The 3 Phases of Transformation.

Within Temple Kenosis (TK) tradition are found concepts, philosophy, and practices that we consider foundational. I mean, heck, we’ve literally got the 3 Foundational Practices that we point to that we consider non-negotiables of the TK tradition. So, lets explore another foundational concept: the 3 Phases of Transformation. 

The 3 Phases of Transformation are Uncovering, Claiming, and Emergence. I came up with these 3 phases after witnessing the progression of hundreds of participants and clients that I’ve worked with over the past 25 years. The 3 Phases seem to be a natural phenomenon but not a natural progression. 

Not a natural progression because we must actively pursue them and they don’t naturally unfold for everyone. We actually have to choose to participate in each of the phases and we need to participate appropriately in each phase. This also means that we can get stuck or obsessed in any of these phases -I habitually focus on Emergence because it makes me feel like I’m building a ‘new me.’ We can reject certain phases and become dependent on others -I may love the Uncovering Phase but be terrified of the Emergence Phase. 

Before we get too caught up with all that stuff, let's take a look at what the 3 Phases actually are. The names of each phase are pretty telling about what’s going on in that phase. 

Phase 1: Uncovering

Uncovering is the excavation of material. ‘Material’ loosely refers to any element of myself that I have consciously or unconsciously disowned or don’t know about. This could be parts of my identity, unpleasant/pleasant memories, or traumas. 

Uncovering is the, often exciting, phase of discovery. Many folks find it exciting decoding, unveiling and clarifying what they are experiencing. We Fools also like to prepare participants for the fact that they will also find great pain in this phase. What we discover is often material we buried for good reason -avoiding pain. 

So if it's so painful, why do it? What seems to be a clear fact is also an irritating one: that which we disown ends up OWNING us. If we don’t get clear about what is ‘working us in the background’ -what our implicit bias is and where it comes from- we have a tendency to be possessed by it, driven by it, and/or project it onto the world/other people(s). This tendency often leaves us feeling powerless, hopeless, and out of control. 

TK uses Voice Dialogue or Shadow work technology and the Pillars of Integral Theory and Witness Consciousness Meditation (WCM) to do most of the Uncovering work. Voice/Shadow work educates us in the anatomy of the identity (the ego) and creates an opportunity to be more inclusive and curious about the complexity/dynamism of the human experience. Integral Theory deepens this exploration while providing thousands of years of resource material from all over the world. Practicing WCM fulfills the unique task of identifying and stabilizing our relationship -and eventual identification- with our Essential Nature. TK’s answer to the question, ‘who am I’ is that your Essential Nature is Vast Potentiality. Practicing WCM is primary in the Uncovering Phase exactly because we come to realize that we are not who we think we are. 

Phase 2: Claiming 

So you’ve been doing your Uncovering work, found plenty of material, felt some wild amounts of pain/power/authenticity, and are now wondering what’s next?

Claiming is taking responsibility for what we’ve found. Claiming is the process of identifying when and how we enact our material. It is not enough to uncover a belief system that certain groups of people are inferior to others. We must also watch ourselves secretly enact that belief, working from that belief in our day to day exchanges. It is not enough to Uncover that we live and speak from a certain Voice; we must reflect and identify when we are automatically in that Voice and how it affects our way of being. 

Claiming works best when we actively reflect on how our shadow/Voice material showed up from day to day and week to week in different interactions with people and institutions. It is also wise to enlist others whom we trust and are informed in these ways to reflect with us. We humans have such clever ways of misleading ourselves or omitting information in our favor that another set of eyes may be able to help us to become more open, honest, and vulnerable to our behavior and default perspectives. 

The tools of Uncovering are still relevant in the Claiming Phase, but we also suggest the addition of the techniques found within the Raw Communication Pillar. Raw Communication asks us to more deeply consider -and dismantle- how we communicate. How we communicate is in direct relationship to how we interpret reality. What we Uncover adds to our experience and interpretation of reality (which includes our self perception). Thus, we will inevitably need to add to our ways of talking and reasoning out what we’ve uncovered and how it exists in our life. 

This is a huge undertaking. 

Language makes real what we’ve experienced. If we can not speak clearly about what we are struggling with, what insights we have gleaned, or what behavior we are possessed by we often fail to benefit from it. Moreover, we often find that the material we uncover has molded how we communicate to others and about our experience of reality. 

A simple example would be of a person that has recently Uncovered that they are often speaking as the Dominator or Victim voice. They realize they use a very specific tone of voice and vocabulary when they are speaking from those voices. They would then Claim this behavior and take responsibility for when they automatically move into those voices and how it ranks them in their relationships (empowered, dominating, disenfranchised). Claiming can bring them to a critical opportunity; the opportunity to choose the next right action. 

Phase 3: Emergence

Emergence is all about choosing the next right action. Uncovering is about finding what material is impacting your perception and behavior. And Claiming is about recognizing how that material impacts your perception and behavior. Finally, with Emergence we decide on a new way of living that combines the treasures found in the prior phases with the deep wisdom and insight of being deeply intimate with the present moment.

All that work of Uncovering and Claiming allows for both a better use of our energy and the release of trapped energy that was living with the disowned material. We deeply excavate, translate, and process our material and perceptions. We then must transcend it because it is necessary but not sufficient to get us where we need to go. And where we need to go is into uncharted territory. Emergence asks us to take all the energy, insight, practice, language acquisition, reflective techniques, and mindfulness and turn our awareness to living as Vast Potentiality. As Vast Potentiality we are dedicated to remaining as open, honest, and vulnerable as possible and to take action that is as clean, clear, and curious as possible.  

In the Emergence Phase we still practice the Voice work and WCM since they continue to produce soul wealth. We look again to Raw Communication to teach us how to speak as clean, clear, and curious as possible. We are learning a new language, a new relationship to ourselves and the world. We use Integral Theory again to remind us where we’ve come from, where we are heading, and suggestions about how to get there. We are tasked with living a life of accountability. We are educated now on the ‘dynamism of being human’ and can no longer act aloof. We must study sources of information, practice service to those we love (those both within reach and far away). We are choosing a larger, deeper, more inclusive way of showing up in the world. We know that we will fail frequently and we take refuge in the fact that each failed attempt is a step simultaneously in every direction of Being. 

To quote Wilbur, “it is not enough to merely wake up; we must clean up, show up, and grow up.”