On magical link

 

In everyday life, man uses associations, which are arranged and framed in his mind by time and logic. Therefore, when I write the number 1999, it is a year you will first think about, even though that number may have indicated a completely different thing. And at that moment, when your mind thinks that it is a matter of years, from that moment without checking, provoked by that number, your mind now starts thinking about completely independent but living memories; about the last new year, summer vacation, suddenly in front of you is an interesting event from the year 1999, a special person you met then, ideas begin to line up, from the obvious to the completely irrelevant. But they are all connected by one strong link of logical connection; in other words, they are predictable.

If we look at the whole history of humankind and the role of enlightenment in it, we can conclude one impressive thing, and that is enlightenment is statistically non-existent. The path of enlightenment is so complicated that it is no inconvenience to say that it is the fruit of degenerate characters and deviant and perverse probabilities, which does not exist statistically. The success rate of enlightenment is so low that the construction of the path leading to it is doomed to fail. If something is as individual as enlightenment, why do people think that the generalization of the method that leads to the most special thing in the world will be even remotely possible for two different individuals at all? The problem arises when a hungry mind longs to relate us to such distant events and cases of enlightenment; on the one hand, refusing to understand what the idea and the term carry in general, but on the other hand, connecting it with the elements in which it seems to see the pattern, making a mistake as when translators sometimes literally translate a term corrupting the meaning of a sentence completely.

If we are thinking about enlightenment, does thinking lead us to enlightenment, or is it the enlightenment we are only thinking about? And even then, is that a thought about something at all? What are you thinking about now? Do you think you are enlightened? Do you think that you are not enlightened? Is thinking perhaps the fruit of enlightenment? If it is possible, why are you thinking about it as it was some distant and mythical statement? If it is not possible, then the delusion of enlightenment is actually a true statement? In any case, we are abiding in the eternal existence of truth – whether the enlightenment is possible or not. Whether it is in the form of conviction or wonder, joy or sorrow, truth, or lie, our thought is always Buddha.

But what does the magical link have to do with these silly conclusions? Understanding the model on which the mind works is understanding the model on which the Universe exists, and by understanding that model, we can act upon it. It is such a striking game of the mind in which we simply crack the mechanism by which all things are projected. Now, if we find out that it is really just one thing, then manipulation would be extremely simple – once we have understood it at all. The understanding of the magical link is, in its essential sense, the understanding of the mechanism of one’s own mind, but it is certain that this mechanism has many defensive devices that are in some way impossible to master – which does not mean they cannot be skipped or bypassed. There is no way to break into your own mind, but there is a tactic to cheat the Universe, which, like a prism, refracts itself through what we call Self. If the tactic is to win the battle, then the strategy is to win the war. We lost all battles in advance by our very presence in the trench; our destiny is nothing but cannon fodder in the machinery of the Universe. But if we try to transcend all this in a way that is completely out of logic, out of rules, and out of the system, then, maybe we can win the war. The theory of sigils shows quite clearly the power of absurdity and illogicality in the materialization of desires; why not apply this method of research to other fields in our holy Academy?

The magical link is much more than connecting by logic or even intuition. It is connecting first by intention and foremost by Will. Manifested things do not possess the element of distance in their very nature – the only question is how to connect those that are only seemingly unrelated. It is completely similar to the pages on the internet. We can connect two web pages that have no similarities with a link in the form of a word or even a picture. But what is most important to us is that both pages are present on the network and existing on the same or different server. There may not be a link that would help us jump from one page to another, or we do not see it, which does not mean that these pages do not exist. In fact, their existence is equally real with and without a link, but that link abolishes our perception – in other words – without a link, we do not perceive the other side. In our mind map, all paths are real paths, but it is important where we want to go. The ultimate fantasy is that in all these endless streets, we are the ones who give names and street numbers – changing and adapting them over time. The fact that we changed the name of a street does not mean that the street no longer exists; of course it does – in exactly the same way as before, only the traffic of our thoughts now goes in a different direction. Whether we will create a traffic jam, overcrowding some street in our mind, it does not matter – as long as vehicles, that is, awareness and knowledge, reach their destinations. The problem arises when we make a flow of traffic in these streets spinning in circles which are simply impossible to leave. What we need now is a byway, a secret passage that will find a way out of its vicious circle and its mechanism of one-way and two-way streets, and thus enter a completely dark part of the city – a dark part of our own mind. The art of the magical link is the art of placing such a passage in every possible street leading both into and out of it. If we now expand this plan of the city of our mind, we will see that there are as many such obscure passages as regular streets and a living and hidden network circulating and passing under that city. There is even one completely different settlement or even a whole civilization in such an underground.

Speaking in the language of younger generations, a magical link is an executive command in a program that allows you to get things that are seemingly very difficult or impossible to get in a regular way. In other words, a magical link is a “cheat” that is universal for all “games” of the mind and which is fully adaptable to all circumstances. The only condition is to start from just one possible platform – and that is from our own mind. That is why it is so sad to be looking for a magical link in other people’s examples or advice; what we need to do is look at other links only as a source of invention and imagination, only for us to be able to do a similar thing by ourselves. But using identical things is such a meaningless outcome; it is like adding a mandatory road sign from a busy street detouring the same traffic to a smaller, narrow street. The outcome will only be worse; now, all those who rush from work unknowingly enter a narrower street, completely blocking the flow of thoughts and life in our minds. In this situation, a magical link is applied by activating the logical reality censor declaring it as pure nonsense and rubbish. In other words, we will apply all the magical instructions and recipes, revealing that the whole thing is not working at all. We refuse to realize that it does not work simply because we copied the recipe instead of changing it. We need a ready and delicious meal at the end, with a completely different recipe. This way, we use exactly the same recipe getting a completely different dish, overcooked and completely inedible.

In every respect, the Neophyte must approach the idea of the Will lively and openly – not even your own or anyone else’s, but the Will itself, which is always as it is, there and nowhere else, which is as it is because it is no different. In all this work, the flow of his thoughts is always such a precious bag of gifts; let the Neophyte rummage through it like a child, finding the source of the success of this sublime, magical instrument in it. Some of this can be found in “Liber Librae sub Figura XXX”:

1. Remember that unbalanced force is evil; that unbalanced severity is but cruelty and oppression; but that also unbalanced mercy is but weakness which would allow and abet Evil. Act passionately; think rationally; be Thyself.
2. To obtain Magical Power, learn to control thought; admit only those ideas that are in harmony with the end desired, and not every stray and contradictory Idea that presents itself.
3. Fixed thought is a means to an end. Therefore pay attention to the power of silent thought and meditation. The material act is but the outward expression of thy thought, and therefore hath it been said that “the thought of foolishness is sin.” Thought is the commencement of action, and if a chance thought can produce much effect, what cannot fixed thought do?

Our mind is the ultimate server where all possible and impossible potentials are located. All we have to do is to insert a link where we need it, connecting the existing pages which are all on exactly the same server. That link is a magical link; it is by no means as magical as it is a link. The term link in itself must acquire a glorious character in our mind, giving it life and vitality – to act as a divine mechanism, to remove it and insert it by the very thought of it. In fact, our very thought of a magical link is in itself a link, the very desire to get a thing brings that thing. Our mind apparatus must understand that a link is what we want it to be; it is completely independent of symbols and meanings. It draws its nature from chaos and absurdity and is carried by the only condition in the Universe – the Will. This whole tutorial is in itself a magical link. It is these words that detour your Will into that little passage we mentioned earlier, and even if you do not want to think about it, you are in fact doing exactly this, and right now – that passage inside your mind has just been made – by the mere words you are reading right now. It is now up to you to use it according to the same Will that manifested it by the very thought of it. But this magical link is so much more sublime than the art of fulfilling desires, so much higher and wider than applying it in the circus art of seduction, getting lottery, or a job, or finding lost keys.

There are two ways to work with a magical link. First, when you create a magical link. The second, when you become aware of a magical link in places where it has not existed at first. One is a question of the mind; the other is a question of consciousness. But as both things inevitably point to the same thing, so a magical link can define that very place – the mind. Connected things are connected to the mind in the way it is thought about them. Thinking itself is a link of the highest kind. Just by being alive, you are connected to one of the two things: the Angel and the Abyss. You are the most sublime example of the magical link to the Angel, with whom you are one and the same thing all the time. The only way to truly act upon one thing is to rule out the existence of any other. The magical link is a distorted image of the Buddha; all things are connected because it is always one and the same thing in all dimensions of the Universe. There are no things; there is only one thing. There are no minds; there is only the mind. There is no experience; there is only one experience. There is no infinity of things; there is only one infinity. There is just one limitless. All that is learned and transmitted is only one and the same Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.

But if everything is connected already, then why is there a need for a magical link? We can freely say that the answer to this question points to Adepthood, to say the least, but it certainly does not make this lesson more or less meaningless. A full understanding of the solar eclipse is clearly not a condition for enjoying the shade during summer noon.

We certainly go further in our perception of one of the most solemn magical links – the relationship between the Superior and the Student. It is not so much as brotherhood as it is a partnership. When two fishermen go fishing together, then they share the catch in a very special way. The first one sorts the fish into two piles, and the second one then wonders which pile to choose and which one to stay with the one who sorted them. Each next time they switch roles. This comparison is the best description of this divine partnership – between the Superior and the Student. All that has ever taken place in the phenomenal Universe is the transfer of this phenomenon. In our great Order, the role of the Superior is like in a school system – first, we get a teacher who teaches us all the skills, then we get a different teacher for each individual subject, and then we get a mentor in college. As we progress, so does the very appearance of the teacher, that is, the Superior. Thus, he is only a pale shadow in the form of a person who is a witness to our progress, a source of knowledge to the very least extent, after which the role is taken over by the Angel leading the being to the Abyss, and it stops there. For no Angel can lead the Aspirant across the Abyss. Whole that range is the most sublime of all the magical links, from the moment of birth until the entering of the City of the Pyramids; in fact, it is the sole magical link in its endless variants. For every individual act is at the same time the act of the whole Universe, of all the gears in this divine mechanism. The Oath of the Abyss itself contains the most sublime instruction that can be given to a born star – which is to “interpret every phenomenon as a particular dealing of God with his soul.” As long as the Aspirant keeps thinking about this, he will always manifest a perfect magical link, without any method or technique.

Indeed, the true magical link is the Great Work. Only with the Knowledge and Conversation will you connect your existence with the existence of the entire Universe; with the Knowledge and Conversation with yourself, you will talk to everything “other.” The very Knowledge and Conversation is the only link we need in magick – without such attainment, man is nothing but a solitary steppe animal.

The notion of grades within our Order is also a magical link “par excellence.” The A∴A∴ itself is a transfer of the highest possible kind; it is the perfect form of the virus, which acts exclusively on human existence and human consciousness. As soon as he has stepped on the path, every Aspirant will witness a completely unique phenomenon that will be present in the same way in all people on the path – and that is the poisoning of our being, and the absolute impossibility or desire to leave the path. Once one has embarked on this path, it is absolutely unthinkable for the Aspirant to imagine his own life without it. For each of us, this is the highest priority, and everything else in our lives combined cannot be compared in the slightest part with the zeal of walking the path of spirituality. And the more he is on that path, the more Aspirant meets others who radiate the same zeal, carrying that poisonous sting all their lives, refusing to do anything to get that sting out.

There is something so graceful and enchanting in that call of the spirituality, which is the same for all Aspirants in the world, but unfortunately completely divided by debates about who is whose instructor, who is a supporter of which system, which system is obsolete, old-Æon, new-Æon, right or wrong. Instead of holding fast to this specificity, which is perhaps the most authentic feature in the history of the entire human race, we remain divided, even though we declare the path to unity and freedom with our lives doing it with the same kind of exaggeration, Ego games, mechanisms by which we all deviate in exactly the same way, and yet, by the same mechanism which brings us all to the same goal in the same way – the Great Work. For there, every means is permissible; we weep, we wage war against the most beloved ones for completely ridiculous reasons, we tear our whole lives to pieces, both our own and others’, only to finally discover that we have destroyed all the foundations of the empire that we intend to rebuild with difficulty. The Great Work is often a great paradox in our lives, and we are captives of our own dream of freedom.

Let us move on by following a completely similar type of infection, and that is – laughter. There is nothing more obvious than the example of a magical link as much as laughter is – and the more absurd, meaningless, and stupid it is – the faster it spreads and more effective it is. Even without knowing what laughing is about, a person can burst into the same kind of laughter, just watching someone who is dying of laughter and really experience the same catharsis without even knowing what the joke is about. Once we have taken the Oath of Probationer, we walk the paved path, although we think it is the path of thorns and darkness. At least “one” has already walked that path; at least one is there to give us a word of support, assistance, rebuke; at least one of us is there to lead us toward the “one” light. And the harder it seems to us, the more fun it seems to him.

There is such a persistent story about the migration of light, which largely explains what we are looking for.

When Buddhism appeared in India, Siddhartha Gautama Buddha managed to create a system by which a man could achieve the same results as he did for himself. In other words, if one abides by certain rules, for the first time until that moment, one could experience enlightenment, here and now, unlike earlier spiritual movements where illumination was left to some other castes and some other lives. Some of us might not ever experience lucid dreaming, some of us will never be able to sit in Asana, but by the sheer fact that we were born, we are indeed assured of two attainments: the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel and the Crossing of the Abyss. These are guaranteed to every one of us, and this can be achieved at any point in our work. This is explained, especially to young Aspirants, not to think that enlightenment is left to someone else, some other time, or some other life, it would indeed be a sad observation. Enlightenment is the only work that you have the right to just by being born. Enlightenment is not even your work. Your enlightenment is just a natural consequence of your birth. Enlightenment is your birthright.

We will now return to Buddhism. There are three phases that must be well implemented in our study. Those are the birth of Buddhism, expansion of Buddhism, and adaptation of Buddhism. So, a Japanese Aspirant does not think about enlightenment in the same way that a Buddhist in Tibet does. What is exceptionally interesting is how Buddhism began to spread and develop across the East and the Northeast. In that way, the realization of enlightenment was becoming shorter and shorter. Why? And how? Here is what happened.

Long ago, Buddha took a terrible vow that he would not move from the place he was sitting until he experienced enlightenment. This is one of the first historical moments that someone gave this form of a vow, in fact, the Oath of the Abyss. The more difficult the task is, the greater is the reward. The shortest tasks in our Order are those of Adeptus Minor and Magister Templi. They consist of a single sentence. Magister Templi to Cross the Abyss, and Adeptus Minor to achieve the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. But, does the length of a written task embody their true weight?

To return to Lord Buddha, he demonstrated for the first time that one life is sufficient for enlightenment and that a single intention is enough. Aspirants used to retreat deep into the forest, often into caves where they looked for what the Buddha had found, in isolation for years and even decades. As the teaching began to move toward Tibet and China, the time needed for Aspirant’s enlightenment somehow began to shorten. Something changes in the Aspirant’s perception. There were no solitary retreats and hiding of Aspirants in caves anymore; instead, they began to work together, first inside temples, then all inside one room. Whenever an Aspirant achieved enlightenment, it seemed that experience set off a chain effect that spread to other practitioners as well. In the beginning, all the participants in the same room were facing a wall, with their eyes open – which was quite different from the closed-eye meditations, the way it had been practiced until then.

And now, something wonderful happened. Someone felt the magical link to turn people not to face a wall but look into each other’s eyes. Enlightenment occurred even more frequently. And so, the Aspirants revealed different and extraordinary experiences of unique emptiness in their minds, which could not be perceived until then. The emphasis was slowly placed on completely specific participation of emptiness, as the content of all things and experiences, and as an excellent transmitter of a magical link.

In this way, eastern thought showed to the world that the ultimate essence of its teaching was not nihilism, as understood by western minds, but cosmic surrealism. This is such a fantastic observation; enlightenment moved from one Aspirant to another, changing Aspirants but also changing itself, adapting to new circumstances as some self-regulatory body.

A magical link is always and exclusively the question of consciousness. The more conscious a person is, the easier and more naturally manifested and found a magical link is. By transmitting the truth, that truth does not deepen – on the contrary. True transmission of truth leads to new truth, to a change of truth, development, and growth, to a farewell to reality – not to following it. The truth does not deepen but changes. There is a whole branch, a living tangle of truths that all touch, giggle, tickle and clash; the only truth is that there are multiple truths that all point to the truth that truth does not exist. One can hardly find a better account of this than it is presented in the Prajnaparamita-Hridaya Sutra.

“Therefore, O Sariputra, here in this emptiness there is no body, no feeling, no thought, no will, no consciousness. There are no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind. There is no seeing, no hearing, no smelling, no tasting, no touching, no imagining. There is nothing seen, nor heard, nor smelled, nor tasted, nor touched, nor imagined. There is no ignorance, and no end to ignorance. There is no old age and death, and no end to old age and death. There is no suffering, no cause of suffering, no end to suffering, no path of ending to suffering. There is no attainment of Nirvana, and no Nirvana to attain.”

The true magical link is the Will, then Prana, water, blood, and sperm. But the highest magical link of all, without a decent doubt, is emptiness. No matter how empty it is, it is the one that connects objects in the Universe; it is precisely that emptiness which gives them a possibility of perceiving each other as close or more distant. Emptiness itself is always the cradle of love. The girl thinks more about her darling when he is on the vast sea than when he is in the pantry. In the end, there we can find all people we do not have anymore, all that we are afraid of, and all that we are proud of, there is all that could not be and all that is, that what is long gone and what we think is yet to come. Truly, breaking up with all things creates a magical link that has no flaws. He who is free from everything can use everything freely. To the one who does not care about anything, nothing is missing. He who goes nowhere is always at his right place, for no single act deviates the Aspirant from the Self more than his attempt to reach the very Self. A free man does not strive for what he already has; only the prisoner yearns for freedom. Indeed, the emptiness is the only possible magical link – everything else is its clumsy nickname.

Frater 273