Note 6 - Mystical Purgation as Dynamic Negation

Negation strictly speaking represents the dynamic undoing of rigid attachment to phenomena.
Such attachment always implies an undue emphasis on the merely positive direction of experience, based on the arbitrary fixing of polar reference frames.

When there is over-emphasis on the positive direction, asymmetrical connections of a dualistic kind assume an unwarranted unambiguous validity. The seeming absolute nature of this truth invites the confirmation of will. This in turn leads to possessive attachment and a consequent degree of phenomenal density (that is directly related to the strength of the attachment).

Whenever such attachment exists it leads to a narrowing of perspective and an over-identification with a merely partial aspect of understanding. This in turn impedes the ability to achieve overall personality integration (which requires the proper recognition of complementary aspects of experience).

Thus for proper integration, rigid attachment must be eroded and this requires strengthening the negative direction of experience. This dynamic process is itself based on an inherent recognition of the limitations of dualistic understanding (in the light of authentic nondual spiritual awareness).
This leads to a consequent desire to undo such rigidity.

In Christian mysticism this dynamic undoing is referred to as purgation and is always painful. It is also referred variously to as the "dark night", the "wayless way", the "cloud of unknowing" and "learned ignorance".

Because possessive attachment is necessarily associated with conscious phenomena the attempt to undo its rigid nature inevitably tends to remove the very recognition of these phenomena. Thus purgation - initially at any rate - can lead to considerable spiritual darkness and a temporary loss in conscious knowledge and skills of all kinds.

The great benefit however is that it significantly lessens rigid attachment to asymmetrical understanding (associated with one arbitrary pole of understanding). This in turn enables gradual recognition of the equal dualistic validity of understanding based on the opposite pole (as reference frame). This paves the way for balanced bi-directional understanding where opposite interpretations - which are paradoxical in terms of each other - are dynamically related. This in turn acts as a catalyst for authentic spiritual union where such paradox is reconciled. The deepening of such intuition in turn enhances the quality of bi-directional understanding at a phenomenal level.

So in the dynamics of understanding - especially in relation to the higher mystical stages - spiritual intuition and refined bi-directional understanding (i.e. states and corresponding structures) are interdependent.

When one follows what is written above it becomes easier to appreciate the need to properly distinguish differentiation from integration.

An unbalanced emphasis on mere differentiation i.e. asymmetrical understanding of relationships, can in itself be a significant factor in encouraging phenomenal rigidity. This can then act as a major barrier to achieving proper integration (especially at the higher mystical stages).
So in dynamic terms what is posited (and included) as conscious must be equally negated (and excluded) as unconscious.