Integral Debates on Mythological Consciousness

Context

This is part of a larger comparative review by Bill Kelly. Featured are the views of Ken Wilber, Jean Gebser, and William Irving Thompson.

Discussion

Bill Kelly:

"On what issues then do they actually disagree? Thompson believes the mythopoeic imagination accesses the esoteric spirituality that has been lost during modern times. For Wilber, though, the transcendence and inclusion of the mythical structure by the rational structure represents an evolutionary advance. Here we need to backtrack a little. According to Wilber, a structure of consciousness is transcended and included within the structure that follows it and represents a higher stage of evolution. He defines structures of consciousness in terms of their level of cognitive development. The mythic structure is characterized by concrete operational thinking in which identity shifts from a body identity to a role identity and the capacity to take the role of the other person develops. Then, at the rational level, formal operational thinking opens up a world of far greater possibilities as the mind with its capacity for increased abstraction soars beyond what is obvious, conventional, and mundane. Formal operational thinking incorporates and includes concrete operational thinking while going beyond its limitations.

For Wilber, since people with mythic consciousness are incapable of the formal operational thinking of the rational structure, they can never achieve integral and spiritual knowing. The evolutionary process requires a progression from the mythic to the rational and then to the integral and transpersonal structures. In mythic consciousness, the average person has not yet developed the cognitive capacity to access the transpersonal and mystical realms.

What about the saints and mystics who experienced the transpersonal realms and unity consciousness? Thompson, like Campbell, would say that these great beings experienced mythic consciousness at its highest level. From Wilber’s perspective, though, this makes no sense. The great mystics were not using myth as an avenue to the transpersonal realms; rather, they experienced spiritual consciousness by transcending and including the mythic, rational, and integral levels. Concrete operational thinking can never be the path to the highest states of consciousness. Reason and formal operational thinking release people from their submersion in the group and from conventional modes of thought and action. A space is then opened up where people are relatively free from social hierarchies and are able to think in unconventional ways. These are preconditions for attaining integral and spiritual consciousness.

Thompson’s idea that myth at its highest level of meaning performs the unity consciousness achieved by mystics is alluring. He is telling us that the road to the truth passes through the imagination rather than reason. It is the domain of myth and art rather than of conventional science and philosophy. Thompson also implies that the rational structure of consciousness does not represent an advance over the mythic one. In fact, Thompson believes that higher-level interpretations of myth and the new scientific paradigm are similar in outlook. What’s more, he asserts that since the 1970s, the thinking of mystics and scientists has been converging. But this stance appears to contradict the evolutionary approach to consciousness. If the mythic imagination is the primary vehicle for accessing the mystical realms, then rational awareness relying on facts and logic can hardly be considered a more advanced stage of thinking and knowing than mythic consciousness. If going back to the earlier stage of mythic knowledge is required, then we must abandon the evolutionary view of consciousness or amend it."

(https://wkelly1-19385.medium.com/structures-of-consciousness-wilber-gebser-thompson-a704b97d08d7)