CYCLE 38

1. THE SELF. What, then, is the self in both its phenomenal and noumenal forms? Clearly, the opposite of the not-self ... as described earlier in relation, for example, to visions, dreams, poetry, and wet dreams at the alpha-most points of their respective psychological spectra. It does not happen to one as negative being, doing, etc., but is something one directly invests in oneself. It is not visionary but spiritual, not emotional but soulful, not intellectual but devotional, not sensual but graceful. It is religious (in the best sense of that word), musical, prayerful, and choreographic. It is true or strong or knowledgeable or beautiful. It is not illusory or weak or ignorant or ugly. It is good, not evil! It is reborn, not once-born!

2. NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE ORDERS OF WILL. It is the will of negative mind to diverge from negative being, doing, taking, and giving, but the will of positive mind to converge towards positive being, doing, taking, and giving. For the will that is negative is an expression of power with regard to the explosive nature of the not-self, whereas the will that is positive is an impression of power with regard to the implosive nature of the self.

3. OBJECTIVE/SUBJECTIVE DISTINCTIONS. Before I proceed further, I should like to clarify the distinction between the self/not-self not simply on the basis of a noumenal/phenomenal dichotomy, but in terms, moreover, of the objective and the subjective, so that we can distinguish not only between, say, the noumenal self and the phenomenal self, but also, and more specifically, between the objective noumenal self, or heart, and the subjective noumenal self, or lungs, on the one hand, and between the objective phenomenal self, or sex organs, and the subjective phenomenal self, or brain, on the other hand. Thus will we do justice to the four levels of self, which exist in a contrary relationship to the four levels of not-self, viz. the objective noumenal not-self of the eyes, the subjective noumenal not-self of the ears, the objective phenomenal not-self of the tongue, and the subjective phenomenal not-self of the flesh, or, in other words, the senses of sight, hearing, tasting, and touching. The sense of smell is also, in some degree, connected to taste, although the nose is more generally a filter and channel for the passage of air into the lungs, and is accordingly of a function which brings it closer to the subjective noumenal self, wherein sensuality is transcended.

4. CRUDE AND FINE. All sensuality is effectively crude, by dint of its association with the not-self, whether noumenally or phenomenally, objectively or subjectively. In this respect, it contrasts with the fineness of that which one would associate with the self, whether noumenally or phenomenally, objectively or subjectively.

5. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY. The subjective noumenal/phenomenal self is no more exclusively subjective ... than the objective phenomenal/noumenal self exclusively objective. On the contrary, it is primarily and, as it were, predominantly subjective. Hence the lungs are primarily about breathing-in (subjective) and only secondarily about breathing-out (objective), whereas the heart is primarily about pumping-out (objective) and only secondarily about pumping-in (subjective).

6. PSYCHCO-PHYSICAL CORRELATIONS. It should be possible to maintain that whereas negative mind is associated with the not-selves, positive mind has associations, by contrast, with the selves, both noumenal/phenomenal and objective/subjective. Now it seems to me that the division of mind into superconscious, subconscious, conscious, and unconscious aspects enables us to infer that each subdivision will also be associated with a particular sense/organ, irrespective of to which subdivision of the overall brain it may appertain. Hence it should be feasible to contend that the negative superconscious, for example, will always be associated, in some degree, with the eyes, irrespective of whether with regard to the backbrain, the right midbrain, the left midbrain, or the forebrain, whereas the positive superconscious will always be associated with the lungs, whether with regard to one or another of the above-mentioned subdivisions of the overall brain. Likewise, while the negative subconscious will be associated with the ears, its positive counterpart will have associations with the heart. Similarly, whereas the negative conscious will be associated with the tongue, its positive counterpart will have associations with the brain. And, finally, while the negative unconscious will be associated with the flesh, its positive counterpart will have associations with the womb. Thus we have a crude/fine distinction between the contrary orders of mind and their respective associations with the sensuous 'Kingdom Without' and the spiritual 'Kingdom Within'.

7. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIVERGENCE AND CONVERGENCE. Obviously, just as negative mind devolves from the alpha-most association with the physical senses through the backbrain to the alpha-least association with the physical senses through the forebrain, so, by a contrary token, positive mind evolves from the omega-least association with the physical organs through the backbrain to the omega-most association with the physical organs through the forebrain. Positive mind does not so much diverge, in negative will, from an exterior vacuum ... as converge, in positive will, towards an interior plenum, wherein it is saved. For salvation is precisely the opposite of damnation - the convergence of mind, through positive willpower, upon a plenum ... as opposed to the divergence of mind, through negative willpower, from a vacuum. The mind that diverges from the hell of whichever external physical organ is damned, whereas the mind that converges upon the heaven of whichever internal physical organ is saved ... whether relatively or absolutely, with regard to the phenomenal or to the noumenal, in objective or, more importantly, subjective terms. Let us therefore take a look at the various modes of salvation, from the unconscious in relation to the womb to the superconscious in relation to the lungs.