As Above — Gnostics Line — Hidden Lore
It Looks Back
The observer and the observed.
On This Emblem
In quantum mechanics, observation changes the thing observed. In philosophy, the eye that looks is also the thing that is looked at. There is no pure perspective — only perspectives looking at other perspectives, and occasionally, at themselves.
The cosmic eye is the oldest symbol in most traditions. It is not omniscient. It is simply present — watching, and being watched, and understanding that these are the same act.
Source Texts
Douglas Hofstadter — Gödel, Escher, Bach (1979)
Not public domain — find in a library. On self-reference, strange loops, and consciousness watching itself.
Plotinus — The Enneads (c. 270 AD)
Ennead I, Book 6: "On Beauty." Public domain. On the eye and the light — "the eye would not be able to see the sun unless it were itself sun-like."
Alan Watts — The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are (1966)
Not public domain — find in a library. On the game of hide-and-seek that the universe plays with itself.
Playlist Suggestion
Arvo Pärt — Tabula Rasa. Max Richter — Sleep. Music that sounds like the universe briefly becoming aware of itself.