COLLECTION: A DAWN EMERGES

1.

LIFE AND SELF-KNOWLEDGE

2.

LIFE AND SEX

3.

LIFE AND ADULTHOOD

4.

LIFE AND UTOPIA

5.

LIFE AND ALIENATION

6.

LIFE AND SYMBOLIZATION

7.

LIFE AND MYSTICISM

8.

LIFE AND TESTAMENT

MARIA AUXILIADORA DE SOUZA BRASIL
ROBERTO PATRUS MUNDIM PENA

LIFE AND SELF-KNOWLEDGE

Editorial Coordinator

Sílvia Raquel Amorim Braga

Revision

Márcia Teixeira de Freitas
Soledade Fonseca da Mota

Translation

Jefferson Wolfe Conboy

Collection: A Light on the Path, 1

Belo Horizonte | 2017

Collection: A Light on the Path, 1

Brasil, Maria Auxiliadora de Souza

Life and Self-knowledge / Maria Auxiliadora de Souza Brasil, Roberto Patrus Mundim Pena. Translation by Jefferson Wolf Conboy. Belo Horizonte: Fundação Souza Brasil , 2017. (A Light on the Path, 1).

ISBN 978-85-60974-21-4 (printed version)

1. Psicoterapia. 2. Psicologia. 3. Psiquiatria. I. Conboy, Jefferson Wolfe. II Título

Cover:
Simone Rodrigues Alves
Electronic editing:
Frederico F. Albuquerque Leal

Published in 2017 by Fundação Souza Brasil
Rua Fernandes Tourinho 470 - 9º e 10º andar | Salas 1001/1002 - Savassi
30.112-000 - Belo Horizonte - MG - Brasil
Telefone:(31) 3225 7181
On web: www.fsb.org.br

All rights reserved. Reproduction, in whole or in part, is prohibited without the prior written permission of the publisher, regardless of the means used.

PREFACE

In response to innumerable requests, I have decided to present a series of writings in a language more accessible to a wider audience. Such writings seek to convey the concepts of self-knowledge, sex, adulthood, utopia, alienation, symbolization and mysticism, culminating in my testament as an educator.

Self-knowledge is the essential condition for programming what will allow the human being to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. Self-knowledge, impossible from birth to the age of six, occurs, from six to twelve years of age, only at the practical- utilitarian level, from twelve to eighteen, at the partial-abstract level, initially of pugnacity, and later in search of one’s own consensus, and at the total abstract level, after eighteen years of age, cumulatively at the communitary, humanistic, and cosmic levels, when the individual begins to live eternity in temporality.

Sex is an effective means to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. Partial sex is sex limited by the developmental level of the individuals who live it; it is merely genital sex, and the conflicts that emerge between the sexual partners result from the limitations of perception of each individual about sexuality. Total sex that is psycho-genital, and the conflicts that threaten the relations between the sexual partners result from limitations of perception of the infantile or adolescent partner, demanding, from the adult partner, a firm and yet gentle attitude, in defending his interest to ensure an integrated sexual relation.

Adulthood is the ideal moment to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. Partial adulthood is an organic and also psychic adulthood only at the communitary and humanistic levels; the conflicts that arise between individuals result from the limitations of perception of each individual of himself, in particular, and of the other individuals in general. Total adulthood is the adulthood that besides being organic and psychic is also spiritual; the full adult directs his spirituality to the cosmic well-being, seeking to live eternity in temporality at its highest level.

Utopia is the attempt of imagination to fulfill the emptiness left by ignorance. The religious utopias have been hindering the spiritual evolution of the peoples; the philosophical utopias have been aggravating this hindrance with the absence of logic of thought; the sciences have been rejecting, more successfully, the incursions of the utopias in the areas of observation and experimentation. Healthy utopia points towards a future of faith and hope in the victory of goodness, peace and universal harmony.

Mental alienation is the process of distancing the individual from the reality to which he belongs; it is natural in the immature individual, cultural in the ignorant individual and pathological in mental illness, constituting the biggest impediment to obtaining ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. Partial mental alienation is merely concrete in childhood, and also abstract, though of limited abstraction, in pre- adolescence and in adolescence. Total mental alienation is, besides animal, in the different regressive stages, also vegetal.

Symbolization is the process of approximation of the individual to the reality to which he belongs and it is the best instrument to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. Partial symbolization is merely concrete symbolization in childhood, and also abstract, though of limited abstraction, in preadolescence and in adolescence. Total symbolization is symbolization that besides being communitary and humanistic is also cosmic; total, integrated symbolization is not possible before somato-psychic maturity.

Mysticism is the definitive means to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. Partial mysticism is merely organic in the case of the mystical living, and also psychic in the case of the mystical experience. Total mysticism is the mysticism that, besides being organic and psychic, is also spiritual, the mystical ecstasy; there is, in the sexual act, an effective path to reach it, though not necessary. The mystical living, experience and ecstasy can be learned. The ecstatic life is the anticipation, through human love, of the Definitive Love, of the Creator!

My testament, legacy, donation, summarizes the course of my thoughts and of my practice as an educator, which have always had as a goal to contribute to the happiness of each individual, in particular, and of humanity, as a whole. I have engaged myself with the description of the setting where the history of humanity takes place, with the plot that unfolds in it and with the characters that act in it. I have approached the question of the developmental obstruction of humanity, by considering the problem of ignorance, and the solution for its eradication through the technique I have called “analytical-phenomenological-existential” which determines the path to be followed by educators to overcome the impediments to the development of individuals in the passage from ignorance to wisdom.

In this manner, I have tried to clarify the importance of self- knowledge, of understanding the sexual function, of achieving adulthood, of understanding the difference between pathological utopia and healthy utopia, of perceiving the harms caused by mental alienation, of decoding symbolization and of cultivating the mystical life so that each individual reaches the greatest development he is capable of. To this end, I have described how the technique I have created and proclaim functions, with the aim of achieving humanity’s goal, which is the rational creation of man himself.

Maria Auxiliadora de Souza Brasil

PRESENTATION

Millenary wisdom has it that a light is not lit to be placed under the table. It must be placed where it illuminates everyone. This is the spirit of “A light on the path”, a collection that gathers eight books of Professor Maria Auxiliadora de Souza Brasil, Ph.D.. Written in a language accessible to a wider audience, it brings to the reader the opportunity to become informed about the developmental scheme of the human being and of the human group (Life and Self-knowledge), to know his sexuality in order to live it in an integrated way (Life and Sex), to understand adulthood as a privileged moment in the development of the human being (Life and Adulthood), to distinguish the healthy utopias from those that are a result of distorted reasoning (Life and Utopia), to learn that alienation hinders the happiness of the human being (Life and Alienation), to decode the meetings between what one thinks of reality at each phase of his life and what reality is in itself (Life and Symbolization), to reconnect oneself with the mystery of the world to live the spiritual peace (Mystical Life) and, finally, to share the legacy of the author as an educator (Life and Testament).

Maria Auxiliadora de Souza Brasil is Brazilian, a Ph.D., Full Professor of the Department of Psychology, in the area of Psychology of Personality, at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. She is the author of a trilogy consisting of a contribution to the revision of the theologies (The Newest Testament), a philosophy about the philosophies (The Metatheory of Philosophical Knowledge) and a synthesis of the knowledge of the sciences on the human being and the human group(On Analytical-phenomenological-existential Psychotherapy). The trilogy, also published by the Souza Brasil Foundation, is organized in a collection of six bilingual volumes, Portuguese-English, gathered under the suggestive title “A Dawn Emerges”.

The Analytical-phenomenological-existential Technique, created, practiced and taught by the author for over half a century, as a psychotherapist, professor and researcher, offers a safe path for educators to help individuals and groups in their development. It maintains that the educator, an adult human being par excellence, must be an example of the psychological health he is capable of promoting. It is not by accident that the author has coined the neologism “adultez” (adulthood) – until then absent from the Portuguese language.

Retainer of the copyrights of the works of Professor Maria Auxiliadora de Souza Brasil, Ph.D., the Souza Brasil Foundation was created by a group of professionals trained by the author in the Analytical-phenomenological-existential Psychotherapy. Among its goals, the Foundation intends to convey the humanistic ideas of the author, with the aim of increasing the knowledge about mental health, and consequently, promoting the personal and professional fulfillment of each human being. Previously limited to practicing psychotherapy, the founders envisioned the possibility of taking this knowledge to the world. Distributed to all member countries of the United Nations, the present collection illuminates the path of all of those engaged in creating conditions for each person to feel fulfilled and happy.

The publishing of the present collection thus fulfills the purpose of taking, to a wider audience, true information about self-knowledge, sex, adulthood, utopia, alienation, symbolization, mysticism and the testament of the author as an educator. It contributes, thus, so that the ignorance about the human being and his culture, a source of misunderstandings and failures in public policy and unnecessary suffering in the life of many individuals, gives place to true knowledge, a light that iluminates the path of all of us, pilgrims, whose destiny is ecstasy, maximum happiness.

Fundação Souza Brasil

1 SELF-KNOWLEDGE AND LIFE

The Analytical-phenomenological-existential Theory, a hermeneutical exegesis of the analysand-analyst datum at the ontic-anthropological level, which is founded on an esoteric vision of the being-in-the-world, a repetition of the ancestral myth of the eternal return to the origins, considers self-knowledge the essential condition to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. Experience is the action peculiar to the integrated human being; if explicit, it clearly indicates the operations to be performed; if implicit, it does not offer such indications; if function of function, it enters into the natural order of the seven vital functions, which always seek their highest possible degree of integration to preserve and fulfill life. Self- knowledge springs from experience and is limited, in each stage of development, by the degree of integration of those functions, which encompasses simultaneous and interdependent operations, not only indispensable to the conservation of life itself, that is, to the renovation of the inner environment of the being, but also, to the knowledge of life, in other words, of oneself living.

With the objective of clarifying the pseudo-discrepancy between self-knowledge resulting from purely material work and its meaning as spiritual work, which is pre-historical and pre-existential in its essence, we have tried to unify the data of the treatment carried out by religions, philosophies and sciences on the theme self-knowledge. From the religions, we have aprehended the existing symmetry between the individual spirit and the world of objects, that is, the integration of essence and existence, and the role of self-knowledge as an integrator of the organism participant of the Organism, as a facilitator of this participation. From the philosophies, we have deduced the universality of the spirit, that is, the integration of knowledge and ethical knowledge, feeling giving validity to self-knowledge. From the sciences, we have induced the universality of matter, that is, the integration of the knowledge of the micro and of the macro-universe, the knowledge of the general law of harmonization giving meaning to self-knowledge. From the examination of the human being and of the human group developing, we have apprehended that anguish, phobia, obsession, hysteria and latency limit self-knowledge, in childhood, to the level of concreteness; pugnacity and the search for self-consensus condition it, in adolescence, to the level of partial abstraction; cooperation with the community, with humanity and with the totality provides, in adulthood, total abstraction, integrated self-knowledge.

With the same objective, we have tried to unify the data of the treatment carried out on the theme specifically through psychology. From psychology, we have inferred that self-knowledge, which encompasses the knowledge of the seven vital functions at their highest degree of integration, is the knowledge resulting from the acquisitions of developmental psychology, which explains the structure and the dynamics of the psyche. From the study of the theme structure of the psyche, we have concluded that there are degrees and types to consider, that is, that there are stronger and weaker psyches, and there is a tendency, greater or lesser, to closing, to projecting, to enthusiasm and to sadness. From the study of the theme dynamics of the psyche, we have concluded that there are specific levels corresponding to each age range, which are, cumulatively, of anguish, of phobia, of obsession, of hysteria, of latency, of adolescence and of adulthood. The psychology of learning offers a safe guide for the individual to move along the developmental phases and, when it is the case, to correct the delays or distortions that may have occurred in his development.

With the same objective, we have tried to unify the data of the treatment carried out on the theme in all its aspects, theological, philosophical and scientific, reaching, thus, the conception of what integrated psychic dynamics is. From the examination of the dynamics of the integrated psyche, we have induced self-knowledge as work, as a result of the taboo of incest, arriving at the conclusion that work generates need for communication, thus the types of psychic communication, which are, the instrumental, of the child, and the inferior consummatory, of the adolescent, and the superior consumatory, of the adult, generating, respectively, the modes of use of fellow creature, whether only as an object, or also to have company, or in an integrated way, to share existing. We consider the individual’s effort to know himself to be impregnated with the interest in obtaining ecstasy, the rapture of the spirit from its incarnated condition to the higher condition of communion with the universal whole. Limitations can occur resulting from anatomic-physiological and/ or psycho-social dysfunctions.

In summary, the Analytical-phenomenological-existential Theory, a hermeneutical exegesis of the analysand-analyst datum at the ontic-anthropological level, which is founded on an esoteric vision of the being-in-the-world, repetition of the ancestral myth of the eternal return to the origins, considers self-knowledge the essential condition to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. With the objective of clarifying the pseudo-discrepancy between self-knowledge as resulting from purely material work and its meaning as spiritual work, we have tried to unify: at first, the data provided by religions, by philosophies and by sciences; secondly, the data provided by psychology; thirdly, all the data provided in the two previously mentioned groups. We consider self-knowledge the essential condition, the instrument that will enable the human being to live eternity in temporality, ecstasy, the communion with the Creator.

2 SELF-KNOWLEDGE AND PSYCHE

Self-knowledge, the consciousness that the human being can have of himself, is the essential condition to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. Ecstasy is the rapture of the spirit from its incarnate condition to the greater condition of communion with the universal whole. Knowledge of the dynamics of the psyche allows the human being the appropriate use of communication up to the highest point of his development, which consists in sharing existing, which can lead to ecstasy. The lack of knowledge of this dynamics has led the human being to a series of misunderstandings that constitute the most serious sources of human themes, from the most primitive reasoning to the most intricate products of the imagination, oscillating between the most burlesque comedy to the most dramatic tragedy. Since the goal of the human being is to obtain ecstasy, and since self-knowledge is the essential condition to this end, it is indispensable to research its dynamics so that people can live eternity in temporality from the intimate of their individual being. Human thinking has forever given improper treatment to the theme of self-knowledge.

2.1 In theology

Theology, the systematic reflection on the Absolute in relation to our being, seeks the integration of essence and existence, of infinite absolute and finite, of eternity and temporality. The habitual hypothesis, present in the theologies, is that a oneness principle, generally denominated God, transformed itself into various organisms, remaining one, that is, it differenciated itself, in its core, into diverse elements, coordinated in hierarchies and functions that reinforce this unity, preserving the same scheme in all the smaller individuations, therefore the assertion that every human being is made in the image and resemblance of God, who is his origin and his destiny. However, the theologies have been silent on the key to the mystery of existence, offering to the human being only the dilemma of the origin and destiny of the universe and, consequently, of his origin and destiny in this universe. Self-knowledge, the essential condition for the individual to monitor his development, has not received any treatment.

Pristine theology, hermetic, Chaldaic and orphic at the same time, by searching for similarities among several theological beliefs, shows that the ancients (5th century BC) possessed a wisdom that has been influencing humanity concurrently with the disseminated theologies and that is found in theosophy, the wisdom of God, coming directly from Him, mystical theology par excellence. Notwithstanding, the theme self-knowledge is not even mentioned, and the orgiastic and mystical poles remain far from one another, generating opposite influences, since, without knowledge and without knowledge of oneself, the superior does not order the inferior and does not allow communication, except at the concrete infantile level. What is observed in the natural affirmative theology are these two poles, the orgiastic and the mystical ones, getting mixed up, at times, in the rituals of celebration of fertility, at others, in the expiatory rituals to restrain ecstasy in order to deserve the possible visit of the Creator.

Dialectic theology, by seeking to serve God’s word, elects truth because it is already valid. Revealed knowledge, driven by the light of faith, points at times to mythic polytheistic fetishist, cosmologic and/or anthropomorphic explanations, at other times to anthropologic monotheistic explanations. The most successful attempt, that of Judaism, presents the Adamic myth, which associates, on the theme of nakedness, the consciousness of oneself (seeing oneself naked), as the basic reason for the banishment of man from Paradise, where he had lived in permanent ecstatic communion with the Creator; as a consequence, he conceives the search for knowledge as disobedience and work as punishment. Islamism and spiritism adopt the same theme, also without any thought given to the role of self-knowledge in the life of the individual. What is observed in revealed affirmative theology is the continuation of the total lack of knowledge of the dynamics of the psyche besides communication at the concrete infantile level.

Radical theology, without God, whether because it states that He does not exist, or because it registers that He has died culturally for lack of people who believe in Him, attempting to give a mortal blow to a predetermined system of values, enables the transmutation of all values, beginning with the de-divinization, the de-Christianization and the consequent secularization of the world, which results from the fact that the human being allows himself to make judgement on the existence or non-existence of God. The rupture with the tradition of the Scriptures, because it considers it sterile for being hermetic, leads the theology without God to attempt to express a real situation without palliatives, which requires the courage of being. By denying tradition, the theology without God returns to the ancestral myth of the eternal return to the origins in its purity, seeks to re-establish a community of faith, with the aim of a universal brotherhood. And so the precursors of the search for knowledge and for knowledge of oneself have already begun, and communication is undertaken at the abstract level, although it is still partial, adolescent.

Systematic theology, by seeking to interpret religious forms as cultural forms, becomes the meeting point of pristine theology, of dialectic theology and of radical theology, showing that, in absolute union, in absolute separation or in absolute negation, the human being always revolves around the idea of God, an inalienable symbol of his existence. It presents itself as the theology of the situation, which refers to the current historical moment and to the human situation as such. It highlights the content of religious faith as it is immediately lived by the individual, becoming existential in the sense that every religious experience is, in the end, existential, and, at the same time, philosophical and systematic (scientific), and it considers as theological only those enunciations that treat their object in terms of the themes of “being or not being”. In this way it inaugurates communication at the abstract adult level.

2.2 In philosophy

Philosophy, the love of knowledge, seeks knowledge of the human being, of his existence, of his nature and of his attributes, as well as of his relation with the world. It teaches that the human being, the phenomenon man, which appeared on the face of the Earth, for the first time, at a time unknown, has been freeing himself very gradually from the ecological limitations, thanks to the cumulative knowledge of the world, of things, of beings, in general, and of himself, in particular. To survive, he needed to turn his attention, initially, to the surrounding space, to which he needed to adapt himself and from where he needed to take his sustenance. To the notion of space he added the notion of time, given the relative regularity of the demands of his organism, and the constancy, also relative, of external phenomena, of nature, of his “habitat”.

There have been two habitual hypotheses concerning the evolution of human thought: one, that each generation has been representative of a distinct developmental stage; another, that evolution occurs in a disorderly way over time, where it is even possible that more advanced acquisitions precede others of lesser significance. A problem of a more general order is that of the approach to knowledge, on the one hand, by reason, and, on the other, by intuition: rationalists and intuitionists have existed at all times and in all places, in the same way that there have been the conciliators, the neutral ones; thesis, antithesis and synthesis present themselves, generally, in spatial and temporal simultaneity. Nonetheless, as with the theologies, the philosophies have been silent on the importance of self-knowledge, offering the human being the recorded history as being the truth about the real-current of that which has been lived and the “know thyself” arose merely as an alert, without a defined systematization.

Philosophy of reason and philosophy of intuition, the two poles between which the endeavors of human thought have vacillated in regard to knowledge, in general, can be summarized as follows: existence surpasses science, which only deals with that which is material; the world exists, independently of being well or poorly known; man “is”, independently of knowing that “he is being”; the phenomena surpass, by far, the human capacity to become conscious of them. As a consequence, the problem of the irrational nature of the world arises, and various systems ardently turn towards the principles of altruism, fraternity and love, blaming scientism for being the main factor of the cultural catastrophe and attracting individuals to their beliefs, with promises of salvation.

Also in terms of ethical knowledge, especially, the endeavors of human thought have not escaped the same symptomatic polarity: reason and intuition. Those who wished, by reason, to establish what is and what is not morally valid, reached the conclusion that it is necessary to establish limits to individual freedom, proclaiming that man ought to aspire to what is best for the greatest number of people. However, in the attempt to systematize what is valuable, they could only do so in the material sense: a return to the simplicity of the things of nature; communion of the goods of production, consumer objects and products of work; economy of thought and biological utility. As a consequence, what arises is the need for feeling to provide existential validity to the materially valuable, which will never occur without self-knowledge.

From scientific phenomenology, the synthetic reflection that seeks to comprehend and describe the world beginning with the unified data from the various experimental sciences, an equilibrium of the systems can be expected, an intermediate system that remains open to the progress of thought in its two fundamental aspects, rational and intuitive. The past of humanity, thus considered, constitutes the permanent source of valid information for a better lived present and a better planned future. If happiness is the end of every culture, it becomes necessary to plan the appropriate processing for the transmission of knowledge and values, including, especially, knowledge and values that concern self-knowledge, so that the individual can consolidate his development in terms of his humanistic destination.

2.3 In science

Science, exact knowledge, also seeks knowledge of the human being, of his existence, of his nature and of his attributes, as well as his relation with the world. It teaches that the human being is “bios” (empirical science), “psyche” (interpersonal eidetic science) and “socius” (multipersonal eidetic science), and that he expresses himself, at each moment of his life, in function of the level of integration of his components of temperament (biochemical) and of character (ethical-social), in function of motives (variables that engender, sustain and direct conduct), which can be submitted to control, a control that is susceptible of organizing itself at the highest level of abstraction, in function of the processing of the affects, which depend on the level of perception regarding ethical and religious problems, as a result of the functioning of morality. It teaches, therefore, that self-knowledge is the basic essential instrument for the development of the human being.

Science teaches that the individual becomes a person in function of the transformation of his instinctive, impulsive, unconscious living into rational, intelligent, conscious living. Life, a continuous alternation of decomposition and recomposition of protoplasm, sustains the instinct, a property of it that externalizes itself when life is in danger. The affect, the intellectual elaboration of instinct, transforming it into desire or rejection, is at the basis of impulse, a dynamic process that makes the organism tend towards an end, which is to suppress a state of tension underlying an excitation. The impulses manifest themselves in self-preservation and in the sexual functions (reproduction and orgasm). When the impulsive system suffers interference, conflict occurs; when the level of conflict reaches the organism’s limits of tolerance, the impulsive act erupts, self- or hetero-destructively. Often the eruption of the impulse is necessary to determine conditions of survival.

In the dynamics of the individual, two types of production can be distinguished: the automatisms, already constituted adaptations, and the yields (attention, acquisition, intelligence), productions in which the intention and the will intervene. The psychological tension determines the mental field in which production occurs. Intelligence makes it possible to learn to control motivation and to organize this control. Controlling motivation implies controlling the motives of the organism in their original manifestations (pure) and in their manifestations modified by cultural pressures (conditioned). Organizing the control of motivation implies organizing the control of such motives in function of the degree of consciousness that the individual has of his existing. Thought can, thus, promote production; the self-knowledge that results from it, in turn, can consolidate the automatisms and enable the acquisition of new yields.

There are degrees of consciousness: spontaneous conscious living, pre-objectal and precarious objectal, is the living that occurs before the reflective disassociation between subject and object, leading the individual to consider his fellow creature as an extension of himself; reflective conscious living is consciousness of that which occurs in spontaneous conscious living, leading the individual to perceive that there are limits between his being and the being of his fellow creatures; conscious living of the absolute is the rethinking of reflective conscious living, leading the individual to perceive that the limits between his being and the being of his fellow creature, when appropriately granted, can lead to co-participation of life. Self-knowledge leads to the broadening of consciousness.

The total science of the human being, the knowledge of his structure and of his dynamics (which include his somatic, psychic and social aspects), depends on successive syntheses of the approaches of each formal object. The science of the “soma”, having concluded that man is a superior animal and that the biological contains the necessary conditions for the psychic life, has sought to unveil the mysteries of the human body based on the concept of integration of all of its vital functions. The science of the “psyche”, having concluded that physicalism and mentalism are currents from the same source, has sought to do research on the psyche through both channels, with the objective of understanding the phenomenon man, whose origin and destination continue to challenge human comprehension. The science of the “socius”, having concluded that there is no human nature without a social environment and that the science of total man is the fruit of generations and generations of scholars, has sought to know the human group, a factor and conveyor of culture. Self-knowledge inserts the individual in the context of the science of himself and of himself in the world.

2.4 In the development of the human being

The human being, in his life journey, from the encounter of the spermatozoon with the ovum until the transformation of the body into dust, seeks to be happy. A long time had passed before there was any knowledge of these particles, ovum and spermatozoon, but dramatic occurrences of losing the embryo and the fetus, and later on, surgeries of the womb permitted knowledge of the intrauterine phenomenon. In any case, the birth of each child always offered itself, to those who followed the delivery, as the result of the growing intumescence, for months and months, of the womb of the woman and the advent of each newborn could be witnessed by all those who knew that it was not there before. Much information, transmitted from generation to generation, was necessary to establish the connection of cause and effect between the contact of the male and female and the occurrence of pregnancy and delivery, and the history of birth records shows how communities acted and have been acting in terms of placing responsibility also on the father to raise and guide the child.

Every child, when he is born, begins a life full of needs and the consequent appeals, which only end after the defenseless body, dead, has been consigned to its dissolution in a place where it does not disturb the community. The assistance that a child needs is offered to him, with greater or lesser willingness, according to the material and emotional resources available to those who are impelled to assist him, either out of a sense of duty and/or for pleasure. The pressures individuals place upon one another are always in terms of placing responsibility on each other for the tasks necessary for the survival of each one and of all. These pressures occur through the most varied manipulations. The manipulations of individuals on one another, in order to guarantee individual on collective survival, vary from the coarsest impositions through force to the most subtle persuasions. The reactions to such manifestations occur according to a developmental scheme common to individuals.

The developmental scheme of the individual can be summarized as follows: there is the living field, where events occur, and the way the individual perceives this field at the moment the event occurs determines his conduct. The quality of individual perception depends upon the quality of his emotion and intelligence. The quality of his conduct depends upon the quality of the functioning of his restraining apparatus to the impulsive response. The individual acts because of motives, and his main motive is living; living, he tries to satisfy all his needs. The barriers he finds in seeking to satisfy his needs force him to inhibit impulsive conduct, imagine alternative conduct and execute it. Self-knowledge is impossible from birth to the age of six, since the child does not have reflective consciousness, he lives at the mercy of pre-objectal and objetal spontaneous consciousness; from the age of six to the age of twelve the child is already capable of self- knowledge, but only at the practical-utilitarian, concrete level; from the age of twelve to the age of eighteen he is already capable of living self-knowledge at the partial-abstract level, initially in belligerence and, afterwards, in seeking self-consensus; from the age of eighteen he inaugurates self-knowledge at the abstract total level, cumulatively, communitary, humanistic and cosmic.

In the transformation of the individual into a person perturbations can occur, which reflect directly on the capacity for self-knowledge. These perturbations can be of two types: inadaptations, when the individual does not overcome a certain developmental stage; dysadaptations, when the individual loses a stage that he had already achieved. Maladjustments, neuroses, psychoses, innate or acquired retardation and lesions, psychopathies can manifest themselves. Maladjustments are circumstantial, due to physical health problems and/or excessive pressure from the environment. Neuroses are psychogenic disorders in which the symptoms are the symbolic expression of a psychic conflict whose roots are found in the history of the individual’s childhood. Psychoses are primary perturbations of the relation between vital energy and reality. Retardation and lesions, innate or acquired, have, each one of them, their specific clinical history. Psychopathies result from a pathological immunity to the educational efforts of the environment. Each type of perturbation conditions self-knowledge to the developmental degree that the individual has reached.

Therefore, the human being is born, grows and dies. His journey, from the craddle to the grave, is unique, singular and solitary. His genitors and the community find themselves impelled to assist him out of a sense of duty and/or for pleasure. Human beings manipulate one another, seeking their own survival, which depends on the survival of the others. The manipulations occur according to a developmental scheme common to most individuals, and there can be perturbations in this scheme. History and tradition offer the means for humanization, transformation of the individual into a person. The person organizes his living by looking for such means in theology, philosophy and science, in order to transform his spontaneous conscious living, primordially placed as a belief in the reality of the external world, into transcendental conscious living, which gives meaning to everyday life, instead of letting himself be taken by the current of everyday events of the external world, thus being able, by means of self-knowledge, to integrate his total living, the encounter of eternity with temporality.

2.5 In the development of the human group

The human group, in its life journey, from the first encounter of its members until its dissolution, also seeks to be happy. What characterizes the group is the connection between its members, which occurs because of common interests, following specific principles and laws. The members of a human group can be human beings or smaller human groups that, in this case, lose the original characteristic of small groups to acquire the current characteristic of components of the larger group. Humanity is the large group, of which all the others are components and to whose principles and laws they should all submit. The groups can be: simple aggregations, collections of members; groups that arise from the similarity among various components (common properties or familiar similarities); groups that arise from the functions carried out by them; groups that arise from all the causes cited, at the same time. Human groups are communities, they have a history; they are physical entities, consisting of organisms endowed with self-knowledge and mental processes, agents of reproduction and of cultural products.

Each group, upon emergence, initiates a global-totalizing existence, based on the principle of survival, and it lasts as long as it is felt to be necessary to carry out this purpose. The pressures of its members upon one another seek to maintain its cohesion and guarantee the fulfillment of its purpose. The manipulations of the group members in order to guarantee collective survival, necessary for individual survival, occur at various levels, from the coarsest impositions through force to the most subtle persuasions. The reactions to such manifestations, as in the individuals, occur according to a developmental scheme common to groups. Starting from this principle, we can describe such development based on the cause and effect connections that allow the passage from a syncretic view of phenomena to the analytical and synthetic view of them in their basic cultural aspect, backed by the self-knowledge of each member.

The developmental scheme of the human group can be summarized as follows: there is the group living field, where group events occur, and the way the group perceives this field at the moment the event occurs determines its conduct. The quality of the group’s perception depends upon the quality of its emotion and intelligence. The quality of the group’s conduct depends upon the quality of the functioning of its restraining apparatus to the impulsive response. The group acts because of motives, and its main motive is existing; existing, it seeks to satisfy all of its needs. The barriers it finds forces it to inhibit its impulsive conduct, plan alternative conduct and execute it. All of this dynamics results from an adjustment of the moments of each individual that makes up the group, working in terms of the power of the dominant majority, which numerically can be a minority.

In the transformation from groupality into sintality, as in the transformation from individuality into personality, perturbations can occur that have a direct or indirect effect on the capacity for self-knowledge of its members and on the cultural aspect of the group events. These perturbations may also be of two types: inadaptations and dysadaptations. There is the sum of the intricacies of the physio-genetic and psycho-genetic factors that occur in each one of its members, with all the resulting consequences in the group conduct. Since its dynamics is a result of the interaction of the moments of each one of its members, the development of the group is dependent upon how the dominant power handles the obstructions of the group machinery, the reason why assistance from the group to each one of its members must be provided permanently. One may speak of maladjusted group actions at the level of neuroses, psychoses, retardation and lesions, and psychopathies. Except for psychopathies, any level mentioned above can provide some type of self-knowledge.

Thus, the human group emerges, develops and dissolves itself. Other groups of the larger community find themselves impelled to assist it out of a sense of duty to survive, since its existence and actions can be useful or harmful to the other groups, directly affecting the equilibrium of the community as a whole. Human groups manipulate one another in seeking their own survival, which depends upon the survival of the other groups. The manipulations occur according to a developmental scheme common to most groups, and there can be perturbations in this scheme. History and tradition offer the means for the humanization of the group, the transformation from groupality into sintality. The group organizes its existing by searching for such means in theology, philosophy and science, so as to transform its spontaneous conscious group living, primordially placed as a belief in the reality of the external world, into transcendental conscious group living, which gives meaning to the everyday life of the group, instead of letting itself be taken by the current of everyday events of the external world and can, thus, guide each one of its members in the search for self-knowledge to assure integrated group living.

3 SELF-KNOWLEDGE AND DEVELOPMENT

Self-knowledge, a process that consists in becoming conscious of oneself and of oneself in the world, allows the individual and the group to promote their own development. The possible self-knowledge, for the individual and for the group, occurs in a known developmental sequence. Self-knowledge makes it possible to diagnose the developmental stage in which the individual and the group are and to clarify the origins of their distorted reasonings, which will make it possible to reformulate biased deductions and inductions. Theology, when proclaiming the path to reconnect with the Creator, obscures the value of self-knowledge. Philosophy does not give self-knowledge the treatment the subject requires. Science uses the successive syntheses of experiments and psychology to establish safe guidelines to monitor the search for self-knowledge.

3.1 In the individual

Self-knowledge, in the individual, occurs according to his developmental moment. The developmental stages of the individual are: from birth to nine months, anguish; from nine to eighteen months, phobia; from eighteen months to the age of three, obsession; from the age of three to six, hysteria; from the age of six to twelve, latency; from the age of twelve to fifteen, pre-adolescence; from the age of fifteen to eighteen, adolescence; from the age of eighteen to thirty, young adulthood; from the age of thirty to sixty, mature adulthood; from the age of sixty and over, elderly adulthood.

From birth to nine months

From birth to nine months, the child is a being of anguish. Anguish is a result of the passage from the liquid environment to the gaseous environment, when the separation mother-child occurs, resulting in the shock to the emptiness of the exterior space and the impact of the need to breathe to survive. His acting occurs in the dynamic living field of automatic stimuli and responses, ruled by the primacy of instinct. His perception occurs in space, in the “here and now”; it is only a perception of momentary states of the organism. His emotion is the shock emotion, without any other type of defence. Strictly speaking one cannot speak of intelligence, except that of the directing dynamic potency of the universe, which guides the vital processes. His consciousness is spontaneous pre-objectal. He has no morality. His sexuality is orgiastic, without restraints. His religiosity is limited to mystical-homeostatic living, mythic. It is natural that he considers the adult who takes care of him an extension of himself and that he lives the finality of life, but without having knowledge of it.

The child of this age is incapable of self-knowledge. His first years of life are of complete indifferentiation from the environment. The absence of consciousness makes any probability of the child knowing himself impossible, which hinders the annulled “psyche” from serving as bridge between the “nous” and the “soma”, the former is hindered from fulfilling itself by means of the latter, eternity without any contact with temporality.

From the age of nine to eighteen months

From nine to eighteen months, the child is a being of fear. Fear results from the displacement of anguish, which is felt when facing nothingness, onto a certain object or a certain situation, which anticipates a possible state of ill-being. His acting occurs in the living field of imagination at the level of naive belief. His perception occurs in time and in duration. His emotion is anticipation-fear. His intelligence acts only at the level of balancing external sensorimotor actions. His consciousness is spontaneous naive objectal. His morality is perverted in the sense of passive submission. His sexuality is sensual-masochist. His religiosity is mythic of fear. It is natural that he considers the adult who takes care of him an almighty being to whom he must always obey and treat with reverence in order to assure his own survival.

The child at this age is incapable of self-knowledge. His perception, even though it now occurs in time and in duration, does not offer him elements to free himself from the dichotomy of the basic poles that had been ruling his life since birth: satisfaction-relief and dissatisfaction-anguish. Not even the repetition of the conduct, resulting from the search for satisfaction of primary organic necessities, which allows him to take culturally determined routines as a reference and to organise his living, chaotic priorly, enables the child to have the capacity for self-knowledge. The “psyche”, divided, serves at one moment the “nous”, the next the “soma”, the former is considered an obstacle to achieving the latter, eternity appearing to be the antithesis of temporality.

From the age of eighteen months to three years

From eighteen months to three years of age, the child is a being of anger. Anger results from the displacement of fear, which is felt when facing a certain object or a certain situation associated to a memory of ill-being, onto a state of irritation when facing the impotency before this fear. His acting occurs in the living field of imagination at the level of naive doubt. His perception occurs in time and in duration. His emotion is anticipation-anger. His intelligence acts only at the level of balancing the internal actions symbolic-representative of concrete reality. His consciousness is spontaneous naive objetal. His morality is perverted in the sense of an active-aggressive insubmission. His sexuality is naive sadomasochist. His religiosity is mythic of anger. It is natural that, as a result of his organism maturing, he develops from resentment to the imagination of retaliation, but, because of his dependence, he cannot sustain it.

The child at this age is incapable of self-knowledge. Always anticipating the repetition of punishments that were real or imagining new punishments, he restricts enormously his rehearsals in an attempt to create his own scene, to ensure for himself a role on the plot of life. Even though the child has become able to react and to realise the relation between his behaviour and what occurred immediately after, the memory of his living does not lead, necessarily, to the perception of the true relation of cause and effect between the occurrences, which causes a permanent state of doubt. He shows himself, thus, incapable of freeing himself from that binomial that reinforces the dichotomy satisfaction-relief and dissatisfaction-anguish that had been ruling his living. Not even the reaction to the culturally determined routine, that continues to organise his living, initially chaotic, enables the child to have the capacity for self-knowledge. The “psyche”, divided, serving at one moment the “nous”, the next the “soma”, searches to serve the former without disserving the latter, but trying to put eternity at the service of temporality.

From the age of three to six

From the age of three to six, the child is a being of pretense. Pretense results from the dislocation of anger, which is felt when facing fear, onto an attitude of hiding the feelings of anger, of fear, and of anguish. His acting occurs in the living field of imagination at the level of naive cunningness. His perception occurs in time and in duration. His emotion is anticipation-false love. His intelligence acts only at the level of balancing internal actions symbolic-representative of concrete reality. His consciousness is spontaneous objetal distorted by permissiveness. His morality is perverted in the sense of pseudo- submission. His sexuality is permissive sadomasochist. His religiosity is mythic of pretense. It is natural that, as a result of his organism maturing, he develops from the imagination of retaliation to the attempt of various responses, disordered and inconsequential.

The child of this age is incapable of self-knowledge. By having had his imagination enriched by being freed from the dilemma crime-punishment, which allows him to direct his theatricality, ever more creative, the child becomes an uncontrollable imaginator of roles. Even though he has become capable of pretending, his pseudo-sophisticated, but in fact, still simplistic conduct of wanting to please but acting in a disordered and inconsequential way, reveals itself to be distorted by permissiveness. He thus shows that he is incapable of being faithful to himself, because his manipulation of the environment, by means of planned seduction, aims to hide his fear and his anger with insincere obsequious, pseudo-appropriate attitudes. Taking routine as a reference, the child organizes his living according to what he imagines is more advantageous at the moment, concerned only with affecting the environment and making it possible for him to carry out his ends. The “psyche”, divided, serving at one moment the “nous”, the next the “soma”, seeks to equally serve both, using fallacies to put eternity and temporality at the pseudo-service of each other.

From the age of six to twelve

From the age of six to twelve, the child is a practical being. Practicality results from the displacement of pretence, which is used to hide anger, fear and anguish, on to an attitude of objectivity when facing the situations of life. His acting occurs in the living field of elevation at the concrete level. His perception occurs in time and in duration. His emotion is anticipation-naive true love. His intelligence already acts at the level of balancing internal operations symbolic-representative of concrete reality. His consciousness is reflective of the concrete. His morality is practical-utilitarian. His sexuality is occasional. His religiosity is mythical latent. It is natural that, as a result of his organism maturing he develops from living various answers, disordered and inconsequential, to reasonable responses.

The child of this age is already capable of self-knowledge, even though it is partial, at the concrete level. By having acquired the ability of elevation and of thinking logically, although only at the concrete level, the child organizes his experiences and searches for the true cause and effect relation of events. His possible self-knowledge is presided over by the sense of practicality, so that non-objective activities lack interest. He thus shows that he is capable of searching for an understanding of what occured for things to be the way they are and what would happen if what had been done could be undone and some other conduct had taken place. Such process of mental reversibility in relation to time, presided over by intelligence and by reflective consciousness of the concrete, allows the child to act in a logical way. Taking routine as reference, the child organizes his living according to what is more advantageous at the moment, abandoning unreasonable conduct, which does not lead to his objectives. The “psyche” acquires its dignity, actualizes its capacity to serve as an effective bridge between the “nous” and the “soma”, the latter at the service of the former, safeguarded the appropriateness with the current real temporality, the concreteness of everyday well-being.

The child’s self-knowledge at this phase is limited by the ignorance of the limits imposed by social contracts, by the ignorance of the rules of the game. His naiveness, which leads him to take reality literally, although necessary to correct the previous posture of believing in everything he imagined, impedes his self-knowledge from transcending the limits of the practical-utilitarian posture. The naive authenticity, presided over by the capacity of elevation, and the capacity of mental reversibility, presided over by reflective consciousness of the concrete, are not yet enough to make integrated self-knowledge possible. The child still lacks the capacity of abstraction and the maturity of the reproductive capacity. These events, which inaugurate adolescence, will demand a wealth of information and knowledge, and will prepare the individual for total self-knowledge.

From the age of twelve to fifteen

The preadolescent, that human being who lives the age range of twelve to fifteen, is a quarrelsome being. The quarrelsomeness results from his recently acquired capacity for abstraction, which provokes an obsession for freedom and the philosophical questioning of life’s guidelines wich had been imposed on him since forever, already questioned extensively earlier at the concrete level of day-to-day practice. His acting occurs on the living field of elevation at the abstract level of pugnacity, instructed by perception on the structural unity of the contraries, analytic, taken by the emotion anticipation-reflected anger, with intelligence at the level of balancing internal operations on the abstract at the service of reflected doubt, a reflective consciousness on the abstract at the level of doubt, a morality at the level of pugnacity at the abstract level, a reflected sadomasochist sexuality and a belligerent mythical religiosity. It is natural that, as a result of the organism’s maturation, he develops from the living of naive responses onto responses of reasonable doubt.

The youth at this age is already capable of self-knowledge, at the abstract level, even though it is partial. Having acquired the capacity for procreation and for thinking logically at the abstract level, although limited by pugnacity, the preadolescent is a being of perplexities, anguished in face of the unknown, phobic in face of his new body, obsessive for freedom and hysterical in face of the demand of roles that he does not yet know how to represent. His possible self-knowledge is limited by the atmosphere of pugnacity against traditionally established values. He shows himself capable, however, of searching for solutions to conflicts in an atmosphere of reflection on the notion that apparently contradictory things are, somehow, complementary, and he starts to suspect there must be some kind of mechanics that disciplines and harmonizes events.

Such perception on the structural unity of the contraries analytic, associated to intelligence at the level of balancing internal operations on the abstract at the service of reflected doubt, allows the preadolescent to extend his reasoning to a hypothetical future and reflect more deeply on the meaning of life. He starts to free himself from the culturally pre-established routines and to create his own life style. The “psyche” confirms its dignity and reinforces its capacity to serve as an effective bridge between the “nous” and the “soma”, the latter at the service of the former at the level of abstraction on evaluation of the real.

The preadolescent’s self-knowledge is limited by the belligerent furor in defense of and in struggling for what he desires. His pugnacity, which leads him to question not only the cultural habits, but also, and principally, political, religious and philosophical positions, in general, although necessary to correct the previous concretist position, impedes his self-knowledge from respecting the freedom of each individual and embracing the consequent comradeship. His capacity for abstraction is not yet sufficient to enable integrated self- knowledge. The preadolescent lacks the accomodation of his new acquisitions, the correct information about his reproductive capacity and discernment concerning the types of contact, sensitive, sensual, and sexual. Such accomodation will allow him the search for self- consensus, inaugurated in adolescence proper.

From the age of fifteen to eighteen

The adolescent, that human being who lives the age range of fifteen to eighteen, is a pacifist being. The pacification results from the settling of his organic changes, principally the sexual ones, which will allow him relative calmness. By not being so dependent on the family’s supervision, as in the previous phase, his obsession for freedom finds a broader field of actions to be performed. His acting occurs in the living field of elevation at the abstract level of searching for self-consensus, instructed by perception on the structural unity of the contraries, synthetic, amplified by perception on the unity of mechanism, analytic, taken by the emotion reflected anticipation- fear, with intelligence at the level of balancing internal operations, a reflective consciousness, a reflected morality, all at the abstract level of searching for self-consensus, a reflected masochist sexuality and a mythical masochist religiosity. It is natural that, as a result of the maturing of his organism, he develops from responses of reasonable doubts to responses of searching for self-consensus.

The youth of this age is already capable of self-knowledge, at the abstract level, even though it is partial. Having acquired the capacity for procreation and for logically thinking at the abstract level, although limited by the search for self-consensus, the adolescent is a being of accommodation, capable of using his freedom to modify his attitudes. His potential self-knowledge is limited by his financial and cultural unpreparedness, which makes him easy prey for deviations of conduct, eager to engage himself in groups in which he feels accepted and appreciated. He tends, in general, to sublimate all events of his life, with a very strong inclination to feel his existence almost as a priesthood, accepting sacrifice in a messianic and masochistic way. He shows, however that he is capable of searching for a solution to conflicts in an atmosphere of reflection on the notion of the existence of a life mechanics and begins to suspect the possibility that this mechanics has a greater amplitude than he had imagined and that is obeys a pre-established guidance.

Such perception on the structural unity of the contraries, synthetic, associated to intelligence at the level of balancing internal operations on the abstract at the service of the search for self-consensus, allows the adolescent to extend his reasoning and to receive all information he needs to be able to guide his personal and professional choices according to his interests, as long as they are compatible with his capacity. He intensifies his endeavor in terms of becoming a person, reinforces his life style, seeking to always renew it and adapt it to the culturally pre-established routine he cannot modify. The “psyche” consolidates its dignity, and reinforces even more its capacity to serve as effective bridge between the “nous” and the “soma”, the latter at the service of the former, also at the level of abstract evaluation of the real.

The adolescent’s self-knowledge is limited by pacifism, which leads him to have permissive and tolerant conduct in order to avoid confrontations, to escape from an environment that castrates his freedom of thought and action, or even, to accept martyrdom or self-sacrifice as masochistic forms of solving conflicts. His pacifism hinders him, thus, from promoting the humanization of the groups to which he belongs, because he prefers to appease rather than to exert courageous conduct in the sense of making an example of his character and promoting the common good. His cordiality is not yet enough to enable integrated self-knowledge. The adolescent lacks discernment of the types of contact, sensitive, sensual, and sexual, since he tends to transmute sexuality into a feeling of “love thy neighbour”. To comradeship, he must add shrewdness, which will allow him to inaugurate total self-knowledge.

From the age of eighteen to thirty

The young adult, he who lives the age range of eighteen to thirty, is a communitary being. He turns with diligence to consolidating his independence and his devotions of love. His acting occurs in the living field of elevation at the abstract level of cooperation with the community, instructed by perception on the unity of mechanism, synthetic, amplified by perception on the unity of movement, analytic, taken by the emotion anticipation- true love extended to the community, with intelligence at the level of balancing internal operations on the abstract at the service of cooperation at the communitary level, a reflective consciousness on the abstract at the level of cooperation at the communitary level, a morality at the level of a search for consolidation of independence and of the devotions of love to the family and to the community, a socialised sexuality and religiosity.

The adult of this age is already capable of self-knowledge, total now. Having acquired the capacity to guarantee his survival, which includes reproduction, as a personal and social necessity, the young adult can now make a permanent show of himself, see himself living all the time. His self-knowledge is presided over by elevation, lived at the level of searching for abstract explanations to the mystery of life, in an atmosphere of externalisation and of organization aimed at consolidating his stability, taking into account the good of the community, in particular that of the family. Seeking the solution for problems in an atmosphere of reflection on the notion of the existence of a movement in the mechanics of life, he starts to suspect that such movement must be the same all across the universe and that there could be operations of reasoning that could lead to more general laws and point to the possible existence of a meaning to the machinery of life.

Such perception on the unity of mechanism, synthetic, amplified by perception on the unity of movement, analytic, permits the young adult to establish his peculiar way of reacting to life, his personal style, which will determine his personal and professional interests. He intensifies his endeavor in terms of co-operating with the community and of dealing with people in a fair and honest way. Being able to economically and psychically provide for himself, he acquires enough independence to love, to devote himself, without raising problems. His sexual functions and capacity for abstraction have become habitual and his whole organism functions in an integrated and harmonious way leading to the beginnings of the sensation of plenitude that only he who finds himself, truly and consciously, at the mid point of the events of his existing, can have. Young adulthood can be considered the first attempt of the individual soul, the “psyche”, to, besides serving as bridge between the “soma” and the “nous”, serve as bridge also among the “psyches” of a certain group in its intent that all people join the intelligence penetrated oneness that rules all the processes of the universe.

The young adult’s self-knowledge, although it is total, can be expanded to an even greater scope, going beyond the level of community and including the level of cooperation with humanity. He must perceive that certain attitudes, although they are very well morally founded, may not be suitable for humanity in a particular phase, and so it is better, frequently, to postpone them, in the interest of achieving what is desired. He still needs information about life, but now at the level of the absolute, of the spatial immensity and of its movement. Although his spontaneous emotional fulfillment is that of anticipation-true love extended to the community, his discernment is no longer satisfied only at the level of close personal and social relations, and his capacity to love amplifies itself to love of humanity.

From the age of thirty to sixty

The mature adult, that human being who lives the age range of thirty to sixty, is a humanistic being. He turns with diligence to the good of the community, of the people he lives with, and of the greater community, humanity. His acting occurs in the living field of elevation at the abstract level of cooperation with humanity, instructed by perception on the unity of movement, synthetic, taken by the emotion anticipation-true love extended to humanity, with intelligence at the level of balancing internal operations on the abstract at the service of humanity, a reflective consciousness on the abstract at the level of cooperation at the humanistic level, a morality at the level of organisation in terms of cooperation with humanity beyond conventions, a humanistic sexuality and religiosity.

The adult of this age is capable of total self-knowledge. Having guaranteed his survival, which includes reproduction as personal and social necessity, the mature adult lives with greater diligence the search for comprehension, organisation and interiorisation, in terms of ever greater personalization. By making a permanent show of himself in the world, he understands that he cannot see himself outside humanity, nor humanity outside life, nor life outside the universe. His self-knowledge is presided over by elevation, lived at the abstract level of cooperation with humanity, in an atmosphere of ever greater externalisation and elaboration of his conduct, always aiming to consolidate his stability, which requires that he take into account the good of humanity. By searching for a solution to conflicts in an atmosphere of reflection on the general law that rules the movement of the universe as a whole, he starts to suspect that perceptions are illusions that distance him from the truth, from plunging into the direct vision of the absolute.

Such perception on the unity of movement, synthetic, allows the mature adult, now already with his defined life style, to participate, in his way, in the developmental process of his own and of the groups of which he is member, always in terms of personal and collective integration. He intensifies his endeavor in terms of living ever greater abstraction, finds himself ever more in his interiority, perceives that his individuality dissimulates his totality, and thus seeks to correct it, by embracing, in his vision, the “inside” and the “outside” of things, the spiritual and the material, searching for a coherent representation of the world, in which he can feel he is integrated and positively active. His experience is the experience of plenitude of the human being, who has decided to participate, to consciously commit himself to an existence beyond the limits of simply communitary living, to act as a model, as propeller of the progress of humanity on the journey to the absolute. In order to come together more, he knows he needs that all those with whom he lives also see the truth ever more, the essence of things, which is, for those who know how to see, whole in their appearance, as a faithful portrait, or as its covering, or as a path to it. Mature adulthood can be considered the first attempt of the individual soul, the “psyche”, to, besides serving as bridge between the “soma” and the “nous” and between the “psyches” of a certain group, to also serve as bridge between the “psyches” of one group and the “psyches” of another group, in its intent that all people, of all groups, associate themselves with the intelligence penetrated oneness that rules all the processes of the universe.

The mature adult’s self-knowledge, although it is total, can be expanded to an even greater scope, going beyond the level of humanity and encompassing the level of the absolute. At the moment of mature adulthood, the mind works only at the level of reflection on the need to cooperate with humanity, fixed at the synthetic-humanising level, only of the values of humanity as it is generally known. Although his spontaneous emotional fulfillment is that of anticipation-true love extended to humanity, his discernment is no longer satisfied only at the current terrestrial level, and his love of the absolute, of the divine, gradually gains ground inside and outside his being.

From the age of sixty and over

The elderly adult, that human being who lives the age range of sixty and over, is a cosmic being. Having fulfilled his personal and social role, he lives the decline of his existence. His acting occurs in the living field of elevation at the abstract level of integration with the cosmic totality, instructed by perception on the unity of movement synthetic of the absolute, taken by the emotion anticipation-cosmic true love, with intelligence at the level of balancing internal operations on the abstract at the service of totality, the consciousness of the absolute, the morality of full freedom, a socialised sexuality and socialised religiosity at the cosmic level , as the prototype, the paradigm of future generations, having passed from the mastery of instinct to the mastery of thought, and, from this, to the mastery of mystical thought.

The elderly adult needs to seek information about the natural decline of certain functions in order to know how to adapt to the natural limitations of his age. Before the decline, however, it is operated within him, at its highest level, the biological synthesis of reflection, under the forces of comprehension, of organisation and of interiorisation that permanently pressure the human being. His self-knowledge is presided over by elevation, lived at the abstract level of integration with the cosmic totality, for what he needs to understand the pre-life, thought and the afterlife, which makes him feel that he himself is the most extraordinary phenomenon in the universe. By feeling himself inserted into humanity, and this into life, and life into the universe, his vision is of the purest synthesis between movement and rest, between the infinitesimal and the immense, just like the eagle that, from high above, is capable of seeing the macro and the micro.

Such perception on the unity of movement synthetic of the absolute permits the elderly adult to live the illuminated plenitude, that of a human being who, by existing, committed to his existence, acts as model, recognises that the world’s destiny depends on the acts of each one in particular and of everyone in general. The elderly adult has found his place, his true and just position, conquered by means of rectitude, which allowed him to develop. He can experience cosmic love, knowing that his affectivity is only satisfied in devotion to the divine, which makes him capable of living to love and to serve, giving to temporal experience the meaning of eternity.

The elderly adult’s self-knowledge is total, in the broadest sense, because it encompasses the level of the absolute. His quotidian ecstatic experience, of communion with the cosmos, allows him to feel that he is a brother to everything that exists and that expresses the presence of God. At the moment of elderly adulthood, besides the care to be taken with the organic limitations that may harm his physical well-being, isolation is the enemy to avoid, which can lead to lack of interest in acting in the world and only to the private intuitive-mystical solution to his existing. At the moments of organic homeostasis, the elderly adult lives the human being’s definitive aim, which is that of living eternity in temporality, because he is oriented, secure, in harmony with the order of the whole, aware of the path, and ready to transmit it to as many as wish to tread.

3.2 In the group

Self-knowledge in the group also occurs according to its developmental moment. The developmental stages of the group are: childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.

The group’s childhood

The first moment of any group results from the search for mutual protection. Feeling alone, individuals come together instinctively, getting closer in function of the day-to-day organic necessities. What characterizes the group’s childhood is, as in the individual’s childhood, a initially unconscious dependence, pre-objectal, and later conscious, objectal, of spontaneous objectivity, primitive. Five stages of this dependence can also be observed: that of the emotion shock (anguish), that of the emotion anticipation-fear (phobia), that of the emotion anticipation-anger (obsession), that of the emotion anticipation false love (hysteria) and that of a revision of them (latency).

In its first stage, that of the emotion shock, the group lives in function of the needs at the very moment they arise. In general, its members revolve around a center, a symbol, which can be a place or an individual, or both. The characteristic of this stage is the complete inexistence of foresight, each need taking the group by surprise as though it were the first time.

The group that lives in this first stage lives in the dynamic field of stimuli and responses, ruled by the primacy of instinct, instructed by perception in space, in the “here and now”, prototaxic, of momentary states, taken by the emotion shock, without any other kind of defense. There is a complete fusion of the members, an automatic global perception and equally automatic responses. The group’s consciousness is spontaneous, immediate, of the “here and now”, syncretic, and its living is primary-totalizing: the individuals are unable to see themselves apart from one another and from things, the group lives the finality, but it is not conscious of it. There are only purely reflex or instinctive actions, and one cannot, strictly speaking, talk of intelligence, except that of the directing dynamic potency of the universe, which guides the vital processes.

The group in this stage is incapable of self-knowledge. Its members’ incapacity to see themselves apart from one another and from things hinders rational dialogue and the possibility of the group being conscious of the reason for its being. If this group does not develop to the next stage, its inexorable destiny will be extinction.

In its second stage, that of the emotion anticipation-fear, the group broadens its living field to that of determination. Conscious of the repetition of its needs, it searches for means to satisfy them when they appear again. In parallel, it associates its success to its conduct immediately preceding the events, associations which are in general random, parataxic, becoming confused when, having a conduct it considers appropriate, it does not obtain what it desires. The center around which its members revolve is, then, an individual, remaining sacred the location as well as all the signs referring to them, individual and place. The chief, the totem and the taboos are instituted. It is the objectal relation being established, with development to the fields of intention and imagination.

The group that lives in this second stage lives in the dynamic field of stimuli and responses, of determination, of intention, and of imagination, ruled by the primacy of instinct, but now with a tinge of impulse, instructed by perception that, even though now in space, in time and in duration, does not offer elements to free it from the dichotomy of the basic poles that had been ruling its existence since its appearance: satisfaction-relief and dissatisfaction anguish. There is a complete distortion of cause and effect in the relationship among its members, leading to an irrational relation of obedience that causes phobia of the object in whose hands they feel their destiny irrefutably bound. With the emergence of intelligent conduct, although still at the level of direct stimulation and of almost immediate response, group habits begin to arise which will guarantee the continuity of development.

The group in this stage is incapable of self-knowledge. Its members’ fear of assuming the direction of its destiny makes them delegate to a leader the power to decide about their lives, obeying him and holding him responsible for its survival, whether they are satisfied or not with the leader’s performance. Not even the standardization of group habits, which allows to use the group’s routine as a reference and to organize its existing, previously chaotic, enables the group the capacity for self-knowledge, since its acting is perverted in terms of passive submission.

In its third stage, that of the emotion anticipation-anger, the group broadens its living field to outside the limitations of space, in time. Conscious of the repetition of its needs and the uselessness of passive submission (phobia), it seeks, at moments of satiety, to react against this dependence. The center around which its members revolve, the idealized leader in whom they deposited their hope, is now discredited and reviled. It is the belligerent objectal relation, the constant appeal to satisfy their demands.

The group that lives in this third stage lives in the dynamic fields of determination, of intention and of imagination, it develops from ressentment (phobia) to the imagination of retaliation (obsession). Ignoring, however, the parameters of group occurrence, its reactions are doomed to fail. Its perception of reality is still distorted and its very precarious notion of cause continue to make its acts of rebellion bear in its core its own elements for “punishing” the “crimes” of its “audacity”. What occurs then is an irrational relationship of disobedience, which causes an obsessive reaction against the object in whose hands its destiny is found. However, as intelligent conduct starts to be ruled by the capacity of mental representation of situations, the group habits become ever more established which guarantee the continuity of its development.

The group at this stage is incapable of self-knowledge. Its members’ irritation for not assuming the real responsibility for its destiny makes them follow a leader and hold him responsible for their survival and they disobey him, whether satisfied or not with his performance. Not even the audacity to fight against the frustrating circumstance, which initiates a reaction in face of passivity, makes it possible for the group to have the capacity for self-knowledge, since such acting is perverted in the sense of an active-aggressive insubmission.

In its fourth stage, that of the emotion anticipation-false love, the group broadens illimitably its field of imagination. Conscious of the repetition of its needs and the uselessness either of unconditional obedience (phobia), or of obstinate disobedience (obsession), it seeks, in moments of satiety, to formulate strategic plans of conduct. At the same time, it tries out the “roles” created, performs them unrestrainedly and lives the circularity of untimely returns to the unconscious (anguish) or conscious (phobia) gregariousness and to rebellion (obsession), all the conduct, however, is of short duration and with peculiar theatrical characteristics.

The group that lives in this fourth stage lives in the dynamic fields of determination, of intention and of heightened imagination, develops from the imagination of retaliation (obsession) to the imagination of the “best possible role” (hysteria). Conscious that not every crime leads to punishment, it dares to try out everything to achieve its ends without the risk of punishment. Once the dichotomy crime-punishment is broken, the pseudo-freedom is installed, cunningness. However, since it still ignores the dynamics of group relations, failure continues to be habitual. At this point, an irrational relationship of planned obedience occurs, which promotes the hysterical conduct of pleasing the leader at all costs. The capacity for mental representation of situations allows, however, the continuity of its development by means of maintaining the basic group habits, vital for the group.

The group at this stage is incapable of self-knowledge. The false acquiescence of its members to social standards makes them follow a leader to hold him responsible for its survival and obey him in appearance, seeking to seduce him with the representation of conduct they consider appropriate to lead him to have the attitudes they desire. Not even the broadening of possible responses, which allows varied forms of acting, makes it possible for the group to have self-knowledge, since acting in an attempt to always get an advantage is marked by dishonesty and permissiveness.

The group in its fifth stage, that of conscious revision of the consequences of its conduct aimed at directing itself, initiates the field of elevation, although only at the level of concrete situations of practicality. Conscious of the repetition of its needs and the uselessness either of unconditional obedience (phobia), or of obstinate disobedience (obsession), or false obedience (hysteria), it seeks, in moments of satiety, to reflect on the dynamics of relationships, discover the true relations of cause and effect. Syntactic perception, of real cause and effect, allows the group to have methodical doubt, which leads it to relative stability, maturity, which induces it to better inform itself, to instruct itself, about the world.

The group that lives in this fifth stage lives in the dynamic field of determination, of intention, of imagination, and of elevation, the last one still connected only to the concrete and to the memory of the concrete. The group’s attempts to establish logic to its conduct, after having seen the inappropriateness of its disorderly varied conduct, result from the perception that, besides each situation having its peculiarities and not every crime leading to punishment, and, moreover, leading sometimes to reward, it is necessary to think about the convenient way to act. There is then reasonable relationship of dialogue with the leader, a naive dialogue, but practical, guaranteeing the group’s habits required for survival.

The group at this stage is already capable of self-knowledge, even though it is partial, at the concrete level. Its members’ practicality make them follow a leader so that he coordinates the collective efforts in terms of satisfying the needs in the simplest way possible. The capacity to think logically and the acquisition of the living field of elevation permit the group self-knowledge, since its performance now happens in a reflective way, in terms of cooperation at the practical utilitarian level.

The group’s self-knowledge at this stage is limited by a pragmatic adaptation connected only to what is material and immediate. The naive authenticity, presided over by the capacity for elevation, and the capacity for mental reversibility, presided over by reflective consciousness on the concrete, are not yet sufficient to make integrated self-knowledge possible. The group still lacks capacity for abstraction and a greater amount of information about the game of life and about the dynamics of groups, which will permit it to organize itself beyond conventions, in the direction of total self-knowledge.

Finally , in its childhood, the group goes from total unconsciousness, passing through passive, aggressive and astute consciousness, until it reaches practical consciousness. Only at this last stage is self-knowledge possible, even though it is partial, limited by naive pragmatism.

The adolescence of the group

What characterizes the adolescence of the group is, as in the adolescence of the individual, the counter-dependence, initially reflective, of a slight and temporary reflection, afterwards effortless and definitive reflection. The notable event is the emergence of abstract-rational elaboration of the living. The apparent balance of the group’s infantile maturity is put to the test in function of this new treatment of data, of methodical doubt at the level of abstraction. The re-thinking of previous experiences occurs: the anguished search for companionship, the phobic dependence, the obsessive reaction and the hysterical pseudo-submission. This review is crowned with relative adolescent maturity, consisting of prospecting and cooperativeness.

In its first stage, that of slight and temporary reflection, the lack of information aggravates the doubts. Living in the field of elevation is broadened, it is now at the level of abstraction, creating conditions for the group to start questioning, also philosophically, the real value of life’s guidelines which had been ruling its living. Its fight against the leader becomes more intense, and he either surrenders to the group’s demands or is substituted.

The group at this stage is capable of self-knowledge, even though it is partial, at the abstract level of pugnacity. Negativism becomes the substance of reactions and the group amply uses the abstract- rational form to feed its inquiries about the meaning of life. The capacity to think logically in abstract terms permits the group to have self-knowledge, since its acting occurs in a reflected way, although in terms of pugnacity.

The group’s self-knowledge at this stage is limited by the bellicose fury of defence and fight for what it desires. Its pugnacity leads it to question the pre-established group habits and to rehearse its own and original styles of life. Its aggressiveness and limited capacity for abstraction do not enable integrated self-knowledge. Lacking economic-financial infrastructure, such groups easily fall apart, as soon as each member becomes stable at an inferior or superior stage and connects himself to already formed groups that satisfy his needs of regression or progression. Its conduct varies with great lability, at one moment tainted with anguish, the next with phobia, the next with obsession, the next with hysteria. Although its spontaneous reaction is that of the emotion anticipation-anger whenever its apparent maturity is destabilized, reason leads it to search for developed reactions of the emotion anticipation-love, but without discernment on the ways to guide them.

In its second stage, that of effortless and definitive reflection, the group seeks, systematically, to inform itself. Therefore, the living in the field of elevation acquires truly ethical proportions. Its philosophical enquiries are no longer negativist. Its own and original styles predominant in the previous stage, since they do not present practical results of productivity and safety for survival, are abandoned and substituted by new group habits, with the resumption of the old habits that have resisted the real-current examination of their utility. The group does not fight against the leader, but directs and checks his management. The group that lives in this second stage becomes more consistent, since it no longer feeds the originalities of the first stage. Its conduct, no longer so labile, results from a more elevated elaboration of the remains of anguish, phobia, obsession and hysteria. It works ever more on its independence and power, which includes increasing its economic-financial support and its store of knowledge of the world.

The group at this stage is capable of self-knowledge, even though it is partial, at the abstract level of pacification. The group uses experience to test its life concepts and it uses abstraction to question also ethically the real value of the guidelines which had been ruling its living. The capacity to think logically in abstract terms permits the group to have self-knowledge, since its acting occurs in a reflective way, now in search for self-consensus.

The group’s self-knowledge at this stage is limited by pacifism, which leads it to have permissive and tolerant conduct in terms of avoiding confrontations or, even, to accept self-sacrifice as a masochist way of solving conflicts. The group’s pacifism can hinder it from promoting the humanization of its members, since it prefers to appease than to exert courageous conduct in terms of being an example of its convictions and promoting the common good. Its cordiality is not yet sufficient to make integrated self-knowledge possible. Its economic-financial and political-philosophical infrastructure does not give it support for independent development. Already strong enough not to regress, but not so strong to progress alone, it seeks to join any adult group so it can take a step towards definite maturity.

Finally, in its adolescence, the group lives the capacity for abstraction, initially slight and temporary, afterwards effortless and definitive. Its self-knowledge is possible in the two stages, even though it is partial, limited by pugnacity, in the first, and by pacifism, in the second.

The adulthood of the group

What characterizes the adulthood of the group is, as in the adulthood of the individual, the inter-dependence, initially just reflective, moving to, later on, communion in the absolute. The group that lives adulthood is a group consciously committed to existence, it acts as a model, as a propeller of the progress of humanity on the journey to the absolute. It knows that, to come together more, all its members must see ever more what is true, the essence of things, which is, for those who know how to see, whole in their appearance, as a faithful portrait, or as covering, or as a path to it.

The adult human group has the objective of living at the level of maximum lucidity as much of the time as possible. It does not ignore the power of the past that, in the form of tradition, seeks to prescribe present conduct, but it seeks to prevent it from hindering the reformulation and the renovation of everyday life. It is attentive to the need to keep its members sensitive to the common objective. Aware that the only way to walk towards the absolute is to live frankness and authenticity, and that the only way to contribute to learning authenticity is acceptance, it seeks to guarantee an atmosphere of order and respect, with a minimal essential structure established that allows to update a maximum creative existential dynamics. Three stages of this inter-dependence can be observed: that of reflection in terms of cooperation at the communitary level; that of reflection in terms of cooperation at the humanity level; and that of reflection in terms of cooperation at the universal level.

In its first stage, that of reflection in terms of cooperation at the communitary level, having the community as an object, living at the field of elevation acquiring prerogatives of urbanity, the group lives so as to attain the finality for which it was created. The characteristic of this situation, that of the emergence of the development of the field of elevation at the abstract level in the search to adapt its ends to the communitary level, sends the group to the condition of consciously acting cell, living communitary thematic intentionality.

The group at this stage is already capable of self-knowledge, now total, integrated. Having acquired economic-financial infrastructure, the group can now see itself living as a cell, conscious of its finality and of its role in society. Its self-knowledge is presided over by the elevation of the dominant majority of its members, lived at the level of searching for abstract explanations for its reason for being, in an atmosphere of externalisation and elaboration aimed at consolidating its stability, taking into account the well-being of the community in which it is inserted. Searching for a solution to conflicts in an atmosphere of reflection on the notion of the existence of a movement in the mechanics of life, it starts to suspect that such a movement must be the same in the entire universe, with the possibility that there are reasoning operations that lead to more general laws and point to the possible existence of a meaning for its participation in history.

The group’s self-knowledge, in its first stage, although it is total, can be extended to a larger scope, extrapolating the level of the community and encompassing the level of cooperation with humanity. The group can broaden the limits of its intra-group existing and open itself to the search for cooperation at the humanistic level, aiming to include, in its life style, trade with other groups, with the aim of communicating and consolidating its humanistic values.

In its second stage, that of reflection in terms of cooperation at the level of humanity, having humanity as an object, living in the field of elevation acquiring prerogatives of humanism, the group lives so as to attain the finality for which it was created. The characteristic of this situation, that of the emergence of the development of the field of elevation at the abstract level in the search to adapt its ends to a higher level, humanistic, sends the group to, beyond the condition of a consciously acting cell, living communitary thematic intentionality, to the broadening of the themes to the humanistic dimension.

The group in this stage is already capable of total self- knowledge, integrated. Having acquired economic-financial infrastructure, the group lives true whole humanism, welcoming in to its core members that are at any developmental level, impeding them from disturbing the order and propitiating conditions for their increasing consciousness-rasing. By doing so, it avoids fixing the child in its infantilism and the adolescent in its rebellion, marginalizing the sick and irrationally punishing the delinquent. By opening space for criticism and searching to reformulate its norms in terms of possible improvements, it avoids the exaggeration of the moralist zeal and the conformist stagnation, and it renews its dynamics by means of a coherent critical method of life, an organized experience of sublimation and programmed release of latent ecstatic energies. The mature adult group, democratic, is the one that admits the reality of the coexistence of the stages at the general level of its development and at the specific level of each one of its members, as well as the possible temporary or definitive involutions in some of its members. It establishes a balanced organizational control, where the chiliastic catharsis, the ethic-liberal concern, the conservative equilibrium and the socialist coherence can take place, without the exaggerations that accompany them, reducing thus the pathologies to the level of individualities.

The group’s self-knowledge at its second stage, although it is total, can be amplified, extrapolating the level of humanity and encompassing the level of the absolute. The group can open itself to search for cooperation at the universal level, experiencing the universal extra-group living, with the aim of including, in its life style, commerce with other groups, aiming at spreading and consolidating its universal values.

In its third stage, that of reflection in terms of cooperation at the universal level, having the universe as object, living in the field of elevation acquiring prerogatives of universality, the group lives so as to attain the finality for which it was created. The characteristic of this situation, that of the emergence of the development of the field of elevation at the abstract level in the search to adapt its ends to the greater plane, universal, takes the group beyond the condition of consciously acting cell living thematic intentionality, communitary and humanistic, to the broadening of these themes to a cosmic dimension.

The group at this stage is capable of total self-knowledge, integrated, in its highest expression. It establishes acting at the level of the search for cooperation at the universal-anarchic level, beginning to consider the circularity of leadership. Besides financial- economic stability and an open spirit to all possible improvements, the group feels itself fraternised with other groups and with the universe in its whole.

The group’s self-knowledge in this stage is total, since it encompasses the level of the absolute. Its experience of communion with the cosmos allows it to form networks of cooperation, always with the aim of spreading and consolidating its universal-anarchic values.

Finally, in the adulthood of the group, self-knowledge is total, integrated, initially only reflective, moving later to communion in the absolute. It is a period of complete fulfillment of the finality of the human group. Having guaranteed its means of survival, the mature group, whose faith in itself and in the destiny of the world leads it to permanently sharing and serving, naturally dissolves its borders and broadens its acting over other human groups in terms of helping them in their development to the universality of the spirit.

4 INTEGRATED SELF-KNOWLEDGE

Self-knowledge, the essential condition to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence, can be partial or total. Partial self-knowledge requires, for its efficacy, that the individual know the structure and dynamics of his “soma” and of his “psyche”, at first, only at the concrete level, and, secondly, also at the abstract level. Total self- knowledge requires such knowledge at the level of the highest abstraction possible for the human being. Knowledge of the structure and dynamics of the “soma” and the “psyche” of the individual encompasses the knowledge of the components, function and specific development of each one. Partial self- knowledge is a more common acquisition in the development of the human being, and total self-knowledge is a more sophisticated acquisition, resulting from a higher cultural level. Partial self-knowledge is an artificial figure and total self-knowledge is a natural figure in the life process of the human being.

4.1 Partial self-knowledge

Partial self-knowledge is an artificial figure. An artificial figure is one that has as a background only a part of the whole living, whether it is only that of the dynamic field of stimuli and responses of a reflexive nature, or whether also those of the fields of determination, of intention, of imagination and of elevation at the concrete and the limited abstraction levels, with the absence of the field of elevation at the highest abstraction level, the abstraction over the abstract. Thus, for partial self-knowledge, the individual needs the knowledge of himself and of the world around him that is possible at his developmental stage. Self-knowledge, even partial self-knowledge, is determined by the degree of development of the individual. When there are favourable circumstances, the individual develops from unconscious living to conscious living, commensurate with his potential, according to a scheme common to all normal human beings, and there is, cumulatively, a typical dynamics of each stage.

Therefore, self-knowledge is merely concrete in childhood and also abstract, of a limited abstraction, in preadolescence and in adolescence. The perception of each individual about himself and the world in each stage of his life determines the conduct possible for him, in each moment, in terms of promoting his own development and the development of the individuals with whom he lives. The individual whose self-knowledge only allows the search for the well- being of the moment, separated from his total being, is alienated from his dignity as a human being. He whose self-knowledge makes it possible to live with others only in an atmosphere of fear and guilt is already attentive to the humanity of his being, but he is alienated from his greatest good, freedom. This alienation from freedom remains in the following phases, when self-knowledge limits the significance of his relationships with others in terms of aggression, exploitation, discussion or allurement. As can be observed, before somato-psychic maturity integrated self-knowledge is not possible.

4.2 Total self-knowledge

Total self-knowledge is a natural figure. A natural figure is one that has as a background the whole living, where there are the dynamic field of stimuli and responses of reflexive nature, of determination, of intention, of imagination and of elevation. If even for partial self-knowledge the individual needs the knowledge of himself and of the world around him that is possible at his developmental stage, in the case of total self-knowledge this knowledge must be as complete as possible. Total self-knowledge also presents levels, according to the developmental degree of the person. The adult individual, when there are favorable circumstances, develops from reflective conscious living to conscious living of the absolute, commensurate with his potential, according to a scheme common to all normal human beings, and there is, also cumulatively, a typical dynamics of each stage, young adulthood, mature adulthood and elderly adulthood.

Thus, total self-knowledge is, besides communitary and humanistic, also cosmic. The adult who lives as such, since he is a social being, needs to be permanently attentive to the limitations of perception of his childish or adolescent fellow creatures, and to maintain a firm attitude and, yet, gentle, in the defence of his interest in transmitting integrated self-knowledge. The adult does not consent to encounters that seek only the well-being of momentary safety, because this kind of encounter represents a waste of energy for him. The young adult, when seeking marriage, procreation and the well-being of the community, is also seeking to satisfy his basic instinct of self-preservation, which includes, necessarily, the preservation of the social. The adult proper, when seeking also the well-being of humanity, is broadening his perception of himself living in the world. The elderly adult, when also seeking the cosmic well-being, is seeking to live eternity in temporality.

5 LIFE AND SELF-KNOWLEDGE

The Analytical-phenomenological-existential Theory, a hermeneutical exegesis of the analysand-analyst datum at the ontic-anthropological level, which is founded on an esoteric vision of the being-in-the-world, a repetition of the ancestral myth of the eternal return to the origins, considers self-knowledge the essential condition to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. With the objective of clarifying the pseudo-discrepancy between self-knowledge as the result of purely material work and its meaning as spiritual work, we have tried to unify, firstly, all the data provided by religions, by philosophies, and by sciences; secondly, the data provided by psychology; thirdly, all the data provided by the two previously cited groups. We consider self-knowledge the basic procedure that will permit the human being to live eternity in temporality.

Our cosmovision of self-knowledge points towards the integration of the data from theology, philosophy and science on the theme, which bestows on us the information that follows: the human being, an organism participant of the Organism, has within himself the whole truth, which he should submit to reasoning, with the courage of being, and seek his reconnection with Him, that can be effected, at the concrete-material level, by means of sex and of homeostasis, and, at the abstract-spiritual level, by means of the mysticism. The human being must know, and know ethically, so that he can aspire to the best for the largest number of people, which requires him to act with feeling when seeking the reconnection with the Whole by means of the concrete, material. The human being must know the law of harmonization of his living in the Whole, with the Whole and for the Whole, in order to give meaning to his existing. The adult human being is he who has broadened his self-knowledge in the living level with the self-knowledge in the total experiential level, that is, he who does not live the encounter with the world only through homeostasis, or only to escape from loneliness, but rather to live communion with the mystery of the world.

Our anthropovision of self-knowledge points towards the integration of the data from psychology on the theme, which bestows on us the information that follows: The human being, before being born, completely ignores his existence, which does not hinder his search for survival and for environmental homeostasis. His ignorance of himself does not hinder the individual work in terms of his development, which occurs, starting from indifferentiation at the level of intelligence of the directing dynamic potency of the universe. Self-knowledge, impossible from birth to the age of six, occurs, from the age of six to the age of twelve, only at the practical-utilitarian level, from the age of twelve to the age of eighteen, at the partial abstract level, initially of pugnacity, and later of searching for self-consensus, and, in the total abstract level, cumulatively, communitary, humanistic and cosmic.

Our ergovision of self-knowledge points towards the practical integration of the data of our cosmovision and of our anthropovision on the theme, which bestows on us the information that follows: The human psyche uses self-knowledge to enter into communion with the universal Whole, moving from self-knowledge at the concrete level, material, cumulatively, to self-knowledge at the partial abstract levels, of pugnacity and of self-consensus, and total abstract communitary, humanistic and cosmic. To promote self-knowledge the individual needs to use his consciousness, which will allow him to broaden his possible perception at each stage of his existence, as well as to correct the distorted perceptions that can be leading him to the meanderings of ignorance and hindering the fulfillment of his existential destiny.

Self-knowledge, in light of the Analytical-phenomenological- existential Theory, is, thus, the essential condition to obtain ecstasy, the natural goal of human existence. The human being, a being of ecstasy that he is, lives, at the very beginning of his history, total ignorance of himself, at his initial undifferentiated phase. The passage from the undifferentiated phase to the differentiated phase, rational, consists of the evolutionary journey itself, which includes: at first, ignorance, which moves through anguish, phobia, obsession, hysteria; secondly, material-concrete self-knowledge, latent; thirdly, abstract-spiritual self-knowledge, initially partial, preadolescent and adolescent, and, afterwards total, cumulatively communitary, humanistic and cosmic, the last one encompassing ecstasy, the definitive plunge, undifferentiated again, in the communion with the mystery of the world.

Since self-knowledge is the essential condition to obtain ecstasy, it urges that each individual in particular, and humanity as a whole, seek to make use of it. Self-knowledge can be learned, and distorted self-knowledge can be corrected, unveiling, thus, the possible way to make the living of eternity in temporality habitual, the ecstatic life, the anticipation, through human love, of the Definitive Love, of the Creator!