The story of African Archetypes of the Cosmic Mind starts
with the Sublime ("just below the lintel"-i.e. the horizontal cross-bar of a
doorway). Heavenly "ether"--in its most concentrated form--fills the Sublime.
Ancient Africans deemed the presumed dome sky to be the lintel between the
heavens and the material world through which Divine archetypes pass. According
to King (African Origins p15), "archetype and seed are synonymous-- both
referring to the origin, the basic model of humanity upon which the race is
patterned. Archetype means seed and is one of the Ancient African names for
seed." African Mythology says the Amenta, present in the lower part of the sky,
is partly inside the Cosmic Mind. It encompasses the primordial ocean of Nun and the Cosmic Unconsciousness.
"Primordial" means unconditional-not caused by any circumstance-not created-not
formed (Gimian, Trungpa p22). Since the Cosmic Mind is undifferentiated, free,
calm, expansive, peaceful, and uncolored (therefore "black"), it is called the
Black Dot, The "Void" (i.e. a plane without mental concepts), or the state of
"Nothingness" (a state lacking mental movement caused by thoughts in the Cosmic
Mind). Thus, "blackness" has become a metaphor of the Absolute (beyond all
mental concepts).
The Nun-believed to be the body of God (Ashby, African
Origins, p543, 519, 535, 115)-carries in its womb the unformed embryonic
possibilities for all that is to later exist in the light of Cosmic Conscious
reality-possibilities that are in chaos and in the dark. The nature of each
embryo's Cosmic Mind is formed out of the Intangible contents of all that is within
the Sublime-things like love, harmony, unity, and the creative elements
required for growth, budding, blossoming, and "fruiting" (Ramacharaka, Gnani
Yoga p263). When called into "being-hood", the formless embryo enters a
cocoon-like passageway and transforms into an archetype or seed containing the
perfect concept of what it is to give rise to once it buds in Conscious
reality. However, the Amenta's Divine
archetypes nor their offspring are part of conscious thought. Rather, they are
primordial images which cause a predisposition to certain behaviors or
instinct-like patterned performances. Following "seeding" in the Cosmic Mind,
Divine archetypes also "seed" in the Humanity Soul and in the Personal
Unconscious. Its "Involution/Evolution" process is likened to a primordial
mirror because, similar to a mirror, it willingly reflects anything contained
in its nature-anything from the most gross level up to the most refined level.
Furthermore, a Divine African Archetype is a "seed" of
creation that fashions things out of itself by itself becoming the thing it
makes. In this way the Cosmic Mind becomes, and communicates with, each human
mind. Humans can reach the Cosmic Mind through transcendental meditation (i.e.
to carry oneself from the realm of mental concepts into the realm of the
absence of mental concepts). The offspring of the Original Seed become
spiritual models or patterns that can be copied or imitated. By contrast, the
Western "archetype" is more material world oriented. It is composed of two main
words-arch and type. Its "Type" is defined as a person, thing, or event that
symbolizes or represents another--especially another destined to be born. Also,
"type" is the general form, structure, plan, or style characterizing or
distinquishing a member of a class or group. Western "Arch" is defined as man,
chief, principle or as a curved structure-a lintel-used as support over an open space (King).
Joseph A. Bailey, II, M.D.
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