Free Will and Freedom of Choice
Most schools and teachings consider possession of free will as humanity’s most important distinction. As mentioned, by ‘will’ the Magi mean capacity to create stable vectors of desire. But what, then, is freedom?
We have also discussed that the only reality the Magi acknowledge is the Great Flow of Power, which has a dual nature. From this Flow’s perspective, Will is the capacity to create individual differential vortices, each of which is directed toward fulfilling a particular desire (just as the World Vortex is directed toward realizing the mutual interpenetration of the primal forces — Expansiveness and Attractiveness). Consequently, each such differential vortex must have a dual nature. Yet not all beings endowed with will are capable of creating dual vortices, just as not all of them can grasp the dual nature of Baphomet.
Some beings (the so-called “ministering” spirits), who dwell only in the ascending or descending current of the World Vortex, cannot reconcile opposites (as it is said, they cannot neutralize binary oppositions). We have also discussed that the spirits of the descending current are called Angels, while those of the ascending current are Demons. Neither type can master dual vortices (which is why Angels are regarded as the embodiment of “good,” and Demons of “evil”).
Another group of beings, living at the points of intersection of the Currents of the World Vortex, can perceive contradictory streams, choose between them, and consequently create neutral structures, thereby generating a new beginning of Neutrality.
Thus, by “freedom of will” the Magi mean precisely that ability to choose a direction of movement, and also the ability to neutralize dualities.
Are the concepts “freedom of choice” and “freedom of will” identical?
Only partially. As soon as a free being chooses one of the currents, it immediately ceases to be free, being drawn into that current. Thus, a being is free only at the point of conjunction. And it is precisely this point that is called “human.” The Magi consider ‘human’ to include inhabitants of the Midgard cities we know, but also beings from other worlds who can distinguish Direct and Reverse currents.
We specifically refer to the Ascending and Descending currents, for in the Great Flow of Power there is another kind of motion — right- and left-hand rotation in the horizontal plane. Discriminating and synthesizing right- and left-turning vortices belongs to the gods, who thus are the “governing” beings of Nature.
Another idea that dovetails with distinguishing the Currents is the notion of the “immortal soul.” Unlike primitive views that confuse a human’s various components, traditional Magic regards the soul as the union of vortices, as ‘spiritualized matter,’ the third ‘neutral’ principle. This conception leads to several important conclusions. First, the size of the soul can change during life. It usually grows as the mind develops but can shrink as a result of large losses of Power. Hence the familiar ideas that a soul can be “stolen” or “damaged.” In view of our discussion, it is clear that a soul exists only in free beings who unite opposites. It is also clear that the greater this capacity to neutralize, the larger the soul; in other words, soul size and freedom of will are directly correlated.
Finally, an important consequence: although over time fully balancing a person’s poles, or, as it is otherwise called, the “realization of the monad’s potentials” is an endless process, there is the possibility of achieving total neutralization by a leap, a transcensus, which lifts the being permanently out of the Vortex’s currents, placing it at the vortex’s central axis.
And what is this possibility of complete neutralization through a leap, how can it be utilized? And what is the result of this leap?
The result – exit from the world process and identification of consciousness with the World whirlpool.
And what is beyond the world process, or does “exit from” not mean “into something else”? And what does this identification mean – “to live the lives and be aware of the awarenesses of all beings”? Or is it something else, or is it not so easy to describe?
This exit is an exit from the cycle of life, but not from life itself.
“Being in the bowels of the absolute, the Monad has no actual existence, representing only a field of potential possibilities, the actualization of which constitutes the essence of the life of any being in the complex of its incarnations.” – is this happening – all potential possibilities becoming actual?
Yes, it is precisely this that happens.
It’s not entirely clear how one can not exit life while leaving the cycle of life; is this eternal incarnation or eternal disincarnation? Rather, the term life here is unfortunate since life exists in a binary pair with death, and by not exiting life, i.e., without losing the relevance of being, we do not abandon death either… the attainment of liberation from reincarnations is the transition of a particle (individuality) into a state of readiness for reintegration with the whole (Cosmic Human), and the waiting (conditionally infinite) for its release, i.e., the complete realization of its potentials, ultimately meaning the complete death of individualities, i.e., reintegration.
Does this mean that a being becomes a god? Equal to the gods?
Enmerkar, what would be the best strategy if a mage feels a strong passion for something (a desire), but, evaluating it with reason, considers that it doesn’t quite fit into their path and ultimately leads to nothing?