The Descent to Not
The World
Layer by layer we have unveiled the illusory reality which belies the Landscape of Being. Dropping beneath the Landscape of Being brings us into the deep well of the Self. This "Self" is the one who was curious about reality and existence and wanted to know more. This Self is the deeper self which seeks to understand not just reality but also the depths of inner-being. The World Layer, here at the top of Self Well is the most shallow aspect of our inner-self. But we are now ready to go deeper. From here, we will be dropping so deep that we will reach the core of the Spirit-Consciousness. This will be an incredible journey but it doesn't stop there. From that absolute core of the Self we will drop deeper still in our pursuit to understand the actuality of all of existence. We will descend all the way to the floor of Actuality: the pure and perfect nothingness of Not which both must exist and cannot exist. To begin this part of the journey, click the Go Deeper button below the World Layer.
Descent XI
The World
An abstract above-view of a human head shows the image in the mind’s eye of a person with their arms cast into the air as if to celebrate the bliss of Being. The large sea beyond looks like the Ocean of Consciousness. The person celebrating their freedom is the inner-reflection of the outer Self. In other words, this is the person one imagines that others see when they look at this Self. In the top-left corner is the AON symbol for The World indicating that this trump is part of the Self Well. In fact, the World card represents the very top of the Well of the Self. This card completes the layer stack which is the entire Self.
Having dropped deep into the Sea of Self, we have arrived at the World. Here, our journey shifts from “What” is Reality to “Who” am I? We are at the very top of the Well of the Self (the Self Well). Above us we can see how the Sea of Self becomes distinct from the Ocean of Consciousness. At the World Layer we are complete but there is still much to learn about our deeper nature. To drop further into the Self, we will need to shed this idea of the World and look at what layers beneath have been stacked to create our own self-image.
Guided Meditation
Key 11: The World
Outer World reflected Inward
The World as Reflection
As we arrive here at the World layer from the Sea of Self, we find ourselves completely safe from all outside influences. Yes, the World outside is still out there, and yes, we can still sense that World using our senses, but we also realize here at the World layer that we are the ones building our internal copy of our external World.
We can also take everything that has happened in the past and reinterpret those past experiences as “stimuli.” Our memory is thought, and thought, like the other five senses, is only one of our six senses. Remember, we get to choose how we will react to the sensory input coming into our minds. Even when this stream of thought “coming in” is “coming in” from inside of our minds to begin with. This may seem like a confusing sentence, but remember that the deepest core of the Self is the one receiving this stream of sense data from the layers of Being which necessarily exist to allow us to interface with existence We need these limiting layers to provide us with a sense of past and future. If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear as it is: infinite. Even so, to see who we truly are beneath it all, we will need to temporarily remove these layers one at a time as we descend deeper into the truth of our Being.
As such, we can also take all of the things we know are going to happen in our immediate or distant future and reinterpret those anticipated experiences as “stimuli.” Again, as just more sensory input, we get to choose how we are going to regard these thoughts.
If we so desire, we can therefore cast away these concerns we have about our past and future along with all the other things about the outside World which we might find undesirable.
It is because of this great power we have to re-image the World here at this layer that we find ourselves completely safe.
From this place of safety and calm, we can now begin deciding on what kinds of things (or “baggage” perhaps) we would like to bring with us as we contemplate our descent down to the next layer.
For truly, now, before we descend to the layer beneath us, we can shed the entire World layer if we so desire.