Fragment 41

In this "Fragment" I want to examine Sigmund Frued's structure of the Self. I know many readers probably wonder why I talk so much about philosophy and metaphysics, and spend so little time on magickal practice. The reason is simple; Occultism consists of both theory and practice. The theory is studying metaphysics, philosophy, and religion'; with an emphasis on metaphysics. The practice is, of course, doing magick rituals. They are two parts of the same discipline, just like humans have both mental and physical aspects. They are, of course, aspects of the same thing. I shall bring in history for an example. Remember the Neoplatonists. Neoplatonism consists of both theory and practice: theology and theurgy. Theology is God talk, and Theurgy is God work.Even in Plotinus we find some theurgic exercises. Once we get to Iamblichus the theurgy is made explicit. (Anyone interested in Occultism should have the major writings of Iamblichus.) That the student needs the theurgy to understand the metaphysics, and vice versa. I am going to use an illustration attributed to G.I. Gurdjieff. I believe the illustration can be found in one of K. Speeth's books. I have not read her books in forty years, so I could be wrong. The illustration is an analogy that uses mountain climbing. Gurdjieff says that on the way up Mount Enlightenment, you shall meet two kinds of people: the fanatic and the tourist. These two types of people show what happens when either theory or practice become unbalanced. First let us examine the fanatic. One usually encounters the fanatic in a religious setting. (Today that includes the Political Religions) There are both dangerous and benign fanatics. An example of the dangerous is the Jihadi. As I have said before, do not be fooled by the political sounding names of their organizations, they are death cults. So let me turn to the benign fanatic. Most of those old ladies one encounters in Catholic and Orthodox churches, the ones that always seem to be there all the time paying homage to the Virgin Mary and saying a lot of rosaries are fanatics. Some of these ladies have built up tremendous discipline which can translate into magickal power. This power usually is in healing and prophecy. Of course they do not advertise their power, they are totally devoted. I would also recommend that one stay away from fanatics, because they have a tendency to draw people into their madness. Another example one can observe the power fanatics can generate is the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. A group of illiterate, barely illiterate, barefoot tribesmen threw the most powerful military power in all of history out of their country. The problem with the fanatic is he-she has hit a dead end. Their self development has stopped, they never reach the higher states of consciousness. So let us now turn to the tourists. The tourist is usually found in Occultism. These are the people that know all the right books to read, even though they have not read them. They know all kinds of esoteric trivia. (maybe Jeopardy should include an Occultism category. Tourists would excel at that) The trouble is they do no work. So they stay masters of esoteric trivia. They are typically collectors of occult memorabilia. This is the tourist at his-her best. At worst they are merely L.A.R.P.ing. Before examining Freud, I have some advice on practice. I am reading Jean Gebser's book "The Ever-Present Origin". A dense and difficult book. One should always try to read books that are challenging, this is a way of developing the Magickal Mind. If one reads only introductory books one can become a tourist. Remember both Crowley, and Gurdjieff taught that struggle is the only way to develop the Self. Even though I have only read the first third of the book I can highly recommend the book. It should be on every Occultist's shelf, after he-she has read it. The book shall be reviewed in future "Fragments", it shall take more than one the book is full of ideas. Gebser is the first writer to challenge me for a long time. I guess after reading Hegel and Bohme it is hard to find challenging books? This led me to a practice I have not used in many years to help me understand books. After reading a difficult passage I consult the Tarot Cards for greater understanding. I use between 4 to 6 cards. One must work out the spread for themselves, this is a highly individual practice. I have found this practice very useful. Now to Freud. In the twentieth century Freud gave us the last functional structure or paradigm of the Self. A structure on how the psychic energies are organized. The scheme is Ego, Id and Superego. In many ways Freud updated the old Christian paradigm. To begin let us observe how Freud's paradigm of the Self compares to the Christian paradigm. For the Christian paradigm the conflict is between the Beast (human's animal nature) and the Christ consciousness. In Freud's paradigm all his structures are in conflict. We shall start with the conscience, in Freud the Superego is the conscience. For Christianity the conscience is the inner Christ. Christ becomes the homunculus that rules human action. Of course in Freud the conscience has no connection to the divine as it does in Christianity. Instead of conscience being a divine gift, for Freud it is the morals of the society that the agent lives in internalized. Secularizing Christian ideas was very popular in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Also instead of standing apart or above the Superego is part of the Ego that broke away and turned on the Ego. The Ego is then in conflict with the Id. The Id is of course, the Beast, the animal nature of humans; the desires, wants, and hates of the animal body. So in Freud all the structures of the Self are in conflict; the Ego, Superego and Id. Freud has introduced the Ego as the mediator between the Superego and the Id. Some of the Neoplatonists introduced mediator levels in their structures also. So Freud is very close to the Christian paradigm, except in Freud's paradigm there is no end to conflict, there is no being born again, no transformation of the Self. The best the Ego can do is know and realize the conflict. Freud was very sensitive to the psychic energies in humans. And represented the conflicts of modern humans. This is what makes Freud's paradigm valuable is studying the psyche of moderns. Humans have lost touch with the divine and are in a constant state of inner conflict. But we have moved on from Freud and the paradigm fell apart. The Superego does not have a stable society to internalize, conscience is a drift. Freud tried to demythologize the Christian and Neoplatonic paradigms for modern man. He was right about the conflicts that have torn all our psychic structures apart. This is why we live in the last days of the old Christian paradigm. Something new must replace it. That is what we should be working on.