EmeraldHope said:
So, one could not say that all symbols of the black sun represent total STS non being. One would have to clarify and differentiate. OSIT
Yes, this is so according to the gnostic references and that is what influenced Jung as far as I can see.
To illustrate their ideas, the gnostics used a circle with a radius extending from a point at the center to the circumference.
The circumference represented the physical body which the ancients called physis (from which we get our word "physical"). This was meant to represent not just the body, but the brain and the personality. The radius represented our psyche or individuated soul. This is our "inner self" as opposed to our "outer self/false personality" of the circumference.
At the center is our pneuma or nous, or spirit. This was meant to describe what we might refer to now as the "spark from God" or an element of pure consciousness.
They compared our expression of these three parts of our being by comparing them to waking, dreaming, and deep, dreamless sleep.
Consciousness extends its awareness from the center to the circumference when you are in the normal, physically awakened state. In the dream state, we abandon the body and retreat into the psyche/soul. In deep, dreamless state, we withdraw into our "essense" or nous/pneuma, pure consciousness.
According to the gnostics and some Jungians, we remember this state of dreamless sleep afterward as a "blissful void" in which we exist as "emptiness of consciousness".
That is, of course, a contradiction because if there is nothing, there is nothing to remember. And frankly, the individual who thinks of absolute nothing as "blissful" may be an individual who seeks that state and that is the core definition of STS: light eating.
Anyway, to continue, these gnostic teachings say that the point at the center of the circle is the one universal consciousness and you can not only describe a single human in terms of this circle, but also all of creation. If unmanifested god is at the center, all radiating lines are "souls" that have individuated and where they meet the circumference, they are incarnated in a body of some sort or at least have expressed as matter of some sort. You can see that many layers and types of circles with radiating lines can be used to represent a lot of things here.
Anyhow, the radii representing individual souls, all terminate at the circumference in individual bodies, but the center is the shared essence of all. This shared essence is the "one consciousness of God." Each line which extends from the center of the circle has its source in the one consciousness of God and its fruition in a distinct form which is an image or "face" of god.
Now, if you imagine the circle without any radiating lines, you are imagining God without anything to be conscious of. That is unconsciousness. This is what Gregory of Nyssa and Dionysius called the "dazzling darkness." According to this teaching, light is darkness when it has no objects upon which to reflect and consciousness is unconscious when it is witnessing no experiences. The unmanifested consciousness of God is this dazzling darkness which appears as the light of consciousness only when it has something to illuminate. As the dazzling darkness - the center itself - we manifest out of this universal being called God.
This center, this dazzling darkness, is represented as a "mystery of god" because a point, by definition, has no dimensions or characteristics. It can only be called the center in relationship to the circle that issues from it. It has no characteristics and we can only call it consciousness in relation to the radiating lines of psyche/soul.
Now, I think that returning to this state of unmanifestation is called in some Eastern systems "nirvana." And, as we have explored before, the wish to return to it is the essence of STS, the desire to subsume everything back to the sleep of non-being and non-existence because action and creativity is frightening to the psyches of some individuals. As Ra said, some love the darkness, some love the light.
But these further ideas - the levels of being, the core differences between STS and STO - are not generally part of the gnostic or Jungian systems. At the same time, those people who are concerned with STO are not generally comfortable thinking about the necessity for both to exist in order for anything to exist at all.
The problem with the gnostic myths is that they were a synthesis of much older Pagan myths and Jewish ideas. The Jewish spin somehow managed to give a little twist to things and it ended up being the Jesus myth.
However, the most ancient and influential of the Mysteries was the myth of Demeter and Persephone/Kore which removes the dying and resurrecting god twist.
Persephone, known as Kore (which means daughter or girl and in the Gospel of Thomas, the psyche is called "Kore") represents the individuated soul while Demeter, the mother, represents the pure consciousness/mother of all. Notice here that the nature of a mother is that of one who constantly gives birth which is an altogether different thing that the "father god" at the center which magnetizes or draws all light/consciousness back to himself. Keep in mind that Persephone/Kore is a product of the interaction between Zeus and Demeter so right away, you have two elements at the center instead of just one.
So, Persephone is abducted by Hades - incarnated into the physical world - and all kinds of misery ensues. This represents identification with the false personality/materiality. Hermes is sent to rescue her. But, before she is rescued, she eats some pomegranate seeds which ensure that she will return to the underworld for a third of each year.
Hermes doing the rescuing is almost an incidental figure. The higher part of the soul - Demeter - is reunited with the manifesting part - Persephone/Kore - with the understanding that this is an endless cycle of creation and destruction.
In Jewish hands, the goddess becomes a -jezebel- who has to be rescued by her brother/lover, Christ. Of course, if you look at the whole story, you can see that the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene play the parts of Demeter and Kore, though all the focus is on the dying/resurrecting godman. But still, the emphasis has changed subtly to a male aspect that excludes the essential giving/birthing nature of the goddess.
Well, I've rambled enough here. I just want to give a gentle warning about some of the subtle twists to these ideas that may occlude the nature of the choice that is mandatory at this level in order to move to the next level.