As preparations for the upcoming battle continue, Chris Alan Starbright gives a guest lecture on the Eight Gifts of Light.
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The following is taken from a guest lecture given by Chris Alan Starbright to the undergraduate students of Western Blademastery aboard the *D.S.S. Nebular Dream*.
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Good morning! Before I begin, I wish to thank the Admiral and the Lady Bestyear for this opportunity, which was quite unexpected. Certainly there must be others who are far more qualified than I to present a lecture on the Theory of Body, Soul and Spirit. As a Starbard Level Five, I am required to know a great deal about a great many things, yet I am not a specialist in the Theory as some of your regular teachers are. But as the Undying Singer, I do have a perspective on the Theory that others lack, and the Bestyears believed that you would benefit from hearing it. In the end, I have to agree.
As is widely known, I am a Protector by personality type, which means that my cognitive processes are in a particular order playing particular archetypical roles. With Raphael’s help, I will lay out for you what those roles are, and what Gifts of Light are associated with them. Raphael, first slide…
THE EIGHT GIFTS OF LIGHT
[Protector configuration]
Ni = Introverted Intuiting – Leading {Gift of Prophecy}
1. Meanings and hunches
2. Insight [future-oriented]
3. Visual-spatial intelligence [conceiving and mentally manipulating visual images]
Fe = Extraverted Feeling – Supporting {Gift of Tongues}
1. Social values and norms
2. Interpersonal relationships
3. Interpersonal intelligence [understanding and connecting with others]
Ti = Introverted Thinking – Relieving {Gift of Perspective}
1. Principles and truth within a precise inner framework
2. Process focus
3. Logical-mathematical intelligence [reasoning using math or logic]
Se = Extraverted Sensing – Aspiring {Gift of Strength}
1. Concrete data
2. Here and now
3. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence [using one’s body with comfort and skill]
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Ne = Extraverted Intuition – Opposing {Gift of Reckoning}
1. Connections [oriented to the past, present and future]
2. Seeing new possibilities and the big picture
3. Verbal-linguistic intelligence [reading, writing, speaking, and listening]
Fi = Introverted Feeling – Immobilizing {Gift of Healing}
1. Personal values
2. Internal harmony
3. Intrapersonal intelligence [understanding and managing one’s thoughts and emotions]
Te = Extraverted Thinking – Deceiving {Gift of Rapport}
1. Objective, logical focus within a visible structure
2. Goal focus
3. Logical-naturalist intelligence [identifying things and understanding processes in one’s environment]
Si = Introverted Sensing – Destroying {Gift of Memory}
1. Subjective recall
2. Experience
3. Musical-rhythmic intelligence [making music or making sense of tone and rhythm]
As you know, the normal, mortal Adami mind uses its first two cognitive processes with by far the greatest ease and confidence. It can take until age thirty-five to age fifty for the mortal Adami mind to mature enough to use all of his first four cognitive processes competently. It is no accident that male Adamim in particular often have “life crises” during that period, as the last four cognitive processes start demanding to be brought to conscious awareness. After age fifty, a normal mortal Adami starts coming to terms with the last four cognitive processes, and with what they have to teach him.
While any of the eight cognitive processes can be brought to conscious awareness (if only temporarily), in the normal, mature Adami mind only the first four normally operate on the conscious level; these are the Primary processes. The last four normally operate on the unconscious level; these are the Shadow processes. The Primary processes are more apt to manifest themselves in a positive, edifying way, but can also manifest themselves negatively. The Shadow processes are more apt to manifest themselves in a negative, destructive way, but can also manifest themselves positively. Thus, even in these Realms where the Dragon of Chaos is forbidden from influencing the Adami mind directly, Adami nature is a mixture of good and evil. Only upon apotheosis is the Adami mind transformed to something purely good: into the image of the Mind of the Lord of the Realms.
With us Lightchildren, an additional factor is added. Eight Gifts of Light are associated with the eight cognitive processes and the “eight intelligences” that are associated with them. Some of the associations may seem counterintuitive, until you understand (for example) that the Gift of Tongues is less a linguistic Gift and more a Gift intended to facilitate harmonious relationships between people. Moreover the same overall kind of intelligence (for example) that is associated with tonal and rhythmic memory is also associated with visual and other sensory memory; and this overall intelligence is associated with a particular cognitive process, namely Introverted Sensing or Si. As complex as these notes may appear to you, they are in fact somewhat oversimplified; your teachers and your Guardians will help you understand, step by step, the deeper implications of what I am showing you here.
As with most mortal Adamim, so with most of us Lightchildren, we bring the first two cognitive processes into full awareness early and the rest of our cognitive processes not until much later. However, we Lightchildren undergo specific and intensive training in bringing our cognitive processes to the conscious level, and as we do our ability to access our Gifts at Will increases. At your age most if not all of you students have your Leading and Supporting processes under your full control, and therefore you have the two Gifts associated with those processes Within Measure at Will. The other two Primary processes are less developed, and the Gifts associated with them are Within Measure at Need. The Gifts associated with your Shadow processes are not available to you at all as yet. But regardless of how well you develop your Gifts, the combination of your Leading and Supporting processes and their associated Gifts will always be your key to accessing Light Within Measure at Need.
Now if you are talented enough, and if you work hard enough over your thousand-year lifespan, you may come to where all your cognitive processes are brought to full awareness. In that case you will have all Eight Gifts available to you Within Measure at Will, and also Light Within Measure at Will. You will thus become a formidable challenge to those who oppose the Lord of the Realms out-of-Sphere, and a powerful aid to those who serve Him everywhere.
Now as the Undying Singer, my circumstances are different from yours. First, unlike any Adami on record save John the Baptist (may his name and memory be blessed), I had the Mind of the Lord within me from my mother’s womb. Second, the Lord worked it out so that my range of talents was exceptionally wide and my temperament was exceptionally balanced, even though I am still a Protector at the core. Third, I was unusually precocious. By age ten, I had already brought all four of my Primary processes to full consciousness, a feat that many mortal Adamim do not attain until they are five times that age. Accordingly I was able to draw on Light Within Measure at Need at full power by age ten. By the time I was fifteen, I had brought all eight processes to full awareness, and I should have had all Eight Gifts Within Measure at Will available to me and no more. Instead, the Lord added to that ability the Power of the White Hand, which granted me all Eight Gifts Without Measure at Need and access to Light Without Measure at Need.
Many have asked me what I think or how I feel about having access to such tremendous Power. Believe me, there are times when I wish I did not have it. My own Adami capacity for pride frightens me, and so does the responsibility that comes with that Power. The Lord would not grant such Power to a created being unless He intended to pit that Power against a wicked cosmic threat. In my short life I have already been pitted against one such threat that is waiting out there somewhere as I speak, watching the movements of this Expeditionary Fleet and plotting what to do next. He is a terrible enemy, even for someone such as me.
But rather than dwelling on the threat, let us remember Who is on our side against him. It is the Lord’s Gifting, not our own, that we wield against our enemies; and only by losing sight of that fact in our battles can we ultimately lose the war. “Blessed be the Eternal, my Rock,” sang David the Psalmist, “who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle!” May that Eternal One, the Lord of the Realms, bless and keep you all. Thank you.
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N.B.: The terminology used for the various Gifts of Light is my own invention. The terminology used to discuss the various cognitive processes of the human psyche is taken from the cutting edge of research on Jungian personality typing and from these sources in particular:
16Types.com
BUILDING BLOCKS OF PERSONALITY TYPE (Leona Haas and Mark Hunziker)
Interstrength Associates (Linda V. Berens et al.)
Keirsey.com
Multiple Intelligences
The Personality Page
TypeLogic.com
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