Of Love

© fra Nefastos 2007

What is love? To say it briefly, love is the ability to perceive unity – the inner oneness of the beings seemingly separated from each other. Understanding of this gives may give clues to questions rising about the subject. There are many different forms of love, depending on what level the said unity is experienced: on physical (sexuality), psychological (comradeship), on Egoic (brotherhood) or spiritual (divine experience of unity) – and their different grades and aspects.

It should be seen as a philosophical axiom that the cosmos is eventually unity. Thus the activity of every differentiated essence is in constant contact with many other essences in many ways. As a matter of fact, all perception is in itself the unity of that which perceives and that which is perceived, or otherwise perceiving would not be possible at all. No one can in any circumstances be truly separated from the whole, for it is that very unity that has given birth to every being and that supports every being: in that unity, in the absolute of existence “we live and move and have our being.” This is why God has been said to be love. Love, when understood right, is the prime foundation of all existence.

Many occultists on the “Right Hand Path” presumably agree with us in this, but not so much Satanists or occultists on the “Left Hand Path.” Many of the latter are not likely to accept this view of the reality of love and its possible, even unavoidable appearance in the philosophical, rational Satanism. They often relate this word “love” only to some or other context of the lower psychology (as a dependancy on others, the weakness of self) – or, if they sometimes use the word in the positive light, they often give it a distant, cruel or biased explanation. In reality love – in some form or other – keeps in itself the functions of all levels, and because only an individuality harmonious in its foundation as soul can truly develop, we definitely should not segregate our love, as is often done on the Left Hand Path.

That path, because of its deep dynamism, is often but erroneusly seen as one-sided. The followers of the Left Path usually carry out their love only physically or only idealistically, that is, they believe in flesh but not in spirit, or vice versa. This distorted way of seeing things will eventually lead to some deep problems. In the world of manifestation the most concrete things – like friendship, or love on the intellectual level, or sexuality which is love on the physical level – are the forms of manifestation of spiritual archetypes, their emanations of natural reflection on the planes of forms. One who grasps only physical love and rejects spiritual, thus rejects with the spirit ones own possibilities of development, for the true immortality of individuality can be built on spiritual rock only. Likewise one who grasps only spiritual love and rejects physical and psychological love (a practice somewhat used by the Grey School esoterism) makes himself inhuman, and is distorted into a grotesque image of man when his natural energies and instincts run dry because of the lack of understanding. Both of these types – unilaterally material or unilaterally spiritual devotees – might seem very strong outside, but both types are in a poor condition inside, and this halts the comprehensive progress, therefore leading to a disaster sooner or later.

This is because of the basic thesis of occultism that man is a microcosm in himself, the perfect image of the whole. If he can not or will not respond to challenges of every one aspect of unity, his essence will be distorted and it eventually collapses. This process of “distortion and collapse” is what men might call “evil.” This kind of evil originates from a soul’s flaw, which in passing of the ages grows more wide, until the individual symmetry is so badly broken that it can no more even subconsciously rest on the One Immortal, and thus loses its monadic foothold in spirit, and breaks down. In this tragic process of collapse a soul that failed brings much confusion and needless suffering into the Great Work of the whole.

One-sided people are sovereign in their chosen side of life, but their erratic genius is more a burden than a benefit for them, for by rejecting lifes comprehensiveness and totality, they in the manifestation of their ingeniousness still further their own magnetical affection to only one or other aspect of life. Most of these “too much sharpened souls” will eventually learn enough – as it is usually said – “humility” (which actually is quite a poor word here) that they can choose the way of nature again, and with it the aspiration for true love. But as Dostoyevsky tells us, “there are those who have remained proud and cruel, in spite of that they have indisputably felt the truth that can not be denied.” These one-sided people are Satanists too, but via “the Path of the Mask,” the descending path, by the service of the apparent manifestation of Satan; for them love truly is a worthless emotion. This kind of a philosophy we do not admire nor think it to be the truth. It is an outcome of a very long and fundamental misunderstanding of the whole process of manifestation.

Thus, the integrity of individuality, love, and possibility for the spiritual development are all the same thing. It is the human individual’s living interaction with that constant other-ness which forms his whole environment, even his body, even the most basic powers which work in the background of his psyche. The Self is nothing but the manifestation of other-ness, like the other-ness is nothing but manifestation of the Self. ¹ These two must be understood together; once again, the Right and the Left Path absolutely must be joined, if we really want to understand what this cosmic play is all about, and demand our own part as something more than as masks, which the players toss away when the curtain closes.

Love is not at the least irrational, but completely philosophically resolvable feeling, a sacred experience of unity on which the whole existence in itself is based. It is the purpose for lîla or the cosmic play, if we might for a moment speak of a purpose with something that manifests its self acausally. It is a spontaneous happening, holy confrontation of the Self and the other-ness, the source of all energy and power, the very foundation of the possibility of all perception and consciousness, the law of all beings from microbes to gods and Absolute itself. He who despises love has not understood what this word really holds inside.

FINIS