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The Hanged Man

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The Element of Water

   "I've met this person before. This is another scary path. Are all of the other paths going to be scary too, Mr. M?" Claire asks.

   "No, no, not at all. We are experiencing the scary aspects of passing through the veil to higher consciousness. Our friend reveals one of the most frightening challenges of passing through the veil. This path is now called ‘The Hanged Man,’ but it was once called ‘The Traitor,’ referring to the practice of hanging traitors upside-down in public.”
   “People who choose the spiritual path are traitors, Mr. M?” Claire asks.
   “So often mystics and occultists who have passed through the veil are considered traitors in the sense that they repudiate the materialistic values of their society for a greater spiritual awareness, insisting on the values of the Higher Self instead of the values of the conditioned self. Modern psychology comes close in many respects to understanding the different aspects of self, focusing often on the conditioned self, but fails to provide as comprehensive a map of the macrocosm and the microcosm as the Tree of Life. 

   "A famous example is Sigmund Freud’s model of the psyche. Freud divides the psyche into three parts: the id, the ego, and the superego. The id contains the subconscious instincts and basic drives for self-gratification. The ego is the conscious extension of the id which uses the reality principle and common sense to obtain pleasure and avoid pain. The superego, the ethical component of the personality, provides the moral standards by which the ego operates. The superego’s criticisms, prohibitions, and inhibitions form a person’s conscience, and its positive aspirations represent the idealized self-image, or 'ego ideal.' The superego strives to act in a socially appropriate manner, whereas the id strives for instant self-gratification. The superego controls our sense of right and wrong, and since its demands oppose the id’s, the ego often has a hard time reconciling the two.”
   “So is the superego the higher self, Mr. M?”
   “Yes and no. The conscience is very much a part of the higher self. When you touch the sphere of Beauty, or Tiphareth, you experience the overwhelming harmony of creation, which cannot be denied simply because of all the terrible choices that people have made throughout history. You experience awe about the infinite vibrations of energy that manifest in so many magnificent ways, the fields upon fields of energy interwoven to create not only our planet but the cosmos, most of which we as humans cannot even perceive with our five senses. You know the intelligence within all of creation that enables the beautiful dance of abundance, and you see that destruction is only one half of creation, for without death there would be no new creation, no growth or evolution. When you experience a sense of oneness with creation, you cannot help but feel reverence, which leads to sympathy for all things, and that inspires a thirst for truth and justice because everything is connected.”
   “So you feel guilty when you hurt something? I know I feel guilty when I accidentally hurt something.”
   “Yes, and that leads to an understanding of karma. If you intentionally harm something or someone, you are essentially harming yourself because we are all connected, and that will eventually come back on you.”
   “So does this path lead to the sphere of justice?”
   “Yes, in fact, Geburah, or Severity, is the sphere of power on many levels, including the spiritual level. The Gods and Angels of Geburah burn away whatever is not true or just or harmonious. Spiritual principle remains when the transitory burns away, so in a sense, this path is about sacrificing what is not true or just or harmonious in your world. That might include a job, a relationship, a belief system. So much of our society is false or illusory that when you insist on spiritual truth, often the people around you feel betrayed because you literally are challenging the value system that satisfies their ego or that they were conditioned to follow. Freud viewed the superego mainly as a mechanism for obtaining acceptance in society. He suggests that the psyche has spiritual goals but ultimately struggles to conform to social conditioning. The superego in that sense becomes a mechanism for the survival of the conditioned self. The higher self, on the other hand, is compelled to choose spiritual principle, such as truth and justice, over survival, as you can see here on this path.
   “But there is something else about this path that I don’t want to overlook. The hanged man is suspended by the foot, and the ability to suspend thought cannot be over-rated in spiritual practices. Without the ability to quiet the mind, you cannot see beyond the mundane into the inner planes. The element of Water is associated with this card, and Water is associated with the subconscious depths of the mind. Through the subconscious where the soul resides, you can move into the vast ocean of consciousness, which leads to the super-conscious awareness of oneness and harmony. Learning to suspend the chatter of the ‘monkey mind,’ the surface mind, is part of the sacrifice of the Path.”
   “Is the conscious mind bad?”
   “Oh, no, I don’t mean to imply that at all. The fully developed conscious mind of the enlightened individual is the true higher self, encompassing the intellect, the emotions, the imagination, the will, and the memory, all of which need to be developed and mined for personal growth. However, we can get bogged down in the surface mind. So much of civilization is just surface mind. We get busy and have so many details to worry about that sometimes we breath a sigh of relief after taking care of the little things and don’t worry about our emotional and mental and spiritual development. Notice the great simplicity of this path. We need to simplify in order to cultivate the ability to shift focus to whatever level we need to work on. That takes great discipline, which is another important aspect of the sphere of Mars.
   “Some psychologists have managed to recognize the existence of the soul and the transpersonal aspects at the core of being. It always helps to compare and contrast the findings of experts in all fields. The Tree of Life is comprehensive, and you can use the Tree as a filing cabinet where all knowledge can find a place.
   “On this scary path, you see a man hanging upside down with his hands tied behind his back. That is incredibly painful and humiliating, but the man seems at peace. In fact, his head is glowing as if he has attained enlightenment. He has moved beyond the veil of illusion to the reality of the spirit. He appears terribly alone and mistreated, but he recognizes the oneness of all creation. His mind suspended, he is a point of consciousness within the vast ocean of the Cosmic Mind.”

Go on a different adventure with Mr. M.