"The truly spiritual development of man takes place beyond his consciousness."

"The first stage of self-knowledge is to know oneself as a machine, to see where and how this material self of ours is rightly and appropriately engaged."

"When the reactional self controls, it reacts without reference to any factors that are not immediately present. It is 'heedless' of the consequences. When the reactional self is brought under control, then its reactions turn into perceptions, and the material for understanding. Properly speaking, the reactional self should be an instrument for perception."

"The Divided Self is our instrument for understanding, and the use of Consciousness is to enable us to understand." --"The home of the 'I' is the true self."

~ J. G. Bennett
A Spiritual Psychology

Theme for this weeks topic:

For those of you familiar with using themes, the theme leading up to this weeks topic is the following question: What animal do I most closely resemble?

Am I like a dog, valuing loyalty and running with the pack? Am I like an monkey, always curious and chattering? Am I like a bear preferring solitude and a cave-like home? Am I like a rat, surviving through cunning and opportunistic guile? What animal am I most like?


Exercise for the week:

The reactional self can only really see one point of view at a time. Even if it pays lip-service to another perspective it's convinced that it holds the only right way of seeing things. (Think of proponents for abortion/anti-abortion, human induced global warming/it's all a hoax, U.S. politics - Republican/Democrat, Arab/Israeli politics, Islamic jihad/terrorists)

By contrast, the divided self can actually see the truth and illusion of any position.

As an exercise this week, during a conversation with someone, take the opposite side of an argument or opinion that you are known to hold, and convince the other person that you have completely changed your views, 180 degrees.

 

Session 3: Understanding the forms of "Self-hood"
January 20th


Description:
Last week we studied the centers in man. There is another way of looking at man that is equally important; how he organizes his perception of reality. For example its easy to see that although dogs and cats are both domestic animals, they "see" and respond to the world quite differently. They organize their perception of reality in different ways.

Human beings are much more complex animals, and it's possible for us to perceive reality in several distinct and increasingly real modes. Bennett called these modes by the following names:
      The Material Self
      The Reactional Self
      The Divided Self
      The True Self

We will outline the main characteristics of each mode and their means for development. Understanding these different modes will go a long way toward explaining why individuals, groups and even countries find it so hard to understand and cooperate with each other.

Reading List:

Deeper Man by J. G. Bennett - Chapter four on Selves (Word .doc file)
Deeper Man by J. G. Bennett - Chapter four on Selves (HTML page)


A Spiritual Psychology by J. G. Bennett
...from the epilogue: The theme of this book is that there are both degrees and distinctive modes of reality and that there is a process that leads from the unreal to the real. This, in its turn, requires that there should be a means of effecting the transformation. This "means" is what we call by the name of the "Work".

Since most of the material and terminology for this topic come directly from A Spiritual Psychology, and it's too lengthy to put on line, participants are encouraged to obtain a copy from Bennett Books. (see link below)


Deeper ManA Spiritual Psychology can be ordered from Bennett Books through their web site at http://bennettbooks.org. There is a very good review of this book by Pierce Butler on the site which I've appended below.

"DESCRIPTION: The ideas in this book were first presented to the 1962 Coombe Springs summer school as themes, and much of Mr. Bennett's explication is delivered in question and answer sessions, where his responses show the influence of Subud, recently introduced to Coombe Springs through Pak Subuh.

In the first chapter, Mr. Bennett identifies his subject as transformism, which is the claim that human beings, though incomplete, have an unlimited potential. To appreciate this potential requires a spiritual psychology that takes into account all of a human being's faculties and possibilities. Mr. Bennett starts by defining the Material Self as connected with the physical body, fueled by automatic energy, and capable of extraordinary feats in the manipulation of external objects, but in itself, lacking sensitivity and will. On the next level is the Reactional Self, which is associated with sensitive energy and experiences the world in terms of like and dislike. The Divided Self is distinguished by the desire to make contact with others and with the world, and it works with the energy of genuine consciousness, which entails a double awareness of an observer and of what is observed. The True Self resides at the center of the human being and is capable of acting as ruler of the other selves; it is associated with the soul, which can be created to act as a sort of bridge between the realms of matter and spirit.

Soul is distinct from Spirit; there is a unique spiritual essence above the level of the True Self that bears the pattern of an individual human life and is not material in nature. But the unification of the human being depends upon the presence of Will, since it is Will that distinguishes the helpless 'I' from the 'I' that is capable of true action."

Introduction to A Spiritual Psychology by Tony Blake
Tony Blake, a long time student of Bennett's attended the summer seminar where A Spiritual Psychology was presented. His introduction is quite insightful in itself.

 

Table of Correspondences for Selfhood:
This table looks at different elements from the point of view of selves or selfhood. Once again it doesn't quite line up with some of the other tables by appearance, but understanding how to reconcile these apparent contradictions can be a good exercise in truly understanding what is being presented instead of just learning by rote.

And here is a second table from a slightly different perspective.
Table of Correspondences of Selfhood and Centers.