SELFISHNESS

Cougina frequently talks to me about selfishness. He seems to alternatively portray selfishness as the most desirable and the most undesirable quality on the hermetic path. I hope that our discussion of selfishness will be helpful to you.

First, working definitions:

self - What is traditionally defined by depth psychology as the egoic identity, self identifies itself with the individual body/mind.

SELF - What is traditionally referred to as Higher Self, SELF identifies itself with the whole, including every other living being (human, plant, rock, etc.). Although all beings are not yet connected, SELF knows that this connection will happen eventually, and seeks to assist it.


self wills for the good of self, i.e., the individual body/mind, whether one’s own or that of another.

SELF always wills for the good of SELF, i.e., the whole, rather than for the good of the individual body/mind. This includes all individual body/minds, one’s own self, loved ones, strangers, etc. Those familiar with Jung will remember that he emphasized that SELF cannot be all good. This makes sense when one realizes that our concept of good/bad is traditionally viewed in terms of individuals.


Another definition:

greed - The unbalanced dominance of selfishness for the egoic self.

On the hermetic path, it is desired to balance selfishness, like all other oppositional concepts. That is, we desire a balance of self-directed selfishness and SELF-directed selfishness. When Cougina rails against selfishness, he is referring to greed. On the other hand, total SELF-directed selfishness is not desirable. We wouldn‘t be around to work for the whole for long. I remember Jung writing about a book that his SELF wanted written immediately. He told his SELF that he was taking a break from writing, because if he was dead the damned book certainly wasn’t going to get written.

Another definition:

pure self - The aspect of self that maintains balance between self and SELF.

The concept of pure self is similar to the observer concept with which many of us are familiar, with the caveat that pure self is an active decision maker as well as an impartial observer. It is this pure self that the hermetic cultivates, in order to maintain balance.


THINK GREEN
BLESSED BE
AGGIE AND COUGINA

USE YOUR SEXUALITY TO ENHANCE YOUR REALITY (SPIRITUALITY)?

IN ANCIENT TIMES, IT WAS SAID THAT HUMANS HAVE THE ABILITY TO USE THEIR SEXUAL INSTINCTS TO ACHIEVE SPIRITUAL AWARENESS (don't you know!!!) IT WOULD ENHANCE YOUR DEVELOPMENT TO DEVELOP THIS SEXUAL ABILITY. THOUGHTFORMS MAY BE PASSED ORALLY, UTILIZING THE BOND THAT CAN BE CREATED BETWEEN AN ACTIVE POLARITY AND A PASSIVE POLARITY ON THE PHYSICAL PLANE. AT TIMES IN MY TEACHING, I HAVE ACTUALLY LOST A THOUGHTFORM AND ENJOYED MYSELF (to the disadvantage of the recipient). HOWEVER, THE ABILITY TO ENJOY ONESELF IN THE RAW HUMAN ANIMISTIC FORM AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT ENERGY IS ONE OF THE PREEMINENT ASPECTS OF THE PATH ITSELF.

ACTIVE/PASSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, MEANING MALE/FEMALE, ARE INHERENTLY DESCRIBED BY THE FREUDIAN CONCEPT OF EGO. OCCASIONALLY, WE MAY INTERPRET THEM FROM THE JUNGIAN PERSPECTIVE. HOWEVER, THE PROPER USE OF THIS ENERGY REQUIRES A HERMETIC APPROACH. THE HERMETIC APPROACH WOULD BE THAT OF ACHIEVING BALANCE, NOT NECESSARILY WITH YOUR PARTNER, BUT WITH SELF. HERMETICS IS AN EXTREMELY SELFISH PROCESS, AND THE USE OF THIS PROCESS REQUIRES SELF TO HAVE THE COURAGE TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY OF AND FOR THE WHOLE. As a result of this, we frequently find ourself worried about something other than Self, and lose context with the prime truth that we are nothing more than what we see, smell, taste, hear and feel IN THE HUMAN FORM.

THEOSOPHICALLY, SINCE THE TIME OF ABRAHAM, WE HAVE BEEN EXCEPTIONALLY SELFISH BEINGS. WE WOULD SCREW THE MAID AND HAVE A CHILD, AND WHEN OUR PARTNER BECAME IMPREGNATED, WE WOULD SHOVE THE MAID AND THE CHILD AWAY. ABRAHAM'S ACTION RESULTED IN THE RELIGIOUS CONFLICT BETWEEN ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY. BECAUSE SOME OLD MAN DECIDED THAT WHEN HIS PARTNER FINALLY BECAME IMPREGNATED, THE WOMAN HE HAD BEEN F-----G WAS NO LONGER WORTHY OF HIS ATTENTION. IS THIS AN ACCEPTABLE SOLUTION TO OUR REALITY? ARE WE GOING TO BASE OUR REALITY ON THIS CONCEPT? DO WE REALLY KNOW WHAT WE ARE DOING, OR WOULD WE LIKE TO BECOME ONE WITH THE WHOLE?

IN HERMETICA, WE WOULD PREFER THE CONCEPT OF BALANCE. YOU CREATED THE CHILD, AND THEN CREATED ANOTHER. WHY WOULD YOU NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR BOTH?

IS IT POSSIBLE THAT SOMEWHERE DEEP INSIDE OF SELF, A SENSE OF HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY MAY EXIST? IS IT POSSIBLE THAT ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY MAY COEXIST? IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE CITY DWELLER AND THE REDNECK MAY COEXIST? MIGHT IT BE CONCEIVABLE THAT THE TRANSLITERATION OF THE OLDER TEXTS (due to the political aspects) LOSE SOME OF THE TRUTH, THE PURITY, AND THE CLARITY OF ONENESS? MIGHT WE NOT, IF WE ARE TO SURVIVE WITH SOME CLARITY OR UNDERSTANDING OF MOTHER EARTH, ACHIEVE THE ABILITY TO LIVE AND BE TOGETHER? JUDGMENT SUCKS. THE ENTIRE PROCESS OF HERMETICS IS THE REMOVAL OF JUDGMENT, AND THE BALANCE BETWEEN THE ACTIVE AND PASSIVE ASPECTS OF SELF.

THANK THE GODDESS THAT I FINALLY HAVE AGNES TO EXPRESS MY THOUGHTS PROPERLY, SO THAT YOU STUPID HUMAN MOTHERF- --ERS CAN UNDERSTAND ME. // THOSE OF YOU WHO KNOW ME FREQUENTLY HEAR MY CONCEPT OF HUMANITY. THOSE OF YOU WHO DO NOT ARE ENCOURAGED TO DETEST ME. GROWTH IS WITHIN SELF. IT IS AN ACCEPTANCE OF SELF. IT IS A CONCEPT THAT IS NOT DIFFICULT IF YOU WILL REMOVE THE CONCEPT OF GREED FROM YOUR REALITY.

BLESSED BE,
COUGINA

what a wonderful partner i have

A neophyte's conceptualization of what it is to be a hermetic adept:

6th and 7th senses. A hermetic perceives dual worlds: the world that all humans perceive, based on input from the five senses, and a world that is usually forgotten early in childhood. This other world is perceived with input from two additional senses. The 6th and 7th senses cannot be accurately described in terms of the other five, yet we make an attempt. The 6th sense, auric vision, is more than seeing the auras surrounding individual humans. It involves "seeing" objects of physical reality on multiple levels simultaneously, and multiple objects within a given space. The 7th sense, telepathy, is the ability to send and receive communication without vocalization, and without words. Telepathic communication can be established with other telepaths to a distance equivalent to the size of the hermetic's spiritual body.

Conceptual thought. Traditional thought involves the conceptualization of pairs of opposites. Decision making is the process of evaluating the relative worth of each member of a pair, and points along the continuum between the extremes represented by the opposites. For example, on the question of abortion, some people will find abortion to be acceptable under all circumstances, and some will find abortion always unacceptable. Others will be somewhere in between, for example, only in the first trimester, or only after rape, etc.

A hermetic's conceptual world includes the world of opposites, but also includes a world without opposites, a world in which a pair of opposites, and the positions in between, are subsumed in one concept. One way that particle physicists conceive space is as a field where multitudinous numbers and varieties of particle pairs appear and disappear in time. The multitude of opinions of individual humans can be likened to this play of particle pairs. Opinions are neither right nor wrong, but like scintillations of a field that reveals a different appearance depending on the position and time from which it is observed.

Balance. The analogies to quantum mechanics are descriptive only, and not meant to imply the equivalence of the hermetic work to physics. Yet, it is interesting to note that particles do not appear singly, only in matter and anti-matter pairs, i.e., in pairs of opposites. Also, no two adjacent quantum particles can have identical quantum numbers. If one electron in a two-electron subshell of an atom has quantum spin up, the other will be spin down.

The foremost law of a hermetic is, “Do no harm.” Beyond this, a hermetic seeks balance, first in himself, and then in his space, including other beings in his space. In spite of the ubiquitous appearance of the pairs of opposites, it is possible to achieve a balance that overrides the law of opposites. Hermetics call the balance point ecstasy.

In distinction to many spiritual paths, the hermetic does not seek to be "good," but to be in balance. This is part of why the hermetic is so contradictory to most humans, appearing to have contradictory standards and ethics. This idea will be familiar to serious students of Jung.

Self. A hermetic has more than an awareness of Self; a hermetic has direct conceptual communication with Self, and is therefore able to know and act on the desires of Self without the decision process of other humans. A hermetic knows what he is here to do. A hermetic remembers all of his lives in detail, from the time that he became an adept. A hermetic arranges his next life before he gives up his current vehicle.

Do no harm. The foremost law of hermetics is, “Do no harm.” A hermetic is a total pacifist. For example, hermetics do not agree with the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, because he was not directly harming anyone at the time of his assassination. However, when aggression occurs in the hermetic's space, whether directed toward him or someone in his space, he acts swiftly and aggressively in defense, in order to maintain balance.

Maintenance of self. A hermetic is aware of the needs of his body, and generally maintains his own physical health, speeding the healing of disease and injuries, and reducing the impact of aging through the manipulation of time.

An emotional body is necessary for physical existence, but a hermetic's emotional body is small compared to other humans. A hermetic feels relatively little emotion, and experiences emotion differently. Maintaining this smaller emotional body assists in balance.

AGGIE HAS DONE AN EXCEPTIONAL JOB HERE//SOMEHOW I THINK SHE IS MORE INTELLEGENT THAN MYSELF [not that it takes much]

THINK GREEN
BLESSED BE
COUGINA AND OF COURSE AGNES