INFINITY IN A DROP
the consciousness at the core of things

 
 
 
Towards a consciousness-centered psychology, based on the work of Sri Aurobindo
author: Matthijs Cornelissen
last revision: December, 2020

PREFACE

Why this book was written and for whom it is meant

 

1. A personal preamble
2. Using incompatible knowledge systems
3. Can we do better?
4. For whom this book is meant

Why this book is called "Infinity in a drop"

 

• Why this book is called "Infinity in a drop"

A student's guide: How this book is organised and how to engage with it

 

1. How this book is organised
1. the main text
2. side blocks
3. the appendix
2. How to engage with it:
1. Maintaining a journal
2. Working on a project
3. A clickable "metro map" of Infinity in a Drop

INTRODUCTION

Towards a new foundation for psychology

 

1. What is psychology, and how should it be studied?
2. Four areas in which the Indian tradition can help
3. A consciousness-centered understanding of reality
4. Integrality

Consciousness as the foundation of psychology

 

1. What is consciousness? An introduction
2. Three major concepts of consciousness
3. An issue-wise comparison between concepts of consciousness
4. Consciousness as used in Infinity in a Drop

An ongoing evolution of consciousness

 

1. The evolution of matter, life and mind 
2. The post-biological period:
   changing the world and changing ourselves
3. Involution, evolution and the future

PART ONE
WHO AM I?

A short note before we start with Part One

√   August 2017 week 2,8,10

Who am I? A first look inside

 

1. introduction
2. The surface personality
3. Our character
4. Anyone at home?

√   August 2017 week 2,8,10

The self and the structure of the personality

 

1. A roughly constituted chaos
2. Going within: discovering the "concentric system"
3. The "vertical system"
4. Centres of identity: ego, self and soul
5. Bringing it all together
6. Where one places the centre of one's consciousness
7. Some diagrams
8. Epilogue

√   August 2017 week 11,16

What makes me the way I am?

 

1. Introduction
2. Influences in the social and physical domains
3. Influences in the subtle realm of the inner being
4. The Self as presence and refuge
5. The Self as influence
6. The Self in control

week 5, 7, 9, 10, 12

Natural individual development

 

1. Progressive ascent and integration as binding perspective
2. Natural development within one life
3. Development over many lives: reincarnation
4. Being and becoming, a long-term perspective

PART TWO
HOW DO WE KNOW?

A short note before we start with Part Two

√   part, June 2018

Types of knowledge and their roles in psychology

 

1. Four types of knowing
2. Two modes of knowing
3. Four knowledge realms
4. Some lesser distinctions

week 4,7,10,15

How to improve the quality of our psychological knowledge

 

1. The basic issue
2. Stage one: The purification of the instrument of knowledge  23-312-idealfacultyofmind-silence.phpThe ideal faculty
3. Stage Two: Mental silence and the witness consciousness
4. Stage Three: Developing knowledge by intimate direct contact
5. Stage Four: Developing knowledge by identity
6. Generic and situated knowledge revisited

√   article, 2006

Towards a yoga-based research methodology

 

The text of this chapter has been taken from an article that was written quite a long time back.
It still needs revision in order to be better adjusted to the context of Infinity in a Drop, and to explore in more detail how the type of knowledge achieved by YBR is not the same as what comes from other types of research.


1. Research about yoga and research in yoga
2. The core of the Indian solution: Yoga as research methodology
3. Four common objections against the use of the pure witness consciousness in psychological research
4. Research protocols
5. A few words on philosophical premises and scriptural support in the hard sciences, mainstream psychology and yoga-based research
6. concluding remarks

week 4,7

Inner and higher knowledge

 

1. Introduction
2. Alternative ways of being conscious in ordinary life
3. Intuition's lookalikes: examples of "pseudo-intuition"
4. Three types of the "peer-to-peer" variety of intuitive knowledge
5. True intuition: unconstructed, pre-existing, true knowledge
6. Types of true intuition 24-813-intuitioninspirationrevelation.phpIntuition, inspiration and revelation
7. Knowledge planes
8. The future of the embodied mind

PART THREE
MEETING OTHERS AND THE WORLD

Rasa, the "taste of existence"

 

1. Emotions: colours and "tastes" of self and nature
2. Some classical listings
3. Vital emotions and psychic emotions
4. Intrinsic delight; why nothing can exist without ananda at its core
5. Drama and the rasa in things
6. The Godward emotions
7. Equanimity and "being there"

week 11,13

Relationships

 

1. The pervasiveness of relationships
2. Different types of relationships
3. Self-giving and re-owning yourself
4. Being lonely, alone, all one
5. Human love and love divine
6. Love and oneness

week 5,

Groups

 

1. Group membership
2. The group as source of identity
3. The group as functional unit
4. Roles and hierarchies within groups
5. The group as carrier of culture
6. Conflicts between groups: us against them
7. Harmony within and between groups
8. Symphony

week 11,13

Action and agency, fate and free will

 

1. What makes me act the way I act?
2. What is egoless action?
3. The scope for conscious, self-willed alignment
4. Is freedom real?

PART FOUR
WORKING ON ONESELF

week 5, 7, 9, 10, 12

Positive and negative motivation for change

 

1. Mind the gap
2. Changing the world
3. Changing oneself
4. The need for integration
5. The innate aspiration 08-252.phpTo light the psychic fire
6. ... And what holds us back
7. The role of pain 28-253-riddleofthisworld.phpThe riddle of this world
8. The sunlit path

week 12,13

Basic methods and things that help

 

1. Aspiration and the Grace that answers
2. Self-observation as tool: insight and detachment
3. Knowledge and reason as tools
4. Silence as tool
5. Remember and offer
6. Aspiration, rejection, surrender
7. Humour, detachment, commitment and love
8. Helpful attitudes and psychological perfections
9. The four aids

Dealing with difficulties and dangers

 

1. Common principles
2. Dealing with the mind
3. Dealing with the vital
4. When mind and vital gang up
5. Dealing with the body
6. The unholy trinity
7. Some common issues
8. In conclusion: dealing with the ego

Realisation, liberation and transformation

 




1. Changes within the normal range
2. Realisation: meeting the infinite
3. Mukti, liberation
4. Embracing the shadow
5. The difference between change and transformation
6. Psychic transformation
7. Spiritual transformation
8. Supramental transformation
9. The complexity of human nature revisited

PART FIVE
WORKING WITH OTHERS

General introduction

 

1. Helping others: a word of caution
2. General principles
3. Motivation, insight, skill, and effort
4. Building a tool box
5. Helping others to help themselves

Education

 

1. Integral education: basic principles
2. Educating the mind
3. Educating the vital
4. Educating the body
5. Psychic education
6. Spiritual education
7. Helping others revisited
8. Imagine a society in which education would encourage honesty, collaboration, and the pursuit of perfection in whatever sphere of interest the child has.

week 9,

Helping other with their physical health

 

• Sorry, this part of the outline is "Closed for Renovation"

week 9,

Helping other with their psychological health

 

• Sorry, this part of the outline is "Closed for Renovation"

Social & organisational psychology

 

• Sorry, this part of the outline is "Closed for Renovation"

EPILOGUE

Psychology and the future of humanity

 

1. Why, in spite of all obstacles, an increasing influence of an integral, Indian approach to psychology is inevitable
2. Some strategic possibilities and considerations

Life as sādhanā; sādhanā as life

 

1. Still to come...

An expression of gratitude

 

1. An expression of gratitude

APPENDIXES

√   partially, 2017

Psychology and the scientific method: a difficult relationship

 

1. 1913 and beyond: psychology's three lineages
• A mini-history of psychology in modern times
2. How assumptions and methods of enquiry determine what different schools of psychology can see
3. Classical Behaviourism
4. Is schooling injurious to health ?
5. Mainstream yoga research

Miscellaneous

 

1. Are Patanjali's Yogasutras about yoga?
2. A short outline of the structure of the Self and the personality
3. The shifting borders of the self
4. A three-dimensional concept space for concepts of consciousness
5. What is Indian Psychology?
6. The fourfold personality inventory

√   partially, 2015

Biographical and bibliographical notes on Sri Aurobindo

 

1. A short biography of Sri Aurobindo
2. A brief survey of Sri Aurobindo's writings
3. Short texts by Sri Aurobindo that are referred to in Infinity in a Drop

References and recommended reading

 

1. References to Sri Aurobindo's writings
2. References to texts by other authors
3. Integral Indian Psychology Resources: A reader-friendly list of resources on the main IPI website

√   partially, 2015

Glossary

 

1. Glossary