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The Taboo of (Inter)Subjectivity. Part 1. The Two Sciences of Consciousness.
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Alan Wallace
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Alan Wallace, a scholar, practitioner, and teacher of Buddhism for over three decades, devoted fourteen years
to training as a Tibetan Buddhist monk, and was ordained by H. H. the Dalai Lama. He earned a doctorate in
religious studies at Stanford, and is the author of many books, including The Taboo of Subjectivity:
Towards a New Science of Consciousness.
Laying the foundation for their conversation, Alan and Ken agree that whereas much of reality can be studied
by objective observation, interior phenomena can only be studied through subjective observation.
Data that is in "front" of one's eyes can be accessed by the five senses, and is described and understood in
objective, third-person, "it"-language terms. Science here is material, so to speak. Data that is "behind"
one's eyes can only be accessed through techniques adapted to interior realities, such as phenomenology and
introspection, and is described and understood in subjective, first-person, "I"-language terms. Science here
is indeed a science of consciousness.
However, in today's world, as Alan points out, science has become almost exclusively identified with
scientific materialism, and there is next to no room for a genuine science of consciousness. In a world that
is strictly material, thoughts, sensations, emotions, and the entire spectrum of interior reality is reduced
to its material substrate.
But really, there are two sciences of the interiors we must honor, not just one. The first science we have
already discussed, namely a first-person approach to first-person realities, as revealed by phenomenology and
introspection. Quite simply, when I look at my mind, what do I see?
The second kind of interior science, as Ken explains, takes a third-person approach to first-person realities,
and is therefore able to notice certain things that phenomenology can't see, namely structures in
consciousness (which can explain, for example, the structure of language). Structures can't be spotted by
introspection because they aren't part of the content of one's mind; they are part of what you look at
the mind with. Even more interesting is that by taking a third-person approach to first-person
realities and following them over time, modern research has consistently shown that these structures
unfold developmentally.
The great contemplative traditions of the world give an exquisite account of the interior levels or stages of
contemplative growth and development—their introspective techniques are truly extraordinary. But what
the traditions won't be able to tell you is if the person meditating is, for example, at moral stage 1, moral
stage 2, moral stage 3, etc. Once this person gets up off the meditation mat, through what structure are they
going to express their realization?
Together, Alan and Ken explain how interiors of any sort—subjective and intersubjective—have
indeed become taboo in modern Western culture. Not only are we discouraged from exploring the felt, immediate
experience of subjectivity, but we are discouraged from studying the ways that that subjective self develops
over time, changing not only how one perceives reality, but how much of reality is perceived to
begin with.
We hope you enjoy this lucid, humorous tour through the subtle terrain of an interior landscape which might,
just might, have something more interesting to tell us than the mechanical shuffling of our atomic
foundations....
| Did you know you can burn an audio CD of this dialogue and listen to it in your car or anywhere using a standard CD player, or—an increasingly popular move—listen on your iPod. Too cool! |
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transmission time: 34 minutes |
The Taboo of Subjectivity, Gyatrul Rinpoche, The Vajra Essence, Düdjom Lingpa, Dzogchen, Tibetan Buddhism, William James, Descartes, Quantum Questions, Max Weber, differentiation of the value spheres (art, morals, science), the eye of flesh, the eye of mind, the eye of contemplation, Eye to Eye, gross/subtle/causal, the three strands of the knowledge quest (injunction, apprehension, confirmation), introspection, phenomenology, John Watson, behaviorism, Patricia Churchland, materialism, "What Is Integral?," James Mark Baldwin, structuralism, post-structuralism, developmental psychology, Foucault, Piaget, Lawrence Kohlberg, Jane Loevinger, Robert Kegan, Carol Gilligan, Susann Cook-Greuter, moral development (preconventional, conventional, postconventional), A Theory of Everything.
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most memorable moment: "What came to be known as science settled on the eye of flesh, and thus, assuming we have at least three eyes—the eye of flesh, the eye of mind, and the eye of contemplation—two of them went blind...." |
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