“awareness is the antidote to nihilism” john fudjack, 1995

“Awareness is the Antidote to Nihilism”

John Fudjack, 1995

Consciousness And Awareness

The consciousness is all that we know, it is the fundamental sense of presence that we feel, and it is a universal feeling of the sense of being.

Consciousness = "sense of presence" = "the being-ness" = the "I Am."

Awareness "is that by which I know that I am." Thus the awareness is there before the "I am" (or consciousness) appears, and is there after the consciousness disappears (unconsciousness or death).

So the awareness is beyond even the universal consciousness.

Consciousness is a state of brain, that has degrees:

- Full consciousness - Delirium

- Cloudiness - Stupor

- Drowsiness - Coma

Awareness is a state of mind, that has levels.

The Mind is a natural object. It is just that it is invisible and intangible, meaning it can pass freely through physical objects. It is also not composed of ordinary matter. But we must go beyond that to explain the details both of ordinary life and of the extraordinary phenomena uncovered by psychical research.

Consciousness, Awareness: Brain, Mind

7 Levels of awareness (Yourell, 2004)

1. Surface

2. Reactive

3. Deep Reactive

4. Potentialized

5. Deep Potential

6. Spiritual

7. Deep Spiritual

What is the relation between these levels ?

Is every level more expanded than the other ?

Or is it more deep ?

It seems to be a bidirectional, three dimensional relation with a gradually changing quality.

Level One: Surface Level

Stereotypical reactions showing little insight or introspection.

Defensiveness, whether flat or emotional.

Clearly defined and superficial interpretation of events and their meaning.

Little sense that current problems are part of a maturational process, or of psychological needs or dynamics that appear to underlie the client's behavior or symptoms that are related to the problem.

The client may harbor a simplistic view of the solution.

He may hinge on a concrete change in external circumstances that the client feels dependent on.

General Description

Examples from our therapy groups

Defensiveness, Judgmental attitude, Superficial إ.ن.:interpretations

Stereotypy, Defensive intellectualization ع.م

Stereotypy, Defensive regressionم.ي:

Values in Psychotherapy

Therapists often feel helpless or bewildered, unless they have good experience with such clients

Don't waste time in unproductive talk therapy

Direct and concrete confrontation about the linkage between client’s behaviors and the results

Build initial rapport by accepting the client's superficial desires and needs

Level Two: Reactive Level

The client gives the impression of allowing his awareness to move closer to alternate perspectives and explanations.

The client will react to this movement, but the reaction depends on variables such as:

- The client's level of organization

- The emotional intensity of the material


Possibility that we هم. م: )فى جلستها الثالثة(:might accept and love her unconditionally

Notice he intolerance to:12-6-05 فى جلسة األحد the intense emotionally charged practiced gestalt game


Clients experience emotional distress, regarding their own behavior, or a sense that they can prevent destructive situations that plague them

Increase your client's discomfort with their more destructive defenses, and status quo. Help the client be acutely aware of the negative results of acting out.

Limitations to awareness and motivation may be resulting directly from chemical abuse.

Level Three: Deep Reactive Level

The client is more aware of his own process and material, but has not yet effectively processed it (inactive awareness).

If the client has spent much time at this level, he is probably more able to perceive and understand his psychological defenses and underlying irrational or primitive motives.

Client is still reactive to unprocessed material, and can find it more distressing.

The client may have automatic defenses despite his margin of psychological sophistication, communication, and emotional breadth

A loss of these defenses or other means of coping can collapse the client into an immobilized or agitated state that his current level of awareness does not understand

Clients at this level often appear to be at a more pivotal point in life or treatment.


Fair awareness of her inside needs, conflicts- ر.ص:and obstacles ..but this awareness is not yet active in

terms of visible change and growth .

- Still reactive to unprocessed material (resistance)

- Automatic defenses (passive aggression, acting out)

Aware of his internal psychological dynamics- م:but stagnant and stuck to this information.

Good awareness of- هد )حتى وقت قريب(:her internal dynamics, without active forward steps, only interrupted, incomplete in-place ones.


The previous level's comments largely apply here

Often, your clients greater tolerance of awareness stems from them having sufficient organization and safety

It is easier to help such a client identify and value the full range of treatment goals you would suggest.

Level Four: Potentialized Level

Client has at least an intuitive sense that greater inner awareness and experience is valuable, and constructively responds to this kind of awareness

The client may show more freedom to look at a situation from different perspectives and to seek creative solutions (active awareness).

The client can sense that releasing tension could be good for their health

As a therapist, you are more likely to feel "met" by this client, and sense a depth of humanity that seems absent at the prior levels

Therapeutic objectives may seem more accessible, and the therapist may feel more optimistic

This, and especially the following levels, appear to benefit most from increasing the charge (sense of energy, including emotion) the client experiences

It seems that such client's innate adaptive information processing is sufficiently active that adding charge to their psychological make up serves as fuel for the client's psychological life and growth

Rather than reactive, this level and up is responsive/ responsible.


Adaptive information -ص. فى مجموعة االنتقام:processing to the worked-in material lead to a creative solution with taking responsibility.

-Met by the therapist and other members

Releasing tension- فى المجموعات التالية:(aggression, acting out)


Initial experience of definite physical release; smoother and often spontaneous cognitive restructuring

Continued cognitive restructuring, enhancement and anchoring of the positive physical state; reinforcing your client's increased sense of motivation for meaningful change.

Level Five: Deep Potential Level

The client seems to experience a fundamental sense of validity or connectedness

sense of internal safety that does not require stereotypical defenses

The client at least intuitively understands the value of releasing chronic tension that has built up

Change may seem more playful, flexible, collaborative or wise.

Clients are more likely to express an experience that resembles energy, or at least more sense of aliveness


Connectedness- ص. فى المجموعة التى قادتها:with nearly every group member

-Validity of internal experience

Releasing tension- فى المجموعات التالية:(Hallucinatory experience)

- Internal safety

-Playful, flexible, collaborative or wise .

-Energy, aliveness


Mental rehearsal of appropriate behavior;

Encourage your client consciously or unconsciously for creative problem solving, being able to respond to emotionally arousing situations in a more confident and constructive manner.

Level Six: Spiritual Level

The client may cross what seems to be a profound boundary into a sense of a spiritual reality

Sense of all things being connected in some way

Clients often refer to this experience as one they will always remember

Shift in their feelings about life, death and love

Clients who experience this level can lose their fear of death and commit themselves to improving relationships for a higher purpose

They may sense support from a higher power (GOD) that corresponds to their religious beliefs or that is more abstract and hard to define

The state itself is rarely long-lasting, but the client may now have a sense of being either on or off "the path" and take measures to stay on the path

The client sees the value of activities that move toward meaning, rather than avoiding fear

Derive much metaphorical significance from everyday experiences


Senses that all things are- :( our group leader)د. ر connected in some way

-Has Different feelings about life, death and love

-Committed himself to improving relationships for a higher purpose

-Senses of support from GOD

-Prefer activities that move toward meaning, rather than avoiding fear

-Derives much metaphorical significance from everyday experiences

Briefly touched this level, for minutes- هد:- A deep change followed


Validates positive cognitions in a profound way for your clients.

Orient your clients to their potential for handling situations and for their growth, even their relationship to death.

Brief, not distracting, reinforcement of insights and feelings verbalized. Allow client time in this state to increase the likelihood that it will become a body mind memory for future conscious and unconscious reference

Level Seven: Deep Spiritual Level

Intensified experience of the previous one

Transpersonal experiences such as contact with a religious figure or other symbolic experiences

A strong sense of energy or peace of mind that is difficult to explain but is meaningful

Clients may experience a reverie that provides waves of insight

Clients often wish to have some time at this level that does not involve actively working on issues.


Her feeling of deep contact with- ص.:GOD

-Sense of energy and peace of mind

-Waves of insight

-Preferred not to involve actively working on issues

Sufism experience- بعض المتصوفة:


Many clients report this as a life-changing experience that enhances their philosophy of life.

Validate the experience and reinforce their client's new patterns of behavior and feeling

Levels of Awareness: A New Key to Psychiatry

A- Re-classifying levels

1. Surface

2. Reactive

3. Deep Reactive

4. Potentialized

5. Deep Potential

6. Spiritual

7. Deep Spiritual

Ineffective awareness

1. Surface

2. Reactive

3. Deep Reactive

Effective awareness

4. Potentialized

5. Deep Potential

6. Spiritual

7. Deep Spiritual

Questionable points for further research

- For educational simplification

- According to efficacy of awareness

B- Direction of arrangement of the levels

From up downwards

(Deeper is below)

From Down upwards

(Deeper is above)

C- General principles concerning levels of awareness

All of these levels present in the matrix of every human being. One/some are active/ predominant. Others are not.

Psychotherapy or any other growth experience does not create new levels of awareness. It only activates inactive levels (by introjection, expansion and deepening)

Most Individuals predominantly live in/with one level of awareness (mostly surface) which is then their most active level and not necessarily the most effective.

Being in a deeper level does not necessitate passing through previous levels

Each level has its associated vision and experience.

Tolerating this vision and experience enhance upward movement to the next level

Intolerance of them leads to stagnation/regression, rigidity/disintegration and fixation at a specific style of life.

D- Occupation of individuals inside/within their active level of awareness

One who is closer to the previous level

One who is closer to the next level

One who is merely centered in this level

E- Role of introjected object-relations in the levels of awareness

Introjected object-relations may occupy different levels of awareness, according to variables:

- Quality of outer object representation

- Quality of self representation in relation to the object

- Emotional content of the relation

- Perceptual significance differences

- other factors

Their presence may:

- Trigger defensive functioning (fixation, freezing, growth paralysis)

- Quantitatively and qualitatively expand and deepen awareness

F- Nature of movement through levels

Dialectical, synthetic (gathers, units and wholes)

When healthy, in the upward direction with average flexibility

The inter-level gaps resemble the boundaries/ risks that should be individually taken-over to move to the above level.

This triggers specific defense mechanisms corresponding to each gap.

As movement proceeds upwards, passed levels get integrated forming at the end an overall whole that differs qualitatively from its constituents (fig at last slide).

G- Transition from one level to another

It includes un-folding of all previous levels of awareness (with all of their experiences, visions, crises) and their refolding in a newly

integrated way.

As far as deeper levels of awareness are reached and activated, the personal awareness begins gradually to join the collective unconsciousness, the whole universe and God.

Universe

Personal Awareness

Collective Unconsciousness

Dr. Mohammad Shafii writes in the Sufism journal: “The Sufis feel that it is an illusion to see human beings as different and separate from nature and the universe .

The journey of Sufism is a return to the origin. A return to the level of knowledge that existed before physical form was manifested and still exists beyond the physical realms

1. Surface (stereotypy)

2. Reactive (alternatives)

3. Deep Reactive (large ineffective awareness)

4. Potentialized (Effective awareness)

5. Deep Potential (connectedness)

6. Spiritual

7. Deep Spiritual

Intellectualization, reaction formation

Neurotic defenses

Passive aggression, acting out

Altruism, humor, suppression, sublimation

Mature defenses (if tolerated associated vision and experience)

Immature defenses

projection, distortion

Psychotic defenses

(if not)

H- Defense mechanisms

I- Dreams

During sleep, Defense mechanisms are minimal. Deeper levels of awareness are reached and activated till getting so close to the collective unconsciousness. Dreams largely import their content from materials and symbols derived from this holistic man-kind experience.

J- Relation to Erickson's stages of life

1. Surface (Freezing due to mistrust of world)


4. Potentialized (effective awareness)

6. Spiritual (meaning of life, death & love)

3. Deep Reactive (ineffective awareness)


7. Deep Spiritual (wisdom)

1. Trust vs Mistrust

2. Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt

4. Industry vs Inferiority

6. Generativity vs Self absorption

3. Initiative vs guilt

5. Intimacy vs Isolation

7. Integrity vs DespairGrowth

4. Identity vs role confusion

K- Relation to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Biological and Physiological needs

basic life needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.

Safety needs

protection, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc

Aesthetic needs

beauty, balance, form, etc

Cognitive needs

knowledge, meaning, self-awareness

Esteem needs

achievement, status, responsibility, reputation

Belongingness and Love needs

family, affection, relationships, work group, etc

Self-actualization

personal growth and fulfillment7. Deep Spiritual (wisdom)

6. Spiritual (meaning of life, death & love)

5. Deep Potential (creative problem solving)

Every level of awareness is characterized by having its corresponding needs profile in order to

activate its whole range of potentials

4. Potentialized (effective awareness)

3. Deep Reactive (ineffective awareness)

2. Reactive

1. Surface

L- Mind States

Based on the levels of awareness, we can differentiate seven states of mind.

Each has its extension of awareness, depth of awareness, unique cognitive scheme, predominant dynamic profile, predominant needs profile, specific growth-crisis, specific relational theme (self, others, God), special defensive style and certain momentum of efficacy (gradually increasing)

Inter-level relations exist through variable degrees of flexible movement and crossing the in-between membranes.

Membrane Disorders:

Membrane Sclerosis

Membrane Perforation

Membrane Transparency

Membrane loss

Movement Disorders Normally average flexibility and speed :

Disorders of flexibility

Disorders of speed

M- Psychiatric Disorders.. reviewed

Psychosis: - Disintegration due to intolerance of the vision and experience of the deeper levels when activated

Depression – Stagnation due to intolerance of the vision and experience of the superficial levels (1-3) when activated.

- Increased awareness and insight without corresponding efficacy

Mania – Agitation due to intolerance of the vision and experience of the intermediate levels (4-5) when activated .

- Increased awareness and insight with some ecstasy and bizarre spiritual experiences

Dissociation – Highly permeable membranes

N- Creativity

Highly flexible movement with considerable speed between different activated levels of awareness

Ability to re-integrate and re-organize experiences into new wholes

Risk of inability to re-integrate (psychosis)

Three variants:

- Creativity that mainly affects creative product( األدب (والفن

- Creativity that mainly affect creative individual(الصوفية)

- Creativity that affects both (العالج النفسى)

O- Hemispheric Functioning

Inactive awareness

1. Surface

2. Reactive

3. Deep Reactive

Active (Effective) awareness

4. Potentialized

5. Deep Potential

6. Spiritual

7. Deep SpiritualLeft Hemisphere

1. intellect 2. directed

3. logical 4. mathematical

5. Pattern user 6. rigid

Right Hemisphere

1. intuition 2. free

3. mystical 4. creative

5. pattern seeker 6. playful

As movement proceeds, passed levels get integrated forming at the end an overall whole that differs qualitatively from its constituents (integrating both hemispheric functions).

P- Our Group Psychotherapy Model

Whole Group’s levels of awareness

Hierarchy of used gestalt games and correspondence to levels of awareness (next slide)

1. Surface (stereotypy)


3. Deep Reactive (large ineffective awareness)

4. Potentialized (Effective awareness)


6. Spiritual

7. Deep Spiritual

- أنا محتاج....علشان.....1

I need….in order to…

قد يكون تحريك االحتياج مفيد فى تعتعة هذا المستوى إليجاد بدائل لألعراض

بمصطلحات االحتياج- أنا عايز....بس خايف لحسن2

...I want …but I’m afraid of

قد تؤدى رؤية المخاوف التى تعوق الحركة إلى التحرر منها بقبولها، وبداية تفعيل الوعى

المتجمد عند مخاوفه

- من حقى...حتى لو/ بالرغم من3

....It’s my right to….even if

قد يكون التعبير عن الحق من معالم مصداقية الوعى الفاعل الذى يبدأ فعله بالتعبير عن

حقوقه المسلوبة منذ زمن

- أنا قررت.....ومسئول عن قرارى4

I decide…and I take responsibility

قد يكون للقرار والمسئولية بعد أعمق فى حضور الله واإلحساس العميق بااللتحام

بالكون

أنا محتاج ألملم نفسى )وعى( -فاتلم، فالتحم، فالتأم......علشان....

Universe

Personal Awareness

Collective Unconsciousness

“awareness is the antidote to nihilism” john fudjack, 1995

Documents

universal consciousness

clients level of organization

psychotherapy clients

clients behaviors

clients superficial

reactive level

little sense

fundamental sense of