Sunday, October 16th, 1977

WISDOM'S GOLDENROD, ALAN BERKOWITZ CLASS NOTES

(TYPED)

OCTOBER 16, 1977

EPISTEMOLOGY; SYMBOLIC FUNCTIONING

TOPIC: Epistemology

SUBJECT: Symbolic Functioning

SUBSUBJECTS: Projection, Participation Mystique, Manas, Primal Image, Tejas, Desire

BOOKS READ FROM OR REFERENCED:

• Plotinus, The Enneads (MacKenna translation, 4th ed.)

• Franz Pfeiffer, Meister Eckhart, Volume 1, trans. C. de B. Evans

• Rene Guenon, Man and His Becoming According to the Vedanta

• Rene Guenon, The Multiple States of Being

• C.G. Jung, CW 5, Symbols of Transformation

• C.G. Jung, CW 6, Psychological Types

• C.G. Jung, CW 8, The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche

• G.R.S. Mead, The Doctrine of the Subtle Body in Western Tradition

• Swami Vireswarananda, Brahma-Sutras

• Manly Palmer Hall, Man, the Grand Symbol of the Mysteries

• Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya, Studies in Philosophy, Vol. 1

• A.C. Das, Studies in Philosophy

• Paul Brunton, The Hidden Teaching Beyond Yoga

PLOTINUS QUOTES READ OR REFERENCED: IV.1.1, IV.4.23, IV.4.24

TYPED AND REFORMATTED by IT 2022

NOTES:

• RETYPED HANDWRITTEN NOTES (hence V08). From Alan Notes 02 1977 to 06 1979.PDF.

• All capitalization and punctuation corrected, abbreviations spelled out.

1977 10/16 at Wisdom's Goldenrod

Epistemology; Symbolic Functioning

[Alan Notes 1016 1977 Begin]

10/16/77

1) IV.1.1 [Note: Plotinus, The Enneads.]

2) IV.4.23, 24

3) Eckhart -- p. 4 powers of soul, p. 5 (image) V2? [Note: Franz Pfeiffer, Meister Eckhart, Volume 1, trans. C. de B. Evans.]

4) Brahma-Sutras -- Introduction -- Superimposition [Note: See Brahma-Sutras by Swami Vireswarananda. Introduction is on pp. i-lxiii, Superimposition is on pp. 3-20. Not clear if both of these are being referred to or only the section on Superimposition.]

5) Jung, Psychological Types -- definition of projection [Note: C.G. Jung, CW 6, Psychological Types.]

6) Structure and Dynamics -- projection [Note: C.G. Jung, CW 8, The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche.]

7) Man and His Becoming -- taijasa (dream state) [Note: Rene Guenon, Man and His Becoming According to the Vedanta, Ch. 13.]

8) Manly Palmer Hall, Man, the Grand Symbol of the Mysteries -- sight (last page, two kinds) [Note: Ch. 18.]

9) A.C. Das -- ignorance -- p. 5 [Note: A.C. Das, Studies in Philosophy, Ch. 1, "The Awareness of Ignorance".]

10) Bhattacharyya -- avidya -- p. 1 [Note: Krishnachandra Bhattacharyya, Studies in Philosophy, Vol. 1. Not clear what p. 1 is referring to. References to avidya are scattered throughout Volume 1, with the majority being in "Studies in Yoga Philosophy".]

11) Guenon, Multiple States -- Ch. 15 [Note: Rene Guenon, The Multiple States of Being.]

12) G.R.S. Mead -- Subtle Body -- Synesius on imagination [Note: G.R.S. Mead, The Doctrine of the Subtle Body in Western Tradition.]

13) Jung -- "Spirit and Life" -- pp. 323-4 [Note: C.G. Jung, CW 8, The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche, "Spirit and Life".]

Mystic identity (participation mystique) of childhood is necessary to understand mechanism of projection. In participation mystique you are in identity with environment. Images incorporated from environment are experienced as part of oneself -- in an act of perception we own.

1) Mind as repository of all past perception -- images in mind.

2) Desire as projecting agent.

3) Tejas (Jung): all-pervasive, plastic, fiery, light [Note: See C.G. Jung, CW 5, Symbols of Transformation, "The Transformation of Libido".]

A synthetic, homogenous understanding of these three aspects is necessary to understand mind going out and grasping object.

Manas = common sensorium of Scholastics.

Image ≠ reflected image (phantasm).

Image = primordial image, or actual perceived world = experience of Witness-I -- is epistemological, not psychical.

Image is unmediated, is experienced directly, not through the medium of anything else = image of Hidden Teaching. [Note: Paul Brunton, The Hidden Teaching Beyond Yoga.]

[Alan Notes 1016 1977 End]