ONTOSOPHY
THE STUDY OF THE HUMAN BEING
"A true science of the human being must explain not only where we come from but how, as a complex form, we are moving toward greater consciousness in thought and action."
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"To achieve greater consciousness, we do not need to overcome our biology because our higher potential is part of our biology. The mystery of our higher faculties is not the mystery of higher worlds, knowledge held by spiritual teachers, religious traditions, or higher dimensions that can be accessed through meditative disciplines; the mystery is man himself. The real meaning of life, the higher purpose and the higher faculties, are contained not in religion but in our own nature."
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Dr. Theodore Dimon
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Emerging from its animal past, the human species is now advancing in every phase of life to a more conscious way of living and a more conscious command of the faculties and capacities that make us human. While we appreciate the role of education and learning as essential elements in the full development of these capacities, our recognition of the need for conscious development in other areas of life, and of the relation of conscious development to overall health, remains woefully incomplete. Scientific models describe bodily systems in increasing detail, but this knowledge is almost entirely divorced from any practical understanding of our potential for conscious development, and of the relation of these faculties to a truly holistic model of health and living. Religious and contemplative traditions affirm our higher purposes and faculties, but lack a true appreciation of the dependence of our higher spiritual nature on our complex mental and physical design, and of the fundamental role of this design in our conscious development.
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Ontosophy is the study of our complex biological systems and our potential to use these systems in an integrated and conscious way as the basis for a truly holistic and enlightened conception of health and living. This model is based on the study of man’s evolutionary design; the role of our complex biological design in development and learning; an understanding of the integrated and conscious working of the organism in action; and the role of awareness and attention as higher forms of knowing and acting. This includes the study of bodily and motor control systems; voluntary movement and attention; the conscious use and function of these systems as the basis for a holistic model of healthful living; and the psychology of awareness in its broader evolutionary and biological context.
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A Science of Man's Conscious Evolution
We are all familiar with the idea that, by utilizing conscious awareness, we can reverse illness, control stress, and become more aware in action. Accessing the mind/body connection through some means of exercising awareness or relaxation has become part of the modern lexicon. But all of this is palliative and therapeutic and, in attempting simply to reverse illness, fails entirely to articulate the extent to which we can become more balanced and conscious as a matter of real educational growth. Understood properly, consciousness is not just a means to an end but a new or emergent stage in human evolution and, in this context, is not simply a tool for change or some kind of hidden power but part of our evolutionary design. Our attention, our cognitive faculties, our ability to move—all are incredibly complex and operate at a largely instinctive level, and all can be brought to a higher, more conscious stage. With the discoveries of biology, neuroscience, and psychology we are arriving at a greater scientific understanding of the human being. But no science of man can be complete that omits an understanding of our conscious faculties, which are a critical and remarkable part of the human design.