4 May - (Earth) Liber LXV, 1:57-58
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Passages like this terrify me. What is this expanded consciousness to which I aspire, that would taste in devastation and disease the sweetness of the grape?
My ex-wife was in Tokyo during the recent earthquake, and while she assures me that she and her family are all right, she described for me the terror on the earth that she could see from her 30-storey window (once the building stopped swaying back and forth).
Even from my lowly position as the least and weakest of aspirants, I have a sense of why the Abyss is called an abyss.
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I hope I'm not annoying anyone overly by posting these passages. I feel a little silly posting Bible verses so often, considering how much my world view has changed, but I'm trying to reclaim many of the rejected bits of my life, and these Liber LXV verses almost always take me immediately back to these other verses I grew up with.
Two passages from Exodus 17:
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3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?
4 And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.
5 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.
6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. ""
8 Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.
9 And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.
10 So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
11 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
12 But Moses hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. "Gnana: "hand" in these verses is יד (yod-daleth)
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@gmugmble said
"Passages like this terrify me. What is this expanded consciousness to which I aspire, that would taste in devastation and disease the sweetness of the grape? "
Admittedly, this is a tough verse for normal consciousness - especially if it is taken literally or actually. And I think that's part of the key: in discussing a nice picnic between Neshamah and Chiah, we surely aren't discussing the World of Action (Assiah). There must be a meaning here that is what we would broadly term "psychological."
I'm not saying BTW that the Magister Templi (or the Neshamah function in any of us) wouldn't or shouldn't or couldn't be indifferent (in the philosophical meaning of that word) to a literal earthquake. I just don't think it's the main point of this present verse.
Each time I read this passage (for as far back as I can remember), the first picture or idea to rise in my mind is of the cellular and chemical processes that happen from the simple task of raising one's arms. Chemicals surge, neurons snap, some cells explode, others hasten to compress or stretch. From the cellular (and even molecular) level, the orderly, productive processes must appear as great upheavals, tumultuous waves, surging energies. - And yet, in raising our arm, we think not of it in the slightest.
As a representation of the relationship of the Holy Guardian Angel and its beloved, and even as an instruction in how more granular strata of consciousness may prepare themselves to be subsumed into that - how does this passage assist us? If nothing else, it uproots us from one variety of habitual reaction and thinking.
What, even, of the surges and upheavals within our own psyches at the approach to Adonai, at the very looking upon and admitting this variety of idea? I dare say that this, on its own, can feel like "an earthquake, and plague, and terror on the earth! A casting down of them that sate in high places; a famine upon the multitude!" when it first occurs.
The monarchical one "in high places" is the ego - the mistaken or false ruler - that is overthrown in the rapture of the embrace of Adonai.
As an aside - in looking at these verses today, I had a different impression than I remember having of them before. I think I've always read verse 57 as describing a magical command gesture, "raising one's arm to command the catastrophe - and it occurs," or some such thing. The bhakti spirit must be working its way back into my rhythm, because today it first struck me as the lover lifting her arm toward the beloved (in response to what went before) - and, lo, in consequence to this surrender to her love, her walls fell, her psyche convulsed in rapture, and she trembled.
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57. Then was the Adept glad, and lifted his arm.
Lo! an earthquake, and plague, and terror on the earth!
A casting down of them that sate in high places; a famine upon the multitude!
58. And the grape fell ripe and rich into his mouth.In the first line the text refers to the adept. This is an inspired text, so maybe I shouldn't be so anal in trying to determine who is who, and what is what. Nevertheless, there is this question-mark for me now—wondering what relationship I can assume between the adept and V.V.V.V.V. because the later is a master of the temple(?). I suspect the text is not always faithful to the traditional relationships I have already learned concerning the relationship of adept-hood and mastery.
Perhaps this is right, and the use of the term adept, and the fact that he lifted his arm suggests an analytical approach to figuring out where I am, or what I should be looking at in terms of this gesture. Anatomically, I want to see arms as being equivalent with Chesed and Geburah, or at the very least with the Pillars of mildness and severity below the abyss. Regardless of whether I have this correct, the asymmetry of the gesture—only raising one arm—is striking in that many terrible events follow. It's willful, irresponsible, and even reckless! And yet, one senses something below this obvious and surface observation that is unperturbable. It is described in the next line.
To simply assert that these seemingly earth shattering events are of no consequence—good and bad being relative, or even the same—strikes me as too pat—besides, the adept is not indifferent to them. In fact, his relationship to the tragedies is described as a grape 'ripe and rich' falling into his mouth. I can't help relate the passage to recent thread(s) in 'General,' most specifically with 'ding dong the witch is dead' having to do with the recent assassination of Osama Bin Laden. This is not a good fit for what I am trying to say, but the backdrop of that topic is, being a general concern for political and social justice, and the relative suffering of the multitude:
Lo! an earthquake, and plague, and terror on the earth!
A casting down of them that sate in high places; a famine upon the multitude!As an artist I fully understand how I can be both appalled and fascinated by world events—how the Invasion of Iraq was the immediate cause of many thousands of deaths and much senseless suffering, and how at the same time it can be the pretext for an amazing piece of theater—a story, funny and dark and definitely worth the price of admission.
The imagination is immoral.
More is implied in the text than this, I know that, and yet the text describes events in the world, and my attempts to make out how these types of calamity are in fact metaphors for psychic or spiritual events within my being strikes me as unsatisfactory.
I once had a a quasi-mystical experience at a time when I was living in a house with no heat—of feeling the cold, and feeling that it too was a thing, full of grace. And yet, the cold is not a good thing, and those who cannot warm themselves are still cold. And there is a part of me that wants to try and provide them with heaters, and fuel for furnaces and such.
It is with a certain amount of disdain that I look upon people in the occult community who mouth mystic sentiments which are little more than gross insensitivities to the sufferings of others because it is easy, and because this is how they imagine real adepts relate to the world—with self-satisfaction. Fact is, these people are just young, and without much worldly experience. There are times when I understand this limitation of mind because I remember being young and inexperienced myself.
I know there is something more to the text that has nothing to do with the pov of a first person shooter video game. In this regard, a few cursory lines of analysis won't suffice. Like 'do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law' it's too easy to be lazy and shallow by assuming the mantle of pop-mystical catchphrases—as if the simple display of these phrases conferred superiority—and to totally miss the deeper significance of what is actually being suggested.
I record my dreams. Some mornings I wake up and I know I was dreaming, but I cannot isolate any specific images. A special kind of effort is then required to take my recollection to a deeper level, and lo, I find that I am in fact aware of qualities and feelings, and there is much more than I originally thought. I stare at the words for today and apart from understanding the English words, I sense qualities and feelings that are just out of reach of my attempts to describe them. So I talk around them, and I talk around them some more.
Finally, I get to a place where I know there is nothing for it but to eventually pass up onto the mountain myself. It's a scary thing, but it's easier to subject myself to earthquake, plague, terror, being cast down, and famine than it is for me to imagine anyone else having to endure any of this, and yet I know many people do. I pray that Adonai will deliver me from my shallowness, and show me how these too are sacraments, full of the grace.
Love and Will
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I can rationalize or explain away the seemingly heartless and violent verses of our Holy Books. But when I put aside discursive thought as best as I am able and approach the text with reverent expectation, I am confronted with this terror. That's all I meant to say.
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@RobertAllen said
"In the first line the text refers to the adept. This is an inspired text, so maybe I shouldn't be so anal in trying to determine who is who, and what is what. "
I think the book is more internally consistent than I am <vbg>.
It appears that "the adept" is used interchangeably with V.V.V.V.V. - but I can't swear to it. There are times in the book when I'd like to think there is a distinction (that we've added a new character), but at least part of that is just my own wanting it to be that way.
I suppose this should prompt me to pull out all the relevant verses and look at them.
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The versus again are Apocalyptic and remind of the Book of Revelations. The terror, the fear, etc...
I think that this got the Scribe's motor running. The idea of these images and the parts of the brain they invoke create a tension in the reader or person experiencing them. Even though there is the terror in them they seem to energize me when meditating and analyzing them. I feel like I should correlate this type of terror with Horus and view it, as stated before, a perspective that is beyond our reason. I appreciate the explanation of this being a matter of perspective. As mankind we cause great turmoil to the worms as they crawl and we unknowingly destroy their homes. Likewise, our lower faculties are worms to the HGA and beyond. This gives me the impression to adore the terror and it strikes me as quite interesting.
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Analysis: It's ironic to me that the only seemingly redeemable result of the Adept raising his arm is that there is "A casting down of those who sate in high places." Earthquake, plague, terror, famine - each of these are a pure tragedy except the casting down of those who sate in high places. It's the only image presented that has the possibility of any sort of moral implication. The irony, of course, is that their "sin," in this sense, could only be understood as their calloused detachment.
The irony lies in the juxtaposition of the very next event: "And the grape fell ripe and rich into his mouth."
The image could represent the Adept, who deserves to sate in high places with Adonai, reversing the position of those undeservingly and callousedly sating themselves in high places of wealth and/or power.
One is destructive but is ultimately an act of love. The other is merely destructive.
An alternative would be to remove the moral connotations and think of the "casting down...high places" as simply another tragedy - as if the upsettling of the wealthy and/or powerful is a tragedy in and of itself on the level of an earthquake, plague, terror, or famine. To me, it wants to stand apart for some reason.
Reflection: During my counseling training, I once had an individual who told me that they had to be very careful of their words. They felt that within themselves was an ability to see into a person and know the words that could devastate them. There might have been a bit of an illusion of power, but as a counselor-in-training, I related to the person immediately. From my end, I must constantly monitor my words in order not to devastate the vulnerable person in front of me by some slip and mischaracterization of a disorder, or of a relationship, or of a parent... When you study the weaknesses of a disorder, or of a person's temperament, in order to help them, the potential for harming them is simply the other side of the coin. The person with whom I was speaking had a good deal of natural insight into people, and with that, a good deal of abilty to manipulate them and hurt them. The truth of the matter was that the individual's parents were psychologically toxic, and the person had developed the skill as a form of psychological self-defense. It was effective, after a manner, but the individual carried a lot of the guilt of it.
There was a point, after the individual finally moved out of the parents' house, where they had to try to have a calm, rational conversation with their mother about what could reasonably be expected in terms of phone calls, visits, and "movie dates" per week and why. The individual had to set healthy boundaries with their parents. They didn't use destructive language, but to hear the mother's response, you'd think, "Lo! an earthquake, and plague, and terror on the earth! Or it must be to hear her!"
I constantly have to spend so much time and effort being careful what I say and around whom. Sometimes, I just need to reap instead.
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@Aegis55 said
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I constantly have to spend so much time and effort being careful what I say and around whom. Sometimes, I just need to reap instead."maybe instead of being so careful for the weak side, one just has to focus intensely and directly to the strong side - adress the Star in a person (a King to a King).
consequences of awakening this 'part' necessarily bring some 'harsh movements' on the lower planes - the Paths of War, Devil and Death are between Tipharet and the Persona - but those are the pains of growth, the necessary aspects of the movement that is life [and it's intrinsic quality - evolution, which comes through death]. -
"first struck me as the lover lifting her arm toward the beloved (in response to what went before) - and, lo, in consequence to this surrender to her love, her walls fell, her psyche convulsed in rapture, and she trembled."
Amazing Jim. This hit me at my core. Thank you!
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@Jim Eshelman said
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@RobertAllen said
"In the first line the text refers to the adept. This is an inspired text, so maybe I shouldn't be so anal in trying to determine who is who, and what is what. "I think the book is more internally consistent than I am <vbg>.
It appears that "the adept" is used interchangeably with V.V.V.V.V. - but I can't swear to it. There are times in the book when I'd like to think there is a distinction (that we've added a new character), but at least part of that is just my own wanting it to be that way.
I suppose this should prompt me to pull out all the relevant verses and look at them."
I took a look this morning. Nothing was really decisive. I'm presently inclined not to distinguish "adept" from "V.V.V.V.V." in this book. Other than the technical listing of grade names in Chapter V (vv. 17-18), "adept" is only used twice in the book, and in neither instance (I:57, II:45) does it seem distinguishable from V.V.V.V.V.
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The relationships in the verses of Liber LXV are as much like the relationships of dreams. 57 appears to be talking in the present about change in the adept. To understand my point of view you need to look back to the adepts questioning the black and the white, and Adonai saying (in 56) quit questioning just do.
57 and 58 has a relationship to the adept’s new understanding. This new understanding appears to destroy the old understanding and destroy his old priorities while raising his new priorities. The mouth is what always utters the word and the grape is the fruit of the word of the new knowledge. In most bible verses a grape is used as a connection to the end result and the word ripe to show that it is ready to be picked. There are several instances of the words grape and ripe being used in the bible and in a lot of literature. In most instances they are used in a negative term as in “grapes of wrath” or “ripe with iniquity”, in this instance it appears to be used in a positive sense.