INTULEXIA Part One building blocks of contact with the Child Within

The first part of the Child Within was a simple regression before the age of 18 months.A simple task when taken in conjunction with a breathe meditation which took me eighteen months to become awakened to. We become self-aware and generally complete the mirror test in infancy, around the age of 18 months old. In fact, studies have identified five different levels of self awareness in children before they reach 4-5 years old:

• Level 0: Confusion - Even newborn babies possess greater self awareness than this. Level zero relates to non-human animals like canaries, for example, who are oblivious to the mirror as a source of reflection. Instead they appear to think it's an extension of their world and it's quite common that the sight of a "fellow" canary triggers songs of courtship.
• Level 1: Differentiation - Studies show that 24-hour-old infants root significantly more to external stimulus versus their own touch. So contrary to many classic theories, babies are not born in a state of confusion with the environment; they do show some self-world differentiation. In the mirror test, this is demonstrated by recognising that the imagery in the mirror is somehow different from the environment that surrounds it.
• Level 2: Situation - By two months old, babies explore the link between observed movements in the mirror and their own body's movements. One remarkable experiment showed 6-week old babies systematically copying the direction in which an adult poked out their tongue, revealing an aptitude for mapping their own bodily space and that of the adult model.
• Level 3: Identification - Accomplished in many sub-stages by 14-18 months, infants recognise their own face in the mirror (this is "me"). This is a major feat: for the first time, they acknowledge their own appearance "en face" with eye contact, as others see them.
• Level 4: Permanence - At three years old, children begin to recognise the enduring self beyond the mirror experience. They understand that the mirror-self can also be seen in a photo taken yesterday or movie made tomorrow.
• Level 5: Self-consciousness - Also known as Meta self awareness, the final development manifests as an awareness of how we are perceived and valued by others. We imagine how others judge us as they encounter our self and these fantasies feed the self-conscious mind. Our level of self-consciousness oscillates hourly: whether we are falling asleep, dreaming, lucid dreaming... highly self-conscious in public situations... or in a state of dissociation as we immerse ourselves in movies and books.To understand the point that the capabilities to dissociate are born bears relevance to understanding our coping strategies.
• In our meditation we head for a point just before self-awareness.Before the formation of the shadow self.