Quadrant Model of Reality Book 8 Introduction

The Quadrant Model 6 and the Oedipal Theory of the Bible

Ken Wilber in his book, A Brief Theory of Everything, has a model that he also calls the quadrant model.  In it he labels four the stages of consciousness.  The first stage is the instinctual-spiritual; the second stage is the magical-religious; the third is the rational-interpersonal-selfish; egocentric  and the fourth is the trans-rational, transpersonal trans ego stage.  Wilber puts each of these stages in a square, forming a quadrant.   He labels the first square the MIND. The second square he labels, CULTURE.  The third square, which is always the most physical and solid, he labels, BODY. The fourth square he labels the SOCIETY.  The four correspond to the quadrants of the quadrant model. This theory helped to spark the theory of the quadrant model.

Quadrant 1: Sensation perceptions, response and awareness (MIND); Quadrant 2: Belief, faith, behavior, belonging (CULTURE); Quadrant 3: Thinking, Emotion, Doing, Dreaming (BODY); Quadrant 4: Contemplation passion flowing knowing (SOCIAL/society)

* Quadrant 1: Spiritual- instinctive consciousness. Sensation perception, response and awareness (MIND). The first square is mental. Sensation, perception, response, and awareness compose the first quadrant.  These are all mental. The First Squares of Quadrants also have the quality of being mental. For instance, sensing, believing, thinking, and contemplating are the most mental. These are the first squares of the quadrants. The first quadrant is Wilbur’s instinctual-spiritual stage of consciousness.  Sensation is the mental of the mental.  Sensations are purely mental, and are purely constructions of the mind.  The first square can be viewed as somewhat gullible--sensations and perceptions are not to be completely trusted, for they do not always correspond with the true nature of reality.  The connotation of sensing is that it provides only limited information; when sensing something it is not understood completely (“I cannot quite put my finger on it!”).   The grasp is not solid.  Similarly, in perceiving something it is only perceived to be so, which allows for some degree of uncertainty.  It is not completely grasped conceptually.  It is only perceived .  And it is the same with being aware of something; a degree of uncertainty remains.

The first square is conservative and caring.  The connotation of the words sensitive, perceptive, responsible, and aware is of being able to feel what others are feeling, and able to react accordingly.  Sensitive people are often viewed as fragile easily influenced, and very caring.  The perceptive individual is much like the sensitive one.  Response is the third square, and connotes doing.  Responsible people react according to what is most appropriate for them to do.  The responsible person  can be counted on.  Responsible, sensitive and perceptive people are all conservative.  Aware has the root word wary in it, which means cautious.  People who are aware keep their nose on what’s happening around them.  They can have diabetes awareness, cancer awareness, global warming awareness.   Awareness leads to concern with the environment. Awareness is also concerned with survival. The first quadrant is concerned with survival. Being sensitive and perceptive is important in survival.

Also there is a spiritual (implying beyond the normal) connotation to being sensitive, perceptive, and aware. The first quadrant has a spiritual quality to it.  Spiritual people often claim to sense, perceive, or be aware of things that others miss.  They may describe sensing auras, or perceiving other dimensions of reality that many claim not to perceive.  This is evidence of a spiritual element to the first square. The first square always expresses characteristics that may appear weird, in the sense of being not normal.

*Quadrant 2: Group oriented/ Magical-religious consciousness. Belief, Faith, Behavior, Belonging (Culture).  The second square is characteristically concerned with homeostasis, a concern with the structure and maintenance of order.  Quadrant 2 in the quadrant model pattern contains belief, faith, behavior, and belonging, which corresponds to Wilbur’s second stage of consciousness, namely  magical-religious consciousness. The second squares of quadrants also have this quality of being concerned with relationships and homeostasis. These are perception, faith, emotion, and passion. The nature of the second square and second quadrant is about order, structure, maintenance, and protection.  Belief and faith glue communities together.  Group behavior, including rituals and habits provide community glue.

Belonging is often determined by the physical and ethnicity.  Genetically determined physical traits influence intelligence.  Belonging to a group will often determine the possessions (or belongings) owned.  Acceptance in a country club is based on financial status, which is influenced by the physical genes.  More attractive and intelligent people tend to make more money.  Some would argue that traits like attraction and intelligence are cultural constructions.  Belonging to the Jewish religion is determined by genetics.; the children of a Jewish mother automatically belong to the religion.  Genetic evidence shows that Jews throughout the world are genetically related.  Beliefs, faith, and behavior help to maintain the Jewish people as in inside group.  Without the right genetics, regardless of beliefs, behavior, and faith, belonging is not possible.

Belonging is the fourth square of the second quadrant. Therefore, it’s qualities point to the quality of the third quadrant. Belonging points to the thinking, emotion, doing, and dreaming quadrant which is related with the physical. Belonging is tied to the physical. Also one's genetics not only affect what group he belongs to, but how  he thinks. For instance, if you are asian this may affect how you view the world because you view yourself through that prism of being asian. But also, it can be argued that genes affect qualities like brain structure and chemistry, and these physical qualities affect thinking, emotion, doing and dreaming. So belonging points to the third quadrant.

The second square is conservative and respectful of authority.   The second square is group-oriented; if some group members believe and have faith in something, the remaining are more likely to do the same.  Belief is the first square of the second quadrant; as the first square, it is mental.  The first square is the mind square.  Belief is the mind square of the culture quadrant.  While belief has a connotation of being more mental, it is often associated with being based on emotion.  The culture square is more feeling oriented, but belief is more mental than faith, because faith is the second square of the second quadrant. So it is the culture square of the quadrant.  Faith is the most feeling oriented of all of the squares. Beliefs are supported more often by empirical evidence.  The dictionary definition of belief  emphasizes trust in something guided strongly by empirical evidence.  The empirical data from awareness of sensations and perceptions points to belief   -- “seeing is believing”.   Perceptions and awareness enforce belief.  The fourth square of the Quadrant 1, which is awareness, yields what comes after it, which is belief.  But belief is more mental, while faith is more feeling oriented. Belief is the first square of the second quadrant so it should be more mental.  The dictionary suggests that faith is something that is trusted, not due to empirical evidence, but to emotion and desire.

Faith is the second square of the Quadrant 2, which is concerned with structure, order, and homeostasis.   Faith is more “gut” based, while belief is more mental.  Faith facilitates belonging.  Faith has a relational connotation; people are faithful to their wives, or their bosses, or their employees.  The second square is always highly concerned with relationships and feelings while the first square is more mental.

Perception is the second square of the Quadrant 1; the second square is culture. Perceptions are the way that one interprets sense data; perceptions are very highly shaped by context and culture.  For instance, there is a tribe that has boys put their hands in fire ant nests, and have the ants bite their hands as a coming of age ritual.  This is important for the boy because it signifies  becoming a man.  He would probably perceive the sensations of the ants biting him differently than would a boy not belonging to the tribe. The pain is lessened for the boy doing the ritual, because  of the group-enforced honor involved.  For any other boy not belonging to the group there would  be fear or embarrassment, and no reward, except perhaps some sympathy.   Perception, therefore, is very cultural.

The second square is also very concerned with morality, which is the foundation of order.  Moral codes create order and structure in cultures by defining what is right and wrong, good and bad, proper and improper.  Behavior is the third square of the second quadrant.  Good behavior is in accord with the morality system of the culture.   Bad behavior deviates from the group's moral system.  The second square is very “white or black”, good or bad, insider or outsider oriented.

 The second square is, therefore, dualistic; right/wrong, black/white, good/ bad, proper/improper.  It is very concerned with plans and scripts, and sticking to them without deviating.  It is concerned with a surface reality, with less substance or depth.

Emotion is the second square of Quadrant 3.   Emotions can be used to manipulate relationships. The second square is always associated with relationships.  Emotion is cultural. The second square is culture.  An orthodox Jew may be sad if a fellow Jew marries outside the tribe.  A reformist liberal Jew in America, however, may be more inclined to be happy, and even celebrate that marriage.  The emotion of sadness can be used as a signal to others to express disapproval.   Smiling can be a signal of approval.  Emotions  can powerfully regulate the cultural environment.

 Quadrant 3: Rational/interpersonal-egoistic consciousness. Thinking, Emotion, Doing, Dreaming. The third quadrant/ square is physical and spontaneous and often destructive, therefore very different from the first and second squares, which are very planned and conservative. The third square is associated with action. The third squares of the quadrants are response, behavior, doing, and flowing.    Responses are often determined by stimuli and existing survival mechanisms within the responder. Behaviors are more determined by orders of authority. Doing is pure action. Doing is the third square of the third quadrant, so it is the most related to action of all of the squares.  The third quadrant is about breaking the rules, whereas the first and second are about following rules and regulations.  It can be seen as bad or sinful for  breaking free from rules and regulations.  An example may be an orthodox Jew getting a tattoo.  The Torah has prohibitions against getting tattoos according to orthodox rabbis.  Getting a tattoo would be breaking the commandments of God.

The third quadrant is less controlling.  Thinking, which is the first square of the third quadrant, is constantly occurring, generating thoughts difficult to control.  If told not to think of pink elephants, thinking of pink elephants will occur.   It is also somewhat difficult to control emotions.  Thought is the first square of the third quadrant.  Emotion is the second square of the third quadrant. Being in the third quadrant, they are more difficult to control.

The third square and third quadrant is also the most physical and solid.  Thinking is the first square of the third quadrant; thinking is the first square and not completely physical, although because it is within the third quadrant it has a physical quality.  Scientists question if thinking is purely physical.  There are proposals that thinking occurs outside of the brain. Since thinking is the first square it follows that it is not entirely physical.  Some scientists advocate that thinking is very physical, proposing that thinking occurs via the physical processes  of the firing of action potentials in the brain.  These firings are electrical and chemical.  Being electrical there is an ethereal quality to them, but they are physical phenomena. As a part of the third quadrant, thinking should have a sort of physical quality to it.

Thinking and learning elicit the formation of new connections between neurons in the brain; thinking is neuronal.   Neurons are fundamental functional units within the brain, which is a physical occurrence.    The third quadrant is physical. Learning follows thinking; connections are physical phenomena occurring between neurons, causing the brain to change physically. The third square and third quadrant are associated with the physical. The third square always has a connotation of being the most solid.   Synapses produced in the brain are empty spaces between neurons in which chemicals are transmitted, signaling and producing action potentials. Thoughts can change the nature of synapses. When an action potential fires, neurotransmitters, which are chemicals, are released into the synapses. These neurotransmitters signal a new neuron to fire.   Physical processes are in charge of neuronal firings.  Neuronal firings correlate with thoughts.

Emoting is also very physical.  Emotions are influenced by thoughts.  Thinking happy thoughts influences emotions by triggering the neurotransmitter dopamine to be released in the brain. This neurotransmitter generates happy emotions.   Scientists claim the neurotransmitters in the brain  promote happiness, and propose that all emotions are tied to the release of specific neurotransmitters in the brain. Neurotransmitters are physical chemicals.

In addition emotions, which are the second square of the third quadrant, are hormonal, which is a very physical phenomena.  When happy,

humans release hormones in the body.  Prescription drugs also can  influence the release of hormones and neurotransmitters in the body in order to generate desired emotions.   Ingesting food, which is an interplay of chemicals, serves as a kind of drug.  The chemicals in food affect the release of hormones in the body and neurotransmitters in the brain, causing the release of emotions.  A physical threat to the ego/body may trigger the emotion of fear, with a release of a hormone called adrenaline.  This hormone creates a fight or flight response.   Emotion is the second square of the third quadrant.  Because it is in the third quadrant, it is the most physical of the second squares.  Emotion has a quality more physical than perception, faith, and passion, which are the second squares of other quadrants.

The fact that the third square and third quadrants are the most physical, and that the first square of the third quadrant is thinking, is represented in the idea proposed by physicists  that thoughts manifest reality, and influence the physical world.  An example of this is an experiment done with water in which the scientist had a person think thoughts that made him happy.   This occurred in the presence of water molecules.  When the water molecules were studied, the water molecules expressed patterns that were harmonious. The water molecules were  altered by the thoughts.  Then the man was told to think thoughts that made him angry.  The water molecules then expressed patterns that were chaotic.   The thoughts affected physical environment. The third quadrant is related to the physical.

Some scientists go so far as to say that thoughts create the physical environment. This is a notion in quantum mechanics.  (See also the chapter above on sensation and perception.) There is an experiment in which electrons are fired into a slit,  revealing that the electron deflection is affected by whether or not the experiment is viewed.  This is an example of why sensations and perceptions cannot be trusted completely; thinking affects the electrons.  The presence of the observer affects the electron.  Some physicists go so far as to say that without an observer there is no electron.  This quantum mechanical idea suggests that the individual-ego-body creates reality.  This quantum mechanical principal causes physicists to question if reality exists apart from the observer. The third quadrant is essential to the physical, which is evidenced by the idea that it produces physical reality.

* Quadrant 4 contemplation passion flowing knowing (Society).   Dreaming is the fourth square of the third quadrant.  Dreams tend to be very difficult to control.   As a part of the third quadrant dreams tend to be wild. The third quadrant is wild. During  dreaming  thinking,   emoting,  and  doing  occur. The quality of thought is different when dreaming because the part of the frontal lobe responsible for questioning is turned off, causing the dreamer not to question.   Dreaming of a giant monster does not lead to questioning whether or not it is real.

The dream affects all preceding quadrants, including beliefs, faith,  perceptions, etc.  There is a saying,“Our reach should exceed our grasp, or what’s a heaven for”.   Dreaming allows the dreamers to reach for something beyond their reach.  For instance, some people dream to go to the moon.  People often dream about the impossible.   Dreams are often very selfish.  Thoughts, emotions, doing, and dreaming are very shaped by the ego.  The third quadrant is the ego quadrant.  The ego wants to be inflated and perpetuated.   Dreams can be about making a lot of money.  This also inflates and perpetuates the ego.   Women dream about having a successful husband and a nice family.  Many people dream about killing their enemies, or getting revenge on a  straying lover.  Dreams are often very selfish. The third quadrant is selfish.

Reportedly most dreams are about things that are perceived as negative, often of being in danger or facing situations to be avoided in real life.   Dreaming is in the third quadrant, and the third quadrant is negative.  The third square is always bad or destructive.

It is the doing and action square, which is not as conservative as the first two squares. But dreaming is also the fourth square of the third quadrant. The fourth square and quadrants have a transcendent quality to them. While dreams are very much tied into physical reality, they also have a transcendent quality to them that suggest a sort of breaking out of the physical world.

Scientists think that thoughts, emotions, doing, and dreaming really influence the physical nature of reality.  Doing clearly changes the physical nature of reality; people build pyramids, throw food into the garbage or on the street, people go to war, all of which alters physical nature.  But there is evidence that dreams can also affect the physical.  This makes sense, because dreams are in the third quadrant, and the third quadrant is the most physical, and therefore it is logical that physical reality is affected by thoughts, emotions, what you do, and your dreams.

The idea that dreams can affect physical reality is presented in the Bible, and is seen in cultures throughout the world.  In the Bible dreams are considered to be messages from God foretelling and influencing the future.  The dream can influence the future by inspiring the dreamer to fulfill it, sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously.  Either way, the fact that the dreamer had the dream has an effect in the playing out of what the dreamer does to fulfill it or not fulfill it in waking life.

There are many reports of dreams predicting future events, including dreams that changed lives.  One example is of a muslim man who was considering whether or not to become a Christian.  During sleep he had a dream in which he saw a cross.  Interpreting this as telling him to become Christian, he proceeded to do so.

One theory is that dreaming provides practice for waking life.   After dreaming people find that they are better at doing the activities performed in their dreaming.   Freud believed that dreams are the workings of the subconscious mind.   He believed that content in  dreams matched content in mythologies.  He thought that mythologies of the world grew out of dreams, and are allegorical, essentially of sexual matters.  He used the Oedipal myth as the foundation for his idea that the Oedipal complex is the structure of the subconscious of the human psyche.  He noticed that cultures throughout the world had myths involving the killing of the father and having sex with the mother.   He believed that this theme permeates dreams, and that the content of dreams was metaphorical of this complex, and this complex permeated mythology.

Carl Jung was a student protégé of Freud, but  moved away from Freudian ideas with his theory that there are deeper meanings to dreams.  He advocated that people could gain better understandings of themselves from dreams, and that their content is a metaphor of archetypal psychological conflicts.  He thought that dreams could lead people to deeper understanding of life, the subconscious, and reality itself.

Jung proposed that the subconscious mind, which operates in dream states, actually manifests physical reality.   Other scientists claim that dreams borrow from reality.   It is proposed that people dream about things that they experience in reality, although dreams create varieties of these experiences.  But Jung went so far as to say that the subconscious mind during dreaming  produces reality.   This is consistent with characteristics of the third quadrant, which is the physical quadrant, and a part of it being physical is that it manifests physical reality.  Therefore, Jung's idea that dream consciousness manifests physical reality is consistent with the quadrant model of reality.

Jung reported that people have many experiences with UFOs.  He actually believed that UFOs might be real.  He suggested that there may be extraterrestrial vehicles flying in the sky that people sometimes observe.  But he also believed that they might be projections of the subconscious mind being transposed into reality.   He thought that psychological conflicts might not be seen only in dreams, but may manifest in the physical world as

projections of subconscious struggles.  Just as dreams are manifestations of subconscious struggles, Jung thought reality might be a manifestation of those struggles, therefore aliens may be observed by people and manifested in reality as a result of a conflict within the human collective subconscious that is producing reality.

This idea seems utterly bizarre.  But physicists studying quantum mechanics point out that the observer does manifest reality, going so far as to claim that without an observer there is no reality.   The implication is that Jung’s notion may not be so far fetched after all, which supports the claim that the third quadrant is the most physical.  Dreams seem to transcend the physical--they are the fourth square of the third quadrant--but Jung is saying that dreams are essential in the production of the physical world.  The subconscious mind produces dreams according to Jung, and the subconscious mind also produces reality.

Evolutionary psychologists claim that reality produces the subconscious mind, proposing that if it is true that there are archetypes in dreams, and dreams of people throughout the world shape mythologies, and these mythologies have a common structure, then this subconscious mind revealed in dreams is a product of evolutionary forces.  They would perhaps say that all humans have a common ancestry, and all humans had similar environmental conditions with which they had to struggle in order to survive.  Therefore all subconscious minds of humans are similar, having evolved in a similar manner.  But again, quantum physicists m disagree with this biological interpretation, proposing that humans create the physical world in observing it.  The question is, “Which came first,  reality, or the subconscious mind?  Or are they simultaneous?”

There are other scientists who say that dreams are just random and have no meaning, suggesting that humans are just meaning-making creatures in search of meaning where there is none in order to find comfort in the grips of an unfathomable and unmanageable reality.

Dreaming is the fourth square of the third quadrant.  When dreaming, the physical body is paralyzed, providing a sense of being disconnected from the physical body.   Dreaming allows for the existence of the ego and the body in a projected world.  But that body in the dream is imaginary, a figment of the imagination.  The dreamer is also producing an environment in imagination , which may include perceiving trees, rocks, as well as a mother.   But none of them are real.  It is all an illusion.

Some contemporary physicists are now claiming that illusion may not be only the nature of dream reality; this may be the nature of reality itself.  It may be that everything is like an illusory dream.  Dreaming encompasses everything before it, including sensation, perception, belief,  behavior, thinking and doing, all of which affect dreaming.  And dreaming affects all of them.  But life is kind of like a dream; people have bodies, or seem to have bodies.  If as Physicists claim that the observer manifests physical reality, that manifesting includes the observer’s body.  The body may not be real; it can be perceived and sensed.   The body produces hormones that seem to produce emotions.   Behaving and thinking occurs, activating the body and the brain.   Quantum physicists are exposing a very bizarre reality in which the participant produces reality when observing it, while reality produces the participant.

Most of reality is empty space containing very little, if any, solid matter.   In a manner of speaking, like in a dream, the body, the environment, thoughts, perceptions, beliefs, doings, all might be a grand illusion.   All are Re-presentations of the Quadrant Model of Reality—the Real and intangible Form of Existence presented in discernible form.

Dreaming produces a kind of transcendence of the ego.When dreaming there is a transcendence of waking normal physical reality and its laws. The fourth square always has a transcendent quality. Awareness, belonging, and knowing are the fourth squares of the other quadrants.

Quadrant 4- Contemplation, passion, flowing and knowing, represent a sort of transcendence of the body and normal physical reality. The fourth square is always transcendent. Dreaming points to contemplation. When contemplating , the same brain waves are present as when you dream. The fourth square always indicates what comes after it. Dreaming, the fourth square of the third quadrant, points to contemplation, the first square of the fourth quadrant.

When flowing, things are done automatically; without effort. Flowing is the byproduct of being completely amerced in something. The same brain waves that are present in dreaming are noticed in flow states. Also there is a different subjective experience of time and space during dreaming, which is also present during contemplating and flowing states. The fourth square points to the fifth. Flowing is the byproduct of passion. Passion is zeal toward something and love and complete and total immersion.

Knowledge is the fourth square of the fourth quadrant so it is the most transcendent of all of the squares. Knowledge in the bible is synonymous with sex. When somebody knows somebody in the bible it means that he has had sex with that person. Knowing is a deep intimate connection with something. Sex is a deep intimate connection with another person. In the act of sex there is a sort of death. For instance, when a woman orgasms she sort of passes out, and when a man orgasms there is a feeling of bliss and his thinking sort of ceases, kind of like a near death experience. There can be a sort of transcendence of the body/ego in the act of sex. A characteristic of the fourth quadrant is the transcendence of the ego/body. Knowing is the fourth square of the fourth quadrant.

Knowledge is sort of synonymous with sex and sex is related to death. There is a common philosophical idea that to know something one must sort of die. Shamans in many cultures get into trances where they describe a sort of death and describe attaining knowledge. The fourth quadrant is death of the ego. In order to know, the ego must die. The attainment of truth corresponds to the transcendence of the ego, because the ego is responsible for rational identity thinking which is ripe with delusion.

Alien encounters coincide with flow states. An alien encounter represents a sort of transcendence it the rational ego plane. During alien encounters there are sexual surgeries and mutilations of bodies, symbolizing a sort of death. People describe that knowledge is gained from aliens. It is reminiscent of the shamanic death and resurrection in which he attains knowledge. Alien astronaut hypothesizers theorize that the gods of ancient mythologies who supplied knowledge to human beings were aliens. So an alien encounter kind of represents a union with God, or the transcendent.  The 17th square is being. Extraterrestrial “beings” are associated with knowledge. The 16th square always points to the seventeenth. The sixteenth square, which is knowledge, is connected to the seventeenth square, which is being.

War is sort of a sublimation of sex in which the spears and guns and weapons are penises and there is a lot of death in war and the experience of war it has been said gives people extraordinary transcendent experiences. People describe flow experiences during war. The fourth quadrant, the knowledge quadrant, is associated with death. Sports is synonymous with sex, in hat the balls can represent penises and the goals or hoops vaginas. You score in sports, and it is said when you have sex with a woman you scored. Flow experiences are associated with sports. Flow experiences, in which there is a different subjective experience of time and space, are linked to sex, sports, and death. Near death experiences are said to correspond to flow like states in which there is an unusual experience of time and space. Flowing is the fifteenth square and knowledge is the sixteenth square so knowledge and flowing are very interlinked. Flow states, which involve different subjective experiences of space and time, are described by people who had near death experiences and as I discussed death and knowledge correlate, in that knowledge can only be attained with death of the ego. The fourth quadrant is death of the ego body/identity.

Knowledge, the 16th square, points to being, the 17th square. The only knowledge one can attain is of being. Being is the source of knowledge. The Truth is knoweldge what is, and knowledge is correct, justified belief of what is true. In the case of ancient alien hypothesizers, beings, or aliens, bestow knowledge. According to Plato, the World of Forms, which is the True epitome of being, is where knowledge is derived. Plato states that all knowledge is just recalled by humans, and the way that Truth is recalled, he proposes, is by the soul. Plato states that souls come from the realm of the world of the Forms, and therefore souls have knowledge of the Truth, and any knowledge attained in the physical earthly world is just knowledge recalled from the World of the Forms. According to shamans the spiritual realm, which they describe as the manifestation of true being, is where knowledge is attained. These shamans often get into trances to enter this realm. In near death experiences people also describe attaining great knowledge, and they describe experiencing the source, or in other words being. In order to experience being, which is synonymous with experiencing the Truth, a sort of transcendence of the body/ego must coincide. Drugs are sometimes used to facilitate this physical transcendence.

In the Bible Adam and Eve eat from the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Rabbis say that this fruit was a grape and thus Adam and Eve drank wine. Wine is a drug. Rabbis say that Adam and Eve had sex, and that was the original sin. Wine reduces inhibitions and can lead to sex. So in this story is seen a relationship between sex and knowledge, or the knowledge of good and evil. After this God tells Adam and Eve that they will surely die. So there is a connection between sex, knowledge, and death. Also God says Adam and Eve may “become like Us”. After attaining the knowledge from the fruit. Knowledge points to being. Being is related to God. Thus, from gaining the knowledge, God says that Adam and Eve may become like “Us”. Another example in the Bible of sex and death being related is when Samson dies. Samson is grinding grain. Rabbis say that the word grinding is synonymous with the word sex. Thus Rabbis say that Samson was having sex. As he was grinding the grain his hair grows and he regains his strength and he then tears down pillars, making the roof fall on him and the Philistines. So sex is related with his death. There are numerous examples and parallels in the bible illustrating this principle. The symbol of the cross itself is said to be originally a symbol of sexual intercourse. In Egypt, the ankh symbol was like the cross and was a symbol of the penis going into the vagina. It is hypothesized that the symbol of the cross derives from the ankh.

Knowledge is the 16th square, so it encompasses everything before it. It is true that knowledge derives from sensations, perceptions, what you do, emotions, beliefs, behaviors, and so on and so forth. The previous squares bring about knowledge.

Knowledge is also power. Knowledge is related to sex. There is nothing more powerful than sex. I described that the cross itself, the form of existence itself, can be seen as a symbol of a sexual union. Also death and violence are very powerful along with sex. Most popular movies and things on the internet  are full of sex and violence. The bible itself is full of sex and violence. Sex and violence are related to transcendence of the body. Also drugs are very powerful. Drug trade it is said rules the world. Drugs are also associated with transcendence of the body/ego (although artificially). Sports, which is a sublimation of drugs and sex, is also extremely popular and powerful. Drugs it can be seen is related to sex through the language used while describing drugs. I stated that you say you scored with a woman when you had sex with her. You also say I scored blow when you get drugs. You similarly say I scored a basket when playing sports Sports is also related to flow experiences, which are related to transcendence of the body/ego. It is described when people take drugs that they can experience flow like experiences and gain knowledge and insight.

To know something you have to be intimately connected with it. To be intimately connected with something you must transcend your separate body/ego. In the bible knowing somebody is synonymous with having sex with that person. Socrates described that the reason men and women want sex is because they want to unite as one and break out of their separate bodies/egos. In other words, the desire for sex is a desire to create oneness or no thingness. Similarly it can be argued that people desire to kill their enemies in order to create a sort of oneness. By destroying your enemy, you destroy the separation, and thus you create oneness. The penetration of the two perpendicular lines in the cross represents a merging of opposites into oneness. Hegel said that history is characterized by the conflict of opposing ideologies, which he calls a dialectic, and their eventual merging into one. The star of David it is also said represents the same thing. It is said to represent a penis going into a vagina. Some physicists argue that a three d representation of the star of david, called a double tetrahedron, or merkaba, is a fundamental shape underlying all existence.

Metaphysicists can argue that truly there is no thing, and that there is only oneness, especially with the advent of the quadrant model theory. The cross represents- oneness, or no thingness. The cross is two opposite, or perpendicular things coming together and cancelling each other out. There truly is no thing. It can be argued, that there is one thing, the quadrant model pattern, but the pattern is not really a thing, for the quadrant, or cross itself represents no thingness. Everything is an emergence or reitteration of the same pattern- the quadrant model pattern. This is the truth. The Truth is that there is no thing. If you know the Truth, therefore, you know that you do not exist. Everything is one. So to know the Truth you must transcend your ego/body. Knowing is tied to transcending the ego/body or identity.

The fourth quadrant, which is the knowing quadrant, is related to ego transcendence. When you flow you are not preoccupied with your image. When you flow you have transcended your ego and are a part of something larger than yourself, and connected to a higher harmony. As a result, ironically, what you do is more pure and perfect than if you tried to produce the results. When you flow you are no longer in insider-outsider, superior/inferior consciousness, but are focused on something greater than you. When you flow you are not concerned with how you look, what your next step will be, but you are in the moment, or in the now. You are no longer focused on your identity and image, and the ego is dissolved. When you flow you are connected with God. Similarly when you contemplate you are focusing on the oneness of things and things as they are and not how you want them to be, and to do this your identity/ego which contaminates your consciousness must dissolve. In the word know is now. When you flow you are in the now. The dual connotation of knowing is no thing. When you know you recognize there is no thing, but everything is one.

A lot of times people who claim to be gay focus on this identity and flaunt it and allow it to boost their egos and make them feel special or superior. A person who considers himself a straight person may also use this identity to make himself feel superior or like an insider and he may call a gay person names to boost his ego. Both people are caught up in ego oriented thinking and are trapped in a virtual reality drama in which they are concerned with how they look and their identities. In being the victim, the gay person may actually get a sense of superiority over the straight person and it may cement further his constructed ego and make him feel more firmly that he knows who he is and he will fight for it. But there is no such thing as a gay person or straight person. These people are caught up in an ego drama and are trapped in inferior superior, good guy bad guy, insider outsider, predator prey, dualistic consciousness. An individual may be attracted to men and be a man, but that doesn’t make him a gay person. Things like black and white, gay and straight, man and woman are social constructions. These ego-identities are not what people are. When you are not in transpersonal consciousness you are preoccupied with your ego identity and your image. When you are flowing your ego is dissolved and you are a part of something larger than you. All sin derives from ego preoccupations. To have eternal life is to be in the now, which is eternal, because all that there is is the now.

There is one thing in existence. That is the cross/ the pattern that emerges from the cross. But the cross itself represents no thing. So the one thing that exists represents no thing. So there is one thing that exists but the one thing that exists is no thing. It blows your mind. Reality is a paradox.

The symbol of the cross is the symbol of two opposites coming together. When two opposites come together they cancel each other out. They neutralize each other. The cross is the symbol of a penis going through a vagina, although it can also be a symbol of a spear penetrating an enemy. The cross is the symbol of existence itself.

Now let me explain a revolutionary theory that I discovered. I call it the Oedipal theory of Genesis.  It has been postulated by many psychologists that babies have a sort of oceanic consciousness. In this consciousness the baby cannot distinguish itself from its mother. The baby also feels one with everything and cannot differentiate. This is representative of a kind of bliss in the womb where the baby is kind of at one with the Universe and superbly protected. But then the baby is kicked out of the womb where differentiation occurs and the baby no longer has an oceanic awareness, which is seen by psychologists as a birth trauma. I say that the story of genesis is an allegory of  this trauma. Adam and Eve are in the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden represents the womb. They are in bliss and feel at one with everything. Then they are kicked out of the womb. They are kicked out of the garden by eating from the tree of knowledge and disobeying God’s command. The tree of knowledge represents the ego. At first they were in a flow state in the garden. Now they are corrupted by fruit they gathered from the tree of knowledge- things they memorized plans thoughts, and they are kicked out of bliss and the flow. The whole Bible is about the descendants of Adam and Eve trying to return to the Garden. But God put up flaming Cherubim in the gardenn blocking their way. The Cherubim have swords.

I say that these swords are swords of castration. They are designed to cut off Adam’s penis. This is where the Oedipal theory comes in. Adam and eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden for being bad and disobeying God the Father. The Garden of Eden represents the womb/ the mother. They are kicked out of the womb but they want to return. Freud said the reason why the child wants to have sex with the mother may be to return to the womb and the oceanic bliss. But the Father God has put up flaming castration swords, threatening to castrate Adam if he comes too close.

What I say is not a stretch. Adam in the gospels is called a “son of God”. So as the son, according to Freud, he runs the risk of castration. Israel itself is called the son of God in the Bible.In the Bible when Israel leaves Egypt, God says "I called my son out of Egypt". Israel is described as disobeying God and being kicked out of the land of Israel as punishment Israel is described as disobeying God and being kicked out of the land of Israel as punishment. In Galatians Jerusalem is called “our Mother”. Jerusalem is the mother of the Israelites. The Israelites wish to return to Jerusalem but again they run the risk of being castrated if they do not behave in the world they have been kicked out into. Returning to Jerusalem would be like returning to the Mother (having sex with the Mother)

In the Bible also it is described that “the sons of God had sex with the daughters of men”. By doing this they are being disobedient to God the Father and thus are punished. The sons of God are then kicked out of heaven. Heaven could be seen as Jerusalem, or the Garden of Eden. The Israelites are the sons of God (Jesus calls them sons of God), the sons of God in heaven are the sons of God, and Adam was the son of God. The sons of God are kicked out of heaven, Adam is kicked out of the Garden, and the Israelites are kicked out of Jerusalem. These are all the same story a question can be raised if the Israelites/Adam/ son of God are all the same thing.

Ken Wilber’s Quadrant Model

Mind	Body
Culture	Society

CHAPTER XI: The Personality Types

The quadrants have been identified so far in terms of personality types.  In Quadrant 1 the four squares are the sensor, the perceiver, the responder, and the aware types.   Quadrant 2 contains the believer, the faithful person, the behaving person, and the belonger type personalities.  The Quadrant 3 includes in its four squares the thinker, the emoter, the doer, and the dreamer personalities.  In Quadrant 4 the four squares include the contemplating, the passionate, the flowing, and the knowing personality types.

The four squares in each quadrant correspond to the Myers-Briggs and Keirsey personality models.  The Myers-Briggs model, originating with Carl Jung, consists of four dichotomies with sixteen personality types.  Jung identified the first three dichotomies. After factor analysis Myers and Briggs discovered that there was another dichotomy, which is different and only later identified.  The fourth square is always a sort of maverick in relation to the preceding three. The four dichotomies are:

*Square one; extraversion-introversion (E-I)

*Square two;  sensing-intuition (S-N)

*Square three; thinking-feeling (T-F)

*Square four;  judging-perceiving (J-P).


 Extraverts gain energy by being around others, and are more action oriented.  Whereas introverts gain energy by being alone, and are more cerebrally oriented.

Sensing and intuiting types are called the perceiving, information gathering functions. Sensors are concerned primarily with facts and details, while the intuitive are more concerned with comprehending “the big picture” and deeper meanings.

Thinking and feeling are the judging functions. Thinkers care more about logic, consistency, and doing what works.  Feelers are more concerned with what other people feel and think, and are interested in maintaining interpersonal harmony.  The third square is always about doing; the personality types in this third square want to do what works and what creates social harmony.

Next is judging and perceiving.  The fourth square always points beyond itself, engaging in a larger context.  Judging and perceiving deal with how people relate to the outside, wider world.  Judging personalities prefer to use their thinking and feeling functions when relating to the world.  Perceivers prefer to use their sensing and intuitive functions.   Those who prefer judging tend to  want things planned and decided, whereas, perceivers tend to like things to left open-ended.

The varied combinations of these personality types yield sixteen possibilities.   Keirsey separates the types into four temperaments; the Idealist, the Guardian, the Artisan, and the Rational.

Quadrant 1 = the Idealist.  Square one, the sensor (INFJ);  square two, the perceiver (ENFJ);   square three, the responder (ENFP);    square four, the aware person (INFP).

Quadrant 2 = the Guardian.   In square one is the believer (ISFJ);  in square two is the faithful person (ESFJ); in square three is the behaver (ESTJ);  square holds the belonger (ISTJ).

Quadrant 3 = the Artisan.  In square one the thinker (ISFP); in square two is the emoter (ESFP); in square three is the doer (ESTP); in square four is the dreamer (ISTP)

Quadrant 4= the Rational. In square one is the contemplator (INTJ), in square 2 is the passionate person (ENTJ); in square three is the flow-er (ENTP); in square four is the knower (INTP).

Keirsey's’ temperament model

Quadrant 1 - Idealists                                                       Quadrant 3- Artisans

Sensing (INFJ)	Responding (ENFP)	Thinking (ISFP)	Doing (ESTP)
Perceiving(ENFP)	Awareness (INFP)	Emoting (ESFP)	Dreaming (ISTP)
Believing (ISFJ)	Behaving (ESTJ)	Contemplating (INTJ)	Flowing (ENTP)
Faithful (ESFJ)	Belonging (ISTJ)	Passion (ENTJ)	Knowing (INTP)

Quadrant 2- Guardians                                                      Quadrant 4- Rationals

This chapter is the most important chapter of the book because all other examples of the quadrant model are going to be analogized to these personality types in future chapters.

There are two dichotomies that yield Keirsey's four temperaments: dichotomy 1--concrete and abstract; dichotomy 2--cooperative and utilitarian.  Concrete people care more about details and facts. Abstract people care more about the big picture and connections.  Cooperative people focus on maintaining social harmony, while utilitarian people care more about what works.

In Quadrant 1 are found the Idealists.  Idealists are abstract and cooperative.  Like all other  “residents” in the first square, they are weird.  They are intelligent, and like social harmony, wanting to belong and fit in. But at the same time they do not fit in because they are very abstract in their consciousness, and are perceived by the group as weird.  They are sensitive, perceptive, responsible and aware, caring deeply about things like the environment and nature.  They are very spiritual, which is a characteristic of the first quadrant, and they want to be helpful. The first quadrant is conservative, which coincides with being helpful.  Idealists are sensitive to others and can help others to feel better.  They put others before themselves. When asked about the meaning of life the idealists say it is “to find yourself”.  Awareness is of the self.  They desperately want to belong, and look up to guardians.  Idealists make up only about ten percent of the population. The first quadrant is linked to the self. Idealists are very mental and even are inclined to see the universe as a mind. They are empathetic and compassionate but can run the risk of not being compassionate or sensitive to people they don't like. Idealists are more likely vegetarians. They are smart but their ideas can run wild and they are likely to believe in aliens and other things considered weird. Some may say they need a straight jacket for their ideas but they are brilliant. They sometimes run the risk of trying to belong too much though and caring too much about what others think. They are cooperative and want to be seen as responsible and they can be described sometimes as too nice and too sensitive and a critique against them is that they can work too hard to try to make everybody happy, and I the process can sometimes be disingenuous. Idealists tend to feel responsibility is important and are responsible themselves and expect others to be responsible. They are into self reliance. Idealists recall are aware. When you are aware you can't quite put your finger on something completely but are just aware of it. Idealists like to say things like “the world is so incomprehensible it's beyond our comprehension”. They also like to express awe of the cosmos and being idealists, like to portray to others their awe and inspire them. Idealists are likely to believe that things like levitation or walking on water are really possible, which is kind of magical thinking, but they will try to explain it scientifically or metaphysically. They love to inspire and help people and make people feel good. They tend to be into things like crystals, astrology, the occult, and literature, in part because these are weird and idealists are weird, and in part because these are avenues for finding the self and better understanding the self, which idealists love.

Quadrant 2 contains the Guardians.  Guardians are concrete and cooperative.   Unlike the Idealists, they are normal and fit in. Idealists tend to like guardians and look up to guardians and want to be them. The first square wants to be the second, the second wants to be the third, and the third wants to be the fourth. The second square focuses on homeostasis; it is about maintaining order.  The second square thinks in “black and white”.  Guardians are very concerned with right and wrong, and morality.   Not extremely deep thinkers, they are concrete thinkers concerned with facts.  But they are also cooperative and concerned with social harmony and belonging.  They tend to be religious; even if not religious about religion, they are religious about other things.  Being religious connotes believing deeply and having strong faith in something in spite of not necessarily having a deep knowledge or understanding of it.  They maintain order and structure, and are good at producing social harmony and establishing strong friendships.  They will “give you the shirt off their backs”.   When asked about the meaning of life a Guardian will likely say that it is to “put food in the fridge, and to take care of family”.  Guardians are very into family and friends, while also envying the Artisans who are more spontaneous and into having fun. While looking down on Artisans because of their wild and destructive behavior, and appearance of being less intelligent,

simultaneously they wish to be more like the Artisan. They tend to like white people and like order. They try to play the role they feel is assigned to them, whether it is the role they thing a Black man should play if they are Black, or a woman, and so on. They are less likely to think very deeply about topics and are more likely to believe whatever they feel will help them belong. Guardians make up about fifty percent of the population.

In Quadrant 3 are the Artisans.  The third square is characteristically very physical.  Artisans are very into the physical.   They are concrete, and utilitarian They are rational, and “cool”.  They are good at thinking, yet are also emotional.   As doers they love to get things done while having fun.  They can be very spontaneous and even destructive; the third square is destructive, and often viewed as bad. They like sports and art.  However, they can envy those who are able to think abstractly, often turning to drugs in pursuit of the abstract and elusive.   Artisans like respect, and  like to have authority and they are not afraid to hurt feelings and be renegades and be politically incorrect. Unlike their opposites, the idealists they don't mind doing what they feel works even if it disrupts social harmony and is not empathetic. Donald Trump is an example of an artisan. They are showmen. Artisans are plentiful, making up about thirty five percent of the population

In Quadrant 4 are found the Rationals.  Rationals are abstract and utilitarian, and somewhat “weird”, which is a characteristic of the fourth square.   Abstract people look for principles, patterns, and connections. The fourth quadrant is knowledge and contemplation.  Rationals are very contemplative, tend to be calm, but can also be passionate.  They may not show emotions, but when they do they tend to lose control or be very intense. Rationals are utilitarian, doing what works best, not caring particularly about social harmony, hence they can be destructive.  This allows them to be philosophical and a transformative force.  Einstein was a Rational.  He had a hard time taking care of himself. Rationals are said to “have their heads in the clouds”.   They are good at contemplating, thereby transcending the normal world.  They also can be chameleons, fitting in with the other types  by pretending to be like them.   Benjamin Franklin is a good example.  Especially the INTP  is able to “see the big picture”. Rationals care most about gaining truth and want to press people and promote debate, which other types might feel is threatening and even confrontational. But Rationals do not really hold onto beliefs, and will just pretend to hold to one in order to spark debate so they can gain deeper insights and produce greater inquiry. Rationals are rare, making up about five percent of the population.  The fourth is always different, and seems not to belong with the other three. Whereas idealists are very into values and have emotional investment in their ideas, Rationals tend to be less sensitive and don't have as much emotional investment in beliefs. A Rational may appear to take a stance in order to promote inquiry and debate, but he really does not have one, and this may confuse idealists.