When we experience the pure intelligence of Brilliancy, it gives a sense of utmost preciousness to our consciousness, to the soul, and also to the totality of the universe. Brilliancy is really the essence of intelligence. I don’t know how to say it better. Intelligence has an essence, has a true intrinsic existence that can be experienced as part of us. It is not an activity of the mind; it is part of the essence of who we are, of our innate nature. One consequence of this truth is that experientially I can be intelligence. When I am Brilliancy, it is not that I am intelligent; rather, I am intelligence. When you are being Brilliancy, your functioning is intelligent; but you are also, and more importantly, existing as intelligence. This is a new concept of intelligence. But the fact that there is such a thing is part of its beauty. And if you have been thinking all this time that your IQ is low or high, it turns out that the true situation is that there is a certain substance you are more or less of. When you see someone who is really brilliant, really intelligent—such as one of the great synthesizers of science—your subtle perception might notice that it is the presence of the substance of Brilliancy in his mind that makes the person brilliant. When we say that someone is brilliant, it is more literally true than we usually think. So to be brilliant is not just to have brilliant thought patterns. There is also luminescence—a radiance or brightness in that person’s functioning that you can actually perceive directly. It is this perceivable brilliance that imparts the qualities of beauty, grace, and elegance.

Brilliancy is pure intelligence, before it has become any specific kind of intelligence. It is raw intelligence, intelligence without content. It’s not intelligent about this or that, or for this or that; it’s just the very substance and existence of intelligence itself. Intelligence can exist as a living force on its own, not yet used for anything or by anything, not yet differentiated into one thing or another, not yet flowing into one capacity or another. So when intelligence is existing on its own, abiding in its own quality, without being used for anything, it is Brilliancy. Seeing and understanding that Brilliancy is the aspect of intelligence will bring many insights, many understandings. It will reveal to us significances that we haven’t seen yet. Because all aspects are potentially present in it and can differentiate out of it, Brilliancy provides us with a specific capacity. And that is the capacity of synthesis. So Brilliancy is the archetype, or the prototype, of the synthetic force. The presence of Brilliancy in the consciousness will bring about the capacity to synthesize experience. Synthesis is very much needed, as we know, for functioning—for things like integration, wholeness, bringing things together, development, all of that. And this capacity for synthesis that our mind has, that our heart has, that our consciousness has, comes originally from the Brilliancy aspect because this aspect is itself a synthesis, a synthesis even before differentiation. Because it is present before differentiation, and differentiation can come out of it, Brilliancy provides the capacity to synthesize perception, to synthesize experience, to synthesize understanding, in whatever areas synthesis is needed.

It is interesting that Freud thought that the idea of God the Father is mostly due to the idealization of one’s own father. This is clearly partly true, but more fundamental is the archetypal or prototypical relationship between child and father. When this aspect, which we call Brilliancy, is realized, and experienced in relation to the Personal Essence, the experience is of feeling safe, secure and protected. When one finally works through the relationship with the father and Love is experienced, then it becomes possible to experience this aspect with the Personal Essence. Then the relationship between the two aspects becomes the presence of all the heart qualities. Individuals with a religious bent become filled with a deep love for God, and an awe for His majesty. The realization of this aspect involves the integration of pure Intelligence. One attains the qualities of brilliance in one’s work and manifestations. This intelligence is related to the central nervous system. It has the functions of balance and organization and, hence, is important for the inner regulation of the organism.

A second aspect related to the father is Intelligence. This label does not do justice to this aspect; it is more like the essence of intelligence, or what enables the mind to be brilliant. It is the aspect of pure intelligence, of luminosity, of brilliance. It gives one the sense of completeness, of protection, of being contained and looked after. Its immediate presence feels so fine that it is the smoothest sensation or consciousness that one can experience; it has an effect of imbuing the mind with a uniquely penetrating quality. At the same time there is a sense of largeness, expansion, immensity and majesty. The consistent experience of our students is that when they feel a desire for the father, they ultimately find this aspect. So its relation to father is like the relation of the Merging Essence to mother. Thus the father’s image is the identification system that covers it up, and replaces it. So realizing it means working through one’s relation with one’s own father. It is also experienced in relation to father in the religious sense. It is the first aspect encountered that is related to God the Father.

If we think of the universe as God, we are thinking of it as not only consciousness but as some kind of pure intelligence. This means that its action is not mechanical and arbitrary, but completely spontaneous and free. The universe manifests at each moment completely spontaneously, and this spontaneous action is the action of intelligence, the action of creativity. So the best way for us to open ourselves to this realization is to go along with it. To become free, we have to learn to surrender, to go along with what happens. This is the most important methodological basis for our work: We stay with what is, and allow it to unfold. The only doing that is necessary is understanding our situation enough to see how we believe we are choosing what happens, when in reality, we are not.