Analogue 58

Analogue 58 

The Embrace of Reality

The embrace of opposites occurs in this world: masculine and feminine, strength and weakness. In the Great Age—the Aion—something similar to what we call embrace occurs as well, but though we use the same name for it, forms of union there transcend what can be described here. For in that place there exists that which is stronger than the greatest force and those who are superior to all force.

There is being and there is non-being, but Reality is One and Whole, but still it is not able to enter into anyone who only has a heart of flesh.

SYNOPSIS

• A metaphysical statement is made in this analogue about complementarity—the embrace and union of opposites to form a whole. 
• Non-duality is described as an “embrace” which energetically is a form of love.
• The Oneness of Being and the Wholeness of Reality are metaphysically equal. 
• The Transcendent Unity of All things that overcomes duality is manifest in transcendent forms of union beyond this world.
• The description of opposites is ascribed to this temporal realm.
• In the Aion, the realm of transcendence which exists beyond time as such, something similar to embrace occurs, but it also transcends any description because the energies are stronger and ineffable. 
• As above so below, and yet as we move up the chain of being — the energies increase, moving fractally perhaps into higher and higher dimensions of being. 
• Beginning with duality and moving into higher dimensionality and force, levels of being are described that are superior to all the energies that we know along the electro-magnetic spectrum. The highest can be understood as an omnipotent force containing all energies. 
• Being and Non-Being or perhaps (beyond) Being are asserted. 
• The great unity of all things is unable to find residence in a heart that is simply and only physical flesh.  

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COMMENTARY

Metaphysical Reality

This is a beautiful and elegant analogue where the metaphysics that informs this Gospel text is eloquently described. In it we symbolically step out of our temporal world into the world of transcendent possibility which is far greater than us and yet which contains us. This description outlines the structures of being and becoming of which we are a part, but which in our current state we know so little. These are described in a very distinct way characteristic of traditional metaphysics, common to the world of Perennial Wisdom, and shared by multiple sacred traditions. An embedded hierarchy of being is implied containing multiple dimensions, domains and realities along both the horizontal and the vertical axes. This hierarchy is also known as the Unity of Being expressing both the uniqueness of each individual manifestation within it, but also the non-dual nature of the Whole. 

The much smaller universe of duality that we presently inhabit reflects the larger embedded dimensions in analogical ways. This arrangement could be seen as fractal in nature—self-replicating patterns that exist and reflect each other throughout the entire unity of being. At one end of the vertical axis  is the Oneness that is the Unity of Being. At the other are binaries and complementary opposites that hold together in some kind of coordinating principle of balance. This balance of opposites is obviously a well known principle in the natural order that we observe all around us. Within Taoist tradition, it manifests as the wisdom of yin and yang in states of complementarity that are required to balance each other out in order to maintain existence. At the other end of the axis is an altogether different principle at work which is stronger than duality, holding all things in Oneness in a non-dual way. The Gospel of Philip accepts these many dimensions and realities, transmitting them as principles of wisdom often through erotic metaphors. We often experience these in radically different ways and points of view at the place we now find ourselves along both axes. 

The Great Aion

In this analogue there is a metaphysical description of at least two of the multiple levels of reality along the vertical axis. It appears that duality is embedded in higher orders and each of these are held in oneness and completion at the apex, which is called the Aion (the great Age). This all-encompassing aionian structure contains all lesser or more restricted realms (or aeons) all the way down to the place where we uniquely reside in duality. Oneness and Non-duality through a great strength and incomparable power hold in being all the realms of duality where we experience the dance and play of opposites. These opposites are described here as embracing each other in patterns of complementarity and love. 

At the root of existence, at one end of the vertical axis are binaries and complementary opposites that hold together in some kind of coordinating principle of balance.

Oneness expresses the existence of a reality where binding agencies with superior force are powerfully at work. In our world where opposites are in play, electro-magnetic forces combine opposing energies into single atoms. In the world of Transcendence there exists a vastness that is inclusive of all powers, energies, opposites and dualities. The complete realization of this reality of Oneness, however, is unable to penetrate into a heart composed only of flesh and unable to contain or understand it. This observation says much about the evolution and growth of a heart that is merely physical in form, beating in its normal way. When it metaphorically grows to one that has become spiritually open and capable, then it is able to know and align itself with the powerful energies of transcendence. Some larger capacity is necessary within a human being in order to participate in this oneness-beyond-duality. Each individual who comes to know this, is also becoming a “completed being.” Strong, erotic, and attractive forces (through the manifestation of a spiritual alchemy), coming together in a union of love within the Bridal Chamber to pro-create the new and transcendent form of a human being. 

 

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. The life we are leading now puts us into constant contact with many opposites and dualities. We are immersed in a world that is made up almost entirely of the play of opposites. Think about the normal relationship between day and night, the seasons, and the various elements and energies that make up the texture of your life. Your gender embodies one of the opposites, for example, but you know that gender alone does not define you. Describe the characteristics features and experiences of one end of that pole, and then perhaps the other. 
2. The Gospel of Philip describes a realm that transcends and includes these opposites which are held together by a stronger force of Unity or Oneness. It is difficult to describe that unity without resorting to opposites dancing together to form a whole. Can you think of another way to describe it? Have you ever experienced this dance of oneness, even for a moment? Describe what you have experienced. 
3. Draw an embedded hierarchy of the realms and dimension that you consider to be real. What does your hierarchy include?
4. What is non-being? Is it different from beyond-being? Ultimate Reality is described as One and Whole. How can it contain both non-being and beyond-being?
5. How can you imagine yourself living in transcendent Reality where becoming complete means that you must unite with your opposite?
6. How have you experienced different states of the heart beyond its mere physicality? Describe these. 

NOTES FOR FURTHER STUDY 

AND REFERENCE

1. It is possible to recognize that this Gospel is an alchemical text belonging to a genre of literature that also embraces the category of “imaginal consciousness.” This is to say that it locates itself in the imaginal realm, where unseen forces exist and persist in the world of objective reality, though from a scientific point of view, there is no empirical proof for them. This understanding is compatible with an ancient spiritual movement called Hermeticism, which was a metaphoric synthesis stemming from the collusion of two civilizations: Egyptian and Greek prior to the Common Era. The symbolic representations made in that world and in its literature, the Corpus Hermeticum, are very similar to the statements made here in this analogue concerning the balance of masculine and feminine powers. These were also important categories in Hermetic thought (as they are in the modern world of Jung’s depth psychology). It is important to understand that alchemical and hermetic thought, coming from the ancient past, is related to depth psychology in modern thought. 
2. The term the Great Age should be understood to be that temporal realm that contains all time and all times. More importantly it could also be said to be timelessness itself which contains time with all of its histories. Multiple ages of passing time are held in the unit called the Great Aion containing them all. It may be difficult to imagine this, but from that eternal and infinite perspective, in the Great Age, all time with its histories are concurrent and available. That simultaneity means that nothing is lost and every moment of time is present or available to every other moment. In our world this does not make sense, but these are conventional categories in traditional Metaphysics. 
3. Another important category which is a primary subject of traditional metaphysics is that of the Unity of Being itself. The great Islamic metaphysician, Ibn al-‘Arabi is identified as the source of this term (which in Arabic is wahdat al-wujud, and could also be translated as the unity of existence). Not only is all of manifest being coherent (existing as a unitary whole), but that totality also exists in that which is Beyond-Being which is said to be Ultimate Reality that contains both Being and non-being. It is this unbounded Infinite, Eternal and Absolute Reality which is described as super-essential (beyond essence) that is for us ineffable (transcending all description). 
4. An ancient idea which is given a place of honor in the early Christian tradition describes the God-head in trinitarian terms. In later centuries, this becomes formal orthodox doctrine codified in the Nicene Creed. Typically the definition of the Trinity has to do with three separate but equal persons in the configuration of a tri-unity. What is described is often static and done in mathematical terms. But there is another notion which was made central in early patristic teaching concerning the Trinity as the reality of dancing (perichoresis). The inner relationship of love that exists within the Godhead is not only a multiplicity of persons, but as the giving and receiving of love in relationships. It is into that eternal dance that we are each invited. The word in this analogue describing embrace fits well with the metaphor of the dance. There is a loving, moving, ecstatic quality to this relationship that transcends what can be described by us in this world, but it is mirrored nevertheless by these powerful metaphors of dance and embrace (see also the notes in Analogue 57 concerning this term). 

Notes on the Translation

• The phrase “embrace of opposites” is literally a coupling or a mating between opposites. Also “forms of union” expresses the same word for mating or coupling.
• The term “flesh” could signify both the physical heart or perhaps a heart that is spiritually carnal—one that is oriented only or primarily to the outer or material world through the ego. Either interpretation is possible.