Creative Destruction as Spiritual Practice

The Elemental Drives are energies that must be kept in balance. But the balance practice always starts within.

Prayer of the Elements

When we become too ambitious, summon the dragonfly, butterfly, and moth.
When we become too angry, summon the scarab, dragonfly, and butterfly.
When we become too libertine, summon the scarab, butterfly, and moth.
When we become too morose, summon scarab, dragonfly, and moth.

Throw a stone into a group of men, and you are likely to hit one with a strong disposition to fuck, fight, or fabricate. Without such, you’ll find a man of weakness, impotence, and cowardice.

Throw a stone into a group of women, and you will likely hit one with a strong disposition to flirt, fawn, or facilitate. Without such, you’ll find a woman of coldness, sneering, and apathy.

To sum up masculinity in a word, it would be forcefulness.
To sum up femininity in a word, it would be flow.

Whether one is a man or a woman, he or she must remember the animus and anima. That means both energies live in all of us as they live in the All.

The All is the Law.

זעיר אנפין ומלכות

Consider an orthogonal energetic duality—Eros, the life force that drives creation and procreation, and Thanatos, the death drive seeking destruction and dissolution. It can be tempting to think of creation as good and destruction as evil, but the wise know creation can be evil and destruction can be good.

Wisdom lies in discernment.

When the spectra intersect, a sacred matrix representing balance is formed. From masculine to feminine and Eros to Thanatos, we arrive at the Elemental Drives:

1. Eros Masculine (Earth)
   The urge to exert control, build, or force your way.
   Make it so.

2. Thanatos Masculine (Fire)
   The urge to annihilate, end, or destroy.
   End it now.

3. Eros Feminine (Water)
   The urge to flow, to persuade, and facilitate.
   Let it flow.

4. Thanatos Feminine (Air)
   The urge to rest, to let go and end things.
   Let it go.

The wise seek balance among these Forces. Imbalance means an unhealthy excess of one or more quadrants.

When the masculine energies of control and destruction are in excess, the feminine energies cannot flow. Such gives rise to a misguided belief that a central authority can and should control a complex system, or worse, that a complex system should be made into a simple one to control it.

But complexity requires the feminine, as does nature.

The Age of Complexity demands that we embrace not rigid control but a balance of force and flow, beginnings and endings. We need the Eros Feminine to nurture new systems of emergence and spontaneous order. We need the Thanatos Feminine to whisper: Let go of oppressive, outmoded, or corrupt systems.

Of course, the masculine has a role in providing stable foundations or logical protocols that enable spontaneous complexity to emerge. But masculine and feminine must return to balance, which means that each must rein in the other’s excesses.

An imbalance favoring the feminine will result in unruly chaos. An imbalance favoring the masculine will result in mass compulsion

Both creation and destruction have healthy and unhealthy expressions. An overbearing Boy Pharaoh reveals an excess of Eros Masculine as he builds his legacy on the backs of slaves and conquered territories. An inspiring leader exemplifies a healthier expression, bringing out the generative contributions of those following him.

Excess Thanatos Masculine might impel a leader to assassinate or jail his political rivals. Another who quickly ends a dangerous escalation walks a wiser path.

We must not fail to accept natural endings with wisdom and grace. Thanatos Feminine shows us the way. But without restraint, Thanatos Feminine can manifest as apathy, melancholia, or nihilism.

When freedom becomes license, one indulges Eros Feminine irresponsibly. The healthy form nurtures responsibility by recognizing errors and practicing moderation or self-control in exercising freedom. Of course, we exercise freedom in a way that recognizes equal freedom and responsibility in others.

If we understand bringing the Elemental Drives into balance as a spiritual practice, we are not just controlling our emotions. Through force and flow, we are tearing down and building up—letting go and letting flow—aspects of ourselves. Such facilitates the destruction and renewal of ourselves as we become.

Creative destruction bursts forth in the dialectic between custom and change.

To balance the Elemental Drives, we must confront emotions such as anger or fear and continuously practice the virtues. We must resist enemies that wish to sell us security in exchange for freedom. And we must seek equipoise.

In the world around us, we cannot balance force and flow unless we first balance the Elemental Drives inside each of us. This takes frequent reflection and practice. But as we approach mastery, the power of our practice radiates outward as ripples on a pond.

As within, so without. As without, so within.

The way forward in times of oppression lies neither in fiery revolutions nor partisan retribution but in joining hands and slipping gently into the river at night. Let change’s dark waters flow over us and purify us of our rage.

Tomorrow, we will be new.

OG readers will notice this variation on Freedom is Feminine, which I am considering for inclusion in a new book. Let me know if you think this kind of evergreen content is valuable.