First Self / Second Self

The OC proceeds from the idea of the dual nature of the individual. The twofold distinction is borrowed from the Neoplatonist philosopher, Plotinus (Ennead VI.4.14):

“But we ourselves, what are We? Are we that higher—or the participant newcomer, the thing of beginnings in time?

Before we had our becoming Here we existed There, [in the Intelligible World] men other than now, some of us gods: we were pure souls, Intelligences, inbound with the entire of reality, members of the Intellectual, not fenced off, nor cut away, but integral to that All. Even now, it is true, we are not separated from that original state. Yet upon that First Man there has intruded another, a man seeking to come into being and finding us Firsts there ... This other has then wound himself about us, foisting himself upon that Man that each of us was initially ... Now we have lost that first simplicity, since we are become the dual thing ...”

In the OC, the “Firsts” are not referred to as “men” but as “Selves,” the distinction being drawn between the otherworldly First Selves and the Second Selves, which are us. The First Selves are sometimes referred to as the “Ouranians,” meaning Sky Lords or Sky People. The First Selves are not viewed as gods nor as divine. Rather, they are us, but in the ideal. They are our Best Selves or the highest form of Self that can be. As Kayin says in Masks of God: 

“The Ouranians reside at the very end of the bridge that leads to the perfection of our world.

Given this vantage point, They know which path the rest of us must take to get there.” 

Furthermore: 

“Those Who Influence Us are only the final version of ourselves at the end of our development. Nevertheless, They do need us to function as Their Eyes and Ears in the Here and Now. Given that these powers live in an ideal world, it is impossible for Them to partake of the rough and tumble aspects of our experiences, except through us. It is only by means of our observations that our

Guides can estimate how far we are from that ideal, especially as They are already there.” 

Accordingly, the First Selves can act as our muses, referred to collectively by Kayin as the

“Council of Influences.” They can communicate to us through our imagination, through

daydreaming as well as our conscience. The voice of conscience that we hear is the voice

of our Best Self. See also Self, Selfhood and Ouranians.