Hello there! Hope you're enjoying the visit to my inner gallery. As we wander through the fiery room, have you been able to unpack the content and follow the analytic journey through the stages? No? Great! That’s the objective.
Now, has any of this emotionally impacted you in any way? Have you allowed yourself to let go and trip the trip with me? Has it stirred any feelings?
They don’t have to be good feelings. Maybe you’re amused by the fabulous images. Then again, maybe you’re unimpressed by this stuff. Maybe you’re even annoyed by all the complication, or the story-after-story sequence (remember, this is only the fifth of twelve stories in the first of four constellations).
Whatever it is you're feeling, that’s your personal mythology, That’s the personal reaction that comes from your story, your viewpoint. That’s what you really want to focus on. A great exercise would be to sit silently for a while after reading one of these pieces, just sitting, present with whatever has come up.
This piece reflects the fifth stage of our process. It marks the exteriorization of summer: a time of expansion, a time of EXPRESSION. But it’s also when the night-force is born.
In the human cycle, the fifth stage represents the moment when personality is fully formed. The fifth symbol on the zodiacal wheel is Leo, and its symbolism ties directly to the themes above. Both the bright and the shadowy sides.
This text, like all the others, is infused with the specific symbolism of the stage it explores. I’ll flag the symbolism as it appears (just for this piece). This is even more fun if you’re into astrology—the psychological kind, of course…
Oh, the images you see alongside the texts were AI-generated from my prompts. These prompts, along with a few other instructions, are the captions you see below the images. You know, ever since this work started taking shape, I’ve felt the need to add visuals as an extra layer. Who knows, maybe someday they’ll attract an artist who wants to collaborate with their own visual interpretation…
Long Live the Bald King
Last Sunday (Sun-day has been the day of the Sun at least since Roman times; in astrology, the Sun rules Leo) I was doing my buddy a favor, serving as an online exam chaperone just past noon. Sitting on my office chair, facing my fancy Apple display, I was engaged in my usual mind chatter when an unpredicted out-of-sync heartbeat (heart = Leo) instantly thrust my lazy consciousness (= slumberous essentia) out of that artificial environment and into a vast savanna (picture that vast, golden savanna; gold = Leo).
I was stunned. In a flash, I went from being in my grey room to appreciating the aliveness of the earth. Then the same idea is repeated two more times in different ways. Out of sight.
Standing there (biome = ecosystem) like Don Quixote (stunned, frozen), I looked up at the sky. Not a cloud. Not a sound. All around, nothing but beatitude. Nothing but blessedness spreading its wings, submerging the scenery in a sea of AUMs (a few comments here. First, I obviously had another satori. Second, the description highlights the fact that the scenery is just the outer layer. The underlying essence was exposed. Finally, the A-U-M—not OM—is an abstract reference to the understanding of the stages of consciousness in the Himalayan tradition. If you wish to know more about this, I suggest you read Swami Rama’s material).
So powerful was that satori that I (= the mind) curled up, fearing for my existence (this was actually an insight that I—the mind—did not exist anyway), believing that this was probably too much light, goodness (summum bonum) for my sorry self (that mind-self) to witness and survive.
At that very moment, a fiery mood came out of nowhere to cheer me up and fill my depressed soul (pneuma) with new life.
Then, for an infinitesimal moment (= dt. Remember those physics classes?), the “me” was no longer there (another satori). No fabricated stories. Just the obvious, common, overlooked knowing coming forth to do away with the structure of mind. No time. No expectations. No “I’ll be enlightened.” Not at all what “I” had expected. (this is God, the supreme intelligence, existence, the Great Spirit, whatever you want to call it working in mysterious ways).
Unfortunately, though, the satori was short-lived, and the mind was back, owning the experience as “mine” (i-have-seen-the-light shell) and was about to start creating stories around the experience when one of its major patterns (meal tickets = patterns that suck up attention, that keep the mind alive), the victim pattern, started coming out. Fortunately, there was enough awareness to recognize the pattern for what it was.
Then, at that moment, before the pattern (here there is a definition of a mental pattern: self-flagellating = feeling pleasure from pain; to-and-fro rigmarole = circular story) could set in, a fresh satori dispelled the pattern (= masturbatory mess, soon to be wacko brainiac nightmare), dissolved the “me” and its blah blah blah (= rhetorical correlations) into a broader perspective (here we also find a definition of satori).
So, this expanded individuality, which was born from a dissolved mental pattern (= stillborn pretense), permeated the prairie in the here-now (the concept of time was still there, though). I (I still called it an I = the “me” was gone, but the individual perspective remained) was part of everything. I sensed the essence of True Nature (notice the capitalized words to emphasize True Nature) as it projected onto that setting (= form from the formless). This individuality was permeated with bliss while the afternoon sun invigorated its body.
It was then that I realized I was free (= the mind realized that everything was just a play and it could do anything it wanted; there were no limitations, no hindering patterns) and unconditionally accepting (= my very own let-it-happen spree).
I then cartwheeled in the air—I knew the drill (we have seen this in at least a couple of other visualizations) and then just let go into my natural ways, engaging in action with no real purpose, no agenda (= this is an allusion to the Daoist concept of wu wei, which means effortless action, action in harmony with the natural flow of life).
By 7 o’clock (5 + 5 – 3 = a numerological thing related to Leo) the expanded “I” had had enough. It inhaled, exhaled, and with the next inhale, the “me” was back.
Renewed, I—the “me”—lay down as the early traces of twilight started taking over the previously dominating daylight. In bliss, I closed my eyes and dozed off for a while.
When I woke up (= ascended to the surface of dream-state awareness), the sun was nearly setting. Darker colors were taking over the sky, preparing for the night (= majestic eventide). I could hear the usual sounds before nightfall: swallows, crickets, frogs. It was time to go.
Revived, I shook off my body (valle lacrimarium attire), set my attention toward the surface of awareness (= daily responsiveness), and as my consciousness re-entered the virtual classroom everybody was gaping in complete disbelief. The idea here is that although the trip was an inner thing, everyone was somehow a part of it, everyone saw it. Have you seen the movie Sucker Punch? Remember how Baby Doll danced, had her inner trips, and when her dance was over everyone in her external surroundings was amazed? Well….
On with the exhibition! See you next time.