the christ impulse
from sentience to consciousness
I have a different view on what comprises consciousness than most people I have met. The primary difference stems from the fact that I make a distinction between sentience and consciousness. Sentience is that sea of all-being from which we have emerged as evolving souls. This is a state of being where all things have their equal co-existence in the Creator. The sentient aspect of ourselves is still present with us in the subconscious and unconscious aspects of self which often make themselves known to us in the dream state, meditation and prayer. Consciousness is comprised of that aspect of self which has become self-aware. Consciousness develops proportionately with the self-reflective mechanism.
Rudolph Steiner speaks of the evolution of the sentient soul, the intellectual soul and the consciousness soul as part of on an overall human evolutionary progression. The development of the intellectual soul forms the bridge between the sentient soul and the consciousness soul evolutions. The development of intellect is necessary to being able to develop the self-reflective mechanism. In fact, in my view the primary purpose of the intellect is to gather knowledge about the reality of the self and then to assess the self relative to the external world and environment. This distinguishes man from animals because it involves the use of reason and logic.
According to Steiner's view, the evolution of the sentient soul was the first stage of human evolutionary development on earth. The development of the intellectual soul started to begin in earnest around the beginning of recorded history. Steiner states that humanity as a whole did not actually move fully beyond the sentient soul evolution until about the 15th Century CE. And after much contemplation on what took place in that period of our history I concur.
The primary qualities of the sentient soul are diffusiveness, nebulosity, unity with the Creation and recognition of ordered patterns through association. The intellectual soul exhibits the qualities of awareness of the self and one's environment, a desire for expansion of awareness and knowledge, linear logic, and reason. The primary qualities of the consciousness soul are a unique blend of both the sentient and intellectual souls. This combination will make itself known through a keenly self-aware individuality which experiences the unity of Creation. In addition, the consciousness soul evolution involves the completion of the inner Holy Trinity's, archetypal form within the spiritual soul. The sentient, intellectual and consciousness souls I have been speaking about are only vehicles of evolution for the overall spiritual soul which is eternal and made in the image of God.
My concept of the Holy Trinity represents a primary archetype for moving from the unmanifest Source to the manifest God or Creation, and for maintaining the Creation in balance. The Holy Trinity also represents the path by which we return to the unmanifest Source. The Holy Trinity originally came into being when unmanifest Source--all that IS--desired to experience Itself. Unmanifest Source projected a Divine image, a double so to speak. Through this activity the active-assertive-masculine and the responsive-reflective-feminine principles were manifest. These principles form the first two person's in this model of the Holy Trinity. They are the Father/Mother God. The Father/Mother God are now experiencing each other, and we have two polarities which have issued forth from the unmanifest Source. But what is to keep these two polarities in balance? The answer lies in the third person within my model of the Holy Trinity, the Son/Daughter, which is the Love Principle. Love is born, and now serves to maintain the balance between all polarities in the Creation. This model of the Holy Trinity is exemplified within our world in the basic family unit of father, mother and child. And it is true that the love of the child for the parents often acts to help them achieve greater balance with each other.
And what of the Holy Spirit in this representation of the Holy Trinity? The word in the Hebraic texts which was translated as "Holy Spirit" is "Shekhinah." In the Hebraic language this means the feminine Divine presence, or the presence of God in the receptive-responsive mode. The Holy Spirit is the image, or "Holy Ghost" which the active-assertive principle of the Father projected of itself, and represents the receptive-responsive aspect of Father God TO HIMSELF, and He resides within us. The very word "ghost" bears the meaning of a "subliminal or faint image." We must also bear in mind that all things are relative. Thus, our physical form as a direct manifestation of our soul can be seen to be feminine-receptive-responsive relative to the Holy Spirit or Mother God, with the latter being feminine relative to the Father which is active-assertive-active. From this relative perspective humans are the receptive-responsive principle, the human bride awaiting the divine groom. This concept of relativity is extremely important and helps considerably in moving beyond the entrapments of dualistic thought. In other words, relative to this discussion relativistic perception provides us with a means of allowing the idea of a feminine principle within the Holy Trinity, and yet still acknowledges that principle in an active-assertive or masculine expression relative to us as a humanity. All perceptions are relative thus acknowledging truth on both sides of any given set of polarities.
From this perspective my model of the Holy Trinity is really not all that untraditional after all, other than the fact that I place the Holy Spirit (Mother God) in the position of the second person, and the Son/Daughter as the third person. I suppose some theologians might take offense at this. I am, however, only relating these trinitarian concepts to help further one's understanding of my view on the evolutionary movement from sentience to consciousness, and the role of the Christ impulse within that movement. This view of the Trinity is not unique to me either. While I came upon it in my own contemplations, I have since discovered that it was a view also shared by some sects of early Gnostic Christianity.
This model of the unmanifest Source and the Holy Trinity can be loosely correlated to the sentient, intellectual and consciousness souls. The sentient soul evolution somewhat correlates to the unmanifest Source. Our sentient being developed a desire to experience itself, and developed both active-assertive-masculine and receptive-responsive-feminine principles which could then mirror to each other an experience of self. Both of these principles are thus represented in the intellectual soul which represents the completion of individuation within dualized experience. Through the development of this "soul," the spiritual soul gains the ability to reflect back on itself and to increase its self-awareness and self-knowledge. The spiritual soul comes to know the meaning of the words given to Moses on the Mount, "Tell them I AM that I AM sent you!" The meaning of this is that humanity was moving into a powerful thrust to develop the intellectual soul representing self-reflective and self-aware qualities. In viewing itself, the soul can come to know I AM in the likeness of God, I AM of His/Her substance, and yet, I AM individuated and unique unto myself.
This Divine paradox can only be understood in the depths of the soul which has developed this aspect of itself. And in gaining this understanding the soul is liberated. In its liberation, the soul quickly discovers that its only true desire is to return home like the prodigal son, in effect relinquishing its new-found freedom in favor of the greater kingdom from which it came. Herein lies the Great Mystery. We are destined to return to the greater kingdom in unity with the Father/Mother God, but we shall retain our self-awareness. We are aspects of the Father/Mother God which have entered the realm of earthen experience to further witness each other. The love principle in the form of the Son Jesus manifest on earth to restore balance. This same activity can also be witnessed in the personage of Jesus' mother Mary. In this latter representation the third person of the Trinity becomes the Daughter, but still represents the Love Principle which birthed the Son further demonstrating the relativistic nature of reality.
Humanity is still attempting to complete the development of the intellectual soul, and yet we have begun working on the development of the consciousness soul simultaneously. Our self-reflective and self-aware qualities must be brought into a finely honed focus. The Christ Child or love principle must be born within and further developed in order to balance all polarities. Our Holy Trinity must also be further developed into a complete form whereby we will truly realize that we are the image and similitude of the Creator, and yet simultaneously unique unto ourselves.
The chronological placement of Christ's Ministry on earth relative to the development of the sentient, intellectual and consciousness souls as an overall human evolutionary progression is an important perspective. In this viewpoint, the Christ impulse was brought into our world and fully embodied through Jesus while the development of the intellectual soul was fully underway. And yet, the sentient soul evolution had not yet completed. There is always an overlap in sequential evolutionary developments.
Remember that the Christ in my view of the Holy Trinity represents the third person and the balancing of all polarities. As the intellectual soul development began in earnest, the polarities on the earth were becoming increasingly imbalanced. These imbalances originated early in the sentient soul evolution, however, the development of intellect brought further imbalances at an exponentially increasing rate as humanity was enabled to use its own will in new and creative ways.
It is very important to understand this in order to understand the esoteric importance of Christ's role for the entire planetary evolutionary process. He indeed "Redeemed" humanity. I do not say this in a dogmatic or traditional sense. Redemption in my view is the balancing of all imbalanced polarities. It is these imbalances which are referred to as "sin." In fact, the Greek language which much of the New Testament was translated from, does not even have a word for "sin" as it is generally understood in Christianity. The word which has been translated as "sin" meant "to miss the mark." This was used in the context of not living up to one's goals and objectives, to fall short of expectations as in a sporting event. Missing the mark results in imbalances, also called karma in the Eastern traditions. We have yet to balance our polarities, but Christ gave us a head start on the matter. Without His ministry on earth we might well have brought ourselves to a state of such imbalance that there would be virtually no hope of ever achieving a God-like state of balance. I believe such a God-like state of balance to be our true heritage and destiny.
The time when Jesus was born was therefore an opportune time for the Christ impulse to be brought to the earth to help humanity in its efforts to evolve into a balanced God-like state of being. All of Christ's teachings represent this Love Principle which effects balance. Christ came to complete us WITHIN HIM. He was/is the third person of our own soul Trinity. The Christ impulse still reverberates throughout the world amongst all souls. One does not have to officially be "Christian" in a religious sense to be "of Christ." All souls who harken to the call of love, are responding to the universal Christ impulse and a return to balance wherein the soul's nature in God is revealed within.
As we return to balance through development of self-awareness in the Light of the Christ impulse, we are not returning to the same state of being we once experienced in the sentient soul evolution. Rather, we are moving towards something we have not yet experienced. Our "God-self" knows what that future experience shall be and continually leads us onward. This future state of being will carry forth the qualities of oneness and unity which our soul memory retains from previous experience in the sentient soul evolution.
As we strive to evolve as human souls, there is a reciprocal activity which takes place in interaction with the Christ impulse. The Christ Light on the one hand is present to help us balance all polarities within ourselves. As we attain greater balance, we are then enabled to embody that Christ Light to a higher degree. In the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist we give thanks for this great blessing. Our "sins" or imbalances are eradicated in the midst of the tremendous impulse of His love for us. He then takes a further degree of embodiment within US. We effectively become the living body of Christ. He seeks Incarnation through us as His form. This, I believe, is the true meaning of the "Second Coming."
Becoming aware of those aspects of the self which are still attempting to live in the sentient soul evolution is of utmost importance. By becoming aware of these aspects of self, we are empowered through the self-reflective and self-aware qualities of the intellectual soul to develop pure consciousness. In the fully conscious modality, we recognize that we are experiencing life in the way we do because of the choices we have made. All too often the sentient aspect of self which works through illogical association leads us down a path of pain and suffering. Pain and suffering are not inherent in the sentient being. Pain and suffering result when the sentient being is attempting to remain unconscious in a planetary evolutionary program which demands conscious self-awareness. When we open ourselves to the Light of the Christ and the redemptive, balancing power of its unlimited and unconditional love, the ability to bring these two aspects (polarities) of being into balance is gracefully assisted. In turn, we then further embody the Christ impulse on earth and are empowered to help others overcome the same imbalances.
view my spiritual
session offerings
Buy Simeon's new
e-book
entitled "The Universal
Laws of Energy and Consciousness"