Disclaimer: The following document fragment is presented from an in-character perspective, it should not be taken as the truth of the setting.
Context: The matters of the “soul” or the “being” of a human, their manifestation within the dreaming world, is of great importance to mages. In this text, the author questions if the soul is really where the agency of a human resigns, or perhaps there is something more to it, that humanity does not yet grasp.
If man is a creature of two bodies and one will, where does the Einheit dwell when the will inhabits the Leib? In the waking world, we can observe the Leib of our kin, devoid of Gemüt. The stupor of sleep, the animalistic state of unconsciousness, when the soul wanders elsewhere. In the dream, we encounter the Einheit of others, imbued with Gemüt, but never without. What then happens when the Einheit lacks will? Where does it dwell and in what state?
It is believed that the Einheit continues its journeys through the depths of the Ocean of Thought. Somehow bereft of a guiding will, yet still as coherent as when our consciousness inhabits it in the dream. However, the Leib within the Gestalt is a part of it. A vessel, carved from the smallest sliver of Elder God flesh. It has material qualities independent of us and such that will remain even for a time after our death. The Einheit lacks any such material permanency.
Instead, the Gemüt grants it coherence; the will forms it from the swirling currents of dreams, in the image of the Gestalt it had left behind.
Without it, it decoheres, becoming once more a part of the dream, awaiting us to give it form again, just how our will animates the Leib to act. Life itself is Wirkung and Wille. Intent and action.
And in the Idee, the dream, existence itself is an act of intent. Be it your own or of another mind. In that way, shadows of us can linger in the dreams of others.
But there is one common ground for us. When awake, from our perch within the Gestalt, we catch glimpses of the dreaming. Like the waves upon a roiling ocean. From the Idee we look up at those same waves, from a different perspective. Both give us insight into the subconscious thoughts of humanity.
Is the attention of man’s Gemüt limited then? Are we forced ever only to see one side of reality, the full picture eluding our gaze? Our Einheit slumbers and waits when our Leib travels the land of Elder Gods. And then our Leib lies torpid when our attention turns to the depths of the Idee.
Perhaps to ask where the Einheit dwells is the wrong question?
Esoteric Musings... 