Magical Musings on Annihilation Part II: Self-Destruction
Self-destruction is a major theme in Annihilation. In the movie, self-destruction refers not just to the destruction of aspects of yourself, but also of aspects of your life. This includes things like your career, your relationships, your family, etc. For reasons that will become clear later on, self-destruction is also a concept that Bardonists should reflect on. In fact, the very first astral exercise of IIH has you making a list of all your negative self-destructive tendencies. Before I discuss negative self-destruction, I want to point out that self-destruction is not always negative. Sometimes it is positive. When we "destroy" detrimental aspects of ourselves (e.g. bad habits or addictions) or destroy toxic aspects of our lives (e.g. toxic relationships), we are doing ourselves a favor. Note that I put the word "destroy" in quotes. Rawn would probably find this word problematic, preferring instead to use words like "transform" or "transmute.&qu