Hermeticism

Today, I present an article by Nina Rudnikova titled "Transfiguration of Evil". It was written closer to the end of her life and is one of her more mature works. In it, Nina Rudnikova talks about the necessity of inner transformation for spiritual development. I find it interesting that she used the word "transfiguration", rather than "transformation" or "transmutation", which she knew as she used it in her other works.

To overcome earthly chaos and pave the way for a new era of cosmic cooperation, the convergence of worlds, and the refinement of heavy earthly materiality, human consciousness, and creativity must now rise to the challenge. To overcome earthly chaos is to solve the problem of earthly evil and stop the latter’s existence, or, as figuratively expressed in the Bible, to "crush the serpent’s head".

Transfiguration by Alexander Ivanov, 1824

What is the cause of the earthly chaos, and where did the earthly evil come from? The reason for objective chaos is the subjective chaos of our consciousness, and man himself caused the earthly evil to exist.

The task set before mankind is to transform the material of the earth through cultural construction into the highest state of spirituality, which corresponds to the place occupied by the planet in the general cosmic chain, to establish the Kingdom of God, to realize the spiritual capabilities of the Universal Good – this is the creative joy of humanity. But attachment to earthly things darkened human consciousness. Instead of the creative joy of their transformation, it reached out for the "happiness" of their possession - and creative will turned into desires ... Buddha said that desire is the cause of all suffering (earthly evil).

The desire for abstract or specific possessions is the poison that, during evolution, corroded human consciousness and, historically, unfolded into a long scroll of human crimes, vices, falls, and misfortunes which we collectively call the earthly evil. This evil created the earthly chaos, in which we are now suffocating. The wrong orientation of the human will, which chose slavish "happiness" of possessing earthly things (parts of public material entrusted to humanity by the cosmic hierarchy) to the free creative joy of labor for the Universal Good, gave rise to evil on earth and corrupted our personalities which are tools of conducting spiritual creative impulse.

Therefore, the root of evil is in ourselves and, indeed, the head of the serpent seducing Eve, i.e., The perceiving part of human consciousness rests within our consciousness of each of us, and we are all responsible for the evil of the world. Earthly evil - personified or not - is a conglomerate of the consequences and the result of countless accumulated mistakes of mankind that arose from the darkening of consciousness through self-inflicted wounds and false ideas, false worldviews, vices, and passions. The repeatability of the main features created their overall image. And since each of us hourly populates the cellars of the Subtle World with new residents, we can only transfigure evil in ourselves to overcome the earthly chaos that is the objective accumulation of karmic human evil.

All religions teach selflessness, for it tears the root of evil from the human heart and dissolves the objective accumulation of evil in the mental atmosphere of the Earth.

However, the principle of selflessness is difficult to understand and even harder to implement. Many think they act selflessly only to increase chaos with earthly fanaticism, imposing one-sided truths, resentment, and absurd claims. Many want to fix the world, but few wish to fix themselves for the Universal Good.

The question of the struggle against evil arises before every profoundly thinking consciousness. But, of course, at first, it is necessary to struggle with subjective evil in the form of negative personality properties, for pure work should be done with clean hands. But, while the hands are dirty, they cannot be used for objective construction because they will stain the stones.

The subjective struggle against evil is the largest, hardest, and most incredible feat, and to truly implement it and transfigure your consciousness – you must be able to take it. Many failures and disappointments are not due to a lack of desire or volitional tension – a lack of strength – but due to misunderstanding the problem and ways to resolve it.

Many think they are fighting evil by suppressing the manifestation of their bad qualities, but since every quality is power, the suppressed force accumulates its tension in the subconscious. Sooner or later, it will break through and flood consciousness like a wave, destroying the dams of good intentions. Therefore, suppression of one’s bad qualities is permissible only as the first stage of the fight against evil, which does not solve the problem or lead to the transformation of the personality. This is only the prevention of the manifestation of evil. But it potentially remains, as the negative qualities of consciousness, which, invisibly accumulating, can explode under suitable conditions.

The second stage, often considered the final approach to overcoming evil in oneself, involves purposefully developing good qualities to counteract the evil ones. For instance, a person with a bad temper works on becoming non-aggressive, and a miser learns to be charitable. However, according to the basic law of mechanics, neutralizing opposing forces can diminish the overall dynamism of one's personality when using only this method to combat evil.

This happens because a part of its volitional force goes to suppress the evil qualities, using one power to cancel out the other. But this method is necessary as the second stage of the problem. As a result, the personality is enriched through the acquisition and development of positive qualities that have been dormant in it. Nonetheless, it brings a departure from the world’s evil, the forces raging around us, and a partial loss of internal contact with others.

Although this method creates light and benign personalities, it cannot be considered exhaustive for the task. Each personality quality is primarily a power, an ability that exists in the consciousness for its creative manifestation. Therefore, each negative quality is a power or possibility falsely directed at wrong goals with incorrect motivations in the narrow framework of a low plane of consciousness. Therefore, each negative quality has a basis in positive, creative power.

Therefore, we should not suppress these powers, not throw away the possibilities like garbage, but transfigure them by giving them to the service of the Universal Good. We must transform the motives of all our activities and actions from narrow and selfish to a broad and selfless creative impulse for the construction of culture. The general spiritualization of consciousness will transform the qualities of our personality into positive, creative powers. If we throw them out only because of their incorrect use, we risk impoverishing and exhausting our personalities. Even vices indicate a wealth of personality, and if sublimated (or spiritualized) and correctly applied, they turn into virtues.

Only after consciously purifying and spiritualizing our consciousness with a voluntary dedication to serve an ideal can we proceed with the sublimation of individual qualities, viewing them as abilities and powers subject to transformation. Thus, mental vices are transformed, sublimating from touching to the spiritual ideal: doubt turns into a conscientious review of ideas and benign analysis of their mental energies; conceit - into an adamant faith in oneself, necessary for every builder; a tendency to speculation - into the flexibility of intelligence to find new combinations necessary in construction; cunning - into resourcefulness; tendency to lie – into imagination; frivolity - into the plasticity of consciousness and readiness to change the forms of labor easily; lying - into adaptability and the capability to shift consciousness into the psyche of its neighbor, and so on.

Vices and emotions undergo a transformation: the spirit of contradiction becomes independence; weakness turns into gentleness; apathy evolves into patience and humility; adventurism shifts into spiritual exploration; impudence changes to boldness; stubbornness transforms into determination and persistence toward creative goals; the sense of ownership develops into a sense of responsibility; jealousy converts into attentiveness; recklessness or hooliganism refines into measured courage; cowardice matures into caution; servility progresses into reverence; stinginess adapts into balanced prudence; and wastefulness is replaced by the ease of generosity, among other changes.

Character flaws can be transformed as follows: bad temper becomes righteous anger; irritability shifts into sensitivity; gloominess turns into restraint; sensuality, which reveals an abundance of creative energy wasted on a lower plane, evolves into a fiery creative drive on psychic and mental levels; laziness changes into tranquility; numb indifference develops into the freedom of non-attachment; a tendency for excitement transforms into a productive temperament; the inclination to self-medicate, rooted in dissatisfaction with oneself and others, converts into the ability to explore other worlds through yoga in search of the right paths and connections; and so on. Weakness of will, characterized by being torn between numerous desires, can be transformed into diverse expressions through devotion to an ideal.

Negative personality elements so transformed ascend into the spirit, becoming what they are and should be - the qualities and strengths necessary for cooperation in creating the Universal Good. Thus, service to the ideal defangs evil.

There is no concept of evil for the consciousness transfigured by selfless service; there are lower and higher forces, centrifugal and centripetal energies, coagulating and rarefying energies, and Jacob's Ladder of the universal hierarchy, where everyone fulfills their task in their place. In extreme cases, there are mistakes in applying powers and irregularity in manifesting creative capabilities.

The transfiguration of evil into creative powers and possibilities within one's consciousness is the Great Work of humanity. This is the aim of Ethical Hermeticism, and the teachings of Living Ethics focus on this very issue. By spiritualizing one's consciousness through service to an ideal and converting negative qualities into positive powers, one can experience a "rebirth", "put on a new self", and contribute to the Universal Great Kingdom of God. In Ethical Hermeticism, the phrase "He reigns with the sky and hell serves him" refers to a consciousness that has both begun and completed this transformative work, thereby mastering the powers of both the "above" and the "below".

Only such a consciousness will know how to transfigure the evil of the objective world into powers and opportunities that serve the construction of the Universal Good into that genuine cultural creation that will establish the Kingdom of God on Earth.