Evolution, Manifestation and Magick [Change in accordance to Will].

“The universe is populated by stable things.”- Richard Dawkins (Selfish Gene)

 

In spiritual terms, “That which desires to exist, exists. That which desires not to exist extinguishes”. All things in existence contain a want for existence, or they would not be.

This might not make the most sense now, but at the end of this piece, hopefully, you’ll understand what is meant by the phrase: “It’s all love.”

Evolution

In scientific terms: “The process by which different kinds of living organism are believed to have developed from earlier forms during the history of the earth.”

Or

“The gradual development of something.”

 

In spiritual terms, evolution is more akin to the term Karma [Kamma]. Where science sees material, spirituality sees sentience/energy.

So what then is evolution in a spiritual perspective? Intention and the result of intention.

Remove the sentience, and it remains the same. The ball intends to fall towards the earth, the earth intends to fall around the sun, the sun intends to fall around the centre of the galaxy...

 

“Eat” “Eat” “I need to eat.”

“Eat” “Eat” “I need to eat.”

And from the thought, jaws.

“Clasp” “Clasp” “I need to clasp.”

“Clasp” “Clasp” “I need to clasp.”

And from the thought, claws.

“Roar!” “Roar!” “I need to ROAR!”

“ROAR!” “ROAR!” “I NEED TO ROAR!”

And the lion, from thoughts, was.

As intended.

 

And from one intention, others arise; and from the others, more. “It’s turtles all the way down”: Samsara [the cycle caused by karma].

So with this understanding established, I think it's time we delve deeper into the metaphysics of evolution, which I’ll simply be referring to as Karma henceforth.

 

Karma

So what is Karma? Simply put: “You get what you are”.

Now do you understand why “know thyself” is so important? Not yet? Let’s keep going.

 

In another way, we can see karma as a person or thing's “program”, that is its modus operandi. In common speak, the result of this "programming" can also be called a person's karma.

Think of water eroding the coast of a river bank; in this analogy the water rushing and causing erosion is karma. The whole process, though, can be seen as samsara; an ever-continuing process of destruction and reformation.

So how do we cause the river to meander how we wish it to?

 

Magick

Aleister Crowley, one of the most renowned practitioners of magick, once defined magick as “The Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with will”. He went on to conjure and converse with many spirits and entities in hopes of perfecting his magick.

 

In modern spiritual circles, the idea of magick has become more synonymous with the term Manifestation, most likely due to the negative associations magick has been affiliated with over the years. No one wants to be thought of as someone who calls forth demons and angels to help them reach their desires, instead the idea of “energies” and “frequencies” have taken over the vernacular of modern spirituality.

 

Must we always call forth “energies” to reach our desires? In a sense, yes. In another sense, no. Think of it like this, when we go searching for food, there is hunger that leads us to go out of our way to get food; this hunger can be seen as an “energy”. When we wish to buy new clothes, maybe to impress a certain person or group of people, there’s an “energy” behind that.

Going back to karma, we can see all these “energies” are full of intention, wanting, desire and lastly, dukkha [dissatisfation].

Are these energies “alive”? I believe it’s important to claim they are. Energies are separate from one’s Self, energies are entities that possess a separate existence from a being, and can move, change, and grow like any other living entity except for the need of a host to exist within the physical realm.

But are all energies “negative”? I would say no. Like you, like me and like every living thing, these energies, as stated in the beginning, have “a want for existence”; they simply want to “be”, which there’s nothing wrong with, even though some energies can be malicious about how they go about ‘prolonging’ their existence, as so many animals and plants also—nothing personal.

So, when does “carrying out a task” become “manifestation”? The divide might be a bit arbitrary, but to most, it’s most likely when the cause and effect of their actions and results are less ‘transparent’ and so it comes off more ‘magical’, but truly it’s more sub-perceptual than magical.

Holding on to a known desire calls forth certain energies to execute behaviours that bring about the desired outcome, one does not need to think too hard when the subconscious mind goes to work.

In Buddhism, it is well understood that the higher a being reaches in spiritual realms, the more power the being has in manifestation, but yet, Nirvana is unattainable for beings within the highest realms (the God realm [devas] and Demigod realm [asuras]). Nonetheless, I recommend that one attempt to reach these realms a few times before deciding to leave them altogether. So learn the ways and manifest to your heart’s content, but when you're done with this tutorial, it’s important to start the real game: letting it all go.

 

Achieving Nirvana [Nibbana]

This is a bit misleading as Nirvana is not a place to get to, nor is it a thing to acquire or attach to; Nirvana just is and always shall be. It is the inherent nature of all things: Sunyata[Emptiness].

 

Let’s go back to the concept of karma and our eroding river bank.

Where there is karma causing erosion and the process of an ever-changing river that is samsara; nirvana is the river at every picture frame moment, never incomplete, never changing.

Where one manifesting change sees karma; one simply meandering with the river path has clairvoyance of Dharma.

In stillness, there is Nirvana and clarity of Dharma.

 

In other words, Samsara is Nirvana once the ego mind of desiring has subsided.

Similarly, Karma is Dharma once grasping has been let go.

 

Achieving this state of being is the true soteriology [key to salvation] of all world religions and spiritual practices. Where one abides in God’s Will, and not the will of a limited mind.