Glossary
Dharma
From the Sanskrit root dhr, to uphold, sustain, to nourish, Dharma is deemed as the essential, natural law of function in the universe. In human affairs, dharma is most comfortably regarded as universal moral law, or more theologically as eternal righteousness and the foundation of all conduct. As such, it governs the correct functioning of all inner and manifest behavior. The results of dharma are seen in orderly and consistent personal and social conduct. Virtuous conduct is conformity to dharma.
The natural tendency to affirmative personal growth is the dharma of both psychic force and energy and acts as an essential part of the grand mystery that functions always for the betterment of an individual throughout the life process. Cognitive awareness of intentional negation and deviation from dharma result in the natural increase of psychic entropy. According to degree, this will most often produce an autonomous propensity toward feelings of anxiety and guilt. Yet the sacred benevolence of dharma also provides the avenue to sincere personal contrition which plays a paramount role for divine interactivity in human affairs among of all the world’s major religions.
“Dharma is like a boundless ocean teeming with priceless gems. The deeper you dive the more treasure you find.” Mahatma Gandhi
(See References: The Foundation; all of Part I to savor the full contextual evolution of dharma.)
Intuitive Mind
Many in the West attribute the intuitive mind to be a gut-level feeling rooted in some emotional, ephemeral state of being that penetrates awareness. Jung and Aurobindo among others all seem to acknowledge what is known in ancient Sanskrit as darśana. Although there is no direct translation darśana can be thought of as direct knowing. The Sanskrit word embodies very profound nuances of vision or insight spontaneously provided to the psyche. Darśana is fundamentally integrated into Hindu, Buddhist and Jain religions, and into the many yoga and ascetic disciplines derived from those theological wellsprings.
Karma
From the Sanskrit root kri, to act; to do; to make. It is also known as the law of action and reaction, cause and effect. At any point in time, an individual is the sum total of previous thoughts and acts and simultaneously, at every moment, the active builder of one’s personal, idiosyncratic life process going forward.
Dharma Dynamics Methodology
Whether applied to an individual, a group or an abstract entity the thermal dynamics of personality development remain consistent.
1. Clearly define the personality system in the simplest way.
The simplest way known is when the fewest significant components of the system are reduced to unquestionably represent the complementary, irreducible interactivity of dharma and entropy within the psyche. This may be a task too difficult for some, but it’s an absolute necessity. This obligates one set aside all personal biases and follow one’s moral compass.
Also include the source(s) of energy to the personality system of interest for these may well be those representative components.
2. Isolate and assess the idiosyncratic causes effecting normal behavior and how each enhances or wastes available energy to the system. This indicates day-by-day system efficiency during the life process.
3. Appraise the value of the end product, behavior. Both personal and social influences necessitate considerable evaluation, but not necessarily equal weight. The degree of counseling or analysis is initially diagnosed from the level of observed behavioral disfunctionality.
(That clinical assessment will necessarily vary among professionals according to academic heritage.)
4. The goal is always life-affirming results for both individuals and groups. If indicated, the reduction of psychic entropy is the supportive pathway forward; positive changes to behavior will always follow as a natural consequence.
Psychic Homeostasis
The normal, stable balance attained during the continual interplay of dharma and entropy within the psyche.
Realization — This is how we come to know
We all have dreams, hopes and desires. They spontaneously formulate within the psyche as gossamer threads that are barely a blip on the screen of cognitive awareness. And yet they can mature through time with profound influences upon manifest behavior.
Hopes>>>Beliefs>>>Knowledge>>>Wisdom
Our hopes will, at times, strengthen with experience into beliefs.
In like manner, some beliefs strengthen with experience to consolidate
knowledge.
With time and trial, knowledge may strengthen and spontaneously yield
wisdom.
Applied with rectitude, wisdom reveals unassailable truth.
The Unconscious
Dharma Dynamics has no need of this psychological construct. I only include this term because there are those out there who steadfastly, almost religiously, hold on to this psychological relic of late 19th century. In doing so, they presuppose a vast, inestimable reservoir of unresolved personal issues where a trickster like Loki, Dolos or Atë stands guard with virtual god-like abilities to render judgments of good and evil.
My clinical observations have indicated that maintaining the concept of an unconscious adds absolutely nothing to affirming the life process for anyone. Actually, it cripples the potential benefits of therapeutic activity by increasing the entropy within one’s personality development system. In actuality, it directly underscores a person’s feelings of helplessness and inhibits an individual's innate abilities of self-discovery while it weakens self-reliance and debilitates personal responsibility.
Also, interlacing the idea of an unconscious into the therapeutic process immediately creates a two-tiered environment that disproportionately subjugates the client to the assumed therapist’s expertise. As such, it becomes a useful artifact that therapists can conveniently hide behind when they are unsure of their diagnosis, therapeutic movement and/or direction. And, truth be told, it is also a useful catchall so therapists can unnecessarily extend the timeline of therapy for pecuniary enrichment.