I just thought I'd pop in here with my own sense of STS and STO, to see if makes a difference, sparks any new thought or sheds any light.
All consciousness, regardless of alignment, serves the all. There is no judgment about either of these alignments. This is just an explanation of their differences, as I understand them. Take or toss as you see fit, of course.
STO is an awareness of the All that unifies. All is One. Even here at this level of existence, it is apparent if one has the eyes to see it, that there is no true separation. Not even here. If something appears separate, the pieces that would make it whole and unified rather than separate are not far away, because wholeness is truth. "Inside" is typically the "not far away" place to find the rest of something that appears separate. After all, the appearance of separation is a matter of the perceiver's ability to SEE… rather than anything to do with the thing itself.
So wholeness or oneness or unified beingness… is existent and evident everywhere, in everything, always. The energy of wholeness is existent in absolutely everything. An STO consciousness inherently knows this and seeks that wholeness perspective when it is not present in the current conscious understanding of something encountered. More… that wholeness perspective will always uplift and unify life even here at this level, leaving one feeling complete and peacefully centered. Right here, in 3D STS-ville.
Separation is merely a perceptual error in consciousness. The reasons for it are many and as varied as any diversity that exists. But for each error of perception there is a "perfect" cause that, when realized, will bring rectification and unity once again. If sought, of course.
STS consciousness, on the other hand, understands life from a perspective of separation. It is the consciousness that has yet to choose to rectify its perceptual errors, still believing that it is "right" in keeping some portion of the All at bay or in separation from itself.
STS basically believes, if one can get to the bottom line of their consciousness, that there truly are "two"... that make up all life. Not ONE. Those two will vary depending on the level of conscious awareness, but they break down to essentially that which is "right" and that which is not.
It is a consciousness that unconsciously seeks to polarize either to an "all light universal understanding" or an "all dark universal understanding". I say "unconsciously seeks" because if it were conscious of its choice, it would choose to unify, not polarize. Its unconsciousness is the cause for it's seemingly conscious choice to polarize.
In an STS realm, consciousness will usually believe that Light and Dark are opposites. That STO and STS are opposites. That Love and Fear are opposites. That Life and Death are opposites, etc. In truth, however, Light, Love, STO, Life… these are completely supportive and the very source of Darkness, Fear, STS, Death, etc. They are not the opposite of those things, they gave birth to them and continually support them unconditionally.
There is no opposite to Life, in truth. Or Love. Or Light. Or Unified Wholeness. There is only the illusion of an opposite. An illusion is only real for as long as it is necessary for learning. And all illusion is borne of the very same Love that is Life. And once the truth is known, the illusion may still exist, but will not be perceived as anything but an illusion. And illusion will be loved for its existence, because it is a source of tremendous joy, growth and expansion.
To supply oneself solely from The One Source, one must come to view life in an STO manner, basically. Otherwise, there will necessarily be some sustaining of self on the energies of the manifest, because STS does not include the source of some manifestations as "true, right, of god (as it understands "god"), etc.". If you do not know, trust or believe the source of something is the "right" source (according to your belief in what's right), then you cannot nourish yourself from that something's source. It is anathema. So you "use" the manifested something to supply you with sustenance, in error.
For instance, you see a murderer and cannot find love for the person because you believe that they are "borne of pure evil" and you denounce evil in your universal understanding of what's right.
You cannot "love" this person (love being your believed source of existence) because they are borne of something different than you. So what you end up doing is nurturing yourself on hatred (rejection, denial, fear, etc.) for their presence in your world and for their actions, as if they are not at all like you. As if they are not borne of the same source of goodness and love that you are. You maintain separation as "right" in your energies, which means you "believe in the illusion", and you sustain that illusion literally with the negation (rejection, denial, fear, etc) of the manifest existence of the other. You literally need their manifest existence for your universal understanding to be truth.
If you understood that they were borne of the same source as you, literally they are "one with you" in a true way… you would no longer need to fuel yourself on hatred (rejection, denial, fear, etc.) for them, you could love them as yourself. Same source, same beingness, same love base, no separation.
When you cannot do this but rather remain "in opposition to their existence" in any fashion, it places you in the realm of illusion. And there you'll stay until you come to know that manifest thing as being sourced from the same pool you yourself are borne of and as such is you in another form, which rectifies you back to truth, the realm of the real, center, etc.
So STS is an error of perception, and it serves the little self above all. It is a perception of life that is inherently untrue, which is why STS cannot rise in frequency beyond a certain level or return to Source consciously. STS consciousness simply cannot unify with anything beyond the scope of its false perceptions. Until these consciousnesses aligned with illusion can unify with truth, they will remain cycling at the lower frequencies, which extend to a degree beyond 3D, but not all that much higher.
Polarizing to the light or to the dark both serve the little self first, and the all as a secondary by-product. The focus of the polarized consciousness, whether it realizes it or not, is in serving the little self as priority over serving the greatest good of ALL. This is STS.
Consciousness polarized to the light is typically unconscious of its self-serving priority. Consciousness polarized to the dark is typically conscious of it's self-serving priority.
STO, on the other hand, seeks to serve the highest good of ALL first, and in so doing, serve the little self since it's included in "all". It is conscious of its all-serving priority. Each activity it engages in has a focus of serving the highest good of the greatest number possible. When errors are made, which they inevitably will be, as soon as it is recognized to be an error, an STO consciousness immediately seeks to know intimately the part of self that caused the choice to err. Without judgment but rather with a sincere desire to discover truth.
In exploring "why" this choice was made, what distortion in self brought it about, new information comes to light… from the darkness that was. This shedding of light on existing darkness is the learning experience which then rectifies the error, and then serves the greatest number at the expense of little self, so to say. Admitting error and facing it in order to bring more darkness in this realm to light, is a service to which STO consciousness is naturally inclined.
STS consciousness, on the other hand, is inclined toward avoiding the admitting of errors and chooses instead to protect and defend first in the face of potential error.
Put rather simply, under a veil of forgetfulness an STS consciousness will, as a typical standard operating procedure, have a thought and seek to prove it correct. An STO consciousness will, as a typical standard operating procedure, have a thought and seek to discover if it is distorted.
The difference is a focus of the consciousness. STS moves to close off possibilities, STO moves to open to all possibilities. STS seeks to serve one over many, STO seeks to serve many over one. From a thought to a person to a universe, it's all the same motion for each alignment of consciousness.
In the end, both serve the all perfectly. One does it consciously and with intent (STO), the other does it unconsciously and without intent (STS).
Apologies for the length.
Sowelu
"The most important decision you have to make is whether you live in a hostile or friendly universe."
~ Albert Einstein
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. ~Marcel Proust
The evolution of humanity is an evolution of the heart. The path is through the heart.