Does Illumination of Consciousness Affect Reality per Se？

• In Event: The Centrality of Personal Experience in Politics

Abstract

In the first three volumes of Order and History, Voegelin establishes a unilinear framework depicting history as 'a process of increasingly differentiated insight into the order of being'. This framework finds expression in his analysis of various existential types of man and their symbolic representations in concrete historical societies. However, in the fourth volume of OH, Voegelin refines this unidirectional model, introducing a more nuanced concept of a "web of meaning" that encompasses the synchronic but independent path of diverse spiritual breakthroughs. This shift, while preserving the overall trajectory of viewing history as the evolution of consciousness, highlights the complexity of human experience and cancels the presumable sequential relations between different orders.

The evolution of consciousness from compactness to differentiation raises a fundamental question: whether Voegelin views reality as an enduring constant, unaffected by the passage of time and the limitations of human cognition, or as a dynamic process that unfolds through the conscient participation of man. Or to put it in another way, do illumination of consciousness affect reality per se? Both perspectives hold validity, but there should exist some preference yet.

The former approach, exemplified by Mircea Eliade's philosophy of history, interprets history as a cyclical repetition of some archetypal patterns, while the knowing quest is seen as an ascent towards the primordial origin. This perspective emphasizes the timeless nature of the structure of reality and the individual's role in recapturing the unchanging order of being.

Conversely, the latter perspective, aligning with C.G.Jung, emphasizes the evolution of consciousness not merely as an noetic illumination but at the same time as an integral part of the unfolding of reality. In this view, human participation is not merely about knowing reality but actively facilitating its individuation through his knowing. Jung's late work Answer to Job illustrates this process where God or reality has to be fully realized through the participation of man.

Based on this comparative analysis, I’ll argue that Voegelin's conception of reality and history aligns more closely with Jung's than Eliade's. For Voegelin, human participation in history through consciousness is not merely knowing or experiencing but also unfolding the reality from its compact state through this noetic luminosity. Reality itself evolves through the participation of man.

Author

• Bohan YAN, Ecole Normale Supérieur de Lyon