Efficient vs Deficient Manifestations of Consciousness

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Discussion

"Gebser used the terms efficient and deficient when speaking about the structures of consciousness—both in regard to transitions between structures and in regard to the expression of various earlier features at later stages. Similarly Wilber uses the terms healthy and pathological . While Steiner does not have a specific equivalent pair of terms, he does take a similar view in regard to cultural transitions. Another pair of terms that has been used in a similar manner, in psychotherapy discourses is formative and deformative (Boadella, 1998). The language of deficiency and pathology is somewhat problematic in the light of contemporary research on psychological stage transitions (Commons & Richards, 2002). However, it is a part of all three of these narratives so will be referred to at various points in the narrative where it is relevant to the discussion. From Gebser’s (1949/1985) perspective, the deficient aspect of a structure of consciousness primarily occurs in the later period of its development. The exhaustion of a consciousness structure has always manifested itself in an emptying of all values, with a consistent change of efficient qualitative to deficient quantitative values.

It is as if life and spirit withdrew from those who are not co-participants in the particular new mutation. (p. 538) Steiner concurs that faculties tend to become deficient or decadent towards the end of a developmental period. In relation to the pre-glacial (archaic), and glacial (magic) periods, he referred to overuse of the powers or abilities that had been developed, to the point that they became decadent. He also indicated that each of the major (post-glacial) cultures and civilizations had their flourishing followed by their decadent period in a kind of cyclical rhythm. Wilber is more inclined to take a dialectical view in regard to all the earlier stages of consciousness. He has a strong interest in countering any romanticism towards the early stages of human development. He continually points to the negative or pathological aspects of the earlier cultures and civilizations."

(https://www.academia.edu/197841/The_Evolution_of_Consciousness_as_a_Planetary_Imperative_An_Integration_of_Integral_Views)