Joy and Discontent

Magic is the Way of the operative mind, developing through self-realization in action, in the actualization of potentials, in striving and achievement.

At the same time, the driving motive for such development is an acute sense of dissatisfaction with one’s “incomplete,” “imperfect” realization, and consequently — unfreedom. Thus, since the Magus constantly and keenly experiences this propelling feeling of dissatisfaction, it can give the impression that the state of his mind is always burdened and discontent.

Magic is the Way of overcoming and standing against: overcoming destructive forces, overcoming the inertia of material existence, overcoming barriers and obstacles. Therefore, the Magus is a warrior, and his life is a battle. Thus, it may appear that the Magus feels anger and is aggressive in his behavior.

And there seems nothing more incompatible with Magic than the blissful affirmation of the world’s present perfection — than “positive thinking” and the denial of the dark component of the cosmos and the declaration that it is “entirely light” here and now.

However, the idea that the Magi must dwell in gloomy states of mind in order not to lose the sense of dissatisfaction, just as the notion that the spirit of the warrior is aggression, is erroneous and destructive, turning Magic from a Way of perfecting the flow of mind into a way of suppressing it. An equally destructive notion is the opposite idea — that Magic is a “Way to happiness,” if by “happiness” one understands a shift into the “positive” pole of the binary, the exclusion from it of all disharmonious elements.

Aiming at freedom as the highest value, the Magus always strives for balance and the greatest breadth of his mind. This means he seeks to achieve harmony in his mind not by excluding from his attention the “inconvenient” elements or states, but by transforming them, “returning” to the original, constructive state, and — integration into the general flow. As mentioned repeatedly, the Magical myth proceeds from the idea that, in its “primordial” nature, any stable flow is evolutionary and constructive, and that its possible destructiveness arises as a consequence of imbalance, the predominance of one component to the detriment of another, and subsequent distortion and “darkening.” Accordingly, the efforts of the Magus are aimed at “returning” to the flows of mind and energy their balanced, harmonious characteristics.

Thus, since the state of the Magus’s mind is a flowing state striving to move from a less harmonious current to a more harmonious one, subjectively this state is experienced as joy. The paradox of the Magus’s existence is that, despite all direct encounters with the darkest, most gloomy and sinister sides of the world, the Magus remains joyful, becoming neither an embittered soldier nor a self-pitying depressive. It is precisely the ability to see darkness clearly in all its unattractiveness, precisely the habit of not averting one’s gaze from evil, that gives the Magus the ability to value harmony.

If the Magus feels that his state is deprived of joy, he has faltered, strayed from his Way, and must urgently set about finding that error and correcting it. Likewise, if the Magus feels that the world seems to him “superficially beautiful,” that perception is losing its depth and richness — he must rouse himself and not slide into a condition confined to light.

Overcoming duality for the Magus occurs through integration, and for that each pole must be clearly revealed and fully brought into awareness.

Therefore, the Magus does not lose joy while experiencing pain, does not succumb to aggression when immersed in battle, does not fall into the trap of indifference, striving for equilibrium, attempting to combine within himself all the facets of the world, to discover in himself — a microcosm analogous to and “identical, yet otherwise” to the macrocosm, and then to transcend both cosmos and chaos by uniting them within himself without being absorbed by them.