Conservation

Order to follow when writing descriptions:
1. Bodily association and meaning
2. Perception
3. Living question
4. Logic
5. Ego
6. Existential attitude
7. Domains
8. Psychic poison
9. Fixated points

Center of Feelings

The conservation instinct derives from the digestive system, and is responsible for our physical survival and maintaining physical satisfaction. The conservation instinct perceives through sensations received by the five senses and through the viscera. The received sensations are called Feelings, not to be mistaken with the feelings of the heart which are emotional in nature and belong in the corner of the relation instinct. Rather, these are feelings in the body, which feelings give rise to notions of like and dislike.  This serves the basic function of taking or repulsing anything conducive or harmful to physical survival and satisfaction.^[4]

"How am I?"

The psychic manifestation of these instinctual functions is the living question, "how am I?" The conservation instinct is constantly asking itself how it is, directing its attention to the objects or feelings which are influencing them and evaluating them through a like or dislike spectrum. ^[1][4] This is a constant and automatic troubleshooting to which the proceeding ego, the Historical Ego, responds, creating homeostasis. This process is often unconscious. For example, when someone is hungry, they do not need to ask themselves how they are to become aware that they are hungry, rather, the question serves to bring to awareness what activities are necessary to fulfill that hunger.^[2] In order to answer the question of "how am I?" the conservation instinct uses empathetical reasoning.

Empathetical Reasoning

In Ichazo's original conception, the conservation instinct used analogical reasoning. By comparing the current body state with past states, the question of "how am I?" can be answered.^[1] In Ichazo's modern conception, the conservation instinct uses empathetical reasoning. The question of "how am I?" is answered as this instinct places themselves in the position of others and understands both their problems and experiences by deducing them from their own experiences. He notes that one way this is manifested is when we see something like a car crash, we may feel deep feelings of sympathy in our gut, or may reproduce unsettling visceral sensations which are reactions to the sight of harm.^[4]

Historical Ego

In Protoanalysis, egos develop as a collection of strategies, preferences, and demands in order to achieve the needs of their living question. They are highly individualized and are distortions of a higher, more absolute principle of reality. The conservation instinct develops the Historical Ego, which remembers states of being and learns by experience how to survive. Furthermore, this ego supports one's sense of possession in terms of wealth and poverty, extending beyond the basic physiological needs of eating, sleeping, drinking, and health into the needs of safety and security.^[2] When the mind troubleshoots conservation with the question "how am I?" the Historical Ego responds by satisfying its needs and returning the body to homeostasis.

Existential Attitude

The existential attitude is determined by what existential state the individual is seeking to avoid or to become. The conservation is characterized by a general search for being in not only themselves, but other people, situations, and events.^[4] This means that they are constantly concerned with continuing their existence: remaining alive and physically present, protecting oneself from threats, obtaining food, shelter, energy, health, material security, maintaining a sufficiently stable physical environment, and preserving one's existence from one moment to the next. The functions of the conservation instinct are not just for survival, but for preserving being. Thus, the existential attitude of conservation is ontological.^[3]

When the individual is preoccupied with avoiding a fear, rather than becoming an ideal, they are in a lower manifestation of their existential attitude. The lower manifestation of the existential attitude for the conservation instinct is the horror of death, which preoccupies itself with avoiding death and non-existence. An awareness of loss of being in this lower manifestation gives rise to feelings of existential sadness or depression, because a pervading feeling of incompleteness is ever-present. The higher manifestation of the existential attitude is a search for immortality and a feeling of godlikeness in oneself. These are ideals for the survivalist, one who is in constant security, comfort, homeostasis, and infinitely capable of providing for their own needs.

Domains

The domains are the first level of conscious awareness and are physical manifestations of the social structures present in every society. Individuals develop a lot of subjective thoughts and feelings in every domain, but trauma to a specific one causes the crystallization of a fixation as a reaction. This decides the behavior and identity of the affected individual.

There are three specific areas where conservation is threatened.

1. Laws and morals (point 8)
2. Spirituality (point 9)
3. Sentimentality (point 1)

Psychic Poison

This instinct develops into the psychic poison of greed, referring to the type's need for ever more food and material gain for the sake of satisfying the digestive system. Greed divides into three separate poisons assigned to each of its fixated points.

1. Avarice: Ego-vengeance/Over-justice-maker (point 8)
2. Greed: Ego-indolence/Over-non-conformist (point 9)
3. Possessiveness: Ego-resentment/Over-perfectionist (point 1)

Fixated Points

References

1. Ichazo, O. (1976). The human process for enlightenment and freedom, The Arica School, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w6Zs6WYimJud29sl2kzjjO2k-v5x4rk0/view

2. Ichazo, O. (1991). Letters to the transpersonal community, The Arica School, https://drive.google.com/file/d/11mmgTo920snz-qu5r8JPo_e6GN5HpiCf/view 

3. Ichazo, O. (2023). The enneagrams of the divine forms perfect, eternal, unchanging truths (transcribed by American Pragmatist), The Arica School, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GzIWVuKR6rpLgznI8T8RfU-BkBWHWcufQZF4oBKUioE/edit?tab=t.0 

4. Ichazo, O. (2024). The enneagrams of the fixations: The original teachings, The Arica School, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Puteue12lR_8YWmNfpOFrhutLtnUbbZEvAPM5za2T10/edit?tab=t.0