Freer associating: Its phenomenology and inherent paradoxes

Is there an ultraconscious beyond the unconscious?

The Ultraconscious (nirvana, satori, samedhi, ‘cosmic consciousness’, unto mystica, etc.) is a supra-sensory, supra-rational level of expanded consciousness which has been known since antiquity, yet has received little attention from modern psychiatry. Dr. Richard Bucke in his book Cosmic Consciousness listed the following phenomena at the ultimate peak of ultraconsciousness, regardless of the procedure by which it is achieved:

1) Awareness of intense light.

2) Emotions of supreme rapture and transcendental love.

3) Intellectual illumination and uncovering of latent genius.

4) Identification with creativity, infinity and immortality.

5) Absence of all physical and mental suffering.

6) De-emphasis of material wealth.

7) Enhancement of physical vigour and activity.

8) A sense of mission.

9) A charismatic change in personality.

Freud, through his concepts of free association and the unconscious, dared to challenge the supremacy of pure reason and helped to free psychiatry from the grip of an ‘exact science’, thereby paving the way to greater rapprochement between Eastern and Western thought.

Kelman believes that ultraconsciousness (kairos) can be recognized by the knowledgeable psychiatrist, can be encouraged in the patient and can be an important aid to psychotherapy, for kairos is probably latent in all of us.