All of this is one of the many reasons integral psychology made a lot of sense to me when I first read about in Ken Wilber's early books (Up From Eden) and then in Integral Psychology itself.
In the past 10-20 years, there has a arisen a new field of psychology that borrows from evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, social psychology, and many other fields - Cultural Psychology.
One of the things I really like about this model, at least as exemplified in Cultural Psychology of the Self: Place, Morality and Art in Human Worlds by Ciaran Benson (yes, that book is DAMN expensive, another reason I love my Kindle), is that he proposes that mind or Self is a construct built on the interaction of physiology and culture - Self is not separate from place, time, and interactions with other human beings.
This is from the Introduction:
In this book I want to explore the idea that a primary function of the psychological system which is commonly called ‘self’ is to locate or position the person for themselves in relation to others. I want to suggest that self is a locative system with both evolutionary and cultural antecedents.To me this seems to fit with both Wilber's model of self-system development and also with Clare Graves' model of biopsychosocial development, two of the primary models that have influenced me.
We cannot imagine being nowhere. We can visualise ourselves being lost, but that is to be somewhere unfamiliar to us, possibly without the means of getting back to a place we know. Where and when, place and time, are the conditions of existence. Being nowhere is quite simply a contradiction in terms. Without being placed or located I would not be, and where I find myself implaced influences not just the fact of my being but also its nature. Where, when and who are mutually constitutive. Lives, selves, identities are threaded across times and places. Who you are is a function of where you are, of where you have been and of where you hope to arrive. There cannot be a ‘here’ without a ‘you’ or an ‘I’ or a ‘now’. Self, acts of self-location and locations are inextricably linked and mutually constructive.
‘Self’ functions primarily as a locative system, a means of reference and orientation in worlds of space–time (perceptual worlds) and in worlds of meaning and place–time (cultural worlds). This understanding of self as an ongoing, living process of constant auto-referred locating recognises the centrality both of the body and of social relations. The antecedents of bodily location are well understood in evolutionary terms, whereas those of personal location among other persons are best understood culturally.
Selfhood and mentality are the most sophisticated synthetic achievements of body and culture in the universe known to human beings. In addition, as Jerome Bruner reminds us, ‘Perhaps the single most universal thing about human experience is the phenomenon of “Self”.’ (pg. 3-4)
Essentially, we are born as biological beings with all the evolutionary psychological baggage that entails, AND we are born into interpersonal contexts that also have a profound ability to shape our concept of self - Dan Seigel calls this the The Neurobiology of "We": How Relationships, the Mind, and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are (Sounds True Audio Learning Course) - based on the discussions he had a Upaya Zen Center with Roshi Joan Halifax and others.
Developmentally, we start as biological entities (fulcrum-1), are embedded in an interpersonal and physical environment (fulcrum-2), and from there we begin to develop the rudimentary elements of an egoic self (fulcrum-3) - here is the model from Wilber:
Wave, stage, or level ...Fulcrum .. Age of emergence
Sensorimotor ........................... 1.............. 0-18 months
Emotional / impulse ............... 2 ............. 1-3 years
Representative mind .............. 3 ............. 2-6 years
Anyway, I'm reading the book now and I am excited by the expanded perspective this book can offer. I'll keep you posted.
Tags:
No comments:
Post a Comment