Jean Gebser on the Integration of Left and Right

Discussion

As curated by Dave McLeod:

"where Gebser talks about the shift between left and right. It is part of his discussion on Paradoxical thinking that begins on page 259. Then at the top of page 261 he quotes Jesus from the Gospel of Thomas: "If you do not change low to high, left to right, back to front, you shall not enter my kingdom."

Then Gebser proceeds to comment on what all of this means from the perspective of the paradoxical form of thought and spiritual transformation: "This shift from left to right has been underway in various areas now for a considerable time, roughly one hundred and fifty years. As we have indicated, it is an inception toward the integration of the soul; and inasmuch as the soul is 'temporal,' this shift also represents a concretion of time. Certain religious sects have practiced since ancient times what could be called an interchange or 'transposition of lights' where the right-hand light is shifted to the left and the left-hand light is shifted to the right."

Then on the next page (262), he turns to the political sphere: He references how the liberal party in the French parliament was assigned to the left side, and how the term came to represent class conflict and the suppressed masses striving for equality.

Then he says this:

"The left too, if it does not come to its senses, will succumb to the chaos it brought to light just as much as its enemies bound to it in opposition, particularly as the left threatens to deteriorate into a rigid fanaticism. In any event the presence of the left mirrors an inception of a left-right shift, even if at first negatively, which will be genuine only if an integration and not merely a change of place occurs; and this refers to the integration of mankind."

From here he goes into "a sociological standpoint," looking at feminism: "As long as women have only a one-sided striving after the 'rights' of men without granting them their 'lefts' in a manner of speaking (an attribution which would change men's 'rights'), this inception of a left-right shift will remain negative."

Then comes this bit of wisdom:

"Only when the one-sided will to displace one part of humanity and the (magically accentuated) demand for equal rights are abandoned in favor of an integration will the human be able to emerge. Just as matriarchy was once displaced by the patriarchy still in force today (in which negative residues of matriarchy are still dominant because of patriarchal-rational man's lapse into materialism), so too can this patriarchy be dissolved in turn by the Integrum where neither mater- (mother) nor pater - (father) but the human being in both will prevail: a human being integrated by man and woman who will then have acceptance and worth."

(email, October 2022)