Education towards Higher Levels of Consciousness for Today’s Children Becoming Exopolitically Aware

Education towards Higher Levels of Consciousness for Today’s Children becoming Exopolitically Aware

By

Giorgio Piacenza

I      INTRODUCTION

                     Knowing if individuals are genuinely perfectible beyond selfishness and ethnocentric biases in a practical way that can be encouraged through education worldwide to collectively co-create a much more harmonious society on Planet Earth, seems to be more than ever crucial today for the perpetuation of the species, for the enhancement of human life across the globe, to relate in peaceful, intelligent ways with otherworldly “visitors and for the continuation of environmental thriving in the biosphere.  Unless we learn how to successfully promote non-selfish levels of development in current and future generations we might as well allow other beings to replace us or – perhaps - force us to change in which case we wouldn’t earn our own distinct sovereignty and respect as a species in the Cosmos.

                      Integrally informed researchers, concerned citizens and even exopoliticians should delve into these questions to operate more effectively as agents of transformation within the altitudes of development they can already experience. Their concern should also be to leave a constructive legacy that allows children in current and future generations to move across levels of personal development with ease. If a serious degree of disclosure of an extraterrestrial-multi reality, intelligent presence takes place and future generations remain stuck in the pre-integrative ways of seeing things that predominate in the world today, these intelligences will quite likely be seen as enemies or as creatures to take advantage of.

                     Taking into account Ken Wilber’s Integral Psychology, Robert Kegan’s Theory of Cognitive Development and ideas from other well known authors who suggest of ways to improve on educational/child-rearing methods, we will contemplate how to stimulate (mostly in the essential formative period between birth and age 7) forms of psychological development that may contribute to the emergence of a way of functioning and cultural leadership that may prevent and revert ecological disaster.

                    

                     According to Integral Theory, stable “Second Tier” (integrative) functioning individuals are predicted to be flexible but autonomous, caring but rational, intuitive but realistic. And they are expected to be inspired or informed by an emerging, higher collective cause; by an understanding of how meaningfully all of existence is sacred whilst connected and unified under the same Source.  They are expected to be able to recognize and embody the basic wisdoms of all previous human and cultural levels of development, meaningfully integrating them. They ought to be at least world centrically oriented rather than self-centered or ethnocentrically-oriented and are considered capable of eventually, being kosmocentric, in recognition and empathy of all life in the organized Cosmos.  These persons are also said to experience a kind of “vision-logic” that transcends, understands and includes the absolutisms of classical pre-integrative, monological doctrines, the relativisms of conventional, post-conventional, late pre-integrative modern and ecological-egalitarian levels of personal development.  This “vision-logic” makes more connections and operates under a more comprehensive “both-and” logic that perceives complementary opposites as well as clear differences, while not over-emphasizing irreconcilable opposites.

                        Educating children capable of thinking and feeling in terms of connective relations on a grander scale would require helping them have a very good grasp of “vision-logic” and how it is more powerful and complete than classical logic. But the level of developmental maturity required to live under “vision-logic” would perhaps not have to be quite advanced if the fact that we connect with multiple worlds of existence is recognized. This would be because many things that seem to be separate under ordinary, classical, physical perception would obviously not to be so.

                      If the few integrative individuals allegedly emerging in the world today also become familiar and comfortable with otherworldly matters, they might be able to build a theoretical construct and social system that scientifically and spiritually explains how all things and life is interconnected. And they would be able to establish constructive relationships with beings that operate beyond Earth’s classical boundaries. Furthermore, they would be able to facilitate (for the new and upcoming generations) a vision and a technology of interconnectedness that would challenge a classic, earth-bound, animal-survival-based way of understanding reality as disconnected things that often pose a threat to each other. And, in this context (especially if Disclosure and acknowledgement that beings from afar are “visiting” us by transcending distances in non-classical ways that also involved subjectivity and consciousness) improved, participatory educational methods would assist children to quickly evolve into integrative levels of development required to prosper in the complex, multi-dimensional world we now live.

                    But the integrative levels of development don’t exclude values such as valor, honor, a sense of the sacredness and sanctity of creation or a sense of moral duty found in pre-modern, religious stages (in spite of their endemic intolerance to other cultures). Many of the so-called “virtues” of character expounded in the religious-mythic emphasis of medieval, scholastic Christendom come to mind in regards to these individuals. If the saints and sages of the past are an example of what is to come, these individuals would also exhibit great empathy and compassion, responsibility, unself-consciousness, practicality and a loving, creative inspiration that transcends their culture. This example may illustrate the possibilities of expressing further human potentials.  

I believe that integrative individuals must start by manifesting autonomy in a healthy, pro-social relationship with their milieu, by being capable of creativity within “vision-logic” and by being highly ethical, empathic and compassionate towards non-human life forms. In other words, the core developmental lines of cognition, self-identity and values must reinforce each other in an integral or “Post-post” conventional manner.

II.      BUT WHAT IS POSSIBLE FOR HUMAN NATURE?

           a.      Some Classical Religious, Anthropological and Philosophical Views.

                    The flexibility or inflexibility of human nature is at the crux of whether education to stimulate integrative functioning is a realistic goal.  Traditional Christian theologies have emphasized the flawed nature of humans, a nature that predisposes them to sin and rejection of his spiritual nature in favor of the “needs of the flesh.”  According to this Amber altitude view, humankind would have no chance to rise above earthly nature without the interceding grace of God.  Sainthood is possible but sainthood with a post-conventional worldview would probably be a creative Kosmic Habit.  In Hinduism and Buddhism there’s a sense that great perfectibility is possible, albeit extremely difficult to achieve.  In these religious traditions, Man is not inherently flawed by original sin.  On the contrary, Man’s essence is God as Para Brahman on the one hand and the great Sunya experienced as “Buddha Mind” on the other hand, both of which transcend the world of illusion and offer a radical way to free oneself from this self-generated illusion.

                   

                     Anthropologically speaking, the human species is an advanced ape with ape-like responses and needs; an advanced mammal that has developed a neocortical capacity correlated to managing symbolic worlds of abstract thought and, apparently, his continued evolution sharply depends on the shared enhancement and complexification that the world of abstract thought offers.  This capacity has allowed him to partially transcend his previous state of nature and to organize in larger social units.

It is a matter of opinion whether through education and culture, or perhaps new incoming vibratory energy patterns humanity is capable of overcoming the primary, selfish, unreasonably aggressive, self-assertive impulses associated to much of his animal nature. In this respect, distinguished anthropologists like Ashley Montagu argue in favor of Man’s possibilities and flexibility while other notables like sociobiologist E.O. Wilson and evolutionary determinist Desmond Morris seem to argue in favor of Man’s unavoidable dependency on his primary animal concerns. Furthermore, the raging nature-nurture controversy seems to be at a draw and not very decisive regarding integrally elucidating the complexities of what is evolutionarily possible.

                   

                     Besides this, some new age authors and experiencers of UFO-based contacts with non-human intelligences refer to the possibility of a “DNA activation” as the planet undergoes cosmic-level influences that may range from new energy patterns sent by our galaxy’s “Central Sun” (and re-transmitted by our Sun) to an “ascension” process in which the vibratory rate of Earth’s physical matter would speed up,  becoming part of what is sometimes referred to as a “4^th or a 5^th density” reality. These processes would still require adaptation on the part of individuals able and willing to move into this alleged higher frame of reality but would be essentially produced by an automatic universal shift. The resulting humanity would be able to establish creative exchanges with other cosmic civilizations but, in my view, this an external solution to the need to internally evolve by responsibly modifying our emerging world civilization.

                   

                     Philosophically speaking, there’s an old idealist tradition that says that Man’s critical problem is ignorance of himself and of the ultimate issues of existence and that -through philosophy- he can rise above his false identifications, chaos, and meaninglessness.  There also are some nihilist traditions but, overall, most philosophical positions (including the epicurean, stoic, scholastic, pragmatic) do seem to agree with the thought of Man’s improvement and perfectibility. Also, of course, many contemporary existentialist stances propose that Man is ultimately responsible to determine his own destiny.

                    

                        How much may we already be impossibly mired in unending distraction, in the impossibility to connect relevant information by hierarchically sorting it out? And how much (besides a few cosmic volunteers arriving freshly from previous live’s in more advanced and integral civilizations in the cosmos) can the new generations of souls being born on Earth evolve throughout the necessary developmental levels they must undergo; evolve all the way to an integrative level suitable to heal the planet and humanuty being that they are now trapped in continuous infotainment cycles of superficially processing data, ignoring the history, idealism and dreams of their forebears? How can the masses of such individuals in a post-idealist age/ post meta-narratives age even care about any of this? How can they build over what previous generations gained after so much struggle in terms of equality and human freedom if much of their current interests in the “age of information” promote selfish needs over perfecting the human soul to contribute to the universal good?

         

           b.      Assumptions from Robert Kegan’s Theory of Cognitive Development

                    Developmental theorist Robert Kegan has empirically observed that individuals are at different levels of cognitive development about how they process information and think of themselves and others.  He proposes a series of “Orders of Consciousness”¹ that come about by processes in which the self-system self-transcends and includes stages with which it identifies, first undifferentiating subject and object and then, differentiating them.  Kegan illustrates that, normally speaking, adolescents tend to be in a “Third” Order of Consciousness in which they see themselves as part of a group that gives identity and meaning to their lives.  This theorist also demonstrates that, in post-conventional organizations, the mental demands required call for a “Fourth” Order of Consciousness in which there’s greater autonomy or self-authorship even while in relation to groups. Kegan says that individuals develop the cognitive capacity to operate in progressively more complex orders of consciousness with the help of a supportive but challenging “culture of embeddedness” that challenges from a higher order and supports from the same order of consciousness a person is at. 

                   Each level of development requires letting go of a way of thinking and of identifications and, apparently, the process is not assured as it requires that certain encouraging elements be in place.  Kegan also apparently assumes that development into a Fifth Order of Consciousness and beyond is possible and, according to his scheme, individuals operating at these levels would be multi-perspectival and aperspectival, as creatively required within a coherent, multi-systemic, highly inclusive, ethical sense that transcends and includes (or “is not other than”)  the relativism of the previous stage.  In my view, a person in a stable Fifth Order would be capable of functioning in what Ken Wilber calls “Second Tier.”

          

           c.       Assumptions from Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory  

                     Wilber² assumes that evolution, or the co-creative expression of potentials contained in the involution of Spirit, can be transfinite or unending (unless regression and self destruction occurs).  He does assume that human individuals and collectives can actually develop beyond Kegan’s Fifth Order of Consciousness and that an Integral, Second Tier (integrative) “Age” could emerge if the massive transition of world populations located between Traditional and Modern altitudes takes place in a healthy way.    Apparently, Wilber says that “Kosmic Habits” gradually emerge as “Eros” (the vertical evolutionary impulse to transcend and include) inspires some unique individuals to express a level of consciousness beyond their cultural average, spearheading a path for others to follow.  I assume that he may also be entertaining the unspoken notion that these individuals have also prepared themselves through greater effort along their reincarnation processes.

                    I suggest that, unless we bring in notions such as reincarnation, spiritual and otherworldly influences, unique transcendental experiences as activators of human potential, we won’t be able to make sense of what motivates personal evolution in its whole range.          

                    

                     Integral theory is compatible with many developmental theories that (especially after the influence of Abraham Maslow) also assume that there can be successful successive stages of post-conventional human development.  Wilber describes a self-system capable of development into transpersonal stages by being the locus of Will, Metabolism, Choice and Movement. The drive of self-transcending Eros, of Communion, of self-preservation, of autonomy, the translational, horizontal drives and the regressive drives, always place the self-system in a tug of force of choices to be made either to move on to more inclusive understandings or to regress to previous stages. In order to move forwards without repressing certain contents in specific lines of development the self-system must, metabolize new ways of being, adapting itself adequately by negating previous identifications and re-identifying co-creatively with the contents of the next higher structure, expressing the potentials of that structure.   In terms of what is possible for human nature, in relation to Wilber’s Integral Theory, I also assume that his vision of tetra-arising holons can be interpreted to mean that all factors related to the development of human beings (including biophysical, genetic, nervous system and subtle energy factors) will correlate themselves with the emergence of individual and collective Second Tier (integrative) expression.

III.     PERSPECTIVES ON CHILD REARING PROBABLY CONDUCIVE TO     

           SECOND TIER (INTEGRATIVE) DEVELOPMENT.  

          

          a.      The Democratic Parenting Style    

                    According to a well-known research conducted by Diana Baumrind back in the 1970’s³, the “authoritarian,” “permissive” and “democratic” parenting styles adopted by parents during early infancy may accelerate or retard the cognitive, emotional and social development of their children.  For example, in attempting to please their parent’s unrealistic and inflexible expectations, children under an authoritarian (and usually physically punishing) style appear to develop dependency, lack of autonomy and fear-based, conventional behavior. Then, those growing under a permissive style appear to be stressed by not knowing how to please their parents and experience a lack of structure, guidance and uncertain boundaries, tending to remain fixated in self-centeredness, and exhibiting a host of maladaptive behaviors.  On the other hand, children growing under a democratic parenting style, characterized by a combination of guidance, flexibility, negotiation, nurturance and attempts to reach common agreements, tend to be more independent, exert greater impulse control, be more active, creative, satisfied with themselves and adapted to various social circumstances.

           b.      Creativity a la Carl Rogers     

                    Rogers trusted people’s natural ability to develop in a healthy, natural way 

way.  He said that one could only be open to creativity if one was open to experience

in one’s authentic self.   If I interpret him correctly, he called this factor “extensionality”

and, for him, a fully functioning individual was creative because he was able to achieve

moments of joyous “flow” even while challenged by tensions produced by cognitive

conflict.  Building upon reassuring experiences with which they have integrated

with, children can develop confidence in themselves to risk new experiences, to listen to

their innate, unbounded capacities and  to “differentiate.” 

            Kim Law McManus, an expert on Roger’s concepts on creativity says: “Creative

productivity seems to flourish during flow. These creative moments seem to occur when there is a suitable ratio between the complexity of the activity and the skill level of the actor. Flow marks a state of consciousness where our fears and anxieties about the

unchangeable past and the unpredictable future are banished by our immersion in the

present.  The pursuit of achievable, yet challenging, goals lends order to consciousness,

strengthens the self through frequent and regular success experiences, and establishes

conditions for the increased complexity that marks psychological health and

development.”⁴ Rogers also emphasized that creativity found fertile ground when children were treated with guidance and simultaneous, nonjudgemental empathy.  Not judging in a harsh manner the child’s alleged inner motivations leads to an intrinsically motivated morality rather than to an extrinsically motivated one.  In this way, the child is more likely to listen to a joyously experienced “internal locus of achievement.”

           c.      Education from the Heart

                    I believe that all valid spiritual traditions have, in one way or another emphasized the “selflessness of the superior individual” and Ken Wilber seems to basically agree with this concept.  Most developmental psychologists that consider the realistic emergence of several post-conventional levels (like Clare Graves and Cook-Greuter) also seem to say in one way or another that there’s a decisive spiritual component that manifests more and more consciously after certain stages.  For this reason I would like to mention that there are some experts in child education that think that central to their praxis is the development of “human values.” 

                      Mrs. Eugenia Puebla⁵ is a well-known pedagogue that promotes the development of spiritual intuition in kindergarten-age children working as a supervisor in the City Hall of Buenos Aires, Argentina.  She believes in teaching easy forms of playful meditation and relaxation, endorsing a theory she calls “pedagogical synthesis.”   She believes that Piaget’s theory as it relates to formal operational thinking is complemented by intuition, because rationality and intuition are intimately correlated in every human being. She reminds us that Piaget used the word “intuition” to describe pre-operational stages informed by perceptions.  She even mentions one of Ken Wilber’s remarks on the developmental stage previous to that in which objects are differentiated from subjects saying that this is a stage in which the enhancement of intuition could bring greater integration in subsequent development.  

                   Puebla suggests that by developing a rapport with simple but enjoyable meditative states that connect with fundamental, spiritual silence through intuition, children may learn to distinguish subtle ways of knowing that escape the limitations on rational formal operational thinking as disclosed by Kurt Gödel’s theorem.  She claims that children may then be more motivated by an inner source that will help them to integrate multiple sources of information across successive developmental stages.  Simple fable-like, “harmonization” exercises in which children identify with amicable subjects in imaginary journeys are used to stimulate peace, self acceptance and a sense of wonder and joy.

IV.      DISCUSSION

                     In the embryonic context we currently exist in terms of encouraging the appearance of a “Second Tier” (integrative) community capable of assisting First Tier (pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional but non-integrative) individuals into smooth and healthy horizontal development, translations and challenging vertical transitions, there seem to be some basically sound ideas such as the ones that we have been exploring. 

                     Although it is certain from an Integral Theory perspective that the existence of a large community of individuals operating from “Fifth Order of Consciousness” and from incipient integrative or higher altitudes would facilitate the emergence of additional integrative individuals,  those of us who sense these possibilities are breaking new ground at this juncture.  So we must “blaze” forward with sensible integrations and courageous fortitude as we ourselves gradually discover the real meaning of incipient integrative and higher levels of consciousness.  Allegedly, integrative individuals would display a self-system that functions with paradigmatic and cross-paradigmatic vision-logic cognition, an autonomous or integrated self-identity line and a highly compassionate incipient integrative or “advance integrative,” systemic values line. 

                     Although there are many educational ideas being presented in the academic and pedagogical world as alternatives to “conventional” styles of child rearing and education, we have briefly revealed here three that seem to reinforce each other.  The first is called the “democratic parenting style” and aims at being helpful in stabilizing children as autonomous, but socially integrated individuals in a Fourth Order/modern altitude.  According to Integral Theory, this stage is a prerequisite for any further development and children reared under the “democratic” style would probably tend to be healthier and with fewer severely challenging shadows to work with or carry forth into the next stage. 

                      The second alternative delved into the priority of creativity, of perceiving things in unconventional ways leading the way towards the ability to integrate multiple truths or multiple perspectives without falling into relativism, cynicism, despair or nihilism.   For this purpose, Carl Rogers proposed treating the child with an acceptance that would encourage him to listen and to believe in his own positive source of meaning, thus making him prone to finding his own creative functioning in a responsible manner within his imperatives. 

                      The third alternative responds to a well-established belief across developmental altitudes, one that says that paying attention to a grander spiritual reality “other” than our apparent external selves is conducive to wisdom and to the development of selflessness.  Just like integrally informed students are encouraged by Integral University to explore their UL perspective in an intuitional, phenomenological and contemplative way, Mrs. Eugenia Puebla uses her “heartfelt” approach with children to help them sense their “higher selves” and to integrally accompany the development of their cognitive, conceptual minds.

V.       CONCLUSION

                     Ultimately, the integral development of a whole person may depend on choices made in the depths of the soul, on unpredictable moves made by the self-system, on spiritual, subtle and psychic energy flows, genetic potential, causal-level originated predispositions, previous reincarnations and a “karmic weighing of the scales.” 

                      Perhaps integral development even depends upon matters that are still imponderable at the level from which we are currently asking these questions informal academia.    Nevertheless, whether due to common sense, empirical validations, or my own incipient “vision-logic,” I believe that there are valuable common elements in all of the approaches above and that they could synergistically combine to increase the possibilities of helping children develop into Second Tier, integral adults.  However, since human psychological and spiritual development is more encompassing than frameworks or theories, there are no unequivocal formulas or methods.  

                    Quite likely, a widespread acknowledgement of intelligent and scientifically advanced non-human life already operating in our planet will force intellectuals and individuals in general to expand their cultural frameworks and this will generate a society in which the importance of connecting with the interwoven nature of reality will once again become an important issue.

                     Both the “democratic parenting style” and fomenting creativity a la Carl Rogers at least coincide in being ways to encourage a balanced, realistic self-confidence in the developing child.  The result may be a mentally secure and flexible person capable of adapting to the discovery that we are being visited by otherworldly beings and the acknowledgement that we have always been participants in a much vaster cosmos.

                    As previously mentioned, unless we bring in notions such as reincarnation, spiritual and otherworldly influences, unique transcendental experiences as activators of our consciousnesses and human potential, we won’t be able to make sense of what motivates personal evolution in its whole range.   Today without this awareness we won’t even be able to survive our current self-destructive attachment to a materialist response to life.   

                      The third approach stems from a timeless Wisdom that reminds us of how basic it is to connect with Spirit or with an inspiring sense of non-illusion.  It involves the whole person participating with interest and the educator is more like a facilitator that prepares the context for a person’s tendency to self-actualize to flourish. Under However, I think that they educator should adapt his or her style to the level of development of the children.

                  Roger’s and Puebla's approaches would quite likely not favor trying to stamp out psychic and otherworldly perceptions in children.  They could also be seen as ways to more naturally facilitate the child's connection among his proximate self (the intimate subjective experience of self as vulnerable), distal self (the sense of self under a particular social role) and anterior self (the self experienced as a pure witness or pure consciousness). It would also facilitate a newly incarnated soul to maintain itself connected with his or her higher soul mind. 

                       Being able to distinguish that our consciousness is involved in these three forms of the “self” would be beneficial to educate a whole person allowing him or her not to rigidly identify as vulnerable and in need to be over-defensive as not to be rigidly identified under a role as he or learns to maintain awareness as an unfettered, always existing, consciousness.

                      The second and third approach would be applicable to expand one’s concepts about existence beyond earth-based, materialistic adaptations in a playful, natural manner, adequate to the various stages of developing children. This approach can also be more easily applied to educate our children in the fact that we are not alone in the universe and how multiple realities (of which we should not be afraid) naturally co-exist and interact.

                      The general development of the three more decisive lines that impinge on general developmental stages should be facilitated.  Nevertheless, I believe that what educators and primary caretakers shouldn’t forget is to accompany all these suggested courses of action with a comfortable, easy-going, co-participatory attitude so as not to sabotage their aims.

Endnotes

¹ Kegan, Robert, In over our heads: The mental demands of modern life, 1994.

² Wilber, Ken, Integral psychology: Consciousness, spirit, psychology, therapy, 2000.

³ Fernández, Irina, Influencia de los estilos de paternidad en el desarrollo cognoscitivo y socio-emocional de los preescolares, 2006.

⁴ Mcmanus, Kimlaw, On becoming creative, 1999.

⁵ Puebla, Eugenia, Educar desde el corazón, 1992.

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