Fragment 26

In this series of "Fragments" I want to discuss the topic of the "True Self". This has been viewed by many as the completion of the Great Work. I am not one of those, but it is an important part of the Great Work. Gurdjieff is a prime example of this attitude. This can also be observed in the more mystical systems, where it is called the creation of the light body. The "True Self" and the "Light Body" are the same thing. To understand how this is done, we must first look at rhe raw materials that we use to build the "True Self". To do this we must go back to our first ancestors, the first hominids. This is also the time of the first Great Magical working, where humans transformed themselves. I shall be using the term "humans" instead of "hominids" for two reasons. The first is for the sake of brevity, and the second is that I do not think that we are that much different from our ancient ancestors. In this series of "Fragments" I shall be relying on two books: "The Naked Ape" by Desmond Morris and "The Origin of Consciousness in the Break Down of the Bicameral Mind" by Julian Jaynes. Both these books are dated in some ways, but it does not affect their central theses.In some instances the new findings have only helped to straighten the central theses. I can commend both books to all students of the Occult and human nature. Both are very controversial books, although written by mainline academics. The purpose of this "Fragment" is to examine the Beast. I am using the term "Beast" to refer to our animal nature orninheretence from our ancient ancestors. It is the deepest level of the unconscious. We are descendents of Beasts not Angels. At this point I shall offer a diversion by way of a theory of mine, of which I am not totally convinced of; that the unconscious of humans is the unconscious of previous humans. That consciousness has many overlapping layers. The example being that of Classical mythology. Classical mythology was the conscious mind of the early Greeks and Romans and is in many ways the unconscious mind of modern humans. After all much of S. Freud's psychology is an interpretation of Classical mythology. As I said I am not convinced of this theory. I can be talked out of all my theories, but some would take more talking than others, this one would not take much talking for me to give it up. So let us examine the Beast. The Beast is not an amorphous entity of desires, like Freud's Id. The Beast has definite outlines, although there are some ambiguities. As we shall see these ambiguities are the product of humans first Great Magical working. The Beast is the default setting of human nature, it is what takes over which civilization falls apart. To get a glimpse of what happened we must go back to the end of the Miocene age when humans and chimpanzees split. So why the split between humans, and chimps? I have a theory that is all my own, so no one else should be blamed for it, and it has no scientific backup. It is my speculation. The theory is that before the split there were apes that were good at being apes, and apes that were not good at being apes. The apes that were good at being apes became the chimps, and the apes that were not good at being apes became the humans. A parallel would be the split between domestic dogs, and wolves The wolves that were not good at being wolves became domestic dogs. To stretch the parallel further, I think humans and chimps split for a similar reason. That the first humans were scavenger apes. Humans were the weaker apes. This is why when the forests receded; it was humans that got pushed out into the grasslands. They did not decide to leave the safety of the forest. Being a scavenger ape did give humans some advantages. Even today humans will eat almost anything that does not kill them or make them sick. Of course there were also great disadvantages to being pushed out of the forests. The main one being is becoming prey to the apex predators: the big cats. Although in a strange way this also worked to humans advantage, humans were forced to innovate. This is the time of the first Great Magical working. Humans transformed from typical primates into predators. Of course, all mistakes were severely punished. This kept the human population small. This is the reason that humans evolved so fast. The first Great Magical working was paid for in blood and death. The primate became a predator. This is what led to the ambiguous nature of the Beast. The ambiguity in the Beast is between typical primate and predator. These are the two aspects of human nature that cannot be ignored: the hierarchical imperative and the territorial imperative. Any political theory that does not allow for these two aspects is doomed to failure. The dual nature of the Beast as primate and predator has affected these two aspects. So let us return to our earliest ancestors and our cousins the chimps to see what we can learn about the Beast. We shall first examine the hierarchical imperative. Both humans and chimps are obsessed with status. Both groups have a well defined pecking order. For chimps status is defined by accessibility to females. This should sound familiar. We are never surprised when a powerful man has a mistress or many mistresses. The King Kong ape can have any female in the group; Polygamy is the natural state of the primate. And here arises one of the ambiguities in the nature of the Beast. This was modified into pair bonding when humans became predators. Monogamy is the result of humans becoming predators. Thus we can observe one of the ambiguities in the Hierarchical imperative. The other imperative is the territorial imperative. Even though chimps move about not having any fixed camp, they still move only within the troop's territory. Chimps regularly go to war with other chimp troops to expand or defend their territory. When humans became predators this changed into humans having fixed camps or lairs. The territorial imperative is mental as well as physical. This can be easily observed in academics. Even though our present day academics are always preaching equality, inclusiveness, and diversity. Just watch how viciously they defend their fields, when it is suggested someone outside their comments on their theories. Diversity and inclusiveness are resisted like a wild beast would resit an invader into their territory. To sum up their are two different natures in the Beast, sometimes they conflict, and sometimes they compliment each other. Here we have the raw material of the Self.

Fragment25

I have some odds, and ends on Magical thinking That I wish to tie up this "Fragment". So let us begin with some terminology. When one practices Magical thinking one is building the Magical mind. This is often called the Astral temple. A better term than "Astral Temple" would be "Astral Mill" . The reason being is that the Magical mind is always active, trying to fit in each new experience, new pieces of knowledge into the chains of correspondences. As Crowley said it becomes a habit after a while. When this happens you have built the Astral Temple. The Magical mind is the ability to think in long chains of correspondences. This is also connected to the Occult teaching of the Long Body. The long body is your mind and body extended through time. It is the history of all the changes your body and mind has gone through from birth to death. An easy way to think about the Long Body is to use the Light Motorcycles in the film "Tron". The Light Motorcycles in the film leave a trail of light or force behind them. As I said the Long Body contains all the changes of mind, body, and place in one's life. When one sets up a system of correspondences (Tarot, Astrology, etc.) one gains access to the Long Body. The Magos gains access to his-her past, and sometimes the future. This is the basis of divination. Magical thinking gives one access to the energies that shape our future. This is also why Magical thinking is so helpful in finding one's true self and true will. It also gives the aspirant protection from the people that are trying to manipulate him-her. The Magos views the energies that have shaped him-her. Thus giving the Magos insight on the way these energies shall affect the future. Remember the future is not determined or one who knows the active energies in their life. This does not mean the Magos never makes mistakes. Even if one has a presentiment of the future, there are all kinds of practical ways to go wrong. The future is the interplay of energies, all is process. There are no nouns, only verbs. The Long Body is the physical, and mental history of the individual extended through time. The teaching of the Long Body is a good way to remind ourselves that we are a process and not a thing at rest. We are always becoming, never finished. When one gains access to the Long Body he-she is powered by one's own energies, instead of relying on energies from outside to power one's thinking. I do not want anyone to think this is easy. It can be terrifying. The Astral Mill releases energies that have been long repressed. It also makes one realize all the lies we tell ourselves. This is why many people get scared when meditating or practicing Magic. The sigils are opened and the energies rise into consciousness. This is the esoteric meaning behind the myth of the Genie in the bottle. The myth of the Genie in the bottle seems to have originated with an old myth about King Solomon. That Solomon summoned demons to help him build the Great Temple. After the Temple was built Solomon imprisoned the demons in containers sealed with a sigil. And when the sigil is broken the Genie or demon is set free.The demons or Genies were imprisoned with a sigil because these energies can be extremely dangerous. This story is an analogy of the repressed and hidden material in our psyche which is also sealed with a sigil. This is of course. why we normally stay away from subjects can open the sigils. Like the myth of the Genie in the bottle these energies can bring great power. Whether they bring great pain, great power, or both the Magos is forced to confront the repressed energies and lies he-she has told them selves. The Magos gains energy in two ways, the first way is access to the repressed energies, and also by freeing up the energy that was used to maintain the regression. When the repressed energies are set free they come forth much like a Genie out of the bottle. The trouble is the freed energies more often resemble the Genie in the film "Wishmaster" than the Genie in "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad". The goal is to integrate these energies into consciousness. Don't expect to come out unscathed. This is also the origin of the Magical trope of trading sanity for knowledge. To conclude I shall offer some practical advice, which can be safely ignored. The purpose of the Magical Mind is to gain content. Only when your spells or ritual have content can they work. In simpler terms to make more and powerful associations. This practical advice shall also be a good example of what I mean by content. We all have our magical tools, the basic four being; the wand, chalice. the pentacle, and the athame (dagger). One can get all to these items from one of the many Occult supply stores. The trouble is most of these items from an occult supply store have no content, and they are not individualized. So what I am suggesting is to pick an Occult tool that has some content for you. An example would be the athame, instead of buying an ornamental athame from a store consider picking a dagger that has some content built in. This can be done in a number of ways. One can pick a knife that has been in his-her family for a long time. Bayonets make great athames. They already have associations with attack and defense. Another suggestion is consider buying a reproduction of a historical dagger. The Roman Pugio would be a good example as it already comes with content. The Pugio was the dagger that was used to assassinate Caesar. And the Pugio has associations with the Roman gods. If one is working with the Egyptian gods, a sickle sword would be a good pick. And for the Greek gods, a Spatha, the Celtic gods,a dirk, and so on. Next "Fragment"shall be a change of subject. Blessed Be!!