21 levels of Self-Deception: THIRD EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview
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T W E N T Y - O N E L E V E L S
questions: How do we make the ideals and aspirations of spirit manifest in the real world? How do we acknowledge and fulfil genuine desire? How do we bring soul back into life, by understanding our embodiment and our place in nature and by honouring instead of suppressing the feminine?
The contrast between our two economies, ascendancy and descendancy, are further explored by Matthew Fox. Fox, instead of contrasting spirit and soul, contrasts ‘Jacob’s ladder’ with ‘Sarah’s circle’. A Jacob’s ladder style of thinking and acting is characterised by:
1. Up/Down.
2. Flat Earth (A Monist, reductionist view of life). 3. Climbing (aspirational, economy of ascendancy). 4. Sisyphian (ie, trying to push things up the
ladder).
5. Competitive.
6. Restrictive and elitist (survival of the fittest). 7. Hierarchical.
8. Violent.
9. Sky-orientated (aspiring to abstract goals). 10. Ruthlessly independent. 11. Jealous and judgement-orientated. 12. Abstract, distant-making. 13. Linear, ladder-like. 14. Theistic (immanent or transcendent). 15. Love of neighbour is separated from love of what
is at the top.
Some of these points have been considered in the chapters on ascendancy. It can be noted here though that the jealous, competitive, ruthless, violent and judgmental characteristics that Fox mentions — all very much related to the male-dominated nature of Western
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