The Sensorimotor Level or "worldspace" combines the Pleromatic and Uroboric stages of the Atman Project (Wilber II - the Pre Trans Cycle). The term "Sensorimotor", like a number of others Wilber uses here, is from
Piaget, who's work was clearly a major influence on Ken's thought. But the use in this broader more spiritual (and hence by implication
spiritual evolution) sense also reminds me a lot of the first or Physical of Da's "Seven Stages of Life", which in turn is equivalent to (and derived from?) Rudolph Steiner's developmental stages (the first seven years being those in which only the physical is active, the higher bodies not having fully incarnated). As far as I know it retains the confusion of mythopoeic involution and developmental ontogeny (if I am mistaken here, please contact me, as I want this material to be as accurate as possible)
The following is a light hearted 'phenomenological' description of Wilber's "Sensorimotor", which, because of its numerous often incompatable correspondences is very different from Piaget's:
Yearning, yearning.
Hunger, thirst, hunger here.
Swallowing, to swallow.
Must have, must have, must have.
Move toward, run away.
Fear, fear, fear, here.
Anger, rage, explode, swallow, grasping hard, terror.
the above quote and more (including a large number of correspondences) is at Sensorimotor texts
The following page is from a research notes page by Allan Combs which is no longer on line (original url http://www.unca.edu/~combs/HCP/II/Narrative/1Sensorimotor.htm ). I have kept the quotations, which are interesting, but left out the correspondences Of Wilber's Sensorimotor Realm with other systems, as I feel these are - like the tables in the back of Wilber's Integral Psychology - rather forced. - MAK
SENSORY MOTOR
Wilber Correlations
Correlative Basic Structures: Matter (-subatomic, molecular, polymer), Sensation, Perception, Exocept
'The
infantile fusion state is indeed a type of
paradise as we will see, but it is one of prepersonal ignorance not
transpersonal awakening. The true nature of the prepersonal, infantile fusion
state did not actually dawn on me until I ran across Piaget's description of it
" The self at this stage is material, so to speak…..'297 And material union is ,
as we will see the lowest unity of all, there is nothing metaphysically 'high'
about it; the fact that it is a unity structure, prior to subject-object
differentiation, erroneously
invites its identification with the truly higher unity structures which
are trans-subject/object. Atman Project Preface xvii
"Pleromatic Self
cognitive style- adualism; objectless, spaceless, protoplasmic
affective atmosphere- total oceanic, unconditional omnipotence, pleromatic paradise
conative or motivational factors- rudimentary, instinctual
temporal mode- timeless as pretemporal (not transtemporal)
mode of self- oceanic, protoplasmic, pleromatic, materia prima"
Atman Project
pg8
"Uroboric Self
cognitive style- first subject-object differentiation; acasuality; prototaxic mode; hallucinatory wish fulfillment; uroboric forms (early sensorimotor)
affective atmosphere- oceanic-euphoria, primordial fear
motivational of conative factors- primitive urge to survival (of uroboric self), physiological needs (hunger)
temporal mode- pretemporal
mode
of self- uroboric, archaic, prepersonal, reptilian, reflex, alimentary: Atman Project pg11
'The
self is "pleromatic", as the alchemists and gnostics would put it, which
essentially means that the self and the material cosmos are undifferentiated…The
self is embedded in the materia
prima, which is both the primal chaos of physical matter and the maternal
matrix or Prakriti from whence all creation was fashioned." Atman Project
pg.7
A light hearted 'phenomenological' description::
Yearning, yearning.
Hunger, thirst, hunger here.
Swallowing, to swallow.
Must have, must have, must have.
Move toward, run away.
Fear, fear, fear, here.
Anger, rage, explode, swallow, grasping hard,
terror. One Taste; p.142.
'There
is no real space for the neonate in the sense that there is ni=o gap, distance
or seperation between the pleromatic self and the environment. And likewise,
there is no sense of time, since a succession of objects in space cannot be
realized. The neonate's awareness is spaceless, timeless, objectless (but not
eventless)" Atman Project pg.8
Defenses: distortion, delusional projections, hallucination, wish fulfillment
Possible Pathology: Psychosis
Fulcrum: BPM: F-0, F-1 physical self
Treatment: F-0-intensive regressive therapies, F-1 pacification (Gedo-pacification)
Moral Span: autistic, symbolic, self-only
Affect: reactivity, sensations, physiostates: touch, temperature, pleasure, pain
" The uroboric self of the infant begins to sense the oppressive and primal mood of fear for the simple reason that it is now recognizes an other- the uroboric other. We might note that the Jungians, the Freudians and the Kleinians all agree that this primal fear is best interpreted as an oral one- that is, the primal fear of being swallowed, engulfed and annihilated by the uroboric other." Atman pg 11
Levels of Food: material exchange- food -labor
Gender identity: morphological genetic givens, undifferentiated
Worldview name1: Archaic-
Worldview characteristics1: undifferentiated, pleromatic,
Worldview name2: archaic-magical
Worldview characteristics2: hallucinatory wish fulfillment, subject object fusions, selfobjects
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |