Other People’s Stories
One of the Parasite of mind’s favorite strategies— one that distracts from development and an effective Way — is to shift attention away from one’s own Way and one’s own mind outward, toward other people’s fates and other people’s stories.
A person watches films, reads books, plays games — and as a result lives other people’s lives, gaining only empty experience.
Other people’s stories can be excellent didactic material, but only insofar as they are measured against one’s personal Way, one’s personal story of development.
How fascinating it is to read fantasy tales; how fascinating it is to play computer or role-playing games. How fascinating it is to read about Magi and their accomplishments. And how difficult it is, in all this, to find oneself! — Not to copy Castaneda or Gandalf, not to become an astral addict like the participants of the later offshoots of the “Golden Dawn,” but to go one’s own Way, measuring oneself against other people’s stories without plunging into them, without transferring them onto oneself literally.
Look around attentively and it becomes obvious: most people, instead of developing their individuality, do exactly this — copying other people’s patterns of behavior. Yes, on the one hand, learning itself rests on imitation; but on the other, the human being’s free and creative intelligence can go beyond mere imitation, moving from primitive, mechanical collaging of other people’s stories to the construction of one’s own.
But how difficult — and frightening— it is to look one’s fate in the eyes, to find one’s Gift, one’s Orlög…
A cunning inner voice, seeming so familiar and welcoming, keeps whispering, prodding, flattering, and terrifying with dangers, calling one to remain on the cozy couch before the television or in the chair before the computer.
To hear, beyond this unceasing hubbub, the voice of one’s heart; to rise and take the first step — a step toward oneself, a step toward Power — and then not to sit back down with a sense of duty fulfilled, but to go despite barriers and obstacles — this is the hardest thing in the world.
One can speak at length about Power — its features and properties — yet such discussions often serve only as a way to avoid direct interaction with this Power.
Be that as it may, Magic is a Way of action, not a way of reasoning about actions; not a way of dreaming about actions; and not a way of reading about actions.
Only the one who finds within himself the courage to rise and go becomes a Magus: the one who knows where he is going, who wishes to go, and who does not prattle about his actions.
And only when Power truly enters life does it bring a sea of dangers, tons of heaviness and pain, and with them a feeling incomparable to anything else: the feeling of freedom and self-identity. Then the magus finally stops playing other people’s games, tracking other people’s mistakes and envying other people’s successes, and gains a great chance — the chance of free creativity in the pleromic unity of the cosmos.
Challenges and Reactions to Them
Conformity to Criteria
The Battle for Self-Identity
The Long Road Home
Fire from Within
Step by Step
Inspiration and Obsession
Condensation of Mind
A very valuable article. Especially considering that previously I constantly adjusted my Path to fit the book I loved… As a result, some elements of life were, so to speak, damaged :). Now I am reading a book, but I realize that some elements are correct, while others will critically not work for me, as they do not resonate with the rhythm of my Path.
It’s not very clear, you clearly distinguished NON-magicians into theorists and practitioners, with one group sitting in a chair indulging in discussion while doing nothing substantial, and the other immediately drawing pentagrams, signs, etc. without studying theory. So when should a neophyte know that he is ready to create an amulet or summon a spirit? If this is the way of action, how to know when it’s time to act?
The actions of a mage encompass far more than merely drawing amulets and summoning demons. First and foremost, they involve developing one’s consciousness, for instance, through Magical Wheels, mysteries, and even just everyday actions, but carried out not automatically and thoughtlessly, but, as much as possible, strategically and thoughtfully. And it is precisely this that distinguishes a mage from an ordinary person – they seem to do the same thing, but in a completely different way, meaning they strive to fill each of their actions with awareness.
Total adherence to another’s pattern, as well as total rejection of another’s pattern without analysis, are two paths of weakness 🙂
Experiencing another’s life as a healer is important in the healing of the patient who turns to the healer, and leads to the power of awareness within the corrections made to the life path of the healing individual 🙂 While one might not return to their own life, this remains a path of Power 🙂
Any foreign stories are food for inspiration and a source of indirect experience that ultimately ought to be verified 🙂
And certain foreign stories are spells of a life path, DIRECTED BY OTHERS TOWARDS YOU, and it’s worth figuring them out before deciding what to do with them 🙂
Shadowcard, I think that aside from books, we should also consider the Lives of people (this is also mentioned in this article). For example, our close relatives. I once spent so much Energy ‘helping’ a close person, supporting them. But then it came to me that only the PERSON themselves can gain their own Experience! And for fulfilling my personal tasks, there might not be enough time.
Thank you, Enmerkar, for this article. It came to my Path at a very timely moment.
Olga Nikolaevna, this article talks about living through others’ lives, while your story is about reliving ;). Both are destructive in essence, but different in formats. It seems one of Enmerkar’s articles is dedicated specifically to the problem you described and its solution.
Shadowcard, thank you for your response. Yes, indeed you are right.
In this world of fools, scoundrels, and merchants,
Wise one, plug your ears, sew your mouth shut,
Tightly shut your eyelids – think a little,
About the safety of your eyes, tongue, and ears.
About subjectivity and objectivity. This happened around 20 years ago, in a rented apartment. In one of the rooms, the owner’s things were piled up; the door to it had a large transparent glass, so everything happening in that room could be seen through the glass, but nothing was happening there))), so almost no suspicions arose about the room. The only suspicious fact was when we closed the cat, phlegmatic by nature, in there, for some unknown reason, it started howling wildly, refused food, and its eyes were filled with horror and fur almost standing on end after leaving the owner’s room, which surprised all family members. One day, the cat flatly refused to enter that room. It scratched, bit, and almost ran up the walls just to avoid entering the fateful room. However, no one understood what the matter was. One day, my mother and I were lying in bed watching TV. Suddenly, a ghost floated into the room. As strange as it sounds, it looked like Casper from the cartoon. The ghost calmly floated in front of us and disappeared behind the wardrobe. It went through the wall into the very room that scared the cat so much. I was afraid to ask my mother if she saw it too or not, as my visions and feelings usually made relatives suspect that I was unwell. So I simply looked at my mother, and she looked at me, and from the expression on her face, it became clear that she had also seen it. We started talking about the incident, describing what each of us saw. It turned out that we saw the same form of the ghost, but in completely different colors. In my perception, it was white and translucent, while my mother saw a black ghost. I got up to inspect the place behind the closet where it had disappeared, but saw nothing suspicious; then I went into that room behind the wall, but felt and saw nothing suspicious there either. I do not claim that I expect to be believed. This is a subjective experience, a personal perception, which is almost unremarkable except for the lesson I learned from it. Sometimes by describing and voicing unusual visions, one can reveal correspondences between their own and others’ experiences, then analyze these correspondences and summarize, that is, translate a subjective personal experience into an objective, collective experience – for example, if different people perceive such beings, then there is a probability that these beings are not hallucinations of an unhealthy mind but exist quite realistically (fitting into the worldview of more than one person).
You are just very, too free, Enmerkar. You have learned to be or were born so free. Many people, even the majority, are in chains. And how can you, “who has become Freedom,” not understand them, just as they have a hard time understanding what you write. You are amazing; your Teacher really made you into what he promised) and you probably worked hard too. P.S. If I write to you 150 more times that you are amazing, will you stop being so?) Enmerkar, you are astounding!