The Arcane Formulas, or Mental Alchemy · 7 of 10

Lesson 7. Mastering the Opposites

The manifestation of Egohood by the individual who has learned the Secret of the Excluded Middle—who has learned to Will to Will— evidences itself in a variety of forms and phases. In the Mastery of The Opposites, however, we find one of its most important phases, and one which also influences other forms. The individual who wishes to mould his mind by his newly awakened Will, and thus acquire Poise and Balance, must first learn the art of mastering the Opposites in the instinctive and emotional regions of his mental being. In acquiring this art he also does much in the direction of gaining Poise and Balance, and in neutralizing Rhythm.

We have seen in The Arcane Teaching that “every quality, attribute or condition has its opposite” We have seen how these Pairs of Opposites are, in reality, but the different and contrasting poles of the same thing. Just as Heat and Cold are the same thing—just as Hard and Soft are the same thing— so Love and Hate are seen to be but the contrasting poles of the same thing. And, in the same way, and from the same reason, all contrasting emotions, states and feelings are but the opposite poles of a fundamental emotion which depends upon the Will for its expression and outward activities.

All activity proceeds from and through the Will. The Will is involved in all action. There can be no action without Will. Through the stimulus and incentive of desire, feeling and emotion, the Will is called and directed into activity. But the Will itself must not be identified with the desire, feeling or emotion which inspires it to action. Just as the water in a glass may be colored by a chemical dissolved in it, and yet in itself remain as much pure water as it was in the beginning, so is the Will colored and apparently changed by the influence of the emotion or feeling operative in and through it. The Will is clear and colorless like the water—its emotional color being not of itself. The Will experiences the color of the emotion or feeling, but never is the latter. The Will is always the vehicle for the emotion or feeling—its vital energy so to speak. The Will is the body of action, which clothes itself in the garb of emotion and feeling in order to make itself manifest.

To the ordinary person, it would be an impossibility to divorce feeling and emotion from the Will—for if that were attempted there would be nothing left apparent or manifest in any way. The residuum would be like the abstract conception of motionless, cold, unmoved, pure intellect, independent of any object of thought. To such persons pure will is merely a name corresponding to nothing in their experience. This because in such persons the Will is unconscious of itself. When the Ego-Consciousness is attained—when the “I” knows that itself and the Will are identical, then the Will becomes conscious of itself. In this latter state, instead of its consciousness remaining centred on the emotional and feeling plane—the instinctive plane of the mind—it is raised up to its rightful seat, upon the throne of the Real Self, and it assumes the sceptre of power and authority which really belong to it.

When the Ego-Consciousness is acquired to a certain degree, the “I” realizing that it is in its inmost nature nothing more or less than Will, sees that the Opposites of Emotion and Feeling are but things belonging to, but not of itself, things objective to its subjective Self. It sees them as but garments which it may put on and off, as it suits its fancies or interest. It sees them as but the several masks of character which it may place before its face, and then take off and exchange for another, as may seem best or desirable.

From the moment when this realization comes to the individual, even in the faintest degree, then that individual has begun to move toward Freedom, and has started on the road to the Mastery of The Opposites.

Contrast the condition of the man who is still hypnotized with the belief that his emotions and feelings are himself —that he is the character he is playing, with its emotions and feelings and incidents of personality, on the one hand; and on the other hand, the individual who realizes that he, himself, is Will in his real nature, and that the character assumed by him, together with its incidental qualities, feelings and emotions, is but an objective something which he may put on or off, destroy or change, as he may see fit. Can you not see that there is a difference as wide as the poles in the contrasting being of these two men? Can you not see that one is the Master of the Opposites, and the other the obedient Slave?

The Liberated Ego—the Emancipated Self—knows its real nature, knows that it is no emotional creature bent now this way and then that by the power of inherited or acquired feeling—knows that it is the Lord of its own being, capable of using emotion as a means of expression when it suits itself, and likewise repressing it when it is best to do so; of using or discarding feeling when it suits its purpose. Nay, more—capable of changing the feeling or emotion from one of its poles to the other—changing love to hate, like to dislike, pain to pleasure, sorrow to joy—backward and forward, at will, and solely because it Wills to do it, and it suits its Will so to do. When the Ego realizes that it is the Lord of itself, instead of a subordinate and slave to its feelings and emotions, or personal traits and characteristics, then alone is it Free. It then feels the spirit of the “Kasidah”:

“Do what thy manhood bids thee do, from none but self expect applause;

He noblest lives and noblest dies who makes and keeps his self-made laws.

All other Life is living Death, a world where none but Phantoms dwell,

A breath, a wind, a sound, a voice, a tinkling of the camel-bell.”

The following exercise will tend to bring about a heightened realization in consciousness of the Mastery of the Opposites. It is adapted from an ancient Arcane Formula, modern figures-of-speech being used.

Exercise.

Let the Neophyte place himself in a condition and position of rest, calm and repose. Let him meditate upon the real nature of the “I” Let him cast off the illusion of the personal self, and its attributes, as indicated in previous exercises. Then let him imagine himself as rising above the lower planes of personality toward the higher planes of Egohood—as in a balloon which is rising above the surface of the earth into the higher regions of purer rarified air. Let him then throw overboard from the mental balloon all the likes and dislikes; loves and hates; prejudices for and against anything and everything whatsoever, either good or bad; in short the entire collection of inherited or acquired feelings and emotions which have formed the garment or body of personality for so long. As the mental balloon rises higher and higher let him throw off even the more subtle feelings and emotions, until finally he finds himself divested of every iota of personal character he ever possessed, and his Ego is as naked as a new-born babe. Then, after a few trials of this exercise, will come to him a new sense of power and might—a new realization of his real nature in Will. Then will he realize that the Pairs of Opposites of the Personality are but masks and clothing of the character he has been playing. Then will he feel like the Hindu god when he emerged from the body of the pig whose personality he had assumed. Then he may gradually return to the earth and resume the garments he has thrown off—but as a Master and Owner, not as a Slave to them as heretofore. This exercise will quicken the perception of Egohood, and will aid in the Mastery of the Opposites.

The following exercise will also be found very useful in the same direction.

Exercise.

Let the Neophyte place himself in a position and condition of calm, restful repose, and then meditate upon the fact that contrasting and opposing feelings and emotions are in reality but the opposite poles of the same thing. Let him, in imagination, try the experiment of changing the polarity of some emotion—of inducing the state of love where hate has been dominant, or vice versa. Let him shift the polarity of his feelings and emotions at will, backward and forward. He will thus discover that the feelings and emotions are far from being fixed and constant, as he had supposed, but are capable of being shifted about at Will. This exercise will result in giving the individual a wonderful power over his feelings and emotion, and preventing them from dominating or ruling him. By shifting the polarity one may change a painful feeling or emotion into its opposite. Distressing feelings may be changed in polarity, or balanced with their opposites, and much pain be obviated. It is not necessary always to shift entirely to the opposite pole of the emotion or feeling—many adepts merely change the polarity to the opposite in a sufficient degree to establish a balance and thus create a condition and state of poise and equilibrium, which results in peace of mind—which quiets the stormy sea of passion, emotion or feeling. This condition of Poise and Balance is the true state of the advanced occultist. Equally balanced between the Pairs of Opposites one finds a peace unknown to those who polarize in either extreme. When one fully realizes that he is Master of the Opposites, and may shift the polarity of emotion and feeling at Will, then he himself is able to establish the condition most conducive to his satisfaction and happiness. Such a one is well on the road to Mastership.