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MIND AND LIFE
The existence of form is the evidence of intelligence, or mind, in its most rudimentary appearance. At some higher level of pattern complexity, matter has gained the intelligence sufficient to replicate itself. This level of order separates nonlife from life; one being order as opposed to chaos, the other being a level of order which is able to expand the amount of order relative to the amount of chaos.
Life creates an increasing higher order, using lower forms of material order. The lowest forms of life show a level of awareness; being able to seek food, seek one another, seek light, and follow chemical signals. This is unconscious awareness.
At the highest forms of life, self-awareness emerges, superimposed on all the other lower layers of Intelligence. Self-awareness is the faculty of examining the nature of all these layers, and the sense of identity. It is the emergence of a point of view.
Our self-awareness is layered on top of all the other levels of Mind. In summary, these are:
1) Material form or recurrent permanence - the Matter Principle
2) Growth and replication of form - the Life Principle
3) Unconscious impulse - the Interactive Principle
4) Conscious awareness - the Self Principle
5) Expanded awareness - the Unity Principle
The latter step, which we might call Superconscious awareness, or the Enlightenment Principle, is one in which the Self - awareness gives way to a broadened awareness of the Unity of things, without losing entirely the concept of viewpoint. This is reported by many people but the use of language seems to be a limiting factor in describing the experience. It seems best described in poetic terms. This has been the experience of enough people that it deserves attention.
Why poetic terms? Because unconscious or superconscious understanding is only made aware to the conscious mind through symbolism and imagery. This cannot be placed adequately into language, which is linear and logical in construction. Poetry is the only use of language which may come close to describing the impressions of the unconscious.
This may be uniquely a problem of alphabetic languages. Pictographic languages are probably closer to being able to express unconscious perception. Thus, the users of languages such as Chinese, or ancient Egyptian, may have an edge in achieving this kind of expanded awareness and understanding.
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