The world is as it seems to us, made of things that do not appear

(Saint Augustine).

Personal story: when I was young, very young, first year of college, the Student Center, in partnership with the Sedes Sapientiae Institute, received a religious woman, doctor in Philosophy and Theology, to teach religion to anyone who was interested. I started attending meetings and, in a short time, there was only me in a class, when Soror asked me the question: “What do you understand by Freedom?”. I don’t know or I don’t remember what answer came to me, until I heard the master’s speech: Freedom is choosing God! I never went back to class, because I didn’t understand or accept such an incongruous answer! My ego couldn’t agree. Only after many years of life, therapy, losses, did I surrender to the Truth when understanding was made by the Self!

It is my understanding that the intentionality of choices is a phenomenon present in all existential realities, of unconscious origin, to which we are not always aware. The realization of this fact causes astonishment, often strangeness, other times fascination, dazzlement... Notwithstanding, if we look forward to this very enigmatic finding, we will have to surrender and humble ourselves on the face of the expressiveness of the wisdom of this great unknown that is presented to us, and it announces itself both in the most apparently insignificant, as well as in the most evident unusual, often read or taken as a “miracle”!

The intentionality of the phenomena, revealed in the most primordial “choices”, is frighteningly impactful!

In 1857, when the first publication of the Book of Spirits by Allan Kardec, one of his propositions was the presence of the divine spirit in any and all expressions of matter, be it mineral, plant or animal.

“Matter is the bond that holds the spirit; it is the instrument that it uses and on which, at the same time, it exercises its action.” From this point of view, it can be said that matter is the agent, the intermediary with the help of which, and on which, the spirit acts (^{KARDEC, 2013, p. 81}).

In “The Human Phenomenon”, ^{Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1995)} considers that, since the beginnings of the world, an Attractor (the “Omega Point”) operates “already extremely present” (p. 251-2) and capable of making things happen. Alongside this, Chardin proposes, in that same text, the phenomenal reality of consciousness being a process in transformation, updated from the mineral kingdom, happening in the plant kingdom, revealing itself in the animal kingdom, until reaching its omega in human beings.

^{Jean E. Charon (1977)}, in his text “The Spirit, this Unknown”, declares himself as a theoretical physicist, that is, one who is interested in describing the laws that govern nature. He says in the preface of the book: “my research is directed towards the so-called unitary theories, which are theories that strive to unify the different observed laws, demonstrating that they form particular cases of a more general law, valid for all phenomena, designated as unitary law” (p. 13).

Charon proposes the existence of a “thinking” reality, inherent to any and all matter, realities that “think” of us, that alert us, that are loaded with purposes!

The new Gnostics of Princeton and Pasadena, according to Charon, kept from the ancient philosophy the idea that what we call Spirit is inseparable from all the phenomena that we see in the Universe, whether physical or psychic (that is, the same statement by Kardec). In this proposition by Charon, there would be, notably, Spirit-bearing beings, called eons, which would interfere in the behavior of matter.

Still according to ^{Charon (1977)}, for such a unitary theory of the cosmos, the eons represent electrons, with their own space-time concept, which unify matter and spirit and condition the continuous evolution of the spirit within itself and throughout the cosmos.

Inside each person, there are microscopic individualities that think, that know, that transport the Spirit within the Universe, and that we can call, according to the ancient Gnostics, eons. They know human knowledge, since they are the ones who “think” this knowledge. But this knowledge goes far beyond human knowledge, as we are able, for example, to formalize it in any language; the eons know, remarkably, how to create life (^{CHARON, 1977, p. 204}).

The fantastic phenomena that occur in the most primordial recesses of our lives portray moments in which choices, of an absolutely inexplicable nature, but with objective intentions, are manifested!

When the formation of gametes, reproductive cells of mammals, both males and females, when forged, reveal themselves to be carriers of this wisdom, full of intentions, consistent with a possible future, before it comes to be!

This spirit, this sublime intelligence present in all the structures that make up nature, which “decides”, during cell division for the formation of the ovum, which parts of the maternal grandfather’s and grandmother’s chromosomes will choose; that it “decides”, as a gamete, to keep only half of its original chromosomes; who “decides”, when going down the tube and reaching the uterus to join another gamete (spermatozoon), whose “choices” were forged in the image and likeness of their future partner; who “decides” to copulate with the “n” spermatozoon and not with the first or second that arrives, to form the future human being... Which, after the fusion of both will divide into countless cells, apparently equal to the one that gave rise to them and , by a miraculous process, forms an initial uroboros with countless “apparently” identical cells, but with multi-differentiated and unintelligible competences, updating, in just ten or twelve weeks, all the different tissues, all the different organs, all the different apparatuses: gastroenteric, respiratory, vascular, reproductive and many others: all the bones, the brain and the nervous systems, in short, forge a complete human embryo from a single primordial egg cell. And, in the next 28 or 30 weeks, this embryo will grow, increase in size and weight, mature, complete itself, until it is able to come to light, to breathe oxygen from the outside world, leaving the liquid medium in which it developed, nourished exclusively by maternal blood (^{SNUSTAD, SIMMONS, 2001}).

And, here he appears, with the most complex skills of his nature, when then his first expression will be crying, after the first breath!

Coming into the world causes pain!

Leaving the uterine nest, scares!

Feeling without containment, threatens!

^{Jung (1984, par. 388)}, when discussing the “Theoretical Considerations on the Nature of the Psychic”, considers the unconscious as a “multiple consciousness”, proposing the hypothesis of the existence of countless luminosities, similar to “consciousness” and present in the content of the unconscious. He recalls that “one of the most important sources for the knowledge of symbolic representations in the past was alchemy”. It is from that, that Jung takes the idea of the scintillae (sparks) that arise from visual illusions in “transforming substance”. Jung points out that certain alchemists already sensed the psychic nature of these luminosities. For Jung, the human mind would also be a scintilla of this kind, allowing to compare these scintillae with the archetypes, correlating them with the eternal images of Plato, that is, a philosophical version of the archetypes. From this alchemical vision, it would be possible to conclude that the archetypes have in themselves a certain brightness or a certain resemblance to consciousness and, consequently, a certain luminosity linked to numinositas.

For ^{Jung (1984, par. 388)}, still in the same paragraph quoted above, Paracelsus also had an idea of this fact, as quoted by him in his Philosophia sagax, namely:

And just as in man, nothing can exist without the divine numen, so also nothing can exist in man without the natural lumen. It is these two parts alone, the numen and the lumen, which make man perfect. Everything that exists comes from these two things, and both are in man, but without them man is nothing, though they may exist without man.

Saint Augustine (apud ^{CHARON, 1977}) proposes: “The world is as it seems to us, made of things that do not appear”, which incites us to a reflection, paying attention to “the things that do not appear”. This proposition reveals and portrays how much we live deluded by the assumption that the psychic activity, which populates us, confers competence to know and understand the reality in which we are supposed to be inserted!

And so, because of these many discoveries of wisdom that forge us, we will have to walk through the mythical remembering that Prometheus (^{PLATÃO, 1973}; ^{HESÍODO, 1995, vers. 507-616}) symbolically endowed us with the fire of Hephaestus and the techné of Athena and, in the face of so many atrocities committed as a result of these skills, as creative as they are destructive, we were rewarded with the Olympic virtues of diké, that is, acting justly towards the other, and aidós, or rather, doing the best of ourselves for the other, being that if we did not, we would be ashamed! These two virtues, coming from the divine Zeus, would make us human creatures, invested as we were with relational attributes, leading us to take care of the other. To do so, we would have to do what we have best with each other, without which, if we didn’t succeed, the fact would cause dishonor, along with being convinced to treat everyone with equity and justice, because this would be our function!

It must be agreed, the wisdom that precedes us, forges us, creates us, presents us, certainly leads us to the goal in which we should be and be fully aware of being unique entities of a universe never thought of!

But, we are not so yet and we do not exercise like that!

Starting from the “thinking” assumptions, cited by ^{Jean Charon (1977, p. 13)} that make us up, populate us, fertilize us and make us glimpse the unheard of, we will find that the realm of the conscious/unconscious is, possibly, also an expression of this “thinking” reality in us.

The universe of the collective unconscious, wise by its own nature, tirelessly sends us “messages”, alerts, simple messages, phenomenal “scolding” when our follies; sends dreams as much as nightmares, sends unique intuitions, new ideas, imperious demands and desires that cost us decades of work...

This realm of the unconscious, pregnant with creatures that claim to come to light, waiting anxiously for the “cracks” that are forged in the frontiers of consciousness, as if they were fetuses waiting for the time to be born..., insight happens and, fundamentally, self-knowledge arises!

And, suddenly, we know ourselves “made of things that don’t appear” and the world will never be the same!

Thinking about the phenomenon of the intentionality of choices and decisions solely from the finalist reference, impoverishes the nature of the process by reducing it to the condition of walking towards a previously idealized, supposed, understood goal.

The assumptions from the finalist condition are forged, it must be agreed, fundamentally as a result of the reference of a patriarchal dynamic, based on a sequential linearity, of a temporal nature. This temporal, linear and sequential character understands all phenomena as arising from a past that forged them, updating and developing in a present of the here and now, when then we can interfere in a future towards which it will move as long as it is done according to our desires or “if God wills” or “if luck helps” or if “the forces of good or evil interfere”! (^{ALVARENGA, 2018}).

Knowing the “here-now” as a symbolic phenomenal reality implies knowing oneself as an instance of the phenomenon itself, it implies knowing oneself transforming and being transformed in the phenomenon and by the phenomenon.

Thus, knowing oneself as a phenomenon, being the very phenomenon in which one finds oneself to be, implies knowing oneself being transformed by unconscious realities inherent to the very nature of the phenomenon in which we are, realities that are under the slogan of “intentionalities” and of “choices” that we do not know! And, when we wake up to these choices, we wonder, not knowing that we are also intentionalities and choices!

Since time is an eternally present reality, both the past and the future will be in this present moment, symbolically, in continuous transformation. However, for the reality of consciousness, which is still under the framework of how the patriarchal dynamics evaluates time, the past will remain unchanged (slight deceit) and the future “belongs to God” (fatalism).

I understand that only imperious defenses, with very high energy consumption, manage, for a few moments, to prevent the consciousness, always so restricted, from perceiving the presence of ongoing transformations through which the “past” is in transformation, propitiating, jointly and synchronically, the transformations of the eternal present, as well as possible futures. These possible futures, which are already real, will be postponed, and possibly replaced by probable futures. The fact is a result of consciousness, due to the intensity of the defenses, not paying attention to the phenomenon of the past, which remains in transformation. Thus, this changing past is not forged as consciousness.

Thus it will be until the defenses are worked out!

The terrible thing is to see that collective defenses last for millennia!

Understanding the eternal present and knowing oneself to be in continuous and constant transformation implies achieving a post-patriarchal dynamic of consciousness, being in the encounter with the other, as it means being in interaction with the totality and, therefore, knowing oneself to be in continuous and constant transformation, like the whole!

Thus, as the expanding Universe renews itself and expands, recreates itself, without ceasing to be what it once was, so are we, instances of that same Universe!

Only the symbolic understanding of reality can encompass the understanding of this totality. Symbols and Diabolos are contingencies of our whole. The understanding that everything is in transformation, provides the tranquility of knowing that we are chosen and choosing (often or almost never paying attention to our own choices, of an unconscious nature), participating in the intentions of these choices of the expanding totality (^{ALVARENGA, 2018}).

It is important to pay attention to the condition that Symbols and Diabolos are contingencies of the phenomenon: what aggregates, combines, forges the whole, becomes a Unit, is in synchronicity with what separates, divides into random pieces, dissociates, dismembers.

The phenomenon of time, thought in terms of the fourth dynamic of consciousness (^{ALVARENGA, 2018}) as the eternal present, therefore expects that: “The world is as it seems to us, made of things that do not appear”.

Along with the aforementioned proposition about time, ^{Gregg Braden (2002)}, when writing about the “Isaiah effect” refers to the condition that, in a continuous present, more than one possibility of “futures” will be predictable and available, depending fundamentally on how much we are able to update these possible futures, different from the probable ones. If they, probable futures, are not updated, they will remain neurotically re-editing themselves in a consciousness pattern, always present and averse to transformations.

In my opinion, the incompetence to update possible futures would also result from the incompetence to transform the past, (considered immutable), due to the lack of reflective processes regarding accepting or assuming responsibility arising from the intentional demands for transformations, continuously carried by dreams, intuitions, desires for new paths!

According to my understanding, past realities change from the reflective rereading that we can do, fundamentally through the process of therapy. When we review, reevaluate and reflect on these moments, (considered as past, but present in memory) according to a new consignment of updated consciousness, of a post-patriarchal nature, we see how much we have transformed the mnemonic reality of the past. The unprecedented symbolic understanding being made, creates the condition of the past to transform!

It must be agreed that the past is in an eternal process of transformation due to our continuous reflections, arising from the symbolic elaborations that we can update throughout our lives!

Along with our temporary incompetences, in order to understand that the past can be modified, it is my understanding that it is profoundly glorious to pay attention to the reality of being, continuously and concomitantly, under the imperiousness of unconscious choices and intentions that alert, inspire, demand provisions for possible futures. However, for such possible futures to be fulfilled, glimpses of awareness about the burdens to be assumed are present. And, the perception of the high costs of the challenges, when perceived, end up causing discomfort and/or subjective experiences of threats that trigger fortuitous and/or defensive egoic promises. And there are many possible futures that do not come true. As a result, the feeling established is that of imprisonment!

Accepting the demands resulting from unconscious intentions and decisions implies recognizing the size of the decision, but it also means paying attention to how often the demand is threatening to one’s own ego. The fear of taking on the challenge causes dropouts; if so, the awareness of having given up triggers self-injury. A little reflection and we realize how ashamed we feel about ourselves, which leads to a feeling of unhappiness! As well as assuming that we are not competent to take on the demand, we feel coerced into taking it on and, at the same time, disgusted with what we are experiencing. The conflict arising from this awareness often results in a neurotic, defensive feeling of having been abandoned, perhaps by “god”, as well as guilty and/or unlucky and revolted with the “divine”.

When we manage to make a symbolic reading of the material that the unconscious intentionally sends, whether dreams, intuitions and inexplicable demands that emerge into the field of consciousness, it is impressive how this wisdom of the mate material that emerges, to have an objective sense of guiding the individuation process. I believe it is more than obvious that there is an intention to promote the growth, development or achievement of all of us in the sense that the person walks towards the concreteness of actions and decisions.

When we assume the intentions and decisions arising from the unconscious, a certain explicit “courage” emerges in our conduct in defending the decision taken, followed by feelings of unconfessed doubts of “will I really be able to?”, “will I succeed?”, “and if I fail?”

Sometimes we can’t! However, when we succeed, the pleasure of having had the courage to fight is indescribable!

Reflecting on where errors occur in these negotiations, I suppose that they are present when the ego does not accept or does not support the burden or negotiates and does not fulfill the agreement. And how many excuses do we all make when we don’t carry out our own decisions!

I find that the defensive pattern of patriarchal consciousness contributes to thwarting growth. The price we all pay for not taking on the demands of the unconscious depends on having a reflective conscience.

How far does what we call free will block or prevent the wise demands of intentionality from being fulfilled?

Why, if we are creatures resulting from this wisdom that populates us, do we receive the attribute of free will that boycotts the individuation process?

I think that in the same way that the primordial cell makes mistakes and forges a hamartoma and the chromosome 21 is divided and forms a trisomy, the Ego, because it has autonomy, makes mistakes! But the wisdom of the thinkers does not give up and continues to send messages. If not, let’s see!

More than 2000 thousand years ago, Christ announced the possibility of leaving the defensive patriarchal dynamics to reach the fourth dynamic and many other more developed ones. And that’s how the apostles became healers, provoked conversions, had the gift of speech and, therefore, the fourth, fifth and sixth dynamics were objectively present in them! (^{ALVARENGA, 2018}).

In the same way that the universe expands, Life and Consciousness also expand and recreate themselves, making Life.

The pedagogical intentionality of the messages that emerge, for example, from dreams is surprising. Let us take, by way of explanation and closure of the text, a dream that I understand contains this nature. I will talk about a dream of a client (with her permission), populated, in my opinion, by the wisdom of the messages of intentionalities and unconscious demands!

I dream that I am watching a couple who are in a house in the forest. This couple seems to be ancient peasants, like fairytale figures. I see that the couple moves in communion with nature and the house. The movements are calm and harmonious. At a certain point it seems that they “eat” a piece of the house, but when I look at it, the house is restored.

In the next scene I see myself in the house (I don’t know if it was the same one or another one). It feels like a house or trailer because it (the house) moves with me. I’m alone, but I feel like I’m one with my children and my ancestors. I move in nature, I am the house and the house is me. I can eat the house if necessary and it will restore itself. I watch the seasons pass: very cold - and the house is warm and welcoming; very hot – the house is airy and open.

More things happen at the end of the dream but I can’t remember, I just remember about something that will happen on 5/31.

The first message from the “thinkers” was to announce to the dreamer that everything that followed should be read or understood as a fairy tale, that is, symbolically! In the next scene, she sees herself apparently alone and feels that she is also the house that moves – she and the mobile home are one and, by knowing this, she also discovers herself incorporated from her ancestors and descendants, that is, she discovers herself full. And, knowing itself fully, it feeds on the fullness in which it was forged by the transformation it experienced. By feeding on itself, it expands the totality (certainly due to the transformation achieved by dying what it itself was, without ceasing to be, and by incorporating what it has become). When you see yourself in the following seasons (possible futures) you know you are in harmony (always pleasant home). By subjectively intuiting the experience of death, certainly as a rite of passage announced by the dream, and which implies its symbolic death, a new becoming is announced, and its conscience (ego) foresees transformations that it understands as a literal death! They still don’t understand that the death that is being “felt” is symbolic and that the transformation experienced represents becoming food for oneself, incorporating one’s own fullness!

The dreamer’s message from the “thinkers” is fascinating, revealing the demand of her own individuation process, intentionally indicating the need to become one, with what will become food for her own growth.

The intentionality of decisions, as well as the demands brought to the conscious mind by the egoic path, sometimes tend to cause conflicts. My understanding is that the conflict caused may result from the pride of the ego that cannot or will not accept submitting to certain demands when these are not in tune and synchronic with the existential moment. Every time the ego understands that it needs or “must” submit to the demand, it tends to contest, complain, protest against situations that resemble “fate”, “bad luck”, “collusions” of others and so many other situations; which leads the ego to feel threatened or persecuted in a way.

Reflecting on these situations that constitute a threat to the ego, I was led to think how much the intentionalities of the demands and choices portray a collective phenomenon according to which the thinkers, in addition to acting as co-conductors of the individuation process of each of the human beings, are also co-conductors of humanity’s individuation process, interfering, interacting and competing for meetings to take place, discoveries to be made, synchronicities to take place and humanity to discover itself willing to choose to be free!

Accepting the intentional demand of the unconscious implies being and becoming free. So, today I can fully understand the sister’s message: Freedom is choosing God!