We have said that within the character Shen, 神, the first part of the character Shi, 礻, consists of two horizaontal lines in the superior part which indicate "that which is above" and therefore "the heavens." The three vertical components represent all that is attached to the Heavens, namely for our purposes upon earth, the sun, the moon and the stars, the changes of which reveal, to the person who is aware, the Truth of the Gods. Thus "shi" simply declares, “the sun, moon, and stars reveal the truth of the gods”.
The second part of the character, 申, shen, represents hands girding the body as spirit, extending the state to the ninth earthly branch, which smbolizes creative energy and curiosity, and also the time of the year between August 6 and September 6.
We can symbolically recall that during this phase, crops are ready to harvest, as are natural talents and abilities.
So we said that Shen as the combination of the two characters 神 is, in terms of ancient Chinese thought, represented the readiness to reveal the truth of the gods, the affluence of Heaven to those prepared to harvest natural talent and abilities.
But although we use that meaning of the Character 神, Shen, considering both parts of that character as generating meaning, historically that is not so.
The character 神 actually is an example of xíngshēngzì 形聲字, "pictophonetic compounds or semantic-phonetic compounds", which combine a radical (or classifier) that indicates meaning and a phonetic that indicates pronunciation.
In this case, 神 combines the "altar/worship radical" 礻and the phonetic shēn 申 "9th Earthly Branch".
The Mawangdui Silk Texts include two copies of the Dao De Jing and the "A Text" writes:
"If one oversees all under heaven in accord with the Way, demons have no spirit. It is not that the demons have no spirit, but that their spirits do not harm people." (chap. 60, tr. Mair 1990:30).
It uses shen interchangeably as 申 and 神.
The earliest written forms of shen 神 "spirit; god" occur in Zhou Dynasty Bronzeware script and Qin Dynasty Seal script characters.
Paleographers interpret the Oracle script of 申 as a pictograph of a "lightning bolt". This was graphically differentiated between dian 電 "lightning; electricity" with the "cloud radical" and shen 神 with the "worship radical", semantically suggesting both "lightning" and "spirits" coming down from the heavens.
However, Shen's 神 meanings developed diachronically over three millennia. The Hanyu dazidian, an authoritative historical dictionary, distinguishes shēn, 神, as the "Name of a deity (神名)" and the eleven meanings , below:
1. Celestial gods/spirits of stories/legends, namely, the creator of the myriad things in heaven and earth and the supreme being.
2. Spirit; mind, mental faculties; consciousness.
3. Expression, demeanor; consciousness, state of mind.
4. Portrait, portraiture.
5. Magical, supernatural, miraculous; mysterious, abstruse.
6. Esteem, respect; valuable, precious. (尊重; 珍贵.)
7. Rule, govern, administer. (治理.)
8. Cautious, careful, circumspect, that is heedful of potential consequences.
9. Display, arrange, exhibit.
10. Dialect. 1. Dignity, distinction. (威风.) 2. Entrancement, ecstasy. (入神.) 3. Clever, intelligent. (聪明.)
11. Surname, family name. (姓.)
From the Contemplation experiences we know the experience of the transformation of Life Force programs of the Feminine principle to the Masculine expression.
The question is to determine if Shen characterizes this transformation and the application to the energy processes of the body/mind complex.
Only the eleventh definition falls short of our requirement.
Shen arises from the creator of the myriad things in heaven and earth and the supreme being, being the creative mother principle, and it generates the expression of the mental faculties. (1, 2, and 3).
It develops an abstruse and valuable portrait of Life Force requirements for the correct and natural use of Cognition. (4, 5, and 6).
It administers and arranges data that is most circumspect, certainly heedful of potential consequnces. (7, 8, and 9).
Finally, it can be said to represent the transformation of natural programs into correct natural expression in conformity with what we can term the natural intelligence of the Mother Principle.
It would be difficult to find another character that exemplifies so perfectly what we require.
This dictionary entry for shen lists early usage examples, and many of these 11 meanings were well attested prior to the Han Dynasty. Chinese classic texts use shen in meanings 1 "spirit; god", 2 "spirit, mind; attention", 3 "expression; state of mind", 5 "supernatural", and meaning 6 "esteem".
The earliest examples of meaning 4 "portrait" are in Song Dynasty texts.
Meanings 7-9 first occur in early Chinese dictionaries;
the Erya defines shen in meanings 7 "govern" and 8 "cautious"
the Guangya defines meaning 9 "display".
Meaning 10 gives three usages in Chinese dialects (technically "topolects", see Fangyan).
Meaning 11 "a surname" is exemplified in Shennong ("Divine Farmer"), the culture hero and inventor of agriculture in Chinese mythology.