The highest integrative structure in the personal realm

Open Integral October 12th, 2007 (posted by Edward Berge)

Peripheral vision is itself like vision logic, in that PV doesn’t focus on specific objects but takes in the whole field of vision and observes it as a gestalt. It’s more like Ken’s description of VL in CW4, p.86:

“Vision-logic - Numerous psychologists (e.g. Bruner, Flavell, Arieti) have pointed out that there is much evidence for a cognitive structure beyond or higher than Piaget’s ‘formal operational.’ It has been called ‘dialectical,’ ‘integrative,’ ‘creative synthetic,’ ‘integral-aperspectival,’ and so forth. I prefer the term ‘vision-logic.’ In any case, it appears that whereas the formal mind establishes relationships, vision-logic establishes networks of those relationships (i.e. just as formop ‘operates on’ conop, so vision-logic ‘operates on’ formop). Such vision or panoramic logic apprehends a mass network of ideas, how they influence each other and interrelate. It is thus the beginning of truly higher-order synthesizing capacity, of making connections, relating truths, coordinating ideas, integrating concepts.

Interestingly, this is almost exactly what Aurobindo called ‘the higher mind,’ which ‘can freely express itself in single ideas, but its most characteristic movement is a mass ideation, a system or totality of truth-seeing at a single view; the relations of idea with idea, of truth with truth, self-seen in the integral whole.’ This, obviously, is a highly integrative structure; indeed, in my opinion it is the highest integrative structure in the personal realm; beyond it lie transpersonal developments.” This entry was posted on Friday, October 12th, 2007 at 12:55 pm and is filed under Integral Metatheory.