We have not even to risk the adventure alone, for the heroes of all time have gone before us — the labyrinth is thoroughly known. We have only to follow the thread of the hero path, and where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence. And where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.
Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949), Chapter 1
In order to find the "higher self" you must let go of the self - the minotaur. The minotaur is symbolizing who you think you are. You have the higher faculties of reason which is peculiar to man yet you are still ruled by instincts which are very animal like. This split is discovered within an eternal conflict between two spheres of duality competing for rule over the psychic self which the ancient Egyptians mythologized in their story of the conflict between brothers struggling for the kingship of the land in The Contendings of Horus and Set. There is also the realization of distinct points of influence upon the self that can be described as the feminine feelings and the masculine intellect which eastern cultures call the yin and the yang. The resultant knowledge of this investigation reveals you are a battleground for forces you have little control over and instead you spend a lifetime trying to hold it all together in harmonious relationships. It is ultimately the last attachment to self we are loathe to let go of because what's left after that life long building project is destroyed? But why wait until death for the bricks to come tumbling down when you can participate in the demolition now? Anyway, two Ayahuasca ceremonies later, which completed the latest cycle of inner work, I was once again attacked by dark forces, but I regrouped and felt this surge of power and heightened consciousness. In the distance of my vision I spotted a jaguar against a mountainous backdrop and this regal feline noticed my presence and started moving towards me. I stood my ground as it approached and rushed me. It came right up to me, face to face, and let out a huge roar. I felt no fear as I roared right back at the jaguar. I then magically became the jaguar and I felt all powerful, like a King. The events in the vision that transpired cumulatively felt like the end of a quest and I felt I had attained some kind of a mastery over my dark inner world. It was true to an extent as over the course of the next year I realized my time with Ayahuasca for now had come to an end as all the signs were pointing to moving on from the exploration of the subconscious realms. In addition, the final Vilca visionary trip I underwent pretty much was telling me the same thing. This visionary catalyst propelled me upon a trip that was like a hot air balloon ride journeying through the three shamanic worlds and the balloon had first uncomfortably paused in the lower world much to my consternation. I realized later it was symbolizing how I was attached to the darkness, I always desired to return to its mystery, and I needed to let go. Fourteen months later I finally understood the whole becoming jaguar vision. The jaguar was also the sum total of all consciousness, just like the actor, which is the "higher self." The jaguar approached me and became me to demonstrate that I am all of consciousness. I roam, dominate, and can master the three worlds of creation.
There is a tendency of consciousness towards selfishness, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but the cumulative effects are pretty devastating upon the feminine half of creation. The concepts of unity and oneness that we throw around in clumsy ways to describe the interrelatedness and totality of the origin of the all is the divine sexual embrace of the feminine and masculine energies. The feminine Yin/Shakti/Kundalini serpent is the power that moves the masculine Yang/Shiva/the jaguar to dance. It is the power that plucks the string and commences creation as vibration. The rising of masculine power is due to the feminine and the cessation of this power is the withdrawing of this force as the arcing energetic envelop recedes back into the void, the void being space. The coming back into being of this masculine vibration once again is a result of the power of the feminine. A great illustration of this power is in the sexual imagery of man. This scene of Osiris being "remembered" by the two goddesses Isis and Nephthys in order that he may procreate wonderfully illustrates this concept.
Somehow, though this very mysterious feminine power and its origin is lost and it is masculine consciousness that reigns supreme. This epidemic misogyny is evident in the world's great religions and also in a great deal of the pre-eminent theologians, sages, and philosophers of all time that make the claim that everything leads back to the all father, the great consciousness, and that is god and he is everything - a noticeable exception being Lao Tzu and his Tao Te Ching. Lost is the power behind the throne. This blindness is due to the inherent weakness within consciousness that drives it to believe that it is the only one, the I am. What we have here in creation are billions of little individuated consciousnesses, egos, running around on earth believing in their greatness and of the uniqueness of self. It is an orgy of selfishness and it's an inherited trait from the all father. What I have come to believe as the ultimate meaning of life is the desire of the masculine polarity to examine this trait within itself by flooding the universe with clones of itself in the hopes that in the end it will collectively give up this attachment to self and find some kind of completeness by learning the value of harmony and cooperation. The feminine bequeathed the power necessary to begin this grand act of creation, consciousness took this gracious act which allowed it to self reflect and has now built this world as a grand monument to the self, intent upon obliterating the memory of the Mother Goddess and subjugating the feminine worldwide. The Great Goddess at one point told me in the visionary state that this wayward split of masculine consciousness will stop at nothing to try and get her and those that carry the light within to reveal the secret of her power in order to steal it. He is very clever and resourceful but so far has not found the source and according to the feminine divine he never will because it is based upon love, and love is something that is foreign to consciousness. We classify it in the mysterious category of "feelings."
So, that's where I stand. I think the change in consciousness comes one at a time in us humans. It involves a reintroduction to the mother and then an understanding of who we are and why we are here. Ultimately, it is to give up the attachment to self and to get to that point is to open oneself up to being harassed and stymied by lower forms of consciousness at every turn until finally you break through its stultifying grasp and see who you are. Only you, once you realize you are it, will be able to tell yourself the stark truth. To get to that point you have to slay yourself, the dragon within.
I will close this post with this particularly great passage from the Tao Te Ching as translated by Ursula K. Le Guin:
There is something
that contains everything.
Before heaven and earth
it is.
Oh, it is still, unbodied,
all on its own, unchanging,
all-pervading,
ever-moving.
So it can act as the mother
of all things.
Not knowing its real name,
we only call it the Way.
If it must be named,
let its name be Great.
Greatness means going on,
going on means going far,
and going far means turning back.
So they say: "The Way is great
heaven is great,
earth is great,
and humankind is great;
four greatnesses in the world,
and humanity is one of them."
People follow earth,
earth follows heaven,
heaven follows the Way,
the Way follows what is.
