Crowley sez:
"Since I am Infinite Space and the Infinite Stars thereof, do ye also thus. Bind nothing! Let there be no difference made among you between any one thing & any other thing; for thereby there cometh hurt." --AL I:22
"This is the creation of the world, that the pain of division is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all." --AL I:30
"There is no bond that can unite the divided but love: all else is a curse." --AL I:41
This totally goes against everything I'm into lately. I mean, I went through all the "It's all One Thing, Man" phase early on, but I'm more into the re-coagulation phase now. I'm aware more than ever in my path of the differentiators between separate things.
At the same time, I am differentiating without applying soft labels, like "good" and "bad," "better" or "worse." I think what's happened is this: I've dissolved the matter, purified it, recoagulated it, and now am ready to use it. At least in certain aspects of my life.
I find myself intimately aware of the differences between things. I'm classifying and categorizing things by their zodiacal, planetary, or elemental affinities. I'm noting the differences in the vibrations or harmonies of things, concepts, words, and I'm able to understand how things have developed into what they currently are. I can see "areas of premanifestation" that things or situations can be returned to, additions to particular chains of manifestation that can be made that will change how things manifest in the material realm.
It's like a soup. Fundamentally, soups are all pretty much the same, flavored liquid differentiated by taste and methods of preparation and presentation. Yet you can start with the same core ingredients and wind up with very different manifestations depending on what different things you add at different times in the preparation. Changing the ingredients during the cooking process is all that changes a Cream of Tomato soup into Gazpacho, or a Clam Chowder into Alfredo sauce. Which isn't even soup!
So anyway, I think the reason I'm focusing on the differentiation of manifest things (without passing judgment) lately is because I spent a long time Working my way up through the Spheres towards the Unmanifest, and I've returned in my life with certain knowledge and understanding that I'm putting into practice. To craft a particular manifestation takes an awareness of the reason things manifest differently. You have to understand the correspondences of things like the plants you're blending into an incense or "fluid condenser" to get the right "fluid." Thinking in terms of "all plants are manifestations of One Plant, so I can use Lemon Grass instead of Cayenne Pepper" is useless. Cayenne pepper is cayenne pepper on purpose. Lemon Grass is Lemon Grass for a reason.
Crowley's statements above are necessary information to understand and assimilate when you're rising through the planes, in the Solve stage of the Work. We are all One thing, it's true. But the final statement from my friend's status message is what the Work of the Magician is all about, imho. Love is the glue that you use to bind together the diverse elements of your ritual, your tinctures, your talismans, or your spell craft. All else is a curse indeed.
Head for the Red: The ongoing adventures and insights of a magician's attempts to accomplish the Great Work.
Form is emptiness emptiness is form.
ReplyDeleteForm is not other than emptiness, emptiness is not other than form.
Crowley's mistake, and the mistake of many that have a taste of trans-abyssal awareness but have not done work to stabalize it, is that the emptiness or unity becomes "true" and the form or division becomes "false". This stems from his fundamental misunderstanding of Buddhism.
I think that in this human form, the experience of 'separate' (cayenne pepper and lemongrass, great ie) is useful, if not downright necessary.
ReplyDeleteIt is in the realm of soul/spirit that the division is lost, and no doubt there as well, it is useful if not downright necessary.
k
Those statements from the first chapter of The Book of the Law also need to be read in context and juxtaposed with the statements in the second chapter. The first chapter is all "let there be no difference made" and the second is more like "I am unique and conqueror." The two chapters represent contradictory but complementary principles, and it's not uncommon for practitioners to drift between them in the course of the work.
ReplyDeleteAnd Jason, I disagree that Crowley's writings on the 0=2 formula imply that he saw 0 as true and 2 as false. It seems to me that his conception of 0=2 describes the nature of emptiness and form as they are understood in Vajrayana quite elegantly. But maybe that's a discussion for another time and place.
K. Sequoia,
ReplyDeleteThe division between human form and soul/spirit is probably the one division that I would call harmful.
Jason,
ReplyDeleteYes(!); I agree to a point, however-- because to even declare it as definitely harmful is to create the division all over again, yes? On a soul level there is no 'harm' in the unfolding of Being, I gather.
IME, for some it is a division/illusion that is a necessary boundary for a person's growth. If we create our worlds, then why do we create that illusion of separation or 'boundary'? I don't pretend to have the answers, just musing aloud here.
Regards, loving this blog!
K
Man, where to start...
ReplyDeleteTo a degree, you are correct - lemongrass isn't a good substitute for cayenne. However, a different variety of capsicum could be used with little damage - but it wouldn't be the same dish as it would be with the original cayenne.
Let's look at it with people - my "flavor" of the Work isn't the same as yours, nor the same as anyone else's at any point in history. I'm here to fulfill the Great Work Of Being Eoin Keith Boyle. It may bear similarities to others' Work - but that's all it is: similar.
Hell, even in the kitchen, consistency is often a struggle because of the innate variability of agricultural products. The tomatoes might be a bit fresher, the steaks a bit tougher... The only thing that keeps it together is the skill of the cook and their ability to put their knowledge into practice.
But, at a certain level, cooking = food + heat