Suppose a man died and a flower died, both on the same day at the same time. Which one would be the most important or significant?
You may say, and probably fairly, that a man has more importance than a flower, so let me rephrase the question. Suppose that the man was nobody special, an old man who was due to die anyway but the flower was a certain cure for Aids or Cancer and the last of it's species.
You may change your answer and say that the flower is more important since it has the potential to save many lives, but hang on a second. What has actually changed, a flower has died and a man has died just the same. OK let me turn the question on it's head. What if the flower was a common or garden dandelion but the man was John F Kennedy. Can you see how the answer changes according to our perception. The fact is exactly the same, a man dies and a flower dies but depending on the emotion we invest in one event over another or our perception of the event, one takes on more significance than another. What if we were also a dandelion, would we feel the loss much greater?
Life is like this, and in a very real sense. Looking from a cosmological viewpoint, neither event would be any more significant than any other, and yet the whole of our lives are based around exactly this kind of distorted or filtered view of the world. We do not experience the world directly but we filter it through a screen of likes and dislikes, importances and unimportances. It is a biological fact of survival that we screen out all unneccessary or trivial data. Doesn't it strike you as odd that five members of your own family being killed would be far more important than 50,000 chinese in an earthquake? Doesn't this strike you as obscene?
There is a state of mind that sorcerors eventually reach which is
more akin to the above mentioned cosmological viewpoint than any kind of emotionally charged viewpoint. The neccesary discipline needed to reach such a state and eventually sustain it throughout
normal life is hard going. There are pitfalls and there are stumbling blocks. It might be that if I described such a viewpoint to you now you would become repulsed and say it is inhuman. I would argue
that it is far more human to weep for 50 vietnamese than for 5 family members, and in fact it is far more sane to weep for neither since this is the universe that we (currently?) find ourselves in, what
use is it then to cry foul when the universe operates exactly as it is meant to, chaotically, randomly, without perceptible meaning. If you say 'but it is not fair' I would have to answer 'compared to what? The
way you would like the universe to behave?'
As I have said, if I describe to you the sorceror's viewpoint, you may become repulsed, I will take the risk. From a sorceror's viewpoint
the idea of 'self' and 'ego' are no-more. The idea of affiliation to family, spouse, loved ones will become illogical. How can you tie yourself to others? With what bonds are the affiliation made. From
your current viewpoint you may say out of love, or duty, or honour, or a million and one other things but I would say examine your motives carefully, you will find they are as nonsensical as the idea
that a man is more important than a flower, why? Because we are men?
OK, on to the practicalities. This is not hard to understand. The way that we percieve the world is exactly the way that we think about the world. Think about this for a moment and you will see this is
true. The racist sees pakistanis moving into every corner shop in the neighbourhood, the animal rights activist swings the scales in the opposite direction and blows up humans to safeguard 'poor dumb
animals.' Exactly what you think is what you are, what you percieve, the way that you experience life. Think about it for a moment, if this was not the case then brainwashing would not exist!
The first logical step would be to think in a different way or to think of other things, but this would simply place us in a different sphere of action. We would simply experience life in a different way. To be
'truly free' we must stop thinking altogether. Have a look at the section on Spare to get an idea of the Death Posture. Practice it daily until ceasing all thought becomes second nature. The more
you can do this, the more you are free to experience life directly, free from our usual daily baggage.
And herein lies my first warning. By stopping all thought we risk
damaging the 'ego.' This must be avoided at all costs. To destroy the ego is to destroy the man. Strive to include the ego by laughter. 300 people die in a plane crash, a maniac goes on the rampage with a
machette, an avalanche wipes out a public figure, laugh at the absurdity of life, the randomness of the universe. Kia creates and destroys at a whim. It does not ask permission nor does it curry
favour, it does what it does and 'so what.' Thats the way it is. THIS is the way that it is. You cannot rebel against it's creations nor mourn it's destructions. The only possible (and safe) way we can develop
the sorcerors mentality and remain safe and whole is to include the ego by laughter.
to be continued......
