What exactly is the psycho-spiritual significance of the Sun? In my little research below are some I could find
1. Sun as Ahamkara (the I maker) - It creates the illusion of the I doing something. Oftentimes archetypal drives are felt as "meaningful" and the person feels like they have purpose and meaning even though they are executing archetypal participation mystique
2. Sun as Purpose - Due to childhood conditioning people often mistake (conflate) Sun with Mars. In Mars we may fight our whole lives against childhood programming giving a false sense of purpose and identity
3. Sun as Atma(an) - Atman, AFAIK is felt as the soul from the conditioned mind. An embodied Atman (not the same as enlightened) would be like living from witness consciousness. This contradicts the Sun as providing pride, purpose etc
4. Adult - In conflict models in psychology we have the below types of "core self" living from which we experience an integrated sense of wellbeing
Transactional Analysis - The Adult
Analytical Psychology - An Ego well connected with Archetypes
Internal Family Systems - The Self
etc
In one's psycho spiritual journey is the Sun too something that eventually needs to be discarded? Are enlightened beings living their Sun or are they "beyond" the Sun?
Sun is the creative destiny of the soul, it's the God's creative intelligence flowing through the person. So it feels best in Aries where there are ample opportunities to realize its inspirations for creating new things that haven't been done before and feels starved in Libra because trading is a low thing it can do. Sun is the warrior, the king who wants to establish a noble kingdom in which he wants to accomplish great things of benefit for all.
@amit 1 question, when we heal our LAs who is the I that heals? Say Saturn is starving Sun and we are in negative self talk of low self esteem, is the I that catches this happening in the moment the Sun itself or something else like the witness consciousness (Purusha from Sankhya)
In God talks with Arjuna, P.Yogananda calls Sanjay as the faculty of impartial introspection. He witnesses the battle between righteous forces of the soul of 5 pandavas representing 5 Supreme qualities of the soul vs 100 kauravas representing 100 bad tendencies of blind mind.
Perhaps this Sanjay is Mercury!
Interesting question. While trying to figure out Rahu-Ketu, I had to think about the Sun and Moon as it is the intersection of their paths that cause the whole issue to rise. One can’t think about the Sun without thinking about it’s opposite - Saturn. From what I figured out, here is a brief summary -
The Sun, though noble, is also pride. As a child, the nobleness wants to come through, but the child is finding out that not everything is as cut and dry. For every positive there is negative, and in every negative there is positive. To be noble, one also has to be ruthless. Pride also demands its price in shame.
It’s the play of Sun and Saturn. Sun says “I rule” and Saturn says “No, you don’t”. And that is true. If we look at a child, everything about it is about “ME” and “I want” and “I demand”. A child does not understand what it means to rule, and Saturn steps in to teach it how to be humble, because only through being humble can a true king understand his kingdom.
As the child progresses through life, he learns to use the different planets. The natural age of the Moon is through ages 0 to 1, and one can already see the emotional blackmail that the child uses over the people around it ???? ???? ???? . The natural age of Mars is from ages 1 to 3, and we can see the temper tantrums thrown by the child. And so on. Everything that the child or the Sun does is done through a wrong sense of ego and pride, not the real one. So life in the form of Saturn keeps bashing it down.
The Sun might be the highest authority in our solar system, but he is also an extension of something else that he needs to be aware of. The ‘I’ that he thinks of is only a small part of the bigger ‘I’, and there is still a higher authority beyond him. I think that is what life tries to teach us.
It is only after Rahu and Ketu matures at 48, and the natural age of the Sun starts at age 50 does the child learn how to use the planets properly. The Sun is the ruler, yes, but he is not meant to be a dictator. Misusing his counsel, his planets and his people, gets him nowhere. It is only when he listens to them and then uses his higher knowledge, can he make a difference.
Amazingly, it is not with the natural age of the Sun but with the natural age of Saturn that one ends this life. I too have often wondered how the enlightened beings integrate their Sun.