Rosslyn Sanctuary

Crossing the Abyss

 

 

      The level of Master of the Temple is conferred upon the magician who has succeeded in crossing the Abyss, the boundary between what appears to be real and what truly is real. The distinction between true reality and apparent reality lies in duality. Concepts that are apparently real, like mundane love, are incomplete because they do not contain their own opposites. True love also contains hate, as both are forces that draw two persons together to interact.

 

     Making the jump into the Abyss entails a suspension of belief in all that you "know" to be "real" or "true". It requires open eyes and mind, to perceive what is actually occurring instead of what the mind believes is occurring. Much the same as the word "cat" is not an actual cat; the mind of the magician must empty itself of its preconceived notions of reality. Any and all preconceived definitions of any concept whatsoever are by nature false, simply because they are concrete. Much like a coin having both sides, every True concept contains its own opposite, thereby defining a much larger spectrum of possibilities, wherein the opposites are merely either end.

 

     To this end, the magician must undergo a system of reprogramming his mind to accept the fact that no one thing should be preferable over any other thing. Since all True ideas contain their own opposites, each should balance out to exactly zero. Since all things balance to zero, how can any one be "better" or "worse" than any other? It is the worldview of God, wherein all things are equally valid simply because they exist. Once the magician adopts this worldview naturally, all things fall into their proper place. All things obey their own natures naturally, and the only truths are paradox.

 

     For example, things are often spoken of as being as different as day and night. "Day" is only a phenomenon resulting from this planet being so close to a star as to receive the greater part of its light half the time, while "night" is the prevailing condition everywhere else in the universe. However, stars exist all through the universe; therefore "day" exists everywhere you look in the night sky, no matter how far away. Apparent paradoxes such as this one teach the magician's mind a new way of thinking, so that appearances cease to mislead, and the universe can be seen for what it is. Gone is the hoard of "words" and "tags" that define reality for the magician, and reality begins to define itself.

 

     This change can be very difficult to make. Looking at the world from a God's-eye view means that one individual life means next to nothing, while the simple accomplishments of a child can change the fate of nations. The magician must accept the fact that one day, his body will wear out and die and he must seek a new one. This also means that his personality that he has so carefully constructed since birth will also cease to be. His soul will be ensconced in a new fetus, and he will gestate and be born. In his early years, he will consent to being brainwashed into accepting his new personality from his new parents. All this will be, and so must be accepted by the Master of the Temple.