Do you see consciousness as the Absolute, or as an emanation?

[anagogy]

Thus we have Infinity becoming aware of itself and so producing intelligent energy which is still chaotic and randomized. As the Creator responds and reacts to its own energy which it produces the energy evolves in to more and more complex patterns. These patterns revolved around the elements contained within Infinity which become the endless focal points of Infinity's awareness.

So, infinity became aware of finity and in its awareness focused on every finite thing starting with the 'broadest' elements. You see, to become aware of finity you actually don't need a huge division in to manyness, you just need one split. I think the first awareness of finity was actually a very simple distortion, like the way cells divide. I think then every subsequent distortion is a further splitting of this fundamental duality.

Coming back around to the topic then we can relate consciousness to infinity 'becoming aware of itself'. In this way, I think the question of the OP actually kind of just makes no sense. I would say it is ultimately both and neither. Consciousness is often talked about as a 'thing in itself', but I see it as just the relationship betwixt Infinity and Finity. I would rather venture to say that Consciousness is the Absolute Emanating the Absolute. So it isn't really one or the other, but you can't really call it 'both' without a paradox.

My perspective is simply that I cannot imagine the absolute as not being aware of something. I mean, the ultimate state of being not able to even register the reality? That never sat right with me. Might as well not exist if that is the case.

I think Beingness, or the absolute, is simply awareness of awareness and so profound in its awareness of infinity that no words could possibly do it justice. It is basically every quality in the universe synthesized to an infinitely perfect degree.

I think we could also consider that the ways of the octave redound to the smallest aspect of reality, thus, we can get a glimpse of the symbolic nature of the octave by observing our own rhythms and cycles. It is commonly believed by most people that sleep is a state of unconsciousness. I can tell you, in my experience, it is not. We are conscious during sleep, we just don't usually retain memories of it (I've had a few experiences where I was able to bridge my conscious memories with a dreamless sleep state and learned this for myself). This could be analogous to the octave -- drifting into a pleasurable state of perfect bliss without a sense of self, just a sense of Being. I could be wrong, but it could explain the language Ra used, as most people believe when they get up from sleep that they have just become aware (they have merely become self aware). But then, absence of memory, is not proof of absence. So it is understandable that such language would be used.

Now obviously, our simple 3rd density sleep is not going to be comparable to the majesty of the octave, but it could be symbolically reflective of its archetypal nature. It is the place where chaos (red ray) and order (violet ray) somehow come to mean the same "essence".

One thing that perplexes me is the octave becomes the 1st density of the next octave, but in Ra's cosmology it is clear that things are created from the top down (greater to lesser). Even on the Tree of Life, the lightening path of creation goes from the top down. So I am at a loss to reconcile this paradox. I have a few theories, but they are still in the 75% cooked stage.