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Experiencing the integrity of life as experience of world in man's existence
Experiencing the integrity of life as experience of world in man's existence
Man lives in the world, though in phenomenological sense the world is discovered throughout the human being, rather than on the contrary, and it is discovered in particular experience - in experiencing the integrity of life. It is here where the primary principles of the description of world are put. Thus, in order to detect the fundamental principle of the image of the world in human existence, it is necessary to turn to phenomenological analysis of experiencing the integrity of life per se, which is such a usual and common reality that it can be noticed only in the situation of its deprivation.
The deprivation of the integrity of life is shown as absurdity of existence in existentialism. Absurdity means the pure inanity of suffering, from which only values conveying lives integrity and making it senseful can save. In striving for this integrity of life in order to "be at home everywhere" M. Heidegger sees the main spirit of philosophy.
W. Frankl psychologically interprets the absurdity of being as existential vacuum caused by the deprivation of the value of the meaning of life. Of this tradition the description of deprivation of experiencing the integrity of life from S. Kierkegaard to modern existential psychology embraces only the level of value. Here I turn away from the side of value and try to look at a more primary level of life - the very phenomenal flow of life as such, on which the deprivation of integrity of life experience becomes total irrational fear rather than existentialist absurdity.
The first experience of irrational fear which is familiar to almost everyone - it is the children's fear of darkness. The cosmography of a child, who does not understand what is possible in the world or what is not, has not acquired the stability. For him the primary world is always consecrate, and as the darkness comes, usual things disappear and then anything may happen. This irrational fear bursts out every time when we lose the feeling of our presence in the world and stop perceiving its laws which delimit the habitual and unhabitual, the possible and the impossible.
On the first stage of immersion into the irrational fear, the destruction of the picture of the world takes place. In phenomenological meaning the consciousness changes - its intentional flow fades away. All kinds of noematic contents stops being perceived as reality, and intentions, losing their own directivity, turn out to be in specific stupor, thereby in self-contradiction (as they do not have another way of existence but directivity).
On the second stage irrational fear threatens to generate anything possible from itself. Any fantasy, any delirium begins to get the features of reality. Any phantasms of human intelligence threaten to materialize and there is no protection from this. However these terrifying fantasies do not produce fear - they are only the accidental epiphenomenon. If everyday fear comes from fantasies, expectations or other representations, in this case fear is primary on the contrary.
Irrational fear is impossible to grasp in the classic philosophical discourse as simple relation of noesis and noema. It does have any concrete motivation, but neither do it open any noematic contents, nor is it predetermined by general emotional mood (by predominate intentional flow). In other words, irrational fear cannot be described by noema, intention or its motivation.
Irrational fear blocks intention not by exterior motivation, but directly from within. To be deprived of the directing impulse, intention denies itself. It means that irrational fear comes out not in particular intention trended to it, but as something immanent to each intention of consciousness flow.
All kinds of intentions of consciousness don’t move independently ("by itself"), but in some environment. This environment may be construed as complicity of all intentions with each other, forming the unity of consciousness (in buddhistic Abhidharma - prapti - not psychic sanscara of dharma drawing the flow of dharma toward the one santana).
Any experience of consciousness always opens as a whole with all consciousness. It is impossible to have two fragments of experiences of simultaneous intentions "by itself", though these intentions can be irrelevant to each other (i.e. not motivate each other at all).
The unity of consciousness is found not in particular intention, but in the unity of experience, immanent to every intention of phenomenal flow of life. Experiencing the integrity of life opens not at the level of exterior concept of intentions (for example, through common or reciprocal motivation), but at the level of their internal content - as immanent experience of every intention.
Irrational fear lies there, where the experience of the unity of consciousness is - in complicity of intentions of the flow of life being found in immanent contents of every intention.
Primarily irrational fear causes the inner stupor of all the intentions of the flow being found as immanent contents to all the intentions. At this stage disintegration of experience of the integrity of life arises: Consciousness begins to break up into fragments, and this completely anticipates the experience of death. Nevertheless, though irrational fear completely absorbs fear of death into itself, it is not reduced only to that.
At the second stage irrational fear manifests as horror of "anything possible" can happen. The destroyed unity of the world threatens the new arbitrary combination in something absolutely extraneous, where the impossible becomes the possible, and there is no protection from it. Namely at this stage the most strong fantasies arouse threatening with the real embodiment.
However the biggest horror indicates that the disintegrated vital world turns into the closed schizophrenic world, isolated from the vital worlds of other people. This isolation is internally experienced as location in hell, but it will be empirically perceived as the madness of the insane by the casual observer.
The principles of describing the habitual everyday world of person are associatively connected with experiencing the integrity of the world. Namely they defend against the irrational fear and from slipping down to schizophrenic isolation; therefore the strong stability of cosmography increases the security of a person. Guarding these principles needs instinct psychological self-protection, which prevents a person from overstepping the borders of his own cosmography.
However there is force which does not simply serves as barrier for irrational fear, but actively displaces it; this is the intuition of the presence of another vital world. In this intuition the inner experience of the integrity of other world is transmitted so that it allows restoring its own experience of the unity of life.
Under the condition that principles of cosmography are general for different people, they begin associatively to connect with the contents of the intuition of presence. Accordingly, collective cosmography is perceived as the most reliable protection from the invasion of fear, and all kinds of inconsistency with the collective cosmography generates the feeling of defencelessness from irrational fear. That is why any inconsistency of person with the principles of collective cosmography is perceived in society as mental or psychic inferiority, and this social disapproval is motivated by the fear of defencelessness.
Person turns out to be attached to collective cosmography, which moves towards him in the system of consciousness filters, separating all the basically new in perception and, thereby hindering the creative self-realization.
The real world outside this system of filters is endlessly diverse and allows the countless ways of world view and cosmography. However, transition to basically another view of the world based on other principles of cosmography, will face the natural barrier - that is the irrational fear.
It is possible to pass this barrier only by having the sufficient will-power, which will prevent self-destruction when the experiencing the integrity of world is lost. Will cannot be understood here as one more intention alongside with others, for when the experiencing the integrity of life is lost, any intention stops motivating others, and, accordingly, will intention would turn out to be isolated and helpless. In another word, resisting irrational fear of will can be revealed only in the very immanent contents of intention, as a force, which is capable to restore the experience of the integrity of world. Namely this force does not allow a person to perish at the moment when irrational fear destroys his world.
Only passing the border of irrational fear can open basically other levels of consciousness. In real practice it is very frequent for the real mystic experience to be understood as not real transition to another level of consciousness, but as the change of perception at its own level. For example, addiction of drugs, which basically changes the disposition of consciousness, does not actually carry it beyond the border, but only gives another form of the perception. The same can be said about quite a number of mystic psychotechnics. All this has no relation with the real extension of consciousness which is impossible without controlling the irrational fear.
The spontaneous break-through of irrational fear, which deprives the possibility of protection in collective cosmography, can cause defensive reaction to the simplification of the picture of world: as the more simple the world view is, the more reliable its laws are. As a result, a person falls into the simplified world, losing any connection with the collective cosmography. This autistic closure in his own world surrounded by people is also perceived as mad, though many of the normal are exactly the same as "mad", who are only pretending to be normal.
Hence, it should be distinguished the autistic world of the mad built for their own psychic self-protection from the autistic world of the mad, which arose spontaneously as a result of the destruction of experience of the unity of world. The latter carries the devilish character. According to the difference of these two types of autistic worlds of the mad, it follows to differentiate the two types of totalitarian sects - some of which have rational character, offer the simplified picture of world, in the context of which arises the complete control of consciousness of the followers and their isolation from the rest of the world; others present clean break-through of the irrational, and in this case there is no one able to control anything, completely putting himsef under the control of otherworldly forces.
Here is opened the view of transition from the analysis of individual consciousness to the analysis of mass consciousness, where these two types of insanity can create different hybrids in the form of various socio-political chimeras.
The deprivation of the integrity of life is shown as absurdity of existence in existentialism. Absurdity means the pure inanity of suffering, from which only values conveying lives integrity and making it senseful can save. In striving for this integrity of life in order to "be at home everywhere" M. Heidegger sees the main spirit of philosophy.
W. Frankl psychologically interprets the absurdity of being as existential vacuum caused by the deprivation of the value of the meaning of life. Of this tradition the description of deprivation of experiencing the integrity of life from S. Kierkegaard to modern existential psychology embraces only the level of value. Here I turn away from the side of value and try to look at a more primary level of life - the very phenomenal flow of life as such, on which the deprivation of integrity of life experience becomes total irrational fear rather than existentialist absurdity.
The first experience of irrational fear which is familiar to almost everyone - it is the children's fear of darkness. The cosmography of a child, who does not understand what is possible in the world or what is not, has not acquired the stability. For him the primary world is always consecrate, and as the darkness comes, usual things disappear and then anything may happen. This irrational fear bursts out every time when we lose the feeling of our presence in the world and stop perceiving its laws which delimit the habitual and unhabitual, the possible and the impossible.
On the first stage of immersion into the irrational fear, the destruction of the picture of the world takes place. In phenomenological meaning the consciousness changes - its intentional flow fades away. All kinds of noematic contents stops being perceived as reality, and intentions, losing their own directivity, turn out to be in specific stupor, thereby in self-contradiction (as they do not have another way of existence but directivity).
On the second stage irrational fear threatens to generate anything possible from itself. Any fantasy, any delirium begins to get the features of reality. Any phantasms of human intelligence threaten to materialize and there is no protection from this. However these terrifying fantasies do not produce fear - they are only the accidental epiphenomenon. If everyday fear comes from fantasies, expectations or other representations, in this case fear is primary on the contrary.
Irrational fear is impossible to grasp in the classic philosophical discourse as simple relation of noesis and noema. It does have any concrete motivation, but neither do it open any noematic contents, nor is it predetermined by general emotional mood (by predominate intentional flow). In other words, irrational fear cannot be described by noema, intention or its motivation.
Irrational fear blocks intention not by exterior motivation, but directly from within. To be deprived of the directing impulse, intention denies itself. It means that irrational fear comes out not in particular intention trended to it, but as something immanent to each intention of consciousness flow.
All kinds of intentions of consciousness don’t move independently ("by itself"), but in some environment. This environment may be construed as complicity of all intentions with each other, forming the unity of consciousness (in buddhistic Abhidharma - prapti - not psychic sanscara of dharma drawing the flow of dharma toward the one santana).
Any experience of consciousness always opens as a whole with all consciousness. It is impossible to have two fragments of experiences of simultaneous intentions "by itself", though these intentions can be irrelevant to each other (i.e. not motivate each other at all).
The unity of consciousness is found not in particular intention, but in the unity of experience, immanent to every intention of phenomenal flow of life. Experiencing the integrity of life opens not at the level of exterior concept of intentions (for example, through common or reciprocal motivation), but at the level of their internal content - as immanent experience of every intention.
Irrational fear lies there, where the experience of the unity of consciousness is - in complicity of intentions of the flow of life being found in immanent contents of every intention.
Primarily irrational fear causes the inner stupor of all the intentions of the flow being found as immanent contents to all the intentions. At this stage disintegration of experience of the integrity of life arises: Consciousness begins to break up into fragments, and this completely anticipates the experience of death. Nevertheless, though irrational fear completely absorbs fear of death into itself, it is not reduced only to that.
At the second stage irrational fear manifests as horror of "anything possible" can happen. The destroyed unity of the world threatens the new arbitrary combination in something absolutely extraneous, where the impossible becomes the possible, and there is no protection from it. Namely at this stage the most strong fantasies arouse threatening with the real embodiment.
However the biggest horror indicates that the disintegrated vital world turns into the closed schizophrenic world, isolated from the vital worlds of other people. This isolation is internally experienced as location in hell, but it will be empirically perceived as the madness of the insane by the casual observer.
The principles of describing the habitual everyday world of person are associatively connected with experiencing the integrity of the world. Namely they defend against the irrational fear and from slipping down to schizophrenic isolation; therefore the strong stability of cosmography increases the security of a person. Guarding these principles needs instinct psychological self-protection, which prevents a person from overstepping the borders of his own cosmography.
However there is force which does not simply serves as barrier for irrational fear, but actively displaces it; this is the intuition of the presence of another vital world. In this intuition the inner experience of the integrity of other world is transmitted so that it allows restoring its own experience of the unity of life.
Under the condition that principles of cosmography are general for different people, they begin associatively to connect with the contents of the intuition of presence. Accordingly, collective cosmography is perceived as the most reliable protection from the invasion of fear, and all kinds of inconsistency with the collective cosmography generates the feeling of defencelessness from irrational fear. That is why any inconsistency of person with the principles of collective cosmography is perceived in society as mental or psychic inferiority, and this social disapproval is motivated by the fear of defencelessness.
Person turns out to be attached to collective cosmography, which moves towards him in the system of consciousness filters, separating all the basically new in perception and, thereby hindering the creative self-realization.
The real world outside this system of filters is endlessly diverse and allows the countless ways of world view and cosmography. However, transition to basically another view of the world based on other principles of cosmography, will face the natural barrier - that is the irrational fear.
It is possible to pass this barrier only by having the sufficient will-power, which will prevent self-destruction when the experiencing the integrity of world is lost. Will cannot be understood here as one more intention alongside with others, for when the experiencing the integrity of life is lost, any intention stops motivating others, and, accordingly, will intention would turn out to be isolated and helpless. In another word, resisting irrational fear of will can be revealed only in the very immanent contents of intention, as a force, which is capable to restore the experience of the integrity of world. Namely this force does not allow a person to perish at the moment when irrational fear destroys his world.
Only passing the border of irrational fear can open basically other levels of consciousness. In real practice it is very frequent for the real mystic experience to be understood as not real transition to another level of consciousness, but as the change of perception at its own level. For example, addiction of drugs, which basically changes the disposition of consciousness, does not actually carry it beyond the border, but only gives another form of the perception. The same can be said about quite a number of mystic psychotechnics. All this has no relation with the real extension of consciousness which is impossible without controlling the irrational fear.
The spontaneous break-through of irrational fear, which deprives the possibility of protection in collective cosmography, can cause defensive reaction to the simplification of the picture of world: as the more simple the world view is, the more reliable its laws are. As a result, a person falls into the simplified world, losing any connection with the collective cosmography. This autistic closure in his own world surrounded by people is also perceived as mad, though many of the normal are exactly the same as "mad", who are only pretending to be normal.
Hence, it should be distinguished the autistic world of the mad built for their own psychic self-protection from the autistic world of the mad, which arose spontaneously as a result of the destruction of experience of the unity of world. The latter carries the devilish character. According to the difference of these two types of autistic worlds of the mad, it follows to differentiate the two types of totalitarian sects - some of which have rational character, offer the simplified picture of world, in the context of which arises the complete control of consciousness of the followers and their isolation from the rest of the world; others present clean break-through of the irrational, and in this case there is no one able to control anything, completely putting himsef under the control of otherworldly forces.
Here is opened the view of transition from the analysis of individual consciousness to the analysis of mass consciousness, where these two types of insanity can create different hybrids in the form of various socio-political chimeras.