The Soul’s Hunger

The fervor of the Way that is absolutely necessary for the Western Magus to advance in the expansion of his awareness demands an indomitable aspiration, a pull toward motion and development.

And we have already said more than once how important it is for the Magus to maintain this aspiration.

Nevertheless, it is clear that an unbending intention to move forward does not arise from a mere “decision” to move, and not even from a desire to develop, but from an inner, indestructible urge toward that development — the soul’s awareness of its potentials and the anxiety produced by their unrealization. This constant restlessness, which pushes the mind toward development, is traditionally called the hunger of the Magus’s soul.

In other words, for movement to be uninterrupted and effective, the Magus must not simply grasp the necessity of that movement; he must learn to feel the insatiable hunger of his soul. Only when he is led by that hunger does the Way acquire the intensity required for its effectiveness.

Very often, especially in the early stages of development, the Magus who begins to move and takes his first sips of Power feels not only fatigue from the tension of the Way, but also a “satiation” of his need for motion. He feels that he is “on the right path,” relaxes, and… suffers defeat.

The trap that ruins the Magus in this case is precisely the false sense of being sated that can arise in contact with Power.

For the Magus both extremes are equally dangerous — the intoxication with Power, which leads to dependence on it, and the neglect of it, which leads to its loss. In the first case the destructor lies in the striving to acquire Light without having the appropriate vessel; in the second — in leaving the vessel empty of Light. Both situations lead to the dissipation of Power and feed the Qliphoth.

In other words, the Magus must not be possessed by Power; he must not allow Power to control him, yet at the same time he must not miss any opportunity to acquire it.

The Magus always moves by the “scent of Power,” learning to find opportunities to realize his potential and expand his awareness in any situation he finds himself. He can never be sure that he has “already found it,” that “Power will not go away”; on the contrary, he must cling with hands, feet, teeth, and nails to the Flow in which his becoming takes place.

The reality of the battle in which the Magus is engaged is such that the farther he advances in the Flow of Power, the harder they try to wrench him out of that Flow, offering all manner of illusions, tricks, and traps.

And the fatal truth is that the proportion of Magi who have achieved any noticeable success in their development is negligible compared with the number who take up the Way.

That is why the Magus must never avert his gaze from his own imperfection; he must never be satisfied with what has been achieved, and, while remaining in harmony at every moment of his existence, must nevertheless maintain a constant impulse to move.

This is precisely why one cannot “practice” Magic — one can only be a Magus; one can only breathe Magic.

The Magus never settles for less, accepts no half-measures, and allows no constraints on his development.

The Magus’s soul-hunger is insatiable; the Magus thirsts for the Infinite and cannot be satisfied with anything finite, finding harmony only in the uninterrupted wandering of his spirit and its support — only in endless manifestations of love.

And until the Magus’s being is fully realized and his soul is united with the Monad, he does not stop for a moment.