In the past few posts I have discussed the fascinating notion of an ego-Self axis and how the Integrative Coaching process is able to accelerate its formation . However, this axis is not limited to Western or Jungian thought. Corbett (2006), a Jungian psychologist, compares the Vedantic notion of the Atman to the ego-Self axis. The Atman is an element of the Divine within the individual that is identical with the universal, absolute consciousness of Brahman. In Hindu thought, theistic schools also believe that the task of the self (or everyday ego consciousness) is to regain its lost connection to the Self, and that the relationship is invariably one of devoted servant to master.
Corbett explores this difference between what he terms the personal self and the transpersonal Self in his series of lectures at UPR (see references). He believes it is a very old idea that the core of the individual has a transcendent or divine element. When encountered, Corbett explains, the transpersonal Self feels like an other we must relate to; it feels larger and more superior. It may express itself as a surprise; as a dream, a fantasy or a vision. Corbett comments that it is a mistake to think of the Self as inside the head. Rather it seems to affect the inner and outer at the same time; it affects our experiential field and effects on the inside and outside can interact with each other. In this sense the unconscious exists outside as well as inside us, in the form of synchronistic events. This, Corbett believes, is the activation of the Self. When the Self wants to “arrange” something it arranges a particular emotional state within us and arranges events in the outer world and although not causally connected, they come together. This is Jung’s notion of synchronicity.
Somehow, offers Corbett, the brain is the transmitter of a larger consciousness; the brain is the receiver of the mind or consciousness, not the generator of the mind. (Corbett, UPR lecture series) This is also my experience when I access the realm of the Self. I am aware that I have placed myself in the position of being able to access and experience information that is very different to my usual everyday intellectual responses. I have observed that there is a sacred aspect within this relationship. It is, in some ways, as if one has entered into the mystery; yet the mystery responds in the everyday.
Corbett believes that the development of the ego over the last several thousand years, this differentiated sense of consciousness, has made us lose touch with the larger domain of consciousness. Eastern traditions, he reminds us, have always been aware of this transpersonal level of the psyche, but not until Jung helped introduce the idea into Western psychology have we been able to understand this interpenetration at two levels
References
Corbett, Lionel, M.D. A New Myth of God: Religious Function of the Psyche, 2006. Lecture Series (Los Angeles, University of Philosophical Research)
