READERS’ QUESTIONS (DL6)

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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).