Where Thoughts Come From?

Adam McLean's Alchemy Website.

Left: The Ouroboros, i.e. spirit-fire of the kundalini serpent, has now become 
the Halo of the Soul-Boundary, the "helmet of salvation" (Eph 6:17), above the 
head of discursive thinking and ego words. It is the "Word" or Light of unified
consciousness, risen up the spine (Caduceus) from the "seed of the Word", i.e.
the id or coiled energy of the sleeping serpent. Right: The alchemist emerges
from the swamp (reservoir of id energy or libido), having completed the 
alchemical process of refinement, through nigredo, albedo, and rubedo. Inside
his head or mind is the crystalline Orb or Boundary of the Soul, forged in the
fiery process of sublimating the id energy, through ego-defining ideas, into an
identity which is conSolidated into an eternal Individuality.  

The schizophrenic split fish of the id, desiring and chasing

its own tail in unconscious waters, dreaming of a golden Ichthus.

Science and religion argue as to whether or not there is a God. This is a red herring because religion cannot prove it, and science cannot disprove it. Either way people get on with there lives. The real question to be answered is whether there is eternal life after death? This does have some scientific answers that we can extrapolate from using 4 established facts, 2 from physics and 2 from Freudian psychology. As will be seen, they all revolve around "energy," which is the prima materia or basic substance of alchemy:

1. The "law of conservation of energy" says that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only change its form.
2. E=MC2, means that energy and matter are the same.
3. The id (Latin it) is the unconscious foundation of awareness and the reservoir of all the instinctual energy flowing into ego consciousness, the "I".
4. According to conventional psychology, units of "object relations" in the young child fuse together to build an overall image or boundary of the self. Margaret Mahler, says: "As far as the self is concerned, there is a far-reaching structuralization of the ego in the course of which a stable sense of entity is attained." From, Psychic Birth of the Human Infant.

So to summarize these 4 scientific facts: eternal energy or life-force of the id, builds-up the conscious centre or boundary of an emerging ego, which in the course of childhood, slowly rises above the reservoir of  unconscious and instinctual energy. This conscious ideational structure of an intrapsychic body or core of energy, continues to grow and learn, reflecting on who she or he is, and their place in society.

The question now is whether or not this energy-body or core of self-consciousness can continue after death, or breaks back down into the diffuse and unconscious reservoir of primordial energy? This is where speculation and theory begins; but at least it is based on a factual premise, not on scientific distraction or religious dogma and superstition. The id can be tested to see if it has in fact been sealed, fixed, or integrated into a conscious Boundary that no-longer leaks its energy back into the undifferentiated matrix of the instincts.

The id is the subconscious reservoir of instinctual and eternal energy that underpins and feeds into the life of animals, humans, and ideas. In animals the id "acts out" its needs, fears, and desires directly in the field of nature. In humans the id has been partially sublimated or transformed into a conscious ego (Latin, "I"). This ego identity is formed by molding the energy of the id into self-defining ideas, which create the personality of a particular individual.

This person or ego identifies with the cultural opinions, memories, beliefs, conditioning, religion, laws, etc, of his or her society, formed over time by collectively molding the id-energy into these social mores. It is important to remember that ideas are very powerful and long-lasting, being composed of eternal id energy. At the individual level a single memory can last a lifetime, or be passed down through history for thousands of years. An idea can trigger off a war, or invent a rocket to the moon. The same creative force and long-lasting energy is used spiritually to mold a Soul-boundary or Light-body.

The next phase of the individuation process is to detach, or dis-identify the ego Boundary of consciousness from ego content, i.e. thoughts; keeping in mind that the suffix -ness implies a "state, condition, or quality." Humans become attached to their emotionally-charged and self-defining ideas, beliefs, notions etc; and letting them go is a difficult and painful process. Detachment from mental matter can feel like a death, especially in the case of an addiction to something or co-dependency on someone. It also brings the risk of whether or not this de-menting of ego content strengthens the Soul-boundary, or reverts the ego back into the id of instinctual subconsciousness?

But there are many examples to indicate that an individual can grow into a strong, free, and happy transcendent being, detached from family dysfunction, libidinal reactivity, instinctual behaviour, and egoic belief systems. The molding of eternal id energy into ideas that define an identity is a form of mind-magic that shapes our lives into a transcendent individual. This Soul-ness of an eternal Being, forged out of the energy of the id, uses the innate power of the mind to mold the plasticity of consciousness into ego content (i.e. ideas) and Boundary.

The content is de-mented or denuded by way of solitude, catharsis, meditation, old age, counselling, artistic expression, psychosis, sublimation, psychological catabolism, etc, which releases old emotionally-charged thought-patterns; and slowly increases the Light of the Word, which replaces the ego words of discursive thinking, and prevents us from going back into these old behaviour habits. Thus we slowly integrate the individuation process, becoming an individual Self. This process of immanence toward transcendence happens naturally as the conscious "I" emerges from the ocean/reservoir of the subconscious id, by way of libidinal inspiration, the fire of Kundalini rising.      

The rational element (air) only makes up 25% of intelligence, according to Jung; along with emotional (water), intuitional (fire), and visceral (earth) functions. Having rationalized a sound premise for the following poem, I can now unleash my visceral instinctuality in an effort to turn watery emotion into the intuitional Wine of the Gods.

    

The basic structure of the psyche according to Freud. 

The magical Ouroboros Halo, encircling the golden Disc of the Egyptian Sun, Ra, takes into its mouth its tail of the id, and transforms "it" into the I of ego consciousness, in the flaming head of the Serpent. But the process is not quite complete, because in the fire-forge of the solarizing head, a crystalline Orb or Gem of pure clarity emerges from the unstable ego, into a fixed or sealed Self-reflective Pearl, the quantum Solid of the Lapis Exillis, honed from the prima materia of the animal-spirit or id.

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Ideal of the Eternal Soul.

~

(id, Latin, it; "primitive instincts and energies in the

 unconscious mind that underlie all impulses.")

~

Id energy of instinctual libido,

energizes behaviour from tip to toe;

enlivens desires, actions, and ideas,

inflates thought bubbles between the ears.

~

Id into ideas defining who I am,

energy entity of a hard-working man;

but I also have a feminine side,

now I'm confused as two worlds collide.

~

Identity changes along with the times,

energy is eternal, but alters its form;

plasticity of consciousness dawns,

from the days of fixed opinions olden.

~

Ideas can flow, beliefs can change,

from underneath  the Dragon burns;

it is the reservoir of life's battery,

the chthonic ground of instinctuality.

~

Ideation is thus born of the waters,

the first baptism that John performed;

and now that life is well integrated,

death is needed for a Soul completed.

~

Id energy transformed must be withdrawn,

deflated from thought bubbles ideational;

denuded, de-mented, cleansed with fire,

the second baptism of Christ's desire.

~

Id must undergo the exSpiration breath,

"I have come to bring fire on the earth";

holy Spirit aflame is the prelude to Light,

the "New Skin" of a Boundary sealed tight.

~

Id into the Ideal of an eternal Soul,

thoughtless Bubble in the mind to behold;

filled with mortido, the divine dark wind,

the death blow of transcendent freedom.

*

"Be seekers of death. Death will teach you about being chosen."

(Jesus, the Secret Book of James, Nag Hammadi library.)