Briefly discuss how progress through stages can be facilitated or inhibited by social structures, institutions, policies, and practices with special attention to consciousness raising and expanding readings in last part of semester. Facilitation through stages of consciousness ought to be inhibited by social intuitions and structures. First and foremost, an ideological shift would be necessary to adequately shape individuals and society’s feelings toward consciousness expanding and raising. As it stands, Westerners understanding of appropriate consciousness fights against consciousness expanding techniques necessary to generate healthier people, such as meditation or mindfulness techniques (Smalley and Winston 2010, Travis 2011). …show more content…
Personal transformation can not be accomplished without opportunities at the societal level, and social transformation can not be accomplished without individuals first planting the seeds of change, although the two are often not easy to conceptually tease apart from each other. This concept parallels that of Combs’ vertical and horizontal lines of development, wherein each of the four quadrants has a unique internal and external perspective from which to orient one’s experiences (2009). Let us review each of the four quadrants, each which now has its own internal and external orientation. Upper-Left (UL) is the Interior-Individual and the “I” reflects “personal internally realities” and “it represents our sense of self as well as knowledge” (Combs 2009: 17). The Lower-Left (LL) hand quadrant represents the Interior-Collective known as the “We” “representing our shared internal realities” as culture, religion and morals (Combs). The Lower-Right (LR) hand quadrant represents the “Its” as “groups or collections of objects and events” referring the environment or large social institutions (Combs 2009: 17). The Upper-Right (UR) hand quadrant represents the Exterior-Individual as in the “It” referring to “single instances of objective objects and events” (Combs 2009: …show more content…
A potential that is just now blossoming as we are collectively shifting toward the facilitation of healthy interpersonal growth, which results in newfound exterior socialization processes and ideological shifts. As Sowards and Renegar suggest, “consciousness-raising has changed, expanded, and adapted to new social contexts.” (2004: 547). It was imperative to our well-being as a society that such a shift take place as throughout the last decade (despite the hope that Obama gave the world in 2008) we have edging toward a dark, hateful, isolationist future. This created the political and social climate that allowed for such a spiteful, ignorant, unqualified, grossly wealthy, conniving, misogynistic “white male” (I put white male in quotes because I would rather not identify as the same species, yet alone demographic, as the president-elect; who is honestly more like a rotten carrot) to be elected president-elect of a country which has always claimed to be free, equal, and accepting. As a society we are growing as individuals which is collectively laying the groundwork for a shift in our collective consciousness as a nation. This is going to have profound effects for us as a nation. We may soon see the day where, as a nation, we become as free, equal, and accepting as we have claimed to be since our
Schuster, C. S., and Ashburn, S. S., (1980). The Process of Human Development: A Holistic Approach. Boston: Little, Brown and Company Inc.
Chapter 4 discusses the several states of consciousness: the nature of consciousness, sleep and dreams, psychoactive drugs, hypnosis, and meditation. Consciousness is a crucial part of human experience, it represents that private inner mind where we think, feel, plan, wish, pray, omagine, and quietly relive experiences. William James described the mind as a stream of consciousness, a continuous flow of changing sensations, images thoughts, and feelings. Consciousness has two major parts: awareness and arousal. Awareness includes the awareness of the self and thoughts about one's experiences. Arousal is the physiological state of being engaged with the environment. Theory of mind refers to individuals understanding that they and others think,
Then, as usual, they share they knowledge with others in an accurate way by analyzing carefully and with maturity what they have learned (socialize). Finally, having a new perspective of the situations creates changes in some aspects and then is when the transformation occurs. Marmon endorses the ideas of Mezirow’s article, Learning as transformation, to explain the three levels of transformation: “Meanings; premises, assumption, or habits of mind, and meaning perspectives”. She also agrees with him that when an adult embraces a new way of recognizing the world he or she has experienced a Transformative
Proponents of the Transcendental Meditation program initiated by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi have expressed their ideas in various web sites on the World Wide Web, through pages such as The Transcendental Meditation Program at http://www.tm.org and the Scientific Research on Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program of the Maharishi University of Management at http://www.miu.edu/TM_Research. In these sites positive messages are conveyed about the benefits of meditation to its practitioner within the physiological, psychological, sociological, intellectual, and interpersonal realms. Within these sites, the web-browser is presented with an abundance of information relating the vast array of health benefits offered to an individual through the regular practice of what is described as the simplest, most natural form of awareness--what practitioners of the technique term "transcendental consciousness." Through this technique, its advocates assert, one can:
Meditation is an age-old practice that has renewed itself in many different cultures and times. Despite its age, however, there remains a mystery and some ambiguity as to what it is, or even how one performs it. The practice and tradition of meditation dates back thousands of years having appeared in many eastern traditions. Meditation’s ancient roots cloud its origins from being attributed to a sole inventor or religion, though Bon, Hindu, Shinto, Dao, and later, Buddhism are responsible for its development. Its practice has permeated almost all major world religions, but under different names. It has become a practice without borders, influencing millions with its tranquil and healing effects.
Over twenty-five hundred years ago, Buddha Guatama practiced meditation and came to what is known as “The Four Noble Truth,” an important principle in Buddhism (Elder, 2010). This principle informs the reader of what suffering is and how affect is. This is a great example of how valuable meditation is- on the very first session ever recorded, the awareness that came from it would later be the foundation of a new religion. This proves how powerful meditation can be. Furthermore, some form of meditation can be found in various religions. Although the styles, techniques, and ideology behind the meditation can vary per religion, personal transformation is the key goal (Modi, Singh, 2012). Today, in Western society, mindful meditation (a form of meditation) has grown in popularity, used for relaxation and to help treat those who suffer from mental illness’ and mood disorders. Viewed as alternative medicine for the mind and soul, it is beneficial for our emotional and mental
Renner, T., Feldman, R., Majors, M., Morrissey, J., & Mae, L. (2011). States of Consciousness. Psychsmart (pp. 99-107). New York: McGraw-Hill.
To be able to understand the stages when reading them, I shall discuss briefly about Eric Erickson’s stages. In the identity versus role confusion, the identity can be asked simply by who am I? The role confusion, meaning that one is feeling disordered or apprehensive of how they fit into society. In the intimacy versus isolation, Intimacy simply put is how I relate to other people, being non-sexual but as a mere means of communication. In the isolation part of it though, is will I be alone. And the final stage that we will be discussing is the generativity versus stagnation stage. Generativity being that what will one leave to others, while stagnation coming from not being able to contribute and leave to others. Now that I have briefly described the main stages that will be discussed, I will now jump into the lives of character from different times and tell their story, while seeing how they transition into the stages.
through a series of stages in life (Marcia, 1966, 1980) and each stage is experienced
The final stage is post-conventional, and it is centered on the idea of social differences. While upholding the idea of a social norm, people will have different values and each will act differently depending on their circumstances (Cherry, 2016). During this stage, people start to consider how their actions will affect others and those around them (Salkind,
IPsyc: Question 24 - If you practice one of the conscious-altering techniques we discussed, what does it do for you?
Before taking this class, my understanding between each individual and the whole society is that every individuals as the gear are connected together to become a society like a machine. That is, human beings build the society. However, the class gave me bigger view of the relationship between the people and the society. Discussing about the relationship between me and the broader social world is based on how all human beings and the broader social world effect together. Thus, I am going to show my understanding from the class and reading about the interaction between each individual and the whole society.
The experience of Transcendental Consciousness develops the individual's latent creative potential while dissolving accumulated stress and fatigue through the deep rest gained during the practice. This experience enlivens the individual's creativity, dynamism, orderliness, and organizing power, which result in increasing effectiveness and success in daily life.
According to Erikson, human development occurs in eight stages though-out life. At each stage, individuals work through transitional conflicts a necessary mean of development by undertaking certain developmental tasks (Nugent, 2005, p. 99). The theories of Erik Erkson were used to analyze and interpret the responses.
In relation to social transformation I have gathered materials that focusses on programs provided for ‘refugees’ living in New Zealand. The purpose of my findings are based on the societies support for ‘refugees’ in terms of human security and directions of life before settling in their new destination. There are stories about ‘refugees’ that need to be shared and stories that need to be forgotten, because it can produce controversy within the society or the universe. But where can these ‘refugees’ go if the place they call home is unsafe or too risky for the lives of their families and for themselves. It’s hard enough to migrate into a new country, but it is devastating for refugees who have experienced the loss of homes and loved ones.