Individuality and Separateness
Manifest being constitutes a Threshold between the undivided unity of the Great Spirit, which forms the potential ground of being, and the infinite multitude of aspects through which It carries out Its self-knowledge.
This transition — from integral unity to differentiated multiplicity — properly speaking, the initial act of creation as such — consists in the birth of a primordial duality: a multitude of subjects of self-knowledge —Monads, and a multitude of objects of that knowledge —energies.
Note that even this primordial creation is not a “collapse” or “fragmentation” of the Great Spirit as such; rather, it only translates Its сверхбытие and supraconsciousness into an “active” phase. In other words, reflecting Itself, the Great Spirit, as it were, “looks into” Its separate aspects; and each such separate “glance”, each such “focusing of attention,” appears as an individual aspect of It — a unit of cognition — an individual Monad.
From this point of view, it is clear that each Monad is not a part of the Great Spirit — in which there is not and cannot be any fragmentation — but rather the Great Spirit Itself in one of Its infinite aspects, in one of Its infinite glances upon Itself.
From the standpoint of the Magical myth, incomplete are both the representation of the Great Spirit as “God,” that is, an all-wise and all-powerful being, and the representation of It as an impersonal Power constituting the “foundation” of the universe. Magic proceeds from an understanding of the Great Spirit as abiding beyond personhood and impersonality, being and nonbeing, mind and unconsciousness — surpassing every duality and every attribute. Therefore, when speaking of processes occurring in It and with It, we only conditionally allude to something lying beyond any determinacy.
Accordingly, when it comes to the next stage — “obscuration” — there should be no impression that the Great Spirit is “obscured,” or that some imperfection or incompleteness emerges within It. Nevertheless, each concrete “glance” of the Great Spirit upon Itself, each element of Its self-knowledge, must, on the one hand, be complete and perfect in itself, and on the other, separate from all other glances, so as to illuminate, reflect, and actualize precisely that constellation of aspects of the One to which it is directed. It is precisely such a “narrowing of the field of vision” — on the one hand wholly natural and necessary, and on the other leading to “ignoring” the fullness and unity— that is called “obscuration”; and the force sustaining such individual glances is named Nahash— the power of Fragmentation.
Let us note once more that primordial differentiation occurs in potential being, only as possibility: the Desire of the Great Spirit to know Itself. The passage to actual self-knowledge is accompanied by further differentiation, and each Monad actualizes itself in an infinite number of incarnations, since it, as an aspect of the Great Spirit, likewise contains an infinite number of aspects and potencies awaiting realization.
Therefore, each separate being (the “selfhood”) is, in relation to “its” Monad, the same kind of differential aspect as that Monad is in relation to the Great Spirit. It is clear that all these levels of differentiation are conditional, since they are only instruments of the world-process of Self-knowledge, the filling of being with mind; and, strictly speaking, from the absolute point of view, only the integral supraconsciousness of the Great Spirit is real.
At the same time, every “separate” manifested being turns out to be merely an individual glance of the Great Spirit upon a definite constellation of Its aspects; and yet this glance maintains its separateness, often “going too far” in its separation and isolation from other “glances,” entering into struggle with them and opposing itself to other aspects of that same Unity.
Just as the Great Spirit expresses Itself through an infinite number of individual Monads, so each Monad manifests itself through a sequence of beings/selfhoods, each selfhood through a series of personalities, and each personality through a flow of discrete psychic states.
The singular mind — the “ego” — with all its might maintains its “existence” at all levels, beginning with an отдельное state and up to selfhood: opposing itself to the “rest,” separating itself from the “others,” and sinking into sufferings (since sufferings allow one to maintain isolation — the One does not suffer). The cause of this, of course, is its deep sensation of its own ephemerality, temporality, and mortality.
Individuality as a necessary condition of self-knowledge does not mean separateness, and understanding this fact is extraordinarily important for the Magus. On the one hand, the Magus does not allow his dissolution, his melting into the Unity, his being absorbed by this Unity — since that would disrupt the process of actualization, the self-knowledge of the Great Spirit. But on the other hand, the Magus is not caught in the trap of separateness; he does not enter into the destructive Luciferian opposition of himself as a unit to the world-wholeness. It is precisely such a representation that forms the notion of “Pleroma” — “union without confusion” — describing the actual, operative existence of the world’s fullness.
The Magus develops and manifests his individuality, balancing its “centrifugal” tendencies with the all-uniting power of love. The Magus is that which he must be by his nature — an individual unit of the World-process, neither a “cog in the system” nor the “navel of the earth,” but the Great Spirit in one of the infinite number of Its aspects — no less than infinity and no greater than a point.
Self-Knowledge of the Great Spirit
Manifested Individuality
Fragmentation of Mind
Overcoming Duality
Perfecting the Perfect
Why Does the Wheel of Life Turn?
Freedom from Unity
The Search for Individuality
Hello! You wrote that magic is not an evolutionary but a revolutionary path, but this view defines a magician as simply a maximally harmonious being; what is revolutionary about it?
Hello! First of all, ‘harmonious being’ is not that simple, and secondly, this view defines the magician’s basic outlook, not the pattern of their actions. The pattern of a magician’s actions is that, upon recognizing the infinite Path to actualizing their potentials, realizing their place on this Path, they attempt to traverse this Path not simply – slowly evolving, developing, but to develop such intensity, such effectiveness, that they fill themselves with the light of awareness at once, in minimal time, ideally – in one lifetime.
It seems to me that it’s very difficult to fill oneself with the light of awareness in one life. Many, very many have forgotten what the Spirit is… Identified with shells.
Indeed, very few have managed, very few; the temptation to fall for distractors is very great, and one must be very skilled at distinguishing the voice of desires from the sweet words of demons.
Being a ‘Harmonious Being’ is indeed not easy because for others it becomes disharmonious.
Being a harmonious being implies harmony around oneself, ‘for others.’
Thank you! In general terms, I understand the meaning. It helped me to align my internal understanding of relationships between objects. I will delve deeper while engaging in the process of self-discovery.
Interesting article, thank you. After reading, I had an association about magicians and the Spirit: spermatozoa rushing to fertilize… what? They are completely separate but are part of the system. What can arise from the merging of the Magician and the Spirit?
That which looks similar and has the maximum identical resemblance is prone to merging. I believe human individuality, which is a certain level of developed consciousness, like everything around it, has similarities that ensure merging and a transition to a new level of soul development.
Is there knowledge in Western Myth or any other about ways to connect with one’s individuality without losing one’s personality and bringing the Monad into an active state?
What you describe resonates with “The Magic of Immortality” by Burislav Servest.
Loss of personality is akin to loss of memory, however, a tabula rasa – a “clean slate” of the consciousness of a newborn baby, even if in an adult body, is, in my opinion, not the best result of development……………………….. The essence is not to get rid of the personality – the essence is to transform and harmonize it. Not to uproot the Ego as something bad and perverse, but to cleanse it of destructive influences and recognize the Ego as a part of the personality that is in contact with the external world through perception. After all, if there is nothing to perceive, there will be no perception and awareness.
Yes, it resonates with MB, and I know you from the CS forum, even though you haven’t appeared there for a long time 🙂
Overall, I agree with you. For the personality to be able to fully accept/manifest its Individuality without collapsing in the process, it must become harmonious, stable, and whole.
Hello! I have a few questions) How to motivate oneself to take some actions from a feeling of undividedness with the world? If the sun tickles the belly, birds are singing, and everything is good, why move somewhere and suffer? Or to move doesn’t mean to suffer? Or am I wrong in how I understand the feeling of undividedness? What is “ego”? Is it a collection of personalities? Let’s say, it seems to me I’m afraid to part with the personality that suffers because then it feels like I will stop moving, and stopping movement is something like death. On the other hand, this movement is more like back and forth.
Hello.
1) Undividedness with the world is not only unity with its pleasant moments but also with its complexities and pain. It is impossible to feel unity only with part of the qualities or processes; that would not be unity, but selective perception.
2) “Ego” is not the personality itself, but the confidence in its reality; it is the feeling of “I am precisely this”, that is – the division of the world into “I” and “not-I”. However, if such a division does not occur, then only “I am” remains, without indications of what can be considered “me.” Then the feeling of presence and observation arises – “sambhogakaya”, which can then manifest in actions devoid of egoistic direction (or, more precisely, spreading egoism much wider than just on an individual personality).
Enmerkar, thank you for the clarification. Allow me to express my feeling:
Moving and living does not mean suffering. Suffering is suggested by the external system (i.e. supposedly Life is overcoming, suffering, difficulties, etc.). You can simply live and enjoy living, and that is normal. Perhaps you perceive the Forces of Life and Life in a pure form (enjoying it, smiling at the sun, people, singing birds), that is, you are simply glad
of existence itself, and that is normal. Appreciate this in yourself, share your feeling with loved ones, and this, perhaps, is your Gift and your “movement.”