Integral Life Practice 

Shadow Module
Reclaiming the Disowned Self

presented by
Durwin Foster, M.A., CCC
Lionsgate Integral Health Centre
March 29, 2012
Ladder, Climber, View: 
A helpful metaphor for the self
Ladder, Climber, View
1) the LADDER and RUNGS are what Ken Wilber terms "basic
structures" of consciousness
    -in West, closest parallel is cognitive stages of Piaget
    -in East, closest parallel is the chakras

2) the CLIMBER is the locus self-identity

    -see below for antecedent, proximal and distal selves
    -Ken Wilber has said "the self is where the action is"

3) the VIEW is the set of perspectives that the self sees from

each new rung;
    -Ken Wilber calls these "transitional structures"
    -includes the self-related lines of morals, values, needs
Continuum of the Self

I-I.........I............I/me.........me/mine

antecedent/proximal and distal

The self is the navigator of the "matrix" of life.

The self is also the locus of defense, metabolism of
experience and will.
Aspects of Self

Proximate self
    self sense, center of gravity

Distal self
    object in the distance (me)

Antecedent self
    I-I, big mind, God, Ground of all

Shadow
    Disowned self, false self 
Healthy Development

• The subject (I) at one stage becomes the object of the

subject at the next (me).  
• This refers to the rungs, or basic structures
• The views, however, are replaced; Ken Wilber calls these
transitional structures
• Simpler models, such as Spiral Dynamics, do not
differentiate these types of patterns
    
Self Sense: Who AM I, Anyway?           

Try this exercise...

In pairs ask your partner to ask themselves :

Who am I?

Record all your partners answers; 3 - 5 statements is

sufficient

Then switch

What did you discover?  Share with your parnter

Report to the large group

Now for the Shadow...

Our focus in the shadow module, or in integral psychotherapy

 is facilitating integration of the disowned and false selves.

• these terms describe different aspects of what happens

when the evolving self encounters conflicts that
overwhelm its defenses at the self-boundary
•  the self can dissociate from threatening aspects of its own
experience (its own "view"), making those aspects "other" 
• can be a 2nd person "other", either internally or projected
out onto someone else (you seem angry, but i do not feel
angry)
• or a 3rd person "other" where the experience feels
completely alien 

  
"It's Not Me!!"

• the "views" are dissociated from, not the basic structures

o that is, the self is supposed to negate the lower view
when it develops, but instead part of it gets stuck there
while the rest of the self climbs on
• e.g.an addiction; person works hard during the day in a
success-oriented job; at night experiences an
overwhelming "urge" and gets drunk to the point of
blacking out
• NB:  From a historical perspective, spirituality itself was
dissociated at amber altitude at time of Western
Enlightenment
Process of Healing 
• Freud famously said, "Where It was, there I shall be"

• Reclaiming what is experienced as an "It" or a "You"

• Do-It-Yourself process developed by Ken Wilber and

others :  the 3 -2 - 1 process

• NB: this process is not original to Ken Wilber, although the

framing of it using perspectives is much more precise in
Ken's formulation
The 3 - 2 - 1 Process 
Step A:  Choose a difficult interaction with a person or dream
figure

o     make it a 4 or 5 out of 10, not an 8 or 9 out of 10 on a

scale of intensity

Step B: Describe what happened in objective terms, i.e.

"video-camera view"

Step C:  Talk (or write) TO the person or dream figure 

Step D:  Talk (or write) AS the person or dream figure 

NB: Can repeat this process, particularly Steps C & D, multiple

times until you experience a definite shift in experience
Self-Compassion

The self line cannot be faked. It is the walk.

Trying to be at higher levels than we are is problematic.

E.g. the construct-aware self-identity stage is not usually
reached until 40's.
Paradoxial nature of change--accepting where we are allows
transformation.
Loving-Kindness Meditation (Kornfield)
"May I be safe from harm"
"May I be happy and peaceful"
"May I be healthy and strong"
"May I care for myself with easy, joyfully"
 The End

Thank you for your participation.