The living fire is our personal generative energy, our raw creative energy. It is the spiritual, vivifying life-force energy within our physical bodies which we can learn to harness, refine, and focus into an exceptionally powerful and accurate laser.
When it is completely out of our control, it burns through us with an insatiable hunger that consumes the mind, body, and spirit. The out of control fire will manifest in ways such as constant irritability, sexual infidelity, dullness, foolishness, compulsions around or avoidance of sex, and many more individual ways of being. These manifestations may completely halt any inner development. The reason these differ from person to person is because each individual’s Will differs. Often, it is a person’s latent strengths and purpose which manifest in the opposite direction as these types of blockages. An untended fire consumes everything around it, but a tended fire illuminates, warms, and transforms. While an extinguished fire can do nothing as it disperses into darkness, ignorance, obscurity, and oblivion. In this way, the aspirant works toward unification within oneself, yet individuality from the masses.
The living fire is meant to be harnessed and placed under our conscious control in order to vivify our entire being. This is not the same as snuffing out this force or denying it, as some popular religions teach. We must interact with it, embrace it, and learn from it. This fire is meant to be mastered and stoked to greater and greater heights. Like a powerful animal, it must be trained and guided by the conscious Will, because slaying the animal is not the same as commanding it.
The “I AM” impulse is the individuation impulse. It is a person’s ability to first consciously value self-sovereignty and then go about cultivating it. The spiritual “I AM” impulse interacts with the zeitgeist and human consciousness, creating the urge for all humans to use conscious effort to work upon their individual souls.
One of the clearest historical expressions of this impulse can be seen in the philosophical ideals that shaped the founding of the United States.
This impulse is incredibly strong in the West, as it was the Founding Fathers who grasped this collective impulse and geographically concentrated it in the founding documents and ideals of the United States of America. I do not mean this as political statement, rather an observation about the evolution of consciousness. Whatever has become of those ideals today is a different discussion. The separation of church and state, and the spiritual freedom to no longer be tied to the Church of England, were fundamental tenets of the founding of the USA. This may have degraded over time, but the original intent was to create a land which allowed for freedom in all aspects, including spiritually.
Spiritually, the “I AM” impulse conceptualizes that spiritual decisions must be chosen and internally affirmed rather than imposed by a state institution or outside force. Even though many of the Founding Fathers were Deists, and not Christian, they didn’t necessarily take issue with England’s Christianity itself, rather the issue was with being compelled by government to support and participate in a particular religious institution. The state could protect the freedom to pursue Truth, but it should not dictate the path.
The principle of spiritual freedom is enshrined in the very first amendment of the Bill of Rights. This is listed first and then the document goes on to establish freedoms of the press and speech: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”
In our modern world, the threat is less the sanctioning of a certain religion and more the systematic religious influence of public figures. When working toward individuation, it is important to be aware of covert media tactics that feature influential people publicly proclaiming religious conversions. This is a way of subtly influencing the masses toward a particular religion. Therefore, the aspirant must cultivate discernment and pattern recognition skills in order to evaluate any spiritual message, regardless of its source. I wrote an Instagram caption about this when it first became obvious in 2022, you can read that: Here.
The American experiment emerged from the belief that the individual’s conscience was sacred, and that spiritual Truth could not be authentically realized through forced conformity. The separation of church and state intended to protect the individual’s sovereign relationship with the divine. The revolutionaries wanted the individual to have the freedom to seek, practice, and understand spiritual Truth without government-imposed religious authority. It is important to note that individual sovereignty is not the same as anarchy and does not condone a flippant chaotic outlook. Rather, self-sovereignty requires discipline, self-knowledge, and inner mastery. That distinction is very important.
“Rebis” an alchemical illustration, depicts an individual who has integrated opposing forces within themselves.
In this Age, we can now each work upon ourselves as individuals. We can decide to be self-regulated spiritually, and with this comes the greatest of responsibilities. We must learn to embody our own sense of self-disclipline, to engage in practices which purify our perception, and to keep ourselves spiritually regulated.
I have written many articles up to this point to demonstrate how this may be accomplished.
The first and foremost effort must be applied to making the distinction between what is “I” and what is an influence upon “I.” This can be achieved through a consistent, individual spiritual practice. This is something the aspirant does alone, by their own power of Will and by choice, not en masse or by force.
After years of this practice, the ability to discern oneself will spontaneously emerge. This is how we begin to recognize ourselves as individuals. This is the recognition and eventual embodiment of the “I AM” spiritual impulse. With this consciousness cultivated, we may become an embodiment of that which our current Age demands: divine self-realization. It is literally this, or become a character in the individuation process of someone else. Fodder for their fire. To sacrifice one’s living fire for another individual’s Will is a sacred act only meant to be performed consensually, as a ritual sacrifice or as an act of sexual union within the confines of sacred union.
The “Strength” tarot card from an alchemical tarot deck.
Humanity does eventually turn toward the Aquarian values of community and groups, but NEVER at the expense of the individual. I wrote about this: Here. A quote from that blog post: “What appears to the uninitiated as a selfish and self-serving mission is the most contributive and positive mission for both the individual and the collective. Society thrives when it is comprised of individuals who are committed to their own personal excellence and motivated from within.”
It is imperative to focus on individuality first, as this cannot be properly generated within the confines and framework of a communal group or hive mind. Only when the living fire within has been catalyzed, emboldened, emblazoned, and embodied within the individual soul may one take his or her place within the group. But now, changed. Vivified. Alive. Lucid. Able to serve and, by extension: Lead.
