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Transcendental textsI think that all new ideas/theories comes through fantasy thinking, they are merely presented and arranged by the scientist as though they were a process of directed thinking. There are nothing wrong in this since the ideas must be communicated in some way and by explaining the idea in a logical language our conscious minds can understand the idea.
Transforming consciousnessHowever, some ideas can not be explained in a logical language. These ideas can only be communicated in a symbolic language and/or in a language where meaning arises through the interplay of the sentences and words. The symbolism and interplay of words talks to both our consciousness and unconsciousness, and when the text succeeds in doing this it functions as a bridge between the two.
Besides Luhmanns theory, examples include poetry, myths and parables. These texts could be called trancendental in that they refer to some deeper meaning that lies beneath the threshold of consciousness. I think their purpose, is to bring unconscious material to the conscious level, i.e. alter or transform consciousness.
Emotions as a sign of changing consciousnessWhen our consciousness is transformed or the unconscious "pushes" towards a transformation, we get emotional in one way or the other. If assimilating the unconscious happens in a gently and controlled manner we feel joy, sadness or enthusiasm, we get “caught” by the words we read (or hear). Or it can also happen more strongly and uncontrolled, which causes more strong feelings, like manic behaviour or a nervous breakdown with heavy emotional outbursts.
For instance Nietzche, wrote his book ‘Thus spoke Zarathrusta’, in two very intense periods, which Mihaly would probably have characterized as flow-experiences, with almost non-stop work. He was in the hands of his unconscious, guided by “a tremendous intuition”. Afterwards he could only read a few sentences of his work at a time, because his eyes would fill with tears and his soul got so disturbed.
Nietzche wrote in 'Beyond Good and Evil', three years after 'Thus spoke Zarathrusta':
"It has gradually become clear to me what every great philosophy has hitherto been: a confession on the part of its author and a kind of involuntary and unconscious memoir." [Nietzche, 1886, p. 37]
Nietzche was a passionate spokesman for reconnecting the written words with the author, to use the lived experience of authors in rescuing their texts from what he saw as the thin, unbreathable air of impersonal and bloodless intellectuality [Atwood, 2000].
A transcendental text may also cause no emotions at all, which means that it is just ink on a piece of paper, it is a magic formula without any transcending effect, and therefore not magical at all. A transcendental text works, i.e. causes understanding, to the extent that it creates emotions in the reader - whether he “taps into” the authors lived experience or creates his own. No matter what state your consciousness is in, whether you are a child or a budhistic monk, only some transcendental texts works and only to a certain extent.
When the theory, parable, myth or poem does not causes emotion, they have served their purpose for a while and the reader needs new “spiritual bread”. She can then later return to the same transcendental texts and discover that they “work” again, because she has now grown and become wiser, and therefore finds new meaning in the texts.
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