The Great Work
Unlike a lot of other places in the internet, the comments are well worth reading.
- The Guru Trip by Rufus Opus
- What the Great Work Is by Jason from Strategic Sorcery
- On the Great Work by Michael from the Lion’s Den
Strife of the Spirit
Where does a person’s drive to go through strife of the spirit in order to grow come from? Why does a person feel hollow? Rabbi Akiva Tatz answered that question for me in this essay (see section II “One of the mysteries…”) in his amazing book “Worldmask”.
OK, so a certain level of strife is conductive for growth (if you have the mind-set to want to be a better person). Also, we’re trying to rebuild our spiritual receivers so that we don’t feel quite as empty, I get that. But why is the path of magical or mystical growth so hard?
Gordon of Rune Soup argues that it’s getting easier. I see his point.
But as Sefer Yetzirah described in chapter 1 verse 1, there are 32 paths of Wisdom. As Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan explains in his commentary and translation – the word for path is Netivot, meaning private paths (as opposed to a public road that is easily accessible). In other words, they are internal paths of development that each person must discover for themselves. So it’s getting easier, right?
I’m not 100% convinced. In the Mystery of Marriage Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, he mentions an idea: unrectified imagination - the idea being that you have an ideal in mind that is not really achievable, but you cling to it regardless. Taking it a bit further – you may have a certain idea what developing along a magical or mystical path might be like… but if it’s not what you expect it to be then unrectfied imagination may be what is holding you back.
Hopefully you’ve got some food for thought about why we strive to be better and what may hold us back. There certainly seems to be a growing trend of magical practice increasing in the world.
Has anyone completed the Great Work and become more than human? I don’t know. The Rabbis teach that when a person dies – they will not be asked: why did you not reach the level of Moses? Instead they will be asked: why did you not achieve your full potential?
Here is a parting quote from Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) about being a better person:
4: 1.
Ben Zoma would say:
Who is wise? One who learns from every man. As is stated (Psalms 119:99): "From all my teachers I have grown wise, for Your testimonials are my meditation."
Who is strong? One who overpowers his inclinations. As is stated (Proverbs 16:32), "Better one who is slow to anger than one with might, one who rules his spirit than the captor of a city."
Who is rich? One who is satisfied with his lot. As is stated (Psalms 128:2): "If you eat of toil of your hands, fortunate are you, and good is to you"; "fortunate are you" in this world, "and good is to you" in the World to Come.
Who is honourable? One who honours his fellows. As is stated (I Samuel 2:30): "For to those who honour me, I accord honour; those who scorn me shall be demeaned."
So if you think that you have completed the Great Work or become a god, can you honestly say that you have reached your ultimate potential and are at least as wise, rich, strong and honourable as described in the Pikrei Avot 4:1 quote above?
>>>Having read all that I’m still not sure what the Great Work is… but let’s use the definition of “to be more than human”.>>>>
ReplyDeleteIm not sure where the idea came from the 'Great Work' was about us as individuals. Its certainly not what I was steered towards in my magical youth. I always understood it to be a participation magically in the very long term inner work directed at trying to mop up the shit we caused in the first place.. My first teacher used to say, " you will spend years learning how to hold a shovel and one day, you will start to use it. That is the Great Work, rolling your sleeves up and shovelling the shit that others have dumped and ignore."
So I never took it to be anything about self or magical greatness, rather stepping up to the plate and joining in the inner work that has been perpetuated for centuries by magicians, mystics, priests, Rabbis etc. When I was a kid in Catholic school, we used to go on retreat to a female monastery. The order there had no role in the outside world, they saw their job as praying perpetually for Humanity. Many religious orders around the world also do that. That is their version of the Great Work. To me it is service, small lifetime contributions by many people over millennia; being a link in the chain.
Josephine
Thanks for your comment Josephine. I went to a talk at Treadwells tonight which was an interview with Caroline Wise. Although she did not use quite the same language as you - her message was very closely aligned with yours that our job is to act in service. As you summed it up: "rolling your sleeves up and shovelling the shit that others have dumped and ignore". In fact when Caroline talked about not leaving physical or spiritual junk at sacred sites, it really made me think of you.
DeleteThe more that I think and contemplate about this topic, the more I see just how important it is to listen to the land. I went to visit Israel recently with a clear intent to do something (as well as visit my family). But when I got there... the impression that I received was: "don't do it, be patient, time is a healer". Since coming back I've tried harder to help people in my community in small ways. Perhaps by following this path more I will reach an experience based understanding of the Great Work rather than try to grasp it from an intellectual point of view...