All of me/us
A few posts ago (On mental health II) we mentioned the integration of our different material and para-material domains and how the very ancient model of our subtle system does exactly that. With ongoing technological advancements, especially in the Western world, an accelerating movement towards analysis, fragmentation and materialistic frameworks took hold. Nevertheless a few luminaries have expressed more integrative models and views in the last 100 years or so.
C.G. Jung lived a life filled with seeking and wonder at the great Creation and the intricate structures of our inner being. Jung stated that most people who wen to him seeking psychological / psychiatric help were actually looking for a meaning that they could not find in themselves or the daily life. He had a number of inner visions that were put in a unique tome, The Red Book. It is striking to note how some of the mandalas contain detailed descriptions of chakra structures and how some of his experiences mirror processes of clearing the subtle system and advancements in awareness that occur parallel to that. In “ The Undiscovered Self” he emphasized the fact that either our ego or superego cannot transcend themselves and that we need to reach a higher awareness to integrate completely within. And only then we can be successful at rebuilding a self-destructive society into a truly collective world based on deep understanding of each other.
Another, better known to modern readers and graduates, is Abraham Maslow. He rejected models based on pathological cases and started from reflections on beautiful, joyful and joy-giving children and their natural, spontaneous behaviour. He described the natural way of maturing and reaching towards ideals through a partly overlapping sequence of “needs” as being the motivating force. This part of his writings is often quoted in university courses nowadays. He also talked about “self-actualization” and “peak-experiences” in terms that are very easy to equate in Sahaj experiences. He manifested great confidence in the fact that our inner construction is pointed towards the “Olympian ideal” that is intrinsically altruistic, collective, etc. He also pointed to a “good society” and integration within it as a requirement of individual fulfillment.
But, as Shri Mataji has often said, hearing or reading the truth and reaching it for oneself are very different things. Evolution is actual transformation and it has to be a natural, balancing process. We can all experience the blissful connection with our Self, the heightened awareness typical of “peak experience” and the integrating effect of “self-actualization” after Kundalini awakening and a few weeks of regular meditation. And then we can confidently move forward as both one within oneself and with true sense of being a part and parcel of the “us”.