Sabian Symbols: Two heads looking out beyond the shadows
Two heads looking out beyond the shadows
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This universal idea is best expressed through planets in
Virgo 10 (9° - 10°)THE MIND'S ABILITY TO GRASP HIGHER REALITIES
We can choose to see beyond conflict and duality to a world of goodness and peace Creativity reaches its peak when the artist becomes 'lost' in the work. In reality one is not quite lost but maintains clear awareness of the twin forces of manifested life in play as well as touching the transcendental state of inspiration that is beyond duality and limitation. This ability of mind - to rise above duality - is a reflection of its need to see beyond its own shadow, the shadow it casts when holding on to belief and opinion for its sense of security.
Rudhyar: TWO HEADS LOOKING OUT AND BEYOND THE SHADOWS |
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Two heads looking out beyond the shadows
Intelligence
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The highest intelligence is found in knowing both how and why
The exceptional intelligence of our species enables us to conceive of God, and also it endows us with exceptional mechanical sense that can be applied to everyday physical problems. The two heads in this image symbolise our twin-faceted curiosity to penetrate the mysteries of life, both spiritual and material. We develop intelligence by the operation of a kind of trial and error process that requires us to collect information, create an hypotheses and then test it. In the material sense such information is typically measurement; in the spiritual sense it tends to be subjective feelings. Yet however esoteric may be our comprehension, we like to reduce all knowledge to exact and efficient formulas. This may be mathematical, it may be religious, but it is formulaic. If it is not, with very few exceptions, we ourselves are reduced to a fragmentation; we lose sight of the integrating force of our identity and purpose. It is foolish to think of ourselves as either material or spiritual; an any moment we are simultaneously the integrated enactment of both properties of life. The code by which we live is a marriage of sorts between what works in practice, and our perception of an ideal. The inner and outer faces of reality are then merged into a composite understanding of how life really is. This is a necessary and effective operation of mind and heart which pulls together the various phases of human experience to have some unity of common purpose. Were we entirely spiritual, we would not know the ‘how’ – and if all-material, we would lack the ‘why’. There is, beyond this very pragmatic explanation, further motivation for us to develop a capacity for seeing both sides in every issue. It is actually that there is no better achievement for the mind than to do this – its exaltation lies in this ability to approach each moment without the fixity of dogmatic comprehension. A life is lived in order to gain new experiences, and from these we learn to focus the mind away from confusion and ignorance and towards clarity and understanding. Yet a more subtle aspect of intelligence concerns itself with the unseen, eternal realms. To have both transcendental powers of comprehension, and stereoscopic reasoning ability, enables the birth of genius. We learn to know the why and how of each aspect of our lives. |
