Reactions Towards Spiritual Awakening

Ang R.:

People who are Awakening experience discomfort, encountering barriers and lack of direction. We have been "domesticated" for so long, we fear the wilderness, and have lost some basic survival skills. But I believe that humans are not completely removed from their free and feral nature, and it is that collective memory of freedom that calls us to seek spirituality and higher planes of consciousness.

Nemesis Fixx:

That's very insightful, and makes me recollect the important theories concerning the place for religion and mysticism in modern man, put forward by the great psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung.

Thanks for sharing. Will revisit the article when I get more time.

The Power of Imagination is Illusion

To the physical causes which involved pretended sorcerers in deplorable errors, was added an auxiliary which alone is sufficient to produce the evil — namely, Imagination.

Such is its power, that some men have ascribed to its wanderings the origin of all magical illusions ; but this is going too far. Imagination combines the impressions it has received ; it does not create.

Imagination combines the impressions it has received ; it does not create.In the phantoms of sleep or the reveries of waking hours, it presents nothing which has not either been seen, or felt, or heard. Terror, melancholy, uneasiness, or preoccupation of mind, easily produces that intermediate state between waking and sleeping, in which dreams become actual visions.

-- The Occult Sciences

Real Magic is an Exact Science.

Magic, when limited to those results achievable in the subjective universe of it's practitioner by power of will or suggestion is undoubtedly easy to master and demonstrate. This is the lesser and ignoble form of magic - whose real results arise from the willingness of its target to subscribe to the illusion thus presented as reality by their sub-conscious mind. This form of magic is only good for the neophyte, the weak or good for those willing to only be entertained or awed by the power of their own minds. Its only attainable real results (if any) outside of the subjective universe occur as side effects of  the credulity in those affected.

Real Magic, is that exact science that enables the informed and learned practitioner to employ a definite and repeatable formula to achieve results in the objective and subjective universe by the power of their will to apply the formula and by actually applying the formula. This is the most powerful magic, and it's practitioners are bound to forever obtain their desired results, not because they posses superior wills, but because they've chosen to apply their will to apply an exact science in order to realize their results. And science if it is real science, doesn't fail them. Behold the new Ipsissimus.  The real student of magic must learn and master science, even if for the sake of realizing true magic.

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Reactions to these concepts are welcome, otherwise, let's get down to real work.

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Bon Firehead:

Excellent post. I must say your posts are well written, balanced and insightful.

I was thinking about similar issues of your first paragraph not too long ago. My thoughts were on why the movement of ‘mind power’ or ‘positive thinking’ are not treated more directly as a part of Magic. I see the mind power movement as a very large movement with many interested persons and practitioners all over the world. However, I have never encountered any occult based works which speak for any length about it. I believe this is an error in the occult field of work as I see the methods of mind power and the positive thinking movement inextricably entwined with magic.

You cannot have success in occult ritual without a positive attunement to the success of the operation.
Take for example a practitioner who performs a ritual to gain love. If the day after the ritual he entertains thoughts that he is somehow ugly and that this is a reason for his previous unsuccessful endeavors to find love, by the admission of these thoughts he has confused the ritualistic message he transmitted to the universe, in my belief, bringing the whole operation to naught. For he has now transmitted through mind ‘ugliness’ and ‘unsuccessful in love’ which will tend towards fruition the same as his transmission to bring love – in effect cancelling each other out.

I have personally made use of ‘positive thinking’ techniques to bring about incredible success in my life. To the detriment of making this post too long I will detail my experience for those who are interested.

Several years ago I moved to a regional location where jobs were scarce and I found myself working in insurance sales. Sales was never my thing, I had not worked as a salesperson before and I didn’t particularly want to work as one then! Soon after starting I was aware that my sales results were quite poor and realized the company was vigilant over poor performers. Basically, if your sales were low over a period of 3 months you were sacked. I was two months in with poor sales and staring down the barrel of unemployment. I decided to go to the library and get some books on sales techniques. I found a few which were relatively useless but I did find one book which intrigued me it was “Mind Power into the 21st Century”, what we would describe as a self-help or positive thinking manual. I set about employing two techniques straight away the first was a positive affirmation “Every day I sell more and more insurance policies”. The second was every time I had a negative thought such as “geez, what a bad day today” or “maybe I’m not cut out for this” etc. I would immediately destroy the thought by repeating the affirmation.

My sales at the company had consistently been 1-3 policies sold per day. One day a few short weeks after applying this technique I was leaving for the day and the sales manager said “How’d you go today” and I replied “Awesome, I had a fantastic day”, he said “how many did you get?”, and I replied “13”, he was shocked and wished me a good night. 13 was a huge number to sell in one shift. Any employee who sold more than 10 in a shift got an extra $50 bonus in their pay. It was going down in the lift to my car that night that it struck me, this was no coincidence, and this was a result of the positive thinking techniques I employed.

My success continued unabated for 3 years, all the while I used the technique. I rose to become one of the most successful sales people within the whole workforce of approx. 100 people. This also made me significantly more money than my base rate as commissions in insurance sales are attractive. The only thing I ever did to increase my sales was employ these two positive thinking techniques.

If I had of performed a magical ritual to obtain great sales results and then found I had achieved a 400% increase in sales I would have been over the moon. If we take Aleister Crowley’s definition of Magick as “the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with ones will”, what I was doing was a very successful form of simple magick.

I must say employment of these techniques was not easy. It takes considerable effort to be vigilant in applying discipline to your thoughts over a long period of time. The mind is a complex thing and is too ready and willing to offer up reasons and explanations for poor results or failure. It is much easier to rationalize the reasons for failure than to reject them and assert a different reality than the one you’re currently experiencing.

I think occultists shy away from what is commonly labeled as ‘positive thinking’ and self-help manuals of all sorts. Occultists would be more comfortable embracing the notion of ‘discipline of the mind’ which is really what these techniques are.

I posit that these techniques ‘positive thinking’ or ‘discipline of the mind’ (whichever label is put on them) are essential and rudimentary but powerful techniques for all magicians to be aware of and employ.

Nemesis Fixx:

+Bon Firehead Thanks. As you have made it known, am also just "Another seeker on the path". What we seek is truth, and its majestic application to one's will. Take from it what you can.

Otherwise, concerning Positive Thinking as a form of magic, in my opinion, you can't be more right, and am grateful someone (you) has brought this up for the benefit of many. What I think the problem is with popular occult paradigm is that most literature tends to focus on the "fantastic" results of magic - most people that come to magic for serious reasons often focus on the Black Arts and forget or take for granted another important form of magic, White Magic (RHP or whatever notation is fit). IMO positive thinking and self-help work is really a form of White Magic. The reason I want to believe this is? To me, Black Magic is predominantly destructive magic while White Magic is constructive. Both are important and both ought to be learned.

If you think of Magic/Occult in light of Maslow's theories of human needs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs) - a very powerful theory IMO, you'll find that it's almost impossible for a sentient human to escape seeking the fulfillment of these "instinctive needs", among which the highest is self-actualization (those in the positive thinking camps already know why this is important). The only other important thing concerning his theory that is found to be lacking being the instinctive need to live socially - a need as important to humans as many other basic ones. Thus I can argue that constructive forms of magic are the kind that allow us to attain the highest need of man - self-actualization, and these forms of magic are indeed simple positive thinking and self-help.

To share my limited experience too [am not yet past 50 :-) ]:
One of the books that had a very deep impact on who I am and how I've managed my way through life is an "ancient" (from 1919) called "The Power of Will" by Frank Channing Haddock, MS., PH.D. It's most important chapter to me being "The Will and Success". This little book reinforced the ideas of positive living and thinking that'd picked up from my earlier days as a Catholic Charismatic and lessons learnt from A.Crowley's "Magic Without Tears". Take for example this excerpt from that book, a letter he was sending to Carol:


------------
Cara Soror,
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Much thought has gone into the construction of your Motto. "I will become" can be turned neatly enough as "Let there be;" by avoiding the First Pronoun, one gets the idea of "the absorption of the Self in the Beloved,"
------------
Note how Crowley's extrapolation of the principle of self-actualization leads into the ability to create outside of oneself! A very important lesson to the student of the occult, who ought to learn that before you can seek to create in the objective universe (the second form of magic I talked about), it's important to first create in the subjective universe (the first form of magic) - your mind, your self must first "become" that which you will and then can you proceed to create change in the world outside of yourself - the objective universe, as you will.

Let me not protract this discussion aimlessly, and simply say - The definite formula doesn't exclude changing thy self, it requires it. If you seek positive results, expect and require positive changes in thyself, if you require negative results, expect and require negative changes to thyself.

Thanks +Bon Firehead.

Bon Firehead:

Awesome points, all of them! I agree wholeheartedly.

Thanks for that book tip. I will check that out one day. Yes I agree there can be much to gain by wading through the 'self help' genre. I remember being blown away by Napoleon Hill's classic "Think and Grow Rich". There's a chapter in there where he advocates the construction of an imaginary council meeting with a group of people you admire (leaders in your field of interest) called "Invisible Councilors". You create a meeting in your mind with these people you admire and speak to them and receive their guidance. In essence this is a form of mental mediumship - In a self help book!

Thanks again for another elucidatory contribution+Joe Willrich Lutalo . 

True Essence of Mating Species

If the only metric for survival of man as a species is ability to mate, then a couple of fundamentals that I deem important to note are:


1. That for a female species, their only means of survival is intrinsically embedded inside of their very material being - their body holds that essence that makes or breaks their survival. It's the reason physical beauty is enough to secure survival for a female species.


2. That for male species, their only means of survival is external to their physical being - it's something in their spirit / intellect. It's an essence that can't be seen nor judged by mere inspection of the male body, but something that must be discovered only through close and careful inspection of the male's intellect and character.


It's the reason males can judge a suitable female species by mere inspection of her appearance, while females require not only time, but patient study of their males in order to determine who the real winner is - assuming they are not in a rush to mate (e.g desperate women in their mid-age that haven't yet secured a relationship might desperately have to abandon all selection criteria and just go with whomever nature presents to them as possible male partner. This rarely happens for the male species, as they continue to seek ever more beautiful partners regardless of how much beauty they already have in their possession).

So, men learn to allow women to study you, allow them time to observe you and take you in.

Women on the other hand, ought to understand that they are intrinsically beings of such clear beauty that a mere inspection of their appearance is often all that counts for a male species to make judgement -  this criteria is not necessarily the one that delivers the best possible partners, but it's arguably the most natural and easiest selection technique available to the male species. So don't fight being sexually powerful on men - that's your ultimate God-given magic over the intellectually superior male species! A very potent magic that can foil the greatest intellects. So stop fighting your sexuality.

Infinite Money for a Finite Time!

We walk all our modern lives as sophisticated resource traders!

We must decide when to exchange our happiness for the happiness of others - with the promise that we'll get happiness some other time in the future as a return.


We must decide on whether we treasure time more than money or money over time


One thing is for sure - no matter how much money you make in a lifetime, the general amount of time you have available to you in a life time is ever finite regardless of the amount of money you can make.


Actually, it's theoretically possible to own an infinite amount of money- and it's possible, but it's out of question that one can even possess an infinite amount of time.


That money is limited is an illusion
The real scarce resource of any life is time.


So it makes sense to consider it more precious a thing to loose / waste than money.


Money lost can be regained
Time lost never returns!

A Scientific Basis for Magic?

"Modern psychology takes completely for granted that behavior and neural function are perfectly correlated, that one is completely caused by the other.  There is no separate soul or lifeforce to stick a finger into the brain now and then and make neural cells do what they would not otherwise.  Actually, of course, this is a working assumption only....It is quite conceivable that someday the assumption will have to be rejected.  But it is important also to see that we have not reached that day yet: the working assumption is a necessary one and there is no real evidence opposed to it.  Our failure to solve a problem so far does not make it insoluble.  One cannot logically be a determinist in physics and biology, and a mystic in psychology."
 -- D. O. Hebb, Organization of Behavior:  A Neuropsychological Theory, 1949

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Nemesis Fixx : 
What do you think has changed or stayed the same since then?


Van D:
We now know that neurons do not only interact bio-chemically, there are also some form of electric field coupling.

http://www.caltech.edu/content/neurobiologists-find-weak-electrical-fields-brain-help-neurons-fire-together

Which creates an additional vector for spirit to potentially interfere in bio-electro-chemical determinism.

Im still waiting for quantum mechanical phenomena to be discovered in the neurological machinery.  IMO anywhere that quantum indeterminism plays a role, magick has another doorway into reality.

Although a quick googling suggests no hard science has been discovered there yet, unlike the above-mentioned CalTech research into weak electrical fields of neurological origin providing additional neurological pathways.

Nemesis Fixx:
+Van D. Wow Thanks! That was a very informative article you posted!

"The perpetual fluctuations of these extracellular fields are the hallmark of the living and behaving brain in all organisms, and their absence is a strong indicator of a deeply comatose, or even dead, brain,"

"unexpected and surprising finding was how already very weak extracellular fields can alter neural activity," 

"Inside the mammalian brain, we know that extracellular fields may easily exceed two to three volts per meter. Our findings suggest that under such conditions, this effect becomes significant." 

Forgive me for wanting to make connections [this is the sin of the sentient :-)], but I would suggest that if we were to limit our definition of magic to "ability to manifest into the subjective universe reality by will", then these scientific results already give very good objective support for this form of magic.  

How? By one's willed induction of a particular "state of mind", one can generate a particular form of EEG waves, whose effects are not only noticeable to an external observer, but are strong enough to induce change in other parts of one's own brain - the said change in one's subjective universe.

Interesting.

Survival and Asceticism

Thoma Langley:

"We all know and, even if we are not personally concerned with the metaphysical, spiritual, and cosmological roots of the environmental crisis, we are nonetheless aware of the fact, that outwardly (I do not say inwardly) this crisis is driven by the modern economic system appealing to human passions, especially the passion of greed intensified by the creation of false needs, which are not really needs but wants. This is in opposition to the view which religions have espoused over the millenia, that is, the practice of the virtue of contentment, of being content with what one has. The modern outlook is based on fanning the fire of greed and covetousness, on trying to do everything possible to attach the soul more and more to the world and on making a vice out of what for religion has always been a virtue, that is, to keep a certain distance and detachment from the world; in other words, a certain amount of ascetism. There is a famous German proverb, 'There is no culture without asceticism': and this is true of every civilization. 

"We are living in the first period of human history in the West in which, except for a few small islands here and there of Orthodox or Catholic or Anglican monasticism and a few people who try to practice austerity, asceticism is considered to be a vice, not a virtue."
- Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Reference Document)

Van D:

Perhaps the older, slower, more substantial spirit of place to which you are accustomed and for which you apparently feel a natural desire, is simply evolving into something not to your personal liking.
Im sure the consciousness of rocks and trees see the human world as a dizzying blur, while they wonder why we won't just sit in one place for 500 or 5,000 years like they do.
The hummingbird going about his morning business, probably looks upon us conversely as sluggish behemoths.
Mighty as they were, even dinosaurs died when they could not keep up. I do not think that the evolution of the spirit of place is constrained to any one rate of change. Higher energies will naturally vibrate with less substance and inertia.
To a sylph, the world of gnomes would seem tediously slow and inflexible.

To a gnome, the world of sylphs must appear empty, insubstantial, and fleeting.
Neither is right, because both are only describing their negative experience as a projection upon objective reality.
Deny it all you like, but the very word "gentrification" is a projection of one's new found incompatibility with certain changes in one's surroundings.
I live near Silicon Valley. 50 years ago, that place was all citrus orchards. You can still find isolated remnants of that. It evolved, with a newer, different, and radically faster-paced spirit of place at a much higher vibration, giving rise to the Information Age, and allowing us to converse now in the this place and this manner.
Im sure the citrus farmers are saddened by that "gentrification", but dinosaurs need to die.

Nemesis Fixx:

+Van D. maybe I interpret you wrongly or not, but there's something I should ponder some more when I contrast your two statements:
"dinosaurs need to die"
and

"the consciousness of rocks and trees see the human world as a dizzying blur, while they wonder why we won't just sit in one place for 500 or 5,000 years like they do."
On the one side, a rock seated in one place for a 5 millennia exhibits slowness, no evolution but immortality. One the other hand, the fleeting hummingbird has a much shorter lifespan but "seems" to exhibit "super" and "attractive" abilities.

The Traditional Gnostic instruction means to deify man in a manner analogous to that of the rock, while our modern consumerist and technological instruction promises immortality as we adopt and adapt to life close to the speed of light..
There's something to admire in both. But which I'd chose over the other, am now to sure.

Thanks for the discussion though. 

Occult Resource

Allow me to guide your spirit here.

Nietzsche

God is Dead.
                -- Nietzsche
Nietzsche is Dead.
                -- God
Nietzsche is God.
                -- Dead

John Gray's Philosophy

Mankind has deluded himself by assuming that he's unlike the other species of this planet.

He has assumed (based on wishful thinking), that he's a forward-thinking beast, therefore he's an advancing species naturally. But, worse than Christianity's false promise of a better humanity (thanks to a big illusion man concocted - that the god of this cosmos chose to manifest as human - to save humanity), the Socratic dream and all dominant Western Thought have deluded us into thinking advancing in science and knowledge shall also advance us "fundamentally" as a species! This is the evil of Western Thought.

------

John Gray's pessimism aside, It remains to be seen whether the advent of wide-spread genetic engineering, man-machine hybridization and the advent of the AI singularity wont actually advance man as a species - I believe that if we as man wont advance, technology shall alter us - it remains to be seen whether we shall be altered for better or worse.

It's this optimism, of a technology that might help man surpass his natural limitations, that ought to drive science forward. I share in this dream, and notice that for those looking to other sources of progress, they are the victims of Gray's relentless scourge.

John Gray's philosophy probably serves to emphasize the point that - science had better be right or we'll see worse downfall for humanity than religion has spurred over the centuries.

The Faith is Individual, The Faith has no Authority

It is an unfortunate fate we grow into - to be born into a system of faith we don't necessarily consent to, but one we must belong to by virtue of our parent's own lack of better judgement or enslavement to other people's ideals. I would envision a time when children had to grow up first, then presented with the multitudes of choices and ideals, decide from their own judgement, whether to make their own poison or pick from the shelf. That time is long gone most likely.

Who is the authority on faith? Who can claim to know (ha, "know"!) what the "true faith" is? It's like claiming to know the extent of the infinite if I should employ a spatial analogy. Who has fooled both himself and his congregation about being in the know about the attributes and essence of that which can't and doesn't seek proof? Who are these fools? Claiming to have amassed knowledge and degrees on matters of "faith"? Pathetic sheep we must be, under the guidance of much more deluded and blind shepherds!

We are a finite being, attempting to arrest and own knowledge of the infinite! Surely, faith should be our best friend, our only authority on matters beyond science and logic. But faith is faith - to be taken as such and no more! For those whose eyes deliberately chose to look at their tables, feet and arms and no further, let the faith of their breadwinner define their horizon. But for the ubermensch willing to seek faith at the horizon of their own experience, a point beyond which it surely makes no more sense to measure, deduce or infer, let no fool try to offer authority on what the shade of the void ought to be.

On the matter of "faith that comes from God", something others refer to as revelation, it's only a power-hungry, cunning, deceitful and probably greedy entity that'll claim to represent God and faith from It to the often unsuspecting and helpless herd. Attempts by such, to the awakened faithful, shall always meet with resistance, shame or even violence, as it is known to these few that these are matters on "faith that only come from God" to each and every particular man as the two of them find fit, and no third party can claim to witness nor be an authority over this communion that seeks nor can't be demonstrated. This is my faith, and I shall own it.

Hacking Under Capitalism's Yolk

Am not out to own the world, but if I can get the little things to make me happy along the way, then happiness is my journey while putting out my best possible.

Capitalism is evil intrinsically, but is an unavoidable evil in this world of a greedy mankind.

We need a few deviant souls, willing to work for works own sake, for man to evolve positively.

The Curse of Being God

What would you do once you became God or what would you do differently and why? Now, put that model of yours in a ring with the world as we know it, and tell me the outcome.

Philosophy Without Words?

That words on their own have no meaning outside of context, and that truth is to be found in the langue (signified) and not the parole (signifier). That if I say, "I think, therefore I Am", that's absolute emptiness outside of the right context or without reference to the actual signified essence.

Clearly, I see the fate of universals and what would become of debate and communication? A mere drama of  eventual agreement/disagreement based on faith?

As I have said previously, only by faith can we the finite claim to grasp absolute essence, and in this light, I see a death for philosophy as we know it (and all communication between finite beings). Unless of course  we agree to limit ourselves to relative essence, in which case we attain a philosophy higher than rhetoric but still much below truth.

The invention of symbol has been to me one of our best as a species wishing to relate.

A Simple Happy Life

One said that Truth hurts, the other that Ignorance does. Does it hurt if I don't even know the difference between the two?

If a baby were to be left on its own just an instant after birth - left alone to start all by itself, would it survive entirely on its own? Okay, assume it's not some microbial thing, and it's a human baby, then what?

Does the baby want to survive or do we just suppose this on its behalf? Oh, and you are probably right about that "as the parent, I have the will to see my own survive", does the baby share in that will?

Someone said that we are born into captivity, and I think they were right. I additionally think that my will as a baby must have been to break free from that captivity - the unconscious will that up until when I started evolving, guided my notion of what Truth is. So, here I am in my possibly relative state of freedom, should I continue to hold onto those Truths I survived by assuming survival is no more my will?

A stochastic life is not desirable to a man that must survive (as this puts fate on a mystical pedestal), but what of the rational, deterministic man? Do they control their fate? Or is it that they simply live a simpler and happier life just because they've disciplined themselves to accept their rigorous and elaborate illusion for a law of survival and only take advantage over their chaotic comrades by mere nature of their instability?

I prefer living the simpler, happier life. A life where there's a convincing illusion I can readily accept as a law of survival. Occam's razor is a handy tool in the life of a happy man, Einstein's razor makes it plausible that this happiness shall live long enough to see me through today.

Basic Inquiry

Is Truth something real that we can attempt to find or just a useful illusion only as necessary as the limitations at hand?

You wake up to a certain knowledge of Truth, then what?

Would acquisition of Truth advance you or detract from you?

Does it change anything if you gradually work towards Truth?

What is Truth?

What is Truth as you have been taught?

What is Truth now?

What was Truth in the past?

What shall be Truth tomorrow?

Is Truth real or just a useful illusion?

The inquiry is both basic and painful,  what is my limitation to executing this inquiry?

Am living in a rush-hour world, where taking any time off the normal capitalist schedule, to ponder the basic inquiry is unfit or wasteful. Either because the inquiry is no more necessary, or the necessary tragedy is yet to come - what is the individual to do when they find themselves in the empty room?