CYCLE SIXTEEN: CONTRARY REACTIONS AGAINST SELFLESSNESS

1. The reaction of the metaphysical unself against metaphysical selflessness is, elementally considered, from air to fire, from subjective noumenal spirit to noumenal soul-mind, whereas the reaction of the metachemical unself against metachemical selflessness is, contrariwise, from fire to air, as from objective noumenal spirit to noumenal mind-soul.

2. The reaction of the chemical unself against chemical selflessness is, elementally considered, from water to vegetation, as from objective phenomenal spirit to phenomenal mind-soul, whereas the reaction of the physical unself against physical selflessness is, contrariwise, from vegetation to water, as from subjective phenomenal spirit to phenomenal soul-mind.

3. Thus the unself reacts within the terms of the plane to which it pertains, noumenal against noumenal and, down below, phenomenal against phenomenal, whether in outer ('once born') or in inner ('reborn') contexts.

4. The spirit of selflessness is always reacted against by the unself, but in such a way as to guarantee the latter experience, in its kernel, of the opposite element to what is being reacted against, be it air, fire, water, or vegetation.

5. For the unself is obliged, barring suicide or death, to return to self, which is ever fundamental to it, but the only way it can do so is via the opposite extreme from the selflessness to which it reacts, thereby experiencing a complementary degree of unselfishness before regaining its psychological equilibrium.

6. To judge by the distinction between soul-mind and mind-soul on the noumenal planes (of space and time), it would seem that a deeper, and contrary, degree of noumenal unselfishness results from the reaction of unself to selflessness, be it with regard to joy or to love.

7. Likewise, in relation to the distinction between mind-soul and soul-mind on the phenomenal planes (of volume and mass), it would appear that the reaction of the relevant unself to its mode of selflessness results in a deeper, and contrary, degree of phenomenal unselfishness, be it in relation to pride or to pleasure.

8. In more general terms, however, there is an elemental progression, in life, from id to mind via soul and ego, as from fire to air via water and vegetation, and a development, in consequence, from instinctuality to spirituality via emotionality and intellectuality.

9. Put dichotomously, in relation to the underlining gender divide, it would seem that, the id being the perfect manifestation of power and the soul the perfect manifestation of glory, we have an objective progression, on the female side of life, from instinctuality to emotionality, as from fire to water, whereas, the ego being the perfect manifestation of form and the mind the perfect manifestation of content, we have a subjective progression, on the male side of life, from intellectuality to spirituality, as from vegetation to air.

10. Consequently, just as power finds its perfect manifestation in beauty and glory its perfect manifestation in pride, so form finds its perfect manifestation in knowledge and content its perfect manifestation in joy, as we proceed from id to soul on the one hand, and from ego to mind on the other hand - the former pair respectively instinctual and emotional, the latter pair respectively intellectual and spiritual.

11. Since metaphysical spirit is the selfless per se of religion, metachemical spirit, chemical spirit, and physical spirit are all shortfalls from genuine spirituality, the airy spirituality (transcendentalism) that is once removed from the intellectuality of vegetative spirituality (nonconformism), twice removed from the emotionality of watery spirituality (humanism), and thrice removed from the instinctuality of fiery spirituality (fundamentalism), as from economic, political, and scientific 'bovaryizations' of religion.

12. Yet the metaphysically unselfish reaction to metaphysical spirit (airwaves/breath) is commensurate with noumenal soul-mind (joy), the metachemically unselfish reaction to metachemical spirit (light/blood) is commensurate with noumenal mind-soul (love), the chemically unselfish reaction to chemical spirit (saliva/amniotic fluid) is commensurate with phenomenal mind-soul (pride), and the physically unselfish reaction to physical spirit (sperm/thought) is commensurate with phenomenal soul-mind (pleasure).

13. Hence the joy of noumenal soul-mind stands beyond the love of noumenal mind-soul, above the pride of phenomenal mind-soul, and above the pleasure of phenomenal soul-mind, as the ultimate manifestation of unselfishness.

14. More accurately, the joy of noumenal soul-mind stands directly above and beyond the pleasure of phenomenal soul-mind, indirectly above the pride of phenomenal mind-soul, and indirectly beyond the love of noumenal mind-soul, as metaphysical unselfishness above and beyond physical unselfishness, above chemical unselfishness, and beyond metachemical unselfishness.