The Tipping Point

"You thought, as a boy, that a mage is one who can do anything. So I thought, once. So did we all. And the truth is that as a man's real power grows and his knowledge widens, ever the way he can follow grows narrower: until at last he chooses nothing, but does only and wholly what he must do..."

"When a mystic has merged with God, in the extreme ecstasy of divine union, all physical rules give way. 'What do you want me to do now?' she asks her God. 'Where do I go now?'"

Learned a new word the other day - 'anti-mystic'. One presumes that such a word is intended to be synonymous with 'rationalist', though a google search isn't helpful in clarifying the etymology of the term. I only mention this because it was among the confluence of events that sparked this post.

Through this confluence of events, I have found myself wondering about one of the more obscure elements of mysticism and magick lore - the idea of surrendering one's Will to something greater. In mysticism, the 'greater' is presumed to be 'Divine Will', although how a single experience prompts such an urge to surrender to another being (however Divine) is puzzling when viewed only through a remote and analytical lens. In magick, the 'greater' is sometimes referred to as the 'Balance' or 'Pattern' of things, or one's 'True Will'. Again, ambiguous terms which presumably makes sense to those who have experienced them.

The more mundane among us might wonder if we don't all reach a point in our experience wherein the world ceases to exist for us, and we begin to exist for the world. Or perhaps we wonder whether all of us reach a tipping point in our experience wherein our future course of actions cannot be significantly altered. Those of us who happen to be reading about time might wonder how a bi-directional temporal flow of influence might work into these ideas. The truly eccentric among us wonder about how multiple-observer dynamics might be related to such notions. ;)

If the experience of 'surrender' is common to both advanced mystics and magick practitioners, then it begs the question - is there a level of awareness that we can reach (independent of context) which shows us something that suggests that such a response is appropriate? What larger truth is being glimpsed (or hallucinated) by those who talk about this experience of 'surrender'?

What we are willing to label that which prompts 'surrender' is apparently worth fighting about to those whose agenda prefers one term over another, which invokes in any decision regarding the labelling of such a 'larger reality' an element of controversy.

If there is a 'Pattern' to be aware of, then perhaps it is the pattern that we create - we, the web of observers who anchor each other and our conception of reality. Perhaps 'surrender' is an act of withdrawing one's own petty ego from the mix (as much as is possible) and refusing to impose one's Will upon others from egotistical motivations. This still leaves open the question of why such a 'surrender' is an appropriate response. What purpose is served, and what forces are at work if one's actions are purportedly driven by an awareness of this 'greater' purpose/pattern? What does one hope to better by such an act of 'surrender'? Him/Herself? The world at large? And how is such a thing determined to have been accomplished by one so that it may be advocated to another?

Or is the notion of 'surrendering' nothing more than an abdication of choice and responsibility for one's actions, as one might imagine an 'anti-mystic' would claim? Perhaps it comes from a recognition of the futility and meaninglessness of many of our ordinary struggles? Perhaps the reward is in the pleasure of ceasing to struggle?

Oi, the head hurts. I surrender to this puzzle. (For now.)