What follows is a train of thought, of reasoning. It was stimulated by watching a fantasy TV program in which the hero fought demons, that is Luciferic evil embodied in actual personal beings that wanted to enslave, torture and murder. The fight was to contain or kill such beings.
It was difficult - for the hero; but the evil was locatable and understandable - the difficulty was in beating the demons.
Then I reflected that the evil we mostly encounter in this, our modern lives, is Ahrimanic - which means it is The System (the Matrix) - which is bureaucracy, which is impersonal, which is dispersed - behind every bureaucracy lies another. There are (it seems) "bureaucracies all-the-way-down"...
But then I realised: this is not so.
Ultimate metaphsyical reality is of beings and their relationships. The ultimate spiritual reality of modern evil is of actual Ahrimanic beings; that is persons, who have motivations and seek satisfactions in a way exactly analogous to the more familiar Luciferic demons. The Ahrimanic demons are motivated, living, conscious beings of a different kind, different nature; that is all.
So, ultimately The System, the bureaucracies are merely a mask, a disguise, a distraction from the reality of purposive evil pursuing its purposes.
What, then, can I actually do about all this? The answer became clear (or so it still seems).
I need to bear in mind - actively, deliberately - that nothing is dead, all is alive. Consciousness is universal - motivation is everywhere.
The ultimate truth is that everything real is personal. There are no coincidences, no accidents - all has meaning - and there is no neutrality.
No neutrality means that the officials, the drones, the myrmidons, the petty agents of bureaucracy that we see all around (and our-selves very probably: aye, there's the rub!) are actually personal, purposive agents.
The minor implementors of The System - the slaves, serfs, servants - the clerks, managers, security guards, people who deliver... all of them (of us) are active participants in Ahrimanic evil - all have chosen to regard themselves as non-persons, all seek to avoid ultimate responsibility by sharing in the Ahrimanic assertion that 'nobody is to blame' - which means that in The System we are not persons - we are dead, lack consciosuness and purpose...
This is what must not be accepted - must be brought to conscious knowing, and refuted.
Primitive or psychotic paranoia - in which each person understands himself to be the centre of the universe, with life organised around-himself; is basically correct factually; but is wrong insofar as it is regarded as a passive situation - regarded as unavoidable. (The typical paranoid regards himself as a passive victim of external realities. He sees reality as outside himself.)
We are all and each actually at the centre of the universe; because we are co-creating that reality We are never passive (or, insofar as we are, then that is an evil choice: false, a pretence, a shirking of good, a service to evil).
We don't know everything here-and-now (of course!); but everything is potentially know-able - by each of us - in principle; and that 'in principle' makes All The Difference.
(About this Rudolf Steiner, in Truth and Knowledge and Philosophy of Freedom was profoundly and vitally correct).
How to fight demons? With 'magic' - obviously! But what kind of magic?
We know (from fantasy TV, movies and books) how magically to fight Luciferic demons... How then magically to fight the Ahrimanic demons that stand-behind The System; or rather hide behind The System? And use The System magically to make each of us Ahrimanic too. That is to make each of us choose to regard ourselves as material, non-personal, non-responsible - 'functional units' of that System.
The magic of fighting the Ahrimanic demons is knowing; and the effects of knowing. And victory is possible because the Ahrimanic beings assume their own passivity; that is their basic assumption, their metaphysical world picture.
When we are (or become) active and participating knowers; then They are defeated. But they do not realise how They have been defeated. Such is unknowable to Them.
The Ahrimanic magic is to induce people to regard the world passively, with detachment (as if meaning was out-there); to induce people passively to serve this machine, to deny their participation in the construction of this machine.
Our magical challenge is therefore to see beyond the self-presentation of our world as dead, abstract, impersonal, mechanical, unconscious -- and to know the world as it really is.
The Ahrimanic magic is to make us believe the world is merely material; our counter-spell is to (our-selves) regard that world as also spiritual: more exactly the magic happens when we personally actually consciously experience the world as alive, of-beings; and embrace that experience as valid.
This good magic will work when we know the servants of Ahriman (including our-selves) as deluded, self-suppressed, evil in avoidance of knowledge - hence respobsility for this vast structure of evil.
Good magic unmasks the beings behind the machine, unmasks the choices behind the obedience, unmasks the active promotion of evil behind the fear and despair.
A day at the office, a visit to the shops then becomes the front-line in the battlefield of spiritual warfare.
Our magic against Theirs.
Bravo.
ReplyDeleteGoing into this battle is not for the faint hearted. We all deep down know the consequences of taking the red pill - and so we make all kinds of excuses (we listen to the news like addicts) in order to re-affirm our blue-pill choice.
So on the face of it, the call to battle is really quite easy - asking for the truth is not so very difficult. What is difficult is dealing with what one finds as a result, and managing to still maintain a semblance of "normal" life in a world that is completely off its rocker. That is where the true battle lies, and it is primarily an inner battle - and the temptations to surrender on a daily basis are legion.
@Amo - I think some people are reluctant to recognise their personal responsibility for Ahrimanic evil, therefore do not recognise or repent the fact. Of course there are reasons why most people collaborate - but reasons should not become excuses.
ReplyDeletePerhaps even more people are willing to recognise that the mass majority of bureaucratic functionaries have chosen to be, remain, and deny that they are themselves - part of the strategic demonic project.
Far too many Christians have adopted the secular left mantra of 'not judging' others, when in fact judgment is absolutely necessary; and that need does not go away just because those judged to be in service to evil are a large majority.
On the contrary we are part of the problem unless we judge others, and of course our-selves too.
When you are alive to the lies, and you know and see, then comes the choice - acquiesce or confront and expose. I have done both. I will say that acquiescing is misery making, and, rightly, fills me with self loathing. Confronting and exposing is a risky business, but my oh my, it makes me feel better about myself, life, death, and the universe - I feel fully-real-within-the-real, at least for a time. Then comes the labelling - 'he is mad' - 'he is dangerous' - 'he is not a team player' - and some are genuinely bewildered, others (with the snake eyes) know you know, and they know that you know that they know and that they have sold out to Ahriman. The mass are bewildered, yes, but the snakes KNOW, and they don't care, because they have worldly power and agency, and control the mass, on behalf of Ahriman. Active resistance by knowing and letting them see the knowing threatens them, and no matter what they do to you, they can never stop the knowing you continuing to know. And in this way, you create some part of reality that they cannot control, and once created, it can never be uncreated, and there is the danger to them that this new creation will be witnessed by others, and truly seen. Once eyes are open, they may remain open, and the somnambulant might really wake, and begin to create new reality for the good. Waking, knowing, witnessing, and acting to oppose Ahriman's snake-eyed minions is immediately dangerous to the knower, but it is crucial to do it because everything depends upon it.
ReplyDeleteBarry
@Barry - Yes. But I would also emphasise that this kind of discerning and knowing works primarily at a 'spiritual' level - not at the level of public discourse.
ReplyDeleteAssuming we genuinely do (potentially) co-create reality - then material communications (such as this one) are not the crux of it; and are optional - plus, of course, they may be misunderstood or in other ways go awry.
This is a very individual and personal matter, as well as universal and eternal - each is responsible for himself, and nobody can do it for us.
There are no coicidences
ReplyDeleteI think that this bears on my recent musing about intuitive leading. If you feel a subconscious tug, wondering whether something is a coincidence - it isn't.
Reminds me of the climax to the great 80's film Labyrinth. We are free, all we need to do is recognize and acknowledge.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MolWhOGhRc
-Andrew E.
Thank you, I love this idea. Modern life *is* draining, depressing, soul-crushing. Going forth as a spiritual warrior, aware that everything is permeated with the magical and spiritual is a wonderful idea.
ReplyDeleteWe've been watching some "Studio Ghibli" movies lately with our children, and many of the movies repeat this idea - as did Lewis, etc. It seems really hard to not lose this sense growing and becoming an adult. Certainly it must be purposefully cultivated and, rather than passive wonder, become active participation.
@Mr Andrew - Thanks.
ReplyDeleteAs a *very* brief summary, I think that the way forward is to return to the (young) child's way of experiencing the world; but this time consciously and by choice. I think this is what Jesus meant (for us, now, anyway) by his expressions on the need to become 'as' a child.
I've been thinking a lot lately about how Ahrimanic evil is held together by a web of Luciferian evil. People opt in with the promise that their most beloved sinful passions will be protected, but in the end they get nothing.
ReplyDeleteYou may have put it more accurately as it seems at least to be a web of both. Some opt in for physical safety (Ahriman) and some for sexual sin (Lucifer) among other things. The end result is the ratcheting gears of evil click—click—clicking tighter around our necks.
What's happening today is the logical conclusion of a materialist society but a change of heart would turn those gears to dust.
@Sean - Yes, I think that is usually how it works - the two types of evil feed-into each other. The sexual revolution (Luciferic) always seems to lead to more laws, rules and bureaucracy, monitoring and control (Ahrimanic). The materialism of The System leads people into (for example) sexual sin as a 'relief' or break or outlet from the crushing deadness and oppression. Long hours of dull machine-like work are broken by bursts of self-indulgent lust, greed, sloth, anger...
ReplyDelete"Yes. But I would also emphasise that this kind of discerning and knowing works primarily at a 'spiritual' level - not at the level of public discourse."
ReplyDeleteI should have been clearer. I think that actions in the material realm have an effect in the spiritual realm. An attack on the Ahrimanic system on the material plane creates thoughts and emotions that challenge 'the system' in a plane where Ahrimanic spirits live. They will know, and feel, that they are under attack. The thoughts can be created in the minds of the attacker, all witnesses to the event on the material and spiritual planes, and even in the minds of the snake-eyed Ahrimanic earthly minions. Once created, I believe that these thoughts are eternal/permanent. I also suspect that the spiritual effect towards the good is universal, in that it brightens the whole of creation however minimally, and not just those directly connected to the earthly event. Of course, material and open public attacks are not required to effect change in the spiritual realms. Sitting here thinking these thoughts, for example, and not putting them out there in the material world would have an effect on the Ahrimanic planes to the detriment of the Ahrimanic demons. I think that the thoughts will also come down from the spiritual as an effect in the material realm, and weaken the Ahrimanic grip, even if just a little. The more who think in this way, the weaker Ahriman would become.
Barry
Great post and perfect timing.
ReplyDeleteI've taken a new approach. Just witnessing the evil and madness. Looking it straight in the eye. I only give my actual words out loud if it makes sense in a spiritual sense. Will the listener get anything out of it, other than getting afraid of scandalized or freaked out?
Of course, I won't lie if asked a direct question about something related to the pandemic. Or whatever subject. That would be wrong.
I suppose there may be occasions where I will tempted to lie - imagine a job interview, or a boss that asks a question that makes it clear that your job is on the line, and you have child to support (I do). But if I lie due to that coercion, I will know that I did so.
The main thing, though, is that I plan to always keep in mind the truth, and to live by it. To not make myself spiritually dependent on this system. To live my life the best I can within its constraints, and do whatever I can to undermine it - even if that means growing a garden, starting my dreamed-of homestead, etc.
Even just a walk through the woods, enjoying nature guilt-free now seems a bit subversive.
I've read this post several times. So good. Thank you.
ReplyDelete@Jake and Matt - Thanks. I found writing it helpful, too! Now, to Do it...
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