Articles

FROM CELL TO SELF
The Consciousness of the Senses

In order to see, one needs eyes. In order to hear one needs ears. To smell one needs a nose, to feel one needs the skin, to taste one needs a tongue. In order to think, one needs a brain and a body. These are truisms, and one does not need to go very far to ascertain their truth. However, in this article I would like to look at, and take the whole process as performed by the senses much further than the surface level at which we are accustomed to view them. In harmony with the laws of vibration, rhythm and polarity, we can look at the subtle behaviour of the senses, and draw conclusions and hypothesis from these processes. The eyes emit photons. There is no reason why the ears should not emit a specific type of energy as do the bats, and the nose could do so as well. We could say that we can see, smell, hear, taste and feel because of the vibrations that are coming out of the different seats of these activities and finding a response in the external world. The photons that my eyes put out are informed of the shapes and the colours of things, and the information is sent back to the eyes and transmitted to the brain to be processed by it. It is the same for all the senses, including the ability to think. The mind does not have any particular seat from which to operate apart from the brain which acts as a computer. It uses the energy of the whole body which puts out the necessary vibrations in order to assess all incoming information. This information will ensure its survival, i.e. the survival of the mind, the body and the human race. Clairvoyant and clairaudiant people develop this information or the processing of this information further, according to the patterns that are picked up by their inner senses, so that, for instance, the inner ear can pick up the gradations of vibrations at large and identify the different sounds in the universe, such as the music of the spheres. These sounds can be classified by esoteric thinking as the sound of the buzzing of bees, or the sound of the wind in the leaves and so on, at an inner level. Those who think along esoteric lines have reported many different variations of these sounds. However, what interests us here is the function of the mind, where it gets its energy from, and what is the seat of its operation.

First of all I would like to include in the description of these workings, all those aspects which pertain to the mind: the intellect, intellectual capabilities, the ability to think and the actual thinking, also the content of the thought, the ability to be conscious, consciousness itself and its content; included also in the formation of ideas, the ideas themselves, and where they come from. Without being too technical, there are three aspects of the human being which are involved with the mind. These three are the body, and more specifically the brain and the sinuses. The body provides the energy necessary for the different functions of the mind; the brain computes these inputs and outputs and, at a more subtle level, the sinuses act as chambers of resonance. Robert St. John puts it thus in his book “Metamorphosis, Textbook on Prenatal Therapy”: “…The sinuses are vessels functioning at a thought level of consciousness. Whereas the pineal and the pituitary are organisms which are part of the polarity principle in us, the flow of ‘Life’ through our structure, the sinuses are ‘sounding boxes’ for the generation of thought.

The sphenoidal sinus is the light of life, the primary inspiration of our thoughts. It is placed just below the pituitary gland and takes from it the nature of its consciousness. It is immensely active, like the sun, and gives energy to thought.

Above the eyebrows we see … the frontal sinus. This sinus acts as a search-light for thought. When a thought is directed towards another person it is from this sinus that it radiates. This is the level of thought communication and is different from the mundane level of thought data. The sinuses which manifests the data level of thought are the supermaxillary sinuses or the antrums.

Between the eyes and in the front of the sphenoidal sinus are two narrow sinuses called the Ethmoidal sinuses. These have an intermediary commission of bringing the sense of sight into the realm of thought.

Associated with the bony structure round the inner ear are the mastoid air cells. These are the outer manifestation, or the peripheral principle, which I have discussed elsewhere, of the thought functions. These sinuses are creative and active.

All of these sinuses are air cavities. They are holes in the bony structures of the skull, lined with mucous membrane and having free access through passages into the nose, to the air. It is the principle of space of air that is the realm of thought …”

When we are born we are conscious. Where does this consciousness come from, and how does it work?  The physicists tell us that as soon as there is matter there is energy and consciousness. So we can assume that as soon as the spermatozoid and the ovum meet to create a first cell, that cell is immediately imbued with an elementary consciousness which develops in the womb. It was Robert St. John’s insight in looking at the evolution of consciousness in the womb that was the first step in the work which we call Metamorphosis. During our gestation there are two main periods: the first four-and-a-half months which we call the post-conception period, and the second four-and-a-half months which we call the pre-birth period. During the first period are established the seeds of our formation as a human being and a unique individual. These patterns will be expressed in daily life as, for example, the ability to mature and the ability to be oneself. Between the first and second periods of our gestation, at around four-and-a-half months, we have a short interval which we call the “quickening” when the mother feels the first flutterings in her womb. This is an indication of  the awakening to the world as such that is now taking place. In terms of consciousness, it is as though the foetus turns round and realises that there is something out there, i.e. the walls of the uterus; hence the realisation that there is something other than self, therefore there is self. During the last period of our gestation are planted the seeds of our social being and of preparation for action, our first action being that of birth. During the post-conception period is established the ability to be aware as are also the “blocks” in the mental sphere. During the pre-birth period is established the ability to respond, and so also are the “blocks” in the physical. In the first period is awakened the masculine aspect of each of us whereas the feminine aspect comes into being during the second period. As tendencies, the autistic pattern will evolve during the post-conception period, the Down's syndrome pattern appearing during the pre-birth period. The energy that will provide artistic inclination and the ability to ask: “What is it?” will appear during the post-conception period together with the search for and the yearning for essence. The scientific ability that asks the question: “How does it work?” will appear during the second period, as the search for and the yearning for meaning. It is said that the world is divided into two kinds of people, the poets and the practical people, and that while the practical people run the world, the poets have their vision about it. How are we to bridge the gap between science and art? Can we reach the realisation that there is no difference between these two aspects of life?

We can say that thoughts may be valid up to a point for the small dimension of consciousness; at the idea level, ultimately they are not valid. In other words, no amount of thinking has produced enlightenment, and for that matter, Christianity has not produced a Christ nor Buddhism a Buddha.

Another dichotomy can best be expressed in the words of Robert St. John. He writes: “In more recent years I have realised that a ‘pulling away’ attitude of mind and a ‘rushing into’ attitude (towards incarnation to matter) is the source of all fundamental stress patterns and can be interpreted as unidentification and identification respectively. The unidentification pattern at its very worst is the autistic pattern, and, when occurring at conception, is the cause of autism; and the over-identification pattern at its worst and when occurring at conception, is the cause of Down's syndrome.” These two patterns are intrinsic to all of us, and throughout life we oscillate from one to the other, at times being withdrawn and at other times being outgoing. In the autistic the cause of withdrawal from the world is a keen awareness of its workings, and an unwillingness to get involved with them. The “rushing into” attitude of the Down's syndrome is the expression of a willingness to respond to the world, but possibly without an awareness of the patterns that s/he will respond to. As a means of coping with the withdrawal syndrome, the autistic person will develop identification. The person with Down's syndrome, in becoming aware of the patterns s/he responds to, will develop detachment. We have, then, a dichotomy of identification and detachment, but if we look at the underlying factor which allows them to be, we discover that this is nothing other than the principle of polarity, which states that all is duality, everything has poles, everything has its pairs of opposites, like and unlike are the same. Opposites are only two extremes of the same thing, with many varying degrees in between.

How then do we proceed when we practise the Metamorphic Technique? There are two approaches, one which favours total identification with the client, including his/her ailments and characteristics, and the other which favours total detachment. Both approaches are valid according to the orientation of the practitioner; in other words, whether the practitioner is operating from the standpoint of an autistic or of a Down's syndrome pattern. But whichever standpoint one is adopting, the attitude of mind of the practitioner will include an opposite action. This is exemplified in the definition of detachment: ‘A keen alertness on the part of the practitioner to what he/she picks up, e.g. the characteristics, ailments, difficulties, and patterns that the client is expressing; and second, a constantly renewed willingness to let these characteristics be, as the practitioner recognises that they can be best worked out through the life force of the client guided by that person's innate intelligence. In other words, the mind of the practitioner is not involved in sorting out the problems of that person. As the practitioner's mind is at peace so far as the ailments and characteristics of the client are concerned, this peace seems to be transmitted through a state of resonance to the mind of the client. The energy of both practitioner and client is not diverted from doing its rightful work by the minds of both people. The energy then can move where it will, i.e. if it is a pain or an ailment it can transform itself, in the same way as the energy that is in a seed can transform that seed into a plant.

The mind is involved in maintaining the status quo, in ensuring its own survival, and for that it uses the energy of the body to keep going the structure that it has erected itself. Though one may say that one wants to change, it is still the mind that says that and the mind will keep control of the changes. The mind, in fact, is actively involved in preventing integration and in upholding the status quo. So how can there be a union of the artist and the scientist within each one of us, an integration of the autistic and Down's syndrome patterns, a total awakening of the functioning of the pineal and pituitary glands so that they may form one whole?

Furthermore, can one be enlightened? This last question is justified by way of the fact that, as we belong to the solar system, our “inheritance” is one of light. The mind, because of its limitations, cannot work this out, it cannot produce the unlimited. It cannot on its own generate the energy necessary for it, already borrowing the energy of the body, to sustain itself. So we have to look at the body and the units which constitute it, the cells. The cells can be compared to batteries that are connected, but passively so. Like batteries, they are polarised. I feel that the reason these batteries cannot be activated is the fear of death and extinction entertained by the mind and fuelled by the survival instinct. Someone realising his or her potential fully as a human being, has achieved his or her purpose. That person cannot endow another with the same characteristics. In other words, a Christ cannot engender a Christ. That person has come to the end of the road. The mind, involved with the survival of itself and of mankind, is actively involved in preventing that occurrence. When the mind comes to a point of stillness and so is no longer diverting the bodily energy from its rightful action, then this energy is capable of creation. Could enlightenment, perhaps, be nothing other than biological fulfilment at the cellular level?

© Gaston Saint-Pierre 1984