Reaching Kegan Level 4

[AnalyticalEngine]

Thanks for the feedback, daylen, I've been thinking about this for a few days and realized the mistake I might be making is to try and force the self, such as it were, into isolation, when in reality, it's that participation/connection that I need to expand more into. An analogy that I came up with is that if level 3 is filled with verbs (you are social ties) and level four is filled with nouns (you are identity), then a key to understanding level 5 might be noun-verbs (dialectic).

Dissociative experiences are somewhat fascinating because they deconstruct the self into pieces, and then you can observe how the pieces come back together when the dissociation ends. There are certain conscious and subconscious pieces, almost like a game of tetris, that can snap together into novel shapes. It does make the self feel a lot less cohesive than I thought before. Less of a node and more of a network of networks.

[grundomatic]

I read Brene Brown's Braving the Wilderness, and decided this was the best place to put the recommendation. Consider it something like "the touchy-feely (NF) guide to handling the Kegan 3-->4 transition". The premise of the book is essentially to make "belonging to yourself" a priority over belonging anywhere else. The book then provides suggestions for how to navigate a world full of polarized groups that likely won't understand the nuance of your position, and also how to make sure you remain civil while being true to yourself. Also worth noting is that "braving the wilderness" is metaphor here, no suggestions of spiritual wilderness dances, quests, visions, etc. here.