What exactly is the spirit?

[Nowheretoday]

79.20
The Matrix of the Spirit is difficult to characterize since the nature of spirit is less motile. The energies and movements of the spirit are, by far, the most profound, yet, having more close association with time/space, do not have the characteristics of dynamic motion. Thusly one may see the Matrix as the deepest darkness and the Potentiator of Spirit as the most sudden awakening, illuminating, and generative influence.

Here Ra gives a description of the Matrix and Potentiator of the Spirit before the extension of free will.
That made me realize that I've been linking or defining the spirit as consciousness, why? cause I understand spiritual evolution as awareness of the One moving downwards from the "spiral" of creation upwards through the stages of evolution from random unformed spawns of awareness to unified planetary consciousness to "being" all that there is.


But then on:

78.11
In the mind complex the matrix may be described as consciousness. It has been called the Magician. It is to be noted that of itself consciousness is unmoved. The potentiator of consciousness is the unconscious. This encompasses a vast realm of potential in the mind.

Am I wrong to try to use the matrix archetype as a definition for the spirit? Deepest darkness? I'd define deepest darkness as the mystery of infinity, but wouldn't that be awareness? I could say infinity "before" awareness but infinity is already aware.



Do we have words or the intellect to define the spirit?

[Minyatur]

I'd define spirit as beingness before consciousness. Consciousness is then a potential of beingness and seems dependant upon certain distortions of beingness like time as it is a looping feedback principle of perception, while beingness is a constant across all dimensions of itself.

I'd define the deepest darkness as the entire potential of being of spirit in misperceiving infinity. Like how while infinity is harmony, spirit can act upon spirit in misperception of this harmony as disharmony, creating karma for itself.

[BlatzAdict]

Spirit is gusto.

Spirit is how much of yourself you put into a moment, and learning to refine that concentration on that one task.

It took me 2 years of kung fu to understand spirit. Spirit is how much of your being is concentrated on something.

Kung Fu meaning hard work. I can't imagine someone doing a Lion Dance, and they are standing there thinking about all these other things, while still able to do an expert dance that mimics an animal. It requires concentration, practice, and it develops mental fortitude of concentration.

I just realized I'm talking about the 8 fold Buddhist nature:

1. * Samma-Ditthi — Complete or Perfect Vision, also translated as right view or understanding. Vision of the nature of reality and the path of transformation.

2. Samma-Sankappa — Perfected Emotion or Aspiration, also translated as right thought or attitude. Liberating emotional intelligence in your life and acting from love and compassion. An informed heart and feeling mind that are free to practice letting go.

3. Samma-Vaca — Perfected or whole Speech. Also called right speech. Clear, truthful, uplifting and non-harmful communication.

4. Samma-Kammanta — Integral Action. Also called right action. An ethical foundation for life based on the principle of non-exploitation of oneself and others. The five precepts.

5. Samma-Ajiva — Proper Livelihood. Also called right livelihood. This is a livelihood based on correct action the ethical principal of non-exploitation. The basis of an Ideal society.

6. Samma-Vayama — Complete or Full Effort, Energy or Vitality. Also called right effort or diligence. Consciously directing our life energy to the transformative path of creative and healing action that fosters wholeness. Conscious evolution.

7. Samma-Sati — Complete or Thorough Awareness. Also called "right mindfulness". Developing awareness, "if you hold yourself dear watch yourself well". Levels of Awareness and mindfulness - of things, oneself, feelings, thought, people and Reality.

8. Samma-Samadhi — Full, Integral or Holistic Samadhi. This is often translated as concentration, meditation, absorption or one-pointedness of mind. None of these translations is adequate. Samadhi literally means to be fixed, absorbed in or established at one point, thus the first level of meaning is concentration when the mind is fixed on a single object. The second level of meaning goes further and represents the establishment, not just of the mind, but also of the whole being in various levels or modes of consciousness and awareness. This is Samadhi in the sense of enlightenment or Buddhahood.

I think 8 refers to the polarized adept. Consciously setting about to raise the frequency of others, in mental, physical and spiritual ways, or consciously setting about the inspiration and development of the self and for others. Perfect vision has to do with seeing all of reality as it is.

One example I always think about is Manifest Destiny and how humans kind of use god as an excuse to kill, displacing hundreds of thousands of native americans, and erasing entire congregations of tradition. Or the crusades, or the salem witch trials, or right now with the Edward Snowden Leaks, the federal reserve, fractional reserve banking, you name it, i know it.

[anagogy]

79.20
The Matrix of the Spirit is difficult to characterize since the nature of spirit is less motile. The energies and movements of the spirit are, by far, the most profound, yet, having more close association with time/space, do not have the characteristics of dynamic motion. Thusly one may see the Matrix as the deepest darkness and the Potentiator of Spirit as the most sudden awakening, illuminating, and generative influence.

Here Ra gives a description of the Matrix and Potentiator of the Spirit before the extension of free will.
That made me realize that I've been linking or defining the spirit as consciousness, why? cause I understand spiritual evolution as awareness of the One moving downwards from the "spiral" of creation upwards through the stages of evolution from random unformed spawns of awareness to unified planetary consciousness to "being" all that there is.
But then on:

78.11
In the mind complex the matrix may be described as consciousness. It has been called the Magician. It is to be noted that of itself consciousness is unmoved. The potentiator of consciousness is the unconscious. This encompasses a vast realm of potential in the mind.

Am I wrong to try to use the matrix archetype as a definition for the spirit? Deepest darkness? I'd define deepest darkness as the mystery of infinity, but wouldn't that be awareness? I could say infinity "before" awareness but infinity is already aware.

Do we have words or the intellect to define the spirit?

I think you are correct about spirits congruency with what we call "awareness", or "beingness", however, in regards to the matrix, in my opinion, it is not synonymous with the spirit.

Keep in mind that the "spiritual complex" (made up of separate parts) is not the the same thing as "pure unified spirit".

The spirit complex (as well as the others) grows within the matrix, but keep in mind that a matrix is simply an environment or material in which something develops -- that is to say, a surrounding medium or structure.

The environment in which that particular complex develops, or gestates, in the human experience is the deepest metaphorical darkness, which is fundamentally a pure ignorance of That Which Is (infinity).

However, the spirit itself, is the sun itself, metaphorically speaking, otherwise known as infinite illumination. Pure Being.

Mind is consciousness, which is the manifestation that forms between spirit and matter. It involves a subject/object relationship. In pure spirit, the subject/object line collapses. One is like light reflecting off a surface, the other is like the light without a surface to reflect off of. It switches from colored light to clear light, which is another way to describe Being.

[loostudent]

Ra usually reffers to spirit as the "shuttle".

The third area is the spiritual complex which embodies the fields of force and consciousness which are the least distorted of your mind/body/spirit complex /.../ The spiritual body energy field is a pathway, or channel. When body and mind are receptive and open, then the spirit can become a functioning shuttle or communicator from the entity’s individual energy of will upwards, and from the streamings of the creative fire and wind downwards. (6.1)

The function of the spirit is to integrate the upreaching yearning of the mind/body energy with the downpouring and streaming of infinite intelligence. (4.18)

Moving down to the roots of mind we find the progression of consciousness which gradually turns from the personal to the racial memory, to the cosmic influxes, and thus becomes a direct contactor of that shuttle which we call the spirit complex.

This spirit complex is the channel whereby the inpourings from all of the various universal, planetary, and personal inpourings may be funneled into the roots of consciousness and whereby consciousness may be funneled to the gateway of intelligent infinity through the balanced intelligent energy of body and mind.

[Steppingfeet]

The following doesn't exactly get at a definition of spirit or spirit complex, but it does attempt to explore its function as a "shuttle" in a very limited way. If it helps:

Gary: Ra describes the spirit complex as “shuttle,” one which connects the mind/body to intelligent infinity. In trying to grasp what is meant by the spirit as “shuttle,” and the mind/body’s relationship to intelligent infinity, I constructed an analogy:


The spirit complex is a shuttle as a deep-sea submersible craft is a shuttle. The depths of the ocean (intelligent infinity) are off limits to we surface dwellers unless we have a shuttle which can withstand the rigors and enormous pressures of that foreign environment. With knowledge, training, and preparedness, we can use the shuttle to access those dark and mysterious depths, visiting them for limited durations of time in proportion to our ability and resources. Perhaps, even, discovering treasures and returning to the landmass with them.

Q’uo, would you please comment on how effectively this analogy helps to reveal the nature and function of the spirit complex?

Q’uo: I am Q’uo, and am aware of your query, my brother. We find that you have quite adequately described the nature of this process and the use of the shuttle to make contact with the Creator, or with intelligent infinity. However, the practice and the knowledge and the experience—ah, there we have the tricky part. This is that which is the work of the lifetime for most, for there is much work in preparation to be able to use the spirit as a shuttle.

The process that we described in the opening response to your primary question was how to utilize the catalyst of your experience, the catalyst of your world, the catalyst of your daily round of activities, in order to be able to eventually utilize the shuttle in such a fashion. This is the work of the adept; this is the work of a lifetime; this is the work that requires great dedication, concentration, repetition, and, shall we say, imagination, for that which stands before the doughty seeker of truth is a gauntlet of catalyst that shall test one’s ability to be able to find love where there seems to be no love at all; to find wisdom where there seems to be only ignorance; to find companionship where there seems to be only separation; to find unity where there is nothing but separation. This is the work of the magician; this is the work of the conscious mind; this is the work of the adept, my brother. This is what each of you is here to do; this is what each of you is doing quite well, in our estimation. We would recommend to each of you that you keep doing what you are doing.

http://www.llresearch.org/transcripts/is..._0318.aspx

[Aion]

The Spirit "IS". It is that which IS. Beyond that no words follow.

[Stranger]

There is the Creator (being/awareness, aka spirit), and the Creation (illusion).   The Creation consists of thought-forms, essentially, inanimate objects which define and constrain the ways in which the Creator can experience and act through them.   One such thought-form is the human.  When the Creator/spirit experiences itself and the rest of the Creation through the human form, we call it consciousness.

In a very deep meditation I had the insight into an excellent metaphor for the Creator experiencing itself through the illusion: a glove box.

  

The gloves are the human form.  Without the scientist (spirit), they are lifeless - just a shape defining and constraining what can and cannot be done using that shape.  With the scientist using them, they appear alive and animated.  

As humans we don't see spirit/Creator experiencing the Creation and acting through the constraints of the human body/mind form - we just see the gloves moving - so we assume it is us acting.  That is the fundamental ignorance the Hindus talk about (avidya).

What has traditionally been called "the soul" is the body we have when we don't have a physical body. It's still a thought-form which the Creator's awareness/spirit animates, which enables the Creator to perceive and act as a individuated consciousness.

The Creator/spirit is able to act simultaneously through all forms at all "times", but it's still only the Creator/spirit acting. He is answering the question, "what would I do if I thought I was a human? A butterfly? An orange? A planet?" all at once (Maybe this is why Hindu deities are depicted as having many arms). As part of the game, he creates the illusion of causality - i.e., spirit chooses to act in such a way that it appears as if one thing causes another. Causality as we perceive it is another thought-form.

In the words of a Chinese philosopher, Zhuangzhi:

Once upon a time, I, Chuang Chou, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was Chou. Soon I awaked, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man.