When Practice Becomes the Way

As we have already discussed, the Way as a systemic, holistic advancement of the mind from a clouded and enslaved state to light and freedom includes two components – a proper view and energetically effective practices. Nevertheless, for these components to become the Way, they must be free from predatory tendencies at every level.

One may get the impression that both philosophy alone and practices alone can be developmental or liberating activities leading to mutual realization. Theorists or practitioners immersed in either pole of this polarity like to assert the superiority of their approach and claim that it supposedly “automatically” implies activation of the other component: philosophers say that building a practice, knowing the “material part“, presents no problem, while practitioners maintain that their practice alone produces understanding.

Unfortunately, both such positions stem from an underestimation of the tenacity of the gilgul cycles and the factors that bind us to it, and are “second-level errors” — that is, mistakes made by those who think they want to avoid mistakes.

Although the Traditional-magical worldview unequivocally affirms the primordially-perfect, light-bearing nature of the mind, it also starkly reminds us of the depth of its enslavement by destructive manifestations, among which are the “illusions of attainment” or the “imitations of Enlightenment”.

And just as the overwhelming majority of intellectual geniuses, having ended their “I-understand-everything” march through life in senile old age and, after passing through the Interspace, are reborn as ‘clever’ children — again and again, life after life, ‘understanding’ the same cosmic laws a thousand times — so the majority of brilliant practitioners repeat their Great Rituals, undergo their Highest Samadhis, attain their Unconditional Satori life after life, without even suspecting that they are merely trapped in a cycle of illusion.

At the same time, an infatuation with “Practices” is especially dangerous, because it creates strong attachment and dependence on them, and thus generates powerful gilgul currents, from which it is extremely difficult to avert one’s gaze, let alone escape (and provides no real impetus to escape).

And although it would seem, the understanding that a bird needs two wings for flight — that views and actions must be developed together and supported by one another — is simple and obvious, putting it into practice and internalizing it can be extremely difficult.

We have discussed signs that our movement is not the Way, but merely traps us in a harmful cycle. Let us briefly recall the two main ones.

The first and most important is egotism, a sense of separateness, an insensitivity to “another’s” pain and “other people’s” suffering. Often this vice is disguised as “wisdom”, the claim ‘everyone has their own karma’ and other evasions, but the essence remains the same: a cold-hearted person is as far from liberation as from their nature, which is Light and Love. Magic calls this ‘coldness of the soul’ Lucifer — the Father of Evil. The second is consumerism and possessiveness, an attitude toward the world and others as seeing others as resources to possess or enjoy. This deep, primordial predation the Tradition calls Lilith — the Mother of Monsters.

Therefore, if our Way — whatever we call it and however it manifests — does not make us more loving and compassionate, we can be sure that we are falling into or continuing a harmful cycle. The first occurs when we, overtly or covertly, show predatory tendencies, and the second when we perpetuate the gilgul.

Accordingly, both our philosophy and our practice have meaning and real significance only if, first — they bring warmth to ourselves and those around us, and, second — if they lead to Freedom.

It is important to understand that if our views and actions only make existence in the gilgul more comfortable, if they lack liberating potential — they merely reinforce the cycle. In other words, it is not enough merely to “ease” existence in the gilgul; it is important to seek a way out of it; it is not enough simply to avoid “obvious” predatory manifestations, one must also avoid implicitly supporting predation as a phenomenon, the basis of the revolving of beings and energies.

The Way is not a circle, not a cycle; it is a state of seeking the natural liberation of the mind and taking root in it. The Way does not lead to attainments; it itself is the method and meaning of existence that breaks cycles of consumption. Accordingly, practice is not a condition for maintaining the Way, but an instrument within it, which can be useful, even highly valuable, but must not become shackles, a mandatory or inseparable component. Precisely to achieve such equilibrium, practice must rely on view, and view must take root in practice and flow from it: only by mutually supporting one another do the Wings of Liberation allow one to rise above the gilgul.

Originally published in Russian: Enmerkar.com