It is within the intersections of opposing forces that self organization, transformation, and the birth of new things emanate. These opposing forces are related to one another, such that they are of the same nature, but expressed in differing ways. They are essentially two brothers. We can see examples of this as hot / cold, vacuum / pressure, sky / earth, fire / water, and so on.
What do I mean about the "intersection" of these forces? It is that region in which the effects of one force stop and the other begin. In some cases this region is wide, as to allow for a middle intermediate state to exist, and in some cases the region is impossibly thin, to signify that there is a point in which a change occurs, but this point is passed through very quickly, and with only great difficulty and precision can one land exactly on that point such that they are in a state of superimposition. More on this later.
This process of opposites interacting is beyond the concept of scales, and it is universal in nature. We may call it an archetype. There are many local (time based, scale based) example of it we can use to illustrate the concept. As this is an archetype, we can shine differing angles of the light of understanding through it in order to cast seemingly different shadows down into the intellect.
Let us first start with understanding this through simple geometry and symbols, as these forms are the nearest to being archetypal, because the information they carry lends themselves to be used as pattern that can apply to a wide variety of particular examples, but in and of themselves do not refer to any specific or particular example, but are merely that tendency towards a pattern.
If we wanted a symbol that would represent / capture the all-encompassing "everything", that is, all of the universe and creation, the simplest and most natural symbol we would use would be a circle. Without beginning or end, without angles, without any sense of which part is up or down, without any breaks in it at all. It has historically been used to represent "all that is", and "divinity", "the infinite", the spiritual world, the primordial universe, and so on. We see a wide variety of ancient cultures use this, and it even presents itself in the Christian iconography as the halo, symbolizing this connection to the divine. In many cases it became associated with the symbol for the sun, as the local example of the giver of all. In some cultures it became the symbol for the enlightened mind which become one with the universe without any filter. For simplicity of understanding, I would say the circle represents "the all", that is, all that can exist and does exist, without specifications as to the various types of things that the "all" encompasses.
It is inherently "non divided" in its true nature, but in order to proceed further in understanding, we must introduce a division. This is inevitable - nothing new can be made without the introduction of
something that starts to re-shape or re-organize things. We find this expressed in Genesis as well, quite simply, that eternal formless confused mass of chaos needed the introduction of
some principle in order to have anything happen, and that principle was the word / light of god, but I suggest that we don't need to specifically understand it as such, but merely recognize that the everchanging all would require some modifications if we were to progress it down the tree into the realm of specification.
Symbolically, how can we represent this concept of the simplest form of specification or division with our circle? It would be to draw a line across it, uniting that infinite unbroken circumference with a diameter.
Although the line proceeds from the top to the bottom, there is no implied meaning as compared to a line that would bisect the circle at some other angle. It is merely that we are creating some sort of primary division in the infinite as to divide the unbroken whole into opposing pairs. These opposing pairs are a creation that already puts us down into the path of specificity, or as some have written about it, the path towards creation. This first of division is the only type of division that can exist as we proceed forwards. In some cultures, this first division became captured as the representation of the two primal cosmic forces existing in continual flux and change, with the seed of each in the other, which sprang out from the original unbroken whole. There are many variations of this captured in symbols, and not only found in the Far East, but in Europe during the Iron Age (pre greeks). Variations were also found in the New World.
Here we have highlighted the intersection of the opposing forces in yellow. This yellow line is the representation of the first act of creation or separation, and while we are used to thinking about the effects of this act, such as the creation of a primary duality, as if that duality is all that now exists, the act of separation or creation itself came from an external source, at least in some way external to that totality that the unbroken circle represented. There is this theological point of view that as soon as that singular act of creation occurred, that external source immediately disappeared, and we find much of this idea in Deism, and there are other points of view which seeks to undertake topographical manipulations of symbolism as a teaching aid to understand how the primary infinite circle first separated itself via a series of expansion / contractions before it could introduce a light infusion that was the separation, such a we often find in esoteric Judaism, yet even in that system we still need to posit some sort of initial change, and I believe the above symbolism of the creation of the diameter best captures the simplest form of this idea.
If we try and look at the simple pictographical / hieroglyphic representation of symbols and ideas within ancient Egypt, we find some evidence of these simple symbols, but they are already part of a highly organized specificity which relates the symbols to complex ideas. Still, the unbroken circle we find as "the pupil of the eye", or alternately as the sun, signifying that solar disk which is often found in conjunction with hieroglyphs of the various gods. We find a single instance of a circle with a divided line in the middle signify a feature of the moon, specifically of the quarter moon, which shows that even by then the idea of symbols had become quite specialized and specific.
We should all at this point see what alchemical symbol this is representing, the so called "Niter", which, although more modernly understood as a certain nitrate, mainly potassium nitrate, salt-peter, and so on. Following it back to its historic roots, we find it actually refers to a totally different compound, and merely became known as the modern day nitrate form through the telephone game of historical translations and mis-translations. The Egyptian hieroglyph for this original substance which eventually became our Nitrate is a flag pole, and at first this seems unrelated, but the pertinent feature to keep in mind with the flagpole is the pole, and not the flag.
Students of archeoastronomy will immediately understand the use of a flagpole, or any tall pole in charting the heavens (the divine), whether that is to make a simple seasonal calendar, measuring the size of the earth, or suss out subtle yet complex patterns found in the moving stars. The first natural sequence of events that relates to charting the shadows cast by the sun is the development of calendars, which not only had an immediate utility relating to agricultural efficiencies (when to plant, when to harvest), but in the developments of city states and other political regions served the function of associating a calendar with the life of the ruler, since the Kings were seen as divine, or descending from the divine, and the Calendar was often associated with the specific ruler. Thus we see instances of a new King taking a position, and then developing a new Calendar to cement this, and we see this especially in the Far East.
We may further understand a Calendar to symbolize the patterns in the life of a King, which is the reflection of the divine. The Calendar captures a reflection of divine (celestial) movements and patterns as projected onto the Earth, just as the King is a projection of the Divine unto the earth. As the earth is an emanation of the divine, so too is a region, its citizens, its fields, its crops, etc, an emanation of the King, as to encompass all that is within his Kingdom.
The flag pole, firmly planted in the earth, reaching up towards the heavens, became replaced with the obelisk, a more permanent object, and gained a bit more symbolism, as the obelisk now represented a solidified crystallization from the sun, the rays from the sun disk reaching the earth, or variations on what was the accepted sun god. We also have the same concept represented by Jacobs Ladder - that ladder which reaches from the Heavens to the Earth, and is a pathway of communication between the two, with angels both ascending and descending, as angels were understood to be the messengers of the divine. In that regard, there is no difference in ideas between ladder with rungs that reaches from one extreme to the other, and messengers - these are one and the same thing. The ladder, with its rungs, has the inherent capacity to be climbed / descended. The flagpole captures part of this capacity, in that a flag can be both raised or lowered.
In order to orient our understanding a bit better, the following diagram shows how the concept of the ladder / messenger as a function of that dividing line / intersection of forces works.
This is all to say, that intersection of opposing forces is itself the same thing as creation, as creation was simply the division of a unified totality into a duality that could interact, and the interaction of that duality with itself is also creation. Furthermore, the pathway or communicative connection between these opposites is that very same creation. The same thing is being represented in various forms, or understood at different scales.
Another way this has been symbolically expressed is the
0=2 concept of dialectical monism. A clearer representation would be to say
0= (+
1) + (-
1), and here the concept of
0 is taken to be the undivided totality of all things, which, prior to specification via division, is equivalent to being an "undefined nothing" or chaos, or other such concepts which seek a description that is outside descriptivity.
Note that even in the above concept, we necessarily have the connective operation of the
+ symbol between the +1 and -1, and this is that same dividing or unifying area of intersectionality between the two forces that is also represented by the flagpole, obelisk, ladder, ascending /descending angels, thin edge between yin and yang, etc.
It may serve us now to look at some practical applications of this, which still encode the symbolism but starts to bring it down to specific examples. In this example, we are going to deal with the duality of energy and matter, two seemingly different things, which has been shown to be one thing, transformed back and forth by the mass-energy equivalence formula. We being by imaging some undifferentiated whole, which has then been divided or differentiated into matter and energy. The act of this creation or differentiation is the unified field in which these two things can interact, which in our case is the matrix of space/time. The concepts of increasing energy (heat) are expressed via the X axis, and the concept of increasing matter (humidity) are expressed along the Y axis, and both of these have some origin point at 0K, which is also known as the zero-point, the point where there is zero energy input into matter, and only that energy which is inherent in matter is present.
One may start to see this as a phase diagram, where increasing humidity / increasing matter is equivalent to increasing pressure, as pressure is merely a force which in essence puts "more matter" into the same space, or alternately packs it tighter together. We may also understand it as increased density. Regardless of pressures or density of matter, at a high enough temperature (energy) levels, we hit supercriticality (fire), which is to say states wherein the divide between water and air break down, as the energy level is so high for the given density that it cannot resolve into either of these two forms, and given the right conditions, this supercritical matter can radiate out this fire. This capacity for supercritical matters to radiate this fire is actively used in many modern industries.
Keeping with the tread of the intersections, we look at those dividing lines which delineate the elements. These are the phase-change lines. Passing from air to water and back to air, we see evaporation and condensation - in essence distillation. From water to earth and back to water we see freezing and melting, or solidification and dissolution, solve et coagula, and from earth to air and back to earth, we see sublimation and deposition or dry distillations. From air to fire we see ionization and deionization (recombination), and from water to fire there is a 5th state (not here included), which deals with the research of "plasma crystals" also known a "colloidal plasmas" or liquid plasmas, the research on which is now over 30 years old.
The phase change transitions are not smooth gradients - there is an energetic hump that needs to be surpassed to pass through one way, and when passing through the other way, a relative large amount of energy is also released. Those energies which are needed as inputs, or received as outputs are a form of fire. This fire is released whenever we move from fire to air, air to water, water to earth, or air to earth.
One may here note the similarity between the classical formation of the elements or their levels of subtlety or level of spiritual substance / aether / spirit / etc : Fire -> Air -> Water -> Earth.
What is interesting is this capacity to release fire. Alternately we may call it light, and even the "light of creation" if we wish. This release of energy is measurable and well known to science, but we usually don't experience in our day to day, even though we often deal with these phase transitions. For example, as water freezes to form ice, in that process of crystallization wherein the water molecules lock together in their lattices, the excess energy from the movements of the water molecules are release. The same process is also used to make "cold packs" - liquid salt pouches than crystallize, and in doing so they release a large amount of heat. The same process occurs when we move from air to water as well, or even air to earth.
There is this question then, "where does that energy go"? We know in the cold packs it heats up the crystal, that is, it thermally radiates. Generally the answer is thermal radiation because that energy is immediately interacting with its environment in such a way that is is being expressed through a speed of vibration in the surrounding matter from which it was released. On large scales, such as in the atmosphere, this excess heat released via condensation warms the surrounding air, which rises, and is the energy that fuels weather patterns. A similar pattern occurs as the ground freezes (or more specifically the water in the ground freezes) - it releases that excess energy into the air, and that hot air rises up.
If we think of this process, of materials that absorb heat and emit heat during phase changes, we can liken this to a type of a simple battery or a capacitor. There is a field that investigates specialty materials that are good at these kind of phase changes, called PCM (Phase change materials). Two of the largest categories of these materials are inorganic salts (i.e. salts that do not contain any carbon bonds, and generally made from an acid/base reaction), and organic waxes and oils. Specialty materials are made for various applications, and much of what these specialty materials are designed for is operation within a specific temperature range. This brings us to the idea of alchemists creating certain salts that can undergo phase change (turning solid to liquid) easily at low temperatures (such as that of holding the salt in your hand).
Something interesting starts to happen when we deal with these specialty phase change materials if they are kept exactly at their phase change point, that is, the exact spot where they are undergoing change from one form of matter (say solid) to another form (say liquid). In this state, where the molecular bonds are continually undergoing a reorganization / crystallization, and disorganization / melting, that latent heat energy flowing in and out, that is that fire or light, is continually being absorbed and emitted.
This is that concept that I started the post with, that:
"It is within the intersections of opposing forces that self organization, transformation, and the birth of new things emanate."
I have many more parts to write, and as this has taken some amount of time to get into something resembling legible text, further parts may take some time. I myself believe that the whole of the process of mutus liber is contained in the first plate - the rest of it is just going into various details. This post I think is like the "introduction" to the concept - there is much more that can follow.
If we return again to that symbol of niter, we see it laid out very plainly in plate 1:
