Obsidian Essence Overview
The Taoist view is that Tao, the singular unity of pre-existential reality, although named is unnameable. Out of Tao manifests matter, space, time, form, phenomena, life and consciousness.
Taoist mystics value reality, simplicity, ordinariness, and the patterns of Tao. Black obsidian in its absorbent peace enhancing vibration of truth and harmony represents the dark still silent heart of Tao.
In Taoism ordinary life progressing from birth to death moves forward, while the practise of Taoist inner alchemy, the journey in life of compounding the golden elixir, reverses. Taoist inner alchemy is called Neidan.
We are born both unconditioned and with a potential destiny to realize a unique flowering. We acquire conditioning, and the internal alchemical journey is one of consciously returning to the unconditioned state, while consciously discriminating what is real about us and therefore unique, and what is conditioned in us and therefore obscuring uniqueness. The unconditioned self is wise in relation to what has been learnt in the journey of deconditioning.
Reality prior to manifestation of phenomena is referred to as precelestial, while the reality of manifest phenomena is referred to as postcelestial. We are born resonating the precelestial. As we develop, conditioning is laid down, and we more and more resonate the postcelestial. The journey of compounding the golden elixir is one of releasing identification with the conditioned postcelestial consciousness and regaining conscious identification with precelestial consciousness, while remaining incarnate in postcelestial reality.
Essence, Breath, and Spirit (jing, qi, and shen) are the ingredients of true living, the three treasures. The journey itself is one of inversion, consciously relaxing in stages while unwinding through the layers of developmental experience.
There are three phases of inversion, refining essence to transmute it into breath, refining breath to transmute it into spirit, and refining spirit to return to emptiness. This is a challenging transformation for which one must be well prepared so that the journey can be be safely and successfully concluded. On this account the three phases of inversion are preceded by a phase of preparation.
Two polarities of life, xing and ming, characterise human reality. Xing is related to all that is conscious, and ming is related to all that pertains to the form and substance in which consciousness incarnates.
A preliminary phase, with the purpose of laying a safe foundation, is concerned with establishing healthy resilient ming, with bringing clarity to xing, and with establishing harmony between xing and ming. Establishing healthy resilient ming is called the external medicine, and bringing clarity to xing is called the internal medicine.
There are two levels of developmental capacity within the internal alchemical journey. Inferior virtue is the capacity for intentional development (youwei), and superior virtue is the capacity for attentional development (wuwei).
The preliminary phase and the first phase of inversion are concerned with postcelestial reality and youwei is the capacity needed here. The second and third phases of inversion are concerned with precelestial reality and wuwei is the capacity needed here.
The precelestial is the locus of truth and understanding in Taoism. Postcelestial reality arises on the in breath of Tao and dissolves on the out breath. Tao is forgotten when the locus of truth and understanding appears to be rooted in postcelestial reality, where we become entangled in the realm of appearance. The developmental direction in Taoist inner alchemy is from postcelestial towards precelestial.
Taoist inner alchemy teachings are specific and rigorous in describing the archetypal developmental journey. Given that the unfolding into truth of each individual is a unique journey, it has never been possible to construct a teaching that is rigorous in all its details. In Taoist inner alchemy, specific and rigorous detailed guidance has been provided in the form of oral instruction by Taoist masters who have completed their own journeys of inversion.
Since the emergence of the Human Design system in 1987, and the extensive and detailed teachings of Ra Uru Hu, there has come to exist an understanding of reality and of the human developmental journey that can be harmonious with Taoist inner alchemy. Based on the date, time and place of an individual's birth, using the Human Design system's software for mapping the configuration of a person's unique consciousness pattern, what formally depended on the skills and wisdom of a Taoist master can now be made clear in a systematic and rigorous way through understanding one's Human Design.
The Human Design system as it has been presented in the world up to now has looked at reality from a postcelestial perspective. Here in this Obsidian Essence work, a synthesis of Taoist inner alchemy and the Human Design system is offered, where the knowledge in the Human Design system is looked into from the perspective of Taoist inner alchemy, and the journey of Taoist inner alchemy is leveraged with the detailed insights of the Human Design understanding, leading to a marrying of both approaches that is more than the sum of each.
The story of the development of Obsidian Essence is available online from Osho News.