[Neurons] 2011 Meta Reflections #27

[L. Michael Hall]

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Meta Reflections 2011 - #27

June 13, 2011

 

 

TWO MODES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

 

"The two modes of consciousness, observer and participant, are very much
present in every part of science." William Byers Science and the Crisis of
Uncertainty, (2011, p. 95)   

 

In NLP we recognize two modes of consciousness, that is, two ways that you
can view something.  The traditional NLP words for this, which I dislike
intensely, are "associated" and "disassociated."  So during my research of
cognitive thinking styles within the field of Cognitive Psychology led us
(myself and Bob Bodenhamer) to generate an encyclopedia of 60 Meta-Programs.
You can now find that list in Figuring Out People (1997/ 2005) and in that
book I rephrased these two modes of consciousness as inside the movie and
outside (Meta-Program #20).

 

In one mode of consciousness, your perspective is that of being the subject
of your experience, you are inside the representations that you have
accessed and/or created, and so you are fully associated into the experience
of your thoughts.  In the other mode of consciousness, your perspective is
that of viewing your experience as an object to your awareness.  Now you
have stepped out of the experience, out of being the subject of the
experience, and now the experience is an object to you that you can observe,
reflect on, and experience other thoughts and emotions about.

 

                        Inside
Outside

            First level mode of consciousness                  Second level+
mode of consciousness

            You are subject of your experience                Your
experience is object to you

            You emote (feel) the experience directly      You emote (feel)
about the experience

            Primary experience, inside it                         Secondary
experience, outside it

            Directly involved in experience                      Transcend
experience to next level

 

The Step Back

Now when you step out of an experience, it does not mean that you are
dissociated!  It does not mean that you are non-emotional.  It does not mean
that you are no longer able to feel something about the experience that you
are observing.  What you specifically feel depends.  It depends on the state
that you step back into!  That's because you are always in some state.  Now
typically, when you and I step back to "observation" the emotional affect of
that state is less and the quality of the state is more one of neutrality.
But you could just as well step back to curious, fascinated, intrigued,
passionate, excited, etc.  For that matter, you could step back into fear,
anger, guilt, shame, regret, or a whole host of negative feelings.

 

Dichotomous or Dialectical?

Most people think about the choice between these two modes of consciousness
as an either-or choice.  Either you are inside your representations and
experience or you are outside.  One or the other.  You are perceiving from
the inside perspective or from the outside perspective.  In fact, I think
that I can safely say that most of us frame these perspectives in this
dichotomous way.  But it does not have to be an either-or choice.  In fact,
to move to a higher level of consciousness, and do so holistically, do this
in a dialectical way.  Take the inside perspective, and holding on to that
view, step out and take the observer view, and holding that, you can step
back in and see it with that awareness in mind.

 

The inside experience view is the perspective that we all commonly use us as
we live everyday life.  We are participants, subjects and so we adopt the
participant perspective.  People who do not do this typically have either
tabooed their emotions and so seek to avoid their emotions or they have
adopted the scientific perspective to such a degree, that they have
habituated the observer perspective and now simply lack flexibility.

 

The outside view is the one that classic science has adopted, practiced, and
developed to a high level which has enabled humankind to create sciences
apart from our biases and beliefs.  It has enabled us to truly observe using
a general commitment to what is true without any specific commitment to a
particular creed.  Obviously both of these are equally valuable and valid.
Not only do each offer a very different view of reality, life, and
experiences, each also is inadequate if used by itself.   For a holistic
perspective, we need both.  Yet this is not easy.  William Byers in Science
and the Crisis of Uncertainty writes:

"It is intrinsically difficult to simultaneously adopt the position of
observer and participant." (2011, p. 95)

 


>From Subject to Object to Subject to Object


Developmental psychologist Robert Kegan (1982) The Evolving Self, uses these
two modes of consciousness to describe human development.  He uses it to
describe the levels of growth that we all go through from infancy to
maturity.

 

The Incorporation Stage or Self:  When it all begins, you are all subject
and there is no object.  At birth, a baby is his or her experience, is the
subject to life and life's experiences, and that's all there is.  There is
no "self," there is only subjective experience.  There is no differentiation
not even of one's body.  From birth to one year of age, prior to the develop
of the brain's ability for "constancy of representation," it is all
sensory-motor experience.  The baby is fully incorporated in the experience,
is subject of experiences.

 

The Impulsive Stage or Self: Differentiation begins in earnest around the
first year, the infant is in the Impulsive Stage of being a subject in an
object world.  Here occurs the birth of self, of "I" as an object.  Here for
the infant, perception is reality, map is territory.  The infant is a
subject of his or her impulses, there's no "I" that can "have" the impulses.
Impulses have the infant.  In this stage, the infant projects out onto the
world his or her perceptions and impulses.

 

The Imperial Stage or Self: With the age of two comes the Imperial Self.
Now the world becomes an object to the person, now there is a permanence to
the world beyond perceptions.  No longer is "out of sight, out of mind,"
when an object is presented now, the infant will keep searching for an
object even when hidden or out of sight.  Yet here also, the infant is
embedded in the world and a subject of it.

 

The Interpersonal Stage or Self: As a child grows, the child becomes aware
of his or her perceptions as perceptions.  Incredibly they now become an
object to the child.  The child realizes that others also have perceptions
and they may be different from his.  This initiates the interpersonal stage.
The child is no longer a subject of perceptions, but transcends the
perceptions so they are objects to observe.

 

The Institutional Stage or Self: From the interpersonal the next dimension
is that of institutions- families, schools, government, etc.  the child now
realizes that there's a larger world beyond the house.  So no longer the
subject of the interpersonal, the interpersonal now becomes an object.

 

The Inter-Individual Stage or Self: With this next stage, now the
institutions themselves become an object to observe.

 

Each new level, we experience ourselves more fully.  With each level
acquired, a new self emerges, there is a new expansion beyond the former
subjective view of self and world.   But the former stage is not repudiated,
it is re-appropriated.  It is seen in a new light and so becomes different
as you move to the next level of independence.   When you transcend a
subject-level, you create a new object level.  You are then re-embedded into
a new perspective.  As your perspective grows, changes, you see more, and
there is more.  Your world becomes larger and richer.

 

There's a lot more to all of this.  And as you can tell, these two modes of
consciousness work together to not only describe the progress of growth, but
also a more holistic perspective.  When you are in the subject mode, your
experience operates as a primary level experience and with every stepping
back to transcend and observe it, your experience operates as a meta-state
process. 

 

 

 

Just 2 weeks and the First International Neuro-Semantic Conference --- July
1-3 and July 4.

            See Website: www.neurosemantics.com for detail and registration
form.


 

 

L.  Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Neuro-Semantics Executive Director  ----   <http://www.neurosemantics.com/>
www.neurosemantics.com

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO.  81520 USA                             ----
<http://www.self-actualizing.org/> www.self-actualizing.org

1 970-523-7877                                               ----
<http://www.meta-coaching.org/> www.meta-coaching.org

 

     

For a free subscription to Neurons--- the International  egroup of
Neuro-Semantics, go to the front page of  <http://www.neurosemantics.com/>
www.neurosemantics.com.   You can  subscribe and unsubscribe there.   Meta
Reflection articles by Dr. Hall are sent out every Monday (Colorado time).
Trainers' Reflections are on Tuesdays and Meta-Coach Reflections on
Wednesdays.   Contact Dr. Hall at  meta at acsol.net  

 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://eight.pairlist.net/pipermail/neurons/attachments/20110613/82f4ad4a/attachment-0001.htm>