Let’s look now at the second level of, to give it its full name, the Arelian multi-dimensional paradynamic model of the self. At the first level, level 1, there are three components: mind, body and spirit. Within an Arelian model, these three parts cannot communicate directly with each other; somehow, they are too big, too powerful, too elemental for that. So, how do they communicate? They do that through the second, ‘higher’ level of Heart, Head and Psyche.
Head
The Head is the part of us that links our Mind to our Body. It’s the place where Mind and Body communicate. It’s where feelings and senses coalesce with thoughts. In many ways, it’s a place of moods, such as irritation, sadness, happiness, hopefulness, expectation, disappointment, worry, lust and so on. It’s in the Head that we make ‘decisions of the head’. It’s also the part of us that operates on instinct and learned patterns of behaviour. It’s the part of us that we employ most forcefully when we are dealing with the world, with society, in a practical way, say commercially or professionally. It’s our little internal model of conventional society in general. It’s the part of us that we listen to when we are thinking about our needs and desires and the needs and desires of those dependent on us.
The Head combines the Sun and the Earth; the ways in which the Sun and the Earth inter-relate is similar to the ways in which the Mind and the Body inter-relate. The Mind sheds light on the physical side of ourselves and the Body is drawn to the Mind but keeps its distance. The Body circles the Mind.
Heart
The Heart is where our Spirit links with our Body. It’s where emotions coalesce with feelings and senses. This is the place where we can experience exultation, grief, deep desire, hatred, vengefulness and so on and, sometimes or often, we can experience conflicting drives in this part of us (say, deep desire combined with vengefulness towards the same person). In a reverse way, it is the part of us that can be the most kind and liberal, the most generous; the part of us that can make us sacrifice our own needs and wants for the needs and wants of others.
In many ways, this is the part of us that is the most powerful and the most difficult, at times, to live with. It’s the part of us that can get us into difficult and seemingly irresolvable situations while, at the same or other times, offering whole vistas of exotic experience and delight. It’s the stuff of romance and the stuff of tragedy. It’s our most uncompromising side, particularly if it feels our self-love is at stake or the survival and health of others that we love is at stake; it can be the strongest and most determined part of ourselves. Yes, self-love is part of the Heart too. And yes, it’s in the Heart that we make ‘decisions of the heart’.
In the Heart, the Moon and the Earth interplay, each giving stability to the other, each influencing the other.
Psyche
The Psyche is where our Mind reaches out to our Spirit and our Spirit reaches out to our Mind and, in that sense, the Psyche has two seemingly quite different aspects to it:
(i) When our Spirit reaches out to our Mind through the Psyche, then we are seeking to work from intellect to achieve a ‘bigger picture’, a subtler level of awareness. Often, this takes the form of an interest in psychic matters, such as an intuitive awareness of things or an interest in the spirit world. By the way, the spirit world is not just relevant to people who have passed away – it is possible, of course, to have a close psychic ‘mix’ with living individuals, almost to the point where their approach to thoughts and feelings can seem very intense within ourselves and almost able to overtake our own preferences and habits of thought and feeling.
(ii) When our Mind reaches out to our Spirit through the Psyche, this is when we are trying to modify or master the wayward urges of our Spirit and seeking to make them acceptable to society, in order to make ourselves acceptable to society. The kind of feelings that can then occur are things like guilt, compassion, piety, desire for approval or acceptance and so on. Because the Spirit cannot die, it is fearless about survival and mortality sand danger (physical or psychic) but we need to be in a conscious relationship with spirit and it with us to avoid too many extremes of danger, too much seeming foolhardiness. And yet, the Spirit is a massive force for good, if we listen to it through the Psyche.
Both ways, conscience often operates most forcefully within the Psyche. Our conscience is often linked to that of our parents – alive or dead. If they had very conflicting styles of conscience, then we are likely to have very conflicting styles of conscience within ourselves.
One of the tests of life is to develop a conscience that dos not just exist within the Psyche but spreads across, and is conscious within, Head and Heart as well.
Within the Psyche, the symbols, the powers of the Sun and Moon are brought together.
But, why ‘Arelian’? ~ I will come to that …
