The Axis Mundi is the central pillar upon which all awareness, all being, is founded. It is composed of the lower, middle, upper and transcendent selves. This is the mythical world tree. This is Mount Olympus. All of these symbols are this one singular axis. It is a progression of development starting and ending with the transcendent self. Each stage is representative of a greater awareness of the transcendent self as both object and perceiver. The purpose of the stages is to come to know the full compass or the sum of all possibilities, because the transcendent self is infinite. This process is not unlike a baby coming to understand how it’s fingers work, and with this understanding arrived at one can move as the divine source moves. As the child eventually comes to emulate the parent.

They say the mind is a labyrinth, and there is more then one mind. The purpose of walking a labyrinth is to see a physical reflection of your mental process and to perhaps find some peace and acceptance of the journey rather then think one can jump from the start to the destination.

The Lower Self

The lower self is an animal self, but it isn’t even the animal at peace. It is the animal in conflict. Hungry, afraid, and willing to do anything to avoid what it fears. The lower self is the seat of all drives only checked by the middle self and the higher self in that they share the same host. The lower self is not evil, but it is a living embodiment of drive without reason, without exception, without any form of discrimination. The lower self is the drive to survival and self preservation. It is the force in ourselves that spurs us to do something when we can’t think of anything to do at all. The lower self has the ability to cut through the rational and often times questionable conditioning and programming we receive. It provides a bottom line to any of our ambitions, drives, fantasies. It is also the self that preserves the natural awareness or the animal instinct without which the higher and middle selves would have disposed of such worldly wisdom a long time ago, and have been incapable of survival in this world. The lower self is only a “tar pit” for your inner rabbit as long as you are busy paying attention to the artefacts of the mind. Without heeding the lower self, the thoughts, plans, goals you have will all be tainted by the reality of the lower self and how you’ve neglected it. So if you feel like a deer stuck in the headlights, that’s good. It is your wakeup call. Start paying attention and stop thinking so much.

The Middle Self

The middle self is a prisoner of the ideals of the higher self and the impulses of the lower self, but it’s unaware it’s a prisoner. The reason it’s unaware that it’s a prisoner is that its scope of awareness, and scope in general, does not extend beyond the dictates of the lower and higher selves. The middle self is the blind man touching a part of the elephant. It always comes to a conclusion that is a reflection of itself rather then a true rendition of reality. The secret to expanding the awareness possessed by the middle self, or ordinary waking world self, is to realize that everything you are interacting with is a projection of either the lower or higher selves. The judgements you arrive at are only judgements of yourself. One can make clear decisions by realizing, that as some people joke, it really is ‘all about me’. How do you judge your world? That is how you are judging yourself. How do you improve your world? Improve your relationship with your higher and lower selves. Be a good animal and be a good God.

The Higher Self

The higher self is the seat of all big spectrum perception. The higher self sees the world and cares for the world. It sees the people in it, and deems them all sister and brother and it has very little awareness of the personal self. If any of the selves were like the Gaia consciousness, the higher self would be like this. We should not strive for the higher self. Be aware of the higher self as it is the landscape of your soul, but there is nothing to attain. It provides a context for the decisions of the middle self and for the raw life impetus for the lower self, and if deified it will self demonize because its awareness is not personal freedom.

The Transcendent Self

The alpha and the omega. If any part of the self is beyond knowing then the transcendent self is this, but the substance of any other self is drawn from the transcendent self. All awareness stems from this first and last awareness. All that you can both gain and give will be received and given by the transcendent self. If anything is for the middle self to achieve, it’s to recognize it’s roots in the transcendent self. To not be confused by the demi-urge that is the higher self, or to be consumed by the beast that is the lower self. Ultimately the transcendent self is the self that survives all transitory experiences, and it is for the purpose of the transcendent self that all other awareness arises.

Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.

Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~