MAPS OF THE MIND

From 1987 to 1990 (???), I studied with Stanislov Grof. I was learning how to be a Holotropic Breathwork Practitioner. I consider Dr. Grof to be one of the (foremost minds) geniuses of our time. I am surprised that he hasn't gained the kind of recognition he deserves. You can read about his work in "?????"; his other works are in the bibliography.

The aspect of his work that is relevant to the Spaciousness Project is his map of consciousness. I have always been interested in the bigger picture. How does what I am doing figure into the grand scheme of things? What does this mean?

According to Dr. Grof's model, there are 5 stages of experience:

1) The sensational (sensate): This is the most superficial level of experience. You are aware of all the information that your senses can provide: tastes, sounds, images, colors, smells, and tactile sensations. It is based on the immediacy of this moment, the here and now of your life.

2) The personal level: This includes all the memories that you have of things that happened to you in your lifetime. It's your personal history; the images and memories that you carry with you from this lifetime.

3) The perinatal level: Now we move into more unfamiliar territory. One of the reasons I am sharing this map with you is so that you will now have a container for almost any experience that might occur to you. There are hundreds, thousands of cases of people who had experiences that they just could not understand. And their inability to cope with the information they received can often lead to horrific consequences. (Example). The perinatal level consists of all of the experiences that you had while you were being born. All of the things that happened while you were making the journey out of your mother's womb.

One of Stan's theories is that whatever happened to us during the journey out of the womb and into the world provides a metaphor for how our lives will unfold.

4)The prenatal level: This is all that happened during the time from conception to the delivery. More and more we learn about how creative and receptive this period of our lives is.

5) The transpersonal level: This includes all those possibilities that are not directly linked to who you really are. The belief is that all information is available, everything that has ever happened, is out there in the either, waiting for us to tap into it. Another concept is that of matrices; our DNA, the specific wiring of our body, will tend to pull in and be available to certain pieces of information. It's similar to a radio or a TV; turn the dial and you get/receive a specific type of information. So if a person has an experience of being a fish, it's not that they necessarily were a fish in a post lifetime, but they are/were available to the information of what it its was like to be a certain kind of fish.