Positive and Negative Vision

As we have said many times before, the world in which the mind operates and develops is a product of the description the mind generates on the basis of the qualities of the energies that pass through it.

At the same time, the process of perception is typically an active process of extracting individual objects and phenomena from the world’s fabric in order to interact with them. In other words, the mind typically actively focuses attention in various directions, both within and beyond the Psychocosmos, in order to increase the number of possible interactions.

Such perception is traditionally called “Positive Vision.” It is directed toward activity and participates in the world’s energy movement. Positive Vision views the scene in terms of its role as a stimulus to action, as sympathy or antipathy, usually with a more or less pronounced emotional coloring.

However, constant reliance on Positive Vision by a mind held captive by the Parasite of consciousness trains it to perceive the world as a place of suffering and to choose ineffectual interactions that dissipate Power. In other words, the Parasite trains the mind to “seek out” places to expend its Power, to entangle itself and act as ineffectively as possible.

To counter this strategy, the Magi developed an alternative approach to perception called “Negative Vision.” The essence of this approach is that the Magus trains himself not to “hunt down” objects for perception and interaction, but simply to “allow” these objects to pass through the field of his awareness, registering that passage without judgment. The scene drifts by like film frames, making no impression on the mind. Of course it may interest him, may even stir him. It may teach a lesson, but no more.

This is how the Magus usually regards things that enter his field of vision. He chooses when to yield to their influence and when to resist their influence.

In Negative Vision, the Magus trains himself to see not only the passing image but also the causes and underlying motives, and can often discern good where something appears evil, or, conversely, evil that is masquerading as good.

He strives to see causes as clearly as effects, although both phenomena appear to him relatively ghostly and insubstantial.

Consequently, through Negative Vision he becomes more sober and rejoices where, with Positive Vision, he would have grieved, raged, or felt disgusted; conversely, he remains on his guard where, with Positive Vision, he would have been relaxed.

However, Negative Vision must not become the Magus’s permanent state, since by itself it does not permit action, and it is valuable only as a binary complement to Positive Vision. It is precisely the proper alternation of these two modes of vision that makes the Magus an effective warrior, able both to plunge into the thick of battle and to distance himself from the turmoil of events.