Gebser, J. (1949/1985). The Ever-Present Origin. Ohio University Press. ISBN: 978-0-8214-0776-1.
Gebser identifies five structures of consciousness: archaic, magical, mythical, mental-rational, and integral. Each structure is characterized by qualitatively different relationships to space, time, and causality. The work’s central argument is that the mental-rational structure, which has governed Western civilization since the Renaissance, is entering its “deficient” phase, and that a new structure (integral) is emerging. The integral structure is not a rejection of the mental-rational but an integration that includes and transcends it, achieving what Gebser calls “aperspectival” awareness: the capacity to hold multiple perspectives without being captured by any single one.
In the BioConomy corpus, Gebser’s mental-rational structure corresponds to Material Consciousness and his integral structure corresponds to Mycelial Consciousness. The Ever-Present Origin provides the phenomenological foundation for the Structures of Consciousness analysis.