The Map Is Not the Territory, Unless It Is

On page 2 of Integral Spirituality, Ken states that “one thing is important to realize from the start. The Integral Map is just a map. It is not the territory. We certainly don't want to confuse the map with the territory – but neither do we want to be working with an inaccurate or faulty map.”

The map is not the territory – unless it is, as depicted in literary works described, among other things, in the Wikipedia article ”Map/territory relation.” And perhaps by following an accurate map, “a perfected yogi” finds herself in the situation that Paramahansa Yogananda describes in his Autobiography of a Yogi: “The consciousness of a perfected yogi is effortlessly identified, not with a narrow body, but with the universal structure” – the universal territory that is its own map and includes all maps, however inaccurate, and all mapmakers and readers.


From Autobiography of a Yogi, Chapter 30:
___________________________________________________________________

The masters who are able to materialize and dematerialize their bodies or any other object, and to move with the velocity of light, and to utilize the creative light-rays in bringing into instant visibility any physical manifestation, have fulfilled the necessary Einsteinian condition: their mass is infinite.

The consciousness of a perfected yogi is effortlessly identified, not with a narrow body, but with the universal structure. Gravitation, whether the “force” of Newton or the Einsteinian “manifestation of inertia,” is powerless to compel a master to exhibit the property of “weight” which is the distinguishing gravitational condition of all material objects. He who knows himself as the omnipresent Spirit is subject no longer to the rigidities of a body in time and space. Their imprisoning “rings-pass-not” have yielded to the solvent: “I am He.”

___________________________________________________________________
— http://www.crystalclarity.com/yogananda/chap30.html

Re: The Map Is Not the Territory, Unless It Is

“License” is a generous term, Tom!  Show me some hard evidence of a person who is not bound by the laws of physics, is what I'd say. And the author doesn't seem to really understand Einstein, either. Infinite mass is not so good for light-speedy travel, no?

Liz

Re: The Map Is Not the Territory, Unless It Is

I guess the idea is that with infinite mass the yogi wouldn't need to travel because she'd already be … everywhere … at once – or perhaps more accurately, she'd be everything.

Tom

Re: The Map Is Not the Territory, Unless It Is

Hey Tom,

A friend who was raised by his Medicine Man (Yei bachei) grandfather, who helped me appreciate a beautiful brilliant Magenta, once told me that when he said, “Gran pa, they put a man on the moon!”, his grandfather lowered and shook his head saying, “Don't they know we're already there ?”

jiki

Re: The Map Is Not the Territory, Unless It Is

Tom,

I hadn't read Yogananda since the 70's, but shortly thereafter I became a fan of Gregory Bateson (who coined the phrase that Korsynski, and Wilber, use, “the map is not the territory”).

I suspect that if we apply Bateson's 'logical-typing' to Yogananda's semantic liberties we would find that much of the descriptive signifying going on in the Autobiography is not only riddled with incongruent logical typing but also full of poetic, Romantic elaborations on some traditional yogic teachings/perspectives.

If I'd read Bateson first I may not have felt that Yogananda (the map) merited cover-to-cover attention.

But wasn't it a blast to play in the fields of ancient magics reiterated through too little science and too much legend, to dine on those recipes one part old tradition three parts modern nomenclature and spiced with multidisciplinary vocabulary. That sums up my brush with New Age in my adolescence. 

jiki

 

Re: The Map Is Not the Territory, Unless It Is

It seems in Integral Spirituality that the map, or interpretative perspective, enacts the territory. It's not a Cartesian duality in that the territory is given and we merely discover it. So in that sense the map is the territory, or at least what we perceive of it.

Re: The Map Is Not the Territory, Unless It Is

It seems illusive to me that map can make one familiar with territory; orient, yes, inform, yes, familiarize, no.  Map obstructs familiarity as one cannot simultaneously attend both map and territiory.  Map is a stylized abstract, an outline of someone's interpretation of salient points of interest and which ultimately distracts one from the infinite in territory.  Familiarity comes with direct relationship with territory. 

The founders of New American Spirituality (NAS) and Integral Theory as an example, have all borne long treks in the territory, some criss-crossing it several times, some caught, some lost, some surrendered in ashrams, churches, discos and squats, some shook free, some discarded, some returned home with stars in their eyes and the will to capitalize on their erudition, charisma, and experience. 

How to do this, this telling of where they found the gold?  How to gain notoriety and cash while getting others to buy into their goldfield?  Why, draw a map of course, and, after schooling the naifs on the prospect you sell them a map with no north, east, south or west on it and tell them that, in time, there will be improvements to the map, and that corrections will be made, and, its just an outline after all, but here's some more discussion about the map - go figure for yourself about the territory because we just can't agree on what it was really like anyway.

This is not a map of Kansas that we are talking about here.  It is a map of consciousness, which, at minimum, includes 11 dimensions and counting.  The very word “map” calls flatland consciousness into being.  It is self defeating to use the word in association with the architecture of consciousness.  Further, we are tempted to substitute lexicography for territorial familiarity as intimacy with the terrrain is hard won indeed.

NAS seems like a profession of experts and a market of wannabees.  Ironically, the route is the same as it has ever been:  get up, make your bed, do a couple of asanas, remind yourself what a joy it is to be alive, brush your teeth, smile big into the mirror and promise to keep smiling the whole day long; a few more asanas, sit still for a while and if you absolutely must think, then think of yourself as God incarnate; cook as if it were the Goddess you were feeding, eat with your fingers and chew slowly, work in the garden, say “Wheeee!!” upon elimination and do it again the next day.  When vexed, pick up your beads and get your mantra's going.  The Shakti will come to you slowly at first, then in a rush and then slowly again and soon, really, sooner than you might think, the garden will begin to shine and the soup's aroma will fill the entire house spilling arcross the street to the neighbors who will come with their spoons and bowls and you will feed them and they will feed you with their gratitude which will lead to a good night's sleep and pleasant dreams and the peace of mind to awake 5 seconds before the alarm so that you can turn it off with a smile.

Yer pal,
Michael

Re: The Map Is Not the Territory, Unless It Is

Michael! 

A-men! O-women! 

Wonderful words!  Thank you for the peace in what you write.

Reading earlier tonight I found this from Thich Nhat Hanh in the current “Shambhala Sun,” September 2007:

“And sometimes forgetfulness gets the upper hand and you lose your happiness.  You are capable of being grateful, and when you feel grateful, you're happy.  But sometimes you just forget, you don't feel grateful anymore, and every time you don't feel grateful, you suffer.  We all have that tendency to be ungrateful, just as we all have gratefulness within.  We are made of these conflicts.  We are made of flowers and compost at the same time, because we are a garden.”  pg. 62.

And I think what you're saying is that given the right conditions the garden knows how to thrive and so do we.

Joy!
Portico

Re: The Map Is Not the Territory, Unless It Is

Thank you all for your responses!

Cheers!
~ Tom

Re: The Map Is Not the Territory, Unless It Is

In a recent post to his blog, Bruce (Balder) wrote this:

When Time, Space, and Knowledge was first published in 1977, it was hailed as “one of the most sophisticated cosmologies to emerge in years.”  And while TSK truly does provide a new and compelling way to view the Kosmos, its rich, multi-faceted discussion of time, space, and knowledge is intended, not as a comprehensive “map” of reality, but as a point of departure for inquiring into and growing more intimate with the living, open, dynamic fabric of our experience.

Re: The Map Is Not the Territory, Unless It Is

You're welcome, Tom!

Blessings,

B.