Level 5 is made up of two types. Outwardly and viewed from a lower level, these types may seem very different. But it all depends on what you look for. One type involves self-view, degrees of "enlightenment." The "boldness" one can allow oneself here is no different from the other type, it only manifests itself in different areas. The spirit lacks self-vision. But can experiment with the experiences of others, or hypothetical truths, in such subtle forms, that in practice the difference is not so great. They have a kind of purity of the heart in common. And for individuals at this level, the quality of the "vessel" is the basic criterion, not what it is filled with.

People with cosmic "glimpses", according to MK terminology, can be said to belong to level 5. I think so. But when the memory of this major fades, they will possibly go back. To level 4-3? Maybe in the under… (I don't remember what ASI looks like.)

Abraham Maslow's description of "the self-realization men" (ref in Wulff, p.521), is that these — though individual differences are also most prominent at this level — in summary.

"In a brief summary, the most important characteristics of self-realization people can be said to be as follows: A more precise conception and acceptance of reality, including human nature; spontaneity, a healthy appreciation and creativity in everyday activities; relative seclusion from the immediate physical and social environment and from the culture at large; deeper, more satisfying personal relationships, most likely with a small number of other self-realization people; strong feelings of identification and sympathy with all other people; democratic (non-authoritarian) character structure; non-hostile, philosophical humor; centering around problems outside themselves that reflect a broad set of values; clear moral and ethical principles that are applied consistently as well as an experience of having dissolved prominent dichotomies and opposite pairs." (from Maslow, 1970; ref in Wulff, p.521)

Midlife and Beyond

"Exceedingly Rare" (in Conn). Often they are killed by their own, and often appreciated only after their death.

It requires high-level debt perception. You must have brought in a larger circle than family, group, clan. For example, to be able to deal with the fate of the world and the theodice problem. (Whose word?)

"Universalizers are often experienced as subversive of the structures (including religious structures) by which we sustain our individual and corporate survival, security and significance" (i Conn, p. 348) Good enough as a description of how many in NA view ideals and perhaps even themselves.

"Particularaities are cherished because they are vessels of the universal" (in Conn, p.348)

Here, perhaps as with Maslow at his highest level, you meet people who have had mysterious experiences? Maslow called these "peak experiences" or "highlight experiences" to distance them from the religious (Wulff-2, p. 521)

Named "Generalized Faith" in Wulff-2, p.230. Translation of "univerzilised"?

James Fowler writes, "Freud illuminated many of the paradoxes that arise from trying to strenghten the slender abilities of rationality to mediate between the imperious demands of the id and the harsh constraints of the superego. But his visions of maturity scarcely got beyond the maintenance of a kind of armed truce" (Fowler, 1996, p65)

Early Midlife and Beyond

"This stage develops a 'second naïvité'," fowler uses in reference to Paul Ricoeur. Here they are reunited symbolically and concretely.

The individual can connect things that seem incompatible. One can endure living with paradoxes (Bergstrand, 1990).

"Negative Capacity" (Bion)

Unusual before mid-life, Stage 5 knows the sacrament of defeat and the reality of irrevocable commitments and acts. What the previous stage struggled to clarify, in terms of boundaries of self and outlook, this stage now makes porous and permeable. Alive to paradox and the truth in apparent contradictions, this stage strives to unify opposites in mind and experience. 347, in Conn)

In the same reasoning, something emerges that we need to be noticed in terms of the new age. Fowler further describes how the individual here is free from group, tribe, class, religious context or nation… On a deeper level, this criterion is certainly good enough for NA as well, but superficially it describes a stance that occurs everywhere within NA.

"… and whith the seriousness that can arise when life is more than half over" (i Conn, p.

The danger here is to become paralyzed, passive, "giving rise to complacency or synical withdrawal, due to its paradoxical understanding of truth" (i Conn, p. 547)