Love and the Authority-Ego

Through the cycle of life and death we come to know the fullness of love. Up through the “twisted tree of knowledge of good and evil” our Authority-Ego within leads the way.

In rebirth, one partakes of love’s spirit…He is reclothed in the flesh of God, virgin flesh, that he may live again to learn the cost of evil doing and through learning, be redeemed. In death the Authority-Ego divests man of his garment: it is this psychic factor that sheds one’s blood for the remission of the many sins of his ego-group; it is this factor that determines life or death…Love itself, which is his Authority-Ego, resurrects and holds inviolate in the id those of the ego-group whose own expression of love has redeemed them; and love resurrects also those that must live again unto the resurrection of damnation until their forces of good and evil are recast into a nonmaterial responsive factor that will prevent abusive exercise of power, and into the pure or purified evil that matter in itself must be seen to be; and in each rebirth love brings to life something of its whole being that has yet to partake of the tree of knowing.

What might this “nonmaterial responsive factor that will prevent abuse of power” be? Preston Harold will ultimately turn once again to William Wordsworth for a poetic description:

Thus, into a new world of being, the Authority-Ego brings its love of life, the ego-group restated: “he was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.” In time, as consciousness comes to the ego-group, the voice of worldly experience is heard: conscience sounds its note from one’s subconscious depths. And then, the superego is formed of that element in the id that is responsive to truth and can carry a word of it into the world, as the Authority-Ego “elects” them, giving to these the “keys” to the kingdom within. Through the superego, love speaks, and makes its presence felt in:

…that blessed mood

In which the burden of the mystery,

In which the heavy and the weary weight

Of all this unintelligible world,

Is lightened: -that serene and blessed mood,

In which the affections gently lead us on,-

Until, the breath of this corporeal frame

And even the motion of our human blood

Almost suspended, we are laid asleep

In body, and become a living soul…

Here Wordsworth describes an “out of body” experience, a body-free state of rapture; a “nonmaterial responsive factor.” As we become a living soul, there is no need for abuse of power, no need to flaunt ourselves, just increasing knowledge and assurance of blessedness. But why does this knowledge have to be hard earned? Why can’t God simply and totally reveal Himself and our full human nature to us? Let’s ponder this in our next installment. Until then, peace.

Jesus the Biochemist, Pt. 1

Preston Harold sees Jesus’ life as a parable of two scientific concepts: biochemistry and light. We will look at how Jesus’ story reveals the scientific theories of light later in the The Shining Stranger but for now we will explore how His story uncovers biochemistry.

As symbol of primordial life, giving voice to that which all things were made, Jesus’ strange words appear to enfold what is today called biochemical information – and from this point of view, the whole story of the Son of man as Jesus depicted it may be seen as a parable revealing the life of the cell. To reveal life’s deepest secrets is incumbent upon truth bearer:

“That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.” –Matt 13:35

In other words, Jesus’ parables run DEEP, going much further than what we may have even imagined or been able to understand of them up to this point. Many excellent and enlightening volumes have been written on Jesus’ parables, but none have ever gone, or even considered going, down to the microscopic levels of biological life. But why not? As Harold says, truth resides at ALL levels of our lived experience. Why then leave out biochemistry or any of the sciences for that matter?

The psychic operation between Father, Son, and the world of man as Jesus described and depicted it parallels the biochemists’ description of DNA and messenger-RNA operating in a cell. The biochemical operation may reflect the psychic operation and vice versa… One may see the cell’s DNA as Father, and the cell’s messenger-RNA as Son of man, which has partaken of the “life” of the Father, DNA, and is sent into the world of the cytoplasm to reveal the Father’s, or DNA’s, message.

Very good. Now Harold will tell us how the world of the cytoplasm mirrors the subconscious, ego-group, and superego:

This world is a complex system containing thousands of small bodies of various sizes, shapes, and functions; these bodies are called Mitochondria and are the “powerhouses” of the cell; they may be compared to the ego-group, “Israel.” But these ‘bodies” are not the ones messenger-RNA must impress with the Father’s, DNA’s, doctrine if the cell is to have life or the know-how to produce the substance it must have. In the cell, there are smaller “particulates” containing RNA; these are called Microsomes and they are the protein factories; they may be likened to the subconscious. In addition, there are tiny particles densely distributed on the network of membranes associated with the microsomal fraction in the cell; they are known as Ribosomes and may be likened to the superego or the disciples because they contain just about all of the RNA, which may be likened to “truth.”But the ribosomal-RNA does not carry the genetic code; ribosomal-RNA is something like a “key-blank” which can be ground to fit any lock. Upon this “key-blank” the messenger-RNA, sometimes called template-RNA, impress DNA’s message, giving ribosomal-RNA the “keys,” the secrets, of the “kingdom within,” the nucleus, seat of DNA, Father.

We will continue with this line of thought in our next post, Until then, peace.

I’d like to know the Id

Now we begin to move from the ego to the id and superego.  Developmentally, the id precedes the ego.  Here is a description from Wikipedia:

The id is the unorganized part of the personality structure that contains a human’s basic, instinctual drives. Id is the only component of personality that is present from birth.^[3] The id is the part of the mind containing the drives present at birth; it is the source of our bodily needs, wants, desires, and impulses, particularly our sexual and aggressive drives. The id operates according to the pleasure principle, the psychic force that motivates the tendency to seek immediate gratification of any impulse.^[4] The id contains the libido, which is the primary source of instinctual force that is unresponsive to the demands of reality.^[5] The id acts according to the “pleasure principle“, seeking to avoid pain or unpleasure (not ‘displeasure’) aroused by increases in instinctual tension.^[6] If the mind was solely guided by the id, individuals would find it difficult to wait patiently at a restaurant, while feeling hungry, and would most likely grab food off of neighbouring tables^[7]

According to Freud the id is unconscious by definition:

“It is the dark, inaccessible part of our personality, what little we know of it we have learned from our study of the Dreamwork and of the construction of neurotic symptoms, and most of that is of a negative character and can be described only as a contrast to the ego. We approach the id with analogies: we call it a chaos, a cauldron full of seething excitations…. It is filled with energy reaching it from the instincts, but it has no organization, produces no collective will, but only a striving to bring about the satisfaction of the instinctual needs subject to the observance of the pleasure principle.”^[8]

 

Preston Harold says:

 

Psychologists agree that primary instincts start in the id, it is the older, and ego develops out of it through the influence of the outer world.  In the end, Freud came to say, “What had been id must become ‘I’…”  In the words “kingdom within,” Jesus enfolds man’s unrealized potentials; today this kingdom is called id and UNCONSCIOUS.  He presented “I” as the older or true Ego emerging from the fundamental mass of life tendencies – “Before Abraham was, I am…” and He said, “I am the way…”  Psychologists see the id, the UNCONSCIOUS, as a ‘special realm, with its own desires and modes of expression and peculiar mental mechanisms not elsewhere operative.”  Throughout His ministry, Jesus stresses this – the “kingdom within” is a special realm apart.

 

In other words, the id, the unconscious, is the “earth, formless and void” as testified to in Genesis 1.  It is our I AM, our God, that speaks within our ids and speaks light into our darkness.  It is our I AM that creates form out of our chaos.  This creation is happening continuously and Jesus describes His role in this process…

Psychologists agree that what the personality represses and rejects belongs to the id and obeys its mechanism, but the repressed and rejected is not born of the id, it is from the province of personality.  Jesus, as Authority in the id, opens the kingdom to all who are dispirited, hopeless, maimed, rejected, repressed, and oppressed, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden…”

Psychologists agree that repressions, latent in the id, reverse themselves, and, disguised, may return to consciousness with a compulsiveness that overpowers logical thinking.  Jesus says to the heavy laden, “I will give you rest…” and “…you will find your souls refreshed.”  Thus, He indicates that repressions are transformed and strengthened in the domain He reveals.

Psychologists agree that the unconscious process in the id can be raised to a conscious level just as conscious processes can travel back into the id.  There is constant interplay between the psychic divisions.  Jesus says, “…seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.”  He speaks of “you in me” and of “I in you.”

 

Now that we understand a bit more about the id, it’s time to move on to the superego.  But before we do, we’ll have to backtrack a bit and make sure we understand our ego.  We’ll do that in the next post.  Until then, peace…