Another Transformation
Have never thought of meeting again those adolescents whom I met a week ago during the debut party; probably because I wrote about them in this blog or maybe because of some other reasons I do not know -- I was lucky to meet again their young vital spirits. As I wrote in the previous blog entry, contemplating upon life in meeting those angles is one of the good opportunities that I rarely have. Thinking about them can remind me of the time when I was just in their age (around seventeen or eighteen years old) and that inevitably reminds me of a sort of transformation that takes place from their age to my age.
It is said that most of the so-called transformation of consciousness happens and completes by the age of twenty five or thirty; and until around fifty or sixty, one experiences the so-called translation alone, but no longer transformation. The transformation is the vertical deepening or escalation of consciousness level -- a kind of qualitative change of wisdom, while the translation is the quantitative increase of knowledge.
For example, we can easily see that you at the age of twenty were quite different from you at the age of five. When you were five years old, you were afraid of a dark place as you might encounter ghosts; your consciousness level was magico-mythical or pre-personal. When you are twenty years old, however, you are no longer afraid of a dark place and do not really believe anything superstitious; your consciousness level is rational-logic or personal. Though the transformation is gradual and not clearly separated in each level, at least you can see there are several qualitative changes between you at five and you at twenty.
There, however, is no such a kind of qualitative change between you at twenty and you at sixty. What changes between such two ages is more quantitative -– not the qualitative change of wisdom, but the quantitative increase of knowledge. It is not the vertical deepening or escalation of your consciousness level, but the horizontal expansion of your perception. Probably you can learn a lot of new things during your adult age and you can feel that you get wiser and wiser as your knowledge increases. However, the change is not as dramatic as the change that you can experience in the periods from infant to childhood to adolescent, etc. That is why; we call this change "translation" rather than "transformation."
Of course both changes are important and supplementary each other, but it is also important to notice each other's difference. Thus, witnessing the transformation of young people is supported to be one of the exciting events. In this sense, being a school teacher or more basically being a parent (or parenting itself) must be the important experience, though it seems that this point have been taken for granted. It is understandable that you can be a parent only when you have completed your own transformation; only adults can be parents and teachers.
Once, however, you reach the age of sixty or so (though it is approximate), you may experience the second transformation. Once more, you have to experience the vertical deepening or escalation of your consciousness. This is probably considered as the change from personal to transpersonal. When you approach such age, you may encounter a lot of your life-related, existential issues and problems. One of them is aging. You have realized that your life is limited and has the end. You have felt that your body becomes dysfunctional and eventually would stop functioning. You have experienced that your beloved partner or even children passed away.
When you are young, you are so busy to learn new things to train and adjust yourself to become the member of this world – in doing so you have to experience a number of transformations. When you become adult, you are also so busy to cope with the reality of this world; you need to learn a lot of new knowledge (rather than your own transformation) to survive in this world. And then, when you get old, what you have learned is the truth that you have to leave this world someday. Thus, you have to prepare yourself for your final departure.
But if so, how can you prepare yourself? If you have to eventually leave this world, then why am I here and what am I supposed to do here and also where will I go after leaving here? The increase of the knowledge (translation) can NOT answer these questions. What you need to do is another transformation in which you yourself have to change. Only in doing so, you can get the real answers.
It is true that many of us have to leave this world without knowing the real answers. But it is also true that we can have a choice and chance to get the real answers by our second transformation, which is what can be never achieved by the increase of knowledge.
It is said that most of the so-called transformation of consciousness happens and completes by the age of twenty five or thirty; and until around fifty or sixty, one experiences the so-called translation alone, but no longer transformation. The transformation is the vertical deepening or escalation of consciousness level -- a kind of qualitative change of wisdom, while the translation is the quantitative increase of knowledge.
For example, we can easily see that you at the age of twenty were quite different from you at the age of five. When you were five years old, you were afraid of a dark place as you might encounter ghosts; your consciousness level was magico-mythical or pre-personal. When you are twenty years old, however, you are no longer afraid of a dark place and do not really believe anything superstitious; your consciousness level is rational-logic or personal. Though the transformation is gradual and not clearly separated in each level, at least you can see there are several qualitative changes between you at five and you at twenty.
There, however, is no such a kind of qualitative change between you at twenty and you at sixty. What changes between such two ages is more quantitative -– not the qualitative change of wisdom, but the quantitative increase of knowledge. It is not the vertical deepening or escalation of your consciousness level, but the horizontal expansion of your perception. Probably you can learn a lot of new things during your adult age and you can feel that you get wiser and wiser as your knowledge increases. However, the change is not as dramatic as the change that you can experience in the periods from infant to childhood to adolescent, etc. That is why; we call this change "translation" rather than "transformation."
Of course both changes are important and supplementary each other, but it is also important to notice each other's difference. Thus, witnessing the transformation of young people is supported to be one of the exciting events. In this sense, being a school teacher or more basically being a parent (or parenting itself) must be the important experience, though it seems that this point have been taken for granted. It is understandable that you can be a parent only when you have completed your own transformation; only adults can be parents and teachers.
Once, however, you reach the age of sixty or so (though it is approximate), you may experience the second transformation. Once more, you have to experience the vertical deepening or escalation of your consciousness. This is probably considered as the change from personal to transpersonal. When you approach such age, you may encounter a lot of your life-related, existential issues and problems. One of them is aging. You have realized that your life is limited and has the end. You have felt that your body becomes dysfunctional and eventually would stop functioning. You have experienced that your beloved partner or even children passed away.
When you are young, you are so busy to learn new things to train and adjust yourself to become the member of this world – in doing so you have to experience a number of transformations. When you become adult, you are also so busy to cope with the reality of this world; you need to learn a lot of new knowledge (rather than your own transformation) to survive in this world. And then, when you get old, what you have learned is the truth that you have to leave this world someday. Thus, you have to prepare yourself for your final departure.
But if so, how can you prepare yourself? If you have to eventually leave this world, then why am I here and what am I supposed to do here and also where will I go after leaving here? The increase of the knowledge (translation) can NOT answer these questions. What you need to do is another transformation in which you yourself have to change. Only in doing so, you can get the real answers.
It is true that many of us have to leave this world without knowing the real answers. But it is also true that we can have a choice and chance to get the real answers by our second transformation, which is what can be never achieved by the increase of knowledge.
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