sophia
Sky Watcher
clouds
Individual Rights
Hominus Spiritus
BlogTopSites
Bogexplosion
Part 6: Regeneration/ Re-incorporation/ Return - The Sidpa Bardo
Death
The Universe is Change; every Change is the
Effect of an Act of Love; All Acts of Love
contain Pure Joy. Die daily.
Death is the apex of one curve of the snake Life:
Behold all opposites as necessary compliments,
And rejoice
- Aleister Crowley
(3) The Sidpa Bardo (or Srid-pa'i Bar-do) or Inter-mediate period of rebirth. During this bardo the consciousness descends and chooses a new body to be born into. (Buddhists do not accept the existence of a single continuing entity which "reincarnates", and refer instead to the "rebirth" of the consciousness-stream in a new body).
http://www.kheper.net/topics/bardo/tibetan.html
We arrive at this part of the Dark Night either unconsciously or consciously. The third stage of the transformative process calls us to regenerate and renew. To the extend that we do not understand the necessity of imagining and preparing for something new during the third stage, our experience will be one of heaven or hell; rage or self-destruction. In the Western world we have little or no preparation, or guidance for for the process of transformation. We enter our transitions in from one phase in life, with no real preparation. From childhood to teenager, from teenager to adult only being prepared to fit into society and working life. We are told the rules of our culture, and that we have to find a way to make money, but little else really, unless we were very fortunate to have had elders, or a teacher to prepare us. We are told reach for our dreams but we are given no understanding our guidance to truly understand where our dreams rise from. As a result we only learn through the school of hard knocks. Even in this we are told to avoid mistakes and failure at all costs. We are applauded for our successes, and punished for our mistakes.
Nicholas Molina, reflects about the irony of success in his article “The Failure of Success”
... Eighteen years of a lack of failure teaches Harvard students to avoid it at all costs; we become extremely risk-averse. Ironically, classes might teach about the risk-reward relationship, but students who are too afraid to fail can only understand the former part of that relationship after experiencing it ... Even those golden children who sail through Harvard as they’ve sailed through high school fail, in a sense. They’ve failed to experience failure, and their education is impoverished as a result. I’ve learned, sometimes painfully, to accept that it’s not possible to achieve everything and that only when we risk failure, are great gains possible ... In the end, I realized that the criteria I’d been using to judge my education at Harvard were all off the mark. Even if the lessons that will be most valuable in the next chapter of my life have been those I’ve learned outside the classroom, my time at Harvard has been well spent. My only regret is that I didn’t learn the importance of taking risks earlier. That’s probably the most important lesson of all.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=519162
We are not shown that our mistakes and failures can show us new opportunities, new undiscovered potentials, and we hide our failures in the recesses of our past. With the result, young people look at those who have succeeded and see only the success, and do not know what it took to get there. The pain of growth is seen in itself as a failure, a lack of strength, an unworthiness. If a dark night comes upon anyone, we feel that either we are punished, are just a failure, or that life is just cruel and unfair. We have no understanding of the process of growth. We do not know, we have forgotten, that chaos is the very source of creation.
So we enter one transition to another, one rebirth to another with more and more accumulated shadow material, and begin to live more and more on the surface, for to go any deeper would mean to access and face the monster of the deep. We can of course just continue living like this, and numb the aching pain of surface living, of never truly accessing our depths and real potential, through the many tools available today, but sooner or later we will have to face our shadow. If we ignore the gently nudges, one day the rhino will come and give you the big knock. However , as we say here in Africa; If you think of a Rhino, you must also think of a tree. Thus if you think of a big problem you must also think about a solution. This essentially why I am writing this series on the dark night.
During this stage of the transformation process, we encounter power in its awesome properties, which we can use both to destroy and create. The mythological god associated with this stage is Pluto, husband to Persephone, who rules the underworld. This god penetrates to our core in order to reveal our deepest root issues; he destroys in order to renew, and he holds the power to transform and effect change. During this stage we make the descent into our unconscious, into our shadow.
One of my most favourite descriptions of how the shadow develops is by Bill Plotkin;The American poet Robert Bly says our first twenty years are spent stuffing 90 percent of ourselves into “the long black bag we drag behind us” and the rest of our life attempting to retrieve those items ... Our Loyal Soldier, of course, is the subpersonality who shoveled all those aspects of self into the long bag in the first place. Think of the Loyal Soldier as a sort of psychic bouncer who throws out any part of self not deemed respectable by the management. The boss, in this case, is the child's immediate family and cultural setting. When the boss spots an undesirable the Loyal Soldier starts shoveling.
Thus the shadow designates aspects of ourselves that we cannot accept; these aspects do not agree with our ego ideal, and are often in disagreement with the values established by society. We therefore repress them and prefer to see them projected onto other people, where we can fight them.
Projection is defined as "the situation in which one unconsciously invests another person (or object) with notions or characteristics of one's own: e.g. a man, fascinated by a woman because she corresponds to his anima, falls in love with her. Feelings, images, and thoughts can be projected onto others. One also projects negative feelings: e.g. a woman has a grudge against a friend, so she imagines that her friend is angry with her."
If an individual shows no inclination to recognise his projections, then the projection-making factor has a free hand and can realise its object, or bring about a situation characteristic of its power. Again is should be noted that it is not the conscious mind, but the unconscious which does the projecting. The projections are not made, they are encountered. The effect of a projection is to isolate a person from their environment as instead of a real relation to it there is only an illusory one. Projections change the world into a replica of one's own unknown face – the Shadow – and lead to an auto-erotic or autistic condition in which one dreams a world whose reality remains forever unattainable. The resulting feeling of sterility are in turn explain by projection as the malevolence of the environment, and by means of this viscous circle the isolation is intensified.
http://www.magicalpath.net/articles/jungian_concept_of_shadow.htm
Our shadow has a reservoir of tightly coiled, focused, and concentrated energy at its disposal, which can either be used to harm others, and ourselves, or transform ourselves. It is said that should the shadow develop more energy than the ego, it will erupt in us as an overpowering rage or depression; “the shadow gone autonomous is a terrible monster in our psychic house.” During this phase of the dark night this is typically what happens and it is normally this condition that forces people to seek help. To become conscious of the Shadow takes considerable moral effort, recognising the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. Jung contended that this act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge. In the ogham the ivy represents the spiral of the self, the search for the self, to see through the eyes of the soul. The maze or labyrinth is also linked to the ivy, it too symbolizes the wandering of the soul, circling inward and outward. The spirit turns inward, like Theseus following his thread into the labyrinth. The exploration for the secret center of his own being, which may appear monstrous, lying hidden most of the time.
"We still attribute to the other fellow all the evil and inferior qualities that we do not like to recognize in ourselves, and therefore have to criticize and attack him, when all that has happened is that an inferior "soul" has emigrated from one person to another. The world is still full of betes noires and scapegoats, just as it formerly teemed with witches and werewolves" - Jung
As Jung describes the Projection of the Shadow, it refers to as the principle that "[changes] the world into a replica of one's own unknown face". We most often become aware of our shadow through our dreams. During this phase of the dark night it is exactly this unknown face of ourselves that we need to uncover in order to reap the most benefit of the process of transformation.
"The Kingdom is like a man who had a treasure hidden in his field without knowing it. When he died, he left it to his son. The son did not know about the treasure. He inherited the field and sold it. And the one who bought it went plowing and found the treasure...” Gospel of Thomas
" ... look in the deepest of your wounds, for there lies the gold of your being." Emerald Tablet
Another way of perceiving the dark shadow is seeing it as poison.
In terms of the transmutation of poison, first one must recognize the poison – is it envy or jealousy, or is it fear or anger, or is it pride or arrogance, or is it greed or lust, or is it insecurity or doubt? It is like a person bitten by a venomous snake. When they go to the doctor seeking the antidote, the first question the doctor will ask is, “What kind of snake bit you?” The anti-venom is made from the venom; the antidote is made from the poison itself. In order to transmute the poison I must look and see exactly what kind of poison it is, for that will determine the proper response.
Whatever the poison is, the antidote is in it. Whatever form of negativity arises, it contains the holy spark of the positive in it. For example, consider jealousy. If I am jealous of someone, then it means that I see that person’s talents and virtues, and the good that is in them. Instead of remaining in jealousy, I can celebrate their talents and virtues, and honor the good that is in them – I can give praise and thanks to God, and uplift this person to God, and glorify God. Of course, when I do this, I will be drawing upon the good that is in me, and I will also serve to uplift myself as I uplift another. We receive exactly what we give!
Now we can say the same of any form of negativity we might name, even the darkest and most evil thought – all contain the holy spark of what is positive and good, and we need only look and see the good in it to draw it out. In this way we transmute the poison into an elixir of life – it is a spiritual alchemy, all in the mind.
You will note, in this we are not struggling against anything, but rather we are moving with what is happening and we are using exactly what arises to cleave to the Anointed and Mother Spirit. In this process of we must be playful and creative. Obviously, depending on the poison, there are many ways to go about transmuting it. With jealousy as our example we have given only one way – but there are many others ways and we ourselves must find exactly how it works for us in real life situations. In other words, it is an ongoing practice of the spiritual life.
In this light we may view the negativity that arises as an opportunity to refine and develop our soul, just as the challenges we face in life are opportunities for the development and evolution of our soul – all of life is filled with opportunities and possibilities, and it is we who choose the direction we will go ... lust and greed, fear and hatred – wonderful, no problem! If self-grasping, attachment and aversion cease, what are these? They are pure energy, pure radiance, no longer bound up in the forms labeled “lust” or “murder.” The key becomes recognizing vital and mental energy is just that – *energy*, and therefore may be transformed from one form to another based upon this awareness. There are many ways to embrace and transform any negative thought or emotion that may arise, but all are based up this recognition. Thus, through practices like the silent witness and primordial meditation, we must seek to establish ourselves in this recognition.
As negativity arises, rather than avoiding it or pushing it away, calmly abide and look into it, examine it, and seek to find the holy spark that is in it, the light-power in it; just as with jealousy, all have something good in them, something luminous in them. Consider greed, in greed there is the knowledge of what is good to give, for knowing what you desire to keep for yourself, you know what is truly good to give; in the midst of lust, you recognize the beauty and desirability of another, and there is much energy suddenly at your disposal – noticing beauty can invoke awe and wonder of the source that gives rise to such glory, and the energy aroused can be directed into any activity, or it may be directed inward and upward, Godward, remembering our true Beloved: Divine or Enlightened Being. Fear has wakefulness in it, and anger is innate concentration – after all, when we are afraid we don’t exactly fall asleep very easily, and when we are angry we are very concentrated and capable of the most detailed visualization; if we direct wakefulness or concentration differently, there is no more fear, or no more anger! How wonderful! No problem!
Of course, we could point out many other qualities to these same forms of negativity – it is all about becoming intimately acquainted with the negativity arising in one’s own experience and seeking to embrace it, relate with it, and work with it creatively. If there is a specific situation, with a specific individual, a tzaddik may well be able to suggest a specific method, akin to a prescription for medicine by a doctor that may serve as a remedy for an ailment; but speak in general terms, if we are willing to embrace the negativity that arises in our experience and seek to relate with it in a different way, becoming playful and creative with it, we will find a way to transform most of the negativity that arises – we just need to remember that whatever arises is empty by nature, having no substantial or independent self-existence.
What we are talking about, of course, requires a different view and attitude regarding negativity – instead of meeting it with judgment, we need to meet it with awareness and with curiosity, and see it as an opportunity for creative practice, an opportunity to play with the energy arising and see what can be done with it that is positive and productive, actually beneficial to ourselves and others.
Essentially, we are talking about embracing and integrating the Shadow Self; unfortunately, just religious views in many forms of spirituality suggest that enjoyment is “wrong” or “sinful,” they also propose that there is something inherently “wrong” or “evil” with the Shadow Self. Yet, integrating it, we find that it is a source of immeasurable power for a greater good, a source of energy that may support the Great Work. It is all a question of creative and skillful means – using whatever arises in a way that is beneficial and helpful, rather than counterproductive to our well-being and welfare, or to the well-being and welfare of others.
Some individuals may suggest that this is “dangerous,” but look into religions in which the Shadow Self is rejected and oppressed, and notice the violent eruptions of the Shadow Self that are prevalent with those practicing such a view; then look into forms of spirituality that embrace and integrate the Shadow Self, and you will find that they are not as prone to externalize the violent inclination in such wild and unconscious outbursts. Essentially, like or not, the Shadow Self is present, and negativity will arise – the question is how to relate with it, from a Sophian perspective, rather than attempting to cut it off...
http://www.sophian.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=371&highlight=poison
You darkness from which I come,
I love you more than all the fires
that fence out the world
for the fire makes a circle
for everyone
so that no one sees you anymore
But darkness holds it all;
the shape and the flame,
the animal and myself,
how it holds them,
all powers, all sight -
and it is possible; its great strength
is breaking into my body.
I have faith in the night. - Rainer Maria Rilke
To have faith in the night is to have night vision. The wanderer bravely enters the darkness to discover what is there and what has drawn you.
I proceeded down the hill and came to an old hotel. As I walked inside I remembered that I have been there in my youth. I looked inside the rooms and was surprised to find heaps and heaps of empty white shells on top of the chest of drawers even inside the cupboards. I noticed old clothes of mine in one room; clothes that I thought lost. It was as if I left it yesterday. I picked up the clothes and folded it intending to take it with me. I wondered when I left it and why it seemed as if I left in a hurry. Why could I not remember? The shells puzzled me.
I heard my name called again and I looked to see who was calling me. A beautiful black girl made a graceful leap from the balcony above me to right next to me. She said:" I remember you ...” I could not remember but thought that I could question her on why I had to leave so unexpectedly. Maybe she will know what the hidden secret was.
We went back inside the hotel to her room. She was recalling what fun we had. I observed that her room was not full of shells like mine. I was still straining to remember what she was recalling, when suddenly in the ceiling I saw a small vortex appear. Swirling like a universe. Out of this appeared what looked like an orange sea anemone. Intense fear arose in me as I suddenly remembered why I left in such a hurry. I tried to warn her but the thing sucked her up. I remembered that it only took live things and I held out some red and white flowers that was in the room to give me enough time to escape through the door. I now knew why there were so many empty shells.
Little Swan flew through the Dream time. Looking for the future. She rested for a moment in the coolness of the pond, looking for a way to find the entry point to the future. This was a moment of confusion for Swan, as she knew that she had happened into the Dream time by accident. As Swan looked high above Sacred Mountain, she saw the biggest swirling black hole she had ever see. Dragonfly came flying by, and Swan stopped to ask about the black hole. Dragonfly said, “Swan that is the doorway to the other planes of imagination. I have been guardian of illusion for many, many moons. If you want to enter there, you would have to ask permission and earn the right.”
Swan was not so sure that she wanted to enter the black hole. She asked Dragonfly what was necessary for her to earn entry. Dragonfly replied, “ You must be willing to accept whatever the future holds as it is presented, without trying to change Great Spirit plan.” Swan looked at her ugly little duckling body and then answered, “I will be happy to abide by Great Spirit's plan. I won't fight the currents of the black hole. I will surrender to the flow of the spiral and trust what I am shown.”
Dragonfly was very happy with Swan's answer and began to spin the magic to break the pond's illusion. Suddenly, Swan was engulfed by a whirlpool in the centre of the pond.
Swan reappeared many days later, but now she was graceful and white and long-necked. Dragonfly was stunned! “ Swan what happened to you!” he exclaimed. Swan smiled and said, “Dragonfly, I learned to surrender my body to the power of the Great Spirit and was taken to where the future lives. I saw many wonders high on Sacred Mountain and because of my faith and acceptance I have been changed. I learned to accept the state of grace.”- Sun Bear – The Animal Medicine Cards
“If you want to know who you were in your past life, look to your present circumstances. If you want to know who you will be in your future life, look to your present actions.” - Buddhist
The Maori pattern of the koru depicts the relationship of the past and the future. One spiral comes up from the past, coiling in to a central point, which is the present moment, before changing direction and spiralling up into the future. The magic point, the only point where change can occur is the centre point, the point where the certainty of the past touches the uncertainty of the future.
When talking about the koru, I described time as a vortex. We see time as moving from the past to the present and to the future. The past and the future swirl around continuously changing, creating a present moment that is always different. Even though the present moment is always changing, it also remains the same just as the whirlpool is always changing, but retains a stable shape. We live in an ever changing present moment.
When we see time in this way, we realise that we do not move through time from yesterday to today to tomorrow, but rather we stand in the present moment while time moves through us.
Everything from our past has happened is certain and cannot be changed. If we place our identity in the past, we live for what was, for our past achievements, for people and events which have gone, for things that are fixed and cannot be changed, then the present can have no meaning or power.
Similalrly, if we place our identity in the future, we live for what will be, for our future achievements, for what people around us will be, then again, the present has no meaning or power.
In addition to that, the future is full of uncertainty, so, it is always possible, in fact, likely, that those thing in the future in which we invest our identity in will not come to pass and therefore we again place our identity in something that has no reality...
The present moment is balanced on the edge between the certain past and the uncertain future. Sitting right in the edge of certainty and uncertainty is the present moment; not restricted by the past and free to create the future. If we place our consciousness in the past or the future, we place it in the turbulent swirling winds of the vortex, where we are buffeted about and have little control over our lives. If, instead, we place ourselves at the still centre of the present moment, there is a calmness we find within ourselves. It doesn’t mean we avoid the difficulties of the world. It doesn’t mean we ignore the past or future, but we see them from the still point and remain calm. We are actually at the only place where true change can be made, certain enough to allow stability, uncertain enough to allow growth.
The vortex is something we see in nature appearing out of nowhere and mysteriously disappearing again. They exist as obvious forms as a tornado or whirlpool, but also in more subtle forms such as human beings and human identity. By learning to ride the edge of the interactions at the still point, we open ourselves to the full richness of what it is to be a person and a full child of the universe.
EDGE OF CHAOS
The Edge of Chaos is a key concept in chaos and complexity. If a system is too unstable it lacks the ability to work as a coherent whole and lapses into deep chaos. If a system is too stable, it becomes rigid and unable to adapt to a changing environment. There is a critical balance point called the Edge of Chaos, just before the point of lapsing into deep chaos, where the system is not only stable enough to maintain coherence, but can self organise such that new levels of organisation and stability can emerge. The Edge of Chaos is not a static equilibrium, but rather a dynamic balance, like the balance of a tightrope walker, who is constantly using feedback loops of balance to stay on the rope.
- Victor McGill
http://www.vmacgill.net/organisation.html
The sign of the end of the putrefaction step is the peacock's tail (the coat of many colors) symbolizing unlimited potential.
This where the dark night of the soul has been drawing us towards, drawing us into being fully present stripped bare of the past perceptions and future ones not yet formed. Into the bosom of dark Nox and Erebus, entwined rising out of chaos, on the edge of utter chaos. Nox the unconscious form of nature and Erebus, the latent divine potency. From their first cosmic and elemental embrace, Eros was born from a silver egg. He who is the driving force behind the entire theogonia, the unfoldment of thought, the liberating agent who releases and activates the creative process of the mind. He who awakens the ego to its true nature.
The current English word "soul" may have originated from the Old English sawol, documented in 970 AD. "Sawol" has possible etymological links with a Germanic root from which we also get the word "sea". The old German word is called 'se(u)la', which means: belonging to the sea (ancient Germanic conceptions involved the souls of the unborn and of the dead "living" being part of a medium, similar to water), or perhaps, "living water" - Wikkipedia
"The cosmic ocean pervades space and time. It is the basis of all things; the energies of the visible world originate from the primordial energy that is inherent in its creative potentials." Gopi Krishna
In your dark night you may have a sensation you would call 'oceanic' – being in the sea, at sea, or immersed in the waters of the womb. The sea is the vast potential of life, but it it is also your dark night, which may force you to surrender some knowledge you have achieved. It helps to regularly undo the hard-won ego development over the years, to unravel the self of culture you have woven over the years. The night sea journey takes you back to your primordial self, not the heroic self that burns out and falls to judgement, but to your original self, yourself as a sea of possibility, your greater and deeper being ... You return to the womb of imagination so that your pregnancy can recycle. You are always being born, always dying to the day to find the restorative waters of the night. - Thomas Moore
We are drawn down and under, as surely as the moon draws the waters of the ocean, by an irresistible ancient longing. Here in the deep depths of our soul lies the undifferentiated waters of the vast cosmic ocean of unity. In this space between worlds and time, between incarnations, bardo, the dark night provides an opening into the underworld of our unconscious, where we can access the entire universe of past, present and future flowing into our psyche. In this intermediate state of now, the present eternal moment, in this dark night, we are linked to the past and the future through the present. We have access to hidden memories of both past failures and successes, here our angels and demons are intertwined, here we meet both our angels (our highest potentials) and our demons (our fears); the guardians of the thresholds.
The dark dimension, which lies hidden beneath the surface of our conscious awareness, holds the storehouse of forgotten memories from the past, and the potentialities of future possibilities. It contains both our personal storehouse, and deeper into the transpersonal stratum of the collective unconscious. Our dark shadow has an equal counterpart: the bright or golden shadow which contains our highest potentials and abilities, the inner aspect of ourselves which is our best and brightest aspect, our finest potential. In the Kabbalah this is reflected in Da'at, which appear according to the state of mind of one who approaches it. Thus it can appear as a great angel or a great demon. A demon carries one further away from enlightenment, and an angel is something that brings us closer to the divine. Da'at is also called The Abyss,or the Bridal Chamber.
This exactly what this stage of the dark night represents, if you cling to past fears, judgments an outworn concepts you will face the angel of wrath, if you courageously face what you have been trying to avoid all these years, you face the angel of your divine potential, hidden in the depths of your soul.
Now you find yourself having to face your shadow; both the bright and dark aspects of it. This is the stage in bardo, between lives that is also called The Judgment. At this point one can enter either heaven or hell. From here the future will germinate from a seed capsule which we create during this stage. Into this seed capsule are placed three things;
The distillation of our wisdom essence from the past cycle
Our unfinished karma and unconscious habits
Our commitments for the future cycle
If you had no limitations and possibilities were wide open; imagine there were no obstacles whatsoever – money, education, training, degree, age, sex, race, health – What would you put into that seed pod? If you could do anything you want, what would it be? It may not be possible for us to actualize our ideal images, perhaps not yet, but it is important to have a glimmer into the farthest outreaches of our potentialities .... an awakening to a greater reality.
In East the term bodhissattva describes the being who has achieved enlightenment through having fulfilled and completed his or her karma. However rather than remaining in the clear light, this person chooses to continue incarnating in this dualistic dimension for the purpose of benefiting others. The bodhisattva's life is motivated by the desire to relieve suffering and guide others towards healing and liberation. Our dark phase energies can point to our communities to emulate the bodhisattva ideal. On the level where the Law of Grace, or oneness is operative, the burdens of pain and suffering are not karmic retribution but rather additional responsibility we have voluntarily taken on in order to help others. - Demetra George
Always we have a choice. Shall we let our aversions, our demons shape our future, or shall we let our possibilities, our angels shape our future?
I see the moon reflecting on the mirror surface of the pool. A ribbon of cloth floats towards me. What bigger piece is it from? I feel its texture with my fingertips, run it across my face to feel what it stirs in my soul. Who was the weaver of the cloth? Who spun the thread, where did the raw material feel the first ray of light, to bear forth that, which in the hands of the master spinner and weaver becomes the myth of its origin? Where from this ribbon of cloth? I hold it too my face and fill my breath with its essence. I dive into the dark depths of the pool, as if I am diving into the radiating source of light. In this source of light I feel myself purified the deeper I swim. I swim until I feel there is no more need, for I will never reach the end, I allow myself just to drift, wrapped in bliss. Slowly I float back to the surface. I open my eyes; the warm breeze cooling the water drops on my skin.
"To reach and grasp, and to suffer the release of the grasp, and then to reach some more, past the known frontiers of body, mind, heart and soul".
Drifting in the Dark Sea
Formless potency of the Primordial Night
Chaos envelops me
and I surrender
In this night
a dream arose
Images rising from
the dark depths
of my soul
and stirs fathomless
desires
What image will you choose
to represent those desires stirring
in the womb of the night
What will be the colours
of your wings?
What do your voice cry out for
in longing
in the night?
Come Beloved,
Join me,
so that together we may
weave a bright new dream
Let us play for a while longer
in the starry night skies
of our imagination
before we give birth to a new dawn.
Sophia, I read this post with great interest. I'd like to address one
aspect of it, especially in light of what I learned today, but before I do,
I'd like to ask you this question: what do you know of the seven planes?
(two of which are the plane of recollection and the plane of transition).
It is said that we must pass through these planes before we can return to
Source.
Just moments ago, I had a rapid revelation of the seven spiritual planes:
recollection, transition, awareness, transformation, communication,
realization, and communion. The temporal phenomenon of Birth Life Death, I
now realize, is an opportunity for our deeper, more conscious selves to
collect and recollect a series of egoic selves, to make conscious
transitions to new (and relatively fresh) egoic selves, to become more
aware of the relevance and significance of these recollections and
transitions, to transform our relationship between our egoic selves and our
deeper, more conscious selves, to better communicate with our deeper, more
conscious selves through our egoic selves, to realize our connections with
Source in our communications with other deeper, more conscious selves, and
finally, to return to Source in communion with other deeper, more conscious
selves. In ascending order, the seven planes reflect as a general
principle, and as far I can see, the degree of maturity of our relationship
between our egoic selves and our deeper, more conscious selves. In light of
this, I might say that my current egoic self is an expression of a deeper,
more conscious self; my deeper, more conscious self contains and carries,
through soul and spirit, sacred and divine, encounter and experience, an
ascending series of egoic selves and lives. I now understand that our
temporal egoic selves can only ever have glimpses of our atemporal, more
conscious selves on one or more of the seven planes, but I also understand,
paradoxically enough, that with greater access to our deeper, more
conscious selves (such as through exploratory regression), our egoic selves
can have more than mere glimpses of one or more of the seven planes. For
me, this is realized knowledge, and no longer not just intellectual
surmise, and I find myself eager (and more than willing) to apply these
realizations, through a series of exploratory regressions, to my current
egoic self and to my vision of Omega Prime.
As an addendum: Spiritual Inquiry and the Evolution of
Consciousness
"In light of this, I might say that my current egoic self is an expression
of a deeper, more conscious self; my deeper, more conscious self contains
and carries, through soul and spirit, sacred and divine, encounter and
experience, an ascending series of egoic selves and lives. I now understand
that our temporal egoic selves can only ever have glimpses of our
atemporal, more conscious selves on one or more of the seven planes, but I
also understand, paradoxically enough, that with greater access to our
deeper, more conscious selves (such as through exploratory regression), our
egoic selves can have more than mere glimpses of one or more of the seven
planes."
Every event has positives and negatives. The positives are the instant
gratification we receive from attracting the event in our lives, the
negatives are the delayed gratification we receive in overcoming the
so-called negatives.
Welcome back, Sophia. It's nice to hear from you again. I mentioned that I
wanted to address one aspect of your post. This is it (and I quote): "If
you had no limitations, and possibilities were wide open, imagine there
were no obstacles whatsoever – money, education, training, degree, age,
sex, race, health – What would you put into that seed pod? If you could do
anything you want, what would it be? It may not be possible for us to
actualize our ideal images, perhaps not yet, but it is important to have a
glimmer into the farthest outreaches of our potentialities .... an
awakening to a greater reality." I'd like to tie this in with your most
recent response about the ego in relation to the archetype of Self, to the
core archetypal Self, to the atemporal, more conscious Self.
“I've had intimations that when we have attained ultimate mastery to
resolve the ultimate mystery, the seven planes will collapse back into a
state of pure potentiality.”
Capt, indeed the past as we conceive it, is a construct of our imagination,
and so we can change it.
Sophia, it's also important to keep in mind that we see things
chronologically in the physical realm, however it's an allusion. The
reality is everything is happening now. So those two lives that Christos
spoke of are not happening one after another, but at the same time. Growth
in reality takes on an onion like shape. All incarnations happen now with
there being bleed throughs from each incarnation to all others.
Sophia, I appreciate your response, even if it fails to accurately reflect
my overall position. The conceit I speak of is a metaphysical conceit, not
a moral or intellectual conceit. Of course we can aspire to our highest
potential to make the most of our talents and abilities, and of course, I
appreciate the value of direct experience, but what I question is that we
are here to transcend the material realm before we have fully tapped it. I
maintain that we are not here to do this; we are here to transform it,
communicate through it, become intimate with it, realize it fully, and
eventually, if all goes well, commune with it on our way to ultimate
mastery. In this communion, we will find our ultimate Hokmah-Binah-Da'at,
and return, once again, to the unspeakable bliss of Ain Soph Aur. We are
here to ascend, to become Ascended Masters in the realization of ultimate
communion through material manifestation - not in spite of it. In spite of
what you might of heard, no one can have the wisdom, knowledge, and
experience to become an Ascended Master until the final epiphany at the
Omega Point, the point at which we have individually and collectively
exhausted our potential and have prepared to begin anew, renewing the cycle
of Birth Life Death.
Christos, If I am hearing you right, I do not feel there is much of a
difference in the way we perceive the creative evolution of mankind. I do
believe that transcending the material is transforming it, as in alchemical
transformation. There are some that say that the universe have already
itself been through many incarnations, thus transformations according to
the karmic needs of the soul streams. To transform anything you have to
take it within yourself, indeed be intimate with it. To commune does
inherently mean to be intimate, have empathy with. I feel no aversion to
material plane, I rather speak of having a panoramic view of the present.
It is said that in spiritual terms, we can only see what we become, we must
come into resonance in order to "see" spiritually. So to be able to "see"
the spiritual worlds is to be able to ascend to them, thus to be alive in
them. In other words, situations, circumstances and events cannot be judged
or discerned on the surface or by their appearances in this world, but
rather an inward discernment is necessary that looks into the development
and evolution of souls – a more long range and panoramic vision is
necessary that sees the ultimate outcome or result, not only in terms of
the present life, but future lives; hence, which is true sight, true
knowledge. It is the panoramic sight that ultimately helps to uplift the
consciousness. If the world is to uplift itself, it needs to uplift its
consciousness, thus its sight. So much of the challenges that the world
face at present is the result of short-sightedness, a failure to see the
connection between all. When you have a panoramic view of your existence,
it changes the ways in which you react to situations. In my perception,
within the creative evolution, nothing is set in stone, so to say, except
the beginning and the end, which are essentially the same, because we have
free will.
Capt, indeed, I believe that although we may not know consciously, we know
on a deeper level, on a soul level.
Christos seems to be saying what I've been saying all along. Part of the
process of growth is to initially forget who and what you are. The puzzle
becomes can you find your true identity with all the distraction of
physical reality. The work entailed in self discovery of our Spirit hones
the personality to finally become one with its Spiritual identity. Walking
the earth physically, however behaving as Spirit through this physical
journey according to Spiritual Law.
Capt. so we are all actually in agreement, it is just that we all see it
from different perspectives. Remember the feminine can happily contain
paradox. I especially enjoy practicing the Art of being lost. :] I find
that often because the subject is so vast, and have such depth, with levels
of inter-connection, along with spiritual paradoxes, when one speaks of one
aspect, it is easy for another to think you do not, mean see actually the
same thing. With spiritual subjects it hard to convey the inter-connection
with simply the use of linear conversation. Have you not often found that
in for example dreams, or when you have an insight; you could be shown a
concept, and it seems so simple, but when you come to write it down, it is
not so simple to convey.
I have spent five years being lost. Giving up all my prior knowing, putting
all that I thought I knew through the alchemical process of dissolving and
putrefaction. That which remained is the basis of my present knowing, and
has opened to me new areas of unknowing, and when the conceivable areas of
unknowing becomes knowing, then I know more areas of unknowing will open.
But now I have a soul's vision, or an intuitive feeling of what I had not
experienced yet; yet to-be-experiences that is uniquely related to my
soul's purpose. I have an intuitive knowing of the hue, and melody of my
particular soul's purpose. Being myself presents me with unique challenges,
which I know in time will lead me to a clearer vision. For me life is a
continual dance between the known and unknown. Even the panoramic vision
that I can grasp, is so awe inspiring, that I cannot see how it would ever
be possible to have metaphysical conceit. As they say; with things of the
spirit you are always in the beginning.
You're absolutely right! Almost everytime I write down my dreams I suffer
that problem. Although physical existence gives us the illusion of being
linear, it is multi-dimensional as well.
Look at this world. My country's behavior, if thought of as a person, would be considered the behavior of one who doesn't know who they are and are suffering self worth problems. In everyday life we talk about these things with respect to human but we never think of how our government's behavior isn't healthy. Conflicting statements and behavior. Killing, torture, repression and war profiteering are examples of a nation caught in the throes of darkness, with hardly an idea of how to extricate itself.
I agree with you, Sophia, about metaphysical conceit. It sounds like an
oxymoron. To be Spiritual is to lose conceit because of knowledge about
your place in reality. Truth is a major element of Spirituality, conceit
has no place.
Sophia, in my panoramic vision, I imagine an infinite number of Omega
Points at the ends of an infinite number of worlds whose material
dimensions and parameters for being and becoming are unique and distinct.
This would imply an infinite number of Ascended Masters whose mastery is
mastery of their own particular material dimensions and parameters, and
given this infinitude, there would be striking similarities between and
among subsets of these worlds, which would imply that certain Ascended
Masters could take it upon themselves to enter our world as evolutionary
catalysts (perhaps Jesus Christ is one such). What I'm saying is that no
one of this world could have the knowledge, wisdom, or experience to become
an Ascended Master in this world unless and until they've seen this world
to the very end, when its potential has been fully realized. To believe
yourself to be an exception is a metaphysical conceit. As for
transformation and transcendence, we transform the material realm through
mastery and transcend it through mystery. To the extent to which we
transform our world (master it, sanctify it) is the extent to which we
transcend it ("everything that rises must converge"). We will not transcend
this world until we've achieved ascendance at the Omega Point. In the
material realm, there are only gradations of transcendence. As long as
there is form and substance, there can only ever be gradations of
transcendence. To believe ourselves to be an exception is yet another
metaphysical conceit.
Christos, you convey your thoughts in a wonderfully lucid way, and I agree
with most of what you are saying, however, how do we know when the Omega
point is? If all exists already in the now, the present, and yet not, is
not the impossible possible? To entertain the impossible, the unthinkable,
opens new vistas and undreamed of panaromas, which one would not have been
able to see unless, one reached beyond the borders of our imaginations. It
is part of the unique human characteristic to entertain the impossible, and
in doing so, new gateways open. What may have been perceived as impossible,
has throughout human history been breached, exactly because the impossible
had been entertained. The original concept may not come to pass in exactly
the same way as imagined, but it leads the whole of humanity just a step
closer. To say that something is impossible, closes a whole avenue of
unfoldment, and slows down the progress. To reach for what is impossible,
frees the imagination, and moves the previous boundaries to reveal new
unthought of possibilities. Shall I not fly to the outreaches of my
imagination, dance among the stars, that glows so far away, yet illuminate
the darkness of the unknown. Shall I not spread the wings of imagination
and soar into the unknown, to play with possibilities, then to return and
abide in present limitations, with newborn eyes, sparkling with the fires
of my soul's potential?
Aye Capt. I am always amazed how those who have the wisdom of the ages, and
the spectrum of choice of wise councilors at their disposal, can still be
so ignorant in their choices. I think one of the major problems is that in
the present political system there is no room to admit to mistakes, for to
do so would mean to lose a job and power. Those in power do not have the
best interest of their people at heart, but rather the interest of the
party, thus how to retain power, regardless of the many lives they may
destroy. I have often wondered with so many wise people in the world, is it
not possible to come up with a new system of government? The present form
of democracy had its place in time, but has now become a cumbersome
outmoded vehicle for the power-hungry, and no longer reflects the the
change of consciousness that has awakened. Would it not be wonderful if the
changes could be embraced without the immature ego that embodies the
governments of this world? They say that everything has a soul, ego and
spirit just like we as individuals have, so just like we as individuals
would become corrupted in stagnation, if we refuse to change and grow, the
same can be said of present systems used to rule the world.
Speech is part of the physical realm. I'm sure the Masters would say the
classifications and categories that Christos mentions are meaningless in
metaphysical terms. Only in the physical realm does Metaphysical Conceit
have any validity. It's the linear way the human mind is trained to think.
However, multi-dimensional thought can be learned.
Sophia, I appreciate your compliment. In my vision of ultimacy, the Omega
Point reflects and projects the realization of all conceivable events.
Anything that anyone could ever imagine is, by definition, conceivable, at
some level, in some way, no matter how impossible it might seem at the time
of its conception. To suggest, as you do, that the impossible is possible
is a contradiction in terms. I think what you mean to say is that the
seemingly impossible is at least conceivable, if not possible. It might
seem impossible that I could ever be in a million places at once, but it is
at least conceivable. Is it possible? I honestly don't know, and neither do
you, nor does anyone else. This conceivable event (of me being in a million
places at once), among countless other conceivables, is what we're here to
find out (there, I just created a new word). That you and I and everyone
else exist wholly in the present, including what we remember, what we think
and feel, see and hear, say and do, and what we imagine will be, is very
much beside the point. Allowing the play of conceivables to open up into
the present moment engages the mystery of who and what we are, but it is
only one side of the cosmic equation. Turning conceivables into
possibilities that can be realized is the other side, the side we're on now
- in the material realm. I maintain that we (not just you, not just me)
cannot be or become Ascended Masters unless and until we've made (and
exhausted) all attempts to turn all conceivable events into possibilities
that can be realized.
I am delighted to discover your blog. All strength!
Christos, Indeed, we must first first play among conceivables to discover
the boundaries of imagination. If cannot conceive of something, then we
will not even take the first step. Ascendancy might well be a process that
that extends beyond the limits of our possible imaginations, and beyond,
but then so too is our inherent potential. Once you have played within the
vastness of possibilities, your present limitations seem not so important,
as the enjoyment of the loveplay itself with the Other (the unknown) and
what the play itself reveals in the present.
Welcome Rama, I have not had much chance of late to write, but much is
brewing!
Beautifully expressed, Sophia. And thank you for your six-part series on
the nature of transformation, giving us as it did vital insights into this
gem of wisdom: "What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master
calls a butterfly" (Richard Bach)
