Yetzer hara and the Accretion of Husks

The Flow of mind, manifesting as discrete selves — personalities, psychic expressions — is, by its very nature, markedly heterogeneous. Being merely a process, a mode of self-reflection of the single, all-qualitative reality of the Great Spirit, mind is in fact expressed as a vast multitude of Flows that arise and then dissolve back into qualitylessness — each of which, from time to time, strives to oppose the others, asserting itself as something independent and self-subsistent.

Traditionally, this drive toward struggle — toward altering the very mode in which the Flow of awareness functions — is called Lamassu, the Parasite of mind. As we have already said, the Parasite’s strategy is aimed прежде всего at distorting the perception of the energies that pass through mind, since erroneous perception is the foundation upon which distorted systems of mental interaction are subsequently built.

Such distorted perception of the macrocosm and psychocosm, imposed by destructive elements of mind, leads to the formation of generally inefficient models of action and behavior. These models are transformed from modes of awareness into forms of self-assertion and self-opposition to integral reality.

In other words, the Magi long ago noticed that the very foundations by which one describes oneself and the world — upon which human life is constructed — are “spoiled.” It is precisely this deep pathology of mind that leads to the construction of ineffective behavioral schemes and to losses of Power. The individual mind, perceiving itself as “personal” mind, builds its functioning not as a Flow reflecting reality, but as a unit clinging to itself and its properties.

As we have already discussed, this “primordial spoilage” of mind — sometimes called “original sin” or yetzer hara (Heb. yetzer ha-ra, יֵצֶר הָרַע, lit. “an inclination toward evil”) — is that “seed” from which impasses and breaches in mind sprout in abundance.

At the same time, models of action whose basis is an originally distorted perception, precisely by virtue of their destructiveness, cannot lead to the accumulation of Power. Therefore, they are empty experience— a husk with which mind becomes overgrown and which, in its turn, becomes an obstacle to the penetration of Light.

In fact, the development of mind built upon yetzer hara microcosmically repeats the cosmic process of worlds becoming overgrown with the “husk” of Qliphoth. Moreover, the more “neglected” this process becomes, the more solid the barriers on the Way of development — and, accordingly, the darker mind becomes.

In other words, both macrocosm and microcosm are transformed from a harmonious and ordered symphony of co-awareness into a world of struggle and mutual devouring.

However, although the introduction of yetzer hara into the ocean of mind begins with the very birth of that ocean, and although this destructive basis itself cannot be fully eradicated without the complete disintegration of selfhood and a “restart” of incarnation, the sprouting of this seed — and all the more so its fruit-bearing — is by no means inevitable.

Put differently: although every actually manifested mind is infected with yetzer hara, in not every mind does this yetzer hara dictate the rules of the game.

It follows that the “cultivation of the garden” of which religious texts speak acquires an explicit psychocosmic meaning: the necessity of constant “weeding” of the field of perception, and the removal from it of the sprouts of destructive models.

Control, the chief sign of the disciplined mind of a Magus, is in many respects aimed precisely at preventing the mind from being littered with destructive elements.

Tracking one’s energetic status — the character of one’s interactions and perceptions — in terms of the accumulation or loss of Power is the key that helps one preserve the Way despite barriers and obstacles. Even if an exhausting battle has led to a temporary decline of strength, if it was conducted impeccably, it leaves behind Authority, likewise testifying to the correctness of the chosen course. But if the movement of Power, which at first might have been taken for an influx, upon verification turns out to be a loss unaccompanied by the growth of Authority, then this requires reconsideration not only of the action itself, but also of the ideological foundations upon which that action was based.

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