The powers and qualities of Gods and Goddesses come from the Unconscious. Then the conscious mind assimilates these powers into its knowing. The spiritual powers are within us are available to us, available to the conscious mind, available for assimilation and expression. They actually seek expression through us. Yet these powers are not alien to us. They are powers within of our being, either expressing through us in some degree or subsisting within us as our potential. These are the powers and qualities of divine spirit, which is our own spirit, our true nature.
Spirit in the universal meaning and spirit as our own true nature are essentially the same. Though each individual spirit is partial – in relation to the great Wholeness of Universal Spirit. Our individual spirit is the divinity which we realize as ourself, as the source and power of our spiritual expression or as our own spiritual potential. The individual spirit partakes of the universal spirit. It takes part in that Great Spirit. It is part of the Greater. And it is representative or reflective of the Greater universal spirit. Yet in essence, it is none other than the universal spirit itself, expressing through the personal self in some particular way and degree of effective, radiatory power.
So in tantra the universal spirit, as well as the individual reflective spirit, is One spirit. It is a United power. Yet, this One spirit expresses itself in multiple ways or qualities. It is a unity and a multiplicity, though the multiplicity is intrinsically related and complimentary, that is, unless part of the multiplicity becomes exclusive and opposing to the rest of the spiritually related whole. The unitive power of spirit is always at work, seeking a more complete expression of itself, but there is always the possibility that parts of the spiritual whole become exclusive, divided and opposing. We could say that evil, if we need such a concept, has its source in this possible exclusiveness from the rest of the related whole. Many have questioned, in all the great religions, why the great unitive spirit, if it is the one great power of the universe, can become divided and opposing within itself. The answer is is as follows.
The expression of the united spirit can only be somewhat partial in any one moment, or through any one person, so a certain portion of the universal spirit becomes more dominant in expression while other portions remain more in potential. The one spirit becomes, in expressive existence, fragmented into multiplicity, which actually gives rise to variety of creative expression, and hence there is beauty through the fragmentation and multiplicity as particular spiritual qualities are accented.
If the accentuated qualities can harmonious relate, then the whole expression becomes more beautiful. Two, Each quality of the one spirit power, in its multiplicity, finds its fullest expression through it accentuated development and expression in exclusion from other qualities. It is then accented and realized in its particularness. Each quality, like each person in their own way, needs freedom and power in its own individuated expreesion, to be realized in its uniqueness from other qualities in the multplicitic whole. This freedom of particulaised expression can be complimentary and harmonious with other qualities of the whole potential, but there is this possibility in the freedom that the particularness can become so focused in itself that it forgets the rest of the whole or even mis-takes some other qualities as dangerous or opposing to its own particular expression. It is this fear or mis-taking, this mis-understanding of the partial whole, which is called avidya, spiritual ignorance and is cause to conflict within the self and within the world. Each must realize the relatedness of the parts within the whole and learn to comprehend the significance of the other parts of the one self and compliment with them. In Jungian terms, this is the process of Individuation of Self, of integrating what is already conscious and expressive with what is unconscious and potential. It is uncovering the potential, awaiting within, to be comprehended and consciously expressed, in a way that is integrative and complimentary with what is already comprehended and expressive.
This that is unconscious, or of our larger Unconscious Being, is the rest of our own unitive spirit and potentially the rest of the whole universal or collective Spirit. It is the rest of who we are in our potential wholeness, for all the qualities of divine being, of universal spirit, are ours to be expressed, are potentially available to each of us for expression. The whole of the universal spirit, inclusive of the whole multiplicity of divine qualities, is inherent in our true nature and available for expression. The universal spirit, and all its qualities, is our greater potential awaiting, as yet unconscious to us, to be expressed in greater wholeness and integrative relatedness.
This can be seen as the reunion of self. The cosmic, universal wholeness divides and multiplies through the existence of time and space, through individual manifestations, such that Divine Being can realized itself in a great multiplicity of relations and forms of expression, and yet simultaneously the divine Being is ever seeking to reunite into a great harmony or synthesis of expression. This is one of the great cosmic laws of tantra, one of the primary principles of the Universe, that there is a spiritual impulse for particular qualities to freely develop and expreess in their own unique accentuated manner, which gives rise to the variety of life and expression on earth, and which manifests as a kind of willfulness of any particular quality or expressive form, and simultaneously there is a spiritual impluse which empowers the reunion and merging syntheisis of these various qualities of expression. Thus, there appears to be two opposite forces at work. One empowers the particularisation and individual expressive freedom, which creates and sustains the multiplicity of life or spirit. This is the individual power within every quality or life expression, the power of individual accentuation and possible exclusiveness from the rest of the universal whole. It could not be called an evil force, since it is an essential purposeful power of the universe, responsible for the multiplistic beauty of expressive existence, yet from this there is the innevitable possibility of conflict and harm as resulting from over exclusiveness and fanatism of the particular quality or form of expression. This possible danger or conflict within the universal expression of spirit is thus inherent in the principle of multiplistic existence, though such conflict can only exist tempararily because the reuniting spiritual power will eventually bring about integration and harmony.
Any spiritual quality or form of expression requires some degree of exclusivity and eccentricity in the initial stages of its unique development, in which it develops its own particular power, and because of this there is the possibility of opposing or suppressing whatever appears as disimilar to it. In its impulse to maintain its uniqueness, it tends to fear being consumed by other quality powers and even fights off as a kind of evil any power or quality that is polar opposite to it. This becomes the struggle within our psyche.
Certain parts are ever attempting to maintain exclusive autonomy from other forces within the psyche or emerging from the unconscious for expression. This can cause a fight against the integrating, uniting power, a fight against synthesis. These appears to be two different possibilites. One is the the dominant power or quality of expression succeed in suppressing any opposition to its exclusive autonomy, and the other possibility is that it gives way, or surrenders in the conflict, to some other quality or power.
Such is life. At times there is a dominance of a certain power or quality expressing through us, and its power enforces a certain suppression or maybe a forgetfulness of all other potential powers within or available to us. And at other times this may give way to a new and different quality of power emerging from unconsciousness to conscious expression. Some times we feel and act one particular way and at other times we feel and act in a way that may seem rather opposite or disimilar to that previous manner. In terms of tantra we are sometimes possessed by one kind of power and at other times by another kind of power. Depending on how this all happens, we might feel and appear as relatively balanced, assuming there is a balanced kind of rhythm in our multiplicity of self-expression. This is all fine, yet there is another possibility which we can call reconciling or integrative. This does not mean that the dominating conscious power surrenders to whatever is newly emerging from the unconscious or merely gives way to a different autonomous quality of expression, and it certainly does not mean that it merely suppresses any threat to its own autonomy or willfully maintains its identified unique quality.
Instead, the conscious power, or that expressive quality which is now dominately conscious, allows what is emerging from the unconscious to come into a conscious relationship with it, that there may form a newly established relationship, an integrated quality or form of expression, a new synthesis of these previously exclusive and autonomous qualities. This becomes a more complete realisation and expression of the self wholeness, as more of oneself is consciously integrated into a relational synthesis. This is an especially powerful and significant synthesis when the relationship involves polar opposites or accentuated extremes. For this to alchemically unfold, the unique accentuations must not be suppressed or dampened. The qualities must come together in fullness of their respective powers, for intensity of intercourse and for complete realisation of their full synthesis. The key here is relationship, or allowing the relatedness to become apparent and consciously comprehended. Then, there is a conscious embracing of a greater wholeness of oneself, and this newly realized related wholeness is given opportunity for actual expression. This is a new and greater union of self being. And we call this a self reunion, because at least some of what has been suppressed or forgotten of the wholeness is now re-related and reunited as one integrated power of expression. Within this integrated power there remains the possibility of experiencing the unique, distinct qualities and polarities involved in the unity of expression, but these are now comprehended and accepted as complimenting each other in relationship, rather than opposing or threatening to each other. Thus, there need be no fight or struggle for supremacy, as the qualities involved in this related expression discover their complementation and uniquely significant function within the integrated whole of self expression. Completeness becomes the united purpose and relatedness the embodiment of this purpose.