The Yoga of Power

[daniel]

I've been rereading Evola's "The Yoga of Power." I understand the criticisms of him as autocratic, etc, yet I still find him an amazing thinker and writer. This book presents an exceptionally clear and well-thought vision of Tantric practices - including use of intoxication and orgies. For Evola, the "Left Hand" path of Tantra is the only possible means of spiritual achievement for our Kali Yuga. He calls it "riding the tiger."

When I was at Burning Man last summer, I began to suspect that the whole festival was pushing toward a true liberation/ deconditioning through Tantric ritual, but was unable to accomplish it in its present form. But Tantra is not hedonistic - it is a discipline of using the passions to burn out the passions, as Evola says, to cauterize human nature at its root, thereby achieving total liberation from conditioning. This is a goal that few can understand or achieve.

I will include a few quotes from Evola's book:

"Tantrism does not intend to empower human nature to the highest degree, but rather wishes to cauterize it, thereby consuming the individualistic I and its hubris in an attempt to overcome the human condition." 60

"The correspondence between death and initiation (initiation = active death) has always been acknowledged: we can find specific testimonies concerning it in Western antiquity. This correspondence is not allegorical but real: it refers to an ontological change of state within the hierarchy of various states of being." 148

Quote from Aryadeva: "The world, being subject to passions, may achieve liberation only through t hem. As copper is transformed into gold through alchemical practices, likewise, those who have gained knowledge use passions as the key to liberation."

"Whatever thoughts, or concepts, or obscuring (or disturbing) passions arise are neither to be abandoned or allowed to control one; they are to be allowed to arise without one's trying to direct (or shape) them. If one does no more than merely recognize them as soon as they arise and persists in doing so. they will come to be realized (or to dawn) in their true (or void) form through not being abandoned. By that method, all things which may seem to be obstacles to spiritual growth can be made use of as aids on the path."

"He who follows the Tantric path can acquire the power of evoking or suspending at will any passions or emotions, independently from those objects and situations that usually cause them to arise."

From the Tantric perspective, "The world is not maya but power."

[willoweyes]

First thought--this strikes me as a horrible and repellent answer to dealing with human passion. Perhaps could be seen as a fitting answer for our age, but not by me. "To cauterize human nature at its root, thereby acchieving total liberation from conditioning." I am familiar with cauterization. Many people who keep goats cauterize their horn buds at birth, thereby taking away the goat's glory. Yes, the horns can cause trouble, but they are what makes a goat a goat.

"Does not intend to empower human nature to its highest degree, but rather to cauterize it" This is a nihilistic response to our tragic age. I would say it is not human nature which is at fault here. Human nature is our glory, and must be celebrated. If we try to "cauterize" it, it will rise up somewhere else in a twisted and ugly form. This is feeding Kali, not overcoming Her.

"This is a goal that few can understand or acchieve." (The Emperor's New Clothes?)

Also, "by recognizing the potent female principle of life, the "Brotherhood" (not sisterhood!) will transform this polluted world." Thank you, but speaking as a potent female principle, I would prefer not to be cauterized. I don't really consider the world polluted. I consider what this male controlling princliple has done to the world to be polluting. and I've not been impressed with the transformative results of masculine power, so far.

[daniel]

willoweyes,

thanks for your post!

By throwing out the Evola etc., I kind of hoped to stir up some repugnance, and I completely understand your perspective.

Howeve before rushing to judgement, I hope we can look at these ideas from different angles.

I will pull some quotes soon from the fascinating book Sexual Secrets, which has a Tantric angle but is written by a woman. The reference to "brotherhood" is from an old sutra - in those ancient texts, you are always going to get male referents, but of course we have to adapt them to a more sex-balanced vision of spiritual transformation.

Are the "passions" ultimately good or not? Evola and other Tantric commentators think they are actually manifestations of extrahuman "powers" and when you recognize this, you can learn to overcome them. Just like we don't want to be controlled by obsessive thoughts, we wouldn't want to be controlled by obsessive passions, or would we?

[sire_012]

willoweyes:

I consider what this male controlling princliple has done to the world to be polluting. and I've not been impressed with the transformative results of masculine power, so far.

this is an interesting point. i don't think anyone would argue that the masculine influences of the recent world age has caused a bit of trouble. however, something i am often troubled by is that much of the feminist movement seems to, rather than embrace the feminine principal, coopt the masculine energies in a feminine interface. in my opinion what seems must happen is a reintegration of the two faculties until they no longer are faculties but are conjoined in a unified being(s). as long as there is language calling to the 'other' there is still an imbalance.

for example i saw dean jeffries amazing documentary 'Invisible People of the Amazon' (http://www.shamansoftheamazon.com) last week. what struck me as most interesting is that almost immediately upon the western forces placing their influence upon these indigeounous people via money and western religion the tribal people took to stealing, ripping off, and abuse of animals, trees and resources. in my own fairly ignorant mind i tend to glorify indigeounous peoples (or the idea of them) thinking they are somehow more ethical or more aligned to a true way of being than more westernized civilizations. but this documentary seemed to indicate that rather than being more intrinsicly pure than westerners they had simply remained in harmony with their immediate environment for longer, but once disharmony is invoked we are all in the same boat, falling further from a natural and symbiotic and healthy relationship with our planet and instead becoming adversarial, and through that adversarial relationship forced to create in our language ideas that seem to call for what we are missing. ethical has no meaning to a person who is performing tasks true to their will, love has no meaning to beings acting in harmony, etc. they don't need the word because they don't long for the condition that has become abstracted by it.

[ October 15, 2003, 08:56 AM: Message edited by: sire_012 ]

[Woodpecker]

The discussion of passions brings me back to this quote:

Oftentimes, one strips oneself of passion
In order to see the Secret of Life;
Oftentimes, one regards life with passion
In order to see its manifest forms.
—Lao Tzu

Two paths, basically: renunciation from and participation in the meat whirl. No judgement made about which is "better," or even if one or the other is necessary. Just a description of things people do.

Plugs for that second path from Blake: "The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom." "You never know what is enough until you know what is too much." "The tigers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction."

We all know what it is to be burned by the fire of passion, and what it is to step back from it and simply observe it. And how lovely it is to be warmed by it, too. All these phases are ours to undergo and enjoy.

I wonder what Evola meant by that word "cauterize." Was he thinking of goats' horns, or of the process of stopping bleeding from a wound by applying heat?

Long live goats,

Wpkr

(My favorite goat story--not that I've told it more than once or twice--: in a little village in the dry hills of Nayarit, Mexico, a goat dealer was loading up the back of his pickup with goats, buying them and cramming them in there to drive down and sell to butchers and restauranteers in the city. He must have had about 20 goats in there. And one male took the orgiastic, tantric opportunity to mount a female and cheerfully attempt to achieve some kind of liberation with her. A parable for our times, perhaps. I could almost hear Janis Joplin singing, "I'd say get it while you can, yeah, Honey, get it while you can, yeah, Honey, grab it while you can, Don't you turn your back on love, no, no, no.")

[Em]

Hi guys,
Seems to me that if your aim is to acquire "power", you can do it via the left or the right-hand path. In fact, if you want to transcend both the "good" and "evil", you need to know how to handle both those different sides of the same coin.
To "cauterise" human nature, and human passions, presumably means to annihilate the ego, as per the Buddha (and don Juan!). Passions, by their nature, are poor friends, being essentially uncontrollable, and quite probably the outlets for extra-human entities. So if you want to be in control, you do have to cauterise your "humanness". And as we constantly see, being human may be warm and cosy, but it is also horrendously limiting. If we could but pick and choose what manifests through us, then being human could really be paradisiacal.
Incidentally, why does almost everyone seem to think that ours is the age of Kali, when the planet has been in much, much worse shape many times in the past? And why do we think that this place is anything other than an arena where we are mercilessly tested, much like the gladiators used to be?
This is no counsel of despair, but to think that there was a "golden" age, and that it can be somehow revived by changing human nature seems to me to be flying in the face of a multitude of incontrovertible facts. It smacks of human self-centredness, and our inability to detach in order to see the broader picture. But then, trying to get to that level of detachment can be very scary...
Whatever you do, though, don't give up...

[willoweyes]

Daniel and Sire: thank you for your thoughtful responses. I did not mean to criticiize men, but to question what I perceive as an imbalance in the male\female principle in our society. Also, Evola seemed to me to be "co-opting the feminine energies in a masculine interface," if I may borrow your apt phrasing, Sire.

As to why or how the cancerous growth of modern culture infects and destroys all it touches--this is a mystery. Leslie Marmon Silko approaches the mystery in her novel, Almanac of the Dead, but I don't see an answer anywhere I look, and wonder if it is possible for us, in our human condition, to really comprehend this disease, and exorcise it. I guess this is the job of the shaman.

I wouldn't want to be controlled by obsessive passions, but I don't mind being tossed about a bit by mighty ones!

[Halfglass]

Willoweyes hi. If I may; "Modern culture...destroys all it touches"...because humans are still hugely conected to the animal that came sniffing across the grassland and started useing hand signals for hunting and stood to check the view all abouts. Tribal us-and-them is so conditioned into everyone that it's a wonder that I can make this observation about people being that I am one. We humans like to think that we have become worthy of respect in our "dominion" over others and the planet. But we can never think our way out of our own thinking. We're so absolutely hardwired that EVERYTHING we do is tainted by personal gain. (You know, I hate Christianity as much as the next religion, but I do like some of Christ's obervations. "Those who are first will be last" or "A rich man will see heaven when a camel passes through the eye of a needle.") We'll never be able to cauterize away the thinking. We need to break down the doors to the Other, enter the brain inside the mind or wait to see what the aliens will do for us. In the words of George Carlin, "Stop worrying about the planet. The planets not going anywhere folks...we are!" Woodpecker hey. "Meat whirl" I like that!

[ October 16, 2003, 02:15 PM: Message edited by: Halfglass ]

[sidecross]

"…because humans are still hugely conected to the animal that came sniffing across the grassland and started useing hand signals for hunting and stood to check the view all abouts…"

Modernity is totally divorced from an archaic understanding of nature and our place in it. A hunter gather society living in an environment where the human is a participant and not its controller may have been our high water mark. Sadly, we have been victims of our own illusions and all the "pretty things" we have made and thought.

[daniel]

Em: "To "cauterise" human nature, and human passions, presumably means to annihilate the ego,.."

No I don't think that is the case, exactly. Definitely, large parts of the "personality" have to be torched, but I think the goal is to maintain self identity while intensifying consciousness to a much more profound level. Evola would say the goal is to become an immortal spiritual being.

Halfglass and sidecross: I think we can simultaneously see that the hunter-gatherer society was far superior in many ways, yet understand the necessity for the current path of development. The individuality had to be drawn out of the group, and then the divinity drawn out or through the individual (what Gebser talks about as the "presentiating of the Itself.").

Just read a good book by a Jungian, Edinger, "Archetypes of the Apocalypse." He thinks we are indeed in the Apocalypse now, but what the Apocalypse means psychologically is the self realization of the human consciousness. In a sense, it is a collective process of individuation. Individuation. in Jungian terms, finally means overcoming the Ego for the Self (what Jungians call the "Self," esotericists would call the "Higher Self") to manifest.

Reading this book, I was struck by how the Book of Revelation could be seen as a Tantric text, full of dramatic opposites.

The Book of Revelation pushes toward the integration of seemingly irreconciliable opposites as the only way to achieve full consciousness (and liberation). The Whore of Babalon, for instance, holds "a gold wine cup filled with the dusgusting filth of her fornication." Similarly, the angels hold "seven golden bowls" of plague. Why gold? According to Edinger, golden vessels symbolize the precious container of the secret or Higher Self. The golden cup or bowl represents "the alchemical symbolic foreshadowing of the task of modern persons to reconcile the split opposites that exist in the Apocalypse—and in the Christian psyche—and assimilate consciously what is called "the disgusting filth of her fornication."

He notes that even the rejecting and degradation of the feminine in modern civilization was part of this necessary development, overcoming Mater and matter, in order to reintegrate with them at a higher point of development.

What the Jungian perspective leaves outside is what Gebser and Arguelles bring in to the picture: Time is a function of consciousness, and reaching full individuation and self-realization requires a more profound realization of Time that our current culture allows or can imagine.

(For Gebser, the invention of the machine represents the breaking free of time from space. For Arguelles, technology is simply an extrusion of the DNA at a certain point in its development).

From the book:

"Humanity is now in the role of the "son of the God." And God is bringing about his own transformation by another self-destruction while incarnated in the "moral body" of humankind. There will follow necessarily, archetypally, the same sequence of events as occurred in the life of a single individual but now in a larger arena. And this second act of incarnation likewise will bring about the same goal, a transformation of the God-image. The image of a totally good God—albeit pestered by a dissociated evil Satan—is no longer viable. Instead, the new God-image coming into conscious realization is that of a paradoxical union of opposites; and with it comes a healing of the metaphysical split that has characterized the entire Christian aeon. "

[David Orange]

sire wrote:
"something i am often troubled by is that much of the feminist movement seems to, rather than embrace the feminine principal, coopt the masculine energies in a feminine interface."

this confounds me, as well. although there have been tremendous advances in our society in terms of seeing women and men on equal terms, the "movement" in many ways seems somehow to have stymied itself. it is tragic that the idea of a female president of the united states is so outrageously unlikely...and if one were to be voted in, doubtless it would be by virtue of her expressing primarily masculine tendencies-- the militaristic testosterone-driven impulses, rather than the empathetic and nurturing qualities associated with the female principle.

i don't blame "the feminist movement" for this situation; i think that there are many forces at work...but i find myself wishing that women would gather their collective power (heck, they outnumber men, for one) and "rise up"...for example, during the outbreak of the u.s.'s recent wars, there were nationwide performances of the greek play "Lysistrata". i can't help but wonder: what if women had gone one step further, and actually lived out the play, refusing sex until the men ended their war efforts?

why so many women continue to ape the more undesirable expressions of masculinity, both in the workplace and in social life, puzzles me. why is the feminine principle still so repressed in this society?

i suppose this deserves a whole other thread, at least, and i realize that there is much controversy in this area-- in regards to which aspects of what we view as "feminine" or "masculine" are merely social constructions or, in fact, innate characteristics. at any rate, it seems obvious that there is a profound imbalance of these energies in our world.

i treasure the taoist viewpoint here: the feminine principle is superior to the masculine, and recognition of this should be carried over into daily life. i believe that women as a whole, not unlike many of us as individuals, sadly and all too often, greatly underestimate the power which they inherently possess.

being a man, i feel like somewhat of an ass speaking out on these topics...my having a y chromosome somewhat lessens the weight of my opinion...but nonetheless, as a male observer, that is my (unsolicited) two cents.

as regards the main topic at hand, the transformation of the passions, i know that, while this practice is said to be of great importance during this dark age, i don't think that even at this crucial juncture such a path is appropriate for most or many people. it's fraught with danger, and only suitable for those possessing the requisite maturity and sophistication. personally, i have great doubts that i fall into that category...so what remains, i reckon, is to invoke good ol' fashioned love & compassion in dealing with these "demons"...& while it is certainly important to take note of our shadow side and to carefully observe it, it may be dangerous to throw ourselves into transmuting these energies which tend to express themselves in a negative fashion...unless one has plenty of training and guidance from those experienced in these matters. i don't think one can learn to exercise these tantric ideas (either hindu or buddhist varieties) from books alone.

and halfglass, i hope you're at least half-joking about waiting "to see what the aliens will do for us"...

your friendly neighborhood know-it-all,
David Orange

[Woodpecker]

The following image for human transformation occurred to me this morning. And it's not the most original one, so please bear with me while I unpack it.

Caterpillar into butterfly. And the reason I'm saying this is, when the caterpillar is in the cocoon on its way to becoming butterfly, its body melts into a barely-differentiated soup (this is according to butterfly researchers in Costa Rica's Monteverde national park) and then reforms from the molecular level on up. So that a molecule that was in the caterpillar's foot can end up forming part of the butterfly's brain.

If we are like caterpillars, then transformation might involve melting down and rearranging the patterns of everything we are now. Keeping everything we have been, but able to fly.

Rearranging the patterns might be no more an act of destruction than combing one's hair, or making a bed.

[StSimon]

Originally posted by daniel:
Reading this book, I was struck by how the Book of Revelation could be seen as a Tantric text, full of dramatic opposites.

if memory serves... Christopher Hyatt's book Tantra Without Tears ends with a tantric ritual that borrows heavily from the Book of Revelation. Another of his pop-LHP books cites the power of reciting the Lord's Prayer backwards, as was a rumored symptom of communication with dark powers during witch hunt eras. These techniques force one to confront conditioned reflexes. Another, less religiously offensive but still repugnant: using your feces as modeling clay.

So what's the point? Transcendence! Step beyond artificial limitations and act with power. Any unquestioned assumption about the nature of reality holds you back. How much of your behavior is based on habit and prejudice rather than conscious decision?

My reading of Evola showed a strong elitist streak, that many in our naively idealistic "democratic" society are not comfortable with. This quote is unattributed in my notes, but I believe it comes from Evola in The Yoga of Power:

"It's extremely dangerous on a personal level, especially if you have involved yourself in a program fo self-development and change, to think of the humans you pass on the streets as people at all."

I also remember from the book a discussion of the different types of people and how the masses, being incapable of initation, are really no better than cattle.

Pashu = animal or unitiated
Pashu Innana = uninitiated beast

[Halfglass]

Daniel (and all): Surprised to see you quote the bible! (kidding). My mother insisted I read, "Why do good things happen to bad people" and I begrudgingly started it the other day. I was wrong to judge the author (I only read three chapters and his name escapes me--just woke up). The point is he breakes down the book of Job so smartly that I had to realize that the book was powerful and, taken out of the context of Christianity or Judaism, is a masterpiece, perhaps among the greatest things ever written. On the other stuff; The golden cup filled with filth, a murder happening, while around the corner, a guy who shits his pants while trying to sneek a fart on his first date--drama--yes it seems paradox is the answer--all these things horrible and happy are a part of the Its' emergence. Now that It sees reason for kindness, the monkey bringing back purpose, it's course has changed? A mad flight to the finishline where destruction or access to heaven are the only possible outcomes? It seems so huh! Like the caterpillar idea, change must hurt, it terrifies the ego. An aside: (I have a sense that the ego is a screen through which the It can see its own creation in a unique way. That is: the bugs-on-bugs world, organic to quantum doesn't know itself; the maker of movement, the force of expression out of the void can't know what things look like, feel like, when It exists as an endless "turtles-all-the-way-down" conglomeration. The turtles (cells, quantum monads or?) are alive but unable to have fun or terror to make them feel alive...twisted ain't it? I'm not gonna second guess myself when I write about psychedelic philosophy.... Whatever is Over There has to be a THIS or a THAT or a THIS/THAT--(the questioner becoming the answer, paradox)--so these kinds of ruminations must hit the target sometimes!) David Orange: Yes I was joking and I thought about changing that, but I figured it's no weirder than anything else here however it's taken! Sire: I'm not sure about the high water mark being the animal, we need to shake the animal don't you think?

[ October 18, 2003, 10:52 AM: Message edited by: Halfglass ]

[daniel]

St Simon,

Yes you are absolutely right: the Tantric schools separate humans into pashu, herd animals, and potential virya, heroic transformers, and they consign most of humanity to the sheep side of things.

While I think this viewpoint is almost self-evidently correct, it can also be integrated with a much more positive outlook on humanity: Everyone still contains buddha nature, the spark of the divine, and if they can't manifest it in this lifetime, they will have endless other opportunities. The herd experience they are having now may be the necessary ground for the enlightenment that will follow. William Irwin Thompson noted that if this present Earth does end in world cataclysm, that lived mass experience of destruction may have an extraordinary spiritual effect on all of those who suddenly pass through the gates of death together. (Let me make clear that I do not think this is necessarily going to happen). So somehow you can perhaps see "everything human as holy and divine" at the same time recognizing that most people are in a sorry state of hypnotized passivity.

David Orange: "as regards the main topic at hand, the transformation of the passions, i know that, while this practice is said to be of great importance during this dark age, i don't think that even at this crucial juncture such a path is appropriate for most or many people. it's fraught with danger..."

This path may be "fraught with danger" as you say, but the fact is, not seeking to complete one's spiritual transformation using the means available to us in this time may be far more dangerous. Of course it is not appropriate for "most or many people," they would have no understanding of it anyway.

Sex would have to be used in a way that is fully conscious and radically opposed to the current norms - in fact, everything along this path involves a highly conscious effort to "reverse the samsaric current," in ways both symbolic and physical.

[durga]

Hi I'm posting here because of the yoga reference, which, as I am sure you know is a vast umbrella for different paths with the same goal, self knowledge, realization--as for tantra I will add what I have read and heard first hand. There are the orignal practices and purposes where the devotee--practioner--I use devotee because it is described as the best way to approach the mother, aka shakti, nature, maya, --with love and devotion. As for power with the grace or guardian of mother nature/maya manifest in you, it enables lots of siddhis. I don't know any westerners that can come close to this practice as some of the stuff is just being published in India for the first time. It's not just sex and meat and wine and partying in the way we think or partakinging in these substances but not enjoying it--in the dispassionate sense. In India there were sects that just managed this part, wine and meat being forbidden, I think most Americans can do this any weekend, at least the wine & meat part. As a tantra you would see shakti as anything on and including earth--therefore nothing would not be her so whatever you eat is her-- there is no repulsion, how can there be, this is different than supressing repulsion for a goal like power. Likewise if you are being eaten , you would feel no repungence, again it is all her/nature everthing is being eaten all the time, you would be happy to feed her. The initiations involve recently dead women--not murdered -- with the whole body being an oil lamp and the vision of the aspect of your shakti who instucts you further.

Anyway that is a mouthful but these aren't supposed to be degraded black practices though the powers or siddhis can be used that way-- I personally don't think they are appro for this age--that's just a personal hunch -- things are dense but maybe
anyway
I practice a yoga from south india that is a siddhantam tradition--(not the big siddha foundation here in the states). Anyway part of the pranayam practice has instructions to drink from the nourishing nectar that will secrete and flow down into the mouth and open the way to samadhi. After reading about the Pineal gland in "the Spirit Molecule" I was struck by possible similarities. Maybe these yoga exercises are meant to stimulate the bodies own dmt production/ third eye to open the doors. The siddhas used lots of herbs to prolong there lives so they could practice-- some extended their lives thousands of years and they all played with siddhis and nature their goal being mankinds evolution. Any thoughts on this?

please forgive my spelling also the other posts seem really well thought out and i mostly rambled

[jezebelle]

According to the Tibetan Book of the Dead, all of us here missed their "other opportunities" for transendence by turning to the duller light(s), which then led us to "here" our present bodies. Also we weren't able to hold onto our oneness with all. (at least we sheep) Hey you do what you can do. How you went through death determines this life.

As for sex, all I know is talk is cheap. Think F*ing is cut off, but F F*ing is more real. Just don't think. Get out of your own way and it will naturally take you to the next level of godhead.

[daniel]

Hi jezebelle,

I don't necessarily agree with the Tibetan Book of the Dead on that point. i like the Steiner/Western idea that we incarnate purposefully on the Earth over a succession of many lives, in order to help "transform the Earth."

As for "Just don't think," I totally disagree with you. We act as though sex is not something that can be brought up to full consciousness - but that attitude is not adult, but an adolescent reaction. We are not allowing ourselves to experiment consciously (and ritualistically) with sex if we impose a "no think" policy on it, as most people do.