THE PROPER ATTITUED TOWARD MIND-BODY
By
ISRAEL REGARDIE AND CHRISTOPHER
S. HYATT
Over the past fifty years I have
insisted that the serious magical student seek a course of therapy as a safeguard
against some of the catastrophic results which appear to overtake too many
of our promising students.
The difficulties seem to arise
from the following:
THE SUPEREGO AND THE H.G.A.
A. The confusion between the Freudian
superego (the unconscious infantile conscience) and the Order's concept of
the Higher and Divine Genius (or the H.G.A.)
Many students as well as those
not involved with Magic often substitute a form of their infantile conscience
for one form of "Higher Self" or another. This can lead to nothing but disaster.
Instead of being guided by a Higher Genius the person is really at the mercy
of infantile "voices" and values, so-called brain chatter. Not only does
this cause undue individual suffering and deception, it also causes a complete
halt to any real progress in the Theurgic arts and sciences. To a large extent
this confusion contributes to the often "bad" reputation students of the
occult possess.
Those of you familiar with the
history of the Order can find glowing examples of this folly. However there
is no need to delve this deply. Almost any group or Order has members and
often leaders who have fallen head long into this pit dug for the
unwary.
THE INFLATION OF THE EGO
B. There is a frightening frequency
of the occurrence of the inflation of the ego -- sometimes referred to as
infantile megalomania. To help the student understand this difficulty let
us define the healthy ego as a computer type decision maker. The ego's function
is to help the person make decisions based on hard data. The purpose of this
function should be that of survival and personal fulfillment on various levels
or planes. In one sense the healthy ego is more or less non-personal. It
realizes cause and effect in Malkuth, and understands its limitations.
On the other hand infantile megalomania
is a natural occurence in infancy, and with proper development has been outgrown
by the healthy adult ego. However, while this is the ideal it rarely occurs
in practice, and requires some form of 'therapy' Eastern or Western to accomplish
this goal. In the practice of Magic or anything which releases unusual amounts
of energy from the unconscious the infantile megalomaniacal substructure
is re-activated, and all the illusions and delusions of self importance and
elevation of babyhood re-emerge. This flattery overwhelms the ego. The person
takes the impersonal and universal nature of the powers he or she experiences
as if he or she created the powers or experiences by what they call -
themselves.
If this experience called by Jung
the "Mana Personality" persists for too long a period the person becomes
ego-maniacal and thoroughly self-centered. This can be observed in patients
undergoing psychotherapy as well as in the so-called normal man on the street.
This excessive self-admiration or as Jung puts it 'the naive concretization
of primordial images" leads to an overinflated ego which in the end leads
directly to disaster and contradicts into the purpose of the Great
Work.
The student should be also cautioned
that the opposite of infantile megalomania is not milk-toast humility and
passiveness. The latter is the sine qua non of a deeply buried and potentially
more dangerous form of infantile megalomania.
THE PROPER ATTITUDE TOWARD THE
INSTINCTS
C. There is a danger of the blatant
acting out of instincts which have been distorted through repression and
denial on the one hand or their compulsive repression leading to a boring
and unfulfilled sex life. Almost everyone raised in the current Judaic-Christian
morality suffers inevitably from a totally distorted attitude towares this
topic as well as to all biologic functions in general. Therefore a complete
sex life which is not only pleasurable but aids in the evolution of the Soul
is totally out of the question. What is required is a healthy attitude toward
all bodily functions, remembering always that Kether is in Malkuth and Malkuth
is in Kether, but after another manner.
Those involved with the Great Work
have often found themselves falling into the camps of excess in one direction
or another, i.e. too much or too little. The proper use and enjoyment of
sex is a necessary part in the discovery and development of the Higher Genius.
Aleister Crowley is one of very few who has recognized the reality of this
problem, although he himself at times, due to his Plymouth Brethren upbringing,
fell into the same booby trap. Most of us are plagued by an average somewhat
inhibited sex life, or worse yet a compulsive acting out of our repressed
sexual drives. These attitudes do not aid the development of self-expression,
deep and total relaxation, or serve as a vehicle for opening the deeper channels
which lie within. |
