INFINITY IN A DROP
last revision: June 7, 2015

This is the outline for IPI's course on "Integral Indian Psychology".
 
Please note that Integral Indian Psychology is only one of the subjects offered during IPI's Two-semester Course Indian Psychology. A description of the full course, can be found here.
 
This outline is a "work in progress". Over the coming months we hope to refine its basic structure, and add links to a rich collection of texts.

INTRODUCTION

1. Introduction to this course
1. overview of the course
2. introduction to the optimal method of learning in IP
1. the need for active involvement
1. self-enquiry: you are the textbook
2. practice and experimentation: you are the lab
2. the role of a diary, a personal log
3. the role of an individual project
2. What is Indian psychology and how to approach it?
   A short introduction to some core issues that will be taken up more extensively later.
1. definitions; what Indian psychology is and isn’t.
2. why our focus is on Integral Indian Psychology
3. IP attempts to rebuild psychology on an essentially different philosophical foundation in which reality is not reducible to matter, but rooted in consciousness as power. Why taking chit-tapas (conscious energy) as basis of reality changes everything.
4. consciousness and mind. How their relationship is seen in mainstream psychology and in IP. A very first introduction.
5. the role of infinity and the transcendent in IP. The concept of purna.
6. how yoga (in its widest sense of spiritual discipline) can lead to an increase not only in peace and joy, but also in knowledge and being.
7. IP demands a first person-approach to psychology in which the core-methodology is “rigorous subjectivity”, an approach in which both one’s primary field of study and one’s primary “instrument of knowledge”, are one’s own nature. A first introduction giving the basic principles.
8. how rigorous subjectivity can be used to develop a genuinely scientific, rigorous study of meaning, values, love, agency, beauty, and perhaps even truth and the Divine.
9. how the “technology of consciousness” that is part of IP can be used not only for the individual but also for a more harmonious and beautiful collective existence. The integration of IP, the "hard" sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities.
3. The social, historical and philosophical context; ancient roots & recent developments
1. a super-short history of the Indian tradition.
1. The Indian tradition is not static, not monolithic. There are eternal and temporal components; one core and many border-areas. A short historical and geographical overview of the main philosophical schools that are based on the Indian, consciousness-based paradigm (Sankhya, Vedanta and Tantra; Theravadin and Mahayana Buddhism; Jainism; the six Darshanas; the Bhakti tradition and Sufism; Sikhism; etc). How these different schools of thought relate to each other, and what they can contribute to Psychology. (A longer version of this history is given as a separate course.)
2. The main texts from the Rig Veda to modern times
3. The main paths of Yoga: Karma, Jnana; Bhakti; Purna
4. The need for a synthesis; why the synthesis has to be psychological and integral (in the Indian sense of purna).
2. a super-short history of the Meeting of East and West in twelve images: Troj; Athens; Jerusalem; Alexandria; Rome; the burning of libraries in Alexandria, Nalanda, Taxilla; the subjugation of India; the Mughal Empire; a trickle Westward; the Indian Renaissance; American Buddhism; and then…
3. a super-short history of science and the present battle of competing paradigms
4. the inevitability of an integral, global synthesis
4. The holding framework of an evolution of consciousness
1. Sachchidananda as the foundation for an integral theory of everything
1. pure consciousness
2. consciousness as power
3. three essentially different concepts of consciousness and why they matter
2. idealist realism
3. exclusive concentration as the mechanism behind maya
4. involution and evolution
1. ascent and integration: evolution inside and not out of matter
2. the paths of liberation and transformation: a first acquaintance
5. agni as the primordial force in nature; the first verse of the Rig Veda
6. how this framework indicates the intrinsic meaning and direction of life

PART ONE
THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS

5. Who am I? Basic structures and functions —
1. from the surface to the depths: centres of consciousness
1. self versus self-concept
2. social identities, roles and relationships
3. the conscious and the subliminal; the pre-conscious, sub-conscious and superconscious
4. self and nature (purusha – prakriti) and how this duality relates to the duality of mind – body
5. centres of identity: our different "selves":
1. ego
2. self, Self, no-Self, and super-Self —
3. soul: the "psychic entity" and the "psychic being"
6. svabhava and svadharma
7. the Cosmic, Transcendent and Individual
2. planes of consciousness & being in the lower hemisphere:
1. physical
2. “vital” (prana)
3. mental
3. chakras
4. the intermediate and higher planes
5. putting the basic structure together —
6. How do I know – I
   Knowing in the ordinary waking consciousness
1. the starting point
1. the active nature of perception; the dynamic side of consciousness (Chit-Shakti)
2. second hand knowledge, separative knowledge, and knowledge by identity
3. the need for sharpening, deepening, and integration
2. types of knowledge
1. stages of knowing: information, experience, realisation, transformation
2. types of knowing: sense-based, introspection, experiential, knowledge by identity
3. modes: naive and expert
4. realms of knowledge: objective, subjective, inner, direct
7. How do I know – II
   How to improve the quality of our knowing
1. faith and scepticism; the complexities of consensus
2. refining subjective knowledge in the light of evolution
1. eliminating two root-causes of error:
1. intrusion of "lower" planes of existence
2. atavistic errors intrinsic to the mind
2. the gradual honing of subjective knowledge
3. silence of mind
1. why it is essential
2. the importance of equanimity
3. methods of becoming silent
4. the power of silence
8. How do I know – III
   Inner and higher knowledge
1. pseudo-intuition and subconscious expert knowledge
2. the nature of real intuition (true, unconstructed, pre-existing knowledge) and why it should exist
3. why reductionist science doesn't find it; a refutation of Daniel Dennet's "Dangerous Idea"
4. types of direct knowledge: intuition, inspiration, revelation,  discrimination
5. knowledge "from other realms"
6. trikaldrishti
1. physicalist explanations of déjà-vu
2. why genuinely predictive visions and dreams may exist
3. types of predictive visions and dreams
7. sleep and dream
9. The scientific method
1. essentially different approaches to "expert knowledge"
1. hermeneutics (interpretation)
2. objective science; reductionism
3. constructivism
4. rigorous subjectivity
2. common principles in scientific and yogic research
1. progressive approximation of "truth" by iteration and acknowledging errors
2. the roles of
1. literature
2. intuition, reasoning and experiment
3. application and utilisation
4. peer-review
3. the social setting
4. freedom vs hierarchy
3. methods specific to yogic research
1. honing of the antakarana, the inner instrument of knowledge
2. progressive intimacy with the Divine as ultimate source of true knowledge
10. States of being:
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"
8. soul powers and soul qualities
11. Will, motivation, action in ordinary life
1. hunger, fear, desire and ego-driven action
2. deficiency needs and fulfilment needs
3. self and others: where is the action originating, where directed?
4. can equanimity and action go together?
5. neurotic, healthy, and ego-less action
6. detachment and commitment
7. agni revisited
12. Fate and Free Will
    What makes me be the way I am; what makes me act the way I act?
1. where do we come from?
1. outer influences
1. nature and nurture; genetics and culture
2. samskaras, vasanas & karma
2. inner drives
1. svabhava and svadharma: for one life and for many lives
2. sraddha and shakti, faith and force
2. where do we go?
1. will as conscious force
2. atavistic deformations
1. desire instead of intrinsic joy
2. constructed instead of intrinsic knowledge
3. individual will and universal will
   is there scope for conscious, self-willed alignment?
4. roads to perfection
3. is freedom real?
   "most bound most free"
• QUESTION: does the soul select the conditions under which it is born?
• QUESTION: how do samskaras etc. work?
  Only through the conditions under which one is born (in terms of nature and nurture), or do they exert an influence even after birth? If the latter, how could they be researched?
13. Relationships
1. the pervasiveness of relationships
2. in language (person, number, gender, honour)
3. relations with
1. people, things, nature, work
2. "life in general"
3. yourself
4. significant other(s)
5. the Divine
4. re-owning yourself
5. being lonely, alone, all one
6. love and oneness
• EXCERCISE: make a mind-map of all your relationships
• EXCERCISE: become aware how you change from relationship to relationship
  (think of your language, body-posture, attitude, "things you can think about", etc.)
1. focus on how you change in relation to specific people, things
2. focus on how a specific aspect of yourself changes in different relationships
• QUESTION: how often are you alone?
• QUESTION: what roles do others play in your life?
• QUESTION: who is the other actually?
14. Personality types
1. general introduction
1. typologies: their use and limitations
2. a statuary warning
2. mental, vital, physical
3. guṇas
4. varnas
5. astrological types
6. cautions revisited
15. Natural individual development
1. development over many lives: reincarnation
1. arguments in favour
2. arguments against and alternative explanations
3. a more detailed description of how it may work
1. karma
2. "unfinished business": neurotic influences from previous lives
3. accomplishments carried over as part of the psychic being
4. "life between lives"
5. the aim of life in a many-lives perspective
2. natural development within one life, seen from a many-lives perspective
1. the influence of previous lives on childhood and life-span development
1. possible mechanisms
2. implications for education
3. avenues for research
2. formations and deformations during childhood: Freud's "traumas" in the light of IP
3. "old" and "young" souls
4. stages: samskaras & ashramas
3. progressive emancipation and integration as binding perspective
4. being and becoming revisited

PART TWO
WORKING WITH ONESELF

16. Positive and negative motivation for change
1. the innate aspiration
1. ambition versus aspiration
2. how the will for progress manifests at the level of the different chakras
2. the role of pain
3. the sunlit path
17. The four aids
1. knowledge
2. effort
3. teacher
4. time
18. Basic methods
1. aspiration and the Grace that answers
2. self-observation as tool
3. reason as tool
1. types
2. limitations
4. silence as tool
5. invoking "the power of harmony"
6. remember and offer
7. aspiration, rejection, surrender
1. aspiration versus ambition revisited
2. rejection versus suppression
3. active and passive surrender
8. humour
9. detachment versus commitment
10. love
19. Attitudinal requirements and supports
1. plasticity
2. courage
3. perseverance
4. humility
5. cheerful endeavour
20. Difficulties and dangers on the way
1. ambition
2. the unholy trinity
1. power
2. sex
3. money
3. anything that strengthens the separative ego
21. Dealing with difficulties and dangers
1. the stages of the journey
1. endurance: the hero
2. philosophical resignation: the philosopher
3. spiritual detachment: the saint
4. the joy of adventure: the rishi
2. dealing with the mind
1. the arrogance of ignorance
2. encouraging its innate aspiration for truth
3. dealing with the vital
1. the fraudulence of drama
2. the vital on strike
3. encouraging its innate aspiration for pure joy and collaboration
4. dealing with the body
1. helping "brother donkey"
22. Realisation and Liberation
    A matter of degree?
1. changes within the normal range
1. making life bearable
2. self-actualisation
2. realisation: meeting the infinite
1. why would one want it?
2. are there preconditions?
3. are there paths and methods?
4. samadhi and nirvana
5. jumps and gradual ascents
3. mukti: are there varieties and degrees? If so, how do they relate?
4. liberation and then what?
1. changes automatically following after
2. jivakotis and ishwarakotis
3. ascent and integration
5. embracing the shadow
1. holding up into the light
2. surrender
23. Transformation
1. the difference between change and transformation
2. psychic transformation
1. what is the psychic?
2. signs of the psychic
3. the presence of the psychic
4. "realising" the psychic
5. psychic transformation
3. spiritual transformation
1. the higher planes of mind revisited
1. higher mind
2. illumined mind
3. intuition
4. overmind
2. spiritual experiences
3. siddhis, spiritual powers and achievements
4. re-positioning the self
4. supramental transformation
1. the difficulty of envisioning it from below
1. a monkey's view of " super-monkey": he cannot see man as he is to himself
2. the limitations to living in a brain-based mind
2. some theoretical considerations
3. preparatory steps
4. shadows on the lower planes
5. multiplicity and differentiation in a divine harmony
6. a being of light
24. The complexity of human nature revisited
1. the nonlinear nature of progress
2. the impossibility of self-assessment
3. faith revisited

PART THREE
INDIAN PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED: WORKING WITH OTHERS

25. General introduction
1. helping others: a word of caution
2. general principles
1. developing the nature as an instrument for the soul to express itself in the world
2. the roles of teacher, therapist, counsellor, social worker, manager
3. motivation, insight, skill, and effort
4. building a tool box
5. helping others to help themselves
26. Education
1. integral education: basic principles
1. soul-based respect
2. devolving responsibility for choices and evaluation to the learner
3. the importance of integrated projects
2. educating the mind
1. the mind's role and potential
1. viveka, "non-judgmental discrimination"
2. self-awareness
2. freeing the mind from vital and physical immixtures
3. widening of the mind: acknowledging the opposite as equally true
4. opening up to higher possibilities
5. dealing with the mind's limits and difficulties
3. educating the vital
1. the vital's role and potential
2. fostering good attitudes
1. equanimity
2. cheerful endeavour and "voluntary optimism"
3. training the will
3. dealing with vital difficulties
1. vital dramas
2. the vital on strike
4. opening to higher energies and the power of harmony; surrender
4. educating the body
5. psychic education
6. spiritual education
7. helping others revisited
1. the pitfall of over-educating: Sri Aurobindo's "nothing can be taught"
2. the pitfall of "incalculating values"
3. the pitfall of over-evaluating
27. Counselling and therapy
1. equilibrium and progress; strength and sensitivity
2. an integral Indian perspective on
1. psychological health
2. psychological problems
3. mental illness
3. promoting psychological health in others
4. helping others with mental problems
5. helping others with mental illness
6. the reason medical health professionals tend to see visions, inner voices, etc. as pathological
7. the role (and limits) of
1. reason and insight
2. re-training, aka "behaviour modification"
3. faith
4. resilience
5. occult processes
8. integral psychotherapy: increasing insight and strength
9. the integration with mainstream methods of therapy and counselling
10. the pitfalls of helping others revisited
28. Health
1. psychological and spiritual factors in health and illness
1. equilibrium and progress in the body
2. the consciousness of the body
3. the body and its "masters": vital, mind, and psychic
2. idealism versus pragmatism: are interim measures needed, useful, acceptable?
3. doctors and healers
4. coping with illness
5. coping with death
6. the various medical systems in the light of IIP
7. Aurveda and Siddha medicine (dealt with separately)
29. Social & organisational psychology
1. the long-term history of social structures, morality, religion, science & technology from an IIP perspective
2. the need for a soul- and consciousness-centred understanding of our social reality
3. working with a soul- and consciousness-based respect for
1. individuals
2. organisations
3. cultures and sub-cultures
4. social change and change in consciousness
5. working with organisations (taken up separately)
6. working with communities (taken up separately)
7. short and long term views of the future
8. the coming of the subjective age
30. Postscript: Work as sadhana; sadhana as work

EPILOGUE

31. How does Indian psychology relate to mainstream psychology?
1. why difficulties with its adoption can be expected
2. some strategic possibilities and considerations
3. why an increasing influence of Indian psychology is inevitable
32. The role of Indian psychology for the future of humanity
33. An expression of gratitude

APPENDIXES

1. Why objectivity is not enough:
1. the overriding importance of the subjective domain
2. ontological issues
1. objective psychology provides an empty mirror
2. materialism is a flatlanders' view
3. "emergence" is in conflict with universality
3. epistemological issues
1. reductionism applied to cognition self-destructs
2. constructivism applied to itself self-destructs
4. ethical issues:
1. third person psychology is intrinsically manipulative
2. neither reductionism nor constructionism offers any hope for finding the intrinsic meaning of life or the "naturalisation" of ethics
2. A short biography of Sri Aurobindo
3. A short biography of the Mother
4. Bibliography and recommended reading