“In offering to God, take care against the things which are against God. Witness with your EYE, the plans of God. Devote yourself to adore God’s name. It is God who gives souls to millions of forms and GOD MAGNIFIES WHOEVER MAGNIFIES GOD.”
-AEP
“That which is the Fundamental Truth, the Substantial Reality, is beyond true naming, but the Wise men call it The All.”
-AEP
Udja
Very extensive post and very welcome to see these special post Kemet Pilgrimage reflections.
Now: keeping in mind that my answers here are for L2 understanding, here is the following
A few corrections first:
The TN postures have been recorded as far back as 10000 B.C.,
Technically, when you are moving to the west there is no second death so it can be said that there is a new life but really it is the same life but which has now become abiding. The “carnation” aspect of the term reincarnation refers to the Latin “carn” which is also in many Romance languages like Spanish “Carne” meaning meat or body. So reincarnation occurs on the physical plane on a planet such as earth. The movement to the west is a movement of enlightenment that has thrown off death and reincarnation and moves to the Duat Plane of existence.
Now as to the specific questions: -my answers underlined-
Is the Witnessing Conscious a state of mind or a state of being?
For the purpose of this conversation, the term is “witnessing consciousness” –capacity of subjective awareness with or without objects but being aware of the subject as separate from mind and objects –so awareness itself. Being conscious is experiencing awareness, but as in human life, bundled with ego as the subject, mind as sense perceptions and objects as relations.
In the study of Amun there are two main contexts: Amun as discussed in Theban Theology and Amun as discussed in Anunian Theology. In the context (and context is critical in any philosophical discussion) of Anunian Theology: NEBERDJER=AMUN-RA-PTAH, here Amun or “witnessing consciousness” relates to the aspect of the personality that is the subject, the observer of what occurs in time and space and it is aware of the objects so it is an aspect of mind. Here Amun witnessing consciousness is operating within the realm of time and space (Amun-Ra-Ptah). If the other elements of the triad are taken away (RA-PTAH) [as in deep meditation that takes one away from thoughts and awareness of objects in time and space-including one’s ego personality] then we are left with the witness and since there is nothing to witness, then awareness becomes non-descript/abstract/undifferentiated (anrutef). Next-IF this undifferentiated awareness persists in a mind that has been purified from the deeper unconscious issues (aryu) then from there awareness can move to the center of that undifferentiated awareness (Nun) and reveals its source or Neberdjer/Asar – which obviously now transcends the subject, objects and the mental interactions of the individual (Amun-Ra-Ptah). Neberdjer technically is beyond time and space and from the perspective of human mind concepts can be thought of as a state of consciousness and we may also refer to this as Nehast IF it is abiding and perennial and not variable. However, for more philosophical precision we may consider that the terms Neberdjer and Asar though in this context mean the Absolute and transcendental –all, this is still a concept; therefore, more precisely, behind the concepts of Neberdjer and Asar is “Neter An Ren” (Divinity without name) which we can say nothing and think nothing about – but only experience. So if a person can experience Neberdjer abidingly then that person is considered Nehast. If they are experiencing intermittently then it is an advanced soul, a revered soul (Sheps) but still not full enlightenment. An enlightened person is also referred to as “Akh Sheps” or “revered spirit” a person who has achieved a mental state of being aware of their highest human aspect (Akh -spirit) and also aware of the transcendental. So such a person while still alive is endowed with dual consciousness – really awareness of the transcendental absolute and at the same time the relative realities of time and space.
We have all experienced intuition to various degrees, is this the Witnessing Conscious or is it beyond intuition? Is it, in fact, Enlightenment?
When we speak of the state of Aset (Intuitional wisdom) it is not the same as when worldly people speak of intuition as in knowing the right thing to do in a given situation or another. Aset is the throne of Asar and as such means “wisdom consciousness” (Rekh-wisdom) upon which Asar (transcendental spirit) rests and that without the need of philosophy, reasoning, rituals or myths. When this process is occurring in degrees it is partial and within the realm of time and space. When achieved in whole and in a capacity that is incapable of mental qualification then it is beyond minds capacity to grasp; and here only metaphor serves the mind to make sense of and explain the experience but if the experience is abiding then the mind of such a one operates when there is not complete absorption, yet the experience still remains—like a doctor who is concentrated on an operation; when she is not operating she can think about it and analyze but during the experience itself she is concentrated and not thinking of other time and space realities of life.. This is a crude analogy but I hope you get the point.
Finally, having experienced the Witness during moments of Meditation, how does one maintain that level of detachment outside of formal Meditation without stumbling in the world of time and space?
The key is in frequency (number of times) and quality (depth of the immersion experiences) that lead to strength in detachment and dispassion outside of formal practice; these are affected by other factors that impinge on being able to achieve multiple and deep experiences. Worldly issues such as internal and external entanglements all serve to distract, debilitate, delude, confuse, etc. the mind of an aspirant and dissuade them from a correct path. Here Lady Aset is an example. She “incarnated” as a physical woman (which means she experienced life as humans do-without the benefit of divine separation). She studied about human life and had many worldly experiences and at one point she said “this is futile, there is no abiding truth and happiness in human existence”. She began to repudiate everything in the world of human life, seeing all that as false and not abiding. So in the pursuit of a better way of life, by a process of elimination she rejected the life of human beings and then thought about the life of gods and goddesses and their level of consciousness and found it to be better. Then she thought about the problems there and rejected the gods and goddesses too. Maybe, she thought, the Akh Sheps lifestyle and state of consciousness is better, (the enlightened souls – what could be better than this?). In this context the lifestyle of Akh Sheps are enlightened personalities, preceptors, wise elders, priests and priestesses who have attained the state of shining spirit awareness and awareness of time and space at the same time. In choosing a higher way of life, a better lifestyle, Aset reflected, this Akh Sheps is good and admirable, no doubt, and it leads to the same destination, but as long as I am doing this, and since I have high quality purity, dispassion and will power, why not go all the way and discover supreme wisdom now by going straight to knowing the true name of Ra? (which means becoming his essence). The name of Ra means knowing all that is to be known and becoming that which is known; which further means not being your ego self anymore but being that highest essence which has been discovered and experienced. This means Lady Aset, the human is no longer Lady Aset, “the Human”, and she is referred to as “Goddess Asset now but that reference is for the masses and lower initiates; she is not goddess either; she is one with the essence of Ra’s unpronounceable being, that which he himself arises from, i.e. the transcendental absolute. The point here is understanding what is highest and striving for the highest by arriving at what that highest is through reasoning and wisdom Khak ab and then applying another important key, antet begag, relentless pursuit, which is the next important feature to “go all the way.” We will end it here as we are getting into Level three metaphysics which we will save for another time.
HTP
