08-16-2012, 04:55 PM
The Matrix of the Spirit - The Dark Night of the Soul
![[Image: 5F5Jz.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/5F5Jz.jpg)
I have finally decided to post threads about the Spirit Cycle. In contrast to my previous threads, I will simply begin this thread with what I consider the relevant information from the Ra Material, and then add my own content.
78.11
79.20
80.10
All movements of the spirit may be described in terms of the movement of light into darkness.
The darkness and light are one. Prior to the veiling, there was a simple flowing of light into darkness, filling the void, illuminating the plenum, revealing what was already there, but hidden. After the veiling, the darkness has become even more apparent, the light more rare, and their interaction still more profound.
And what is the Dark Night of the Soul? Kierkegaard called it despair, that ubiquitous sickness of the spirit which each human being suffers, most of whom never even know they suffer it. The Dark Night of the Soul is the viewed as a complete mystery to itself. It is Infinity without focus, and perhaps even without awareness. And this is a key point, for this card can be viewed from two angles: the angle of a human being who is not spiritually aware and therefore does not know she is in despair, and the angle of a human being who is spiritually aware and knows she is in despair.
Let us consider the first case, the unaware Spirit. Each of us, each human being, awakes in this raw, violent, disturbing world knowing nothing of who or what we are. There is a mystery to this existence which permeates life even to its very beginnings, and that mystery may be summed up most readily with a single word, a question: “Why?” And although this despair begins as only a mystery, an untouchable darkness, as life in this difficult world progresses and we are indoctrinated into the culture which surrounds us, occasionally tiny pieces of our spirits become visible as the Potentiator of the Spirit, the Lightning, strikes, showing us one of the deep secrets of our hearts – only to have that tiny piece of our spirits caged, cornered, isolated and demonized. Prior to the veiling, the spirit was never demonized, but only mysterious. Now, after the veiling, it is both mysterious and feared, awesome and terrifying, for the secret truths contained within the spirit will, of necessity, challenge any attempt a culture may make at standardizing the human experience. Each human is an exception to some rule; therefore, each human, once indoctrinated with rules, will discover that within herself there are exceptions which threaten to overturn the entire monolithic structure. What will society think if I choose to be irreligious? If I choose to be a hermit? If I choose non-monogamy? If I choose lovers of the same sex? If I reject a normal career choice? What will society think?
The demon on this card is nothing less than the Spirit within you which is yet unknown to you. In your ignorance, you have dressed it up as the sum total of your imbalances, all of the things within you of which you are ashamed, afraid. Thus, in your ignorance, you distance yourself from yourself in an effort to maintain the illusion that you are actually capable of perfectly fitting the mold of your culture. But this is not so. For the shackled beings on this card represent your “ego-self” as it is often called, the part of you which, fully ignorant of the movements of the Spirit, continually accepts the comfort of the native culture, spiritual prison though it is. This part of yourself has no contact with Infinity, with the divine, and is therefore an animal influence within you. The imbalances of this ego-self are so great that when the self gazes upon its Spirit, it can see only the demon, whose Kundalini rises only to the navel and then spews out.
The other perspective, however, turns this imagery on its head. When a human being learns of her own despair, she is moved to pull to herself knowledge of herself. Instead of her consciousness remaining in perspective of the shackled beings who choose imprisonment, now her consciousness finally moves into the demon itself, it faces that great darkness, takes it upon itself, and calls forth the Lightning to burst the illusions which surround it. As such, the aware seeker who as yet is still fully within the mystery of the Dark Night of the Soul, the unknown, the terrifying depths of the self, is seen by those who are still ignorant of their despair as demonic. To turn toward that in the self which is fearsome is to take the shape of a demon to the outside world. It is for this very reason that Jehoshua warned his disciples that the world would persecute them for speaking in his name.
The Matrix of the Spirit is that part of your self which is not yet present to what is called the True Self. It is this sense in which this Matrix is unfed, just as the Matrix of the Mind lacks knowledge and the Matrix of the Body lacks wisdom. As the Body is a reflection in opposites of the Mind, so the Spirit is a reflection in opposites of the Mind/Body. Hence, that which is true of both mind and body is true in reverse in the spirit. The Matrix of the Mind is present to itself (for it cannot avoid self-awareness), but knows itself as empty. The Matrix of the Body perceives itself, but only as useless. Hence, in these Matrices, the self is observed, but in the context of an absence. In the Matrix of the Spirit, however, only the lack is observed and nothing else, for the Matrix is not present to itself. The Dark Night of the Soul is what the theologians called a “God-sized hole,” or, as our friend on Bring4th calls himself, a “God-wide void”. This Matrix is like a deep sleep and the closest one can come to awakening without potentiation is merely to discover that one is asleep.
I have finally decided to post threads about the Spirit Cycle. In contrast to my previous threads, I will simply begin this thread with what I consider the relevant information from the Ra Material, and then add my own content.
78.11
Ra Wrote:The Matrix of the Spirit is what you may call the Night of the Soul or Primeval Darkness. Again we have that which is not capable of movement or work. The potential power of this extremely receptive matrix is such that the potentiator may be seen as Lightning.
79.20
Ra Wrote:The Matrix of the Spirit is difficult to characterize since the nature of spirit is less motile. The energies and movements of the spirit are, by far, the most profound, yet, having more close association with time/space, do not have the characteristics of dynamic motion. Thusly one may see the Matrix as the deepest darkness and the Potentiator of Spirit as the most sudden awakening, illuminating, and generative influence.
80.10
Ra Wrote:The nature of the spirit is so infinitely subtle that the fructifying influence of light upon the great darkness of the spirit is very often not as apparent as the darkness itself. The progress chosen by many adepts becomes a confused path as each adept attempts to use the Catalyst of the Spirit. Few there are which are successful in grasping the light of the sun. By far, the majority of adepts remain groping in the moonlight and, as we have said, this light can deceive as well as uncover hidden mystery. Therefore, the melody, shall we say, of this matrix often seems to be of a negative and evil, as you would call it, nature. It is also to be noted that an adept is one which has freed itself more and more from the constraints of the thoughts, opinions, and bonds of other-selves. Whether this is done for service to others or service to self, it is a necessary part of the awakening of the adept. This freedom is seen by those not free as what you would call evil or black. The magic is recognized; the nature is often not.
All movements of the spirit may be described in terms of the movement of light into darkness.
The darkness and light are one. Prior to the veiling, there was a simple flowing of light into darkness, filling the void, illuminating the plenum, revealing what was already there, but hidden. After the veiling, the darkness has become even more apparent, the light more rare, and their interaction still more profound.
And what is the Dark Night of the Soul? Kierkegaard called it despair, that ubiquitous sickness of the spirit which each human being suffers, most of whom never even know they suffer it. The Dark Night of the Soul is the viewed as a complete mystery to itself. It is Infinity without focus, and perhaps even without awareness. And this is a key point, for this card can be viewed from two angles: the angle of a human being who is not spiritually aware and therefore does not know she is in despair, and the angle of a human being who is spiritually aware and knows she is in despair.
Let us consider the first case, the unaware Spirit. Each of us, each human being, awakes in this raw, violent, disturbing world knowing nothing of who or what we are. There is a mystery to this existence which permeates life even to its very beginnings, and that mystery may be summed up most readily with a single word, a question: “Why?” And although this despair begins as only a mystery, an untouchable darkness, as life in this difficult world progresses and we are indoctrinated into the culture which surrounds us, occasionally tiny pieces of our spirits become visible as the Potentiator of the Spirit, the Lightning, strikes, showing us one of the deep secrets of our hearts – only to have that tiny piece of our spirits caged, cornered, isolated and demonized. Prior to the veiling, the spirit was never demonized, but only mysterious. Now, after the veiling, it is both mysterious and feared, awesome and terrifying, for the secret truths contained within the spirit will, of necessity, challenge any attempt a culture may make at standardizing the human experience. Each human is an exception to some rule; therefore, each human, once indoctrinated with rules, will discover that within herself there are exceptions which threaten to overturn the entire monolithic structure. What will society think if I choose to be irreligious? If I choose to be a hermit? If I choose non-monogamy? If I choose lovers of the same sex? If I reject a normal career choice? What will society think?
The demon on this card is nothing less than the Spirit within you which is yet unknown to you. In your ignorance, you have dressed it up as the sum total of your imbalances, all of the things within you of which you are ashamed, afraid. Thus, in your ignorance, you distance yourself from yourself in an effort to maintain the illusion that you are actually capable of perfectly fitting the mold of your culture. But this is not so. For the shackled beings on this card represent your “ego-self” as it is often called, the part of you which, fully ignorant of the movements of the Spirit, continually accepts the comfort of the native culture, spiritual prison though it is. This part of yourself has no contact with Infinity, with the divine, and is therefore an animal influence within you. The imbalances of this ego-self are so great that when the self gazes upon its Spirit, it can see only the demon, whose Kundalini rises only to the navel and then spews out.
The other perspective, however, turns this imagery on its head. When a human being learns of her own despair, she is moved to pull to herself knowledge of herself. Instead of her consciousness remaining in perspective of the shackled beings who choose imprisonment, now her consciousness finally moves into the demon itself, it faces that great darkness, takes it upon itself, and calls forth the Lightning to burst the illusions which surround it. As such, the aware seeker who as yet is still fully within the mystery of the Dark Night of the Soul, the unknown, the terrifying depths of the self, is seen by those who are still ignorant of their despair as demonic. To turn toward that in the self which is fearsome is to take the shape of a demon to the outside world. It is for this very reason that Jehoshua warned his disciples that the world would persecute them for speaking in his name.
The Matrix of the Spirit is that part of your self which is not yet present to what is called the True Self. It is this sense in which this Matrix is unfed, just as the Matrix of the Mind lacks knowledge and the Matrix of the Body lacks wisdom. As the Body is a reflection in opposites of the Mind, so the Spirit is a reflection in opposites of the Mind/Body. Hence, that which is true of both mind and body is true in reverse in the spirit. The Matrix of the Mind is present to itself (for it cannot avoid self-awareness), but knows itself as empty. The Matrix of the Body perceives itself, but only as useless. Hence, in these Matrices, the self is observed, but in the context of an absence. In the Matrix of the Spirit, however, only the lack is observed and nothing else, for the Matrix is not present to itself. The Dark Night of the Soul is what the theologians called a “God-sized hole,” or, as our friend on Bring4th calls himself, a “God-wide void”. This Matrix is like a deep sleep and the closest one can come to awakening without potentiation is merely to discover that one is asleep.