Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1998 09:03:01 +0100

To: ken-wilber-l@listserv.azstarnet.com

From: Thomas Jordan <Thomas.Jordan@redcap.econ.gu.se>

Subject: Re: Centauric Self

Dear fellow listmembers,

I really feel that the question of what a centaur is on a practical level is important. Adrian and Dez offered some comments. Let me restate them in my words to see what happens:

Adrian on centaurs:

>Knowing I am a beast really.... but was so fortunate of unfortunate to be

>gifted with the possibility of abstract thinking, so that I see, that being

>an animal is not good for me any more, but still being unable to fill out,

>to realise, my new being. Centaurs are on their way however.

Can I interpret this as saying that a centaur is someone who is no longer embedded in unconscious drives and desires, nor exclusively identified with the mind, but someone who recognizes both beastness and intellect? Someone who is in the process of transcending beastness?

Dez on centaurs:

>Without (direct) reference to Wilber...a person who sees and values people

>primarily as People - not as USians, Ethiopians, NZians, UKians, etc., etc.,

>but is able to, and not afraid to, recognise that not all of them are

>good...an 'understanding' person who can see where others are coming from -

>and who is likely often disappointed (though less and less surprised) at not

>receiving the same understanding from everybody else...a lover of learning

>and growth, in the widest sense...someone who is willing to face the issue

>of 'spirituality' with personal Effort, having perhaps danced with both the

>partiality of dogma and the lazy arrogance of agnosticism...man, I dunno.

>That spirituality thing is, more often than not, the missing link, I feel -

>tis for me, anyway.

So, a centaur is someone who:

1. regards the entire humanity as ingroup;

2. can hold a differentiated image of individual group members;

3. can reflect on why people are as they are without forming instant opinions/value judgements on the basis of spontaneous sympathy or dislike;

4. expects that relationships should be built on mutual respect and tolerance;

5. regards learning and growth as central concerns in life;

6. is willing to take spirituality seriously by making personal efforts;

7. has acquired some life wisdom through personal experiences with various ways of handling the existential challenges.

Not a bad result, eh?

I'd like to add a few considerations. I think important aspects of the centaur is:

1. open channels between thinking and feeling, so that the products of thinking (world-view, opinions, judgements, beliefs, etc.) are tempered by the reality of feelings, and the expression of emotions and feelings are tempered by conscious reflection.

2. is not exclusively identified with a specific perspective and self-image, and therefore has little need to be defensive in the face of diversity, contradiction and criticism.

3. has a well developed capacity for relating with sympathy and understanding to various perspectives.

4. has a basic attitude of acceptance of the world as it is, and a sense of connectedness and benevolence in relation to the human and natural environment.

Others?

Thomas