[12] The Trapped Soul

Psychic download: 2010/02/11

The Soul Trapped in the Material World

Download Layout:

[01] Subject  -  REM Sleep

[02] External  -  Daimon

[03] Internal  -  Binary Oppositions

[2+3] Synthesis  -  Spirit Aspect

[04] Core  -  Rose and Cross

[05] Consequence  -  Paradox

[06] Responsibility  -  Life-cycle

[07] Predictable outcome  -  Runes

[08] Conditioning  -  Nature

[09] Attitude  -  Population Growth

[10] Right action  -  Music

[11] Quality & Quantity  -  Soul

[12] Objective  -  Suffering

[13] Possible outcome  -  Phenomenology

[01] REM

The symbol under subject s[01] is REM SLEEP, a mysterious state of consciousness:

What happens when you sleep? The body remains busy … The brain is electric … Michael Jouvet, a French neurobiologist … writes about REM sleep (paradoxical sleep). We observed that dreaming was neither sleeping nor waking. It was obviously a third state of the brain, as different from sleep as sleep is from wakefulness. This stage … rapid eye movement … varies in length (between 5 and 20 minutes) with the longest period occurring early in the morning just before you wake up. We spend about 25% of our sleeping time in the REM stage.     Frank E. The Book of Dreams, 2004, Human &  Rousseau

[02] Daimon

The external aspect s[02] is held in the symbol DAIMON. We need to find what it is that looks like a daimon and how it relates to our dream state. The daimon is more commonly referred to as the soul; the spirit; the genius; the guide; the angel etc.

These acorns evidently picked mothers … Whether their subject receives support from the mother (Calas, Wright, Roosevelt) or has differences with the mother (Lukacs, Arbus, Stravinsky), or is neglected by the mother (McClintock, Millay, Turner), biographers tend to enlarge the Mother with mythical greatness, confusing the power of her archetypal image with the force of their individual acorn. … innovation and the transmission of ideas takes place in various ways: horizontally within the family (sibling to sibling); vertically, but reciprocally, child to mother and mother to child; outside the family …     Hillman J. The Soul's Code, 1997, Bantam Books.

[03] Binary Oppositions

The task is to unpack the symbol BINARY OPPOSITIONS s[03] to find the internal characteristics S[02] that fit, and that will spark a synthesis:

It is a feature of culture that binary oppositions come to seem neutral to members of a culture. Many pairing of concepts (such as male-female and mind-body) are familiar within a culture and may seem common-sensical distinctions for everyday communicational purposes even if some of them may be regarded as 'false dichotomies' in critical contexts. The opposition of self-other (or subject-object) is psychologically fundamental. The mind imposes some degree of constancy on the dynamic flux of experience by defining 'the self' in relation to 'the other'.  …   Chandler D. Semiotics, The Basics, 2002, Routledge.

[02+03] Synthesis: The Soul in Matter

The SYNTHESIS s[2+3] appears as the spirit aspect that we call the soul, and it relates to the problem of body-mind within the dream state. This synthesis brings a psychic aspect of ourselves into play, within another state of consciousness that has been described as the 'highway to the unconscious'. This state is for some a virtual reality where simulations are run; and is also a state that includes day-dreaming or 'active imagination' as coined by Jung. This also makes one aware of another fundamental relationship: that of the self and the Self; of the ego and the daimon.

[04] Rose and Cross

The basis s[04] for this download relates to the ROSE-CROSS: This confirms the soul as trapped in the material world as represented by the four elements (arms) of a cross. Dreams are the most important source of unconscious material and one can see how this fits with learning to communicate with one's daimon. Working with the symbols from a dream is a meditation.

Meditation exercise: Evening: The mind pictures the Rose-Cross. Thou my soul, look up to this symbol: may it be to thee the sign of the World Spirit who fills the cosmic spaces, who works through the cycles of time and work eternally in thee … Morning: Let my thinking, let my willing, let my feeling, stand in this sign. May its meaning live in my heart's depths, live in me as light. (Restfulness of soul).    Steiner R. Guidance in Esoteric Training, 1977, Rudolf Steiner Press.

[05] Paradox

Humanity is in this predicament as a consequence s[05] of not realizing the urge to self-transcendence rests is an individual process, hence PARADOX: This links back to INSTITUTION in previous downloads. To put it mildly, we create evil when instead of working at spiritual growth from within, we project it outside of ourselves as an ideology.

AD Majorem Gloriam [For the greater glory of God] … take a look at the human predicament …failure must be sought in the reformer's mistaken interpretation of the causes which compelled man to make such a disaster of his history, prevented him from learning the lessons of the past, and which now puts his survival in question. The basic fallacy consists in putting all the blame on man's selfishness, greed and alleged destructiveness; that is to say, on the self-assertive tendency of the individual. … the part played by crimes committed for personal motives is very small compared to the vast population slaughtered in unselfish loyalty to a jealous god, king, country, or political system. … thus the historical record confronts us with the paradox that the tragedy of man originates not in his aggressiveness but in his devotion to transpersonal ideals; not in an excess of individual self-assertiveness but in a malfunction of the integrative tendencies in our species.        Koestler A. Janus: A Summing Up, 1978, Pan Books Ltd

[06] Life-cycle

Under responsibility s[06] we get the symbol LIFE CYCLE that relates to how one must use the time left wisely.

Phase 6: Age 40-50 - The denial of time and the shadow of approaching night. … when aging begins to affect function for the first time … a noticeable feature of phase 6 is the speeding up of inner time … Phase 7: Age 50-69 - The acceptance of time. By phase 7, individuals have usually had long enough to devise strategies to cope with the knowledge of their mortality … this can be the greatest period of true growth in the human life cycle depending on whether the mid-life confrontation with death has been faced or fled from.     Reanney D. The Death of Forever, 1995, Souvenir Press

[07] Runes

In the position of predictable outcome s[07] we must decode the symbol RUNES, which appears to point to the need to develop more effective systems to engage the unconscious. This symbol points to the underlying geometric structures in nature, and the task at hand, which is to develop devices to help interpret communications with the unconscious Self or Mind.

The Armanen Runes were the invention of the Austrian Guido List (1848 - 1919) who was the founder of the main school of German rune-work in the twentieth century … He based their shapes on the six branches of the Hagal "hailstone" rune, or the "mother rune." … the shape of the Hagal rune imitates the hexagonal lattice underlying the structure of matter. It is said that all of List's 18 runes can be projected by shining a light through a hexagonal crystal at certain angles. Pennick N. The complete illustrated guide to Runes, 2003, Greenwich Editions.

[08] Nature

The symbol NATURE has in it the conditioning s[08] that one needs to overcome. I take this to mean that one needs to get more actively engaged with nature instead of watching on TV or ignoring it as we go about our daily business. Yes, nature is dead to most people who litter, pollute and exploit. But to try explaining why they behave this way will raise issues such as the projection of the unconscious 'mood'.

The mysterious mother has shrouded herself from us in an impenetrable veil of illusion. But though we cannot know nature absolutely we can pick up a practical and piecemeal knowledge of nature not by dreaming but by doing. The man of action can within certain limits have his way with nature … In general, sentiment is not of much avail when pitted against industrial advance … The Rousseauist, on the other hand, does not in his "communion" with nature adjust himself to anything. He is simply communing with his own mood … He sees in nature what he himself has put there. The Rousseauist transfuses himself into nature … Nature is dead, as Rousseau says, unless animated by the fires of love.     Babbitt I. Rousseau & Romanticism, 1966, The World Publishing Company

[09] Population Growth

This calls for a change in attitude s[09] with regard to POPULATION GROWTH:

Ishmael: "So what will happen if you feed the starving millions?" "They'll reproduce and our population will increase." "Without fail … with predictable results … Global population control is always something that's going to happen in the future. It was … when you were three billion in 1960 … there is in fact no significant thrust toward global population control … "Famine isn't unique to humans … Mother Culture says that humans should be exempt from that process." … "True. But all the same, it's hard just to sit by and let them starve." "This is precisely how someone speaks who imagines that he is the world's divinely appointed ruler: 'I will not let them starve …'    Quinn D. Ishmael, 1992, A Bantam / Turner Book

[10] Music

The right-action s[10] is given in the symbol MUSIC, which we all know to have some universal significance that we still need to discover. Music has a special effect on brains that must surely be more than a coincidence or chance evolutionary development. It is as if it is a magic key that we must learn to use.

Singing in One Voice: like a miracle … 'I had a Bird.' … Nothing brings children into one voice like music … music is there to teach him the social skills of turn taking, listening,, and sharing.        Campbell D. The Mozart Effect for Children, 2002, Hodder and Stroughton.

[11] Soul

The symbol SOUL is used here to explain the quality or quantity in s[11]:

The soul is of an eternal essence. It is actually a particle of the Supreme Being … When we once become aware of the idea of an inner direction of Life and its energy paths, bubbling like a fountain from within outwards, then confusion vanishes … But lower mind does not penetrate into essences … it wants its way and uses force to rule outside in matter, it further binds and buries the soul in the mire by these desires, actions and reactions. The pity of it is that man does not realize that he must reap the rewards as well as pay the penalties for all his thoughts, words and deeds(.) And when he has the opportunity to pay some of these debts through the sufferings and afflictions that come his way so that he may learn humility and love, instead of being grateful and patiently doing his best under the circumstances, he begins to grumble and blame others, which only further entangles him in this valley of tears.   Stone R. Mystic Bible, 1989, Radha Soami Satsang Beas

[12] Suffering

The objective s[12] is to acknowledge SUFFERING as a task:

Sometimes man may be required simply to accept fate, to bear his cross. Every situation is distinguished by its uniqueness, and there is always only one right answer to the problem posed by the situation at hand. When a man finds that it is his destiny to suffer, he will have to accept his suffering as his task; his single and unique task. He will have to acknowledge the fact that even in suffering he is unique and alone in the universe. No one can relieve him of his suffering or suffer in his place. His unique opportunity lies in the way in which he bears his burden.   Frankl V.E. Man's Search for Meaning, 1964, Hodder and Stoughton

[13] Phenomenology

The last symbol under s[13] is PHENOMENOLOGY:  describes the role of the soul as the transcendent aspect that makes meaning out of what we experience. What's interesting here is that although Husserl rejected dualism he believed in a similar subject-matter outcome, which is what this download is about: the body-mind (or soul).

Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) Phenomenology: applied the epithet "transcendental" to consciousness as it is aside from its (valid and necessary) self-apperception as in a world. At the same time he restricted the term "psychic" to subjectivity (personal subjects, their streams of consciousness, etc.) in its status as worldly, animal, human subjectivity. … an abstracting and self-restraining attitude , Husserl believed, is necessary, if one is to isolate the psychic in its purity and yet preserve it in its full intentionality.      Runes D.D. Dictionary of Philosophy, 1962, Littlefield Adams & Co