Readers Questions DL6

READERS’ QUESTIONS (DL6)

Are you really Left Hand Path at all? If so, why
don’t you support the crusade against oppressive religions?

Left
Hand Path or Right Hand Path are opposed like capitalism and communism.
Communism supplanted capitalism with its own customs which were, in fact,
exactly the same. Card-carrying members instead of aristocrats. Only the label
had changed.

Buddha,
Allah, Christ, all those names are labels and nothing more. It is how you
recognise things. It is natural to wish to label things, but, because the label
has fallen off, the contents of the jar have not changed.

People
want to do everything in groups. Human beings are still tribal. But there is a
nasty trick waiting at the end. People are especially anxious not to die alone,
but no matter where you are, how many people are around you, at that moment you
are totally by yourself. But you have to die to find that out. That is what
traps people.

The
warriors of the Left Hand Path fell into the biggest trap of all when they
started fighting Christianity from the other side of the way, glorifying
everything that the Christians vilified and vice versa. That is like saying
there are two sets of rules for two sets of people. In fact there is one set of
rules for everyone and the whole universe.

So it just became another
little war. But a lot of people are happier living up to their necks in the
trenches, rather than finding out what the war is really about. If enough
people refused to report to an army, where would the war be then? This Occult
war is just as pointless because, while it is being fought, people are
interested in the war and the battles. They are not thinking about themselves,
what they should be doing, where they should be going, what kind of people they
would be if they were not in this uniform, fighting this war.

It is
a cheap way out, because, while you are fighting that war, you have no chance
of becoming an Adept, which is as well for a lot of people.

It
does not matter to the Adept or would-be Adept what anyone else believes in. It
matters even less what anyone else thinks of him or her.

Can you answer these questions for me, and please
tell me if you think these questions are relevant at this stage:

(a)
What is the subconscious?

(b) Is the subconscious in control only because people have
previously thought it to be in control?

(c)
Is it in control only so that
we can learn from the experience of mastering it, which would perhaps prove to
be beneficial practice and training for whatever work lies ahead, beyond this
stage?

(d) Why isn’t the subconscious benevolent?

(e)
Why doesn’t it want to be
stirred from its slumber?

Your
questions regarding the subconscious certainly are relevant, as it is vitally
important to your progress that you understand the subconscious and its
effects.

(a) The subconscious is a part of the mind; the first part to be
developed in primitive man, and it has changed very little in thousands of
years. It is a separate entity, independent of you although within you
(probably the origin of the myths of “possession”) and is the part of the mind
that makes you do things which are not in your best interests: such things as
putting off tasks which need to be done, or taking a stance, when you would be
better able to deal with the situation if you had not got upset or enthusiastic
about it. You have probably heard the expression: “a prisoner of his own
personality”. In this context, “personality” means “subconscious”, though few
people using the cliché realise it.

(b) You ask: ‘Is the subconscious in control only because people
have previously thought it to be in control?’ Quite the opposite, in fact. Most
people have no idea that their subconscious is firmly in control of them. They
believe that they are in charge, that their conscious mind, the reasoning,
rational mind, directs their thoughts and actions. In most cases, it does not.

In the article about
stances in DL3, the writer tried to show the damaging effect that is caused
when the subconscious is in undisputed control. They are such insignificant
little incidents, they normally pass without being noticed; but they do leave a
very significant residue of feeling upset, bad-tempered or “out of sorts”.

(c)
The subconscious mind
is not in position simply to provide a useful exercise for the prospective
Adept. However, dealing with the subconscious mind is one of the first and most
vital tasks for anyone wishing to make spiritual progress.

(d) The subconscious is not benevolent towards the host body and
mind because it is a separate entity which seeks to maintain its own existence
and that existence is inimical to its host. Being benevolent would mean
allowing the conscious mind to take charge and thereby the subconscious would
be contributing to its own downfall/expulsion.

(e)
Most people never rouse
the subconscious by questioning its activities. They drift though life and the
subconscious finds it very easy to control them. When someone starts defying
his subconscious by refusing to take stances, the subconscious realises that
something is wrong; it has to wake up and fight to defend its position.

It fights by making its host body and the conscious mind
very uncomfortable. The subconscious can easily induce fear, self-doubt, a
multitude of phobias, and most powerful of all, guilt. All very effective in
deterring the conscious mind from its bid for supremacy.

The only way to fight these actions of the subconscious is
by self-discipline and single-mindedness. Know your enemy; learn to recognise
these actions of the subconscious and how to analyse them. Do not over-estimate
your will-power and strength of purpose, and never under-estimate your
subconscious. Undertake to yourself that you will abide by a specific code of
conduct and never deviate from it. It is even more difficult than it sounds,
but most who seriously embark on this task will recognise quite swiftly the
immense benefits which accrue from avoiding stances, and that should inspire
them for the further and greater efforts which will be demanded.

A stroke of genius, not putting by-lines on
articles. Even if we may, by now, be able to recognise the styles of one
or two regular contributors, we still have to study the article thoroughly
to be able to do so. So you achieve your stated object of getting readers
to assess an article’s worth solely on their view of its content. But
there must be some articles which you, the Adept, know are giving wrong
information. Why do you publish these?

The
articles you specified, and others, represent a different (not incorrect)
viewpoint seen from a different (whether more or less advanced) stage of development.
If you disagree with what they say, analyse why, either for your own benefit,
or, if you let is have your analysis, for the benefit of other readers.

From the Dark Lily Journal No 6, Society of Dark Lily
(London 1988).