The Magus’s Harmony
We have already emphasized more than once that the key notion for describing the state a Magus strives toward in his development is the concept of harmony in his composition.
The first person to introduce the concept of harmony (Greek ἁρμονία — connection, order; concord, proportion, coherence) was, of course, Pythagoras. It is precisely consonance — the mutual reinforcement of elements — that is the chief sign of a system’s harmonious state. In fact, the measure of a system’s harmony is its coherence: the mutual interdependence of its elements. In such a state the system becomes more than the sum of its parts; it reaches a new level of existence. Any element that weakens the system must be subjected to careful analysis — either that element must be changed (removed), or the entire system must be rebuilt so that these impediments disappear.
Another point important for understanding the state of harmony is the extraordinary stability of that state, its balance. In other words, a harmonious state is one in which nothing pulls in a particular direction, and movement occurs only under the influence of free will. This last point is also important since the Magus’s equilibrium does not mean being motionless. On the contrary, the Magus’s harmony is dynamic; it is born precisely in movement along the Way.
The Way to achieve harmony lies in uniting desire, ability, need, and intention to act. In other words, only when the Magus wants to do something, is able to do it, when his Way requires it, and he considers it necessary, will the action be harmonious. These four elements are symbolized by the four mottos: to desire, to be silent, to dare, and to know, which describe the quaternary of the Magus’s Way. Accordingly, the Magus must receive affirmative answers to four questions: 1) do I want this? (desire); 2) do I need this? (reason); 3) can I do this? (will); and 4) should I do this? (intention), in order for the action to be harmonious.
In this light, it is clear that for the Magus harmony means minimizing the interference that some elements of his composition create for others — that is, a state in which internal friction is eliminated. Of course, in this form it is an idealization, not attainable in practice, but precisely as an idealization it sets the direction of development — the Magus’s development should proceed in such a way that internal friction is steadily reduced. In this sense, everything is extremely simple: the Magus tracks the elements of the Psychocosm that cause interference, analyzes them in relation to the Flow of Power, and restructures the priorities of the Psychocosm based on the analysis. Each of these three stages requires a meticulous approach: tracking should be as thorough as possible, the analysis thorough, and restructuring must be decisive.
I don’t quite understand regarding the fourth point. I thought that “should I do this” is a conclusion drawn from the three previous points, not a standalone category. How should it be understood then?
You are absolutely right: intention is what follows from the connection of Mind, Will, and Desire, but nonetheless, making that final step is not always easy 🙂
Regarding the question of harmony. As someone who started with religions, I find some contradiction in the questions of the will of the religious path and the magical one. As far as I understand, the will in religion is surrendered to God, while in magic – to the individual. Does this contradiction really exist, or is it smoothed over from the upper floors? Does anyone have experience resolving such contradictions for themselves, or is the only way to choose one of the paths?
I haven’t encountered similar contradictions; however, what made you think that the will should be surrendered? The Bible, for example, which has been one of my bedside books for about 20 years, does not contain any direct indications that the will of man must belong to God, although there are countless interpreters, and each tries to present their opinion as the only true one.
I had no contradictions. When I came to this blog, I simply understood that this was mine. If I had a different character of fate (I don’t know why I chose to say it that way), perhaps this path would have been linked to religion.
Currently, for me, the Path is the co-harmony of certain energies reflected in the properties that fill me with strength.
How harmonious is the state/action if: I need (have to) do this; I can do this; I should do this. But… I do not want to do this? That is, the necessity and possibility of some decision/action is obvious, but the desire is absent. Is it worth performing this ‘necessary’ action, or should it be abandoned (in the name of harmony)?
I think it all depends on the source of this ‘I don’t want’. It could be laziness or fear, and then it would be good to overcome them. Or it could be a deep understanding of the discrepancy between this action and one’s nature, and then it would be better to refrain from the action, no matter how right it may seem.
What does it mean for ‘the action to correspond to its nature’? One can imagine the ‘fruits’ of the action, but what is its nature?
The nature of the action is ‘the release’ of the corresponding desire, the impulse arising in consciousness. That is, the action corresponds to its nature the more accurately it realizes the arising impulse. However, often there is sublimation, and the action corresponds poorly to the impulse that produced it, and then a shadow and tension arise.
Hello! So sublimation is not always good, and it can create a shadow, or did I misunderstand? For example, the topic of sexual energy that has been ‘discussed’ for a long time – certainly, suppressing it is not very good, as suppression leads to aggression, but what about sublimation? After all, this is a very powerful source of energy in the body and perhaps it also needs to be worked with?
Hello! We discussed this question: https://enmerkar.com/en/way/control-or-restraint https://enmerkar.com/en/way/control-of-desires And from this perspective, any ‘non-targeted’ direction of energy leads to the accumulation of shadow: https://enmerkar.com/en/way/lack-of-realization-dissatisfaction-and-the-shadow As for sexual energy, it’s more complicated, since any energy a person can use passes through the stage of activation in the sexual center, and therefore, in a certain sense, is ‘sexual’: https://enmerkar.com/en/observations/energy-and-sexuality
Thank you! Once again I am convinced of how limitless your blog is! Just like the Vatican archives. How much remains unread and unthought! To be honest, there should be a section here like: ‘Start here’ or ‘Section for beginners’, and so on))) Thank you for such a titanic work.