Aligning with the Genius
The idea of personal evolution has fascinated me for a long time. Quite apart from theories of species evolution, which require great spans of time, personal evolution must occur in my lifetime. So how can it? What does it mean to "evolve" myself? More to the point, what is it exactly that evolves?
I can strengthen and sustain my biology with diet and exercise, but I cannot evolve it beyond its current genetic parameters without the aid of technology. This is in fact central to a current vision of human evolution - a progressive melding of biology with technology. Yet, to me, this only highlights the fact that human technology is what is evolving, not human beings themselves. This technological evolution is rapid, and plain for all to see. What a human being actually is, in terms of a conscious, self-aware "master of destiny" does not seem to be fundamentally changed by this increasing reliance on evolving technology, and is if anything threatened with a devolution that comes from the increasing laziness, dependency, and mindlessness associated with addiction in general, technology addiction being no exception. A caveman with an SUV, a cell phone, and mood alterations in pill form is no more evolved than a caveman without them.
Technology evolution, then, is not synonymous with the evolution of what a human being is, and may possibly be in an individual lifetime. I have come to a realization that personal evolution means one thing precisely - the evolution of consciousness. By consciousness I mean the self-aware consciousness by which "I" direct and order my experience of life, and the multitudinous capacities of my greater psyche. This Aware self is what is "me", so evolving myself means evolving it. This entails strengthening and extending its directing power to the realms of my mind that are as yet beyond my awareness and ability to directly influence. The more aspects of my psyche that remain unconscious, the more they can control me in ways I am not even aware of. "Spirituality" then is a progressive effort to strengthen and extend consciousness, not only to the objective universe, but to the as-yet hidden parts of the greater Self. This is also what I mean when I write about "bringing myself into Being".
Consciousness can only evolve consciously. It cannot evolve unconsciously. "Nature" will not do it for me, and actually tends to work against it. Evolving my consciousness involves working "against" the all too easy and instinctive automatism of nature. This takes work and commitment. It is safe to say that most people do not undertake such work, and are unaware that it even exists. Consciousness is generally taken for granted. Why work for something you ostensibly already have? My current thoughts and observations cause me to think that people are in fact not nearly as conscious as they think they are (and I do not leave myself out of this equation) "Know Thyself" is common property as a phrase, but not as a reality. What will people not deceive themselves with when it comes to themselves? I think the biggest obstacle to progressive self-awareness is the idea that it is already possessed. I myself am just beginning to discover that there is no end to what I can learn about myself, and no end to what I can improve according to the designs of my conscious will.
I celebrate the human ability to alter matter with intellectually created designs and work. But to stop there is to accept what I perceive to be an unacknowledged premise: that consciousness itself is a fully developed and therefore static quantity / quality, and all that is needed is to shape the objective universe to its creations. Yet Consciousness itself, our very essence as human beings, needs to be evolved as well, and our unique capacity for self-analyzing, critical, formative Awareness is equipped to shape and modify the subjective universe of the very psyche it inhabits. The idea of evolving one’s own individual consciousness as a sustained way of life, however, is almost entirely unheard of in our culture, which marches forth to conquer the material universe and other people, oblivious to the more crucial self-mastery that is the actual basis of freedom and self-government.
Esoteric philosophies in general are different “road maps” for using the power of consciousness to affect inner self-transformation, which is largely meaningless unless understood as the quest for greater consciousness. I can become more "natural" i.e. less conscious and more instinctive (more animal) or more "non-natural" i.e. more conscious and more human (perhaps even more than human!) Those are the essential parameters.
Some basic exercises I have done are - making the resolution for a week to become fully aware every time I walk thru a doorway / climb steps / or drive thru an intersection. This is surprisingly difficult to do every time, and I kept notes on my progress. This practice doesn’t necessarily produce any great revelations, but the point is to make the mind do what I will it to do - to become Present when commanded. Later I worked to sustain self-awareness for longer periods, no matter what I was doing. I still do this, and it too is difficult to sustain. The mind wants to wander away on its own. I also apply this to governing my motions in the simplest things, from how I place my feet when walking, doing dishes, throwing things away, opening doors, trying to do everything as smoothly and efficiently as possible. All this is the basis for more ambitious goals to be set later.
Some of these methods have been known for centuries as Magic, which is not, of course, the commonly known mundane art of stage illusions, but the art of the "Magi", or "Magus", who, like the alchemists, seek to create "gold" (divine consciousness) out of "base metals" (animalistic semi-consciousness) This is also the Magic forbidden by monotheism, precisely because its goal is none other than the creation of a god-like state for the individual here on earth, not as a “grace” from another power, but as a willed effort from within the self.
I have some experience with this type of thing, and can say that so-called "magical power" is the conscious power of the Imagination employed to effect willed changes in the psyche, all for the goal of achieving the evolution of individual consciousness to a more self-directed state of awareness and ability (Greater Magic) This kind of thing is also about entering one’s own mysteries willingly as means of catalyzing fresh consciousness extension.
The Egyptians referred to gods and god-forms as "neters". For humans the Pharaoh was originally the only one thought to have his own personal neter, but eventually this idea was applied to most everyone. I relate this god-form to the idea of a superconsciousness, which may be a largely untapped potential for organization of thought and creativity that exists "above" and beyond everyday consciousness, but as a path to a “higher self” within each individual mind. To evolve my consciousness ultimately means progressively activating and accessing my own superconsciousness, bringing it more and more into my daily experience, or rather aligning my everyday consciousness more with it. To do this is to manifest my neter, which the Greeks called the "daemon", and the Romans called the "genius".
My current operating formula is expressed in this saying of my own: to progressively discover, activate, and manifest my own genius is the meaning and purpose of my life
Whatever I must do to pursue this, I will do it. Increased self-awareness shows me that at any given time one thing is more necessary than another, hence my dedication to finishing and publishing my book. This is part of an over-arching transformation of myself and my life. As I progress and change, the thing that is most necessary for me to do will change also. If I am successful, I will know when and what this new thing is, and proceed accordingly. Therefore everything that I go on to do (and to not do) is predicated on a progressive discovering and manifesting my own genius as a sustained way of life.
Hail Set!
-Werbinox II*
I can strengthen and sustain my biology with diet and exercise, but I cannot evolve it beyond its current genetic parameters without the aid of technology. This is in fact central to a current vision of human evolution - a progressive melding of biology with technology. Yet, to me, this only highlights the fact that human technology is what is evolving, not human beings themselves. This technological evolution is rapid, and plain for all to see. What a human being actually is, in terms of a conscious, self-aware "master of destiny" does not seem to be fundamentally changed by this increasing reliance on evolving technology, and is if anything threatened with a devolution that comes from the increasing laziness, dependency, and mindlessness associated with addiction in general, technology addiction being no exception. A caveman with an SUV, a cell phone, and mood alterations in pill form is no more evolved than a caveman without them.
Technology evolution, then, is not synonymous with the evolution of what a human being is, and may possibly be in an individual lifetime. I have come to a realization that personal evolution means one thing precisely - the evolution of consciousness. By consciousness I mean the self-aware consciousness by which "I" direct and order my experience of life, and the multitudinous capacities of my greater psyche. This Aware self is what is "me", so evolving myself means evolving it. This entails strengthening and extending its directing power to the realms of my mind that are as yet beyond my awareness and ability to directly influence. The more aspects of my psyche that remain unconscious, the more they can control me in ways I am not even aware of. "Spirituality" then is a progressive effort to strengthen and extend consciousness, not only to the objective universe, but to the as-yet hidden parts of the greater Self. This is also what I mean when I write about "bringing myself into Being".
Consciousness can only evolve consciously. It cannot evolve unconsciously. "Nature" will not do it for me, and actually tends to work against it. Evolving my consciousness involves working "against" the all too easy and instinctive automatism of nature. This takes work and commitment. It is safe to say that most people do not undertake such work, and are unaware that it even exists. Consciousness is generally taken for granted. Why work for something you ostensibly already have? My current thoughts and observations cause me to think that people are in fact not nearly as conscious as they think they are (and I do not leave myself out of this equation) "Know Thyself" is common property as a phrase, but not as a reality. What will people not deceive themselves with when it comes to themselves? I think the biggest obstacle to progressive self-awareness is the idea that it is already possessed. I myself am just beginning to discover that there is no end to what I can learn about myself, and no end to what I can improve according to the designs of my conscious will.
I celebrate the human ability to alter matter with intellectually created designs and work. But to stop there is to accept what I perceive to be an unacknowledged premise: that consciousness itself is a fully developed and therefore static quantity / quality, and all that is needed is to shape the objective universe to its creations. Yet Consciousness itself, our very essence as human beings, needs to be evolved as well, and our unique capacity for self-analyzing, critical, formative Awareness is equipped to shape and modify the subjective universe of the very psyche it inhabits. The idea of evolving one’s own individual consciousness as a sustained way of life, however, is almost entirely unheard of in our culture, which marches forth to conquer the material universe and other people, oblivious to the more crucial self-mastery that is the actual basis of freedom and self-government.
Esoteric philosophies in general are different “road maps” for using the power of consciousness to affect inner self-transformation, which is largely meaningless unless understood as the quest for greater consciousness. I can become more "natural" i.e. less conscious and more instinctive (more animal) or more "non-natural" i.e. more conscious and more human (perhaps even more than human!) Those are the essential parameters.
Some basic exercises I have done are - making the resolution for a week to become fully aware every time I walk thru a doorway / climb steps / or drive thru an intersection. This is surprisingly difficult to do every time, and I kept notes on my progress. This practice doesn’t necessarily produce any great revelations, but the point is to make the mind do what I will it to do - to become Present when commanded. Later I worked to sustain self-awareness for longer periods, no matter what I was doing. I still do this, and it too is difficult to sustain. The mind wants to wander away on its own. I also apply this to governing my motions in the simplest things, from how I place my feet when walking, doing dishes, throwing things away, opening doors, trying to do everything as smoothly and efficiently as possible. All this is the basis for more ambitious goals to be set later.
Some of these methods have been known for centuries as Magic, which is not, of course, the commonly known mundane art of stage illusions, but the art of the "Magi", or "Magus", who, like the alchemists, seek to create "gold" (divine consciousness) out of "base metals" (animalistic semi-consciousness) This is also the Magic forbidden by monotheism, precisely because its goal is none other than the creation of a god-like state for the individual here on earth, not as a “grace” from another power, but as a willed effort from within the self.
I have some experience with this type of thing, and can say that so-called "magical power" is the conscious power of the Imagination employed to effect willed changes in the psyche, all for the goal of achieving the evolution of individual consciousness to a more self-directed state of awareness and ability (Greater Magic) This kind of thing is also about entering one’s own mysteries willingly as means of catalyzing fresh consciousness extension.
The Egyptians referred to gods and god-forms as "neters". For humans the Pharaoh was originally the only one thought to have his own personal neter, but eventually this idea was applied to most everyone. I relate this god-form to the idea of a superconsciousness, which may be a largely untapped potential for organization of thought and creativity that exists "above" and beyond everyday consciousness, but as a path to a “higher self” within each individual mind. To evolve my consciousness ultimately means progressively activating and accessing my own superconsciousness, bringing it more and more into my daily experience, or rather aligning my everyday consciousness more with it. To do this is to manifest my neter, which the Greeks called the "daemon", and the Romans called the "genius".
My current operating formula is expressed in this saying of my own: to progressively discover, activate, and manifest my own genius is the meaning and purpose of my life
Whatever I must do to pursue this, I will do it. Increased self-awareness shows me that at any given time one thing is more necessary than another, hence my dedication to finishing and publishing my book. This is part of an over-arching transformation of myself and my life. As I progress and change, the thing that is most necessary for me to do will change also. If I am successful, I will know when and what this new thing is, and proceed accordingly. Therefore everything that I go on to do (and to not do) is predicated on a progressive discovering and manifesting my own genius as a sustained way of life.
Hail Set!
-Werbinox II*
posted by werbinox at 1:54 AM
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