of others and he works hard to get them. The constant approval and flattery of others produce ego pride.
#3. Deceit: one who wants to be known for his accomplishments, positions of influence, and efficiency, finds it difficult to admit anything that might mar his public image, so he is often forced into deceit to protect his ego.
#4. Envy: the ego-melancholy person, hoping for the perfect mate or situation in order to feel really real and fulfilled, tends to think most others have achieved this, and of course is envious of their seeming happiness and earthiness.
#5. Avarice: anonymity and security are important to the ego-stinge in order that he can safely watch the world from the peephole of his hiding place. Not only is he avid for the means to maintain his corner, he also is greedy for knowledge of what is going on in life so that he can feel alive.
#6. Fear: there is a necessary instinctive fear of dangerous situations in order to safeguard our physical existence. We wouldn’t last long without it. But for the ego-coward, all of life is threatening. Enemies surround him, so he must always be on the alert and find someone stronger to protect him. Though such constant fear is painful, yet it is familiar and safe. To live without it would leave one too vulnerable to unexpected attack.
#7. Gluttony: if a little of something is pleasant, then an unlimited amount should bring unheard-of pleasures. This projection of present enjoyment into future ecstasy through more and more of the same is a recurring emotional reaction to the good, though each time it ends in uncomfortable satiation and physical distress.
#8. Excess. The person seeking justice and truth very often overdoes his vengeance in his great moral indignation at injustice. Just as he can punish too severely one who he thinks has wronged him, the can be even more punishing to himself when he feels he has failed in justice. Often he will do physical damage to himself.
To counteract these passions of the ego which is trying to keep one from experiencing his essence, a person is led by special exercises to experience the opposite virtues or essential feelings. The practical means used are meditation on the virtues and the use of mudras, or hand positions, such as you see represented by figures of Buddha or the bodhisattvas. Much use is made of “ego-reduction exercises” which deliberately try to arouse the passions, so that the person can become aware of his weak points. These reduction exercises are carefully prepared and given only when the person is prepared to undergo them.
Virtues:
9. Action directed toward experiencing one’s essence, over coming laziness.
#1. Serenity overcomes anger when one knows that his essence is perfect, as are the essences of all others
#2. Humility is the obvious means of overcoming pride. Basically, one can realize that he bears the same perfect essence as others. He is not unique.
#3. Truthfulness will help him to realize that he is what he is. He does not have to use deceit to maintain an outward image of importance.
#4. Happiness in the present moment, or equanimity, will help overcome the envy of the happiness of others.
339:
#5. Detachment form his secure hiding place and from the need to know everything will relieve him from his avarice, the struggle to protect his anonymity.
#6. Courage can replace fear. No one or no thing can harm his essence. Only he has the choice of strengthening his ego, or experiencing his essence.
#7. Sobriety will soon teach him that happiness is reached step by step and cannot be achieved once and for all by extreme measures and gluttony.
#8. The excess of revenge on others and on himself can give way to a childlike innocence, “Why should I want to hurt anyone and why should anyone want to hurt me.”
Finally the hold of the ego over the Kath movement center is greatly stressed, since the Kath is the center of instincts and of energy. In the Kath are stored all of man’s evolutionary experiences, all the instinctual responses to his environment. Through the Kath man knows and experiences life, being alive, so that the Arica training aims to bring man’s consciousness out of his head an into his Kath. Then man will have the essential responses to life immediately, without deterring through a through process. The samurai… have developed this Kath response to a very high degree.
The practical development of Kath awareness is dependent upon physical exercises, high-protein diet, breathing, relaxation exercises, the practice of tai chi or other martial arts, special chanting or mantras, and specialized massage.
Jnnana yoga stresses the development of the Path or mind; Bahkti yoga is centered in the Oth or heart. The Arica training stresses the development of the Kath as being most important at this stage of man’s evolution. Only when a man feels essentially a part of the cosmos and acts instinctively according to the rules of the cosmos can he fulfill the Arican concept of enlightenment. For Ichazo, unless all men can be trained to live in their Kath, and break the hold of the go, particularly on the Path or mind, man’s evolutionary development will come to a halt within 10 years. But a man living in his Kath will know that he is one with al men; individualism will disappear, and with it the conflicts and self-seeking which are leading to the destruction of our culture and our planet. All humanity must become an organic whole or planetary family living in harmony with the Cosmos. For this Ichazo studied and worked, that he might pass on his knowledge to others, the Arica institute. They in turn must share their knowledge until it has spread to all men.
340:
“Satori” is a term used very broadly by the Aricans to cover any heightened sense of well-being and happiness. Thus the experience of satori will range from enjoying a game of golf to the highest state of consciousness in which the awareness of the individual essence disappears in the experience of cosmic being. This satori for living is brought about by the development of Kath consciousness and letting the energy from the Kath activate the whole person, in time as the ego is broken, the essence will take over from the mind, which will be in a state without thought, except when thought is necessary, and all man’s activities will flow immediately from the Kath in harmony with nature [as in the case of samurai, Zen masters, or enlightened men]
The quickest and most efficient way to achieve satori is in and through the group. There is some indication that in the Sufi school of which Oscar is or was a member, a store of baraka, or divine energy had been built up over the ages to be used at the proper time for the enlightenment of mankind. The Arica group was told that they were to be the receiver of this store of baraka to pass on to others… [so they would be] aided by this low of divine grace which is augmented and shared in the group exercises. Once one is dismissed from the group, he no longer is aided by this special grace.
Nature of the universe:
The cosmos is filled with divine energy, baraka, and life. This life and baraka spread down through the planetary system. For earth, the immediate source of baraka and life is the sun. For man, the sun and mother earth give life and divine energy. However, the moon which is a dead planet, absorbs life from the earth and energy from man, so man can increase his vital energy, and increase his baraka, by living in harmony with mother earth, by drawing in baraka from the sea and the sun. Just at sunset when the last ray of direct light shoots across the ocean waves, once can, in meditation, breath in the baraka that spreads across the water and breathing it out, sending it to all men.
341:
On the highest level of consciousness, man is aware only of God, not of himself. Only when he comes down to the next level does he become aware of what he can understand of the divine plan and of the cosmos. On this level he may receive instructions from the highest entities, such as Metatron, the prince of the archangels, how has given instructions to Ichazo. Below Metatron are the archangels and angels who are guardians of the Sephirath of the Qabalah. These may be contacted by the group through meditation and mantras, and they in turn send baraka upon the group.
Ichazo has stated that he is in contact with all previous masters of the school because he is now a master and in the line of succession.
The interior master of all Aricans is called the Green Qutub . He may or may not make himself known to individual Aricans depending on the stage of development of the student. Also, it is possible to be in touch with all enlightened ones, past and present.
Satan is either the ego or the cause of the ego….
In all the explanations of enlightenment, the assumption is that there is an observer who can be aware of ego-produced thoughts in the mind, of the experience of Kath awareness, of the state of the Essence, and higher states of consciousness. This observer can and should function even in the sleep state, recording dreams. Ecstasy in which the observer is blocked is not encouraged. Rather the individual should be able to give a report of his experiences on every level of consciousness.
342:
the early stages of the training help the student to become are of this observer within him so that he can watch himself function in thought, in emotion, in bodily movement in the higher states. This “self-awareness” was one of the basic teachings of Gurdjieff. It is not clear in the Arica teaching whether this “observer” is the essence functioning, or whether it is simply the intellect fulfilling its proper role.
Personality
… Man is seen to be made up of Ego and Essence. While he is born in the Essential state, the development of the ego seems to be a necessity for the enrichment and maturation of the essence. Only when the individual has undergone the difficulties of living in ego can he return to the essential state and have the necessary skills and knowledge to function as an enlightened adult.
… the present incarnation for the individual is determined by his past karma so that his ego fixation is to some extent determined in that he has these parents and is brought up in these circumstances in this particular culture. However, he has the freedom to overcome his deviations and his fixation. When he has returned to essence he will still have his own personality because his past is the enrichment and education of his essence.
Emotions
Emotions come from the Oth, the heart center. For the man in ego, the deviations and fixations determine his emotional responses. As indicated above, each fixation has its predominant emotional response, known as “passion”. Only when one is aware of his predominant passion is he able to gradually overcome it by concentrating on the proper virtue.
345:
Since love is the emotion proper to the essence, and since all men share in this essence, great stress is place on developing love for all members of the Arica group. It is the bond that helps keep them together as a family. Love must also go out to all men to draw them to Arica and enlightenment until mankind is a loving family. The major exercise for developing this ambience of love is called traspaso. Two people sit opposite each other, preferably in full or half-lotus; the gaze is centered on the left eye of the person opposite, and there is concentration in the Kath to send baraka to the other….
… A… goal for the individual Arican is the overcoming of his deviations and fixations so that he can begin to be aware of his essential self. ..the ideal held out to the student is that of the bodhisattva samurai: one who is dedicated to saving the world through the proper use of power and baraka. Thus the great emphasis of living in the Kath, acting instinctively to meet any situation, and using physical energy and baraka to draw others to enlightenment—a warrior for God.
346:
It is most important for the Arican to live in the present. Therefore the hold of the past must be broken. After the student is shown his deviations, he is required to go through his past life and write down how his deviations affected him. Later, when he is told his fixation, he must re-examine his past, realizing that what he has learned and experienced will be used by his essence in the proper way. Thus his past life was a necessary preparation for the present and the future. But the “now” is the important thing. This is called “cleaning one’s karma”; for acting in essence develops no karma, no wrong actions.
Each action done under the influence of deviations and fixation affects the body by building up nodules on muscles throughout the body. These nodules can be removed by a special type of massage…
Breaking the hold of the ego on the emotions, or Oth center, follows much the same pattern of becoming aware of one’s predominant passion and counteracting it with the proper virtue. The passions are the emotional survival systems of the ego. A person with a given fixation would generally react to life in a habitual way. He will feel all the passions at sometime or another, but his predominant passion will set the emotional tone of his personality.
#9. Laziness: for the ego indolent, the ego will persuade him to be very lazy in searching for his essence, though he may be hyperactive in finding ways to avoid working toward his essence.
#1. Anger: the ego will keep the person in resentful anger because he is not perfect, nor are the people around him.
#2. Pride: the ego-flattery is dependent upon the approval and applause of others and he works hard to get them. The constant approval and flattery of others produce ego pride.
#3. Deceit: one who wants to be known for his accomplishments, positions of influence, and efficiency, finds it difficult to admit anything that might mar his public image, so he is often forced into deceit to protect his ego.
#4. Envy: the ego-melancholy person, hoping for the perfect mate or situation in order to feel really real and fulfilled, tends to think most others have achieved this, and of course is envious of their seeming happiness and earthiness.
#5. Avarice: anonymity and security are important to the ego-stinge in order that he can safely watch the world from the peephole of his hiding place. Not only is he avid for the means to maintain his corner, he also is greedy for knowledge of what is going on in life so that he can feel alive.
#6. Fear: there is a necessary instinctive fear of dangerous situations in order to safeguard our physical existence. We wouldn’t last long without it. But for the ego-coward, all of life is threatening. Enemies surround him, so he must always be on the alert and find someone stronger to protect him. Though such constant fear is painful, yet it is familiar and safe. To live without it would leave one too vulnerable to unexpected attack.
#7. Gluttony: if a little of something is pleasant, then an unlimited amount should bring unheard-of pleasures. This projection of present enjoyment into future ecstasy through more and more of the same is a recurring emotional reaction to the good, though each time it ends in uncomfortable satiation and physical distress.
#8. Excess. The person seeking justice and truth very often overdoes his vengeance in his great moral indignation at injustice. Just as he can punish too severely one who he thinks has wronged him, the can be even more punishing to himself when he feels he has failed in justice. Often he will do physical damage to himself.
To counteract these passions of the ego which is trying to keep one from experiencing his essence, a person is led by special exercises to experience the opposite virtues or essential feelings. The practical means used are meditation on the virtues and the use of mudras, or hand positions, such as you see represented by figures of Buddha or the bodhisattvas. Much use is made of “ego-reduction exercises” which deliberately try to arouse the passions, so that the person can become aware of his weak points. These reduction exercises are carefully prepared and given only when the person is prepared to undergo them.
Virtues:
9. Action directed toward experiencing one’s essence, over coming laziness.
#1. Serenity overcomes anger when one knows that his essence is perfect, as are the essences of all others
#2. Humility is the obvious means of overcoming pride. Basically, one can realize that he bears the same perfect essence as others. He is not unique.
#3. Truthfulness will help him to realize that he is what he is. He does not have to use deceit to maintain an outward image of importance.
#4. Happiness in the present moment, or equanimity, will help overcome the envy of the happiness of others.
339:
#5. Detachment form his secure hiding place and from the need to know everything will relieve him from his avarice, the struggle to protect his anonymity.
#6. Courage can replace fear. No one or no thing can harm his essence. Only he has the choice of strengthening his ego, or experiencing his essence.
#7. Sobriety will soon teach him that happiness is reached step by step and cannot be achieved once and for all by extreme measures and gluttony.
#8. The excess of revenge on others and on himself can give way to a childlike innocence, “Why should I want to hurt anyone and why should anyone want to hurt me.”
Finally the hold of the ego over the Kath movement center is greatly stressed, since the Kath is the center of instincts and of energy. In the Kath are stored all of man’s evolutionary experiences, all the instinctual responses to his environment. Through the Kath man knows and experiences life, being alive, so that the Arica training aims to bring man’s consciousness out of his head an into his Kath. Then man will have the essential responses to life immediately, without deterring through a through process. The samurai… have developed this Kath response to a very high degree.
The practical development of Kath awareness is dependent upon physical exercises, high-protein diet, breathing, relaxation exercises, the practice of tai chi or other martial arts, special chanting or mantras, and specialized massage.
Jnnana yoga stresses the development of the Path or mind; Bahkti yoga is centered in the Oth or heart. The Arica training stresses the development of the Kath as being most important at this stage of man’s evolution. Only when a man feels essentially a part of the cosmos and acts instinctively according to the rules of the cosmos can he fulfill the Arican concept of enlightenment. For Ichazo, unless all men can be trained to live in their Kath, and break the hold of the go, particularly on the Path or mind, man’s evolutionary development will come to a halt within 10 years. But a man living in his Kath will know that he is one with al men; individualism will disappear, and with it the conflicts and self-seeking which are leading to the destruction of our culture and our planet. All humanity must become an organic whole or planetary family living in harmony with the Cosmos. For this Ichazo studied and worked, that he might pass on his knowledge to others, the Arica institute. They in turn must share their knowledge until it has spread to all men.
340:
“Satori” is a term used very broadly by the Aricans to cover any heightened sense of well-being and happiness. Thus the experience of satori will range from enjoying a game of golf to the highest state of consciousness in which the awareness of the individual essence disappears in the experience of cosmic being. This satori for living is brought about by the development of Kath consciousness and letting the energy from the Kath activate the whole person, in time as the ego is broken, the essence will take over from the mind, which will be in a state without thought, except when thought is necessary, and all man’s activities will flow immediately from the Kath in harmony with nature [as in the case of samurai, Zen masters, or enlightened men]
The quickest and most efficient way to achieve satori is in and through the group. There is some indication that in the Sufi school of which Oscar is or was a member, a store of baraka, or divine energy had been built up over the ages to be used at the proper time for the enlightenment of mankind. The Arica group was told that they were to be the receiver of this store of baraka to pass on to others… [so they would be] aided by this low of divine grace which is augmented and shared in the group exercises. Once one is dismissed from the group, he no longer is aided by this special grace.
Nature of the universe:
The cosmos is filled with divine energy, baraka, and life. This life and baraka spread down through the planetary system. For earth, the immediate source of baraka and life is the sun. For man, the sun and mother earth give life and divine energy. However, the moon which is a dead planet, absorbs life from the earth and energy from man, so man can increase his vital energy, and increase his baraka, by living in harmony with mother earth, by drawing in baraka from the sea and the sun. Just at sunset when the last ray of direct light shoots across the ocean waves, once can, in meditation, breath in the baraka that spreads across the water and breathing it out, sending it to all men.
341:
On the highest level of consciousness, man is aware only of God, not of himself. Only when he comes down to the next level does he become aware of what he can understand of the divine plan and of the cosmos. On this level he may receive instructions from the highest entities, such as Metatron, the prince of the archangels, how has given instructions to Ichazo. Below Metatron are the archangels and angels who are guardians of the Sephirath of the Qabalah. These may be contacted by the group through meditation and mantras, and they in turn send baraka upon the group.
Ichazo has stated that he is in contact with all previous masters of the school because he is now a master and in the line of succession.
The interior master of all Aricans is called the Green Qutub . He may or may not make himself known to individual Aricans depending on the stage of development of the student. Also, it is possible to be in touch with all enlightened ones, past and present.
Satan is either the ego or the cause of the ego….
In all the explanations of enlightenment, the assumption is that there is an observer who can be aware of ego-produced thoughts in the mind, of the experience of Kath awareness, of the state of the Essence, and higher states of consciousness. This observer can and should function even in the sleep state, recording dreams. Ecstasy in which the observer is blocked is not encouraged. Rather the individual should be able to give a report of his experiences on every level of consciousness.
342:
the early stages of the training help the student to become are of this observer within him so that he can watch himself function in thought, in emotion, in bodily movement in the higher states. This “self-awareness” was one of the basic teachings of Gurdjieff. It is not clear in the Arica teaching whether this “observer” is the essence functioning, or whether it is simply the intellect fulfilling its proper role.
Personality
… Man is seen to be made up of Ego and Essence. While he is born in the Essential state, the development of the ego seems to be a necessity for the enrichment and maturation of the essence. Only when the individual has undergone the difficulties of living in ego can he return to the essential state and have the necessary skills and knowledge to function as an enlightened adult.
… the present incarnation for the individual is determined by his past karma so that his ego fixation is to some extent determined in that he has these parents and is brought up in these circumstances in this particular culture. However, he has the freedom to overcome his deviations and his fixation. When he has returned to essence he will still have his own personality because his past is the enrichment and education of his essence.
Emotions
Emotions come from the Oth, the heart center. For the man in ego, the deviations and fixations determine his emotional responses. As indicated above, each fixation has its predominant emotional response, known as “passion”. Only when one is aware of his predominant passion is he able to gradually overcome it by concentrating on the proper virtue.
345:
Since love is the emotion proper to the essence, and since all men share in this essence, great stress is place on developing love for all members of the Arica group. It is the bond that helps keep them together as a family. Love must also go out to all men to draw them to Arica and enlightenment until mankind is a loving family. The major exercise for developing this ambience of love is called traspaso. Two people sit opposite each other, preferably in full or half-lotus; the gaze is centered on the left eye of the person opposite, and there is concentration in the Kath to send baraka to the other….
… A… goal for the individual Arican is the overcoming of his deviations and fixations so that he can begin to be aware of his essential self. ..the ideal held out to the student is that of the bodhisattva samurai: one who is dedicated to saving the world through the proper use of power and baraka. Thus the great emphasis of living in the Kath, acting instinctively to meet any situation, and using physical energy and baraka to draw others to enlightenment—a warrior for God.
346:
It is most important for the Arican to live in the present. Therefore the hold of the past must be broken. After the student is shown his deviations, he is required to go through his past life and write down how his deviations affected him. Later, when he is told his fixation, he must re-examine his past, realizing that what he has learned and experienced will be used by his essence in the proper way. Thus his past life was a necessary preparation for the present and the future. But the “now” is the important thing. This is called “cleaning one’s karma”; for acting in essence develops no karma, no wrong actions.
Each action done under the influence of deviations and fixation affects the body by building up nodules on muscles throughout the body. These nodules can be removed by a special type of massage…
Transpersonal Psychology (III)
The Original Arica Training, pt. 3
Social relationships.
Because of the action of the individual ego, no person is really capable of determining for himself his own ego-fixation. In the Arica system, one is told his ego-fixation by a teacher who has been studying these types for some time. Even teachers often consult Ichazo because of the difficulty of always clearly recognizing each type. Also there are complex rules determining the relationships of one enneagram to another enneagram.
347:
Thus, one who has the fixation of ego-indolent does not necessarily have the same point on the Social, Conservation and Syntony enneagrams. It would be a mistake to try to determine and correct one’s personality structure from the treatment of the enneagrams given here.
The actions of a man in ego are determined in general by his deviations and fixations. More specifically , in the area of social relationships, his own conservation and his sexual relationship to another, his actions follow definite patterns depending on his fixation. These distortions in social relationships are shown in this enneagram.
Thus (with some exceptions), one with an ego indolent fixation will base his social relations on the need to be in the group
#9. Participation- the need to be in the group
#1. Inadaptability- the difficulty of going along with social customs and behavior
#2. Ambition- Social and business climbing
#3 Prestige- the need for a good public image
#4 Shame- stress of not living up to ideals
#5 totems- having heroes to live up to
#6 duty- the need to obey the laws of the group for existence
#7 social limitations- predetermining his social activities
#8 Social relations – attempting to keep everyone happy
In the “Enneagram of Conservation” the different ego traps for providing for the necessities and luxuries of life are indicated.
348:
Again, for the ego-indolent fixation, conservation is mainly a question of satisfying the bodily, emotional and intellectual appetites
#9. Appetites- satisfying one’s hungers
#1. Anxiety- worrying about not being perfect
#2. Me-first – the drive to be ahead of everyone
#3. Security – the need for security, money, position
#4. Defensive action- protecting one’s dream of the future
#5. Refuge, a safe place from which to watch the world
#6. Affection- being afraid of everyone; affection is the only assurance
#7. Defenders- the need to band with others who have similar interests
#8. Satisfactory survival- the drive for the type of life one deserves
In the area of sex, Arica admits it does not have all the answers for a satisfactory relationship between individuals. However, there is the enneagram indicating general attitudes of the different fixation points. It is called “Syntony”.
Union, for the ego-indolent, gives him an identity. If someone loves him, he must be somebody.
#9. Union – need for the love of another for one’s own identity.
#1. Jealousy - union with another is always threatened by someone more perfect
349:
#2. Aggression - love is overcoming resistance
#3. Virility/Femininity - stressing the sex characteristics of the male or female
#4. Competition- if a person is popular, he must be worth striving for
#5. Confidence - Needs someone he feels safe with—a refuge
#6. Strength - Since he is afraid, he must play the macho to be desired
#7. Suggestibility – living in a world of possibilities, he can be manipulated by a smart partner
#8. Possessiveness- he has a right to his mate
Since these “ego games” – social, conservation and syntony—are instinctual and stem from the Kath, part of the problem of freeing the Kath, is recognizing them. When the Kath is fully free, all action will flow from it without being distorted in any way. This seems to mean that instead of the social games there will be a happy, easy family, completely open to one another, essence open to essence. This is the aim of the communes that have been started. Gradually, the whole world should be a family.
The conservation game would give way to a simple communion where each would give according to his ability and receive according to his need. In our present society, the level of living could be very comfortable and the fear of poverty could be destroyed. There is a great stress on comfortable living in the Arica system. The only thing that the system bans are alcohol, pork, crab and addictive drugs.(350)
350:
Arica seems to discourage exclusive unions and the family scene. Rather, since all are brothers and sisters, there should be freedom for everyone with regard to sexual needs. From time to time when a new exercise is being introduced, there will be a temporary ban on sexual activity. This helps focus attention on the exercise and provides extra energy and tension for its success. The children are the responsibility of the whole group, and nurseries, childcare centers and schools have been set up. All members are supposed to spend time with the children in these centers. In order to keep the children in essence as much and as long as possible, avoiding the development of a heavy ego, Arica exercises are a daily feature for the children.
… Narodha… in this state of serenity, the Kath focuses most efficiently, and instinctively acts correctly in any situation. The problem involves reducing the mind chatter to a minimum so one simply is and doesn’t have to think about what to do and how to do it. To blank out the mind chatter, the student learns a nonsense syllable sequence which he repeats continually until it goes on automatically in the head, blocking out the usual mind noise.
… When a reasoning process is required, the mechanics of Trialectics are used … while not much has been done to develop Trialectics in the school , it does help the student become aware of change and movement, that he does not live in a static world. All scientists have concentrated change and movement long before it was named Trialectics by Ichazo, so it is not anything new but is in a form that can be taught.
There is some talk about knowledge in a state of enlightenment. Since man is in his essence then, he is joined with all enlightened men in all time and is aware of the laws of the cosmos, so the knowledge of all is available to each according to his level of enlightenment. This is the teaching of the Askashic record.
351:
However, this knowledge would seem to be of a very venerable type. [However] because of his ability to concentrate his powers, he could learn much more quickly and efficiently than before.
Dangers:
The group is all important in the Arica system. The individual must find his own personal meaning in being a member of the group and must find his happiness as a member of a large family with Ichazo as the father… The individualist, of course, will find that he has great difficulty accepting group life 24 hours a day, and in accepting without question the decisions and statements of the group. While he undoubtedly will benefit from the exercises, he will use much of his energy fighting internally and externally the group mystique. The training itself is dynamic, given under tension, and at a high level of energy. Such pressure can be dangerous for an emotionally unstable person and the Arica system has not yet developed an effective method of handling breakdowns; the person is simply referred to a psychologist. So a person with a serious psychosis should not look to Arica for a cure. It is only for those with sufficient emotional balance to undergo the pressure and tension.
Social relationships.
Because of the action of the individual ego, no person is really capable of determining for himself his own ego-fixation. In the Arica system, one is told his ego-fixation by a teacher who has been studying these types for some time. Even teachers often consult Ichazo because of the difficulty of always clearly recognizing each type. Also there are complex rules determining the relationships of one enneagram to another enneagram.
347:
Thus, one who has the fixation of ego-indolent does not necessarily have the same point on the Social, Conservation and Syntony enneagrams. It would be a mistake to try to determine and correct one’s personality structure from the treatment of the enneagrams given here.
The actions of a man in ego are determined in general by his deviations and fixations. More specifically , in the area of social relationships, his own conservation and his sexual relationship to another, his actions follow definite patterns depending on his fixation. These distortions in social relationships are shown in this enneagram.
Thus (with some exceptions), one with an ego indolent fixation will base his social relations on the need to be in the group
#9. Participation- the need to be in the group
#1. Inadaptability- the difficulty of going along with social customs and behavior
#2. Ambition- Social and business climbing
#3 Prestige- the need for a good public image
#4 Shame- stress of not living up to ideals
#5 totems- having heroes to live up to
#6 duty- the need to obey the laws of the group for existence
#7 social limitations- predetermining his social activities
#8 Social relations – attempting to keep everyone happy
In the “Enneagram of Conservation” the different ego traps for providing for the necessities and luxuries of life are indicated.
348:
Again, for the ego-indolent fixation, conservation is mainly a question of satisfying the bodily, emotional and intellectual appetites
#9. Appetites- satisfying one’s hungers
#1. Anxiety- worrying about not being perfect
#2. Me-first – the drive to be ahead of everyone
#3. Security – the need for security, money, position
#4. Defensive action- protecting one’s dream of the future
#5. Refuge, a safe place from which to watch the world
#6. Affection- being afraid of everyone; affection is the only assurance
#7. Defenders- the need to band with others who have similar interests
#8. Satisfactory survival- the drive for the type of life one deserves
In the area of sex, Arica admits it does not have all the answers for a satisfactory relationship between individuals. However, there is the enneagram indicating general attitudes of the different fixation points. It is called “Syntony”.
Union, for the ego-indolent, gives him an identity. If someone loves him, he must be somebody.
#9. Union – need for the love of another for one’s own identity.
#1. Jealousy - union with another is always threatened by someone more perfect
349:
#2. Aggression - love is overcoming resistance
#3. Virility/Femininity - stressing the sex characteristics of the male or female
#4. Competition- if a person is popular, he must be worth striving for
#5. Confidence - Needs someone he feels safe with—a refuge
#6. Strength - Since he is afraid, he must play the macho to be desired
#7. Suggestibility – living in a world of possibilities, he can be manipulated by a smart partner
#8. Possessiveness- he has a right to his mate
Since these “ego games” – social, conservation and syntony—are instinctual and stem from the Kath, part of the problem of freeing the Kath, is recognizing them. When the Kath is fully free, all action will flow from it without being distorted in any way. This seems to mean that instead of the social games there will be a happy, easy family, completely open to one another, essence open to essence. This is the aim of the communes that have been started. Gradually, the whole world should be a family.
The conservation game would give way to a simple communion where each would give according to his ability and receive according to his need. In our present society, the level of living could be very comfortable and the fear of poverty could be destroyed. There is a great stress on comfortable living in the Arica system. The only thing that the system bans are alcohol, pork, crab and addictive drugs.(350)
350:
Arica seems to discourage exclusive unions and the family scene. Rather, since all are brothers and sisters, there should be freedom for everyone with regard to sexual needs. From time to time when a new exercise is being introduced, there will be a temporary ban on sexual activity. This helps focus attention on the exercise and provides extra energy and tension for its success. The children are the responsibility of the whole group, and nurseries, childcare centers and schools have been set up. All members are supposed to spend time with the children in these centers. In order to keep the children in essence as much and as long as possible, avoiding the development of a heavy ego, Arica exercises are a daily feature for the children.
… Narodha… in this state of serenity, the Kath focuses most efficiently, and instinctively acts correctly in any situation. The problem involves reducing the mind chatter to a minimum so one simply is and doesn’t have to think about what to do and how to do it. To blank out the mind chatter, the student learns a nonsense syllable sequence which he repeats continually until it goes on automatically in the head, blocking out the usual mind noise.
… When a reasoning process is required, the mechanics of Trialectics are used … while not much has been done to develop Trialectics in the school , it does help the student become aware of change and movement, that he does not live in a static world. All scientists have concentrated change and movement long before it was named Trialectics by Ichazo, so it is not anything new but is in a form that can be taught.
There is some talk about knowledge in a state of enlightenment. Since man is in his essence then, he is joined with all enlightened men in all time and is aware of the laws of the cosmos, so the knowledge of all is available to each according to his level of enlightenment. This is the teaching of the Askashic record.
351:
However, this knowledge would seem to be of a very venerable type. [However] because of his ability to concentrate his powers, he could learn much more quickly and efficiently than before.
Dangers:
The group is all important in the Arica system. The individual must find his own personal meaning in being a member of the group and must find his happiness as a member of a large family with Ichazo as the father… The individualist, of course, will find that he has great difficulty accepting group life 24 hours a day, and in accepting without question the decisions and statements of the group. While he undoubtedly will benefit from the exercises, he will use much of his energy fighting internally and externally the group mystique. The training itself is dynamic, given under tension, and at a high level of energy. Such pressure can be dangerous for an emotionally unstable person and the Arica system has not yet developed an effective method of handling breakdowns; the person is simply referred to a psychologist. So a person with a serious psychosis should not look to Arica for a cure. It is only for those with sufficient emotional balance to undergo the pressure and tension.
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