Daily Reflection 4.12.21

[readoldthings]

 Chapter 8 of The Art of War opens with a reminder:

In war, the general receives his commands from the sovereign, collects his army, and concentrates his forces. 

This is a point we keep returning to, and it's worth revisiting here.

We use our reason to set a goal; our reason directs our will, which unites all of our faculties. By uniting all of our faculties and focusing on a particular goal, we are able to achieve it. In the act of repeating this point, we practice remembering it; in practicing remembering it, we practice its advice. 

Here are some words from Eliphas Levi on the same topic: 

An idle man will never become a magician. Magic is an exercise of all hours and all moments. The operator of great works must be absolute master of himself; he must know how to repress the allurements of pleasure, appetite and sleep; he must be insensible to success and to indignity. His life must be that of a will directed by one thought and served by entire Nature, which he will have made subject to his mind and his own organs, and by sympathy in all the universal forces which are their correspondences. All faculties and senses should share in the work; nothing in the priest of Hermes has the right to remain idle; intelligence must be formulated by signs and summarized by characters or pentacles; will must be determined by words and must fulfill words by deeds. The magical idea must be turned into light for the eyes, harmony for the ears, perfumes for the sense of smell, savors for the palate, objects for the touch. The operator, in a word, must realize in his whole life that which he wishes to realize in the world without him; he must become a MAGNET to attract the desired thing; and when he shall be sufficiently magnetic, let him be assured that the thing will come of itself, and without thinking of it. 

Comments

[tunesmyth]

I don’t even aspire to be a magician (at least not in the usual sense) and I find that Levi quote quite inspirational. Thank you.

[readoldthings]

Levi's advice is great. The other day I sent that passage to a friend of mine who is a devout Roman Catholic, not a magician at all.

[tunesmyth]

Amusingly, this quote interested me enough that just yesterday I came back and screenshotted it to make it the temporary wallpaper for my phone to be able to peruse at length.

Today I wake up to discover JMG’s new book club selection. Ah the sweet smell of synchronicity in the morning.