Subject: Discursion into the Black Brother (was a definition...)
From: nagasiva@luckymojo.com (nigris (333))

Orig-To: thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org

49991226 IVom

a correspondent wrote:
> Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

The word of Sin is Restriction.
 
> A Black Brother is one, who - at the edge of the Abyss - does 
> not succeed in the crossing of it. Apparently all aspirants are 
> supposed to generate so much force through their Work, that once 
> set in motion, the Work itself will carry the aspirant further 
> along the road. 

some trajectories are not properly aimed. the spiritual quest is
not a straight line. failure comes in many forms. that which at
first seems failure may be another type of success, unknown to
the perceiver.

> Some fail in this. When they reach the borders of the Abyss, 
> without being fully prepared, the force generated will push 
> them out into the Abyss and somehow they don't manage to 
> come up on the other side of it. 

expecting a specific result, we make judgements based upon our
bias and prejudice. projecting the condition of the 'failure',
we conclude based upon our 'knowledge' and 'education',
completely unaware of a superlative achievement.

> Indeed they are well trained magicians. The Babe of the Abyss 
> who surfaces as a Magister Templi supposedly reach a point of 
> "no Ego" , not meaning that he does not consider himself at all, 
> but implying that he's fully conscious that all events are 
> direct dealings of God with his Soul - that is, he percieves 
> himself as part of a "machinery". His proper saying is "I am 
> not I" - implying that he see himself as just a tool in the 
> hands of something else. Being a part of such a "machinery" of 
> course destroys fear, hate etc. (on the transpersonal plane) 
> because nothing can happen which was not meant to happen ... 

appearance of the mountain can be interpreted as the mountain
(facile), no mountain (esoteric), or mountain (transcendental).
masquerading, the ego easily disappears in pretense of its
invisibility, instead truly learning to evade detection. this
'Babe of the Abyss' climbs the societal ladder, having duly
accepted the cult pedigree. a true Black Brother, the Abyss
is misunderstood for some simplistic cosmic expanse, yet the
form is coincident to tradition.

always I am I! to proclaim otherwise is sheer hypocrisy. the
choice of the 'proper' is the submission to the Cup of
Babalon and self-dispersion. relegating the whole to mere
machinery, predestination absolves the Beast from responsi-
bility. the egotist knows no bounds, considers hirself to be
Adept, and wields societal power without conscience. evidence
of this is rampant in the occult community. these are the
'Babes of the Abyss' who tend to rant about Black Brothers:
fear-mongering, dualistic, abortions.

> It is Fatalism and/or Karma, spiced with the choices of 
> the Free Will. (I should have said "Pure Will" but many 
> Thelemites think it is their "will" to do this and that 
> and relates the term Pure or True Will to petty dealings 
> of the Free Will.)

"spiced" with free will, fatalism is meaningless and karma
a supreme injustice without full disclosure of dharmic law.
the first dismissal of the Thelemite is whether she is or
is not capable of discerning 'true' from other types of will.
 
> The Black Brother reach a different conclusion. Not managing 
> to destroy his "Ego form" altogether it grows like a psychosis 
> within him. He separates himself from the "machinery" and 
> reach the conclusion that "I am I" - that the "machinery" is 
> something else, something "outside" himself, something foreign 
> ... That is why he "shuts himself up". Eventually this will breed 
> fear and hate (again on the transpersonal plane). He is "himself" 
> and that which is outside becomes hostile. He clings on to the 
> illusion of himself as something outside and apart of the 
> "machinery". He might even want to change the "outside" to fit 
> with his "inside" (C.S. Jones changing the Tree of Life for 
> instance) instead of adjusting himself to the circumstances.

misunderstanding the transcendental will as a fundamental
cancer of their soul, the Babes of the Abyss identify the
integrated personality (cf. Jung; cf. individuation:Maslow)
with "psychosis" as it does not capitulate to the societal
standard. equating the machinery for the real, the Babe
clings to it desperately as the Absolute when in fact it
is only the basis for an apprehension of the real (the whole).

at times visionaries (and the mad) suggest alternatives to
the status quo as they realize the limitations of the
accepted standards of the Herd. Jones' inversion of the
Tree is a good example here of a mechanism leading to a
clear identification of limitations within the societal 
standards and the Herd's attachment to form rather than to 
essential wisdom (i.e. it readily identified the limits
of those such as Crowley and his formal ilk).

> Imagine a train on a railroad. It is very heavy to set in 
> motion, but once it's speed accelerates, it is very 
> difficult to stop again. Now imagine that the aspirant is 
> the train itself, and the work is the railroad tracks. In 
> order for the train to move smoothly, the tracks must be 
> well adjusted, balanced and kept in good condition. The 
> faster the train moves, the more important it is for the 
> tracks to be smooth. A Black Brother perhaps is/was one who 
> was so unfortunate that his tracks were not smooth enough 
> for the speedy train. 

identifying the aspirant with the train of societal tradition,
the Babes of the Abyss do not discern between equilibrium of
an entirety and balance in an individual. this is important,
as they need this misplaced identification in order to
achieve the trans-abysmal leap of faith that they may be
capable of achieving if they have endurance and sustained
humility. however, insight during the Adventure of the Abyss
is unfortunately rare given the ocular transformations that
necessarily take place during this series of events (the
Abyss is called 'watery' with good reason).

conceiving the spiritual journey as a rote rail and
singular destination fore-ordained by those who have
constructed the locomotive line, the Babe reflects upon
those who dance on the tracks as 'unsteady' rather
than 'experimental and daring', mislabels 'falling off 
the tracks' upon those who may well transcend the
entirety.

A Babe of the Abyss learns to swim in many ways. some
find succor in tried-and-true systems, some cut their
teeth by inventing new ones.

> Eventually the train tilt of the tracks and are "separated" 
> ... The train stops and is destroyed. The tracks remain 
> unfinished or unattended....

left to arrogance and ill-sighted fervor, the Babe castigates
the genius as 'demented', calling the loss of sight of the
newborn Magus a 'derailment'. assessing the coccoon remains
as 'failed motion', the butterfly is ignored completely,
scared off in a waving of arms and warning shouts.

Invoke me under my stars.
 
> Love is the law, love under will.

blessed beast!

nigris (333)