Going in deep….

 Day 2

The Art and Science of Enlightened Communication

On Retreat with Andrew Cohen

I was going to start with the progress of the discussion group I am leading, but again I have to give a little context first or it will read like gibberish!

 It's a serious retreat and the meditations are already deep, still and powerful. Today Andrew expounds on a key part of Evolutionary Enlightenment: namely, that there are 3 dimensions to the self and the importance of clearly distinguishing between them:-

The Ground of Being

The Ego

The Authentic self

But what he was emphasizing today is that these 3 dimensions have absolutely no connection with each other. Yes, I did mean what I typed - no connection whatsoever - I know, it sounds worse than schizophrenia! But it's so true in my own experience. We unwittingly assume a continuity and consistency of our self sense, that doesn't bear close scrutiny.

And also importantly, that each of these dimensions has its own specific value sphere. For example, the ego's value sphere revolves around its own narcissism and selfishness and not caring for anything but itself when the chips are down. While the authentic self cares passionately about creating the future but has absolutely no interest in the ego's concerns, fears and desires.

And the ground of being has no relationship to time or the world in any shape or form.

Think about it though - when you have an experience of the ground of being, say in deep meditation, you really don't care at all about the world or anyone. It doesn't mean you're callous or in a callous, uncaring state; it's just that the value sphere of the ground of being is one that inherently has no relationship with the world or with time. Looking in this big impersonal way at the deeper cultural spheres of our experience is quite eye opening and clarifying. 

Fascinating stuff!

The "Discussion group" - for want of a more adequate word.

So this is what we explore in our discussion group today, and right from the start there is a one pointed focus in the 20 participants. Incidentally, when I say ‘discussion group', the words sound rather mediocre and dull - at least to me. But the way I view the ‘discussion groups' is that they are like a crucible for creating and advancing an awakened intersubjective consciousness. I remarked today that you couldn't have a more conducive setting: each person committed to developing and communicating beyond ego for the sake of the evolution of consciousness; being in this ideal retreat environment in silence, contemplating and meditating in a very serious and one pointed way. Then coming together, there is bound to be a creative synergy.

 After all, when do groups of people ever gather for the single express purpose of evolving consciousness between them? It's certainly not happening at my local pub! Actually someone once did try to tell me when I was giving a talk about this subject, that yes, of course, this is the usual quality of communication down at his local pub. I asked him for the address and he became strangely reticent!

Back to the discussion: there's quite a shift today in that various people from the word go, are taking responsibility for the direction and quality of engagement. This is so vital for a collaborative leadership, where each person's authentic autonomy is all in the service of pushing towards ever greater depth. 

We focus in on the simple (intellectually at least) but mindblowingly profound fact of the 3 dimensions of self being so absolutely different and unconnected. While many of us know about this, I don't think we have ever really grokked the full significance of this fact.

 It clarified why just having experiences of the authentic self or ground of being are not transformative in themselves, because the experiences often remain in distinct compartments and are not even remembered when we are in the state of ego. It emphasizes the need for a shift in allegiance of one's centre of gravity of the self sense, in order to affect real lasting transformation.

How far can we go in this retreat? I don't know but I really want to go further than I/We have ever gone