On Helping Our Future Selves Make Progress Along the Magical Path

 
As those who are called to the magical path, it is a good idea to make choices during our current incarnation to ensure that the circumstances of our life during our next incarnation will be conducive to making rapid progress along the magical path. This path, after all, is often one that is walked across multiple incarnations. In fact, I am aware of a few teachers who state that once you have stepped onto the magical path, you will always be on the magical path and there is no going back. I believe this to be true.

So, here are three things I've been doing throughout my life to help ensure that the circumstances of my life during my next incarnation will be conducive to making rapid progress along the magical path. 

1. Asking Mary to be my teacher during all of my future incarnations and to help me obtain the help and guidance I need during all of my future incarnations

Long ago, whenever I prayed the Rosary, I would begin the Rosary with the following prayer. 

Queen of the Holy Rosary, I offer you this Rosary and I ask that you please be my teacher, and that you please help me obtain the help and guidance I need. Amen. 

Then, one day, something happened that really woke me up to the fact that I wasn't going to live forever and that I would definitely need my teacher Mary's help just as much during my next incarnation as I do during my current incarnation. Really, you'd be surprised at how much one trip to the emergency room can facilitate your spiritual progress by opening your eyes and helping you see what you couldn't see before. But anyhow, after realizing that I wasn't going to live forever and that my stupid self would definitely need Mary's help during my next incarnation, I began using the following prayer instead. 

Queen of the Holy Rosary, I offer you this Rosary and I ask that you please be my teacher during my current incarnation and during all of my future incarnations, and that you please help me obtain the help and guidance I need during my current incarnation and during all of my future incarnations. Amen. 

I don't know what my next incarnation is going to be like. For all I know, thanks to all of the harm we are doing to the environment, my next incarnation could be spent in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Engaging in magical training while dealing with all of the issues that come with living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland doesn't sound easy. However, since the Mother of Good Counsel herself will be my teacher, I am not concerned. I know I will have the guidance I need to solve any problems that may appear in my life and overcome any issues I may encounter in my training.

2. Doing my best to make good use of whatever gifts and resources God has given me during my current incarnation

If I do not make good use of the gifts and resources God has given me during my current incarnation, then why would God give me any gifts or resources during my next incarnation? During my current incarnation, God has given me a lot of free time; I have a short commute to work and I don't have to travel far to get groceries or go to church, since the nearest grocery store and the nearest Catholic church are only two blocks from my apartment building. If I were to make bad use of all this free time, then God may not give me any free time during my next incarnation. How can I continue my magical training if I have no free time to practice magical exercises? One of the reasons I spend so much time praying the Rosary is that I know that praying the Rosary is always a good use of one's free time. On the other hand, whenever I am tempted to read a spiritual book, I have to really think about whether the time I spend reading the book would be better spent practicing the exercises of IIH or praying. 

During my current incarnation, God has also given me a lot of knowledge about prayer. Yes, I did work for this knowledge by studying the writings of the Doctor of Prayer (Teresa of Avila) as well as other masters of prayer like Theophan the Recluse and Nachman of Breslov. But, if it weren't God's will, I would not have understood anything I read, because just as all things are possible with God (Matt. 19:26), nothing is possible without God. Thus, all my knowledge about prayer is still a gift from God. I try to make good use of this gift by applying my knowledge while praying. However, this is only the second most important way in which I try to make good use of this gift. The most important way I try to make good use of this gift is by sharing it with others. As those who are subscribed to the Christian Hermetics email list know, a large portion of the emails I send deal with prayer. 

Just as all of my knowledge about prayer is a gift from God, all of the money I have ever earned ultimately also comes from God and is therefore also a gift from him. Unfortunately, I have made many unwise choices regarding how I spent my money during my current incarnation. For example, much of it has gone towards buying junk food for me to binge eat. I would not be surprised if I experience many financial difficulties during my next incarnation. The purpose of such financial difficulties would be to teach me the importance of making wise choices regarding how to use whatever resources I have, including money, since these resources are meant to support us in our endeavor to advance along the magical path and serve God. This is an important lesson for all people who walk the magical path to learn. The good news, though, is that I am currently doing a much better job of not spending my money on stupid stuff and sensory pleasures. While I previously used my money, this gift from God, to buy junk food that harmed my health, now I use my money to buy healthy foods that nourish me and give me the strength I need to practice the exercises of IIH and serve God. In other words, I am using the gift of money the way it was meant to be used. I'd say there is definitely hope for me. As long as one is still alive, there is still time to learn.

3. Expressing love towards others and learning to forgive others

In this article, I explain that walking the magical path inevitably involves dealing with difficult karmic challenges. The more negative karma you have accrued, the more difficult and the more numerous those karmic challenges will be. During my previous incarnations as well as my current incarnation, I did many things that generated large amounts of negative karma. If that karma doesn't kick me in the butt during my current incarnation, then it will surely kick me in the butt during some future incarnation. The New Testament teaches us that our negative karma can be dissolved if we forgive those who have harmed us (Matt. 6:12). It also teaches that our negative karma can be dissolved if we express love towards others (1 Peter 4:8). In order to save my future self from being overwhelmed by all of the negative karma I generated during my past incarnations and my current incarnation, I do my best to forgive those who have harmed me and to express love towards all people (including those who have harmed me).

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