Infinity in a Drop
 
a consciousness-centred psychology
inspired by the work of Sri Aurobindo

 
 
 
how rigorous research in the inner domain
can help psychology to become a more
effective and quickly progressive science

Matthijs Cornelissen
last revision: 11 June 2025

CONTENTS^nb

1.  Introduction: why this text was written

• A personal preamble
• The need for two fundamental sciences
• For whom this text is meant

2.  Psychology and its place within the academic world

• Psychology and what happened to it
• How science, and society, became more and more physicalist
• How psychology followed the hard sciences, and lost itself
• Two different ideas on what the world is made of
• Can we bring them together?

3.  Learning from physics

• Watching the stars
• What made the hard sciences progress so quickly?
• Learning from other knowledge systems

4.  Learning from the Indian knowledge systems

• Four major contributions the Indian knowledge systems can make to psychology
• Super-specializations, and the need for a synthesis
• Integration of Indian methods of inquiry with those of science

5.  Integrality

• Why this text is called Infinity in a Drop
• Integrality as translation of purna

6.  Consciousness and its role in reality

• Introduction: three concepts of Consciousness
• The physicalist concept of consciousness
• Consciousness from the perspective of exclusive spirituality
• The integral concept of consciousness °
• Synopsis: comparing the physicalist and integral views

7.  An ongoing evolution of consciousness

• The evolution of matter, life and mind
• The post-biological evolution:
  changing the world and changing ourselves
• The necessity of an involution before the evolution
• The next step in the evolution of consciousness

8.  How do we know?

• Four ways of arriving at knowledge
• Naïve and expert modes of arriving at knowledge
• From introspection to puruṣa-based self-observation
• Perfecting one's inner instruments of knowledge
• Four knowledge realms

9.  Doing yoga-based, consciousness-centred research

• Looking at science and yoga as complementary knowledge systems
• Similarities between science and yoga as knowledge-systems
• Difficulties specific to research in the subjective and inner domains
• Integration of yoga-based research with mainstream academics [in process]

10.  Towards a more integral system of education

• 'Normal' education: derived from cognitive behaviourism [in process]
• 'Free Progress' education: guided by the soul [in process]
• The introduction of consciousness-centred psychology at school-level [in process]
• How this could lead towards a more harmonious society [in process]

  Epilogue

• An expression of gratitude [in process]

Appendices

1.  Behaviourism and what it did to education

• Classical Behaviourism
• Is schooling injurious to health?

2.  Teaching a consciousness-centred psychology

• Introducing first-person psychology at college level
• Who am I?
• My surface personality
• My character
• Anyone at home?
• Self and personality: a short outline
• Different ways to classify types of knowing
• How to do small first-person research projects: a student's guide

3.  An issue-wise comparison between three concepts of consciousness

• Introduction and core characteristics
• Conceptual issues and secondary characteristics
• Consequences and implications

4.  The self and the structure of the personality

• Introduction
• An overview of Sri Aurobindo's terminology
• Going within: discovering the concentric system
• The vertical system
• Centres of identity: ego, self and soul
• Bringing it all together
• Locating the centre and the borders of the self
• The dynamism of the Self

5.  What makes us what we are?

• An overview of influences on our personality

6.  Biographical and bibliographical notes on Sri Aurobindo

• A short biography of Sri Aurobindo
• A brief survey of Sri Aurobindo's writings

7.  References and glossary

• References [in process]
• Glossary of Sanskrit words [in process]

8.  Stories

• A perfect therapy session
• Oh God, she quarrelled again
• Plato's cave and a teashop in Thailand
• What is māyā?
• Involution and evolution
• The first selfie
• The pandit and the milk-maid
• A simple blade of grass
• Churning the ocean [in process]

NB   This text is still in progress.

For updates and further information,
please contact:   Infinity in a Drop mail@ipi.org.in