The Mechanization of Man

      The current trends toward ultimate materialism and technological replacement or usurpation of basic human responsibilities is something that needs to be addressed and put into context so as to understand the collective drive in that direction and some of its potential consequences that should be anticipated. I have already analyzed some of the overt problems with Transhumanism in The Factors of Balance, along with possibilities (current and in the future) for the abuse of such technologies in Enemy #1. Now I want to analyze some of the long standing impulses which have been and are still driving this Current and what sort of historical, cultural and psychological places it stems from.
    While much of this blog has been centered on my own developments along the lines of Crowleyan and Grantian concepts and terminology, I have been seeking to expand the subjects and sources. The last blog I wrote centered on Alice Bailey and her system of 'Soul Psychology', now I want to delve into an important aspect of the work of Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), yet another Adept whose work may be decades old but nonetheless very much relevant for our time. Steiner was a very gifted individual even from a young age he had various psychic and mystical experiences which guided him into the study of the occult. Having had a good upbringing and family as well, he was able to get a good education at the Vienna Institute of Technology where he studied mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, biology, literature, and philosophy on an academic scholarship from 1879 to 1883, at the end of which time he withdrew from the institute without graduating. 

First Goetheanum

     He had already been interested in philosophy, and later when he joined the Theosophical society he sought to apply his method of 'Occult Science' in order to bridge the gap between the seemingly disparate subjects of occultism or metaphysics and science. Steiner had certain issues with the Theosophical Society, mainly regarding the issues surrounding Jiddu Krishnamurti being pronounced as the 'Maitreya' (which he himself later redacted). He later ended up forming his own Anthroposophical Society, which apparently certain Germans and German members of his former Lodge did not like. According to The Spear of Destiny by Trevor Ravenscroft, attempts were made on Steiner's life by the Nazis and one time he barely got away with his life if it weren't for a group of people that purposely formed a barrier between Steiner and some Nazi troops so he could get away. They also destroyed by arson the Goetheanum, the center of the Anthroposophical Society, on New Years Eve of 1923 while Dr. Steiner was giving a lecture with about 800 people inside. A new Goetheanum was completed in 1928.

Second Goetheanum

     Both books The Spear of Destiny and The Mark of the Beast talk about the nature of the zeitgeist, or 'spirit of the age', that dawned around the time of the two World Wars and liken it to that which Steiner termed 'Ahriman', or 'The Ahrimanic Deception' (as in the title of one of his lectures on the subject). It was this 'Spirit' which became overtly manifest in the nature and actions of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party - which if you look you will find never fully died out with the death of Hitler but trickled into the United States via Operation Paperclip, and 'The Nazi Ratlines'. Ravenscroft and his co-author T. Wallace Murphy state that it is no mere coincidence that just after the United States came into possession of the Spear of Longinus the U.S. itself unleashed the most deadly force on mankind, the atomic bomb, which was dropped on two different cities (Hiroshima and Nagasaki), furthering the manifestation of the Spirit of Ahriman. (Legend has it that whoever possess the Spear of Destiny has immense power, particularly over Life and Death and Good and Evil.) They also point out that the Spear on display in Austria is probably not the original and who knows who might have it - probably the Vatican (who backed Hitler, see Hitler's Pope by John Cornwell.) 

    Steiner depicted Ahriman in two different forms, one as a sculpture of his head and face as well as a large wood carving which also features Christ and Lucifer known as 'The Representative of Humanity'. This piece barely escaped the flames of the Nazi arson and is now on display at the second Goetheanum. Christ was conceived by Steiner to represent the balance between two poles of extreme expansion and contraction, Lucifer and Ahriman (See Christ in Relation to Lucifer and Ahriman, May 18, 1915) Detailed images of this piece can be seen here. In his lecture on The Ahrimanic Deception, Steiner gives an account of the importance of Ahriman in what was at the time the coming generations and what is now present day:

     "The impulses entering humanity from a Luciferic source sank down gradually into the soul [I.e. Intelligence and Enlightenment]. On the other hand, however, another impulse, which we call the Ahrimanic, is growing stronger and stronger in modern times. It will become increasingly strong in the near future and on into future ages. The Ahrimanic impulse proceeds from a super-sensible Being different from the Being of Christ or of Lucifer. Equally with ‘super-sensible’ one can say ‘subsensible’ — but that is not the point here [I.e. Sub- or Unconscious]. The influence of this Being becomes especially powerful in the Fifth Post-Atlantean Epoch. If we look at the confused conditions of recent years we shall find that men have been brought to such chaotic conditions mainly through the Ahrimanic powers.
      Just as there was an incarnation of Lucifer at the beginning of the third pre-Christian millennium, as there was the Christ Incarnation at the time of the Mystery of Golgotha, so there will be a Western incarnation of the Ahriman being some little time after our present earthly existence, in fact, in the third post-Christian millennium. To form a right conception of the historical evolution of mankind during approximately 6000 years, one must grasp that at the one pole stands a Luciferic incarnation, in the center, the incarnation of Christ, and at the other pole the Ahrimanic incarnation. Lucifer is the power that stirs up in man all fanatical, all falsely mystical forces, all that physiologically tends to bring the blood into disorder and so lift man above and outside himself. Ahriman is the power that makes man dry, prosaic, philistine — that ossifies him and brings him to the superstition of materialism. And the true nature and being of man is essentially the effort to hold the balance between the powers of Lucifer and Ahriman; the Christ Impulse helps present humanity to establish this equilibrium."

    Various writers have noted the significant connections between Ahriman and materialism, particularly in regard to the Computer, most notably Robert Mason in The Advent of Ahriman: An Essay on the Deep Forces behind the World Crisis (see particularly chapter 13, The Occult Meaning of the Computer) published in 1997, one year before Rudolf Steiner's predicted year around which time the Incarnation of Ahriman would occur (1998 being the assumed date as it is comprised of 666 x 3): 
    "A very interesting theory (by David B. Black) interprets the progressive mechanization of culture not only as an Ahrimanic influence, but as the actual "macrocosmic incarnation" of Ahriman: This is being brought to completion through the development of the electronic computer. Black traces the milestones in the evolution of the computer as reflections of the spiritual events in the heavens. For example, in the 1840's, around the time of Jehovah's abandonment of human bloodbound
thinking to Ahriman, Boolean algebra was developed. The year 1879 -- the time of Michael's accession as Time Spirit and the final expulsion of the "dragon" onto earth -- saw the publication of Frege's Begriffschrift, a great milestone in the development of "formal logic": the separation of logic from the spiritual "Word". Also in 1879: Edison invented the electric light (light is separated from the sun and plunged into the "sub-earthly": "Electricity is Ahrimanic `light'."); Trotsky and Stalin were born; Merganthaler invented the Linotype machine; Bessemer introduced the hard-steel process; and the US Census Bureau hired Herman Hollerith, who developed the first large-scale punched-card tabulating machine.

    The Christ's "coming in the clouds" [The Fatima Event or, 'Miracle of the Sun'] in the early 1930's was reflected on earth by the publication of Gödel's "incompleteness theorem", which demonstrated that a truly-thinking machine is impossible, but which also led to the development of "recursion theory", which is the essential conceptual framework for "artificial intelligence" and "artificial life". Also in 1930, by a fortuitous comedy of errors, the planet Pluto was discovered. Pluto, of course, is the god of the underworld, and the discovery of "his" planet was a synchronistic harbinger of the unleashing of the sub-material "powers of the pit" upon earth [At the same time as the Great Depression and then World War II]: later transits of Saturn and Uranus to Pluto's discovery position marked the bombing of Hiroshima and the explosion of the first "H-bomb". -- As is well-known, the development of the electronic computer proceeded exponentially, from von Neumann's development of the "stored program" to the desktop and the laptop.
    A lesser-known development was the "Josephson effect", which allows the construction of semi-conductors from superconducting materials. Thus, electrical circuits can operate without "Luciferic" heat, and Ahriman, whose nature is "freezing cold", can completely enter into electrical devices. As superconducting computers become more common, Ahrimanic beings higher than "elementals" might actually incarnate in them, since no physical energy is consumed in a superconducting circuit. (Ahrimanic "elemental spirits" inhabit our artificial machines, just as normal "elementals" [or "nature spirits": gnomes, undines, sylphs, salamanders] work in and throughout the living processes of Nature.) Black sums up: "Sunless light and Wordless logic intertwined, and out of them came the computer." Thus, while Ahriman incarnates "microcosmically" in a human body, we might also face the "macrocosmic" literal incarnation of Ahriman in our machines."

    The forces of Pluto are very tied in with this entire predicament because as humanity became aware of it and its archetypal qualities great shifts in social and technological evolution have occurred which have and still are proceeding to completely change humanity and all life on earth. Pluto is now not considered a planet, though its use in modern astrology is still very prevalent. Quoting from A to Z Horoscope Maker and Delineator, "Pluto in classical mythology was the god of the outer regions, the ruler of the dead... He is represented in gloomy majesty, his forehead shaded by his hair, and with a thick beard. In his hand he holds a two-forked scepter, a staff or a key; by his side is Cerberus. He is often accompanied by his wife, Persephone. (Cerberus, the dog-monster of Hades is described as having three heads, a serpent's tail, and a mane of snakes... In the oldest Greek mythology the House of Hades was a place neither of reward nor punishment; it was simply the home of the dead, good and bad alike, who led a dim or shadowy reflection of life on earth; akin to what is now termed the astral plane. Pluto was simply the ruler of the house of death; in no sense was he depicted as the tempter or seducer of mankind, like the devil of Christian theology. Pluto was certainly depicted as stern and pitiless, but he was only so in discharge of his duty as custodian of the dead."
   As presider over the dead and death, Pluto/Hades/Ahriman thus holds the Key of the Dead and the realm of the Duat or Daath (DUAT = DAATH). This is precisely what Artificial Intelligence and Life-extension typical of our modern age are dealing with getting control of. The obvious problem, however, is that one cannot even begin to understand the mystery of Life and Death from purely materialistic means as the processes of Life and of Death are themselves not purely material. The same things Rudolf Steiner and others anticipated regarding the micro-(Individual) and macro-(collective) aspects of this situation were already beginning to manifest in his time and in an extremely overt form as the National Socialists and other forms of Totalitarian communal forms of thinking. It is apparent that while the overt nature has been transformed, much has merely become covert and various academic, governmental and even seeming/alleged 'grassroots' organizations are still authoritarian based hierarchies which can often to be found to be different forms of the same things each answering back or in some way greatly influenced if not directly informed by the same sources. The author James Webb has written two historical volumes on this aspect of history The Occult Underground and The Occult Establishment. See also Occult Theocrasy by Edith Star Miller who catalogs many of the major past and extant Orders and Organizations which have each worked in some way to help build the current governmental and religious systems we still use today.

by Winsor McCay

   The outcome of this is a hierarchical Occult Technocracy. Technocracy is defined as a term used to describe an organization structure or system of governance where decision-makers are selected on the basis of technological knowledge. The term technocracy derives from the Greek words τέχνη, tekhne meaning skill and κράτος, kratos meaning power, as in governance, or rule. William Henry Smyth, a Californian engineer, is usually credited with inventing the word "technocracy" in 1919 to describe "the rule of the people made effective through the agency of their servants, the scientists and engineers", although the word had been used before on several occasions. This would imply a great degree of compartmentalization and therefore control which is, as history shows, liable to become antithetical to civil rights and liberties. If the various forms of authority shift to become artificially proscribed such as by technological /computer systems and statistical information then it will effectually become even more occulted by eventually surpassing and possibly obsoleting the humans it was designed by and for.

    This is more likely to occur in the near future as virtually everything from communication, education, healthcare and governmental systems become increasingly digital and computer-based than the more feasible 'Technocracy movement' at first set forth by Howard Scott which proposed replacing politicians and business-people with scientists and engineers who had the technical expertise to manage the economy and shifting the monetary system to a credit or 'energy' based system. "At the core of Scott's vision was "an energy theory of value". Since the basic measure common to the production of all goods and services was energy, he reasoned "that the sole scientific foundation for the monetary system was also energy", and that by using an energy metric instead of a monetary metric (energy certificates or 'energy accounting') a more efficient design of society could be made." This was, however, before the computer age commenced and there were many problems with the Technocracy movement that would have lent it open to a wide range of possible outcomes but it eventually disbanded and lost momentum in the 40's.
The movement was originally banned in Canada for its opposition to the war efforts at the time and it is quoted: "Our opposition to the Nazis," Scott said, "is not merely on the basis of ideology, but because Germany is built largely on human toil and ours is a power and extraneous energy society." But there were no tears for the dead and dying on either side. "Technocrats," said The Chief, "are not filled with any love of humanity or influenced by any ethical idea, but are primarily concerned with function." This still seems to be the prevailing notion which is completely Ahrimanic in essence and outward appearance.

Notice how the effect of architecture, i.e. Masonry, creates a great deal of
an effect on the psyche of the individual and the masses. Smooth and rounded architecture such as the Goetheanum create more soothing and creative states of mind whereas architecture employed by the Nazis 'Totalitarian Architecture' is more rigid and stern, Ahrimanic in a sense.  Note that ART + ARCHITECTURE = 666, the number of the Sun, the Heart and the Psyche. 

   We already now do, for all intensive purposes, operate on a largely globalistic technocracy which operates irrespective of perceived borders where not only government officials meet and discuss things secretly but because of the internet ideas are able to flow pretty easily to everyone and each person is able to use it as an informational tool to the best of their ability. It is in this way we can see that 'authority' is a great illusion because those who may have great authority in one way such as among people in a certain subject may have absolutely none in another while he who has the least authority, knowledge or skill the other has is leagues above his supposed superior. A starving African child may be more dignified to lead a country than a rich man who has engorged himself on all he can. Someone in that situation however doesn't serve much of a 'function' however, so the ill-dignified useful idiot receives greater demand.
   Something which must be understood as the key point regarding the Ahrimanization of the human condition is that there is a definitively noticeable and traceable demarcation of an outside force working through people and events in the course of the historical unfoldment of this 'current', zeitgeist, or situation. There are overt indications that this is a covert 'alien', or in other terms qliphothic manifestation emanating through our own personal and collective 'shadow', i.e. the things we ignore, repress, condemn, judge, dismiss, manipulate, subjugate, etc. It seems to be manifesting at a maximized level presently in various ways through the media from music (especially Pop, Electronic, Metal), television shows and movies (from animes to big screen Hollywood movies), as well as the military-industrial complex and as mentioned before, the supposed 'healthcare industry'.
     One other thing to note regarding all of these superficially pleasant but intentionally systematic programs is that if they were really as beneficial and progressive as they claim then the same scripted individuals and organizations promoting things such as Agenda 21, Gun control and transhumanism in general is that if they truly 'cared' for progress, evolution, or even just the people they want to use as essentially slaves we wouldn't be spending more money on weaponization, surveillance and censorship than feeding the poor, helping the homeless - much less veterans even, or lower class citizens - and they wouldn't be arming virtually every national enemy from the Mexican drug cartel to Israel to Hamas and Hezbollah. The ignorance or downright acceptance of this is also very Ahrimanic and inhuman. Such is the nature of the guiding forces working through and behind the lower nature and carnal drives of mankind which can reach to monstrous proportions and used to manipulate and maneuver entire populations of people. 

   In other words, the 'Hive Mind' which is increasingly gaining strength as well as physical externalization in a modern (i.e. technological) way is not completely being directed by Anthropic or Human volition, but as well by various qliphothic forces emanating from the entitized adversarial Shadow known as Ahriman (the anti-humanity or Antichrist, the forces of self-destruction) and forces beyond the Anthropic and Ahrimanic which would be termed the 'aliens', the Outer Ones and Great Old Ones which are fighting for the direction of mankind takes, either furthering our Spiritual Advancement or collapsing again as 'the Fall' into Ahrimanic entropy. The Outer Ones ([Negative] Archons, Asuras, 'Demons') are of course those who would benefit from our being more 'tool'-like, preferably more artificial or at least controllable. The Great Old Ones (Buddhas, Boddhisattvas, 'Archangels') desire our advancement as conscious, autonomous rather than automatic sovereignty - which comes at a great cost and effort. 
    The 'cure' would of course obviously be to do the Great Work, the individual process of Initiation and self-enlightenment not based on any external authority, but grounded and balanced within and without through experiential perseverance and ruthless compassion, to use the words in which Soror 722 once put it. The only way to 'convince' anyone to do the right thing and begin to find their own True Will is to try and teach them by example. Only in that way will the driving force in them awaken if it be there at all for them to respond and act on their own accord otherwise any attempt at pointing the way will only push them further away. The Spiritual and Occult Science as developed by Rudolf Steiner, as well as the Mystical & Magickal system of the A∴A∴ (and its Outer counterpart, the O.T.O.) were and still are only in their infancy and have great work to do if they are to arise beyond the lazy and stagnant pull of the Qliphothic and Ahrimanic enticements and glamours with which it has slowly but surely sloped into. Major keys are being revealed at the present time not only to me but various other Adepts who are working to use them to defuse and disengage the mechanizations and machinations behind this situation and it is important not to engage much of these Ahrimanic and ultimately parasitic distractions which manifest in a number of ways, from overt media crap to eerie 'spooks' or frustrations.

   The concept of the Dhyani-Buddha Akshobhya is a useful tool to evoke as he represents the Immoveable Mirror.  According to Buddhist legend, a monk wished to practice the Dharma in the eastern world of delight and made a vow to think no anger or malice towards any being until enlightenment. He duly proved "immovable" and when he succeeded, he became the buddha Akshobhya. I have already written about the symbolism and usefulness of the Mirror as a magickal and mystical tool in The Mirror Working, and Ahriman being an ancient form equated with the Vampire or 'Zombie', the 'Undead' ruler of the Dead, the Mirror is the primary tool of qliphothic evocation and vanquishing. The Mirror, in fact, as symbolic of the 'glass ceiling' of Daath, is the gateway of the Ruach between Daath and Malkuth, the Gate of Manifestation which is 'THE O', 89, the number which troubled Aleister Crowley and refers to the Hebrew concept of the GVPh, the 'place between incarnations' or 'The Treasury of Souls'. The 'Discourse on the Eight and the Nine' has also already been analyzed in The Faculty of Abraxas, and deals with the notion of the Astral and Magickal Light of Being (Within/Mystical) and Ex-istence (Without/Magickal). The awakening of this 'Lost' and 'Hidden' Occult Science is now occurring and is probably going to be a singularly important key to balancing the Luciferian and Ahrimanic impulses which are reaching fruition.

References and Links

The Ahrimanic Deception - Rudolf Steiner

Christ in Relation to Lucifer and Ahriman - Rudolf Steiner
The Advent of Ahriman: An Essay on the Deep Forces behind the World Crisis - Robert S. Mason
The Computer and the Incarnation of Ahriman - David B. Black
What the Financial Newsletters Leave Out - Trevor James Constable
AHRIMAN (Angro-mainyush; identical with Satan, the Devil, Armilus) - JewishEncyclopedia.com