It seems that any integral/comprehensive map of integral practice can benefit from including the self/other effort dimension.
The most clear example may be at the energy level, where we can do the work on our own through different forms of yoga, or we can receive it from others through energy transmission or shaktipat, such as diksha and the munay-ki rites.
At the physical level, we do our own work through exercise, but we can also receive different forms of bodywork.
The Other dimension at the mind level has maybe fewer clear examples, but having someone facilitate us through the Big Mind process, The Work, Process Work, or something similar would qualify.
In each case, there is a nudge or seed received from the Other dimension which we can then work with on our own and invite to unfold further.
Looking a little closer at it, we see that the two dimensions are always intertwined. Whatever practices we do, even if we do the work ourselves, is made available to us by others in many ways. We may receive support from others in doing our own practice, including through simply doing it with others. Or we may receive something from others, such as energy transmission, which serves as a seed or a catalyst, and our own work is what allows it to unfold further.
And looking even more closely, the distinction breaks down completely.
For instance, looking at causality we can find innumerable causes for any effect, reaching back through the history of the universe and bringing in its whole extent. It becomes almost impossible to pin point that boundary between self and other, because it is hardly there in the world of form.
And when we notice ourselves as this awakeness here now, we find that what we really are is already free from self and other. What we can filter as self and Other arises as part of the same field of awakeness and form, and the filtering only happens through an overlay of thoughts.
Initial draft…Â
I keep coming back to the same things here, including this one:
It seems that any integral practice map could benefit from including the self/other dimension.
We have practices aimed at body, mind and spirit, on our own, in relationships, and in society and nature. And for each of these, there is also the self/other dimension.
In some cases, we do the work ourselves. And in other cases, the work is done for us, by an other. And always, both are included in some way.
To take a simple example: At the physical level, the self effort comes through exercise, following a diet and so on. And the Other dimension comes in, for instance, through receiving bodywork. Both are valuable, and they complement each other. There are also many situations where both are combined, for instance when we exercise with others, and their effort fuel and inspire our own.
Another example is the energetic level, where we can do practices ourselves such as various forms of yoga. The Other dimension here is for instance receiving different forms of shaktipat, such as diksha or the munai-ki rites. Doing it ourselves, or receiving it from the wider world, both invites shifts at the energetic level, which in turn influences the physical, emotional and mental levels, including in some cases a very real awakening to Big Mind/Heart.
At the mind level, we can do different forms of meditation and inquiry practices. And we can also bring in the Other dimension through, for instance, forms of guided meditation and exploration such as The Work and the Big Mind process, when another person is facilitating us individually, or we are participating in a group facilitation.
In each case, the Other dimension can invite a very real shift for us, at the level it focuses on and many other. And this shift is a taste, an invitation, a seed, which can be explored further through our own effort.
If engaged in consciously, there can be a beautiful dance between our own effort and the nudges we receive from the wider world.
Although it is possible and useful to differentiate the two, when we look closer, what comes from where is almost impossible to discern. Whenever we look at causality, we find innumerable causes for any effect, and the participation of the whole of existence in its history and extent.
It becomes almost impossible to pin point that boundary between self and other, because it is hardly there in the world of form. And when we notice ourselves as this awakeness that is here now, we find that what we really are is already free from self and other.