Growth Online - Supermind; Supramental (Truth) consciousness shows the difference between Mind (human consciosness at present) and Supermind (Divinisation).I define Integral primarily in terms of what Sri Aurobindo referred to as Integral consciousness or Integral realisation. The ultimate Integral Consciousness is the Higher Divine or Supramental Realisation, which is the ultimate goal of all spiritual transformation. The following table, modified from Mother's Service Society via Growth Online - Supermind; Supramental (Truth) consciousness shows the difference between Mind (human consciosness at present) and Supermind (Divinisation).
Mind
|
Supermind
|
|
Divides. |
Unites. |
|
Can
lose itself in itself. |
Being
a self-existent whole, cannot lose itself. |
|
Creator
of Ignorance. |
Possessor
of Knowledge. |
|
Acts
by thought that understands by difference. |
Knows
by the vibration of unity, even between will and Knowledge. |
|
Can
think only of itself, incapable of knowing another. |
Knows
the other as itself. |
|
Acts
by idea that is a movement of the mind. |
Creates
by the Real-Idea that is a vibration of Being. |
|
Knows
the finite and not the infinite |
Knows
the finite as the frontal aspect of the infinite. |
|
Determined by the ego. |
Egoless. |
|
Surface being |
Cosmic, Inner, Subliminal. |
|
Bound by Time and Space |
Simultaneusly of Time and Timeless. |
|
Separative, divided. |
Whole. |
|
Subject
to quality, quantity, form. |
Not
subjected to them as the mind is. |
|
Partial, psychological; although can still attain Liberation. |
Whole, non-psychological. |
|
Uses
reason and logic. |
Employs
intuition and the logic of the Infinite. |
|
Can
understand only in terms of name and form. |
Can
see the Truth beyond it, lying behind. |
|
Incapable
of conceiving the Absolute. |
Expresses the Absolute. |
|
Acts
through intellect. |
Has
integral experience and action. |
|
Uses reason. |
Knows instantaneouslty. |
|
Goes
into trance (non-consciousness). |
Always
awake. |
|
Self-assertive. |
Self-affirmation. |
From this context, to say "Integral" means the attributes and qualities of the right-hand column, above. However, defining the Integral stage of consciousness is made more difficult by the fact that the word has been so widely applied. The emerging Integral community - which represents only the Holistic stage of consciousness - has identified with and popularised the term Integral. I suppose you could say it represents either an important recent academic development in the global transformation of consciousness, or simply one more subset of the New Age/Cultural Creative phenomenon which is the global shift in values at the Holistic level. The trouble is, if I were to try to present an Integral worldview in itself, it would be difficult for those with gnosis to appreciate. Therefore I have been trying to show how even the Wilber Integral movement, itself of even less insight (because it does not acknodge non-physical realities) than the popular "mesoteric" (between exoteric and esoteric) New Age, can be traced back to Sri Aurobindo's impetus, even if most of its influence is based on exoteric worldviews. My own contribution involves helping to define this new paradigm by incorporating, ironically, two movements which on the surface have absolutely nothing in common with each other - Integral Yoga teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, and the modern secular Integral movement. This topic will be further taken up in my book in progress The Integral Paradigm, along with esoteric, gnostic, transhumanist, and evolutionary themes. See also my Integral Transformation Blog. My essay Towards a Foundation of a Universal Esoteric Science provides an earlier version of these ideas.
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