15 June - (Water) Liber LXV, 3:10-12
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10. I gazed upon the Crystal of the Future, and I saw the horror of the End of thee.
Still talking to the Nephesh. Promise, prophecy, what have you.
11. Further, I destroyed the time Past, and the time to Come — had I not the Power of the Sand-glass?
I hear Mick Jagger singing 'time is on my side.' But whereas 10 is a process subject to time, in 11 time is collapsed, and time is defined as something that does not have power over the speaker.
12. But in the very hour I beheld corruption.
This is the present. And this is the line that draws all pertinent attention to itself. The others are academic. This one concerns us/me because I am reading it, now.
Classical thought defined the nature of things as anything that partook of three essential qualities. In order for something to be, that something had to have some measure of TRUTH, MORALITY, and BEAUTY. All three were necessary, though the proportions could vary.
James Hillman argues that this trinity is incomplete, and goes on to add a fourth quality. According to Hillman everything also has some measure of PATHOLOGY. Everything that is subject to time is also subject to a process of sickening and dying—manifestation is corrupt; the earth is corrupt; life is corrupt; action is corrupt.
"The flood begins, and the waters prevail until all the high mountains are covered fifteen cubits deep..."
Love and Will
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Wow 11 = 11. I had someone explain to me that the number 11 included everything or all.
Could 10 be saying that I saw 11?. I agree with what has been written so far but add my own reinterpretation using someone else’s thoughts.
I agree that there is no past or future, just now. By the time a person finishes telling the time it is no longer that exact time.
12 seems be saying a lot. ”But in the very hour I beheld corruption” .
An hour is a long time. 'Now' is approximately 29 minutes 59 seconds past the past and 29 minutes 59 seconds till the future hour. Seeing the past which is being let go and the future that is being changed by the present, allows for a corruption of everything including the ideas that I am now formulating.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"**10. I gazed upon the Crystal of the Future, and I saw the horror of the End of thee.
**"once this Path of initiation is set into motion, there is no turning back; sooner or later, the embrace of this 'old snake' must be left; a part of us percieves this End as horror....
imagery of ATU XX come to mind..."11. Further, I destroyed the time Past, and the time to Come — had I not the Power of the Sand-glass?"
the initiation of Air has already happened - "the Power of the Sand-glass", that which 'measures' (=observes) the immeasurable, the power of understanding through analysis
"12. But in the very hour I beheld corruption."
it is as it is. no reason can change it, no reason can alter its nature. just understanding through accepting it makes us move further.
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@Dar said
"But what is the Power of the Sand-glass? You can tell some amount of time with it... but you cannot tell 'the' time with it. The time that is outside of the hourglass, or the span of our lifetime. To do that, we would have to know both the beginning and the end of the universe itself."
yes, my thoughts exactly...
it portrays the function and limits of Ruach from the perspective of just-opening Neshamah -
Behold corruption:
"To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.
—Corinthians 4:11"It is in fact this corruption that is so seductive and beautiful, capturing the fancy of the heart—the cycle of experience and the obsession with things.
Contemplate corruption as change, slippage, loss of the sense of self, the disintegrating action of dreams. Appreciate the myths of healing and progress as fictions. Experience the End of thee now, and destroy the past and future.
...the horror is the domain of Set, the god whose job it is to cut you up into many little pieces—utter disintegration.
IAO
Love and Will
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10. I gazed upon the Crystal of the Future, and I saw the horror of the End of thee.
"The End" signfies to me attainment of Binah in crossing the abyss. To destroy the past and the future also rings true of that as I see it.
For me personally, when I stop to ponder a full commitment to the Great Work with all my body, mind, and soul - there is a sense of horror of the End. A horror of everything past and future being changed and altered for this new direction and perception of life. Many of the falsities I've hung on to, mis-perceptions, excuses - they become invalid if I take responsibility for my life and discipline myself to keep it.
11. Further, I destroyed the time Past, and the time to Come — had I not the Power of the Sand-glass?
This signifies to me someone who has realized, in the moment, that there is nothing past nor is there anything future. Existence is the moment. To reach that one may feel power surge through them - as if they were in complete control.
12. But in the very hour I beheld corruption.
However, even this is an illusion as there is no control. One must sacrifice every drop of blood and give up every part of themselves to the moment and beyond. In this, I can only practice what is available to me on the level of consciousness I have. From this meditation I gather that I need to enter into the state of mind where I can get into a better state of the moment and struggle from there.
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@mojorisin44 said
"10. I gazed upon the Crystal of the Future, and I saw the horror of the End of thee.
"The End" signfies to me attainment of Binah in crossing the abyss."
Possibly. It has always struck me as simply talking about the death or other end of that which is being addressed here - just saying, "OMG it's not going to be around forever!"
[MojoRisin, in the image of J.M., comments upon... The End. Love it!]
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@Jim Eshelman said
"[MojoRisin, in the image of J.M., comments upon... The End. Love it!]"
lol...The Doors in a lot of ways were my intro into Mysticism. I like the image because it looks like he's doing the Sign of the Enterer...feels like things coming around to a full circle!
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Life on Earth is carbon based
And I have heard that crystals
Glass and sand
As well as most sedimentary
And metamohic rocks
Are made with silica
The next step up
On the periodic table
From carbonThat the life that is in crystals
Is our destiny as well
Some have said -
An old man sitting in his lonely mansion a la Citizen Kane. He's been told that Death will come for him at midnight and as if to mock him, a crystal hour glass has been placed on his desk, the sands slowly sliding from the top half (the future) to the bottom (the past). When the last of the sand from the top reaches the bottom it will be midnight and his hour will be up. In a blind moment of panic the old man gets up out of his chair, grabs hold of the fragile hour glass and throws it into the fire place where it smashes amongst the flames into a million tiny pieces. Ha ha, he thinks, I've done it; I control my own fate. Just then, from somewhere in the house, a grandfather clock chimes midnight. He realizes he has accomplished nothing. His power is a sham. The control he thought he had; an illusion. Time waits for no man. Change is the only constant. Everything is burning. And a cool breeze blows into the room.
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10. I gazed upon the Crystal of the Future, and I saw the horror of the End of thee.
11. Further, I destroyed the time Past, and the time to Come — had I not the Power of the Sand-glass?
12. But in the very hour I beheld corruption.Trying to confine the love of Nuit to one person, I realized that it could/would end one day. I gave up control of past and future to love and be happy in the moment, but even in that moment, I began to see less than all I truly desired.
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10. I gazed upon the Crystal of the Future, and I saw the horror of the End of thee.
I've had this experience before - this is the Nephesh suddenly realizing that the illusion of something being eternal is going to end. That which feels alive now is going to die. And it's truly a horrible, horrible experience. In many ways, this has defined my life for about 5 years.
I fought mightily to save my attachment - I rejected growth and nearly destroyed myself in the process. I gave so many of my resources to it. If I could've given myself entirely to the Great Work instead... where could I have been right now? But it was necessary.
11. Further, I destroyed the time Past, and the time to Come — had I not the Power of the Sand-glass?
This seems to be speaking of Samadhi. The Adept has seen the union of all things, and sees the impermanence of it all. The dying Nephesh-level illusion already appears dead to the Adept simply by the understanding of its nature. In a way, though, all things appear eternal - the past and the future are, simultaneously.
12. But in the very hour I beheld corruption.
Regardless of which way one looks at the situation, even right now, in normal, earthly consciousness, there is the corruption of illusion and death running in the veins of this particular... well, illusion. It's this illusion which I struggle with right now. And in this very hour I behold corruption: dark, murky, and absorbent, pulling on me like a black hole, trying to convince me that this impermanence can somehow be made permanent.
93, 93/93.
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“11. Further, I destroyed the time Past, and the time to Come — had I not the Power of the Sand-glass?”
I think we are all missing something here. I am looking at this sort of backwards
“11. had I not the Power of the Sand-glass? Further, I destroyed the time Past, and the time to Come”We have a very fundamental key here.... “The Sand Glass” ... do I not have the power of the sand glass? Is the question. When you see that I have destroyed the time past and the time to come..... OR ... I have destroyed all the sand... than I have the power to destroy the past and the future or in this essence destroyed my present future.
I see this as having a relationship to a dream that I posted.
In essence the initiate may be seeing that he has the power to change time, especially his time..... does this seem to make sense?
**“12. But in the very hour I beheld corruption.”**This would make a lot of sense especially if you looked at my past and my future before I started studying Thelema. This seems to be saying that I beheld the corruption that was, before I chose this path and possibly some after I chose it, because of some of my own misunderstandings.
It is I that realizes now... that I am the keeper of my own sand and the sand must conform to me, but only in between my birth and my death am I the keeper.
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10. I gazed upon the Crystal of the Future, and I saw the horror of the End of thee.
11. Further, I destroyed the time Past, and the time to Come — had I not the Power of the Sand-glass?
12. But in the very hour I beheld corruption.To me this speaks to the consciousness of time and attachment in general.