CYCLE 39

1. UNCONSCIOUS DANCE. Dance is to the positive unconscious what theatre (drama) is to the negative unconscious, and we may hold that the convergence of the unconscious, through positive will, upon the womb as the interior focus for the impression of bodily grace ... will vary in intensity and quality according to whether such a convergence takes place via the backbrain, the right midbrain, the left midbrain, or the forebrain, with a correspondingly different kind of dance in consequence. Broadly, I am going to contend that the dancing per se, as it were, of this unconscious convergence is through the right midbrain, which is the subdivision of the overall brain most correlative, so I maintain, with the body, and that the mode of dancing with which this correlates will be between loving couples in what can only be described as an intensely romantic, even harmonious, co-operation of objective phenomenal self with objective phenomenal self. Less harmonious but more melodic, so to speak, will be the mode of dancing that corresponds to the convergence of unconscious mind through the left midbrain, wherein we may envisage a correlation with the subjective phenomenal self, and such dancing, almost intellectually aloof from the interior body per se, viz. the womb, is more likely to be of the ballroom variety, the couples virtually holding each other at arm's length, so to speak, than of anything more sexually intimate. However, if Mass and Volume are characteristic of the more phenomenal approaches to dance, then Time and Space are their noumenal counterparts, with the convergence of unconscious mind through the backbrain making for a correlation with Time, presumably through some intensely rhythmic and/or collective mode of dance that defers to the heart, and the convergence of unconscious mind through the forebrain making for a more spatial if not spaced approach to dance, such as one would associate with free dancing or freak dancing or even belly dancing, or that which, far from paying an oblique tribute to the heart, would seem to be paying such a tribute, via the forebrain, to the lungs ... in what could only be described as a quasi-spiritual mode of dance, one whose musical parallel would be pitch. Yet all dancing, whether of the interior body per se or of some, as it were, 'bovaryized' approximation to something other than Inner Mass, is fundamentally of the objective phenomenal self even in its elemental forms where, as we have seen, it either takes the form of a deference, via the backbrain, to objective noumenal self or of a deference, via the forebrain, to subjective noumenal self. At bottom, however, it is still the cultural manifestation of the objective phenomenal self, since it is the unconscious which converges upon the womb to establish a graceful impression with that self which is its mode of salvation.

2. CONSCIOUS DEVOTION. Having dealt with the positive unconscious, I should like to proceed to the positive conscious, which I regard as converging, through positive willpower, upon the brain in what is, by and large, a context of devotion. Such a cerebral context is rather more purgatorial than mundane, and would seem to be the type of interior rebirth congenial to those who have turned their back on the intellect, and thus literature, in pursuit of inner knowledge. Doubtless the convergence of the conscious upon the brain is more in its per se mode when associated with the left midbrain, the most lunar or purgatorial part of the overall brain, than when associated with any of its other subdivisions, and so much must this be the case ... that the other modes of devotion should be considered 'bovaryizations' of the purgatorial realm. Now if letter/sermon writing is the Christic per se of positive conscious mind, then its 'bovaryized' modes will include speaking, reading, and praying, with speaking significant of the convergence of positive conscious mind upon the right midbrain, reading significant of the convergence of such mind upon the backbrain, and praying significant of its convergence upon the forebrain, these latter two modes of positive conscious activity being elemental where the other two modes - viz. writing and speaking - are molecular. Of course, by 'speaking' I do not mean any old conversation or chatter, but, on the contrary, the sort of ecclesiastical responses and chants, not to mention aural readings, that follow, it seems to me, from a devotional premise having its physical basis in the convergence of positive conscious mind upon the right midbrain, the most bodily-oriented subdivision of the overall brain. Certainly, I would have no hesitation in regarding devotion as broadly, though not exclusively, Protestant, with letter/sermon writing effectively Puritan, Bible reading effectively Presbyterian, speaking effectively Anglican, and praying, that quasi-spiritual mode of devotion and exception to the Protestant rule, effectively Catholic; though this is, as ever, to generalize the issue for the sake of categorical clarity. Nevertheless, one would have to contrast the purgatorial realm with the mundane realm on the basis of a sort of Christian/Heathen or, better, nonconformist/humanist dichotomy, since the distinction in question is between the conscious and the unconscious with regard to positive mind.

3. SUBCONSCIOUS MUSIC. Having dealt with the positive conscious, let us now turn to its subconscious parallel, the order of positive mind which is antithetical to the spectrum of negative mind stretching from dreams to films (as already discussed), and which one would have difficulty not associating with music. For music is a discipline of the soul, as we may call the convergence of subconscious mind upon the heart, and the soul is never more accurately articulated than when such a convergence takes places via the backbrain, the subdivision of the brain most correlative with the heart, and the musical result is accordingly rhythmic. Yet if music is most fundamentalist with regard to rhythm, then it is more (relative to most) fundamentalist with regard to harmony, less (relative to least) fundamentalist with regard to melody, and least fundamentalist with regard to pitch, as we proceed from the convergence of subconsciousness through the backbrain to its convergence through the forebrain via the intermediate, and therefore molecular, realms of the right and left midbrains - the former deferring, in harmony, to the womb, and the latter deferring, in melody, to the brain. Fundamentally, however, music is most 'true' to itself in rhythm and least 'true' to itself in pitch, although the quasi-spiritual 'bovaryization' of the soul through pitch could only rank higher the more omega-orientated the person and the less soulful, in consequence, his commitment to cultural fundamentalism. Yet the soul is no less metaphysical than the mind (the convergence of consciousness upon the brain) or, lower down in the mundane realm, the id (the convergence of unconsciousness upon the womb), since a species of self, in this instance objectively noumenal, which contrasts with the subjective noumenal not-self of sensual naturalism ... from dreams to films.

4. SUPERCONSCIOUS MEDITATION. Higher than the cultural fundamentalism, however, of the soul ... is the cultural transcendentalism of the spirit, or the convergence of superconsciousness upon the lungs, which is never more transcendentalist than when such a convergence takes place via the forebrain, and the metaphysical result is the spiritual per se ... of the Holy Spirit of Heaven, or union between the superconscious and the subjective noumenal self (of air-breathing lungs) through meditation. Thus it is that the convergence, through the forebrain, of positive superconscious mind upon the lungs brings both the mind in question and the lungs to the Holy Spirit which, being universal, is the ultimate salvation of the self. Yet if meditation is the most transcendentalist mode of spirituality, then it should follow that the convergence of superconsciousness through the backbrain upon the lungs will make, in a deference to the heart, for the least transcendentalist mode of spirituality, namely for singing, whilst its convergence through the right midbrain will make, in deference to the womb, for the less (relative to least) transcendentalist mode of spirituality in kissing, and its convergence through the left midbrain will make, in deference to the brain, for the more (relative to most) transcendentalist mode of spirituality in the sniffing and/or snorting of certain chemicals, including incense. Thus the cultivation of the subjective noumenal self (both psychologically and metaphysically) may be regarded as stretching from the least transcendentalist context of singing to the most transcendentalist context of meditating via the less (relative to least) transcendentalist context of kissing, and the more (relative to most) transcendentalist context of sniffing. One might say that whereas meditating is the transcendentalist per se of the Divine, the context that brings the subjective noumenal self to a unitary accommodation with the universal self (of the air being breathed), singing is a quasi-fundamentalist mode of transcendentalism, kissing a quasi-humanist mode of transcendentalism, and sniffing a quasi-nonconformist mode of transcendentalism. Yet the spirit is revealed, to a greater or lesser extent, in all modes of transcendentalism, just as the soul is revealed, to greater or lesser extents, in all modes of fundamentalism, the mind ... in all modes of nonconformism, and the id ... in all modes of humanism.

5. REVELATIONS OF THE SOUL. Thus while the soul is most revealed through the convergence of subconsciousness upon the heart via the backbrain in rhythmical music, the fundamentalist per se of the soul, it is more (relative to most) revealed through the convergence of subconsciousness upon the heart via the right midbrain in harmonic music, which is the quasi-humanist mode of fundamentalism. Conversely, while the soul is least revealed through the convergence of subconsciousness upon the heart via the forebrain in pitch-oriented music, the quasi-transcendentalist mode of fundamentalism, it is less (relative to least) revealed through the convergence of subconsciousness upon the heart via the left midbrain in melodic music, which is the quasi-nonconformist mode of fundamentalism.

6. REVELATIONS OF THE MIND. Similarly, while the mind is most revealed through the convergence of consciousness upon the brain via the left midbrain in letter writing, the puritan or, rather, nonconformist per se of the mind, it is more (relative to most) revealed through the convergence of consciousness upon the brain via the forebrain in thoughtful praying, which is the quasi-transcendentalist mode of nonconformism. Conversely, while the mind is least revealed through the convergence of consciousness upon the brain via the right midbrain in responsive speaking, the quasi-humanist mode of nonconformism, it is less (relative to least) revealed through the convergence of consciousness upon the brain via the backbrain in scriptural reading, which is the quasi-fundamentalist mode of nonconformism.

7. REVELATIONS OF THE ID. Finally, while the id is most revealed through the convergence of unconsciousness upon the womb via the right midbrain in romantic dancing, the humanist per se of the id, it is more (relative to most) revealed, through the convergence of unconsciousness upon the womb via the backbrain in tap dancing, which is the quasi-fundamentalist mode of humanism. Conversely, while the id is least revealed through the convergence of unconsciousness upon the womb via the left midbrain in ballroom dancing, the quasi-nonconformist mode of humanism, it is less (relative to least) revealed through the convergence of unconsciousness upon the womb via the forebrain in belly dancing, which is the quasi-transcendentalist mode of humanism.