The Four Styles of Transformation Part 2: On Transmutation — Aletheia

In this sense, transformation is a continual process of moving to a new stage that transcends and includes the old.5

Transformation of the lower self is essentially the release of an ugly, congealed mass of soul substance back into its flowing essence. Just as solid matter will, through the application of certain physical processes, dissolve into gaseous energy, so does the lower self—through the application of the spiritual practices of investigation, acceptance

Taken symbolically, alchemy is about turning the lower, primitive aspects of the self into a purified state; to illuminate the darkness with a sense of value or meaning, making conscious what is unconscious. This becoming whole is the process Jung called individuation, which is what we’re doing with dreamwork and belonging.

The key to transformation is self-awareness. A transformational leader helps participants bring attention to hidden assumptions, which are often part of our default stories or identities, such as the lost child or hard-hearted person. We do this through the safe witnessing of habitual thinking and judgments.

What we call the ‘transformation of being’ is raising the level at which energy can be concentrated, so that experiences that at present are impossible become possible, and powers which cannot now be exercised become available to the will.