Beyond the Adept

(This is an extract from a letter sent to an Internal Adept)



Several issues need to be addressed, such as is the ONA as exists at present, relevant to you, and indeed, relevant of itself, and also what is the meaning of Adeptship and beyond in supra-personal terms.

Let us consider whether there is - and must be - a supra-personal dimension to Adeptship and beyond, and if so, what is the nature of this in practical terms. That is, is it part of being an Adept - and especially of the grades beyond - to strive to change the world in some way? Or is there just a personal dimension to an Adept - that their goal is their goal and the world, and people, and the Cosmos, are basically irrelevant? Indeed, we might also ask are such "Grades" important anyway?

Personally, I do believe such Grades are necessary, still - and thus relevant. There may - indeed, should - come a time when they are no longer required, as forms, but that is a very long way in the future, given the nature of the majority of these beings named "humans". They are relevant and necessary as forms, as guides, providing a structure that is necessary, as a map is often useful in an unknown area, shortening the time required to get where one is going.

The answer to the supra-personal nature of Adeptship is already implicit in what an Adept is - someone who has developed aspects of themselves, and especially their abilities and consciousness. This development is outward, and involves empathy with living beings, with Nature and the Cosmos itself. There is a thus an understanding of the individual in relation to these things, as there should also be the beginnings of a rational understanding of the world, of human nature, of "history" and our evolution and promise, as beings. The Adept therefore understands how certain forces (or energies) be they archetypal or whatever can affect individuals, and groups, and how certain forms can presence, and be presenced, to change individuals and groups. This is the beginnings of understanding the real magick beyond the low, external, results magick of Initiates and External Adepts, and this understanding imparts a certain desire in the Adept to produce causal changes - be the method of such production, such presencing, artistic, magickal, or whatever. 

But is there a duty of change, of presencing, beyond this still quite personal desire, creativity or action-in-the-world? A duty of dialectic - of causing, provoking, or being the genesis of, larger-scale changes by supra-personal means? And if there is such a duty of Adeptship, then what, if any moral guidelines, should the Adept follow, especially given the empathy they have developed, or many have developed? Such questions really are the beginning of the move from Adeptship to beyond the Abyss - a sign that at a time not too distant in years, the Adept is moving toward the next stage.

As often, there are no clear answers - for each Adept must struggle outward to their own answers to such questions, for it is their answering, their struggle to so answer, which is important, not some given "teachings" or whatever. But there are some guidelines which, as often, may or may not help - and which may or may not serve as a dialectic, to provoke, to be balanced, countered, or perchance even agreed with, but only after much thought.

What are these guidelines? They derive from the nature of an individual, from the nature of magick - from the very meaning and purpose of the life of an individual. Our Way, of esoteric magick, gives some special, often unique, answers to these things, and it is these answers which differentiate our Way from that of other Ways, and especially from what have come to be called Religion and Politics (both terms are of course only reductionist, abstract, terms which describe certain causal projections onto the numinous matrix of the Cosmos). How do we view the individual? As one particular causal presencing of acausal energies. How do we view the purpose, the meaning, of that individual? As one means of evolving - of accessing more and more of the acausal, through willed change, and thus as a means of positively interacting with the acausal, with the numinous matrix of the very Cosmos itself, which of course includes, Nature, here on this planet which is our home, and the beings we share this planet with. What is this "willed change"? It is true magick, which includes our seven-fold Way, and the various means of presencing the acausal which we have developed or learnt. The answer of our Way means than our duty, as beings, is to evolve ourselves - to seek to take the opportunity which our causal life is; to seek to develop that potential which is latent within us.

How then, in this context, do we view the other beings with which we share this planet? Before Internal Adept, the answer is seen as simple - they are means, which we can use to further ourselves, and the Cosmos, for that is their purpose, even though they themselves do not know this. Their purpose, according to us, is not to attain, a "happiness", or even some kind of "afterlife" in a religious sense. But Internal Adept provides us with that perspective, that empathy, which was often lacking - or rather, it should provide us with these things, as part of our own development. Thus, do we come to understand the true nature of such things as suffering, both personal and supra-personal, and this understanding may present us with some problems, especially when we view what seems to be the futility of bloody struggle, century upon century, thousand year upon thousand year.

Thus are we as Adept brought to questions such as - there must be a better way to evolve this human species, to change the matrix, without the waste, the suffering? What is this better way?

To answer questions such as these we must once again consider such things as the true nature of magick, and the true nature of Time, and the nature of evolution itself. Indeed, we should ask, is there - can there be - such a thing as evolution? Is that also just an abstract construct imposed upon the numinous matrix?

Thus we are led to consider the very nature of the Cosmos, of this numinous matrix. Again, our Way provides some answers, some guidelines. We view the Cosmos as a living entity, albeit an acausal one, and an entity which does not exist apart from us, as finite beings. That is, we as evolving, changing, beings are the evolution of this Being. Our consciousness, our magick, is the consciousness, the magick, of this Being. Thus, our change is implicit in our very nature, as is the truth that we possess the ability to change ourselves - for this is one of the most fundamental principles of our Way, of genuine magick itself. By our magick, our Way, we are bringing consciousness to the Cosmos - which is why of course our move outward, from this planet in the physical sense, is so important so we can access, understand, what is beyond, and thus make that known.

Yet this Being, which we are, is not the Being which other Ways have identified, or posited. It is most certainly not "God" - nor even the abstracted opposite of such an abstract construct. It is just what IS, as what IS exists: a summation of causal and acausal, far beyond our often silly abstract causal projections upon IT. We provide, or rather can provide, the forms to presence aspects of it - sometimes in myths, or a mythos (such as The Dark Gods) - but these are of course just beginnings, mere forms to be transcended; mere beginnings of the real magick which awaits for us. For, yes, to provide, to "create" such forms to presence IT , to propagate such forms and so change other human beings in diverse ways, is an Art, of genuine magick. Just as the dialectic of ours is an Art, albeit one much misunderstood.

This should begin to answer the question about "morality" and such things. One answer is that, yes, there is a way for us to evolve ourselves and others without the stupidities, the wastefulness, of the past - and this is the Way of our magick, of our own still evolving Way, which Way makes available to us all that we need to avoid the waste, the stupidities, of the past, as evident for example in the Seven-fold Way itself, with its Grade Rituals. This particular answer is to refine, enhance, the techniques, and make them known, thus enabling more and more individuals world-wide to begin the process of individual and supra-personal change. That is, to extend, evolve, our Way itself.

Yet - does this not imply a slowness? A significant change in an Aeon, or even more? Is it desirable for us, or some of us, to strive to speed up this process of human evolution, by for example, involving ourselves in using certain causal forms which may produce such speedy change? Or do such forms indeed produce speedy change? Is that merely an illusion? Such are the questions for each Adept to ponder, and answer.


Which brings us to the ONA. Is the ONA as existing at present still relevant? Does it need to change, perhaps some of its symbols, its own causal forms? If so, why? And how, toward what? Such are also questions which each Adept must ponder, and answer for themselves. One clue - is this ONA, as perceived by others and those of Adeptship and below, just an outer form which has a yet unknown inner essence? That is, is this essence hidden, awaiting the consciousness that is created beyond the Abyss? And if it is so hidden, why is this? Deliberate - or just part of its real nature, meaning that this nature cannot be apprehended below this Abyss, that it is unperceptible by those who do not possess the perception to perceive it with this new perception being developed over time by an Adept, propelling them toward the next stage?  And is part of this real nature something which cannot be contained by any such causal form and so cannot even be named?

In Conclusion:

Such are some of the questions which arise, or which may arise, for an Internal Adept. And yet - what must be remembered is that all such questions are only questions; that Thought is merely Thought, and often a distraction to that real change, that real presencing of the sinister, that is part of our Way and which involves, as it always does and has done, action-in-the-world: that is, real acts, by the individual.

These acts are and must be - for an Internal Adept moving toward the Abyss and thus the next stage - beyond both the Light and the Dark, yet being both Light and Dark and yet containing the essence of the Sinister itself. If they are indeed moving toward the next stage, then they will understand this - or at least be moving toward this understanding. 

Furthermore, those who withdraw from the Sinister, in all its Aeonic forms and presencings, as a result of answering such questions, have indeed withdrawn from our Way, and thus will not move-forward to the stage of Mastery.




Anton Long
Order of Nine Angles