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.

Por que funciona

Gebser says the earlier structures are not merely past: they are still present in more or less latent and acute form in each person (scan p. 41), and he speaks of the irrevocability of the archaic structure within us (scan p. 139). Hampson paraphrases Gebser that the structures which make us up must become transparent and conscious to us (Hampson 2007, p. 122). On this reading, a reaction that looks outdated can be an earlier structure still working by its own logic, such as belonging to a group, a ritual, or a story that gives an event meaning. This is Gebser’s historical claim; it has not been tested as a cause of behaviour.

Como fazer

1. Think of a decision or reaction that felt like “I just have to” rather than a reasoned choice.
2. Write down any ritual, lucky routine, loyalty or story that was part of it.
3. For each, write in your own words what it does for you: keeps you with a group, keeps a feared outcome away, or makes the event mean something.
4. Pick one element and say what it is good for before you decide anything about it.

Evidência

Earlier structures remaining present: Gebser (scan p. 41); the irrevocability of the archaic structure within us (scan p. 139). The call to make the structures conscious is paraphrased by Hampson (p. 122). Gidley reports Gebser’s view that integral consciousness requires first consciously experiencing all the earlier structures (Gidley p. 136). Mapping particular everyday habits onto those structures is this page’s reading. (anecdotal)

Labelling a habit as magic or mythic thinking is an interpretation. Many routines serve a plain purpose, so check what the habit does before naming it as an older structure.

Fontes

• Gidley, J. (2007). The evolution of consciousness as a planetary imperative: An integration of integral views. Integral Review, 5, 4–226.
• Hampson, G. P. (2007). Integral re-views postmodernism: The way out is through. Integral Review, 4.
• Gebser, J. (1985). The Ever-Present Origin (N. Barstad & A. Mickunas, Trans.). Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.

Erro comum

Trying to remove an older pattern by force. Gebser’s argument is that these elements stay part of us, so the change he describes concerns how they are held, not whether they are present.