The Descent to Not
Spirit-Consciousness
Descending to Key 4 (Layer 4 in the Cosmology of Not), we have reached the place which religion calls the soul (or spirit) and science calls consciousness. For all intents and purposes, this is also where we, as reflections of the universe, begin. The Spirit-Consciousness is the genesis of the Self. Here in Key 4 is where the Awareness from Key 3 becomes aware of its own Awareness! This is another staggering and remarkable leap in the evolution of the Universe, Humanity and the Self!
Descent IV
Spirit-Consciousness
In this card we see an entire universe of a Self (each of us is an entire universe within a universe) in a meditative pose in the depths of the Sea of Self. At the very core of Self we see the blue eight-pointed star representing the inner-calm of Tranquillitas Animae which reigns in the otherwise uncontrollable and raging fires of the Self. Beneath the blue star we see the eight-pointed yellow star of Ardentis Animae which represents the burning fire within the Self. This raging fire is the pure and unadulterated Self, burning brightly with no regret or remorse and without the need to ask for permission to burn.
The core of the Self is the “awareness of its own awareness.” The Spirit-Consciousness is the impossible paradox of the flashlight that shines upon itself. This Key may also be thought of as what embodies the “inner child,” or the “divine spark,” sometimes called “the divinity within.”
In the top-left corner of this card is an AON symbol for Spirit-Consciousness indicating that Spirit-Consciousness is part of the Self Well. In fact, when it comes to plumbing the depths of the Self, Spirit-Consciousness is the bottom of the well!
Guided Meditation
Spirit-Consciousness
Spirit-Consciousness
I am, therefore I am
We do not need permission to be and we do not need forgiveness for being. The Spirit-Consciousness does not experience regret or guilt. This is the wellspring of Being. This is "I am, therefore I am." Descartes used the phrase, "Cogito, ergo sum" (I think therefore I am).
We were born into Being and this explosive and pure fire of Being can be experienced again and again when we make this Descent to Key 4. When we came through Key 4 on the initial Ascent we began as Order, and as we later emerged into the Landscape of Being (Key 12) we became Chaos which in turn sought to re-order itself back into Order.
This ascending and descending is a direct reflection (or is it the source) of the rising and falling sine wave pattern underlying everything we see around us. If Form (Key 2) was the ordering matter, perhaps Spirit-Consciousness is the ordering of thought.
What would we find if we could drop beneath this origin of being? What would we find if we could go deeper still and drop to the layer beneath thought itself?