Bring a belief back to its origin in the present
Trace a belief you hold to where it first formed, then hold that origin as present rather than as a finished memory.
Why it works
Gidley, quoting Gebser, describes presentiation as making the past present to consciousness (Gidley 2007, p. 118, citing Gebser p. 26 in her numbering; scan p. 25). Gebser says presentiation also includes the future as already latent in us (scan p. 41), and that a preconscious origin can become conscious present, so that each earlier time-form is integrated (scan p. 355). The practice applies that idea to a personal belief by bringing the moment it formed back into awareness and seeing it as still operating. This is Gebser’s conceptual claim applied by analogy, and it is a reflective exercise rather than a tested technique.
How to do it
- Choose one belief you hold strongly about yourself or about how things have to be.
- Write the earliest moment you remember it forming, and what was happening around you.
- Sit for a few minutes with that moment as if it were happening now, and notice what it is like to be in it.
- Return to the belief and write one sentence about what it looks like now that the origin is present to you.
Evidence
Presentiation of the past: Gidley (p. 118, citing Gebser p. 26 in her numbering; scan p. 25). Presentiation including the future as latent: scan p. 41. The origin becoming conscious present: scan p. 355. Applying these to an individual belief is this page’s analogy. (anecdotal)
Gidley’s examples of presentiation concern collective consciousness and the arts, including Picasso (p. 117), not individual biography. Tracing a personal belief is an analogy, and it can surface painful memories, so go slowly.
Sources
- Gidley, J. (2007). The evolution of consciousness as a planetary imperative: An integration of integral views. Integral Review, 5, 4–226.
- Gebser, J. (1985). The Ever-Present Origin (N. Barstad & A. Mickunas, Trans.). Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.
Common mistake
Turning the exercise into a causal story about childhood. Gebser’s point concerns being aware of the origin now; the aim is to see the belief more clearly, not to explain it away.
Practice this with IX Coach
More practices for Jean Gebser’s Structures of Consciousness
- Tell a strength from its deficient form
Take one capacity you rely on most and check whether it still serves you or has hardened into the only way you will act.
- Name the older ways of knowing you still carry
Find the ritual, loyalty or belief-in-cause-and-effect that still shapes a reaction, and say what it holds together before you judge it.
- Let an older view inform the newer one
When a new insight seems to dismiss a gut feeling or a tradition, ask what the older view protects before deciding which one wins.
- Notice clock time against lived time
Pick one activity and compare how long it took on the clock with how long it felt, to see how much of your day is only measured.
- Hold your view without needing it to be the only one
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- Notice when a way of seeing has run its course
List the explanations that used to work and now give less, and look for the questions they have stopped answering.
Related concepts
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- States vs Stages of Consciousness: Wilber, Combs and O’Fallon
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- Spiral Dynamics, Made Practical
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- Terri O’Fallon’s STAGES Model, Made Practical
Twelve stages built from three repeating questions, and how to work with the one you are in
- Integral Methodological Pluralism: The Eight Zones of Inquiry
Eight angles on one question, how to sweep a problem through them, and where the framework is contested
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