Fragment 30

It is time to get back to the Search for the Self. I have a few preliminaries to get through before resuming the Search for the Self. To begin with I must acknowledge some intellectual debts. Besides the usual cast of characters: Bohme, Paracelsus, Gurdjieff, Crowley. ertc.; I have a special obligation to the philosopher F.W. v. Schelling and the psychologist G.H. Mead for this "Fragment". And I have some practical advice, which shall help us transition into the following discussion. The advice is when you have achieved inspiration go as far as you can with it. I am talking about mentally not doing something stupid. When you get a new theory or insight do not cut it off. Carry the theory or insight as far as you can. Go as far into the weeds as you can, there is always time later to trim back the theory or insight. Most people kill their inspiration in the cradle, that is why most people are not good at practicing Magic. Don't let the voices in your head or the voices of family and friends cut short inspiration. To restart our search for the Self, we must talk about consciousness. What is consciousness? Are higher states of consciousness possible? Can higher states of consciousness reveal hidden knowledge? These are some of the questions that led me to practicing Magic, and studying philosophy. So what is consciousness? The usual answer is awareness, this is undoubtedly true. The trouble is we substituted one vague word for another vague word. So I shall offer an operational definition that can be worked with. A definition that only applies to humans at this particular time. Consciousness is the conversation that goes on in a person's head. Now we can start answering the questions that were posed about higher states of consciousness and whether they can reveal hidden knowledge. We know from talking to people that some conversae divided inottions are better than others. So higher states of consciousness are the better conversations one has in his-her head (the Egregores). Remember Crowley said one of the goals of Magic was to achieve a conversation with one;s Holy Guardian Angel (H.G.A.). I will have more to say on the H.G.A. in future "Fragments". Before discussing the thought entities that dwell in the mental sphere, let me say a few more things about conversations. When we read a book, what are we really doing? We are having a conversation with the author. Books like all our conversations follow the rule that some conversations are better than others. Even when we are studying nature our consciousness still puts the study into the form of a conversation. We ask questions and then try to get an answer. We try to make nature answer our questions. The experiments we devise are questions. Let me take a more common example of looking for a building you have never been to. We look to the street names and numbers for our answers. Our consciousness takes the framework of a conversation. This is why nearly everyone from the ancients says that consciousness implies a duality. To be conscious there must be at least two elements that are interacting. A dialogue is the mark of being conscious. Let us move on to the characters that make up a person's internal dialogue. They are the Egregores. When a person lets in or has an Egregore implanted into his-her consciousness, the Egregore forms a "Me". I must state before moving on that I am using some familiar terminology in an unfamiliar way, but bear with me. I am doing the best I can, like I have said we have not invented the tools or the terminology to properly investigate the Egregores. A "Me" is passiveI response to an Egregore. It is Egregore's beach head into one's mind. "Me"s do what they are told. In the Bronze Age there were "Me"s and only a few proto- "I"s. This is why people were the [ro[erty of the Egregores in the Bronze Age. Usually in the Bronze Age the controlling Egregore could be identified by a person's name. Most names in the Bronze Age were theophoric. The "I" comes about when a person begins to question the Egregore. The resulting "I" can be divided into two types depending on the relation to the Egregore. If the reacting "I" embraces the Egregore, and his-her reaction is to further the reach of the Egregore, this results in a passive "I" or an active "Me". I prefer the term "active Me ", because the person is still under the control to the Egregore, even if she-he thinks that they are controlling the Egregore. We know sometimes rival groups of active "Me"s arise in an Egregore.These internal conflicts in an Egregore manifest as conflicts among the Egregore"s followers. The difference between the active "Me" and what I call the "I" is the active "Me" accepts the Egregore's goals. Religious wars,and conflicts would fit into this paradigm of active "Me"s in conflict. The followers are in conflict about how best to pursue the goals of the Egregore, or about some technical point that is meaningless to any outsiders. When a person accepts the goals and conduct of an Egregore they become active "Me"s, and become the Egregore's collaborators. This active "Me" is the reason most people think theyBronze Age there is now a lot of duplicity. I think it was C.S. Lewis said something like: "The Devil's best trick is to make people think he does not exist." The Egregores have developed an even better trick, they make you think that their voice in your head is your own. Like S. Kierkegaard I miss the honesty of the ancient and medieval worlds.This state of thinking you are free while being controlled by Egregores is what Occultists have called sleep or hypnotism. Most people are sleepwalkers controlled by an Egregore's dreams.The way Egregores control people is by inducing dreams. Egregores also use guilt and flattery to control people. In self loathing the Active "Me" condemns and tortures the "I' that resists. Yes guilt may be the greatest mind control technique ever. This is how self loathing become manifest in an individual. An Egregore may also use flattery to approve when the "I" becomes an active "Me".This also is how an Egregore rewards its followers. It makes them feel like they are better than other people. This should be easy to observe in our virtue signalling society. How an Egrgore puffs up people making them sanctimonious and didactic. To finish this "Fragment" I shall go back to the practical advice I started with. When one calls either a god or a demon they are seeking inspiration. I know the older view is where the god or demon is supposed to fetch the desired object and deliver it to the door. I also know this sometimes happens, but it is usually for small or unimportant things. We can take the example of a love spell. Very seldom does a god or demon act as a pimp. But a god or demon can give the confidence or tools to win the desired love, or show one the desired lover is not really that desirable. This is the gift of inspiration. As the ancients knew and we moderns have forgotten inspiration is th