Sublime

The whole impetus of life is to transcend: to get beyond the separateness, insignificance and transience of the ordinary human condition through association with something timeless and boundless.

traditions spoke of, the “descent into the underworld”—a sacred return to the zero point, the origin of consciousness. Before patriarchy, it was clear that the cycle of death and rebirth was a deeply feminine process at its core; it was a return to the womb, for both men and women. And as black holes birth light, so this journey into the womb trans

exploring the psyche can mediate a profound reconnection with the cosmic creative principle, helping people to heal a range of emotional and physical problems, transcend their fear of death, and reach a more integrated level of functioning in everyday life.

see times of loss as inevitable and, in a very real way, necessary, we are able to engage these moments and cultivate the art of living well, of metabolizing suffering into something beautiful and ultimately sacred.

As he says, in a note in the Black Books, Abraxas is the uniting of the Christian God with Satan.106 It’s reincorporating evil into the Godhead. It’s the great theme of Answer to Job.

The next layer of experiences that people encounter in deep self-exploration Grof termed the perinatal layer (from peri, meaning “surrounding” and natalis, meaning “birth”). Perinatal experiences are based around the memories of birth labor and delivery, combined with dramatic encounters with dying and impermanence in human life. As Grof's patients

The ego is a split-off particle of the vaster consciousness, which still remains in all people. Unless this split-off part is integrated with its origin, it dies. Therefore splitting off and dying are related, as reunification and living are related and interdependent. Ego existence, pleasurelessness, and death are directly connected, as the real s