“For God only forsakes the one who has the strength to find the Self.”
When man ventures into the unknown, the imagination acts as an intermediary guidance system. Part of the uncanniness of encountering truth is that truth has always been partially known to the imagination.
The psyche is at least composed of the persona, the ego, the shadow, the syzygy (anima/animus), and the self. The ego is composed of both the body and mind, the somatic and psychic. Consciousness becomes active when the organism acts within an environment and upon objects. The symbiosis of body and mind must be one goal of man. In the essay Godbody I state,
“It is to our great benefit that we cherish the development of consciousness while valuing the illimitable capacity of the unconsciousness to not only draw conclusions from learned information, but to predict and guide us to what is most meaningful.” David Delt. “Godbody.”
One goal of man should be to excavate the unconscious elements of the shadow, syzygy, and self in order to integrate them into the ego. This is the only way to balance the psyche. This process of integration transforms the ego into the self. When the ego discovers what lurks below consciousness it must move forth and decide to apprehend these autonomous daemons. Man can never be master of that which he denies to exist. We must stare into the abyss and move forward so that we can grapple with and manage all that lurks below. To refuse to apprehend what lies below the waters of consciousness is to be a slave to all daemons. The ego is the agent of excavation and integration of all shadows into the self. The self is both consciousness and unconsciousness. The ego is the place where all that can become conscious becomes so.
“The union of light and dark is an eternal paradox.”
Archetypes
“What lies beyond the waters of consciousness is the shadow. To be fishers of men one must first learn to dive for the pearls of the self.” The internal archetypes start with the shadow. The shadow often begins where actions and intentions do not align. Within the shadow lies all dark negations. Embarking on a search for self is where the confrontation with the shadow occurs. This confrontation can more times than not end in the possession of the ego by the shadow, creating a monster. When the shadow defeats the ego, it creates an antisocial individual. On the contrary, the repression of the shadow internally often leads to the projection of the shadow externally onto people, places, and things within one’s environment. Opposites always exist, thus there must be darkness in order for light to exist. To run away from the shadow is to become a slave to it. Only heroes acknowledge this truth and in response confront the darkness within.
“The God-image can never be destroyed.”
Furthermore, a biological archetype of humans is that each person has a set of parents. The relationship with these parents molds every aspect of being for a person. These are external archetypes. Imago is the unconscious idealized mental image of someone, especially a parent, which influences a person's behavior. When what we could be becomes actualized the self is manifested. This is the emergence of the Imago Dei, or God-image. Torture is always present when we offend the latent potentiality which dwells within the self by not actualizing all that could be. Alas, a negative move must be discerned and resisted. In the same way the self should not consume the ego, the consumption of the self by the ego must be avoided at all costs. We can never be the perfect self. The imago of the self is always elusively on high. The self must be treated as an independent archetype that exists with or without man. The ego is inflated when we confuse the self with rationality. What could be always exists. The God-image can never be destroyed.
Descensus Christi ad Inferos — The Descent of Christ into Hell
The Descensus Christi ad Inferos is at least an allegory that implies that hell contains both righteous and unrighteous residents. Hell and all of its territories are in part a metaphorical illustration of the psyche as a labyrinth. Thus to understand the self we must learn the difference between Sheol and hell. Man, like Christ, must descend below and announce himself as an agent of good. All shadows must abide in the light of the one who descends in order to bring up all that is below. This descent of the redeeming agent, which is the ideal self, is the only way the dead can live again. This going below is also the only way all residents of Sheol can be redeemed, allowing them to enter into heaven. In our own descensus ad inferos we discover the connection between body, mind, environment, and other beings. The union of light and dark is an eternal paradox.
“Heavens are meta-stable states, organizations, nations, etc. Hells are meta-chaotic states. One must traverse through complex, complicated, orderly, and disorderly environments while determining and developing the most authentic version of the self.” - David Delt. “As It Is In Heaven.”
“Perverse ideals clothed as progressive social values are erected over our heads as sirens of goodliness and righteousness by our cultural overlords. The new priests must nail dogma to wood and march to a new land — towards Golgotha. The place of Adam’s skull is a most illustrious backdrop for our renewed faith; a place of affliction that destroys and affirms divine humanity. We meander to this place of our supposed salvation to find the unexpected — the fossilized remnants of former modes of being.” David Delt. “New Priests.”
“We can never be the perfect self.”
Christ is crucified between both the repentant and unrepentant. If Christ is one polarity of the Godhead, and the Age of Pisces is defined by mans striving to emulate Christ, then what of Christ’s opposite? Opposites always exist. Is the following Age of Aquarius a movement towards a paradigm of the antichrist?
“The last remnants of Christian value judgments embedded in society and culture will smolder away and make way for a new order. In ascension to what would seem to be higher versions of ourselves, as defined by Christian ideals, we have deluded ourselves into adhering to the fallacy that all primordial shapes of consciousness have been destroyed — the primitive savage has been crucified. We mistakenly believe resurrection is only for Christ and His saints. Alas, our will to live, fashioned by evolution, can not be smothered by the dirt heap of civilization which seeks to abbreviate our most noble configurations. The old man who was buried alive arises as an atavist — a putrid and hot Lazarus awakens. What use do we have of this re-animated savage?” - David Delt. New Priests.
Christ. The symbol of the Self.
The notion is as follows: Christ is at least a symbol of the ideal self. Therfore, we search for Christ only to find Adam.
“We aim to build our higher selves, and “god”, only to find that an atavist beats from beneath our skin. What was buried and forgotten speaks out to us. What is most noble lies in the past, waiting to be refashioned and re-activated. For God only forsakes the one who has the strength to find the Self.” - David Delt. “New Priests.”