So this is from the third comment, the one I pasted from an email. All of the "note:" sections are from the respondent. The bold numbers following some of the answers are her ratings for the (b) answers that she listed as tens. For these numbers, 1 is her top priority rather than the higher numbers meaning a heavier weighting.
By this point, I am starting to feel very solid on what I want my items to address, so I may be ready to rewrite them after writing Profile 3.
1E. a. 4 b. 6
Note: This feels oddly competitive. Is there another way to phrase it?
9E. a. 4 b. 5
16E.a. 8 b. 10 (5)
Laughter, fun, curiosity. Yes, this phrasing is comparative. A Zen koan asks, "At the top of a 100-foot pole, what is your next step?" I am curious to know whether feeling oddly competitive about this item is a sign of a certain type of hesitation or just good feedback. Most of us learn to censor our emotional responses to such a great degree that the drive towards genuine spontaneity becomes part of what we need to untangle and express as adults. (I will certainly have to decide on whether or not to keep this unpopular phrasing.)
What stands out to me here is that the curiosity item, 16, is rated as much higher than those for laughter and fun. That tells me I probably need to look at my word choice. But a flag goes up, and I wonder whether this individual's playfulness has been pushed into the intellectual/verbal realm too much.
7P(R). a. 6 b. 8
14P. a. 3 b. 4 Note: Sounds pretty dang rigid to me. See George W. Bush for details.
17P. a. 4 b. 10 (9)
Note: I’m having a reaction to “everything”. What about “important” “critical”
”essential” or something. Or even – without discipline, very little is accomplished…
Mental avoidance, setting one's mind, and discipline. The responses to this section make me wonder about this person's sense of certainty. There's a negative reaction to the "everything" in "Discipline is everything", but not to the "anything" in "I avoid thinking about anything that makes me uncomfortable." Number 7, the item on avoidance is the only one that I would score in reverse--that I'd expect folks to not see this as a strength. (That may be another item on which I could improve the phrasing.) What's more, avoiding is not only ranked higher in the (a) column than the (a) scores for discipline and setting one's mind, but the only other (a)score that low is number 19: "I am very aware of my own emotions and others' emotions without feeling overwhelmed by emotions." Are my items phrased well enough here? Does this really mean that discipline and mental persistence and emotional awareness/equanimity are low while avoidance is high? Well, that is a question to ask directly. How much is this culturally supported out here on the West Coast, and how much of this is trouble differentiating decisiveness (yes, being the Decider) from rigidity? The response for #19 looks like evidence, but if this were Clue, I'd suspect without accusing...just yet.
3U. a. 7 b. 8
Note – this is a little difficult in terms of distinguishing how I think LIFE is, and how I think I am…..
11U. a. 6 b. 9
21U. a. 6 b. 9
Planning, intentional relaxing, and complicated problems. Uh-oh. More evidence. Dealing with complicated problems, 21(a), is listed as a 6. That's the second-highest (a) score this person was willing to claim consistently--other than the only 8, which concerned curiosity. Curious, willing to think about complicated problems, and good at mentally avoiding anything uncomfortable. We might have a strong mind here with a gentle soul. Gentle is fine, sometimes good, but I really wonder about centering, strength, certainty, and resilience. I've met fragile people who are surprisingly resilient, so that is not my first concern--decisiveness and persistence are. (The strengths part is coming up.)
5A. a. 7 b. 7
Note: This is interesting. I think in my case, I would prefer to feel that I am focused more on one thing at a time, or able to prioritize better, and multi-tasking less.
10A. a. 7 b. 10 (8)
19A. a. 3 b. 10 (7)
Multi-tasking, integration, and emotional awareness/equanimity. This note on 5 supports where I've been headed with this profile. That makes the meaning of #19 increasingly important; do you get a low score for awareness of emotions or for being easily overwhelmed? Prioritizing and decisiveness should be simple enough if one is willing to consider complicated problems without difficulty. But that avoidance thing comes back in. While a psychoanalyst might head in the direction of father issues and dominance/authority, we can instead look at familiarity with a focused state of mind and strength of focus. I'm not against that sort of historical psychoanalytic delving, but we have choices about how to address ourselves and our lives. Rather than running off to "confront" someone, we might confront mind itself.
The three (a) scores for this section have a wide range for this person's responses. Item 16 stands out from that group by a wide range as well, but that seems to be simply because of the safety involved with intellectualizing. There might be a very strong connection between this person's apparent lack of identification with the Purpose level and wide range of scores at the level of Appreciation and mindfulness here. Mindfulness may be somewhat lacking in potency if concentration is weak. Concentration tends to be weak when emotional certainty does not back it up.
Shift gears with me. When we compare the rankings of what she finds important right now (bold numbers following her other scores), we see the top four in the higher/subtler levels of Clarity and Nonconceptuality. We can also see that her Clarity level scores--6(a), 8(a), and 13(a)--are consistent and high. She rates only her curiosity as higher. This consistency is remarkable and certainly related to her high value on inspiration. There is also a very consistent rating of (a) scores through the levels of Understanding (#s 3, 11, 21) and Appreciation (#s 5, 10, and 19).
This profile, then, is light in the ass so to speak. It's also very hopeful. It looks like all the tools, except mostly concentration, are available for a comparatively inspired life. But to give that inspiration more staying power, it will take working on power.
The top priority, #20, "I can actually feel strongly that my soul is close to God," is listed as an (a) of only 4, low for this respondent. This probably shows some degree of idealization, of wanting to lean into something good and perfect, someone good and perfect and strong (perhaps inhuman and untouchable and therefore unassailable), as well as a significant sense of lack in that area. How much of this desire can be answered by knowing what one wants from oneself and others, knowing what is possible from/with oneself and others? (The comment for #12 (near the bottom) is very suggestive as well.)
That's probably enough for putting up on the Internet. The next step with this person is to find out whether she uses her meditation as avoidance-time for fluffy feeling-states and imaginings or for intentional relaxation (which would be helpful and enjoyable). From there, it becomes a process of figuring out how to toughen up without getting callous. With anyone who has a strong rejection of the Purpose level states, it usually takes kid gloves to find out in which ways they are willing to "take their medicine". It looks like the medicine here is all about gaining certainty by doing one's work, experiencing and affirming the positive Purpose-level feeling-states like confidence. It looks like there is only a little "misguidedness" to clear up--less about one more intellectual endeavor/distraction and more about feeling power.
6C. a. 7 b. 10 (3)
8C. a. 7 b. 10 (2)
13C. a. 7 b. 9
2N. a. 6 b. 10 (4)
15N. a. 6 b. 9
20N. a. 4 b. 10 (1)
4*. a. 5 b. 8
12*. a.xx b. xx
Note: Hmmmm – if God is everything, yes. But,I do believe there is evil and unkindness in the world. And misguidedness. I’m not sure how that fits in. I think that I prefer the definition of God as the ultimate good, and in that case, I would be a firm no on all action being done by God. But I don’t know how that fits with the 1-10 rating, either personally or where I wish to go…
18*. a. 4 b. 10 (6)
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Profile 2 (first one I'll interpret)
This note is an interpretation of the scores and comments in Emily's "witty von wittington" response. Everyone who responded wrote in comments after a number of questions, and I expect that to continue as long as I use this type of questionnaire. Rather than trying to simply say that respondents are "at" some level of development--which makes sense to me only in the crudest way--I am interested in how individual people feel spirituality as well as how we express our different strengths and interests. Along with developing into maturity and perhaps actualization, our personal interests change as well. There are times when sitting in nirvikalpa samadhi is not nearly as appropriate as acting decisively--like when you see a toddler wandering into a busy intersection. So besides actualization being valuable, wisdom includes acting from sometimes "lower level" internal states (which can be measured as distinct from other, "higher" states). Rather than racing for the top or arguing over who/which is best, I am at least as equally interested in what fits, what works. I am invested in what makes myself and others unique as well as development. I'll cluster these responses by level. See if you can see how the three items for each level relate to one another. It might be worth taking one level at a time and considering whether it looks to you as if it does signify a significant developmental step. (Think about developing from a toddler to Gandhi or someone else you respect.)
1E. 7/5
Would it be too different of a question to write “I laugh as much as or more than most people I know”?
9E. 3/6
16E. 6/10
Laughter, fun, curiosity. These are all about unimpeded interest and exuberance. All mammals learn best through play and this feels good too. Mammals have more attention-energy than they need to survive, and this is expressed through emotion (which reptiles are limited in at best), creativity, and playfulness. When we don't have enough food energy to power our massive brains, we feel less exuberant and don't learn very well.
The difference in these responses may be due to how the questions in this section are phrased and/or due to differences in one's perceptions of strengths and personal interest. Is she less interested in laughter [1E:(b)5] than curiosity [16E:(b)10]? Or, more likely, she may not like the comparative phrasing--as her comment suggests--on item number one. For number 9, it's quite possible that she doesn't like rating ANYTHING as better than "anything else in the world", so I need to think about how I phrase my questions and how I introduce someone to the questionnaire in general.
7P(R). 4/1
14P. 2/6
17P. 4/5
Mental avoidance, mental determination/rigidity, and discipline. In most psychological circles, avoiding thinking about something is seen as a fairly immature means of coping. Discipline and rigidity fit a distinct internal state that can be very helpful or just as easily harmful. And most people are genetically predispositioned as well as culturally indoctrinated (relative between cultures) to appreciate or avoid this state. It seems that men are more likely to get stuck in this focused/driven/purposeful state of mind, but once women decide, they are often as easily able to stick to their purpose. In fact, depending on how great the distractions and obstacles, women may be more flexible and able to stick to a purpose. So this state has neurological underpinnings influenced by sex differences in the brain that have nothing to do with actualization. That means that this level or type of state can be beneficial to both men and women, but if we make mistakes, we may be more likely to make different mistakes. We stereotype "women's prerogative" and men's stubbornness as well as "fragile male egos", but there may be a fundamental neurological backdrop to these stereotypes. The mistake men may be more likely to make--fighting against their own testosterone (often somewhere around 25x what women have) and often being used to competing in explicit dominance hierarchies--the mistake of getting stuck in a ramrod state of mind. Along with all the social power and size differences between men and women, women's brains may actually be better suited to taking a lot in at once without getting locked in. So men may have more training in being mindfully aware of their situations and emotions while women may have to train themselves a little more in sticking to their chosen purpose (when it is fitting to choose one). From another angle, men may be more likely to get stuck at Purpose-level reactions while women may seem more responsive to whichever way the wind blows. This respondent lists low scores for the most part at this level.
Basically, the point is that it is helpful to be have each attentional ability at a high degree of competence wherever you start concerning genes, background, intention, and development. We often develop our ability (to stay focused on a single purpose at this level) to what we want to believe is an acceptable level for us. And we may find that a better level of competence is hard to work for. Without considering what is possible, we cannot decide on whether that hard work is worthwhile. Even if large groups of women would train towards competence and excellence with a different emphasis than large groups of men, excellence looks similar. We can see the argument for different emphases in women's criticism of hierarchical patriarchal systems within the meditative traditions. I do believe there are simply some things that women are better-endowed for training women and vice versa. Then there are also the things that are more difficult for different brains (of the same or different genders) that we simply complain about because they are difficult to do. Regardless of where we begin on any of these abilities, excellence is excellence.
By rating where we are at and comparing that to where we want to be, it is possible to look at what types of intention and training might be best for us as individuals. Some folks are happy enough with competence and they don't find the situation conducive to working harder. Men may try to ignore or else complain more about their wives' desire for greater awareness of the emotional situation and greater openness (which is a higher level ability). Complaining is a waste of attentional resources.
3U. 4/1
11U. 6/10
21U. 6/9
Planning, relaxation, and complex thinking. "Cognitive dissonance" and "tolerating ambiguity" are the watch-words for this level and type of mental state. We all know that too much complexity (rational, conceptual, understanding, etc.) driven by too much internal or external compulsive pressure (Purpose level) makes for poor thinking and stress. Think of test anxiety. In sports, we talk about having a "sense of urgency" (also Purpose level pressure) as being a good thing. The ability to intentionally relax allows us to moderate our stress levels when we are dealing with perceived pressure and conceptual complexity.
This respondent seems to value spontaneity [3U:(b)1] as well as the ability to relax [11U:(b)10]. I'm not sure, until she lets me know, if it is ironic that there are probably some obvious ways in which she could diminish the Purpose-level pressure in her life by looking at what she can plan better. It is possible--but not up to me to say definitively--that she may undervalue planning and the stick-to-it-iveness that comes from strongly valuing and training in the Purpose level (items 7, 14, and 17). It is possible that avoiding planning and sticking to obvious purposes in some areas may allow her to be more spontaneous more of the time without encountering the obstacles that avoidance allows to grow. Although that is very vague on my part, because I am unsure as to whether that is accurate or not, it is something I need to ask about. If we can consider her weaknesses in the space of possibility and potential, we can figure out what potential is most important to her right now as well as what is likely to be effective for her. And because everyone has different strengths as well as hidden strengths, working with possibilities benefits me as well. We can easily work on my weaknesses as hers. Staying with what is realistically possible allows us to bring our combined strengths to bear on improving individual weak spots. Profiling dialogically will helpfully aid in coming to a common understanding of what our relative strengths and weaknesses are. Good will or communion between us allows acceptance and appreciation of individuality. That's the next level.
5A. 5/8
10A. 8/10
19A. 5/9
Multi-tasking, integration, and nonjudgemental awareness of emotion. If we have a decent ability to relax when we choose (previous level), we are more able to face our complex world and complex selves. People mentally reduce situations in rigid ways when they are over-burdened; when we do that, we have a hard time recognizing viable opportunity. Besides learning to intentionally relax, we can benefit from mindfulness. And since no one really wants mindfulness to NOT add to our happiness or wellbeing, I speak of mindful appreciation. Appreciation and mindfulness together lend themselves to a more complete sense of integration IF THEY ARE PRACTICED WITHIN THE RIGHT UNDERSTANDING. Supposed mindfulness--lacking a ready acceptance of emotional complexity--will likely become only a psychological ability to distance oneself. Because that distance is more comforting than distress or feeling overwhelmed, this is a fairly common problem. While that distance may be less harmful physically, personally, and socially than distress, it should not be seen as mindfulness. This respondent lists a strong sense of integration [10A:8/10] without claiming any great ability to multitask [5A:(a)5]. For 19, without knowing her, I would wonder whether she is unaware of the emotional situation or if she is easily overwhelmed. If she is unaware, we would want to work on emotional awareness and mindfulness--perhaps looking for a psychological block to emotional awareness. If she is easily overwhelmed by her awareness, that is very different. That would probably involve being willing to accept certain personal limitations for now and working on strengthening her awareness with the ability to intentionally relax. We might also have to work on how intentional relaxation is different than supposed "mindfulness" practice that would only encourage her to avoid her situation. Avoidance takes away from intentional deployment of attention, and I believe we are better off being able to connect our intention with our energy with our actions.
By the different scores in this section, we can see that she values this type mind-state or level of development [(b)-scores average 9]. We might also be able to lean on her sense of integrity or comfort with "don't-know mind" while improving concentration or memory for multi-tasking and relaxation or awareness concerning the emotional situation. Because she lists her (a) responses as comparatively low at the Purpose level, that may signal for a focus on how concentration (the attentional ability gained and developed at the level of Purpose) needs improvement. We should at least run down that possibility.
6C. 6/10
8C. 5/10
13C. 6/9
Inspiration and vitality, clarity, and flow or "the zone". This state and stage are probably best described cohesively by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the book called FLOW. While I'm not sure if he makes enough valuable distinctions, his presentation is by far the best picture of this level I have seen. At this level, we are starting to feel a great deal of clarity and freedom, which is very inspiring. We continue to improve our differentiation between a fairly rough-and-ready type of ecstasy, like lust, from a lighter feeling of bliss. If we do not pay attention to this distinction, because of the blissful influence, it is easy to get "stuck" in the habit of chasing excitement. It is helpful to emphasize the value of the mental and emotional clarity and freedom rather than the excitement. It is also helpful to continue with our mindfulness practice so that we can enjoy the excitement--mindfully rather than in an addicted manner.
Because it seems to me that there is a lot that can be done with this respondent at the level of Appreciation, my tendency would be to focus there. I want to introduce the idea of mindfulness being the basis for consistent inspiration and introduce aspects of Clarity, but working into Clarity would not be my primary objective unless I have misread the results. When the lower levels are sufficiently healthy in our lives, peaks into higher levels are much more likely to occur spontaneously. As we develop--if we are able to establish these levels in our lives as healthy cycles or habits--the desire for more that is so quintessentially human leads us upwards, pointing to increasingly subtle and perhaps powerful domains. But if those domains are preferred over things such as food, sleep, and good relations with the people around us, we fall into using spirituality or consciousness as a drug. This demeans both the value of where we are now as well as the aspirations towards authentic spirituality. Further talk about the higher levels would be mostly conceptual rather than being "filled up" by personal experience. There is enough to appreciate with where we are now and no reason to fear that further growth is unlikely. The conceptual discussion of higher levels may be helpful, but I would not want to suggest a specific religious--or nonreligious, for that matter--interpretation of those levels. At the point we are primarily discussing conceptions rather than predominantly personal experience, my impact shifts away from consultative to educational. In my experience, it is much harder to determine whether extra education is more helpful or distracting and depends heavily on the individual.
2N. 6/10
15N. 6/10
20N. 5/5
4*. 4/4
12*. 5/5
18*. 4/4
1E. 7/5
Would it be too different of a question to write “I laugh as much as or more than most people I know”?
9E. 3/6
16E. 6/10
Laughter, fun, curiosity. These are all about unimpeded interest and exuberance. All mammals learn best through play and this feels good too. Mammals have more attention-energy than they need to survive, and this is expressed through emotion (which reptiles are limited in at best), creativity, and playfulness. When we don't have enough food energy to power our massive brains, we feel less exuberant and don't learn very well.
The difference in these responses may be due to how the questions in this section are phrased and/or due to differences in one's perceptions of strengths and personal interest. Is she less interested in laughter [1E:(b)5] than curiosity [16E:(b)10]? Or, more likely, she may not like the comparative phrasing--as her comment suggests--on item number one. For number 9, it's quite possible that she doesn't like rating ANYTHING as better than "anything else in the world", so I need to think about how I phrase my questions and how I introduce someone to the questionnaire in general.
7P(R). 4/1
14P. 2/6
17P. 4/5
Mental avoidance, mental determination/rigidity, and discipline. In most psychological circles, avoiding thinking about something is seen as a fairly immature means of coping. Discipline and rigidity fit a distinct internal state that can be very helpful or just as easily harmful. And most people are genetically predispositioned as well as culturally indoctrinated (relative between cultures) to appreciate or avoid this state. It seems that men are more likely to get stuck in this focused/driven/purposeful state of mind, but once women decide, they are often as easily able to stick to their purpose. In fact, depending on how great the distractions and obstacles, women may be more flexible and able to stick to a purpose. So this state has neurological underpinnings influenced by sex differences in the brain that have nothing to do with actualization. That means that this level or type of state can be beneficial to both men and women, but if we make mistakes, we may be more likely to make different mistakes. We stereotype "women's prerogative" and men's stubbornness as well as "fragile male egos", but there may be a fundamental neurological backdrop to these stereotypes. The mistake men may be more likely to make--fighting against their own testosterone (often somewhere around 25x what women have) and often being used to competing in explicit dominance hierarchies--the mistake of getting stuck in a ramrod state of mind. Along with all the social power and size differences between men and women, women's brains may actually be better suited to taking a lot in at once without getting locked in. So men may have more training in being mindfully aware of their situations and emotions while women may have to train themselves a little more in sticking to their chosen purpose (when it is fitting to choose one). From another angle, men may be more likely to get stuck at Purpose-level reactions while women may seem more responsive to whichever way the wind blows. This respondent lists low scores for the most part at this level.
Basically, the point is that it is helpful to be have each attentional ability at a high degree of competence wherever you start concerning genes, background, intention, and development. We often develop our ability (to stay focused on a single purpose at this level) to what we want to believe is an acceptable level for us. And we may find that a better level of competence is hard to work for. Without considering what is possible, we cannot decide on whether that hard work is worthwhile. Even if large groups of women would train towards competence and excellence with a different emphasis than large groups of men, excellence looks similar. We can see the argument for different emphases in women's criticism of hierarchical patriarchal systems within the meditative traditions. I do believe there are simply some things that women are better-endowed for training women and vice versa. Then there are also the things that are more difficult for different brains (of the same or different genders) that we simply complain about because they are difficult to do. Regardless of where we begin on any of these abilities, excellence is excellence.
By rating where we are at and comparing that to where we want to be, it is possible to look at what types of intention and training might be best for us as individuals. Some folks are happy enough with competence and they don't find the situation conducive to working harder. Men may try to ignore or else complain more about their wives' desire for greater awareness of the emotional situation and greater openness (which is a higher level ability). Complaining is a waste of attentional resources.
3U. 4/1
11U. 6/10
21U. 6/9
Planning, relaxation, and complex thinking. "Cognitive dissonance" and "tolerating ambiguity" are the watch-words for this level and type of mental state. We all know that too much complexity (rational, conceptual, understanding, etc.) driven by too much internal or external compulsive pressure (Purpose level) makes for poor thinking and stress. Think of test anxiety. In sports, we talk about having a "sense of urgency" (also Purpose level pressure) as being a good thing. The ability to intentionally relax allows us to moderate our stress levels when we are dealing with perceived pressure and conceptual complexity.
This respondent seems to value spontaneity [3U:(b)1] as well as the ability to relax [11U:(b)10]. I'm not sure, until she lets me know, if it is ironic that there are probably some obvious ways in which she could diminish the Purpose-level pressure in her life by looking at what she can plan better. It is possible--but not up to me to say definitively--that she may undervalue planning and the stick-to-it-iveness that comes from strongly valuing and training in the Purpose level (items 7, 14, and 17). It is possible that avoiding planning and sticking to obvious purposes in some areas may allow her to be more spontaneous more of the time without encountering the obstacles that avoidance allows to grow. Although that is very vague on my part, because I am unsure as to whether that is accurate or not, it is something I need to ask about. If we can consider her weaknesses in the space of possibility and potential, we can figure out what potential is most important to her right now as well as what is likely to be effective for her. And because everyone has different strengths as well as hidden strengths, working with possibilities benefits me as well. We can easily work on my weaknesses as hers. Staying with what is realistically possible allows us to bring our combined strengths to bear on improving individual weak spots. Profiling dialogically will helpfully aid in coming to a common understanding of what our relative strengths and weaknesses are. Good will or communion between us allows acceptance and appreciation of individuality. That's the next level.
5A. 5/8
10A. 8/10
19A. 5/9
Multi-tasking, integration, and nonjudgemental awareness of emotion. If we have a decent ability to relax when we choose (previous level), we are more able to face our complex world and complex selves. People mentally reduce situations in rigid ways when they are over-burdened; when we do that, we have a hard time recognizing viable opportunity. Besides learning to intentionally relax, we can benefit from mindfulness. And since no one really wants mindfulness to NOT add to our happiness or wellbeing, I speak of mindful appreciation. Appreciation and mindfulness together lend themselves to a more complete sense of integration IF THEY ARE PRACTICED WITHIN THE RIGHT UNDERSTANDING. Supposed mindfulness--lacking a ready acceptance of emotional complexity--will likely become only a psychological ability to distance oneself. Because that distance is more comforting than distress or feeling overwhelmed, this is a fairly common problem. While that distance may be less harmful physically, personally, and socially than distress, it should not be seen as mindfulness. This respondent lists a strong sense of integration [10A:8/10] without claiming any great ability to multitask [5A:(a)5]. For 19, without knowing her, I would wonder whether she is unaware of the emotional situation or if she is easily overwhelmed. If she is unaware, we would want to work on emotional awareness and mindfulness--perhaps looking for a psychological block to emotional awareness. If she is easily overwhelmed by her awareness, that is very different. That would probably involve being willing to accept certain personal limitations for now and working on strengthening her awareness with the ability to intentionally relax. We might also have to work on how intentional relaxation is different than supposed "mindfulness" practice that would only encourage her to avoid her situation. Avoidance takes away from intentional deployment of attention, and I believe we are better off being able to connect our intention with our energy with our actions.
By the different scores in this section, we can see that she values this type mind-state or level of development [(b)-scores average 9]. We might also be able to lean on her sense of integrity or comfort with "don't-know mind" while improving concentration or memory for multi-tasking and relaxation or awareness concerning the emotional situation. Because she lists her (a) responses as comparatively low at the Purpose level, that may signal for a focus on how concentration (the attentional ability gained and developed at the level of Purpose) needs improvement. We should at least run down that possibility.
6C. 6/10
8C. 5/10
13C. 6/9
Inspiration and vitality, clarity, and flow or "the zone". This state and stage are probably best described cohesively by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the book called FLOW. While I'm not sure if he makes enough valuable distinctions, his presentation is by far the best picture of this level I have seen. At this level, we are starting to feel a great deal of clarity and freedom, which is very inspiring. We continue to improve our differentiation between a fairly rough-and-ready type of ecstasy, like lust, from a lighter feeling of bliss. If we do not pay attention to this distinction, because of the blissful influence, it is easy to get "stuck" in the habit of chasing excitement. It is helpful to emphasize the value of the mental and emotional clarity and freedom rather than the excitement. It is also helpful to continue with our mindfulness practice so that we can enjoy the excitement--mindfully rather than in an addicted manner.
Because it seems to me that there is a lot that can be done with this respondent at the level of Appreciation, my tendency would be to focus there. I want to introduce the idea of mindfulness being the basis for consistent inspiration and introduce aspects of Clarity, but working into Clarity would not be my primary objective unless I have misread the results. When the lower levels are sufficiently healthy in our lives, peaks into higher levels are much more likely to occur spontaneously. As we develop--if we are able to establish these levels in our lives as healthy cycles or habits--the desire for more that is so quintessentially human leads us upwards, pointing to increasingly subtle and perhaps powerful domains. But if those domains are preferred over things such as food, sleep, and good relations with the people around us, we fall into using spirituality or consciousness as a drug. This demeans both the value of where we are now as well as the aspirations towards authentic spirituality. Further talk about the higher levels would be mostly conceptual rather than being "filled up" by personal experience. There is enough to appreciate with where we are now and no reason to fear that further growth is unlikely. The conceptual discussion of higher levels may be helpful, but I would not want to suggest a specific religious--or nonreligious, for that matter--interpretation of those levels. At the point we are primarily discussing conceptions rather than predominantly personal experience, my impact shifts away from consultative to educational. In my experience, it is much harder to determine whether extra education is more helpful or distracting and depends heavily on the individual.
2N. 6/10
15N. 6/10
20N. 5/5
4*. 4/4
12*. 5/5
18*. 4/4
Profiling Updates II
Now that I've got a few full responses, it may help to both interpret individual responses and also compare these different friends' reactions. Since I know the three people who have sent me responses so far, it is similar to having a normal psychological assessment/introduction to them. Because we are all so incredibly complex and growing, this doesn't make me feel much more or less confident in my responses or the system I apply. I am relying largely on the system and largely on the dialogue. Without dialogue, no system of interpretation is meaningful.
The first item I want to address in this note is presentation. This blog page format is clearly not the easiest to work with. Kristin found a web-place to put together online surveys, and we may eventually translate to that format and link there. I personally tend to prefer paper, but this got the ball rolling. We'll look at taking the format further after next week--when I'll be consulting with a few peers in person on what specific improvements to make. Hopefully, my online interpretations will give them food for thought before then. Much of what I normally include in my interpretations will necessarily be censored in the interest of anonymity. Essentially, then, these interpretations may be somewhat bare-bones but you all can imagine me asking some very personal questions and taking my person-to-person responses a couple of levels deeper/closer.
The second thing I want to address here is the question: what do the letters following the question/item numbers mean? They simply help me remember which items supposedly relate to which levels of experience from "E" Exploration/Creativity/Play through "P" for Purpose to "*" signifying Abiding. I can't see any reason to keep these letters on the final form, but I may decide to cluster the questions for each level together.
The first item I want to address in this note is presentation. This blog page format is clearly not the easiest to work with. Kristin found a web-place to put together online surveys, and we may eventually translate to that format and link there. I personally tend to prefer paper, but this got the ball rolling. We'll look at taking the format further after next week--when I'll be consulting with a few peers in person on what specific improvements to make. Hopefully, my online interpretations will give them food for thought before then. Much of what I normally include in my interpretations will necessarily be censored in the interest of anonymity. Essentially, then, these interpretations may be somewhat bare-bones but you all can imagine me asking some very personal questions and taking my person-to-person responses a couple of levels deeper/closer.
The second thing I want to address here is the question: what do the letters following the question/item numbers mean? They simply help me remember which items supposedly relate to which levels of experience from "E" Exploration/Creativity/Play through "P" for Purpose to "*" signifying Abiding. I can't see any reason to keep these letters on the final form, but I may decide to cluster the questions for each level together.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Profiling Updates
With the way I asked this so far, it is too normal to rate where you'd want to be on many of these items as 10s. It might be helpful if I had asked for a 1-100 rating (instead of 1-10) with no repeats so that all these things end up prioritized in comparison to one another.
Other items it might be helpful to include: intimacy, focus/distraction, willingness/flexibility, liberation from “shoulds”, enlightenment, flow, confidence, sexual freedom/happiness, centeredness/nonfragmentation, nonattachment, sense of personal connection, ecstasy/bliss/transcendence, compassion, reduce reactivity/”thinness”.
Let me know if you come up with other questions that seem really relevant or if any of these other items should be included.
Hopefully, I'll have this beyond a rough draft within a week. Thanks for the feedback so far!
Other items it might be helpful to include: intimacy, focus/distraction, willingness/flexibility, liberation from “shoulds”, enlightenment, flow, confidence, sexual freedom/happiness, centeredness/nonfragmentation, nonattachment, sense of personal connection, ecstasy/bliss/transcendence, compassion, reduce reactivity/”thinness”.
Let me know if you come up with other questions that seem really relevant or if any of these other items should be included.
Hopefully, I'll have this beyond a rough draft within a week. Thanks for the feedback so far!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Spiritual Profiling: the Questionnaire
The following is a relatively simple set of questions, but it may take some time to finish. This is more about what you want than where you have been, but history and experience are very important in being able to answer.
Answer each statement with a number between 1 and 10. There are two ways each question should be answered, so for each question, you will have two answers. You may want to note them something like "1a" and "1b". One of the statements is, "Peace is everything." The first response is to show how much you believe that fits you as you are or how much it fits life as it is. The second response is to rate how much you would like that to be so. (If peace means everything to you, but you don't always feel peaceful, your answers may be 1a:3, 1b:10.)
These questions are directed at measuring attentional abilities that can be defined in neurophysiological terms, cognitive science terms, and through various meditative traditions. Once we have a somewhat personal picture, we can direct that somewhat vague measurement towards specific personal progress. The attentional abilities I refer to are: exploration, concentration, relaxation, mindfulness, inspiration, harmony, and serenity. Although serenity seems more like a psychological state than an ability, attaining serenity is an ability that can be practiced and improved. So we can see that attention is important, but intention is also central. For those interested, a personal explanation of these abilities may be more helpful than a conceptual or abstract explanation.
Please feel free to write in comments concerning any individual item along with your answers for that item. At the end, if you like, tell me what you think of the questions as a group or what you felt might be missing.
Here are the questions.
1E. I laugh more than most people I know.
2N. As much as any emotional feeling, my internal experience is characterized by a sense of openness.
3U. Failing to plan is planning to fail.
4*. Peace is everything.
5A. I am able to multi-task without getting lost.
6C. I am inspired with the simple feeling and energy of being alive.
7P(R). I avoid thinking about anything that makes me uncomfortable.
8C. My heart and mind are clear.
9E. Fun is better than anything else in the world.
10A. I have a strong feeling that everything fits together even when I don't know how.
11U. During work and at the end of the day, I am able to stay relaxed when I choose.
12*. All action is done by God.
13C. I enjoy losing myself in difficult tasks that I am really good at.
14P. Once I make up my mind, that's how it is.
15N. I am always aware of a vast freedom in life.
16E. I love learning new things. People think of me like Curious George.
17P. Discipline is everything.
18*. A still mind is the greatest gift or possession.
19A. I am very aware of my own emotions and others' emotions without feeling overwhelmed by emotions.
20N. I can actually feel strongly that my soul is close to God. (Not applicable for anyone who does not believe in God.)
21U. It doesn't bother me to think about problems that are too new or too complicated for me to understand.
Answer each statement with a number between 1 and 10. There are two ways each question should be answered, so for each question, you will have two answers. You may want to note them something like "1a" and "1b". One of the statements is, "Peace is everything." The first response is to show how much you believe that fits you as you are or how much it fits life as it is. The second response is to rate how much you would like that to be so. (If peace means everything to you, but you don't always feel peaceful, your answers may be 1a:3, 1b:10.)
These questions are directed at measuring attentional abilities that can be defined in neurophysiological terms, cognitive science terms, and through various meditative traditions. Once we have a somewhat personal picture, we can direct that somewhat vague measurement towards specific personal progress. The attentional abilities I refer to are: exploration, concentration, relaxation, mindfulness, inspiration, harmony, and serenity. Although serenity seems more like a psychological state than an ability, attaining serenity is an ability that can be practiced and improved. So we can see that attention is important, but intention is also central. For those interested, a personal explanation of these abilities may be more helpful than a conceptual or abstract explanation.
Please feel free to write in comments concerning any individual item along with your answers for that item. At the end, if you like, tell me what you think of the questions as a group or what you felt might be missing.
Here are the questions.
1E. I laugh more than most people I know.
2N. As much as any emotional feeling, my internal experience is characterized by a sense of openness.
3U. Failing to plan is planning to fail.
4*. Peace is everything.
5A. I am able to multi-task without getting lost.
6C. I am inspired with the simple feeling and energy of being alive.
7P(R). I avoid thinking about anything that makes me uncomfortable.
8C. My heart and mind are clear.
9E. Fun is better than anything else in the world.
10A. I have a strong feeling that everything fits together even when I don't know how.
11U. During work and at the end of the day, I am able to stay relaxed when I choose.
12*. All action is done by God.
13C. I enjoy losing myself in difficult tasks that I am really good at.
14P. Once I make up my mind, that's how it is.
15N. I am always aware of a vast freedom in life.
16E. I love learning new things. People think of me like Curious George.
17P. Discipline is everything.
18*. A still mind is the greatest gift or possession.
19A. I am very aware of my own emotions and others' emotions without feeling overwhelmed by emotions.
20N. I can actually feel strongly that my soul is close to God. (Not applicable for anyone who does not believe in God.)
21U. It doesn't bother me to think about problems that are too new or too complicated for me to understand.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Spiritual Profiling: Your Profile
I have a system, but no one completely knows someone else's profile. Because it's a good system, it allows for privacy and dialogue. We can all improve in our openness to exploration, our concentration, understanding, appreciation, clarity, nonconceptual awareness, and sense of abiding. Because I'm not you, I don't know where you want to begin, what you're strongest and weakest in, how fast you want to and can go, etc. But I have studied the obstacles to this type of growth and also the types of training that make people strong and capable.
Rather than presenting myself as an expert on what anyone needs, I have tried to formulate an approach that allows disagreement and encourages criticism right from the beginning. I know, perhaps better than anyone, how much unfulfilled potential I have. That makes me both proud and humble. It also makes me open to improving everything I can about what I do. So I love criticism.
Rather than laying out any quick-fix techniques, I've worked to formulate a self-driven sense of lifelong development. Since I've still got more years to live, I'll be improving my approach as I go. I'm working on a questionnaire that breaks down the benefits one gets from various attentional abilities into about thirty questions or so. Each question wants two responses. The first is a rating from 1-10 on how important each benefit is. The second is a rating from 1-10 on how good you already believe you are at achieving that benefit. I'll post it when I get a chance.
Questions? Comments? Jokes?
Rather than presenting myself as an expert on what anyone needs, I have tried to formulate an approach that allows disagreement and encourages criticism right from the beginning. I know, perhaps better than anyone, how much unfulfilled potential I have. That makes me both proud and humble. It also makes me open to improving everything I can about what I do. So I love criticism.
Rather than laying out any quick-fix techniques, I've worked to formulate a self-driven sense of lifelong development. Since I've still got more years to live, I'll be improving my approach as I go. I'm working on a questionnaire that breaks down the benefits one gets from various attentional abilities into about thirty questions or so. Each question wants two responses. The first is a rating from 1-10 on how important each benefit is. The second is a rating from 1-10 on how good you already believe you are at achieving that benefit. I'll post it when I get a chance.
Questions? Comments? Jokes?
Spiritual Profiling: the Gift of Love
Lorna Smith Benjamin has been working with suicidal clients in Salt Lake City for something like 25 years. Last I heard, after decades of working with some of the most unhappy people on earth, she only had one client commit suicide. Those results are astounding.
She has a very unique way of looking at unhappiness. Her basic idea is that people are unhappy when they are not allowed to give the gift of their love. They make attempts to share what they feel is best in themselves with others, and those others refuse it. The closer we want those people to be, the more it hurts when they refuse. That's the gist. Unrequited love.
So far I've piled up a few problems, especially: toxic situations, lack of education concerning attentional abilities, lack of training, and unrequited love. Notice none of these problems look like they cannot be addressed. But, just as we have little common knowledge concerning training our attention, we have little awareness of all the ways in which our unhappiness can be seen as coming down to unrequited love. (Check Smith Benjamin's books or website for more of an explanation of how that works.)
I've already said or hinted that we can all get better by improving our concentration, noticing certain tricks that our minds play, developing or maintaining some degree of equanimity with one another, presenting problems in ways that suggest solutions, and improving awareness concerning feelings. I've mentioned the first- and third-person approaches to, or perspectives on, spirituality. And the second-person type of spirituality fits really well with this idea of love.
The second-person approach to spirituality is dealing with "you" as spiritual. It's about how we deal with other people, beings, and our planet as spiritual. And like Rumi, we can seem to speak directly to God (You) whether we see God in everything, in nothingness, or as somewhat separate, beyond, or above. One of the happy eventualities of my focus on first- and third-person types of spirituality is that my system does not prescribe HOW you SHOULD feel divinity as personally existent. I see that as only my business if you want to make it our business, if you include me in the "you"s you address concerning spirituality. This is part of my respect for equals. I assume that you are enough of a human person to have an individual-yet-connected relationship with God if such things exist, and you are enough of an individual-yet-connected person to have a feeling of direct connection with spirituality if those other things don't exist. In other words, your religion is yours and your spirituality is pretty much yours if you don't want to include me. I respect that. I don't want anyone trying to force me into a burkha, and as far as I can tell, I still like pork.
But it is also part of my feeling that I want to be able to love anyone I come in contact with. This isn't something morally good about me. I think it's basic to who we are, like having eyes and skin. Part of why we need some degree of psychological and spiritual strength is that we've all been given strong emotional reasons for pulling back our love, for withholding. Freud made anal retention a commonly used concept. What do we call love-retention? We say, "That's life, c'est la vie." I disagree with that sentiment, though. I say that's death. It's emotional death to not love. And hatred is just love's crippled cousin. Hatred lives, but when it lives within us, we are maimed.
I say this to show what spiritual profiling is. It includes at least two directions. The first is the sense of personal growth through appreciation and inspiration and perhaps onto something like serenity and enlightenment. The second is the removal of obstacles to the occupation of putting all of our energy into that movement. In other words, many of us have to heal before we can fly. In doing so, we don't need some imperious person telling us why we're weak of what is wrong. We need healing. Some of us need to connect with others first. Some of us need time alone. I don't know what any other person needs completely, and I don't try to tell people how they should believe or feel towards others or towards divinity. I offer training.
She has a very unique way of looking at unhappiness. Her basic idea is that people are unhappy when they are not allowed to give the gift of their love. They make attempts to share what they feel is best in themselves with others, and those others refuse it. The closer we want those people to be, the more it hurts when they refuse. That's the gist. Unrequited love.
So far I've piled up a few problems, especially: toxic situations, lack of education concerning attentional abilities, lack of training, and unrequited love. Notice none of these problems look like they cannot be addressed. But, just as we have little common knowledge concerning training our attention, we have little awareness of all the ways in which our unhappiness can be seen as coming down to unrequited love. (Check Smith Benjamin's books or website for more of an explanation of how that works.)
I've already said or hinted that we can all get better by improving our concentration, noticing certain tricks that our minds play, developing or maintaining some degree of equanimity with one another, presenting problems in ways that suggest solutions, and improving awareness concerning feelings. I've mentioned the first- and third-person approaches to, or perspectives on, spirituality. And the second-person type of spirituality fits really well with this idea of love.
The second-person approach to spirituality is dealing with "you" as spiritual. It's about how we deal with other people, beings, and our planet as spiritual. And like Rumi, we can seem to speak directly to God (You) whether we see God in everything, in nothingness, or as somewhat separate, beyond, or above. One of the happy eventualities of my focus on first- and third-person types of spirituality is that my system does not prescribe HOW you SHOULD feel divinity as personally existent. I see that as only my business if you want to make it our business, if you include me in the "you"s you address concerning spirituality. This is part of my respect for equals. I assume that you are enough of a human person to have an individual-yet-connected relationship with God if such things exist, and you are enough of an individual-yet-connected person to have a feeling of direct connection with spirituality if those other things don't exist. In other words, your religion is yours and your spirituality is pretty much yours if you don't want to include me. I respect that. I don't want anyone trying to force me into a burkha, and as far as I can tell, I still like pork.
But it is also part of my feeling that I want to be able to love anyone I come in contact with. This isn't something morally good about me. I think it's basic to who we are, like having eyes and skin. Part of why we need some degree of psychological and spiritual strength is that we've all been given strong emotional reasons for pulling back our love, for withholding. Freud made anal retention a commonly used concept. What do we call love-retention? We say, "That's life, c'est la vie." I disagree with that sentiment, though. I say that's death. It's emotional death to not love. And hatred is just love's crippled cousin. Hatred lives, but when it lives within us, we are maimed.
I say this to show what spiritual profiling is. It includes at least two directions. The first is the sense of personal growth through appreciation and inspiration and perhaps onto something like serenity and enlightenment. The second is the removal of obstacles to the occupation of putting all of our energy into that movement. In other words, many of us have to heal before we can fly. In doing so, we don't need some imperious person telling us why we're weak of what is wrong. We need healing. Some of us need to connect with others first. Some of us need time alone. I don't know what any other person needs completely, and I don't try to tell people how they should believe or feel towards others or towards divinity. I offer training.
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