Problem solving and consciousness  

 

Advanced Developmental Psychology:

 

An Alternative Approach to The Art and Science of Peacemaking 

 

By Edward E. Winchester, C.M

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Problem Solving, Consciousness, and Transformation

Problems are intra-personal in origin. The existence of evil in the world is intra-personal in origin.  Only people produce problems within themselves in the way they mentally process events. Only people bring evil into the world. Most of what are labeled problems, or “evil people” are in fact deficits in thinking demanding that solutions be exposed by the light of wisdom resulting from clear thinking and enlightened consciousness – all a gift of God for the asking.  Wisdom is the basis of transformation and of acceptable human behavior, and therefore wisdom is an essential factor in problem solving.  

This treatise examines theories for problem solving throughout the human development life cycle.  Alternative theories for raising consciousness in the problem solving process are considered.  The challenge to systematically raise consciousness in solving problems of choice is addressed from three perspectives - physical, mental, and spiritual.  These perspectives constitute the “ABC’s of Transformation.”  Techniques are identified that can be used to access the deepest levels of silence, to bring forth higher consciousness, and support individual and collective well-being. 

Coherence Spectral Arrays are maps that suggest growth in wisdom, which is needed to support this well-being.  Resources are cited that provide abundant evidence that spiritual and personal growth, physical and mental well-being, and a more peaceful and harmonious world are the rewards for regularly experiencing the deepest silence, an inner realm of spiritual being-ness, or the Omnipresence of God. This experience is available to almost anyone who persists in the quest.

 

A search for solutions to problems in any field of human activity in society must inevitably include an analysis of ways in which individuals develop abilities over their life span for making wise and enlightened choices.  This comprehensive search includes consideration of decision making processes that permit people to make transformational choices which: 1. lead to fulfillment of their personal objectives, and 2. that insure the well-being of other people affected by those choices.  This treatise looks first at problem solving in terms of physical brain development, the scientific method of problem solving and meta-cognition, and then turns to the subject of consciousness and other important factors in problem solving that are often taken for granted, or are altogether missing in the search for solutions to problems, or are in short supply.  These include: 1. the spiritual imperative of expressing soul and (holy) spirit; 2. the biological correlate of psycho-spiritual growth; and 3. higher levels of consciousness (quantified in terms of the C (See) factor). 

ABC’s of Management

An alternative existential view of consciousness raising is presented here that requires  regular mental practice to center conscious awareness in an inner domain beyond the realm of conscious thought, simply “being” by experiencing “being” in a state of consciousness beyond mental activity.  Levels of being that affect the problem solving process are conceptualized and examined here in terms of three perspectives: A - the physical level, B - the mental level, and C - the spiritual level (Figure 1).[1]

 

ABC’s OF MANAGEMENT AND

THE INNER BATTLEFIELD OF CONSCIOUSNESS

PEACE-MAKER or WAR- MAKER   

   It’s a choice.  

 

 

Three Perspectives on Problem Solving - Physical-Mental-Spiritual

Figure 1

 

  

As a form of problem solving psychotherapy is one way for people to become aware of their patterns of behavior and the need for basic changes in their beliefs and thinking, which in turn lead to the way they feel and behave.  Therapists function much like management consultants, helping people solve problems and manage the personal “business” of their lives.  In a very real sense every human being is a “manager of their own business.”  Why are some people better managers than other?  Some answers to this question can be found in this treatise.  In a broader sense, and from a systems perspective people are the basic components of any weapon system, organizational structure, business, or support system.  Therefore, whenever a breakdown in performance occurs anywhere, look for a breakdown in the biology of perception. Solutions will be found by helping people in maintain accurate perceptions and helping them improve problem solving skills. 

The goal of wise decisions and enlightened problem solving is to make choices that result in, “Better management for a better world” (Hampton, 1986).   According to Peter Drucker, better management through problem solving is a truly worthy ambition.  He suggested that management is the central function of society (Hampton, 1986).  Yet, a realistic appraisal of “the human condition,” a term used by Thomas Keating to refer to the pathology, suffering and unenlightened state of humanity (Keating, 1996),  leads to a conclusion that something indeed seems to be missing in the life-span developmental processes of human beings, as far as their growth in wisdom and human enlightenment is concerned.   Moreover, considering the existence of so many troubled areas and hot-spots around the world, it is evident that something is amiss; something has been missing in attempts to apply successfully principles of sound management and problem solving, not just at the individual level, but also in terms of international policies, humanitarian programs, socio-economic, political and military efforts to bring peace and harmony to people in distress everywhere.  Management science, the so-called art-of-arts (Hampton, 1989), has not solved the world’s problems because something is missing from the “art-of-arts” as currently practiced, and from the practices of good management.  There is a need to look again more deeply at the ABC’s of problem solving.

 

Problem Solving From the Physical Level of Being (A of the ABC’s)

The human brain can be used as an instrument to make wise choices and think clearly only to the extent that it becomes functionally integrated and organized.  This occurs over roughly a 20 year period.  At birth an individual has almost all the neurons he or she will ever have (Hart, 1983).  According to Hart (1983) the neurons are not replaced as they die off.  The fact that at least 30 billion neurons will develop and be organized in systematically over a period of some 20 years as an individual grows to maturity has profound implications for the biology of perception, for learning and thinking, all  prerequisites for effective problem solving.

Thinking requires internal processing of external stimuli received through the senses.  When new information is acquired and stored in memory, the brain attempts to match, compare, categorize, and pattern it with similar information already in storage (Costa and Lowery, 1989).  Thus, every event that a person experiences causes the brain to call up meaningful, related information in an attempt to integrate and assimilate it with its existing programs and structures.

The brain is more than a network of intricately interwoven tissues and cells, whose electrical and chemical signals can be detected, recorded and interpreted.  Hart provides the following relevant description of brain structures (Hart, 1983).  The brain serves as an integration center for the nervous system.  Neurons (there are a number of types) grow by becoming more complex, much as branches of a newly planted tree gradually divide and spread.  Many neurons growing in the same fashion come to have thousands of connections with other neurons.  Neurons are not actually joined; the connections involve a tiny gap across which chemical transmitters can move.  This is the synapse, a mechanism that still retains many secrets, though much has been learned.  Hart’s (1983) overview of the brain reveals that the neonate has linkages or pathways already formed, or it would not be able to survive.  The general plan for brain development is genetically laid down during gestation.  The maturing brain steadily increases the number and complexity of interconnections, which by adulthood reach into trillions (Hart, 1983).   Nature’s way of adding new connections particularly in the cerebrum, or new brain, goes on at a staggering rate. 

Much evidence indicates that input and experience strongly influence what connections are made, and how fast such growth proceeds.  The key element that limits individual performance, when following verbal instructions and doing long-term planning, (Hart, 1983), is frontal lobe development.  The prefrontal portions of the cerebrum apparently have a profound influence on human behavior.

As newer brain areas develop their powers, older survival programs and structures come under more control; and as the prefrontal areas are brought into use, a child gains greater capacity to set more distant goals and carry through a chain of activity (Hart, 1983).  Obviously, no amount of parental and teacher encouragement will substitute for natural brain development, nor should a child be criticized for slow intellectual development.

 

 

Problem Solving From the Mental Level of Being (B of the ABC’s)

All management tasks are different and the same.  They are different in terms of the particulars of each situation.  Rosemary Stewart of the Oxford Centre for Management Studies, sees all problem solving tasks are alike in that there are three common characteristics: demands, constraints, and choices (Hampton, 1989).   Considerable variation exists in the ways individuals solve problems, whether they employ linear or non-linerar thinking or a systems approach (Hampton, 1986).  Even with those variations, Bronowski finds remarkable agreement on the operations involved in processes for effective problem solving (Bronowski, 1959).

Meta-cognition  (Thinking About Thinking) 

Five steps of problem solving insure more effective strategies and approaches for arriving at solutions, based on Bronowski’s analysis (Bronowski, 1959).  These have been taught for decades in one form or another, and provide a rudimentary framework for independent problem solving:

1.      Individuals are taught that problems are a normal part of life with which they can cope.  Emotional upset can be identified not as a sign of pathology, but rather as providing cues to shift attention to the problem situation that is producing upset.

2.      Individuals are taught to define problems operationally in terms of stimulii, responses,  and consequences involved.  Once all aspects of a problem situation are identified concretely, it is possible then to formulate the problem more abstractly, such as a conflict between two or more goals, or between the goal and available alternatives for achieving the goal. 

 

3.      The next stage is to generate alternatives or a range of possible responses to the situation.

4.      In the decision making stage the person chooses what appears to be the best option based on all available alternatives, considering advantages and disadvantages, and probable consequences.

5.      Performance evaluation or verification to test the validity of the choice and its overall effectiveness.

With some variations these five stages are similar to steps in the decision making process outlined by Krumboltz and Sorenson (Zunker, 1994).

Norcross and Prochaska (1994) found that scientific problem solving is attractive for professionals and individuals of all ages in that it is easily learned and can be applied to a wide range of situations.  Their recommendation for better problem solving in the long run is that people receive more detailed information regarding basic principles of problem solving (Norcross and Prochaska, 1994).   Approaches to problem solving frequently aim at raising consciousness by providing more information.  A different view as shown later, is that consciousness rises and falls regardless of the amount of information available for making choices.  Other researchers treat conscious awareness as a function of more coherent life force flowing through the central nervous system. 

Linear thinking is like tunnel vision (Hampton, 1986).  Look ahead and the only results that can be seen are the results one wants to see.  Confronted with a problem situation, a person who is prompted to act looks straight to a single solution.  In contrast to the linear approach non-linear and systems thinking involves interdependencies within and between variables, between people, and their internal and external environments, just as nerves, digestion, and circulation are interdependent in the human body (Hampton, 1986). 

 

Decision Making 

The acquisition of decision making skills is viewed as a vital objective of education by Zunker, (1994).  Zunker distinguishes decision making from problem solving in that decision making involves examination of a variety of variables to arrive at satisfying solutions, and in problem solving there are no clear cut right or wrong solutions. As Norcross and Prochaska (1994) points out, the scientist has become the ideal for humanity, because scientists are committed to a rational life of applying logic and empiricism to solving problems. The revolutionary discoveries of science are evidence for the value of a philosophy based on logic and empiricism. The short fall is that this approach assumes that consciousness is a constant rather than a variable.   

Decision making is a relatively easy skill to learn, but becomes complex particularly when applied to individual lives and national policy decisions.  Faced with the same decision individuals often take different paths; varying personal values, available knowledge, and strategies of action lead to different outcomes.  Norcross and Prochaska (1994) account for this phenomenon by pointing to the fact that, as with so many life decisions, people are frequently unaware of all the consequences of their choices.  Their perceptions are limited and bounded by not only the biology of perception, but by their life-time experiences.  A much broader view is that at an experiential level, the ability to choose wisely involves becoming aware of new alternatives, including conscious creation of new alternatives.  They caution, however, that  making choices entails the courage to be responsible for acting in the face of limited information on how the results may turn out.  

Cognitive Development

Costa and Lowery (1989) observed that all human beings continue to develop their cognitive abilities and produce intelligent behavior throughout their lifetimes.  Good thinking for effective problem solving and decision making consists of a constellation of attitudes and abilities working together to tap the highest potential of the human mind (Costa and Lowery, 1989).  Proficient teachers of thinking for toddlers, children, adolescents and adults will, of course, focus on more than content teaching. They point out that much research with hydrophalic, Downs Syndrome, senile, and brain-damaged persons demonstrates that over time and with proper intervention, people can continue to make amazing growth in problem solving abilities.  It is known that most thinking skills are built in a child’s mind within the first few years of life (Costa and Lowery, 1989).  It has also long been known, of course, that children who are deprived of a normal range of input, as was clearly the case in certain orphanages and foundling homes in the past, show retarded development (Hart, 1983).

Piaget’s research has been selected to illustrate here the continuity of cognitive development by stages (Zunker, 1994).  Piaget’s description of how humans think and what the characteristics are of their thinking at different stages of development is summarized below:

Sensorimotor stage (0 to 2 years) Individuals develop schemes through senses and    

motor actions.

Preoperational stage (2 to 5 years) During this stage, individuals develop symbiotic images but have little ability to perceptualize viewpoints other than their own,

Concrete operational stage (6 to 12 years) This is the beginning phase of understanding differences by means of stimuli.  Children solve problems only by generalizing from concrete experiences.

Formal operational stage (adolescence) At this stage the ability to utilize hypothetical/deductive thinking provides many solutions to a problem rather than a single answer.  Individuals are able to deal with abstractions and engage in mental manipulations.

 

Interpreting Piaget’s cognitive development stages, Zunker (1994) notes that there is a transition from concrete operational thinking to formal thought that occurs gradually beginning at approximately 12 years of age.  During early adolescence, patterns of problem solving and planning are quite unsystematic.  Near the end of high school, adolescents have the ability to deal with abstractions, form hypotheses in problem solving, and sort out problems through mental manipulations.  Linking observations and emotional responses with a recently developed systematic thinking process, the adolescent reacts to events and experiences with a newly found power of thought.  Introspective thinking leads to analysis of self in situations, including projection of self to adult work.  Zunker (1994) underscores the fact that encouraging and directing concrete experiences to promote increasingly abstract mental operations during this stage of development is a vital part of educational programming.

Observational Learning.

Observational learning is another important aspect of cognitive development for effective problem solving.  In Social Learning Theory observation contributes to early cognitive development.  Perceptions and values are developed through generalizations formed by experience and observations (Bandura, 1977).  Working on psychological modeling Albert Bandura (1971) found that the occurrence of imitative or observational learning is contingent on the administration of reinforcing stimuli either to the model or to the observer. Bandura concluded from his experimental research on modeling behavior that, “It is evident from the findings . . .  that in social learning theory observers function as active agents who transform, classify, and organize modeling stimuli into easily remembered schemes” ( p. 21).   A person may acquire and retain the capability of skillful execution of modeled behavior, but the learning will rarely be activated into overt performance, if negative sanctions or unfavorable incentive conditions obtain.  Bandura (1977) cited five stages of observable learning: 1. paying attention; 2. remembering what is observed; 3. reproducing actions; 4. becoming motivated (to reproduce) what is observed; and 5. perfecting an imitation according to what was observed.

 

 

 

Problem Solving From the Spiritual Level of Being (C of the ABC’s)

Psychotherapy and Spirituality

The roots of modern psychology are rich with connotations of spirituality.  The word “Psychology” is derived from two Greek words, “psyche” and “logos.”  “Psyche” means soul, and “logos” means study (Elkins, 1995).   Other terminology of the profession points toward the soul.   Elkins reminds psychologists that psychology literally means “the study of the soul.”  The word therapist originally meant “servant.” or “attendant.”  Thus, etymologically, a psychotherapist is a “servant or attendant of the soul” (Elkins, 1995).  Even the word “psychopathology” from “psyche” and “pathos,”  literally means “the suffering soul.”  

Redressing this situation in the Journal of Humanistic Psychology, “The Riddle of Consciousness and the Changing Worldview,” Roger Sperry (1995) says, “It is a fact of history that in the 1970’s behavioral science underwent a major paradigm shift. . . . . conscious subjective states quite suddenly gained acceptance as being legitimate for scientific explanation” (p. 7).   Sperry was known for his split-brain research that led to the identification of right and left brain functions (Figure 2).                 

Historically, Carl Jung was the first psychologist to emphasize the importance of the soul.  Jung made spirituality the center of his therapeutic work and believed that work with the soul was essential for the individual and for society (Elkins, 1995).  According to James Hillman, psychology abandoned its roots as the study of the soul.  Loosing its identity, psychology could no longer define its boundaries (Elkins, 1995).  In “Psychotherapy and Spirituality” Elkins (1995) provides a few ideas that might provide a turning point for a theory of the soul.  His view was that development of a comprehensive theory of the soul is a major project that will take much time and work, but strongly advocated freeing the soul from organized religion and giving back all its fullness to men and women of our time because soulless therapies produce soulless results. 

Elkins (1995) is a strong advocate for a theory of the soul because he says medical, scientific, and mechanistic models can never bring the spiritual dimension back into psychology.  His interpretation is that the soul can be felt, touched, and known, but never defined. The dilemma this poses is that there is no adequate definition of “soul.”  If soul cannot be defined in operational language, then how is it possible to arrive at a common understanding of this central theoretical construct?  (Another extremely important view discussed later in this paper is that the essential nature of the soul is consciousness itself.)   Elkins suggests that each person must seek to know their soul personally and experientially, and that only from this kind of knowing can the common understanding emerge” (Elkins, 1995). 

Del Dennis (1995) is a contemporary of Elkins who is also concerned about the need to restore spirituality to psychology.  Writing about humanistic neuroscience, mentality, and spirituality in the Journal of Humanistic Psychology (1995) Dennis pointed out that developments in modern physics make even more apparent inconsistencies in a scientific psychology and worldview that essentially leaves out spirituality.

  

Consciousness

Individual Consciousness

Traditionally, educators and therapist’s have worked to increase consciousness.  This was seen as being almost entirely a matter of providing information through reflection.  For Sigmund Freud there was only one process that could make the “unconscious conscious.”   In Freudian theory (Norcross and Prochaska, 1994) raising consciousness was the work of free association.  If people could let their minds go and associate without defending, then instincts would emerge into consciousness giving rise to thoughts, feelings, fantasies and wishes that express those instincts.   Psychoanalytic psychoanalysis provides a mirror or a reflector of the client’s feelings.  The therapist  communicates to the client messages, “You really feel . . .”  The specifics might be “you really feel disappointed in your father for leaning on alcohol” (Norcross and Prochaska, 1994). 

According to Adler, humans are motivated primarily by social urges rather than by sexual urges.  For him consciousness, not the unconscious is the center of personality; behavior is purposeful and goal-directed (Corey, 1996).

In the process of increasing consciousness, person-centered therapists have emphasized the primacy of the client’s feeling.  For Carl Rogers, feelings had both emotional and personal meaning components (Norcross and Prochaska, 1994).  Rogers places the need for self-esteem rather than consciousness at the center of intrapersonal problems.  He called it self-regard.

A transtheoretical model of therapies, which Norcross and Prochaska (1994) developed, aims to create a higher-order theory of psychotherapy, but one which is still based on the old paradigm of providing people with more information.  They produced a list of ten processes for self-change [transformation] that have received the most empirical support.  Figure 3 shows where each of the major therapeutic systems of psychology fits according to common processes of change. 

One thing that becomes quickly apparent is that compared with other processes of change, three times as many therapies include an expansion of consciousness as a central factor in behavior change.  “Unless major theorists have really missed the mark, this list  (Figure 3) indicates that considerable research needs to go into exploring just which specific techniques are most effective in helping people to process information that was previously outside awareness” (Norcross and Prochaska, 1994)   (Underscoring supplied.) 

Again, it is evident that across the board psychotherapists have traditionally viewed consciousness raising as a function of acquiring more information, as opposed to having more of the “light” or “life-force;” or,  to use religious terminology receiving  more Holy Spirit and the gifts this brings, i.e. wisdom, understanding, patience, fortitude, etc..      

Collective Unconscious 

 

A basic principle of higher consciousness theory is the existence of a dimension of human consciousness that is greater than individual consciousness (Pellitier, 1985).  Connecting with this larger part of oneself is at least theoretically instrumental in the process of becoming more peaceful, creative, healthy, and fulfilled. (Roth, 1994)

Jung taught that many dreams contain messages from the deepest layer of the unconscious, which he described as the source of creativity (Corey, 1996).  He calls this deep layer the collective unconscious, the “all-controlling deposit of ancestral experiences.”   Jung considered that dreams reflect both an individual’s personal unconscious and the collective unconscious.  The contents of the collective unconscious he called archetypes.  Among the most important archetypes are the persona, the anima and animus, and the shadow (Corey 1996).  Jung  agreed with Freud that dreams provide a pathway into the unconscious, but he differed from Freud on their functions.  Techniques for transcendence and centering identified in the next section of this paper provide other pathways to the unconscious.

Carl Rogers concept of the collective unconscious has a wider scope than Jung, when he considers the actualizing tendency in individual persons to be part of a universal force that is operative not only in human beings, but in all organic life all over the cosmos.  This development of Rogers’ thinking has been labeled “mystical universalism” (Van Kalmthout, 1995).  What is most interesting is that Rogers links the universal to the personal.  Van Kalmthout (1995) says that Rogers seems to imply that the deeper one listens to a person speak or to oneself, the more one comes across something that is universally present in every person, representing some kind of basic or inner core of the individual. 

Universal Consciousness

A rather recent innovative theory in the field of consciousness development is unified field theory of modern physics.  The unified field of natural law is considered by some researchers and scientists to be the source of all the fundamental force and matter fields in nature, which in turn provide the basis for all areas of human endeavor (Roth, 1994).  John S. Hagelin, Ph.D. is among a group of elite scientists who are at the forefront of unified field theories and consciousness research (Roth, 1994).   According to Roth (1994), unified field theory explains how knowledge discovered by objective approaches of modern science relates to direct subjective experiences to raise consciousness through transcending [mentally moving to deeper states of inner silence].   (Hereafter, the terms transcending and centering are used interchangeably.)   Roth (1994) says that  transcending the mind enlivens the unified field in the awareness of an individual and brings thoughts and actions into accordance with natural law spontaneously, so that each individual and all of society can enjoy more fulfillment in every aspect of life.

Another extremely interesting point of view on the subject of soul is that the essential nature of the soul is consciousness itself, and it seems to be what is so often referred to as the real “Self,” or the “Big Self,” as opposed to the “little self” which people are presumed to consider themselves to be.  This interpretation is supported by Roth’s (1994) comprehensive summary of scientific studies that demonstrate the power and benefits of unfolding mental potential by allowing individual awareness to experience this deepest state of silence, which he calls a “self-referral” level of awareness, where consciousness is open only to itself.  “It is here,” he says, “that we can locate an unbounded reservoir of pure energy and creative intelligence. It is from here that all thoughts arise. . . . This is the source of thought. . . . As a result, thinking and action spontaneously become more and more in accord with the evolutionary power of natural law” (Roth, 1994, pp. 30-37).  

Kenneth Pellitier (1985) in his book, Toward a Science of Consciousness, mapped an overview involving a fundamental reorientation of modern man’s world view on the subject of human consciousness.  He described a vision that is now emerging in modern science, psychology and physics, with increased emphasis upon philosophical and spiritual values, and a major revision of man’s view of himself and his universe, 

“The newest theories of quantum physics . . . an influx of meditative and religious systems, the rise of human potential growth centers, and a renewed interest in the functions of the mind - all are conveying and necessitating the consideration of a new science, a science of consciousness” ( Pellitier, 1985, p. 17).  Roth’s (1994) theoretical perspective is in agreement with Pellitier’s new view of a science of consciousness.  Roth says, “Now, the source of all the force and matter fields in the universe has been glimpsed by modern science in the supersymmetric unified quantum field theories of physics.  It is called the unified field of natural law.  It is a field of pure energy and intelligence, which underlies everything in creation and which is responsible for all forms and phenomena in the universe. . . . It is the basis of everything in the universe, including ourselves.”  (Roth, 1994,   pp. 32-33).

Dennis (1995) concurs with Roth.  He says, “The new thinking and knowledge of quantum physics, cognitive science, neuroscience, religion and psychology are converging to allow psychology to include what above all makes humans unique [soul and spirit] . . . and that psychology is in the process of incorporating the new scientific outlook . . . .” (p. 34).

Coherence Theory

When EEG (electroencephalograph) recordings are taken from two areas of the scalp during practices described later on (i.e. meditation, centering, and transcending), the degree of correlation, as measured by a mathematical quantity called coherence, is found to increase (Figure 4).  Computer methods spotlight occurrences of ongoing strong inter-hemispheric brain coherence, appearing as surges in frequency patterns (COSPARs) on a Coherence Spectral Array (Levin, 1975).

Perhaps the most significant finding that relates to the development of consciousness and problem solving skills involves electrical coherence of the brain.  Figure 4 shows that the longer a person practices meditation the higher the level of EEG coherence, indicating an optimization of brain functioning in a more coherent style in waking, dreaming and sleeping states of consciousness (Levin, 1976).  Dr. Keith Wallace, a pioneer in this field of consciousness research, maintains that increased orderliness and integration of the brain corresponds to the direct experience of the self-referral state of pure consciousness (Roth, 1994)   In other words changes in thinking and behavior can be directly related to experiencing inner awareness, pure consciousness or the essence of the soul, and its connection to universal consciousness, or what Keating (1996) calls “The Divine Presence.”

Figure 4 shows inter-hemispheric COSPARS at three different stages of brain development (Levin, 1976). 

 

 

Figure 4

Source: Adapted from Scientific Studies on the Transcendental Meditation Program, Collected, Papers, Vol. 1

 

COSPAR patterns depicted in Figure 4 show that the brain actually functions in a more orderly and coherent manner as electrical activity evoked from different parts of the brain becomes coordinated and integrated at specific frequencies.  These findings suggest that the nervous system and the brain is switching to a distinctly higher levels of functioning to support enhanced mental activity.  Levin’s study shows that the persistence of strong frontal coherence is particularly significant, because the frontal cortex is known to be the highest center of integration in the human nervous system, influencing such higher abilities and traits as “ideational fertility, anticipation of future consequences, judgment, focus of attention, abstraction, conceptualization, reactions to verbal instructions, timing, memory, ethics, tact, and practicality (Levin, 1976).  In other words we see the physiological correlates of increased wisdom and problem solving capacity.

Coherence studies indicate that the practice of transcending mental activity, which is explained in the following section of this treatise, so as to experience directly a field of absolute silence can produce many surprising benefits.  Entering the inner room of silence does much more than merely induce a relaxation response.  More importantly it raises the level of individual intelligence; opens the gates of inner awareness (right and left brain functions); and seems to allow direct experience of a spiritual connection with the Infinite.  

How to Experience the Deepest Silence

Before anyone can tap into a field of universal or collective unconsciousness, individual consciousness must be conquered.  This seems to be accomplished by stretching beyond the limits of conscious awareness and the boundaries of the mind.  This requires not only self-discipline, but courage to face the unknown and the many forms of dis-stress that can arise.  The alternative is to plod along using 10 percent of our brain power, which psychologist William James claimed 90 percent of us use (Laurie & Tucker, 1978).

Creative thinking or “thinking outside the box”

Meditation and prayer can become part of an exciting journey inward, when people regularly practice techniques for exploring their inner spiritual world.  There they claim to tune into a treasury which can be described as a storehouse of information, knowledge, and ideas which psychologists have been calling the collective unconscious (Laurie & Tucker, 1975).  

This has given rise to a panoply of modern relaxation, visualization, and guided imagery techniques.  Now there are numerous techniques available for entering into an experience of the deepest level of silence.  These centering techniques as a group are distinctly different from the myriad of discursive meditation practices and visualization techniques which involve mental activity and linear type thinking. Their primary function is to quiet the mind, whereas discursive practices and visualizations keep the mind active. Popular centering techniques include: CSM - Clinically Standardized Meditation (Carrington, 1979), the Relaxation Response (Benson, 1975), TM - Transcendental Meditation (Roth, 1994), Centering Prayer (Pennington, 1980; Keating, 1996), and what might be called original “Biblical” or “Rabbinical” methods of meditation (Kaplan, 1978).  Proponents for each method of experiencing spiritual transcendence invariably maintain that their method is uniquely different or better than any other method. Centering or transcending techniques typically employ a sacred sound or word in a prescribed manner to induce relaxation and experience deeper states of consciousness.  To suggest that there is only one technique that causes transformation  and that should be used for spiritual development goes in the face of major spiritual traditions and empirical psychology (Thomas, et al., 1993).   (It should be noted that there are many forms of religious and non-religious or secular meditation practices, but they usually do not serve the same purposes as the centering techniques.)   Even though each of the centering methods is packaged in such as way as to appear to be unique, there are striking similarities and significant parallels.

Managing Stress More Effectively

Because of constant demands of everyday life, there is a constant build up of stress and tension.  During the developmental stages of brain development over the human life cycle, the brain itself gradually becomes more refined, or we could say, less dis-stressed.  At least in early stages of development the brain has not been functioning at full capacity, as has already been shown.

Centering often involves encountering psychological obstacles in the form of repressed feelings and emotional junk that is evacuated. For example, fear, anxiety, boredom, impatience, and anger are only a few of the mental demons that arise during meditation and that throw some people off track. This purification of the unconscious mind as a continuous process of psychospiritual psychology  illustrated by what Thomas Keating calls the "The Four Moments of Centering Prayer: 1 using a sacred word to begin prayer; 2 resting in silence and experiencing a sense of the presence of God; 3 unloading defense mechanisms and undigested emotional material; and 4 evacuation of primitive emotions and thoughts and returning to 1 (using the word)

Watson (1995) calls these experiences spiritual emergencies, which she defines as critical, experientially difficult stages “spiritual emergencies” and stages of profound psychological transformation involving one’s entire being.  Removing one from consensual reality and taking the forms of non-ordinary states of consciousness, these events involve emotional, perceptual, sensing, cognitive, and physical manifestations (Watson, 1995).  She says, “Spiritual emergency can be regarded as a construct within the parameters of social psychology in that it addresses areas of human intrapsychic and interpsychic activity . . . . In contemporary Western models of mental health, unusual states of consciousness have had limited interpretation and are generally attributed to anatomical, physiological, and biochemical changes in the brain” ( Watson, 1995, pp. 23-24).

Over 500 studies conducted at over 200 research institutions, have been published in over 100 professional journals (Roth, 1994).  Four meta-analyses were made of different relaxation techniques, which show that not all meditation and relaxation techniques produce the same results.  A statistical meta-analysis of 146 previously conducted studies reported in the Journal of Clinical Psychology (1989) showed that compared with every other meditation technique that had been tested, the TM technique was more effective.  The results of a second meta-analysis of 42 studies published in the Journal of Social Behavior and Personality (1991) reported that the TM technique was more effective in increasing self-actualization.  A third meta-analysis of 198 studies reported in Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly (1994) showed that TM was more effective in reducing drug, alcohol, and cigarette abuse than were standard treatments and prevention programs, including relaxation.  The fourth meta-analysis cited by Roth (1994) covering 51 studies showed that compared with every other meditation and relaxation technique tested TM was more effective at enhancing psychological health and maturity. 

Meta-analyses do not disprove the efficacy of the other centering techniques cited above, simply because other techniques have not been researched and tested to the same extent as the TM technique and using the same research protocols.

From a conceptual point of view there are indeed many paths to the center of a circle, but there is only one center.  Therefore, it is conceivable that an individual could adopt any one of a number of practices that induce centering, and which are capable of stilling the mind and body to produce the same benefits cited by Roth. 

Roth (1994) posits the theory that connecting all matter in the universe are unseen, fundamental fields - the electromagnetic field, the gravitational field, and the fields of the weak and strong forces binding the center of the atom.  At their basis, according to the super-symmetric unified quantum field theories, is the unified field, which creates and connects everything together in the universe - all fields, all matter, everything, everybody (Roth, 1994). Through observation, introspection, and induction the following simple conclusion is inevitable, all thoughts, indeed all knowledge available to mankind, seems to flow ultimately from an inner source located deep within each individual human psyche.  New thoughts constantly arise on the surface of awareness all the time and within the context of each individual’s conscious awareness.  New inventions and breakthroughs that have not even yet been realized or dreamed of surface from an inner source.  With a few moments of silence and introspection almost anyone can see that consciousness seems to flow continuously.  Thoughts (objects of perception) are like boats on a river of human consciousness moving along with the never ending current of mental activity.  Surely the original source for all knowledge and the

solutions that have not even been thought of, that are desperately needed to solve problems of humanity, do not reside somewhere in the recesses of brain structures, tissues, and neurons or in the conscious minds of people, nor will the solutions come by giving people more information. The way out of difficulties is the way we go inside, by entering our Quiet Room.

 

Conclusions

Prayer and meditation alone will not eliminate all distress and suffering, but using prayer and meditation to raise consciousness could make the seemingly impossible, possible.   Solving problems is an inside job.  Problems are intra-psychic. They exist within people.  Perceptions of a particular situation are often different for different people. However, in many respects problem solving processes are the same.

 Learning the ABC’s of problem solving is an art as well as a science.   Research now shows that when individuals quiet their minds and bodies to go within significant transformational changes occur in the electrical output of the brain.  Body chemistry changes, and mental functions are strengthened and enhanced.    As a consequence people become more wise. Their thinking becomes more enlightened as more brain coherence results.  Behavior becomes more positive, orderly, and life supporting. 

In the language of religion, the conclusion from this research is that people of different faiths and non-faiths can experience more of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, when they regularly center themselves in deep interior silence.  Moreover, it is possible now both conceptually and in practical terms to cause transformation in individual and collective decision making.  In a sense it may be possible now to measure the effects on the human body of growth in Holy Spirit in terms of results produced by this approach to transformation and problem solving and thereby reach the original goal of psychotherapy, to heal the “the suffering soul.” 

With consciousness itself as the focus for developing problem solving skills, and to support functions of the brain and the mind, it becomes possible to advance a significantly new and exciting learning theory.  The theory relating to “transformation of human consciousness” helps us take a fresh look at educational processes that have heretofore not rejected, or were largely misunderstood and ignored. 

The unified field theory of modern quantum physics holds that there is a common ground of being and a spiritual source that is accessible to every human being, who takes the time to go inside their own psyche.  This source exists in an inner realm of consciousness, beyond the contents and conscious awareness of the mind, beyond specific thoughts, images, concepts, beliefs, opinions, and emotions. Therefore, even though this spiritual dimension of pure thought or pure consciousness can not be defined, visualized, or conceptualized by the mind, it can be experienced. Its essence is not in the nature of specific thoughts or concepts or logic, since it is the raw material from which thoughts and concepts are made. Spiritual essence can be directly experienced using meditation, certain kinds of prayer, and other techniques that effectively induce an experience of absolute silence.  

The inner unified field has been identified by scientists as the source of consciousness.  It is arguably the fundamental common ground where all human beings are connected.  This unified field theory holds that the same infinite source of knowledge exists inside each and every human being, and that in it resides the potentiality for solutions to all the problems of mankind, including world peace, and an perhaps even an end to human suffering. 

Although there is strong Biblical evidence and support for the practice of learning the art and science of silence, that subject matter is beyond the scope of this treatise.

Every man, woman, and child can begin their own exploration and research into deeper levels of silence, develop spiritual inner awareness, and be responsible for transformation generally.  Entering your Quiet Room is one way for doing this, and for the spiritually minded, it can lead to the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Quantum physics seeks unifying theories, such as that fundamental force and matter fields are unified by deeper symmetries of natural law.  Supersymmetric unified quantum field theory suggests that there is an underlying unity of natural law at the source of all diversity; the unified field of all the laws of nature. 

The central principle in the coherence theory of consciousness presented here is that the unified field is a field of universal consciousness, and that it can be experienced directly and lived as the basis of thought and action by any person.  In other words the practice of regularly using prayer and meditation to direct conscious awareness to an experience of absolute silence opens human awareness to the unified field of natural law, which proponents seem to think is the common basis of all activity in the universe.  That means that life itself flows from a common source spontaneously moving in an evolutionary direction, to bring success, progress, Self-Actualization, and daily living in happiness without distress and suffering. At the same time ignorance is replaced by wisdom; evil is replaced by awareness of the Omnipresence of God.

 

References

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 APPENDIX

 

PROBLEM SOLVING AND CONSCIOUSNESS

 

 

Can the experience of interior silence and of a level of consciousness beyond rational thinking raise consciousness and facilitate problem solving?

 In “Psychology of Centering Prayer” Thomas Keating looks at the question from a psychospiritual perspective, and presents a specific method of centering, which he calls Centering Prayer, and which anyone can use in their quest for greater wisdom, deeper understanding, and for unfolding more fully human potential and become a better problem solver.  Centering is an umbrella term for directing individual consciousness to an inner state of being beyond any perception at all, including sense perceptions, feelings, images, memories, reflections, commentaries, and particular perceptions.

            The question is explored from an entirely different perspective by Dr. Herbert Benson, MD, in his new life-changing book Timeless Healing.  That is, from a medical and physiological perspective using an alternative centering technique he developed called, The Relaxation Response, to probe the intersection  between objective science and the mystifying power of the human spirit for raising individual consciousness to facilitate self-healing. 

            Dr. Benson’s methodology and rationale is presented here along side Thomas Keating’s work as a supplement to the psychospiritual analysis because. Benson not only offers a grounded scientific medical model for centering, but also illustrates a popular secular method for experiencing directly what seems to be the same state of being described by Keating.  The difference between the centering prayer method described by Keating and the centering method advocated by Dr. Benson then is found to be in the intentionality behind the practice of the technique, rather than any significant difference in  technique or methodology.

 

 

 

Sources:

Keating, Thomas. “Psychology of Centering Prayer,” Centering Prayer. New York: The Crossroad Publishing Co. (1996), Ch. 9.

               

Benson, MD, Dr. Herbert. “The Relaxation Response,” Timeless Healing.  New York: Scribner, (1996), Ch. 6.