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Human beings cognitive capacity is very much a dual edged sword, enabling one to correctly anylyze, discern, and ultimately actively choose correct decisions. On the other hand, that same ability can lend a person to twist the facts as they are. I once knew a person who boldly asserted that cigarettes don't cause cancer, due the the perceived "fact" that they had not yet contracted it.
For me, the key to making correct decisions is based on being intensely aware. That way, when I make mistakes, I can note the unwanted outcome and learn.
The problem arises when I take another person's beliefs, and make them my rules, reason being that hopefully those beliefs have grown organically out of their situation, (if they haven't then essentially they are in the same boat as I am, in making another's moral compass my own), and no two situations are in totality alike. As for myself, I've found that self-interest is usually enlightened. Treat people poorly and get caught at it, and usually you get treated poorly, if for no other reason that people prefer to not be hurt. Treating people and not getting caught causes problems too, for the simple reason that no one stays uncaught forever. Not only that, there are certain internal effects that go along with that sort of behavior.
Such a situation occured to me recently, when I made a choice to work magickally to deal with the grief arising from the untimely death of my previous partner. It became apparent that despite a great deal of cognitive work to resolve that grief, it was wrecking the relationship that I was in, as well as causing my present partner pain. Having become aware that grief was causing certain hidden motives, (i.e. being with her felt like "cheating" on my dead partner), I was able to recognize that those motives were influencing decisions that were reinforcing a number of cause and effect relationships. Once that awareness was established, setting up magickal technique to change those patterns was fairly straightforward, in this case creating a fetish to interrupt the pattern, while formulating techniques to create a new pattern.
The morality of the situation was fairly straight forward. In pushing my partner away, I was harming the both of us. The mechanism that alerted me was essentially the same one that always does. The feeling that things are going to hell in a handbasket. The reward for changing those patterns has been a relationship that has been getting more enjoyable rather than getting more painful.
Recently, I found out that partially due to the huge genetic prevelance of diabetes in my family, I had develped insulin resistance syndrome. I need to severly restrict my diet in order to avoid the development of diabetes. Magickally, the issue to me isn't totally how I might use magick to adhere to the strict diet that is necessary to reverse that syndrome, although that could be part of it. The issue is that magick has helped me to face the issue squarely rather than dodging around it. A number of synchronicities led to the discovery of the problem as well, which I believe is another effect of magickal practice. The practice of magick has taught me that A. My intent will transform my situation and B., I don't have to fool or kid myself. I've found that ultimately the practice of magick has built a moral compass for me through the increase of awareness. Likewise, the analysis of moral patterns within myself in relation to magickal practice has increased that self-awareness, a cyle that has proven to not be vicious, but to be healing for both my self and others. The eightfold path of Buddhism refers to this when it uses the word "right", in it's many exhortations, pointing toward correctness in one's actions. The correctness of the action is based upon context and intent. An example is the sex act. In a rape, that act is about violence and control, whereas in a relationship based upon love and respect, the act is hopefully one that is enjoyable and mutually fulfilling. In the former, a great deal of suffering is created in both the victim and those who love them. In the latter, the action may bring pleasure to everyone concerned, unless the level of attachment rises to a point that influences possessive actions. Magickal actions are no different. The use of magickal techniques have certain effects, if nothing other than internal ones. I prefer to believe that there are external ones as well, otherwise, I probably would have abandoned it long ago. |
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