Florian Weps:
Duncan Barford, who used to post here years ago, and whom I regard as a strong practitioner and admire for his willingness to share details of his practice and progress, reported a baseline shift, path, or whatever it was on his blog:
On Retreat with Alan ChapmanAnyone recognize what he's describing? How would you fit this into your favorite working hypothesis?
Me, I find it reminds me a lot of the Heart Sutra. But he is very specific that Buddhist concepts and language don't work for him regarding this development.
Cheers,
Florian
Thanks for linking this account, Florian! I find it interesting.
Personally I am not super interested in mapping this (translating it into another framework) but that said, my first point of departure would be to ask: is there consensus that what Duncan and Alan refer to as Awakening corresponds with what Daniel calls 4th path? I ask because the shift that Duncan is describing could be a lot of different things depending on whether it is a tangent off of one of the earlier paths or whether it is a post-4th path shift (maybe, I don't really know lol-- this goes back to my allusion above that I am skeptical of cross-mapping and ultimately am more interested on knowing 1) is Awakening in Alan's system equivalent to 4th Path as is implied? and 2) if that is so than what does Alan see Liberation as being and is it dependent on acheiving Awakening first etc?? ).
My impression after reading and reflecting is that it is hard to say what is going on in this account. I found it compelling and it seems that it has been very significant to Duncan; especially in that it was the first shift in the 'structure of consciousness' (i.e., Path?) that he has undergone in several years. So I respect that sense of his that it is very significant. The theistic and Platonic framework is very different for me but I'm pretty good at being able to listen and empathize with folks who express their insights in different systems; but the nature of this one makes me curious whether it is a kind of Shift that can only occur within such a framework. In other words, again: is this about mapping his insight into a prag dharma Therevada framework of does this shift represent something other entirely, a different *kind* of shift? Which latter my gut tells me is more likely, but then, I generally suspect that there are all sorts of Shifts of different kinds that can arise. My raw impression of his narrative is that it is yet a deeper, and more feeling-centered, realization of nonduality. In other words, if Awakening/4th Path is perceptual nonduality, lots of folks do express interesting heart-level shifts after 4th path (and before it too though--). It would be interesting for example to hear Daniel and Duncan dialogueing on their respective post-4th emotional/feeling work and shifts which have arisen in the context of very different frameworks.
I guess I would love to hear more from Duncan about the whole experience and what it means to him, engage him in a bit of dialogue, if he were willing to post here (although perhaps he wouldn't feel too welcome at this point). I also am curious about Alan's framework as there was not too much about what Liberation is supposed to be in his system, how it differs from Awakening, etc, all of which would help me to understand what Duncan's experience meant to him, as it seems that it has been identified as 'Liberation' in this context. So what is that? How does it differ from Awakening? More examples of others' experiences of this shift would be awesome.
In short, fascinating account and I'd love to learn more. Hopefully a serious dialogue will arise.