Transpersonal Consciousness

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Saved by The Marvelous?

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I don’t know if Andre Breton ever really defined the concept of The Marvelous, a term he used to describe that transcendent, almost magical connectedness that collaborative surrealist games of chance and other surrealist techniques can occasionally attain, but some related concepts might shed light on its creative expression. The following passage from Ervin Lazlo’s Science and the Akashic Field discusses consciousness within the transpersonal realm and its promise:

Transpersonal consciousness is open to more of the information that reaches our brain than the consciousness still dominant today. This could have momentous consequences. It could produce greater empathy among people, and greater sensitivity to animals, plants, and the entire biosphere. It could create subtle contact with the rest of the cosmos. When a critical mass of humans evolves to the transpersonal level of consciousness, a higher civilization is likely to emerge with deeper solidarity and a higher sense of justice and responsibility.

— Ervin Lazlo, Science and the Akashic Field

Where does your body stop and everything else begin?
            A residual memory pulls us toward its center

Question Christopher Herold,  Answers Michelle Tennison (2017)

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Evolution

Consciousness evolution is from the ego-bound to the transpersonal form. If this is so, it is a source of great hope.

— Ervin Lazlo,  Science and The Akashic Field

Transpersonal Psychology associates ‘transpersonal consciousness’ as higher or expanded consciousness, including consciousness of a transcendent spiritual dimension.

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“There is another world and it is in this one” — Paul Eluard

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Sometimes the game itself transcends logic and seems to tap into another realm, suggesting a transpersonal consciousness at work. The following results from playing the game with Zen practitioner and haiku poet Christopher Herold give a glimpse into the more beautiful side of Surrealism, something Andre Breton called The Marvelous.

I asked Christopher 11 pointed questions, and he answered them, unseen:

 

What is the past?
          The taste of spring water at 12,000 feet

 

Where is the map?
          A brick path’s geometry of moss

 

What is the mind of God?
          The emptiness inside a mirrored ball

 

What is truth?
          This worn out pair of shoes

 

How do you know you’ve really made it?
          The scent of a pine forest on a hot afternoon

 

What is the one dream?
          Bagpipes skirling through a foggy dawn

 

What is kindness?
          The receding tide depositing driftwood on the shore

 

Where is the nearest exit?
          Linear time compressing as death approaches

 

What will happen when two snowflakes are exactly alike?
          Children’s laughter

 

How can I avoid suffering?
          Discovering and letting go of our attachments.

 

What is deep thinking?
          Nothing . . . in particular

 

Questions Michelle Tennison, Answers Christopher Herold (2017)