Alex
Administrator
interesting. you know where to come when the book is out :)Continuing with this line of thought... I think this should be a chapter in my book, "An Engineer's Guide to Spirituality"... which I will write someday maybe.
One of the Hermetic principles is Polarity, so let's draw an analogy to electricity. (Being an Engineer, it has always bothered me when New Agey types start conflating non-specific metaphysical "energy" with actual electricity, but bear with me for a moment.)
"Electric Potential" or "Voltage" is stored up energy. When a circuit is completed this static potential energy is transformed into kinetic motion of charged particles.
We can think of Desire/Will/Faith as analogous to Voltage or Potential Energy. Like a charged particle, there is always something we want to get to or get away from and the separation or time lag between the desire and the manifestation of that desire creates the "voltage potential". The time lag or resistance allows this potential energy to be released on a timescale that produces useful work and builds interesting structures.
In our present reality, there are mechanisms that typically prevent the will from manifesting instantly. An open circuit or a circuit with significant resistance can allow a voltage to build up across the gap or resistor. A closed circuit with no resistance is a short-circuit and cannot store energy... any stored energy across a short circuit will be released in a catastrophic rush of current. The time lag between Desire and manifestation of that desire enables us to build useful "circuits".
The Bengston Healing method makes more sense with this electrical analogy in mind. Why should cycling through a list of 20 personal desires heal anything? Well maybe think of the Bengston rapid "cycling" to be like literally pedaling on a generator that is creating "voltage" and for whatever reason the positive terminal happens to manifest physically in the left hand (As others have reported, I always experience the tingling in my left hand when attempting this method). I believe in Yogic traditions the navel and perineum are considered to be "terminals" as well.
In a ceremonial magical ritual, there is also a buildup of focused desire or intent which is the rising voltage potential which is released at a certain focal point.
Please keep in mind I'm still using electrical terms as an analogy and not saying electricity actually has anything to do with this although we might view electric potential or gravitational potential as a rudimentary forms of Desire which can complexify into pain/pleasure and then heaven/hell.
Heaven and Hell are like the positive and negative terminals on a power source. In an electric field the direction of force acting on a particle depends on its charge. A positively charged particle is drawn to the negative and a negatively charged particle is drawn towards the positive. We always want what we don't have. So maybe think of a person's Soul as a circuit board attached to an electromagnet which can flip polarity which changes the direction of the push/pull in the Voltage Potential field across the gap between Heaven and Hell. (Maybe Heaven and Hell both start with an "H" to represent a bridge across a gap not unlike a circuit?)
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The Buddhists say the solution to suffering and getting off the wheel of karma is to end desire.
So yes, that is a solution. Be content with what you have. Drain the batteries of any potential energy and keep resistance across your short circuits as low as possible. Wu-Wei. Effortless action. With all potential eliminated you can safely bring the positive and negative terminals together as one node and make them Oneness without letting the magic smoke escape.
And when you do this, the work of creating is done. You have nothing left to do but sit. You can't even turn on your metaphorical flashlight. Probably good to do this from time to time, but if you want to continue creating, you need a power source and that power source is desire.
Power sources are dangerous and can cause serious harm, so use with care... especially since we aren't taught Metaphysical Circuits 101 in college.
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All the different types of Magic that can be studied are basically efforts to classify, characterize, and engineer Metaphysical Circuits that are powered by the Voltage Potential of Desire/Will/Faith.
The Human Mind full of desire is a power source. In the movie, The Matrix, humans were a thermal/electrical power source for the machines, but this is a metaphor for the power of desire.
In the biological ecosystem, the sun is the power source and everything that happens down here is a transfer of that energy from one form to another. Lightning as well is a transformation of the sun's energy.
If there is an "astral ecosystem" then there are surely a diverse set of "organisms" and mechanims that are fed by the power source of desire. There may also be the occasional astral lightning strike as well as the egregore - an astral robot complete with metaphysical circuits and a "Willithium" battery pack created to serve you.
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So what is good and evil? Good is fulfillment of the Will bringing pleasure - a completed circuit discharging voltage as useful work. Evil is resistance to the Will causing pain - an open circuit (or high resistance) causing voltage.
Why do people engage in SRA or other forms of intentional Evil? My guess based on electric circuits: the combination of binding a person against their will and creating the intense desire to escape is like the inverse of the Bengston Healing method: this generates a strong voltage potential which can somehow be used/consumed/transformed into something useful or pleasurable to the user/abuser or the entity possessing them.