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Applied Consciousness Sciences
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Applied Consciousness Sciences is a holistic field that connects with various fields, practices and theories. It is a systematic practice of learning from the subjective and it supports contemplative practices like Mindfulness and Vipasana. Its practice relates to diagnostic and touch practices in Traditional Tibetan Medicine and Ayurvedic Medicine; and its theory relates to amongst others the aforementioned practices, modern Systems Thinking and Systemics. In the past decade it has grown into a contemporary 'open' field with a theory that explains the various aspects of consciousness, various diagnostic and feedback practices and a view on how individuals, organizations and society can be guided towards wholeness. Its theory facilitates visualization, interpretation and simulation of the dynamics behind creative, pathological, psychological and physiological processes. This creates clarity, understanding and facilitates transformation. ACS is a Creative Commons Share Alike 3.0 development. The use of any aspect of ACS is free. It can be modified to suit different needs and environments and it can be incorporated in any field, discipline or program. It isn't attributed to one person or organization and can therefore not be monopolized. It can be used by academic, research or other organizations to make these developments available to learners and citizens, young and old, irrespective of religious or social background. This takes away any financial burden that might limit people in their capacity to engage in activities that support personal and social transformation. History The international development of ACS was started in 2001 in The Netherlands and it continues to evolve internationally. Organizations in The Netherlands, USA and India continue to support the research and development of this relatively new field. Amongst the institutes that support ACS are the Men-Tsee-Khang Institute, which is the Tibetan Medical & Astrological Institute of H.H. the Dalai Lama, Aradne (USA), Stichting Business Universiteit (Netherlands), Stichting-Reis (Netherlands) and my eyes Group (Netherlands). Objective The main objective of ACS is to guide individuals and organizations towards using their own awareness as a basis for personal and social transformation. Individuals can learn how to continually look at the complexity of life from where it originates, in the present moment. Seemingly complex problems lose their complexity when seen from this point of departure. Central in ACS theory and practice are the individual learner's point of departure or point of view; subjective experience and unfolding transformational process. A Science of the Subjective . Point of Departure Our capacity to perceive reality as-it-is, largely depends on whether we are capable of perceiving past our own limiting convictions and engrained patterns. That, which makes us asume these convictions and patterns as our own, is identification. This filters or distorts our perception of reality and makes us feel separate. Consequently we refer from this false sense of separation to: 'I'. This is where we mostly tend to look from! Identification or the lack thereof can respectively limit or free our perception. Different aspects of consciousness that ACS refers to are: * Roles - the roles and concrete experiences, amongst which knowledge and skills with which we normally identify. * Knowing- the (expanded) knowing that intently perceives different roles and experiences, local and remote; past, present or future. * Witness - from a bird’s-eye-view the witness simultaneously receives all perceptions and is then presented with possibilities to choose from and explore through "knowing". Identification keeps us from experiencing all of these aspects as holistically interconnected or as a whole. Identification filters and distorts, but it also keeps us from finding balance and is the basis from where we miscommunicate. The countless roles that we act out, the knowing and the witness are different aspects of who we are. Because of identification it appears as though we're constantly shifting between different roles and in and out of (expanded) knowing. In reality all is happening at the same time. We are the witness who oversees the totality of what we experience; we are the knowing that has access to different experiences; and we are the countless roles, connected with particular knowledge and skills that we use in different situations. Aspects of Awareness Different approaches can be used to create more awareness about those mechanisms that keep people from feeling/being whole. They aim at helping individuals, groups and organizations use feedback to dynamically recognize patterns to raise their own awareness and let go of limiting convictions and engrained patterns that filter their perception and create adverse effects in mind and body. The following aspects of awareness are enhanced when individuals, groups or organizations start using feedback to dynamically recognize patterns. These aspects of awareness enable us to continually grow, anticipate change, find balance and creatively develop the conditions by which we can cater to our own needs in the present. The aspects of awareness described below are slightly different from how these are described in the Consciousness Quotient (CQ) . In addition to the CQ, ACS also describes Feedback-Relational Awareness, which we consider very important in self-organization on different levels. ACS goes beyond the challenges of describing consciousness by helping learners expand all of the aspects of awareness described below. This expands the foundation, which learners can use as a basis for investigating consciousness. * Mental-awareness - clarity about what we think. * Emotional awareness - clarity about what we feel. * Physical awareness - clarity about what we sense. * Self-relational awareness - clarity about how we relate to our individual self. * Social-relational awareness - clarity about how we relate to others. * Feedback-relational awareness - clarity about the use of information (feedback) for self-adjustment and self-organization. * Meta-awareness - opens up the possibility of raising the other aspects of awareness. Meta-awareness (witnessing), the bird's-eye-view, is simultaneous, continuous, unfiltering, simple, authentic, creates clarity and knowing. Channels of Perception Different forms of reading or process-diagnosis and feedback are available to facilitators to dynamically create awareness about those mechanisms that keep people from feeling/being whole. In ACS, reading or process-diagnosis is primarily used by the learner, to learn to continually witness feedback from the mind-body and recognize dynamic patterns. This continually enhances the aspects of awareness mentioned above. When witnessing becomes continuous, learning and awareness-raising continually arise from within. Consequently all patterns of dependency (and connected bio-responses) will gradually cease to exist. Most approaches that guide towards wholeness make use of one or more of the following forms of reading or diagnosis. * Reading of external psychophysical characteristics, such as facial characteristics, build, movement and posture, makes the learner aware how the world outside sees him/her. * Inquiry into the constituent parts of subtle subjective experiences in the mind-body allows the learner to become aware of emerging patterns in the present moment. * Pulse diagnosis allows the learner to become aware amongst others about: 1) how s/he has accumulated traumas and connected bio-responses from the prenatal period till the present and how these may be recognized; 2) how patterns of bio-behavioral responses (fear, sadness and rejection) dynamically act on mentioned traumas and how these can be dynamically recognized; 3) how one can recognize to what extent the transformational process is active; 4) how one can recognize one's constitution; 5) how one can recognize one's personality type. * Touch diagnosis of 108 points allows the learner to become aware exactly where in the body subtle bio-behavioral responses manifest and how these can be recognized. These can manifest amongst others as 1) tension (kinetic-electric), 2) burning (electromagnetic), 3) heaviness (gravitation), or a combination of the same (pain, etc.). The learner can also learn to apply this touch practice on him/herself. * Empathic reading allows the learner to become aware how s/he communicates non-verbally through transferal. * Reading information from the sound and rhythm of speech and breathing allows the learner to use the feedback from these subtle characteristics (sound, etc.). * Reading the nine forms of facial expression: love, laughter, anger, compassion, aversion, fear, heroic, wonder, peace; allows the learner to use feedback from the same. Communicate & Grow The learner witnesses feedback from the mind-body through different channels of perception and aspects of awareness and learns to dynamically recognize patterns therein. The inner need that arises in the learner then stimulates him/her to readjust the way s/he relates to and communicates with the immediate world outside. The learner can gradually gain clarity about how knowing offers him/her access to different experiences, the countless roles that s/he acts out in different situations, including communication and dialogue, but now from a greater connection. S/he also witnesses the dynamic mechanisms by which witnessing, knowing and experiencing are holistically interconnected. The coherence between the Heart and Brain is one of the indications of this interconnectedness. When synchronized or interconnected the Heart enhances the Brain's capacity to perceive reality. While through the Brain a learner can perceive the content of what is communicated verbally, through the Heart the learner can perceive how this is communicated nonverbally. While the Brain perceives form, the Heart perceives presence. For instance it is through the Heart that we can sense danger or that someone is staring at us. In activities like learning, communicating and dialoguing the Heart can therefore allow learners to perceive aspects which otherwise remain invisible. For example: miscommunication and arguments have their basis in the invisible aspects of communication. Learners can thus become aware of reality as-it-is, which goes beyond what they think about that reality. They can also see how what they perceive from different points of departure is complementary. The above also applies to becoming aware of those mechanisms that underlie the development of disease and self-healing or homeostasis. The learner can constantly gain more clarity about unresolved trauma's and associated patterns of stress responses that underlie the same. Learners will therefore be more able to constantly recognize patterns of (stress)responses as feedback. Their mind-body can therefore more effectively regain its capacity to continually find balance and turns the adverse effects associated with contemplation and personal transformation, into a healing effects. In a healing crisis people feel sick as a result of the mind-body releasing conditions of the past. There is a notable difference between a disease crisis and a healing crisis. The learner needs to be able to recognize the different patterns associated with both. And only through this dynamic pattern-recognition or awareness, can a learner continually strengthen the mechanisms of healing. There is a lot more that a learner can discover experientially when learning is based on the trinity of witnessing, knowing and experiencing. This subjective aspect of learning can influence education, health care, ... society in general in a direction that caters to the inner needs of individuals. It can also offer an enduring basis from where individuals and organizations can foster the capacity to continually align processes, anticipate change, find balance and live and communicate with compassion. Theory and Practice While conventional Sciences focus on investigating and manipulating the content of experience, the Applied Consciousness Sciences focus on investigating and creating awareness about the point of departure or starting-point from where we perceive that content of experience . The former departs from the point of view that a third-person can alter the content of experience for us, especially when we suffer, to prolong life and make it more enjoyable. The latter departs from the point of view that when we gain clarity about those mechanisms by which we suffer, we have the choice to refrain from feeding those mechanisms and create the enduring conditions by which we can enjoy life to the fullest. In the former we are dependent on others and in the latter we learn how to grow beyond our own patterns of dependency. This helps us dissolve our own inner limitations. Moreover, ACS aims at guiding each learner towards investigating the subjective. ACS's views, theories and practical instruments for research, which are elaborately described in the Applied Consciousness Science, A Reference Guide, start from and aim at bringing individuals, groups and organizations, to a point where they can perceive from the witness, knowing and various roles, all at the same time. Towards this end it describes a meta-awareness paradigm as the basis of its theories and practices. Apart from empowering the learner, it also empowers a multitude of different approaches, theories, models and methodologies. Its unifying approach abridges the gap between academic developments and everyday life in society. Applications In the past decade ACS has been the basis of programs offered in different environments, namely: * Health care - Health care professional - Also offered to individuals with physical, psychological or psychiatric disorders. * Education - Educational professionals - Also offered to learners with and without learning disabilities. * Business - Business professionals - Designer and communication trainings, individuals and groups. * Governmental - Officials - Consultancy and communication training. (The application of ACS is not limited to the above environments) Programs In the past couple of years in several countries, different programs have been developed that are based on ASC theories, practices and research, namely: * Unifying Conceptual Designer program - A business oriented program that trains 'designers' who focus on facilitating organizational transformation. * ACS Facilitator program - An education/social/health oriented program that trains 'facilitators' who focus on personal and social transformation. * S.E.L.F. program - A 3-month individual (outreach) program that is tuned towards facilitating personal transformation. It affects all aspects of life, including learning, mental and physical health. * Full-Spectrum Dialogue workshop - A program that guides learners towards making use of the full spectrum of perception (Brain-Heart) to communicate effectively and grow through dialogue. Research & Development Those organizations that support ACS developments are presently seeking partnerships with academic institutes in The Netherlands, USA and South-East Asia to engage in Evidence Based Research. The following research activities have led to the development of amongst others the theories, diagnostic, feedback and other practices: Phase I: * Literary Research * Fundamental Research * Holistic Research Phase II: * Evidence Based Research (Seeking partnerships) Centers * Aradne (USA) - R&D, all certification programs, academic partnerships in The Netherlands and USA. * Stichting Business Universiteit (Netherlands) - Academic programs, academic partnerships in the USA * Stichting-Reis (Netherlands) - R&D, all certification programs, academic partnerships in The Netherlands and Europe. See Also
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