This
has come up a few times today. Okay, it came up once and then I brought it up
again, but I'm going with it (and apparently this will be more rambling than
usual). It seems to me there is an importance to the integration of spiritual
work with our everyday lives. I've haven't always looked at it this way. A
decade or so ago I would have gone in for the "magical schizophrenia"
approach, keeping my mundane and esoteric lives strictly separate. Today, not
so much. True, not all magical traditions are also spiritual traditions, but
where they are, it seems that our spiritual work should have a practical effect
on our lives. That is, doing the Work should change us.
Change
us into what? Well, ourselves, I guess. That’s the carry water, chop wood part.
Except, it sort of isn’t. According to Iamblichus (you knew I’d bring him up
eventually), all souls have free will, and as such, may project any life into
generation they choose. The thing is, often, they choose poorly. The later
Platonists, with possibly the exception of Plotinus’ school, held the soul was
in a somewhat messed up state. This is for two reasons: 1) it is ontologically
posterior to Nous, and so must participate Nous for intellection, and 2) its “fallen”
state makes that hard.
So,
the soul, which might be in the series of Aphrodite might pick a Hermetic life.
For reasons. Or, rather, due not fully participating Nous, without reason. So,
unless we’re one of those really cool sage-type people whose souls do not
identify themselves with their projected lives in any way, and are perfectly in
line with their series, what we start out as might be us, but it is not
representative of the soul as itself.
So,
we might be carrying water and chopping wood, but we’re pretty much doing it
wrong. So, the Work, from this view anyway, is supposed to get us to be more in
line with our soul rather than the life it has decided to project. So, slowly,
we begin to carry water and chop wood more like ourselves. But this is a result
of the Work. Not necessarily in a “poof now you’re perfectly you” sort of way.
Rather, in a slow, hard to see if it is the work or just growing up (I’m not
done growing up yet, either) sort of way.
But
if our spiritual lives don’t lead to this, then what are they doing and how do
we know they’re doing it?
