“The symbols (the Signs) serve the purpose of expressing the ideas behind them, the wise words of explaining the Signs. When symbols are comprehended, words can be forgotten, and when ideas are comprehended, symbols can be forgotten. However, if hanging onto words, symbols will never be comprehended, and if hanging onto symbols, ideas will never be comprehended.” (in Wolfgang Bauer, Fundamentals of the Book of Changes, Introduction to the I Ching by Richard Wilhelm, p. 13.)

I very much like the simplicity and clarity of it.

The two most obvious activities of the mind you notice when starting to practice some form of meditation, is the wandering imagination (1) and the inner speech (2). These two can be present simultaneously or just one at a time. But while they are there, they are filling your mind, they are generating mind activity. It is important to realize that neither one should not have any negative connotation for you in this context. The inner wanderings and ramblings just need to be brought under voluntary control in order to be able to stop them at will.

The beauty of Yoga consists in helping you understand that every part of your being can be trained. Not just your physical body. Thus, in order to be able to practice your chosen form of meditation, you can train your mind to become a helpful instrument.

1. Stopping imagination at will

Imagination doesn’t just provide the essential material for your dreams, but it controls your involuntary actions more than you realize. In your day-to-day life when something imagined becomes a belief, it will then influence even your physical health. Learning to direct imagination towards a desirable direction is widely accepted as a form of mental health care.

Here, we need to get neutral about this. It is not our goal to turn towards a positive mental stream, but to understand and learn the way to bring imagination under control. When you are able to stop any imaginative activity on your mind-screen for an indefinite time period, then you have gained control over your imagination. And once more, this does not mean you should not learn to have a positive imaginative mental attitude. This is just simply different. You are simply learning to stop imagination at will.

Imagination is calibrated by attention. Attention is usually pointed where the eyes are looking. Traversing a rift on a plank is usually safe just until you stare at center of the plank. If you move your eyes, your attention follows and your imagination brings in the belief of falling. So, three factors are involved in the process: imagination – attention – eye focus. What the yoga technique suggests is to reverse the order here. Learning to keep the eye perfectly motionless will keep the attention focused. When the focused attention is maintained at will, as long as you want it, uninterruptedly, then imagination can be maintained still. It can be stopped at will.

This technique is called Trataka. It consists of fixing the focus of the eyeballs on one spot. You may use whatever you want to be the object of this training: a spot on the wall, an object, the top of your nose, some prefer the light of a candle. But you are there only when there are no movements of the eyes. Not even micro movements. It should be maintained until the eyes begin to water, at which point you may close them and relax. Too much tensed effort affects you like in any sort of training. So be careful, but persistent. You have to learn to get control over all the reactions that will manifest.

2. Suspending the inner speech

Thinking is generally considered a process of inner verbalization. We use words, sentences to think, although this is going on soundless for the outer world. All thoughts are followed by a soundless form of speaking, the inner speech. Those of you who were trying some form of meditation practice know that the inner speech is very much present when you wish to calm your mental fluctuations. In fact, most of the mental fluctuations are manifesting through this inner speech. Even thinking about your actual meditation is a sign of a fluctuating mind. So, learning to suspend the inner speech at will, indefinitely in time, is essential for every meditation practitioner.

Any kind of soundless inner speech produces micro movements in the muscles of your tongue. Even if you try your best and it is completely unnoticeable for you, with the help of some sophisticated machinery, those micro movements would be clearly observable. And also, those movements are perfectly corresponding to the regular tongue movements as in loud talk. The interesting part is, that we are so used to this interaction between our tongue and the inner speech, that if we impede or inhibit the movements of the tongue, our inner speech will be impeded and stopped. This is what is used in yoga. Operating on the reverse as with the stopping of the eyeball movements.

Yoga calls this technique Khechari Mudra. The complete execution of this technique is difficult, also not entirely relevant here as it concerns breathing exercises. What is important to remember is, that by placing firmly the tip of the tongue on the palate you are making the effort of inhibiting all tongue movements. Through constraining the tongue in a firmly fixed position, your are also impeding the inner speech to manifest. Thus, you are stopping the mental fluctuations and – through serious and persistent effort – are training the mind to become a helping tool.

… levels that share common informational value …

Now a few final thoughts. Using these two techniques will improve your meditation. But the other reason to share those was to demonstrate how self-evidently yoga operates with vertical thinking. Acting upon interconnected levels generates efficient change. Recognizing the connected levels that share common informational value is the core of vertical thinking. Inner transformation is relevant only in terms of this verticality, on the axes of material and formal causes. Acting upon one level always affects the other.

One of the most important keys in approaching vertical thinking was given to us by the genius of Jung. It is called: synchronicity. What he really managed to create was a terminology suitable for our Western rational minds. Mainly through clarifying explanations, with terms that got into the common knowledge ever since. So many people have heard of and are using the term synchronicity. But do we really know what that means? I think it is worth the effort to learn some more about it, especially if you are a self development addict like me. Let’s dive a little into the details of the concept.

Jung defined synchronicity as “an acausal connecting principle”. It connects the personal psyche with the material world. So the two protagonists of the phenomenon are the personal state of mind – the inner world, and the material world – the outside.

Synchronicity is considered a phenomenon manifesting meaningfully for the personal psyche. This is the second major aspect to be considered: the meaning it carries. This meaning is not necessarily to be considered as some sign, but as a balancing influence over one’s psyche. Interpreting it is by all means a great help in achieving this balance. Understanding it has a bigger impact than just discovering it.

…an essentially mysterious connection

It was considered by Jung an essentially mysterious connection between the personal psyche and the material world. Mysterious because it doesn’t fulfill academic criteria. Unexplained in terms of science. Jung’s interest in quantum physics led him to the interpretation that at the bottom, the two components (psyche and material world) are only different forms of energy.

The common knowledge recognizes synchronicity when this acausal connection occurs in the same time (or around the same time) in the same place (or closely in the same place), like a response or echo to the person’s state of mind in the material world surrounding him/her. But Jung expanded the concept with two other forms of the phenomenon, less known. Those two are considered in the common knowledge forms of clairvoyance: remote seeing and precognition. To sum it up, here is the list of the three forms of synchronicities:

1. Present time, same or neighboring place
2. Remote seeing: same time, different place
3. Precognition: future time, different or same place

All those phenomenons share the common property of being both mysteriously connected in time and space and connecting the personal psyche with the material, outer world.

In Jung’s words: “Synchronicity . . . consists of two factors: a) An unconscious image comes into consciousness either directly (i.e., literally) or indirectly (symbolized or suggested) in the form of a dream, idea, or premonition. b) An objective situation coincides with this content. The one is as puzzling as the other.["Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle," ibid., par. 858.]”

Synchronicity is never sought nor anticipated, but discovered

The temptation for actively searching for instances of synchronicity is often present where people are looking desperately for the mysterious or uncommon. But Jung warns us that synchronicity is never sought nor anticipated, but discovered. So, the healthy attitude is to discover the phenomenon once it has manifested. On the contrary, the obsession for correlations is there as a form pathological deviance.

It is also elucidating to see how Jung interprets the major influence of the phenomenon on the human psyche:

“As soon as a psychic content crosses the threshold of consciousness, the synchronistic marginal phenomena disappear, time and space resume their accustomed sway, and consciousness is once more isolated in its subjectivity.“[On the Nature of the Psyche," CW 8, par. 440.]

And also gives us the theoretical possibility of provoking the phenomenon:

“Conversely, synchronistic phenomena can be evoked by putting the subject into an unconscious state.” [On the Nature of the Psyche," CW 8, par. 440.]

I am positive that most of you have been experiencing the amazing phenomenon of synchronicity. We all are attracted and even fascinated by the mysterious. And synchronicity can bring us that experience, usually when we less expect it. I tend to see it like a glimpse behind the veil, like we are allowed to have a vision lasting for an instant about overwhelming realities.

Invisible and invincible

The name Pluto was a late addition to the Greek god Hades. Hades literally means “the invisible one”. According to the myth, after freeing the titans from Tartaros, they gave him the invisibility cap which became his symbol. Hades is unseen to the eye, he is invisible to us. He represents a much restrained and hidden form of aggression than the one we learned about as Mars. It is an introvert aggression, oriented towards inside, opposed to how Mars manifests. Where there is war on the battlefield – related to Mars, there is civil war – related to Pluto. While combat is preferred by Mars, total collapse is preferred by Pluto. While the weapons of Mars are made of iron, plutonium is at core of the most destructive bomb.

The force of Pluto is of utmost effectiveness. There is no superficial change. There is total and radical change. Radical change is what we know as metamorphosis. The word radical has at its origins the Latin radix meaning root. Radical change, true transformation is only possible from the essential roots of being.

Down to the roots

The term ‘radical’ begot a negative connotation these days. Instead the term ‘phenomenal’ got a positive sense, which in fact relates to the superficiality of our lives. Our current society doesn’t really know how to cope with the archetype of Pluto. And then, we see its presence in undesired contexts, down shaken events. Whether we like it or not, it is an essential force of our existence. Facing it will happen one way or another.

The feminine side of aggression

It is not obvious at all, that in fact this is a feminine archetype. All the qualities related to it are of an introvert nature. As Rüdiger Dahlke points out in Aggression als Chance, in fact Pluto’s wife, Persephone would be much appropriate as an eponym for this archetype. In German mythology the goddess Hel is ruler of the underworld, somewhat closer to expressing the true nature of this force. What does the fact that we are unable to give a proper name to it show us? I believe it shows our incapacity to comprehend it. But whether we think of it as a male god or a goddess, it is still the same ruthless force that we are obliged to face, even if we do not understand it, at least not yet.

“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the master calls a butterfly.” *

Pluto is also the name given to the force of potentialities. He represents the seed to be transformed into the tree and into the fruit that will generate new seeds. The name Pluto literally means “giver of wealth”. He is the god of hidden treasures. For the human being who is willing to submit to true self transformation, he represents the cornucopia, abundance itself. From there, all essential powers and qualities are coming to the brave.

Eradication vs. Acceptance

In terms of integration and understanding of aggression, contemporary life has the same avoiding and often hypocritical attitude. Essentially not much has changed. What changed in fact, is that now we are not personifying it any more. There is nothing ambrosial about it any more. Although we realize that aggression is part of ourselves, still this remains a sterile theory. None of us is capable of accepting it as part of him/herself. Even more, now we have invented sophisticated ways in trying to eradicate it.

The myth of the Olympian Ares (Mars) has at its core the rejection towards him, the lack of understanding. Decoding this, we can say that the only way to approach him is through understanding. Easy to say. But how to start this understanding? Where to start this?

Well, the first step is acceptance. Acceptance is revealed in the myth through the essential fact that he is one of the major Olympian Gods. So, whether we like it or not, he is there, he must be there, he is essential.

Mars is passionate at the utmost for both love and war

In our effort to understand him, we have to familiarize ourselves with his attributes. We need to realize his true nature. Ares (Mars) is depicted as a male god full of vitality and dynamism. Unlike other gods, he is vulnerable and can be vanquished by mortals too. He is passionate to the utmost. Being the god of war, he is war itself. He loves conflict for the pleasure of it, without moral motifs. He never takes sides. And besides his destructive nature, he is also longing intensely and passionately for completion, for pleasure, love and liberation. He is longing for Aphrodite (Venus at Romans) who is said to be made for him, his complement in everything.

The reward for understanding Mars is true harmony

Ares (Mars) and Aphrodite (Venus) had many children. One of them is Harmonia (the goddess of harmony), known to the Romans as Concordia (meaning literally “with heart”). According to the myth, Harmonia was given as wife to king Kadmos. The story of Kadmos is quite elucidating in finding the proper attitude towards Ares. King Kadmos after slaying a dragon sacred to Ares, was ordered by the fair Zeus (Jupiter at Romans) to serve Ares as slave for a long period of time. This means that Kadmos had to familiarize himself with this principle he wanted to conquer. He had to understand him first. After completing his service to Ares (Mars), he was rewarded by getting the most beautiful of all Ares’s daughters, Harmonia, Harmonia representing the successful uniting of extreme opposites (Mars and Venus).

There is also the unsuccessful tentative in approaching aggression. It is said that it brings in Eris (Discordia at Romans), sister of Ares, the goddes of strife. The more one tends to repress aggression, the more power one gives to its shadowy side. Thus its destructive force will be rather present. This is quite a paradoxical situation, but seems unavoidable until the more desired attitude arises.

New life, new beginnings

Mars is also the god of beginnings. He is the eruptive force, he is the energy of start. He is the generative force of life bringing nature to life in springtime. He is present at the beginnings of human life too, through the blood and pain of birth. He is there at every new beginning. Without him there would be no new start, no new life. And this must serve us with an important conclusion: eradicating aggression means being against life. Integrating aggression, accepting it and understanding it means accepting the essential vitality. Means also getting in touch with the force of life.

Understanding always brings change

The utmost in efficiency that one can achieve is to able to understand. Understanding is by far much more than knowledge. When true understanding comes, it changes you, it transforms you. And also it transforms what was misunderstood or not understood before. Understanding transforms poison into medicine.

Understanding aggression transforms it into a force that will help you. It will not weaken you any more, but will give you the strength that you’ve always wished for.

Recognizing the nature of aggression is essential

As stated before, the true nature of aggression is not violence. It is a complete misunderstanding to identify them. Aggression is one of the essential principles that is present in our lives. By its nature, it is always present whether you are aware of it or not. There are destructive manifestations of it, but also, there are harmless and constructive forms in which it shows up.

Few psychological orientation truly help us in understanding aggression. One of them is the analytical psychology founded by C. G. Jung. He realized that the forces that are influencing us unconsciously can be approached by discovering the collective dreams of mankind. These collective dreams are presented through myths and often even through fairy tales. Here I am going to draw your attention towards the possibilities that mythology reserves us in order to comprehend the principle of aggression.

The two archetypal facets of aggression

Although we are accustomed to look at aggression as a masculine manifestation, the ancients recognized its feminine side too. For modern people this might be something surprisingly new. Both of the facets were disliked and feared. The masculine facet was called Ares by the Greeks and Mars by the Romans. The feminine facet was given also the name of a male god – will explain it immediately – Hades by the Greeks and Pluto by the Romans.

Mars – the masculine archetype of aggression

In the myth, Ares is son of Zeus and Hera, an unloved child from the very beginning. Unruly, disobedient, boisterous, Mars was unloved not only by gods, but also of men. God of war, but not the one who incites wars, not a moral factor. He is representative of the passion for conflict as such, without taking sides.

The rejection Mars faces from the very beginning shows us the lack of understanding towards the principle of aggression. This is the most obvious sign that no other approach will work with him besides understanding. Let’s stop here with Mars for now and get an introduction to Pluto.

Pluto – the feminine archetype of aggression

The overwhelmingly patriarchal ancient Greek and Roman society gave us the feminine principle of aggression in form of a male god. In other mythologies on the contrary, this principle was accepted as feminine, ex. goddess Hel in the Old-German mythology.

Hades is the god of the underworld, his name means “invisible” or “to make invisible”. He was so feared that when the Romans actualized him to their own system of gods, they gave him a new name, Pluto, thus becoming also god of the riches under the earth.

Understanding this archetype is much more difficult than the one of Mars. We can say that it is somewhat new in the general consciousness. An arguable but significant argument here is that even the planet Pluto was quite recently discovered. And there is still an ongoing debate on whether it should be considered a planet. But this is not important for the perspective of getting familiarized with the archetype by the name Pluto.

The main characteristic which differentiates Pluto from Mars is its withholding and hidden presence. Instead of exposing and showing off, it is oriented towards the interior, towards itself. It is much more insidious and perfidious. Its destructive power is much bigger than the one of Mars. By the time Pluto was discovered as a planet, there was also discovered the element called Plutonium used for the most destructive bombs ever made by men.

But Pluto also has its constructive and beneficent aspects. As god of the underworld it represents the immense energies hidden within our unconscious. It represents the potential of complete and effective transformation.

For now, I really hope that you enjoyed this short article on approaching the principle and archetypes of aggression. In the future I intend to develop more the topic as it constitutes part of the framework of vertical thinking and of Vertegram.

Instead of closing conclusions, I am living this open with a few questions:

• How do you think these principles are present in the actual warfares around the globe?
• Can you recognize significant differences between the different warfares carried through in our current days?
• Can you recognize beneficent, positive manifestations of these principles? Can you give examples?

It is time for some more pragmatism on Vertegram. After having written a few posts known to the probloggers as pillar articles on vertical thinking, now I am going to introduce you into what I call vertical thinking, with some concrete examples. For some of you these will be new stuff, for some will be common knowledge. I am asking the latter to be patient. For me it is important to present vertical thinking in this way, because as I stated before, it is an essential part of the framework for understanding and self transformation I intend to promote. So here it is, the first post in the series of more concrete presentation of vertical thinking.

As defined previously, the essence of vertical thinking is finding analogous representatives for the same quality. There are many systems of reference in which verticality is present. For example one of the most well known ones is the theory of archetypes developed by Jung. To put it shortly, archetypes are major influential presences in the unconscious which tend show up in many different forms. They are present in myths, legends, fairy tales, sometimes entering even into the individual’s dreams.

Another major system of reference for vertical thinking is astrology. It operates much systematically organized with principles, qualities, archetypes that are intertwining all our conscious and unconscious existence. Also, the case of astrology fits perfectly into a previous presentation of vertical thinking. The one showing the 4 causes defined by Aristotle. While astrology deals with formative causes manifested on different levels, down until materiality, astronomy deals with facts, measures, exactitude, science. Astronomy works mostly on the horizontal line of causes.

The chain of analogies represented by the planets

The concrete framework I chose to use on Vertegram will be the chain of analogies represented by planets. No unnecessary astrology will be involved here, except for planetary correlations. Also, a great deal of mythology will be evoked. Modern physics also may be used to reinforce some wholistic views.

There is always the why and the how. In this order. So, for a start, why the planets?

“The planets are the ‘gods’, symbols of the powers of the unconscious.”

The primordial roles that planets have always played in human life is undeniable. Planets carry the names of gods. At first, the were the myths and legends of gods and their doings. Then, the planets were assigned to the gods. Ever since, they represent the presence and the power of those gods, “symbols of the powers of the unconscious” (C. G. Jung).

Before you jump to any conclusions, it is important to see here, that actual references to physical, measurable influences is not significant in this context. There are many pros and cons, but it is not important in order to get to know and understand the role of the planets in vertical thinking.

Essentially, referring to planets means referring to the qualities they represent. Informational qualities they carry along on all levels of our existence. Those are sometimes called primordial qualities. Often, they are presented as principles. Still, I prefer to appeal to them as to essential qualities.

In a previous post I gave you an exercise for categorizing under a generic term a list of words. Let’s redo that quickly. We had the following lists:

1. cat, fish, bear, elephant, crab, dog, parrot, ant, …
2. copper, pigeon, pink, strawberry, beautician, bathroom, …

The generic term for the first one was easy to find, they are called animals. For the second one, it was not so easy. At least you needed some previous knowledge of astrology to know that. Let’s give now a different look for to the second list, let’s show it on vertical:

• copper – metal
• pigeon – animal
• pink – color
• strawberry – fruit
• beautician – occupation
• bathroom – premises

This approach is more illustrative. You can see that the common term of animals from our previous list is represented by the pigeon here. Also, we have here a member of the category of metals, called copper. So on, colors are present by pink, fruits through strawberry, etc. Different categories sharing some common property, some common quality. Now the solution. It is the quality represented by a planet. Its name is: Venus.

Here you have a first simple example of vertical thinking in our context. And I give you quickly another one, another list, just to keep you in shape for this:

• iron,
• wolf,
• red,
• blood,
• battlefield,
• soldier,
• chili pepper, …

A shared common quality on all levels

Metals are represented by iron. Animals by the wolf, but I could have added also dogs here as close relatives. The colors are represented by red and quickly after I added blood for the category of bodily fluids. For sceneries I added the battlefield , for occupations there is the soldier. For plants there is the red, hot, chili pepper… Do you think there is something common to all those? Do they seem like carrying some similitude? You see, although they all belong to different generic terms like animals, plants, metals etc., still they share a common quality. A quality present on all those levels. The solution for this second list is: Mars. Mars is known as the god of warfare in the Greek mythology. Mars is here the quality of emerging force often perceived as aggression or self-assertion in social interactions for ex.

These simple examples are meant as introductory thoughts on vertical thinking. My hope is to show you some new approaches in self understanding and in perceiving the phenomenons surrounding us. Through discerning levels of manifestation you will have a tool to be used more efficiently, more specifically in your self developmental quest.

Illustration: Venus and Mars by Antonio Canova, 1816-22, Marble, height 210 cm, Courtauld Institute Gallery, London

Common logic that we use is also known as the step by step logic. This is integrated in what is defined as lateral thinking. When it comes to lateral thinking, I often prefer to say it is a causal thinking. Causal thinking is what we learn from early childhood. It is the essential way to rationalize of our present society and culture. It reaches its climax in scientific reasoning and factual approach in giving answers, solving problems. On the other hand, there is a completely different way of thinking. Less known, or maybe less common. It is the vertical thinking, also known as acausal thinking. For those of you looking for relations and correlations in understanding, vertical thinking is a must learn. Here is why.

Any self development quest or effort supposes a future state which is different from the actual one. It supposes a change, a transformation that will bring something more to what there is now. So, in terms of self developmental efforts, it is easy to recognize the patterns of causal thinking. It is dependent on time and movement in time, from a past state towards a future state.

Vertical thinking is essentially the ability to recognize informational units. Even more, to recognize similar qualities of information. So, vertical thinking is more into understanding. Understanding not through rationalization, step by step logic, but through analogies. This also has the property of sequentiality, but not in time. Sequentiality here is present in form of levels.

Aristotle’s doctrine of the four causes

It is interesting to see how this relates to Aristotle’s doctrine of the four causes. In his metaphysics, Aristotle defines the following four causes:

1. Material cause: “that from which, as a constituent present in it, a thing comes to be … e.g., the bronze and silver, and their genera, are causes of the statue and the bowl.”
2. Formal cause: “the form, i.e., the pattern … the form is the account of the essence … and the parts of the account.”
3. Efficient cause: “the source of the primary principle of change or stability,” e.g., the man who gives advice, the father (of the child). “The producer is a cause of the product, and the initiator of the change is a cause of what is changed.”
4. Final cause: “something’s end (telos) – i.e., what it is for – is its cause, as health is the cause of walking.”

Now, if we visualize it in the context of horizontal and vertical ordering, the following picture will be explanatory:

Horizontally we see displayed the past source, the initiating point and the future ending, the finality. This relates to what we previously said that common causal thinking is. The step by step logic of lateral thinking.

Vertical thinking is represented by the formal and the material cause here, displayed along the vertical axes. The formal cause represents the pattern, or as we said before, the informational quality. Material cause represents the levels on which it is organized. The levels are the sequences of informational units.

Vertical thinking means moving on the vertical axes. Analogies are its best expression. Finding the similar informational quality on different levels is the way of understanding here.

This way of thinking as opposed to the lateral one is not available as a matter of course. It has to be learned. Once it was available for us. The language of fairy tales, with all of the myths and legends presented there in their purest form were so dear to us all. And when we grew up, we slowly forgot their reality, sometimes even deny it. But then it often reappears as a must learn in times of adulthood. In time, we realize the barriers of our actual ways of thinking, the incapacity of it to give us satisfactory answers. Then, whether we know it or not, we are in fact looking for the vertical way of thinking.

I admit that the subject of recognizing and deciphering sign is dear to me. In a previous post I was posing you the question “Can you recognize the signs?” Teodora made an interesting turn of the subject there, by asking who’s in control if you go for deliberate relying on signs – like throwing a dice or a coin. Also, she was strong on the idea that inner choices are more important. I gave lots of thoughts on this because this seems like complementary to my take, thus always worth considering.

So, who is in control? Is it good at all to rely on signs coming from the outside? Should you listen only to your deep feelings?

I would like to try and give a possible answer. My starting point for this would be what I previously proposed as the confirmative accompanying phenomenon, called synchronicity. I believe that understanding synchronicity could give the answer to this dilemma.

Where inner and outer meet

Let’s see the definition of synchronicity in our context: concurrently seeing both inner and outer. This directs us to discover a mysterious meeting point of the inner and the outer worlds. The essence of synchronicity is contained in that meeting point. If you succeed in comprising it in your consciousness, then it will reveal its hidden meaning to you.

It often seems like signs are only showing up on the outside. This is the obvious part, of course, as most of us are not always aware of ourselves. Our attention and consciousness is oriented outwards. So, recognizing signs on the outsides seems to be the easy way. But this is not enough to say that indeed, you recognized a sign. You will definitely need the inner confirmation. The inner complementary for it.

Synchronicity is the key that unifies both spaces in which a sign manifests itself.

In my previous post I proposed synchronicity as the confirmative accompanying phenomenon for signs. Now, I define it as the unifying principle of the outer manifestation and inner affirmation. Thus, the apparent contradiction between outer phenomena and inner choices is smoothed.

Questions still in need for an answer:

• How to be sure that you are not passing by any possible signs?
• How to discern between recognizing true signs and making them up?
• What if we recognize a sign, but actually weren’t looking for it?
• Can coincidence always be considered synchronicity?

We might still strive within our habitual and tested ways. By doing something, we expect proper reward. Posing questions, getting the answers. Applying formulas, getting happier, wealthier, healthier. In adulthood, these recipes get to the maximum of their efficiency. We know now, that if we act in a way, we get the desired reaction. Then how come people who know all the good ways are not satisfied with the answers they get? Why aren’t they getting long lasting results?

This process is usually taking the following 3 steps:

1. Lack of realism

Now we are talking cause and effect (sic!). There are lots of misunderstandings petrified in our minds that we carry along from early childhood. Bad education is primarily to be blamed. Then there is the lack of self knowledge. We grow up learning a lot about our physical, social, cultural surroundings, but we barely know ourselves. We are aware of phenomenons outside of us, we learn to understand them at a degree. All this, because we have learned how to recognize the cause and its effect. But this confuses us at the same time and calls for other actions of confirmation. Again and again we need to get confirmation of our understanding. Cause and effect gives us the ability to influence the world. But does not give us knowledge of ourselves.

2. Following chimeras

Due to the lack of realism, the goals are set accordingly. Being addicted to approvals from outside, unrealistic goals are set. Lack of actual self knowledge is leading to not knowing our possibilities.

3. Disillusionment

The effect generated by the cause pointed above. Pursuing illusions inevitably leads to disillusionment. Always. Getting a realistic picture of ourselves and thus, of our possibilities is of great importance.

The way of learning through mistakes.

This is unavoidable. It must happen whether you like it or not. And when it does, you can get out of the vicious circle. Illusions are dispersed.

At the end of this perpetuation of reverie and sobering, you are presented with the actual use of cause and effect thinking. You will find its place in your life, in your understanding. And you can leave room for other understandings, like the acausal one.

1. Dividing into levels.

We find collective terms for entities that share common characteristics.

2. Recognizing units present at all levels.

Finding units that are generating multiplicity by different mixture ratios.

This sounds quite mm… – my fault. But let me give you a quick and simple example. Let’s do the following exercise:

Find a generic term for the following lists.

1. cat, fish, bear, elephant, crab, dog, parrot, ant, …
2. copper, pigeon, pink, strawberry, beautician, bathroom, …

Solution for list no. 1 is … animal.

Solution for list no. 2 is… not that simple, isn’t it? There is obviously something in common for all those terms like beautician, bathroom, strawberry, pink… Something that is present in all of them. Your solution might be beautiful, maybe feminine. Which are very close, but still can be considered other terms for our list.

In our first example it was easy to figure out that they all belong to the common term of animal. Similar to this we are categorizing the so many various levels of our surroundings. These collective terms depict what we call division into levels.

Information is present first.

For the second example we need some sort of reduction. This reduction has to end in one single term, one sole unit that bounds them and is present in each of them. This type of thinking is not very common in our actual mentality. The materialistic era that we live in shows us only the classification by levels. It is common to say that at first there is the stone and man figures out the word ’stone’ for it afterwards. Similarly, the ‘idea of stone’ is supposed to show up afterwards. Modern science seems to recognize that this might not be so true. It is information that is present first and generates the form.

Levels are organizing reality on horizontal. Generative information manifests vertically. We are used to the horizontal one, but it seems difficult the vertical one. We are not used to think vertically.

Recognizing informational units is the essence of vertical thinking.

Vertical thinking means recognizing the informational unit present at different levels. For now, let’s just say that multiplicity is built by a limited number of units. Recognizing these informational units is the essence of vertical thinking.

… they represent different qualities

We used the example of animals. In terms of vertical thinking, this means that different animals carry different informational units. The similitude here is in the quality. In our second example we had one animal, the pigeon as carrying the informational quality. Now compare it to a magpie or an eagle. Are they carrying the same quality? Think of those birds as symbols. What they suggest to you? They suggest different things, they represent different qualities. Now, if you return to my second example, in this way of thinking, you can find similitudes in qualities if you say pigeon, beauty, feminine etc.

Vertical thinking is a must learn.

Horizontal thinking is specific to what we call ’scientific approach’. Vertical thinking is much difficult to recognize. And it is not so common. Still, we can see it in non scientific ways of understanding ourselves and our lives like astrology, analytical psychology and other means. Although academic science is quite intolerant with non materialistic views, still, vertical thinking is a more promising approach and tool in the quest of self understanding and development.

Vertical thinking is a must learn for all who aspire for a healthy self development. But it can do much more for us. Let me give you here the suggestive thoughts on this of Ellynor Barz (in Gods and Planets):

“The collective unconscious is the pole opposite collective consciousness; following rationalization and demythologization, the pendulum swings back toward myth, mysticism and the esoteric. As is becoming increasingly evident, gradually penetrating collective consciousness, our confrontation and coming to terms with our own depths, with our unconscious, will be of decisive significance in deciding whether our world will be carried by the depths, or destroyed by them.”

Finally, I still live it suspense for now the solution for the second exercise. If you know the solution, don’t hesitate to give it by leaving a reply here.

To try and give my answers to these questions, I need some premises. I will suppose that we all like signs in our lives. Now it is much easier to try a solution for why we are after them. When it comes to this, I can think of the following possible answers:

1. Safety

Safety as the most basic human need can be a natural answer. Just by considering the existence of signs we are comforted by thinking that there is something bigger than us in life.

2. Direction

Another possible major answer. Getting signs are vital to presume a way out of a crisis situation. If we just consider Erikson’s model of human lifeline, there are crisis that are the key factors to define our lives. The pattern of crisis are giving us all the frame which turns out to have similitudes for our lives. Believing that we recognize signs in times of crisis is crucial to being able to take decisions.

3. Meaning

Looking for signs, recognizing signs and processing them for a message is how it usually goes. By processing them, we are at the phase of getting to the meaning of them. The need for meaning in life can be fulfilled at certain moments by deciphering signs we say we recognized.

It might not be a life-sign at all…

The premise here was that we all like signs. I deliberately not said that we all recognize signs. Although anyone can say that he recognized this or that as a sign, it is not easy to agree on that. Especially not if you have a critical mental attitude – as a good old-fashioned thinker should have. Can you admit at all, that someone, other than you, recognized a sign? Rationally you can not. And yes, this can get quite solipsist.

The type of signs I am talking about here, that are flirting with the mystic in us, have to be approached differently. The rationalist way will not help too much in my opinion. It can help not to fell over the horse, but an analytical way, an intuitive approach is more to be considered.

Synchronicity as confirmation

How you can be sure that you have recognized a sign? Is there a way to have some certainty that you did not fool yourself? I think it is. I believe it is the phenomenon that Jung defined – or rediscovered – as synchronicity. My take on deciphering life-signs is in accordance with his theory. This phenomenon is defined as acausal, which is essential here. It means that in terms of the rationalist cause and effect way of thinking we can not grasp it properly. It is a parallelism of events that are not based upon causality. Concurrently seeing both inner and outer is possible on the basis of synchronicity, but not causality. Of course, it is completely non-scientific, as you can not reproduce this phenomenon. Unique moments with unique significance. But undoubtedly they show up at times.

Conclusions:

• We are looking for signs in life, even if we don’t like to admit it.
• It seems that signs are a need in our lives.
• I propose synchronicity as the confirmative accompanying phenomenon for signs.

The questions I am asking here are also open for you to give your take on them:

• Why are we looking for signs?
• Do we need them?
• Do they exist at all or we are making them up?
• How you can be sure that you have recognized a sign?
• Is there a way to have some certainty that you did not fool yourself?

A short post scriptum. While I was thinking about a picture to attach to this post, I had several options in my mind. Finally I decided to go with one arcane from the tarot, called ‘The Star’. When I made my decision, in the exact next moment, I heard the following line in the song that was just playing in my room: “There is a star in the sky, Guiding my way with its light…” (Depeche Mode, Album: Violator, Song title: Waiting for the night). How about this? Is it time to find myself a shrink?!

Let’s see these two major ingredients in more details.

Transforming yourself until you reach completeness is a creative process. You are recreating yourself, you are developing new visions, discovering unseen potentials. For this work to be productive, you will need both reliable tools and efficient skills.

1. Enneagram is the tool

The enneagram is a symbol. It is a graphical representation based on the properties of the number nine. This is stated in its name, in Greek ‘ennea’ means nine, ‘gramma’ means drawing.

Actually, there are two ways this symbol has been propagated and is known today:

• The enneagram of the 9 personality types
• The enneagram of process

The enneagram of the 9 types is very popular. There is so much quality information you can find on this that I will not write any introductory articles on it (although I am quite tempted – sic!). This system is a must learn for all who are really after understanding themselves. On this blog you will find many new approaches to this system of personality typology, as results of my personal experiences with it.

The enneagram of process is sort of a stepchild of the symbol. Although this was the first in time in terms of enneagram’s appearances, very few have heard of it at all, even less of those know how to use it. We’ll try to fill that gap on the Vertegram blog.

2. Vertical thinking is the skill

Vertical thinking is the most ancient approach to self transformation. The principle of analogies is its foundation, myths and symbols are its expressions.

The principle of analogy states that “by virtue of his microcosmic nature, man is son of the firmament or macrocosm”. The whole and its parts are mutually necessary and each implies the other.

Vertical thinking was rediscovered for us by Carl Gustav Jung. Jung’s analytical psychology is a scientific actualization of the vertical thinking.

Although I will try to avoid pseudoscientific pretensions, the holistic approach to personal development which I believe in, relies heavily on empirical symbolic systems such as astrology.

Play a little game with me

Vertical thinking it’s easier than it seems. Let’s see something simple.

One of the most obvious pattern for analogies if you look out on the window is the Sun. It is present on so many levels of our life. Think about it. Picture it in your body for example. Think of the Sun as present somewhere in your body. Where do you recognize it? Do you see some part of your body resembling the Sun? Take a look at your eye in the mirror. Your pupil is just like the Sun. Goethe said, that if our eye would not resemble the sun, we could not see the light. Poetic, but nonetheless a simple statement of the principle of analogies. The Sun is also located in your solar plexus, also called celiac plexus, in your abdomen. This is the place where hunger shows up, where you feel the inner heat and burning.

Continuing this exercise, can you give other examples of analogies for the Sun? Anywhere in the outer world, outside yourself, where do you recognize resemblances of the Sun?

We live lives that seem incomplete at times. Often feeling diverging motivations in ourselves. Who can say that he was always following the same drives that he is after in the present?

When it comes to placing my vision on personal development, I tend to say it is a holistic approach. The holistic approach means seeing yourself as a whole living in bigger totalities. Picture for a moment a Matryoshka doll. I’m sure you’ve seen them, the nested dolls, one inside the other. This is the most suggestive representation of the human being as part of bigger wholes I’ve ever seen.

“The whole is more than the sum of its parts”

Aristotle defined the whole as being more than just the sum of its parts. The main goal of holistic personal development is to help you realize this in yourself and in your life. There is both the realization of inner and outer completeness. This might seem as a separation, and it is at first. But as they both develop in time, their unity is unfolding and they are not contradicting any more.

Experiencing completeness or unity at different levels, at different times are special moments in life. Can you recall one? How would you describe it?