The Third Round: The Shock of Seeing One’s “Self” in the Light of the Word

In Logopraxis the aim is a transformation in consciousness through a commitment to the Word as the basis for inner work. This requires an active affection for truth or a willingness to apply truths to the life of the mind. These truths, that are to be applied, are ideas offered from a higher level that are specifically designed to transform the very structures of our beliefs and affections. The aim is that the lower might be re-formed into a corresponding pattern of the higher, so that the higher can be held with some degree of permanence in the lower. This state of permanence is what it means to be “born again”, or “born from above”, or regenerated. To be born again means not to be the same as before, it means to think and feel differently, to be in possession of a different sense of self to that sense of self that existed prior to this transformation taking place.

The processes of transformation revolve around the ability to navigate ontological shocks that are repeatedly delivered through having our sense of self being placed in front of its patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving as truths, from the Word, are practised.

One of the Logopraxis aphorisms states, “… that whatever you think it is, you can be sure of one thing, it is not that.”

This can be applied to almost anything in Logopraxis, but here, its meaning is in relation to what we take to be our self.

Ontological shocks are characterised by a sudden discontinuity in one’s sense of self. It’s a state where we see that who we normally take ourselves to be is not what we see ourselves to be in the moment of the shock. It’s the shock of seeing the fragility of our self-image. Here, in this moment, something new becomes possible. But there is also the possibility of stepping back from the potential insight in an effort to keep our self-image intact. Yet, the stepping back from really seeing the infernal proprium we have invested our sense of self in, is a necessary part of the process. This is part of our preparation for stepping into a new sense of self. For to step forward is to step into the void of not knowing. It is to move from a state of apparent stability into the state of apparent chaos. That chaos involves being confronted with the realisation that, for a new self to be born it requires the death or the giving up of our current sense of self. This is a place of threshold that all, in Logopraxis work, must repeatedly cross if that sense of self, which can no longer serve our spiritual development, is to be stripped back making way for what can carry us to the next threshold of development.

Logopraxis work involves being in shock of seeing what must die while contemplating the birth of new possibilities.

From a higher perspective this movement is ordered and stable. It is simply the process through which the transformation of consciousness is made possible. This transformation in our sense of self is a shift from a sense of self based in a natural, sensual, mode of being into a sense of self grounded in truths from the Word that have been worked into the fabric of one’s life through their practice.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Subscribe
Notify of
1 Comment
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Liz Coggins
Liz Coggins
2 years ago

Thank you David