changes to brain functioning. A worthy endeavor, in which most everyone will agree that brain chemistry does have an impact on ego development and altered states of awareness. Nonetheless, the question of what comes first, the brain or consciousness, can only be answered one way for logical positivists. Then there are those who want to start looking for a definition of consciousness somewhere between a religious (mystical) and a scientific (empirical) orientation. For these individuals (whom I call Human Potential advocates), evidence of extraordinary human functioning (out-of-body experiences, remote viewing, death-defying feats of endurance, etc.) illustrates aspects of consciousness that extend beyond the laws of a physical universe. They start with events or experiences and create models or theories based on inductive reasoning or inference. These are not “scientific” theories in the traditional use of the term (independently verified by other scientists), but rather are theories verified by repeated individual experiences or collective patterns of experience. For those in this middle orientation, consciousness exists across a spectrum extending beyond space and time in which “an individual observer” is present (pure awareness), though the question remains as to who or what that observer is and how it relates to the unique ego-based personality bound by space and time.
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To this last point, developmental psychologists have noted that the ego continues to evolve throughout our lives (the idea that there are elements of personality fixed after a certain point in time remains true, though it is not immutable). The ego has a regulating function in integrating the different aspects of personality. Introducing the concept of an “observer” in the experience of Self is part of the emergence of greater personal-efficacy (what might be described as inner guidance). Ego development is therefore critical to the translation (integration) of transpersonal experiences. As one psychologist notes about the direction of human growth and development: “In the Judeo-Christian cosmology there is the Garden of Eden at the beginning and the Kingdom of God at the end. The two are not the same. The Garden of Eden is the original pre-ego state of mind. The Kingdom of God is a return to our original condition but as ego-conscious individuals. . . . The point is to break through to an insight into our original nature as mature adults and to integrate that insight into our conception of ourselves and of the world. This cannot be accomplished without an ego.” (V. Walter Odajnyk, Gathering the Light: A Psychology of Meditation, 1993, pp. 65–66.) From a developmental perspective, consciousness is not only a spectrum but an expanding spectrum that enriches what has come before as the ego extends its linking or integrating mechanism to incorporate new ele-
ments of the Self. Table Outlining Different Orientations to Consciousness Studies on next page Next Page 8 TMI JOURNAL 2012 Table Outlining Different Orientations to Consciousness Studies Table Outlining Different Orientations to Consciousness Studies Mystical or Human Potential Developmental Logical Positivism Contemplative Movement Psychology Traditions Within the major The title of this The idea that The term “hard religions, a mystical section originates underlying human sciences” may element exists with a with the West Coast nature is a drive imply a high long history in and writers such as towards self- standard of inquiry, practices requisite to Aldus Huxley, realization is the but in effect, it union with George Leonard, psychological means experimental consciousness in its Stanislav Grof, counterpart to the control for purposes pure form Gregory Bateson, philosophical and of repeatability in (God/Tao/Atman, Abraham Maslow, religious doctrines of results and