Individuals who compartmentalize their lives or the world, as if things operated separately, instead of interdependently, so compartmentalize themselves.
Rigidities appear. Stiffness appears. The effects of stress are sharpened. Reaction to stressors occur more quickly.
Resonance is less.
Feeling is impaired.
Intelligence diminishes.
With diminished intelligence comes an increased toleration of tension and decreased sensitivity to the intensity of experience until they have become abnormally high.
Likewise, the ability to regulate our reactive emotions is often inadequate to the moment -- and we "lose our temper".
Compartmentalization decreases our"cushion" of resilience.
Compartmentalization impairs integrity.
Compartmentalization impairs intelligence.
The ways we compartmentalize may be hidden to ourselves.
Efforts to identify them may be likened to looking for something in a dark room with a flashlight or candle.
There exists a more exact and efficient way:
Look for them in each of the four "rooms" or expressions of intelligence -- attention, intention, memory, and imagination.
In each of those four "rooms" are four "compartments" that may contain things that we've compartmentalized, related to attention, intention, memory and imagination.
WHAT TO DO
When looking for experiences we have compartmentalized, we look into each of the compartments -- attention, intention, memory, and imagination -- in the context of any situation that troubles us. We look at the situation in terms of attention, intention, memory, and imagination -- one compartment at a time.
We may start with any of the four, but for the sake of this instruction, let's say we start with attention. We look for how our attention is involved in the situation. If we find some sensation or impression, we release it as best we can in the moment and then move to the next compartment.
THE ROOMS
On each of room's door is an emblem signifying what is to be found, within.
Let's look into imagination:
Imagination: The Cornucopia
The Room of the Imagination contains a table with a puzzle, a jigsaw puzzle. On the table are four pieces symbolized by four words.
IMAGINATION * UNDEFINED POTENTIAL * SPONTANEOUS IMMEDIACY * ORIGINATION
You study out how they fit, together. You look at one, you look at another, you look at all possible combinations until you recognize the pattern and you assemble them.
You have understood something about what is in that room and about yourself.
You do that for each room.
Here's the Room of Intention:
INTENTION * FREEDOM * CAUSING * CONTROLLING
Here's the Room of Memory:
MEMORY * KNOWING * INTEGRITY * ACTIVITY
Here's the Room of Attention:
ATTENTION * ORIENTATION * SENSING * FOCUSING
To start, consider each of the words in each Room, how they combine to produce a feeling.
Then consider some item of experience in terms of each of these feelings, and then all at once. This takes some concentration; doing the exercise will bring your concentration into focus.
When you look at any item of experience in these terms, you integrate the Rooms and yourself so that what has been compartmentalized is now freely available. This statement will make sense only when you have done the exercise in terms of some recognizable experience.
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