Pitfalls of the Middle Way

The Magus’s Way always lies between two abysses, for the very essence of this Way consists in the constant and unwavering neutralization of various dualities. At the same time, as we have often said, this Way arises only on the finest edge of balance, where the actions of each pole of the biner are fully manifested, creating the greatest potential difference, yet where none exerts a prevailing influence on the wayfarer. This state is commonly called the “golden mean,” the “Middle Way,” and so on.

It would seem that one only needs to reach such a state of equilibrium and maintain it — and the Way becomes obvious and effective.

However, as is clear, the result of perfectly balanced forces is zero motion, and therefore — for the Way to be a Way — that is, movement toward development, toward the actualization of potentials — the balance must not turn into rest; more precisely, rest must not be a rest of non-movement, and the balance itself must be dynamic, not static. It is precisely this point that often causes the greatest difficulties in practical application. Wayfarers often either slip into a blissful “enlightened” stillness that merely preserves the system in some intermediate state, or they confuse battle with brawling and get swept up in chains of events, gaining empty experience.

Maximum efficacy of the Way comes from the greatest driving force, which in turn is the result of the maximum potential difference — a difference that can appear only when each pole of the biner is fully expressed through maximal manifestation.

And it is this intensity, this tension, that wayfarers so often lack. The Magus often begins to create before fully destroying and destroys what has not yet been fully created. As a result, a small potential difference forms, barely enough for yet another feeble step. Many wayfarers, over long stretches of time or even their whole lives, flit between destruction and creation, completing nothing and failing to develop sufficient momentum.

Eastern culture emphasized the importance of each pole of the world-process, objectifying them in the images of the great gods — Vishnu and Shiva. The world is destroyed only when it has exhausted its possibilities for development and is created only when destruction has been completed in full, leaving none of the former system’s elements intact. The same idea is conveyed by the Slavic notion of the god’s struggle with the serpent and by various other mythological pictures. But even such a broad and vivid imagery does not always aid a deep understanding of the idea.

In fact, the most important practical biner that the Magus must neutralize is the duality between purity of energies (which gives maximal realization but leads away from development) and the equilibrium state that integrates what has been achieved.

Having embarked on the Way of realization, the Magus must not leave it unfinished, must not be distracted or become lax — until the realization is complete. Otherwise the sole result will be the accumulation of the shadow. Likewise, having taken the Way of destruction, he must not stop until the field has been fully cleared. Any attempt to use blocks from the dead system for further construction will only create monsters with poor viability.

Entering the Middle Way, the Magus must understand clearly that this is not a path of idle rest; it is a path of intensity, of tension, a path of unceasing battles and overcoming. And the harmony of this Way is born not from lack of resistance, not from lack of movement — but from a harmonious combination of a great variety of forces that leads to the full realization of being’s potentials, to the full actualization of his individuality. The Magus’s wholeness is not achieved by ignoring or discarding the “inconvenient” elements of his being or perception, but by a realization that results in integration of these elements into the overall Pleroma system. And for that, each element must be experienced, traversed, assimilated.