PSYCHIC VIRTUE VIS-À-VIS SOMATIC VICE

1. There are, as we have seen, four types of virtue - metachemical, chemical, physical, and metaphysical, which therefore range across the elements from fire and water on the objective, or female, side of life to vegetation and air on its subjective, or male, side, the side in which virtue is primary. All virtue, however, is of the psyche, whether that psyche be secondary and female or primary and male, fictional or truthful.

2. Thus virtue is invariably divisible between form and contentment, ego and/or superego, viz. conscious and/or superconscious ego, and soul and/or id, viz. subconscious and/or unconscious soul. In those contexts where psyche is secondary to soma, form will be spiritualized as superego and contentment instinctualized as id, and accordingly be characterized by soma to an extent which renders them subordinate to the prevailing conditioning factors. In those contexts, by contrast, where soma is secondary to psyche, both form and contentment will be immune from any such conditioning and accordingly be free to take and/or be as ego and/or soul, since there it will be soma which is conditioned by psyche.

3. Therefore the secondary virtues of metachemistry, viz. beauty and love, and of chemistry, viz. strength and pride, will always be less virtuous than the primary virtues of physics, viz. knowledge and pleasure, and of metaphysics, viz. truth and joy - less virtuous, that is, in terms of their accruing to subverted types of form and contentment and accordingly being that which, in overall terms, is least content and less (relative to least) formal as opposed to more (relative to most) formal and most content. For metachemistry is that in which there is least contentment (love) and less (relative to least) form (beauty), and chemistry that in which there is less (relative to least) contentment (pride) and least form (strength), whereas physics is that in which there is most form (knowledge) and more (relative to most) contentment (pleasure), and metaphysics that in which there is most contentment (joy) and more (relative to most) form (truth).

4. In general progressive terms, therefore, formal virtue can be said to proceed from the least form (in strength) of chemistry to the most form (in knowledge) of physics via the less (relative to least) form (in beauty) of metachemistry and the more (relative to most) form (in truth) of metaphysics, as from the fourth-rate form of strength to the first-rate form of knowledge via the third-rate form of beauty and the second-rate form of truth, while, in contrast to this, contented virtue can be said to proceed from the least contentment (in love) of metachemistry to the most contentment (in joy) of metaphysics via the less (relative to least) contentment (in pride) of chemistry and the more (relative to most) contentment (in pleasure) of physics, as from the fourth-rate contentment of love to the first-rate contentment of joy via the third-rate contentment of pride and the second-rate contentment of pleasure.

5. Therefore while form and contentment are never more than third-rate in the secondary psychic contexts of metachemistry and chemistry, wherein psyche is informed, and consequently determined, by free soma, they are never less than second-rate in the primary psychic contexts of physics and metaphysics, wherein psyche is free from somatic conditioning and able to be loyal to itself as ego and soul in the interests of maximum psychic positivity, the sort of positivity that accords with knowledge and pleasure, or finite truth and joy, in relation to physics, and with truth and joy, or infinite knowledge and pleasure, in relation to metaphysics - the former being that in which form and, hence, the ego is consummate, the latter that in which contentment and, hence, the soul is consummate.

6. Contrary to all this, however, there are, as we have seen, four types of vice - metachemical, chemical, physical, and metaphysical, which therefore range across the elements from fire and water on the objective, or female, side of life to vegetation and air on its subjective, or male, side, the side in which vice is secondary. All vice, however, is of soma, whether that soma be primary and female or secondary and male, factual or illusory.

7. Thus vice is invariably divisible between power and glory, will and/or natwill, viz. unnatural and/or natural will, and spirit and/or subspirit, viz. supernatural and/or subnatural spirit. In those contexts where soma is secondary to psyche, power will be intellectualized as natwill and glory emotionalized as subspirit, and accordingly be characterized by psyche to an extent which renders them subordinate to the prevailing conditioning factors. In those contexts, by contrast, where psyche is secondary to soma, both power and glory will be immune from any such conditioning and accordingly be free to do and/or give as will and/or spirit, since there it will be psyche which is conditioned by soma.

8. Therefore the secondary vices of physics, viz. ignorance and pain, and of metaphysics, viz. falsity and woe, will always be less vicious than the primary vices of metachemistry, viz. ugliness and hatred, and of chemistry, viz. weakness and humility - less vicious, that is, in terms of their accruing to subverted types of power and glory and accordingly being that which, in overall terms, is least powerful and less (relative to least) glorious as opposed to more (relative to most) glorious and most powerful. For physics is that in which there is least glory (pain) and less (relative to least) power (ignorance), and metaphysics that in which there is less (relative to least) glory (woe) and least power (falsity), whereas metachemistry is that in which there is most power (ugliness) and more (relative to most) glory (hatred), and chemistry that in which there is most glory (humility) and more (relative to most) power (weakness).

9. In general regressive terms, therefore, powerful vice can be said to proceed or, rather, recede from the most power (in ugliness) of metachemistry to the least power (in falsity) of metaphysics via the more (relative to most) power (in weakness) of chemistry and the less (relative to least) power (in ignorance) of physics, as from the first-rate power of ugliness to the fourth-rate power of falsity via the second-rate power of weakness and the third-rate power of ignorance, while, in contrast to this, glorious vice can be said to recede from the most glory (in humility) of chemistry to the least glory (in pain) of physics via the more (relative to most) glory (in hatred) of metachemistry and the less (relative to least) glory (in woe) of metaphysics, as from the first-rate glory of humility to the fourth-rate glory of pain via the second-rate glory of hatred and the third-rate glory of woe.

10. Therefore while power and glory are never more than third-rate in the secondary somatic contexts of physics and metaphysics, wherein soma is informed, and consequently determined, by free psyche, they are never less than second-rate in the primary somatic contexts of metachemistry and chemistry, wherein soma is free from psychic conditioning and able to be loyal to itself as will and spirit in the interests of maximum somatic negativity, the sort of negativity that accords with ugliness and hatred, or infinite weakness and humility, in relation to metachemistry, and with weakness and humility, or finite ugliness and hatred, in relation to chemistry - the former being that in which power and, hence, the will is consummate, the latter that in which glory and, hence, the spirit is consummate.