Arica School - Basic Theory

Basic Theory

Ichazo refined the ancient concept that a human soul has components by approaching the issue through three instinctual questions that he considered basic to human existence: "How am I?", "Who am I with?", "What am I doing?" Ichazo labeled these conservation, relations, and syntony (later modified to adaptation). Recognizing interactions among the three, he developed a 3 x 3 = 9 component system, which he correlated with several schemas that have long existed in diverse fields: spectrum of light, chakras, physiological systems, the enneagram, etc.

For example, each component of the psyche was assigned a corresponding color, which was reinforced through a wide variety of self-development exercises. The Hypergnostic meditation utilized the ancient notion of vertically arranged chakras, expanding the seven chakra system widely used in Hindu meditation into nine by adding the sacrum and the nape of the neck. Modern biology was incorporated into the theory by associating the hypergnostic rings (chakras) with anatomy rather than energy centers.

For self-observation of habitual patterns, Ichazo employed the enneagram, among other tools. Transformative practices sometimes involved linking a specific mudra and / or bija with each of the nine points of the enneagram. During the first three decades or so, most aspects of his theory that were mapped onto the enneagram were circular mappings (e.g., closing of the spectrum into a circular Rainbow Eye) that involved little or no utilization of the interconnecting lines that constitute the enneagram's form. In other words, most of the maps were enneagons rather than enneagrams (refer to enneagram figure for drawings that show the difference).