To Ask is to be Denied: August 10, 2015
In an earlier writing, Magick and Prayer, written almost 15 years ago, I explore the differences and similarities of magick and prayer. The most useful conclusion I drew at the time was, "The most distinctive difference I can find seems to be that Magick involves the actual transformation of energy mediated by the Magickian."
I noted the Christian bible's saying, attributed to Jesus, of "ask and you shall receive" and contrasted that with turn-of-the-century artist and occultist Austin Spare's quote from "THE BOOK OF PLEASURE (SELF-LOVE). THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ECSTASY", in the section subtitled "DIFFERENT RELIGIONS AND DOCTRINES AS MEANS TO PLEASURE, FREEDOM AND POWER", Spare's comment on prayer, "Others believe in prayer ... have not all yet learnt, that to ask is to be denied?"
To understand what Spare meant by that is to undergo a journey in understanding Spare's Magick itself. I will not try to summarize it here, and it is interpreted and understood by many of those who have studied Spare in different ways. Briefly, however, it could be said that some of Spare's methodology could be considered an "asking" through sigils and sacred letters, a "disguised" asking where the "asking" is kept concealed from the conscious mind and driven deeply into the subconscious.
Instead I invoke Spare's own "Neither-Neither" principle from the section of the Book of Pleasure, "Transgressing Conception by Lucid Symbolism." (by the way, the uppercase lettering above is Spare's, not mine, from an original edition.)
It begins thus, "Man implies Woman, I transcend these by the Hermaphrodite, this again implies a Eunuch; all these conditions I transcend by a 'Neither' principle, yet although a 'Neither' is vague, the fact of conceiving it proves its palatability, and again implies a different 'Neither'."
"But the 'Neither-Neither' principle of those two, is the state where the mind has passed beyond conception, it cannot be balanced, since it implies only itself. The 'I' principle has reached the 'Does not matter-need not be' state, and is not related to form. Save and beyond it, there is no other, therefore it alone is complete and eternal'."
So lets play with that within the context of "magick and prayer."
"Ask and you shall receive", following Spare's logic, "implies" (as above) "ask and you shall not receive", or restated as Spare did, "to ask is to be denied." Using the Neither principle we arrive at "Ask and you shall neither receive or be denied." We may already be at the place of the "Neither-Neither" principle, but let's follow the logic, then, and attempt to to restate it as "Ask and you shall neither receive nor be denied" with its opposition being "Ask and you shall receive and be denied" which both become nonsensical statements. Given that these last two examples are nonsensical, I revert then to the earlier statement, "Ask and you shall neither receive or be denied", which seems to have already achieved the "Neither-Neither" principle.
So what do we do with that? In the earlier writing, Magick and Prayer, I was left with a somewhat vague "ask and you may receive." I guess you could attempt to "Neither-Neither" that with "ask and you may not receive" which is then opposed by a "Neither-Neither principle" resulting in "Ask and you may neither receive nor be denied", which is essentially the same as the last sentence in the previous paragraph. So here we appear to be going into a circular loop in the process of "Transgressing Conception by Lucid Symbolism."
Perhaps, then, "ask and you may receive" has already achieved the Neither-Neither principle, and at least makes common sense, easily tested. I suspect, then, that "ask and you may receive" has already achieved the "Neither-Neither" principle, but I am not sure that "The 'I' principle has reached the 'Does not matter-need not be' state, and is not related to form. Save and beyond it, there is no other, therefore it alone is complete and eternal'." Maybe "Ask and you shall neither receive or be denied" comes closer.
Perhaps it has? I suspect Spare's means of Sigils and Sacred Letters, rather than prayer as a simple "asking", is a surreptitious method of "asking" without asking. I leave you here, and for now I will maintain my previous statement of "ask and you may receive", with the addendum of "ask (surreptitiously) and you (with greater economy of energy and time) may receive."
Axis