All uses of catalyst... are those consciously applied

[Steppingfeet]

Read an article that offers an incredible metaphor for Ra's description of the processing of catalyst: “The Cosmic Metabolism of Form”

Here are a few excerpts:

“The Cosmic Metabolism of Form”

"Just as our bodies transform substances in metabolic cycles of varying complexity, and take part in the larger ecological metabolic cycles of organic life on earth, our minds take in and manipulate, transform, break down and build up, in short metabolize, forms—as impressions, perceptions, concepts, memories, and plans. And we take part in a larger ecology of form: culture, literature, art, science.”

* * * * * * * * * * *

“According to Gurdjieff, our impressions are not fully metabolized in our ordinary state of relative unawareness. For metabolism to proceed further, we must be conscious of ourselves in the act of receiving impressions, just as oxygen is necessary for the full metabolism of food.

The full metabolism of food releases much more energy than that released in the absence of oxygen (anaerobic metabolism).

What kind of energy is released by the full metabolism of impressions? Perhaps the energy of consciousness. Although consciousness is required for this process to take place, acting like a catalyst, the result is the production of even more consciousness. Or more precisely, it is the addition of consciousness to the impressions, just as the energy of life is added to the macromolecules of our bodies.”

* * * * * * * * * * *

“This vivification of impressions feeds our inner life, which needs conscious impressions to grow, and may also serve a larger purpose, enabling God to “see” his own creation through us and other conscious observers throughout the universe.”

And the Ra correlations:

93.10
Ra: All uses of catalyst by the mind are those consciously applied to catalyst. Without conscious intent the use of catalyst is never processed through mentation, ideation, and imagination.


So just as oxygen is required for the full metabolism of food into energy, conscious intent/conscious awareness is necessary for the full processing of catalyst into experience.

Such an amazing metaphor! As we intend to use our catalyst, to learn from our catalyst, to use our catalyst, we do. The conscious intent and awareness we bring to the catalyst engages the gears and processes of the metabolic system and converts that catalyst into conscious experience.

78.36
Ra: …it is certainly through this faculty [of disciplined meditation] that catalyst is most efficiently used.

What is meditation but "being with" the moment and your experience? Being conscious of the moment, being aware of the moment.

Extending this metaphor, meditation is the ultimate "oxygen" for the metabolizing of food.

[native]

Good analogy. It aligns with the metaphor of the transformation of the spirit in relation to consciousness, and what the ankh seems to represent..in terms of how the Egyptians often depicted themselves being fed the ankh. Transformation feeds the spirit, giving it vitality and eternal life.

"80.20 This material world is transformed by the spirit into that which is infinite and eternal. The infinity of the spirit is an even greater realization than the infinity of consciousness, for consciousness which has been disciplined by will and faith is that consciousness which may contact intelligent infinity directly."

"93.24 Thus the crux ansata is intended to be seen as an image of the eternal in and through manifestation and beyond manifestation through the sacrifice and transformation of that which is manifest."

[Adonai One]

The Matrix of the Mind

[Plenum]

93.10
Ra: All uses of catalyst by the mind are those consciously applied to catalyst. Without conscious intent the use of catalyst is never processed through mentation, ideation, and imagination.


So just as oxygen is required for the full metabolism of food into energy, conscious intent/conscious awareness is necessary for the full processing of catalyst into experience.

Such an amazing metaphor! As we intend to use our catalyst, to learn from our catalyst, to use our catalyst, we do. The conscious intent and awareness we bring to the catalyst engages the gears and processes of the metabolic system and converts that catalyst into conscious experience.

78.36
Ra: …it is certainly through this faculty [of disciplined meditation] that catalyst is most efficiently used.

What is meditation but "being with" the moment and your experience? Being conscious of the moment, being aware of the moment.

Extending this metaphor, meditation is the ultimate "oxygen" for the metabolizing of food.

a couple of great Ra quotes there GLB. Both of them in relation to the Empress Archetype (catalyst of the mind).

[Steppingfeet]

93.10
Ra: All uses of catalyst by the mind are those consciously applied to catalyst. Without conscious intent the use of catalyst is never processed through mentation, ideation, and imagination.

So what constitutes "conscious intent"?

Is it simply becoming aware of, and observing, that a catalyst exist?

i.e.: "I have anger. I see anger. I observe anger."


Is it consciously intending to use and analyze the catalyst of anger?

i.e.: What caused the anger? Why is there anger? What story does this anger have to tell me?


Is it the setting of a consciously chosen goal or outcome?

i.e.: I desire to understand and accept the anger in order to yield growth and self-realization?

Welcome any thoughts.

[AnthroHeart]

I take it that catalyst not dealt with in the conscious mind becomes catalyst for the body. Ra didn't specify as I'm aware regarding unconscious catalyst.

[Nicholas]

Here is an example of conscious intent.

"God grant me the courage to change the things I can, the serenity to accept the things I cant and the wisdom to know the difference"

The message in this old saying I believe is to affirm to one's self that change comes from within (courage) via observing and analysing catalyst from a detached viewpoint, to find peace of mind that all is well when all is clearly not (serenity), and to be aware of the first distortion within this dualistic reality (wisdom).

[michael430]

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[Steppingfeet]

Here is an example of conscious intent.

"God grant me the courage to change the things I can, the serenity to accept the things I cant and the wisdom to know the difference"

The message in this old saying I believe is to affirm to one's self that change comes from within (courage) via observing and analysing catalyst from a detached viewpoint, to find peace of mind that all is well when all is clearly not (serenity), and to be aware of the first distortion within this dualistic reality (wisdom).

That's a beautiful self-affirmation. Yeah, that seems to be one way to consciously set the intent so that catalyst is processed along those chosen lines. Though how well the life experience conforms to this stated desire depends upon the fidelity in sticking to this trajectory, I would imagine.

I wonder if it's as simple as "Here's anger. How do I turn it into love?" (STO) or "How do I control it?" (STS)

I can see are the two principal ways to process catalyst to furnish experience to move the entity further along a polarized path. Those two responses are part of fulfilling the very design of third density: to make a choice between love-acceptance and control-manipulation.

Maybe those two basic responses do cover the whole spectrum of what constitutes conscious intent, but I feel like there is something even more basic to conscious intent. It feels to me that simply becoming aware of a particular catalyst is that which begins the process of catalyst transmuting into experience. And then, sooner or later, there forms a response between love and control to the catalyst which presents itself to the conscious seeker.

But i'm not sure. I don't feel I have a handle on this question.

[Nicholas]

Reading the initial Ra quote again after reading your summery GLB I see it in a different light.

I stub my toe..."oooooouuuch!" I calm down and ask myself how this occurred. As I cant take out a lawsuit on the table and as I put the table where it is, I admit personal responsibility for the experience.

Was I paying conscious attention? Or was I more concerned about a bladder about to burst and took a risk?

If I never stub my toe again in this particular circumstance, and recognise a broader lesson, then I have 'consciously applied' the catalyst? Therefore this catalyst has been used rather than wasted, and a repetition is not required?

[Plenum]

Maybe those two basic responses do cover the whole spectrum of what constitutes conscious intent, but I feel like there is something even more basic to conscious intent. It feels to me that simply becoming aware of a particular catalyst is that which begins the process of catalyst transmuting into experience. And then, sooner or later, there forms a response between love and control to the catalyst which presents itself to the conscious seeker.

But i'm not sure. I don't feel I have a handle on this question.

yeah, I think you're onto something here GLB. Just the mere fact of acknowledging that something is a catalyst ('correct identification') possibly begins or enables the process to happen. I am reminded of the 3rd and 4th categories of the archetypes (The Catalyst, and the Experience cards), and Ra recommended that the categories be studied in pairs (with the exception of the Significator cards, which sit solo).

So the Catalyst and the Experience are intimately related, although the 'Experience' in this case is not the actual physical or mental event; the Experience (in this context) as I best understand it is the mental processing or the mental framing of the event, which is highly subject to interpretation.

- -

another way of being consciously 'aware' of catalyst is through the process of non-avoidance. And there is nothing more 'non-avoidance' than the disciplined meditation that you referenced in the first post.

[Steppingfeet]

Reading the initial Ra quote again after reading your summery GLB I see it in a different light.

I stub my toe..."oooooouuuch!" I calm down and ask myself how this occurred. As I cant take out a lawsuit on the table and as I put the table where it is, I admit personal responsibility for the experience.

I see where you're going, Nio. Logically analyzing a situation and deducing how it occurred is definitely part of the application of conscious intention to catalyst, I think.

That synthesis resulting from analysis is what helps to yield experience, which is what you point to here:

If I never stub my toe again in this particular circumstance, and recognise a broader lesson, then I have 'consciously applied' the catalyst? Therefore this catalyst has been used rather than wasted, and a repetition is not required?

Resulting in a lesson being learned.

Repetition is a really interesting idea to bring to the analysis of catalyst. My understanding is congruent with your own in that a lesson learned need not be repeated, per se. Repetition points to the fact that the lesson hasn't been fully learned, the balance not fully achieved, the blockage not fully undone, etc.

Yet, winding back the clock to a point *before* that process of analysis/understanding/synthesis, I suspect that "conscious intention" is, at base, an act of turning ones attention to the catalyst and consciously acknowledging it, as Plenum pointed out:

Just the mere fact of acknowledging that something is a catalyst ('correct identification') possibly begins or enables the process to happen.

Plenum, that's a fine point I was grasping for but wasn't quite able to articulate: "correct identification".

Becoming aware of the *actual* catalyst (and not a mind-made story about the catalyst that veils the catalyst), I think THAT is the deeper "conscious intention" that facilitates the full processing of catalyst.

...another way of being consciously 'aware' of catalyst is through the process of non-avoidance. And there is nothing more 'non-avoidance' than the disciplined meditation that you referenced in the first post.

Right-O. So much of what our minds seem automatically to do is resist and avoid so that we're not conscious of the actual catalyst. We're conscious, to a small extent, only of the suffering caused by the underlying catalyst.

[michael430]

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