Aamon: Indifference and Pacifism
One of the principal deities of Ancient Carthage was the solar god Baal-Hammon, the “Lord of the Furnace” — a fertility god who brought both birth and destruction upon the earth in the form of earthquakes. His primary task was to channel the interaction between Heaven and Earth as fertility. In other words, Baal-Hammon presided over the constructive balancing of biners, the force that empowers manifestation. Clearly, since the mind draws strength from biner interactions, the degree of harmony in those interactions is crucial for it.
The strength of the interaction between a biner’s poles can be represented both in a creative aspect and in an equilibrium aspect. Baal-Hammon expresses the creative action of the potential difference, as do all fertility gods. Yet this force also has an aspect of “equilibrium,” the interrelation of a biner’s poles — that which holds the biner together as a single system.
The direct action of this Power — the Genius Achaiah — instills patience and endurance; his motto, “Merciful and gracious is the Lord, long-suffering and abundant in mercy,” reflects this character of activity. The power of this Genius lies in “understanding” in the Zen sense of the word — he grants patience understood as the capacity to overcome difficulties through endurance and broad perspective.
Distorted complementarity, the “mutual forbearance” of a biner’s poles, is embodied by the bird-headed demon Aamon — a spirit that neutralizes dualities so they lose their productive force, turning into infertile and passive “non-resistance.”
“The Lemegeton” says of him:
“This is a Marquis, powerful and stern. He appears as a wolf with the tail of a serpent, breathing fire from his mouth, but by the command of the Magus he takes the form of a man with canine teeth resembling a raven; or, to speak more plainly — in the form of a man with a raven’s head bearing canine teeth… He kindles strife and sets quarreling parties to the test…”
J. Weyer adds:
“…he is the strongest of all the princes and comprehends all that has been and that which is to come…”
The demon’s visage in all descriptions represents the pairing of a biner’s poles: wolf (activity) + snake (passivity), bird (flight) + man (grounding), and so on.
In any case, the point is that the Demon substitutes understanding for the illusion of wisdom. Associated with the element of Earth, and also under the influence of the Moon, Aamon replaces direct light (the Sun of Baal-Hammon) with reflected light, creating an illusion of acceptance that in fact breeds indifference and apathy toward the world. Part of the retinue of Astaroth, Aamon takes part in producing a false understanding that leads to the loss of the impulse for development.
How often one sees people squinting with a “weary” look and uttering phrases such as: “I’ve seen it all, life taught me not to worry; you can’t take everything to heart.” This is a typical effect of Aamon. A person whose mind has opened the gates to this Demon seems unusually wise to themselves and understanding, yet this illusion is merely a cover for passivity, laziness, and mental flaccidity. Aamon’s passivity is a renunciation of creative energies; it is a one-sided, apparent merging of a biner’s poles; it is a refusal to act for the sake of an apparent equilibrium that stems only from the lack of will.
Understanding that arises from the harmonious balancing of biners is always, first, creative, then, compassionate. In true understanding there is never indifference, and in true acceptance there is no apathy. True understanding resembles Leonardo da Vinci’s, who, while contemplating the laws of nature and natural selection, always rescued insects and worms from puddles. The Magus understands that suffering is lawful and inevitable, yet he always strives to alleviate it by every possible means. The Magus does not brawl, but struggles; he opposes evil, and this opposition is born precisely from understanding.
The Magus always understands that the world as a whole is in equilibrium, but this equilibrium is the result of the opposition of many forces. Acceptance of the biner’s unity, the transcendence of duality, does not mean neutralizing creative activity, but integrating it into an act of will. Neither the Pleroma nor Nirvana signify laziness or relaxation. Both are seething, like a boiling virtual vacuum; only in the Pleroma is that seething actual, while in Nirvana it is potential.
It is very important not to allow decay and indifference to take hold; it is crucial not to lose the capacity for active compassion, and only understanding that allows this activity to arise can be moving and harmonious.
How intelligently, accurately, and beautifully said. I didn’t even notice that I had come to terms with indifference and am decaying. Thank you very much for the article, I will work on it.
Dear Enmerkar, so it turns out that Aamon manifests in the assertion: “All people are mortal, so there is no point in developing, in achieving something,” or “salary according to the principle of equalization, so why strain oneself working honestly.” Is that right?
Well, to some extent. The statements you provided as examples are not yet the influence of a destructive force, but rather a pathway for it. Destruction begins when a person not only thinks in such a way but starts acting based on the conviction that “the main thing is to be happy oneself, while the others are irrelevant, for the world gives everyone what they deserve,” or “this is their karma, and I am all dressed in white,” or: “the world gives everyone exactly what they deserve.” All of these assertions themselves are not erroneous; it is the way of acting – the indifference, the absence of compassion – that follows from them that is erroneous.
You can feel compassion. However, you cannot help a person if they do not want it themselves. Hints, suggestions about their mistakes are usually perceived as jokes or outright nonsense.
To discern the true nature of compassion, one must first go through the difficult path of recognizing one’s own selfishness.
Otherwise, it is easy to mistake patronage and assistance to numerous “poor little ones” seeking compassion for true compassion, doing nothing on their own.
Only the awareness and vision of one’s own selfishness opens the possibility to distinguish “users” from those truly in need.
Why is there a final phase of awareness given, why are there no references to the origins? How can people see and know the Laws, how to know, accept and comprehend the meaning originally laid, where is it?
All the brilliance of reasoning amounts to nothing until a person’s consciousness goes through the path of understanding. In this is a hidden desire of will, like compassion, desire, and knowledge, leading to wisdom. When a person understands that all the beauty lies in self-knowledge, in reading the Book titled “Self-knowledge,” then something shifts.
P.S. I got a certain answer to my question. Thank you.
Listening in a group to lessons from M.S. Lightman and group lessons at the synagogue, I encountered the influence of this demon. He led me to accept the unity of the Creator in Israel at M.S. Lightman’s community of Bnei Baruch, or to undergo the conversion procedure in Moscow at the synagogue. Publications from this blog helped me overcome Aamon’s pacifism.
By the way, I also noticed those notes in Lightman’s words (in general, in the intonations). Most spiritual school leaders suffer from this “disease”!
Just yesterday, I discussed this topic, drawing incorrect conclusions. I was gearing up for indifference because it’s painful to watch what’s happening around and feel a sense of powerlessness. How timely your article is, dear Enmerkar. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.