Infinity in a drop
 
a consciousness-centred psychology
inspired by the work of Sri Aurobindo
Matthijs Cornelissen
last revision: 30 August 2022

preface

Why this text was written and for whom it is meant
 
1. A personal preamble
2. Using private knowledge systems
3. Can we do better?
4. For whom this text is meant
Why this text is called "Infinity in a drop"
 
• An ancient symbol re-visioned
How to engage with this text: a student‘s guide
 
1. How this text is organised
2. Maintaining a journal
3. Working on a project
4. A clickable "metro map" of Infinity in a Drop

introduction

Why we need a radically different approach to psychology
 
1. Psychology as a science is unique: it is about ourselves
2. The need for a rigorous science of the subjective domain
What the Indian knowledge traditions can contribute
 
• Four areas in which the Indian civilisation can make a crucial contribution to psychology
Three concepts of consciousness
 
1. Introduction
2. The physicalist concept of consciousness
3. The exclusive spiritual concept of consciousness
4. The integral concept of consciousness used in Infinity in a Drop
An ongoing evolution of consciousness as meta-narrative for psychology
 
1. The evolution so far: matter, life and mind 
2. The post-biological period:
   changing the world and changing ourselves
3. Involution, evolution and the future
Bringing it all together
 
1. Saccidānanda as the foundation of the whole of reality
2. Integrality
3. The one and the many: a complex, interactive hierarchy
4. Our human ability to move at will through this hierarchy

part one
who am I?

A short note before we start with part one

Who am I? A first look inside
 
1. introduction
2. The surface personality
3. Our character
4. Anyone at home?
The self and the structure of the personality
 
1. A roughly constituted chaos
2. Going within: discovering the "concentric system"
3. The "vertical system"
4. Centres of identity: ego, self and soul
5. The shifting borders of the self
6. A typical example
7. Bringing it all together
8. Some diagrams
9. Epilogue
What makes me the way I am?
 
1. Introduction
2. Influences in the social and physical domains
3. Influences in the subtle realm of the inner being
4. The Self as presence and refuge
5. The Self as influence
6. The Self in control
Natural individual development
 
1. Introduction
1. The individual as a product of nature and nurture
2. The individual as an eternal self, with a gradually developing soul nature
2. Reincarnation: development over many lives
1. Arguments against and alternative explanations
2. Arguments in favour
3. A more detailed description of how it might work:
1. Possible mechanisms
2. Avenues for research
4. Development within one life-time from a many-lives perspective
1. The influence of previous lives on childhood and life-span development
1. Possible mechanisms
2. Avenues for research
2. Taking responsibility for one's own development
5. Implications
1. Implications for therapy, counselling and self-development
2. Implications for education
6. Summary and conclusion

part two
how do we know?

A short note before we start with part two

Four types of knowledge and their roles in psychology
 
1. Four types of knowing, used in our ordinary waking state
2. Two modes of knowing: naïve and expert
3. The four knowledge realms
4. Some lesser distinctions
How to improve the quality of our psychological knowledge
 
1. Introduction
2. Perfecting the inner instrument of knowledge   
3. Beyond constructed knowledge
Towards a yoga-based research methodology
 
1. Introduction
2. Similarities between science and yoga
3. Problems with yoga-based research in the subjective and inner domains
4. science and yoga as complimentary knowledge systems
5. Conclusion

part three
meeting others and the world

Rasa, the "taste of existence"
 
1. Emotions: colours and "tastes" of self and nature
2. Some classical listings
3. Vital emotions and psychic emotions
4. Intrinsic delight; why nothing can exist without ananda at its core
5. Drama and the rasa in things
6. The Godward emotions
7. Equanimity and "being there"
Relationships
 
1. The pervasiveness of relationships
2. Different types of relationships
3. Self-giving and re-owning yourself
4. Being lonely, alone, all one
5. Human love and love divine
6. Love and oneness
Groups
 
1. Group membership
2. The group as source of identity
3. The group as functional unit
4. Roles and hierarchies within groups
5. The group as carrier of culture
6. Conflicts between groups: us against them
7. Harmony within and between groups
8. Symphony
Action and agency, fate and free will
 
1. What makes me act the way I act?
2. What is egoless action?
3. The scope for conscious, self-willed alignment
4. Is freedom real?

part four
working on oneself

Positive and negative motivation for change
 
1. Mind the gap
2. Changing the world
3. Changing oneself
4. The need for integration
5. The innate aspiration
6. ... And what holds us back
7. The role of pain
8. The sunlit path
Basic methods and things that help
 
1. Aspiration and the Grace that answers
2. Self-observation as tool: insight and detachment
3. Knowledge and reason as tools
4. Silence as tool
5. Remember and offer
6. Aspiration, rejection, surrender
7. Humour, detachment, commitment and love
8. Helpful attitudes and psychological perfections
9. The four aids
Dealing with difficulties and dangers
 
1. Common principles
2. Dealing with the mind
3. Dealing with the vital
4. When mind and vital gang up
5. Dealing with the body
6. The unholy trinity
7. Some common issues
8. In conclusion: dealing with the ego
Realisation, liberation and transformation
 
1. Changes within the normal range
2. Realisation: meeting the infinite
3. Mukti, liberation
4. Embracing the shadow
5. The difference between change and transformation
6. Psychic transformation
7. Spiritual transformation
8. Supramental transformation
9. The complexity of human nature revisited

part five
working with others

General introduction
 
1. Helping others: a word of caution
2. General principles
3. Motivation, insight, skill, and effort
4. Building a tool box
5. Helping others to help themselves
Education
 
1. Integral education: basic principles
2. Educating the mind
3. Educating the vital
4. Educating the body
5. Psychic education
6. Spiritual education
7. Helping others revisited
8. Imagine a society in which education would encourage honesty, collaboration, and the pursuit of perfection in whatever sphere of interest the child has.
Helping others with their physical health
 
• Still to come...
Helping others with their psychological health
 
• Still to come...
Social & organisational psychology
 
• Still to come...

epilogue

Psychology and the future of humanity
 
1. Why, in spite of all obstacles, an increasing influence of an integral, Indian approach to psychology is inevitable
2. Some strategic possibilities and considerations
Life as sādhanā; sādhanā as life
 
• Still to come...
An expression of gratitude
 
• An expression of gratitude

appendixes

Psychology and the scientific method: a difficult relationship
 
1. What is Indian Psychology?
2. How assumptions and methods of enquiry determine what different schools of psychology can see
3. Classical Behaviourism
4. Mainstream yoga research
5. 1913 and beyond: psychology's three lineages
• A mini-history of psychology in modern times
Conceptual issues
 
• Are Patanjali's Yogasutras about yoga?
Some more notes on consciousness
 
1. A three-dimensional concept-space for concepts of consciousness
2. An issue-wise comparison between three concepts of consciousness
Human nature
 
1. A very short overview of the terminology
2. The fourfold personality inventory
Applied psychology
 
• Is schooling injurious to health ?
Biographical and bibliographical notes on Sri Aurobindo
 
1. A short biography of Sri Aurobindo
2. A brief survey of Sri Aurobindo's writings
References, recommended reading and glossary
 
1. References to Sri Aurobindo's writings
2. References to texts by other authors
3. Short texts by Sri Aurobindo that are referred to in Infinity in a Drop
4. Integral Indian Psychology Resources: A reader-friendly list of resources on the main IPI website
5. Glossary