The Discreteness of Power
The accumulation of Power — the development of the mind — is usually perceived as a continuous process of growth, proceeding relatively steadily even when periodic restructurings are required.
Nevertheless, this process is always discrete, quantized, because awareness has an elementary “step” — energy — the inclusion of which into the overall structure each time changes the entire system.
In other words, the development of the mind always occurs in jumps: periods of accumulating potential energy are succeeded by abrupt, transcendent transitions, consisting of an expansion of the field of awareness, its restructuring and transformation, which occur as new elements are incorporated and the whole system is subsequently reorganized.
Before the expansion of awareness is achieved, lengthy preparatory work is required, during which, at first glance, “nothing changes” in the mind:
At the outset it is necessary to create the appropriate “vessel” — to make consciousness fundamentally capable of expansion. This preparation consists in “plasticizing” the mind: giving it flexibility and openness, renouncing stereotypes and fixed patterns of perception.
The next step is to ensure the “contact” between consciousness and Power. For this, consciousness is confronted with previously ignored interactions.
Then follows the “opening” of the Vessel — an act of initiation that requires additional energy to overcome the barrier of perception.
And only after all these steps have been completed does the transcensus itself occur — the transition of consciousness to a new level of being.
Note that the initial, “preparatory” steps are often outside the focus of attention: something in the mind simply “ripens”, and then “unexpectedly”, “spontaneously” erupts into enlightenment of greater or lesser intensity.
It must be clearly understood that all the painstaking work of self-discipline and self-organization of consciousness is not, strictly speaking, development; it is merely the groundwork, a necessary condition for that development, and without a “spark”, without an odic impetus, this ground may well remain barren.
From this follows a very important magical insight: genuine development cannot be achieved merely by following rules and prescriptions. It always requires inspiration, which gives vital force to the seeds of enlightenment.
Yet the converse is equally true — odic energy on its own cannot produce a lasting result: it will only overwhelm consciousness, and for it to be properly assimilated, the fertile ground provided by years of effort and training is required.
The harmonious development of the Magus, therefore, represents a correctly balanced binary. It needs patience and perseverance, which lead to the preparation of the vessel, and it also needs zeal and inspiration, necessary for the very acceptance of Power. Neither quality taken by itself produces the needed effect. And a Magus who loses patience because “nothing happens” in his consciousness for a long time is no more effective than a psychonaut, chaotically flying through his Psychocosmos and unable to achieve stability anywhere.
“A very holistic vision of the mechanism of acquiring ‘KNOWLEDGE’… I really like your integrations that bring clarity and understanding…”
Hello! Welcome back! Useful information, tell me, is the very necessity of magical rituals in development dictated by such preparation for accepting the Power? According to your description, any enlightenment is also a kind of ritual, with the preparation of a space, attracting external forces; it simply happens internally – in the sense that by learning to interact following certain rules externally, this is transmitted internally (as above, so below)?
There are no “magical” rituals. To be more precise, any action can be such a Ritual. Any conscious and structured action. And the necessity of awareness in actions is a direct condition for development. Sometimes a mage may need actions that are unnecessary for an ordinary person. As for the correspondence between the Macrocosm and the Psychocosm, their separation is quite conditional and depends only on perspective, and the correct Magical action always occurs in parallel in both the Macrocosm and the Psychocosm.
Thank you for the clarification 🙂 Regarding rituals – there are simply no clear criteria or measures of awareness for a particular action – so it seems more convenient to call those actions magical where forces are invoked, as a certain degree of awareness is already needed to attract them. It’s like the difference between a structure created in a programming language and its description in a natural language; creating the former requires a much rarer skill than proficiency in a natural language and specific conditions (environment, possibility of existence). Although at their core both are languages and functions, they are somewhat similar if generalized, but specialization still remains.
Hmm. I thought that attributes weren’t that important. Can’t attributes emerge visually in the psychocosm? Can material attributes not be equated with inner aspiration, with creative impulse? Discipline gives rise to perseverance, and control allows one to see boundaries. To be honest, I wouldn’t mix inner understanding of the Path with inspiration. Inspiration is like poetry; it arises swiftly and inevitably. I don’t know where it comes from… it just comes, and you gain understanding (awareness). It’s not even about discipline (or rather, not realizing what discipline and perfection are). You simply wake up in the middle of the night, and it rushes in, and then it recedes. And in that moment, you realize something so profound that your heart races with excitement, and you can’t fall asleep for a long time, pondering and changing something within yourself…
A brief overview of my places of power searching. If anyone else has their own methods, please share.
1. I, like a scout, search for information in seemingly unremarkable newspaper articles, looking for messages from agents. It can be one sentence, and suddenly… there it is! I see it and get a push towards understanding something. Most people do this. This is why books are read and films are watched. This is also why old Soviet films have high ratings. They may be sentimental, tear-jerking, and full of meaningless ideology, but they reflect the truth of the time and circumstances. They show us the mindset of a typical person during that era. For me, they serve as a textbook, and when I watch them, I contemplate the current trajectory of consciousness development. I compare and try to identify the mistakes of the current moment in development. Although the concept of “old age” and “the past” varies for everyone:
“In Orphic cosmology, which influenced the ancient Greeks (Heraclitus, Pythagoras), time is primordial, it creates the existent, and ‘eternally returns’. The Christian tradition nurtures the idea of irreversible, linear time (which lends itself to the idea of progress). In China and Japan, however, the acknowledgment of bidirectional movement gave rise to the perception of the reversible nature of time. In medieval Japanese literature, the author ‘descends’ through time because, according to Japanese beliefs, the past is above, and one ‘ascends’ to it (sakanoboru), while the present is below, to which one ‘descends’ or ‘falls down.’ More accurately, sakanoboru means ‘to ascend upstream’, or to the origins, i.e., to return to the past.” (Grigorieva).
Most American and Western films (and even most Russian ones) from this current time frame are empty. Not only are they essentially cartoons, but they are also permeated with conflicting ideas. They are NOT real, and thus do not reflect the true essence of things, which means they do not carry any experience. It seems to me that art is valued precisely for its ability to preserve Experience and Traditions, regardless of their form—whether as fairy tales, myths, or anecdotes.
It’s a pity, of course, but the race for profit and the growing thirst for consumption have their effects.
2. The second and most valuable experience of searching for power occurs a bit differently. Within oneself.
And that’s where I seek inspiration. First comes the clearing of the territory, and then, like a scuba diver, you plunge into your depths illuminated by fire, giving them life with your presence. I search for myself within myself. After such immersions, new understandings or resolutions of internal contradictions usually arise. But the very act of these immersions is spontaneous. A desire arises—I do it. Is this perhaps a mistake? Should such ritual actions be made mandatory, like sports training? For instance, I say—Monday, Wednesday, Friday—those are the days we will ritualize. Hmm… I don’t know if that would yield any benefit… And the experience of gaining power can vary. It’s one thing to delve inward, and entirely another to seek power in communication with the Divine. Even the first time I meditated on the Hebrew Alphabet, feeling its sacredness, I felt uncomfortable inside for not being appropriately dressed for the internal experience. I no longer allow myself such latitude.
Thank you for your attention.
Hello. Your experience is invaluable in the area of building strength. It’s very true that psychoanalysis is ineffective if the vessel is not prepared to receive these energies…