The human person is made up of disparate elements. In our waking existence duality seems to come natural to our experience of life. Right and left, light and dark, up and down, in and out. At higher levels these distinctions are reconciled in a way that does not have the leveling effect of so many other human projects that have the same goal. Until then we should find use and make peace with the daily polarities in human life.

On a different note the East has often spoke of the tripartite nature of the human person. Body, soul, spirit. Soul here refers to the mental/psychic aspect of the human person. Within the tripartite nature of man there is also a duality of positive and negative. So within the person we find nested in each triune aspect a duality. As above so below each Templar discipline will have three couplets arising from the dense to the subtle addressing the polarity present in each level.

I briefly discussed asceticism as it relates to the corporeal level. The systems I mentioned are of course the ever increasingly omnipresent topics of diet and exercise. Hopefully familiarity will not breed too much contempt as they are important and vital undertakings but there is much more to be plumbed from the well of ascesis.

To speak of the asceticism of the psychic realm we should look at an expanding and contracting as it relates to human activity. Idle hands and silence. We all know what the realm of idle hands is

And each brother should ensure that the Enemy does not find him lazy, for the Enemy assails more boldly and more willingly with evil desires and vain thoughts and mean words, a lazy man than he does one whom he finds busy in good work. ~ Rule of the Templars 285.

One should plan their work on the beginning of the week setting out tasks to be accomplished. At least two or three tasks each day. These can be a combination of mundane necessities and tasks furthering various goals. Some type of device should be used to keep track of tasks and a daily schedule to stay and track and feel the effervescent rush of accomplishment and mitigate the looming specter of failure. On that note a word should be mentioned on the nature of goals. Scott Adams wrote on the idea of having systems not goals.

The gist of the article is that lofty goals set us up for failure by having failure as the default position by having everyday the goal is not accomplished looming in our minds as a setback by definition.

This article is just one amongst myriad “self-help” articles that indirectly address the need to navigate unconscoious influences and attempt to circumvent our own lack of self control. Don’t have sweets in the house if trying to lose weight, have an accountability partner and so on and so forth. What is left unsaid is that simple fact that we can’t do the things we wish to do purely of our own volition. Each situation is different and there are factors from genes, upbringing, lack of know-how, to the fickle whims of fortune. The reality is that we are not blank slates and no amount of inspiring montages will be able to overcome the fact that some avenues may in fact be closed to us. Less than 1% of kids who pick up a football will manage to make it to the NFL. Fewer than 1% of businesses manage to become wildly successful all due to various factors internal and external. Barring some lofty things that our beyond our capacities or even our interests there are various things that are seemingly in our power but are nonetheless thwarted. Once again, diet is a banal but egregious example and related to the theme of asceticism assuaging some of my guilt from bringing it up.

There are various factors that are blamed for the obesity crisis in America: poverty, ag subsidies, corporate greed, genetics and misinformation all arguably have some part to play. However, despite this a relatively healthy diet that could avoid transmogrifying into a Lovecraftian entity is more or less readily available to most people in the West. But it’s true that we among the ruins require active discernment and this has proved too difficult for most people as is readily apparent. Right now I’m simply pointing out things that are common knowledge but again what’s missing from these various narratives is that people cannot do the things they wish to do.

In the blasted barren landscape of the kali yuga to reach self-mastery requires above all awareness of self and surroundings. The modern individual is numbed by the myriad distractions and our natural inclination is to avoid pain and struggle at all costs. As one opens their minds to making the choices towards self-mastery they are confronted by the thousands of invisible needles that coincide with the path from numbness to awareness. One must have faith that the pain that one faces must be worthwhile and not an exercise in futility. The enemy must not find you lazy and the inertia must be overcome, and faith restored in our own efforts and that our actions matter however trivial they may seem.

Idle hand are the devils playground. This system within the Greek training will drive you forward but just as day is meaningless without night the act of work is an active element an imprint of the will on the world has a cohort that will allow it to flourish. For the mind to be cleared to take true action and to avoid the curse of idleness and keep the hands to the plow there must be silence. Take pause and wait for the topic of silence to spoken of with the reverence it deserves.