The Great Work - a hotly debated subject
Ravenhall
beings all rolled into one.
This is a hotly debated subject within the GD.
Traditionalists, who follow Mathers' teachings, believe that the Great
Work is to purify yourself with spiritual alchemy until you have
achieved a state where you can approach God as Enoch and Elijah did.
New Agers, including the Pagan and Wiccan movements, believe that the
Great Work is to find your own Divinity and become Divine, equal with
other greater beings.
For some Satanists, the Great Work is to show other what true freedom
and/or evil really is.
For the record, I'm a traditionalist. I don't believe that humans can
become gods. We're inherently limited, and the only way to truly
transend those limitations is to die - and at that point it hardly
matters anymore. It's the massive religious (should I say
anti-religious, pro-spirituality?) reformation that the world is
undergoing right now that feeds that ego-stroking concept that each and
every person in this world is Divine - which simply is not true. People
are just not snowflakes, sadly. I believe that sort of ego inflation
actually ties some people up in a head trip - preventing them from
finding any true Light. For if all people are gods - then all gods die.
Depressing, eh?
However, what I believe is completely irrelevant. In a perfect world,
Occultists would respect each other's Great Work - even if it is
intractably opposed to your own Great Work. They have their path to
walk, and you have yours. Humorously, this concept is the same one that
the world's established religions have so much trouble with. You should
help others fulfill their Great Work if you feel inspired to by your
Higher Self (often confused with the Holy Guardian Angel, but I
digress.) Of course, you can really only commune with your Higher Self
(and not just an ego-inflated invention of your imagination) through
discipline and hard work - which most people do not have nor care to
develop.
The Great Work is the Great Work - paradoxically. "To seek Unity with
the Divine" is one of the only ways that it can be stated without
decending into theological or dogmatic arguments. State it thus, and
respect how each seeker of the Light interprets it. We all should show
respect to one anothers' beliefs. "The Will of the Divine" is another
good way to put it.
Ironically, the Great Work finds you more than you find it. Like many
other things in life, if you stand around waiting for it, it will never
happen. Go out into the world, into communities you believe are opposed
to what you believe in, and open your mind and learn about them -
whomever they are. You will find that the Great Work descends upon you
fiercely.
LVX,
Ravenhall