There are many types of masks available to the aspiring magician, creating a mask and endowing it with magical elements and purpose can be an extremeley potent endeavour. At this point however that's not the focus of the discussion. What' were talking about are the masks that people have, but you can't see, and it's not just aspiring magicians it's pretty much all people. Creating the mask often is not of concious effort, it comes from childhood etc and it can change through the years. Some people actually have several masks with which they can interchange, sometimes without, sometimes without their discretion.
QUOTE(valkyrie @ Jan 22 2009, 03:05 PM)
"People actually whole heartedly dedicated to it face this challenge of compulsion even more greatly since the greater your ambition outside of the realm of acceptibility the greater the ego will attempt to thwart the realization of such a radical intent."
yes yes! thats what i thought it might be. i came to the same conclusion not too long ago, when i was contemplating the benefits and the cons of said "specialness". I especially like your use of the word "bridge".
but i have more suggestions:
i wasn't too quick to dismiss it as an obstacle to our spiritual graduation alone; i understand that without an anchor to weigh yourself down, it is very easy to get lost. perhaps this is an anchor of sorts? not merely a coping mechanism, but also a mechanism to preserve one's self definition, in its most primitive form? For example, the sense of ego is greatly warped, and the brain compensates by searching for an archetype or image that it can latch onto, and what better form than what is already offered and supported by the occult community? it is served on a silver platter... its all quite sloppy actually, but VERY convenient.
but how to go about evolving without tripping over these little pieces of vanity and false ego? It is an arduous process picking them off, and then growing new ones only to shed them once again. Convenience is not good enough.
and also, another thing to consider is this: after feeding the beast for so long...can it feed itself? Perhaps we have so much trouble with these false egos because, not only do we grow comfortable with and attached to them...but some of us may rewire our systems to accommodate said constructs. It is not just a matter of brainwashing or autosuggestion...it is an addiction. Once an addict, always an addict. ??? with this is mind, this is an evil. It allows for psychic vulnerability and opens the door to fear and outside persuasion. It leads to mental disorder, and even to physical ailment (perhaps the least is psychosomatic).
anyway. it is all relative. i suppose that it is not just one thing. though, Bb3, i think your idea is the most credible. It fits. it fits so well i had to add my bit. (IMG:
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Now as some people begin to aspire to be part of the magical world they
conciously attempt to shape their mask, often this is done by creating an entirely new mask which culminates with a new magical identity and name. The mask does serve as an anchor and indeed the image of the completed mask in the fledgling magicians imagery is usually pretty basic and usually rather grandiose, neither of which are terribly negative things. However, as we have seen many things can go wrong. One of the problems that exists are that the person assumes the mask that they have in their mind is their new actual mask, another problem is that a person doesn't conciously shape their mask and thus it gets shaped by others, this can be disastrous without good support..
It's not so much that we go about evolving, it's more that we need to continue to forge a really solid mask, something strong and true enough that it won't generally change under the weight of the ego or the need of the masses. What we want is to avoid that excess of the ego which will stop us from realizing the fullness of a magical mask that's truly 'on'. Sometimes it's tempting to believe that the ego is learning too much, the ego is becoming more powerful but I would say you just have to believe that it isn't. There are several good reasons why, but I don't think they are that important, what's important is that you just refuse to accept that you are powerless and show that you have some faith.
So a couple of good ideas in learning to create this mask is to let it be complex in meaning. A picture can be so simple to look at, yet have such an increidbile breadth of meaning. Temper the fiery passion that cries out needily for a mask of infinite power, remember that even a fully realized and completed mask can still be improved upon over time, and also remember, that a simple power can sometimes be the greatest power. Let the mask or the image of the mask speak for itself, it's like when woodcarvers understands they are merely the channel, they listens to the wood and let it tell them how to shape it.
Masks
Feb 3 2009, 04:47 AM
