...it is possible to conceive of and to work out what we may call a pure ascesis, that is to say, one made up of techniques for developing an interior force, the use of which, to begin with, remains undetermined...
...it is not a question of "values" but of "instruments," instruments of a virtus, not in the moralistic sense but in the ancient sense of virile energy.
The concept and the realization of the extreme apex or, in other words, of that which is beyond both such a "being" and its opposite, "nonbeing," was and is natural to the Aryan spirit. It does not deny the theistic point of view but recognizes it in its rightful hierarchic place and subordinates it to a truly transcendental concept.
The fact of reaching the apex, in which the distinction between "Creator" and "creature" becomes metaphysically meaningless, allows of a whole system of spiritual realizations that, since it leaves behind the categories of "religious" thought, is not easily understood: and, above all, it permits a direct ascent, that is, an ascent up the bare mountainside, without support and without useless excursions to one side or another. This is the exact meaning of the Buddhist ascesis: it is no longer a system of disciplines de-signed to generate strength, sureness, and unshakeable calm, but a system of spiritual realization. Buddhism carries the will for the unconditioned to a limit that is almost beyond the imagination of the modern Westerner.
Lion's Roar:
There are penitents and priests who exalt liberation. They speak in various manners glorifying liberation. But as for that which concerns the most noble, the highest liberation, I know that none equals me, let alone that I may be surpassed.
-Julius Evola, The Doctrine of Awakening
concerning ascesis here's something i was reading today from Franz Bardon's Initiation Into Hermetics:
ReplyDeleteGod ~
Since the remotest times, Mankind has always believed in something beyond human
understanding, something transcendental that he idolized no matter whether there was
question of personified or unpersonified conceptions of God. Anything man was
unable to understand or to comprehend was imputed to the powers above such as his
intuitive virtue admitted them. In this way, all the deities of mankind, good and evil
ones (demons) have been born. As time went on, gods, angels, demiurges, demons
and ghosts have been worshiped irrespective of their ever having been alive in reality
or their having existed only in fancy. With the development of mankind, the idea of
God was shrinking especially at the time when, with the aid of the sciences,
phenomena were explained that previously were ascribed to the gods. A lot of books
would have to be written if one wished to enter into details of the various ideas of
God in the history of the nations.
Let us approach the idea of God from a magician’s standpoint. To the plain man the
idea of God serves as a support for his spirit just not to entangle himself in uncertainty
or get out of his depth. Therefore his God always remains something inconceivable,
intangible, and incomprehensible to him. It is quite otherwise with the magician who
knows his God in all aspects. He holds his God in awe as he knows himself to have
been created in its image, consequently to be a part of God. He sees his lofty ideal, his
first duty and his sacred objective in the union with the Godhead, in becoming the
God-man. The rise to this sublime goal shall be described later on. The synthesis of
this mystic union with God consists in developing the divine ideas, from the lowest up
to the highest steps, in such a degree as to attain the union with the universal.
Everyone is at liberty to abandon his individuality or to retain it. Such genii usually
return to earth entrusted with a definite sacred task or mission.
In this rise, the initiated magician is a mystic at the same time. Only performing this
ReplyDeleteunion and giving up his individuality, he voluntarily enters into dissolution which in
the mystic wording is called mystic death.
It is evident that true initiation knows neither a mystic nor a magic path. There is only
one initiation linking both conceptions, in opposition to most of the mystic and
spiritual schools which are dealing with the very highest problems, through
meditation or other spiritual exercises, without having gone through the first steps at
first. This would be very similar to somebody starting with the university studies
without having gone through the elementary classes first. The results of such a one-
sided training, in some cases, are disastrous, sometimes even drastic, according to the
individual talents. Generally the error is to be found in the fact that most of the matter
comes from the Orient, where the material as well as the astral world is regarded as
maya (illusion), and consequently little attention is paid to it. It is impossible to point
out the details, for this would overstep the frame of this book. Sticking to a carefully
planned, step-by-step development, there will be neither a mishap nor a failure nor
bad consequences, for the simple reason that ripening takes place slowly but surely. It
is quite an individual matter whether the adept will choose as his idea of God, Christ,
Buddha, Brahma, Allah, or someone else. All depends on the idea, in the initiation.
The pure mystic wishes to approach his God only in the all-embracing love. The yogi,
too, walks toward one single aspect of God. The bhakti-yogi keeps to the road of love
and devotion, the raja and hatha yogi choose the path of self-control or volition, the
jnana yogi will follow that of wisdom and cognition.
Now let us regard the idea of God from the magic standpoint, according to the four
elements, the so-called tetragrammaton, the unspeakable, the supreme: the fiery
principle involves the almightiness and the omnipotence, the airy principle owns the
wisdom, purity and clarity, from which aspect proceeds the universal lawfulness.
Love and eternal life are attributed to the watery principle, and omnipresence,
immortality and consequently eternity belong to the earth principle. These four
aspects together represent the supreme Godhead. Let us tread upon this path to this
supreme Godhead practically and step by step, beginning from the lowest sphere, to
arrive at the true realization of God in ourselves. Let us praise the happy man who
will reach this still in his earthly existence. Us banish fear of the pains, for all of us
will reach this goal.
Asceticism ~
ReplyDeleteFrom the remotest times, all religions, sects, turns of mind and training systems have regarded asceticism as a very important problem. Various systems of the Orient turned asceticism into fanaticism, causing great damage by exaggeration and wild excesses that were unnatural and unlawful. The mortification of the flesh, generally speaking, is just as one-sided as developing one part of the body only, neglecting all the other parts. If asceticism serves the human body, say in the pattern of a diet, to get rid of slag and other impurities, or to save the body from illness and to compensate disharmonies, then ascetic measures may reasonably be employed, but beware of any
exaggeration.
Somebody doing hard physical work would, indeed, be very foolish to deprive the body of substances absolutely necessary for its preservation, just because he is privately interested in yoga or mysticism. Such extremes would doubtlessly end up with serious and dangerous injuries to the health.
Vegetarianism is not implicitly important for the mental progress or the intellectual development, unless it is supposed to be a remedy to clean the body from slag. A temporary abstinence from meat or animal food is indicated only for very specific
magic operations as a sort of preparation, and even then only for a certain period. All this is to be considered with respect to sexual life.
The idea that by eating the meat of an animal, the animal powers or faculties could be conveyed to oneself is nonsense and originates in a mental ignorance of the perfect and genuine primitive laws. The magician does not pay any attention to such
misconception.
In the interest of his mago-mystic development, the magician must be moderate in eating and drinking, and observe a reasonable mode of life. It is impossible to fix precise rules or prescriptions, the magic way of life being quite individual. Each and all must know best what agrees or disagrees with them. It is a sacred duty to keep the balance everywhere. There are three kinds of asceticism: (1), intellectual or mental asceticism, (2) psychic or astral asceticism, 93) physical or material asceticism. The first kind has to do with the discipline of thoughts, the second kind is engaged in ennobling the soul through control of passions and instincts, and the third kind is concerned with harmonizing the body through a moderate and natural way of life.
Without these three kinds of asceticism, which must be developed at the same tie and parallel to each other, a correct magical rise is unthinkable. To avoid any one-sided development, none of the three kinds may be neglected, and none of them may prevail. Further information about how to accomplish this task will be given in the
ReplyDeletepractical training course of this book.
Before bringing the theoretical part to an end which has illustrated the principles, I advise everybody that this part should not only be read, but must become the mental possession of the concerned person by means of intense reflection and meditation. He who is going to be a magician will recognize that life is dependent on the work of the
elements in the various planes and spheres. It is to be seen in great and in small things, in the microcosm as well as in the macrocosm, temporarily and eternally, everywhere there are powers in action. Starting from this point of cognition, you will
find that there is no death at all, in the true sense of the word, but everything goes on living, transmuting and becoming perfect according to primitive laws. Therefore a magician is not afraid of death, for he believes the physical death to be only a transition to a subtler sphere, the astral plane, and from there to the spiritual level, and
so on. Consequently he will not believe in heaven nor in hell. The priests of the various religions stick to these fancies solely to keep their kids to the point. Their moralizing serves only to provoke fear of the hell or the purgatory and to promise
heaven to morally good people. Average people, as far as they are religiously inclined, are favorably influenced by such a point of view for, from fear of hell, they will try to be good.
But as for the magician, he sees the purpose of the moral laws in ennobling the mind and the soul, for it is in an ennobled soul only that the universal powers can do their work, especially if body, mind and soul have been equally trained and developed.
That is right on, bro. Absolutely correct. I've never read Franz Bardon. But I will have to check him out.
ReplyDeleteAre you familiar with any info concerning the three rays - green, purple, blue?
Ever worked with colored sunglasses?
is the green ray the ray of creation? i feel like i've read something before but can't remember. i was thinking of goethe's theory of color today though. he says darkness is the polarity of light and newton says, what's commonly accepted, darkness is absence of light.
ReplyDeleteWe were definitely born on the same wavelength. Stick to Goethe regarding color. I had a series of revelations in regard to his color theory back when I was in college.
ReplyDeleteThe green ray is the creative force. It is Venusian and located at the seventh Sephiroth in the Kabbalah(Netzach). However, in regard to Kabbalah, follow Stephen Flower's Hellenic diagram in Hermetic Magic. He broke the code and has the proper alignments/number of paths.
The green ray is also connected to magic/art as well as a force known as VRIL which concerns Dark Matter/the Black Sun and an all permeating energy that can be utilized to regenerate divinity.
If you have blue eyes, you should wear yellow shooter/night driving glasses to convert solar light into Green.
You'd have to be experimental. Some of these hypotheses emerge from my own speculations.
Dion Fortune wrote a book called The Cosmic Doctrine where she goes into the rays more in depth. I don't have the book with me but I took some notes on it a while back. I'll see if I can rustle them up and post them.