Bill Harris on cognitive development

“Unless you can be aware of something, you can’t be moral about it, feel something about it, create art about it…”

Bill Harris is a “long time student of contemporary psychology, quantum mechanical physics, the evolution of non-linear systems (chaos theory) and the effects of a wide range of neurotechnologies on human change, evolution and healing” and director of Centerpointe Research Institute.

He declares in a recent article that “Cognitive development is one of the most important, if not the most important, line of development.

“Why? Because many theorists and researchers believe it is necessary (though not sufficient) for development in all the other areas.

“Unless you can be aware of something (which is what cognition is all about) you can’t be moral about it, feel something about it, create art about it, develop faith around it, organize a self around it, or develop in any other way regarding it.

“To live in the world, accomplish various things, and deal with the challenge of being human, we first learn to ‘work with’ (deal with, manage, get things done with) our body, then with objects, then with symbols, concepts, and ideas, and–if development continues to the highest transpersonal or transrational levels of development–we eventually add ways of dealing with life that are beyond the realm of ideas.”

From article Piaget, cognitive development, and how you make sense of your world (part 1), by Bill Harris.

Image from No Boundary: Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth, by Ken Wilber.