Radiance of Being Section 3 Emergence

Emergence
Combs says personal growth is a natural implication of the perspective that views consciousness as a system near the edge of chaos.
How do higher levels of consciousness emerge?
Wilbur believes that structures of consciousness tap into already existing states of consciousness. All people experience states of consciousness, waking,dreaming, and dreamless sleep. People interpret their peak experiences in terms of their dominate structure of consciousness This may be why spiritual encounters seem different for different people.
The Wilber-Combs Matrix represents states of consciousness in terms of the developmental structures through which they are experienced and the realms of being that lend them content.
How far can a person penetrate above their root structure?
Perhaps all states of consciousness are available but as we develop we gain stability in the higher states.
The developmental process is one of becoming objective about aspects of self, which were previously identified as self. This process allows our essential nature more freedom. At the mental level we gain a sense of autonomy, at the integral level we experience a growing sense of identity with others. At the transpersonal level our emotions, thoughts, and sense of self become objective.
In her extensive interviews, Cook-Greuter found the most advanced individuals struggling to free themselves of perceptions, emotions, and thoughts. At this level the advance in complexity characteristic of the former stages turns toward greater simplicity, as well as greater complexity. Perhaps greater objectivity allows for the greater purity and simplicity experienced at the higher levels.
Sri Aurobindo says we look down at the buzzing mechanistic mind from a position of objective non-attachment. He says we must separate the active mind (a factory of thoughts) from the quiet Witness which observes, eliminates, accepts and/or corrects the thoughts.
Combs says complexity brings objectivity. Our conscious self becomes integrated into a single fabric made up of thoughts, emotions, and motivations that otherwise drift as disconnected attractors that control us without our knowledge. Objectivity brings wholeness and freedom from fragmentation.
Many people can read the behavior and emotions of others better than their own. Objectivity towards one's own inner process brings understanding and self-mastery. This requires allowing thoughts, memories, and beliefs to become conscious.
Psychological growth is the natural progression to high levels of development.

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