I just came across this today. Typically I wouldn't just post a link to this blog, but this seems worth advertising. Very interesting material on alchemy:
http://bookofaquarius.forgottenbooks.org/
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Saturday, September 10, 2011
The Difficult Marriage of Science and Spirituality
When modern "educated" people think of spirituality, they think of religion and all of its negative connotations, of crusades, dogmatism, the politics and scandals of the Catholic Church. Science, when observed as it actually is, not as its ideals, is spoiled by just as much dogmatism, politics and scandals. But here in this essay I will refer to science and spirituality in their ideal forms as simply different perspectives in observing the world and searching for truth.
One does not have have to travel far off the beaten path to come across information supposedly proposing ways to find harmony between the ideas of science and the ideas of spirituality. However, I am often very disappointed and frustrated at how counter-productively these ideas of harmony and union are expressed.
Once I came across an article on the internet about "the hidden brain". Obviously it was discussing the subconscious, and fortunately someone in the comments section pointed that out. He also pointed out that the term "the subconscious" has taken up some negative connotations and that is why they use "the hidden brain" instead. Terrible articles like that is why I am so skeptical when there are discussions about how humanity is advancing and evolving. Instead of developing ideas as far as they'll go, instead the same ideas get thrown out over and over again, repackaged and relabeled. Then when it is rediscovered, many people who notice this repackaging decide that that is reason enough to dismiss the idea.
One of my pet peeves is how near-death-experiences are described. They always make it sound like a once-in-a-lifetime experience that only happens to people who are sick or get into an accident. They are conflated with out-of-body experiences. The reality you do not have to be near-death to have these experiences. Many people, naturally or with training, can have out-of-body experiences at will whenever they want. But in the vast majority of articles on the subject, no mention is made of this whatsoever. The casual reader is left thinking, "that sounds cool to experience, but meh it will never happen to me".
I love the books by Robert Bruce, but they disappoint me too. His books about out-of-body-experience and energy work are the best, except he almost never mentions or refers to the traditions that have already discovered and described this kind of work. If you look in depth in the forums for his website or something, he will mention that he has studied and practiced a great deal along the lines of Franz Bardon's works, but he never mentions that in his books. In a way I understand, he wants to sell books, and reach an audience that believes that the occult is scary and evil and too hard. But still... I am disappoint. Divorcing practices from its history and symbols practically neuters it. No one technically needs to know about classic occult ideas and symbols, imagery, words of power, to experience astral projection, but using them can make the process far more efficient.
Then it boggles my mind how conspiracy theorists typically are so quick to completely dismiss anything related to magic(k) and the occult as devil-worship and mind-control. ("Conspiracy Theorists" has a negative connotation, okay, but some write sober well-researched and interesting books, I am talking about them.) They speak of the wool being pulled over humanity's eyes, but then turn their backs on the very tools that would give them the knowledge and power to overcome the pathocracy.
Recently I came across some videos called "Debunking David Icke". Ironically, it convinced me more than ever that David Icke is a worthwhile source of information. It went into detail about how he has downplayed his alleged communication with incorporeal entities, and how his ideas are similar to theosophical ones. Often I do not like the way he words things, but I can tell that he really gets it; He gets that physical reality is an illusion, and humanity is part of something much bigger. However, my main point is that David Icke yet another decent source of information that downplays his connection to taboo "occult" sources.
Another obstacle is just plain old lack of critical thinking and intelligence. If you look for evidence of alien abductions and UFOs, most of the time you come up with utterly worthless anecdotes about sleep paralysis or a picture of the sky with a smudge on it. The casual researcher will come to the conclusion that UFOs started appearing in the 1950's and evidence is slim. But that is ignorant nonsense. Meanwhile there is plenty of real evidence that does not get mentioned at all. There is a book I read called Operation Trojan Horse by John Keel. He gives information about incidents that conveniently get left out of newspaper articles about UFO sightings. There are countless incidents from all over history about flying saucers and meetings with strange humanoid beings. Evidence suggests that alien abductions and UFOs are just a modern manifestation/interpretation of age old demonological phenomena. If someone meets a strange creature they might call in an angel, ghost, demon, alien, fairy, elf, it depends on their mindset and preconceptions. The problem I mean to highlight here is that I have observed that even people who have read about good evidence do not favor that convincing evidence over "one time I got drunk and lost time" stories.
The other day I came across a video called "The Primacy of Consciousness". It was a presentation by one Peter Russell. It was interesting food for thought, but some of his main points were not logically sound. I found it particularly annoying how the audience kept laughing at or applauding things he said. It left me with the distinct impression they just liked his ideas because they support their feel-good new-agey beliefs, not because the reasoning is actually sound.
So I find this frustrating, science and spirituality could have gotten "married" a long time ago. So many people are just so unintelligent and close-minded, and then those in the know end up pandering to the unintelligent and close-minded. I get to wondering how humanity can ever evolve if we cannot put these two approaches to reality in harmony. But then, the voice I hear from within tells me that it's not that evolution is put on hold until this harmony is found, it is that this very process of finding that harmony is evolution in itself. The same phenomena on a different level is the lone yogi striving to join his prana and apana. Joining of male and female, solar and lunar, science and magic, all this is the same evolution reflected on different levels of reality. I think the image of an eclipse symbolizes this pretty well. This is what evolution is about. It's not about the end result, its about the journey. We should enjoy the journey, but personally... frankly, I do not.
My inspiration for this essay was a memorable experience. I just woke up in the morning feeling so energetic, and inspired, and I was flooded with ideas with theme of the marriage of opposites. After reading and writing for a while I decided to lie in bed, intending to rest, but instead the experience culminated in an emotional roller coaster ride. I got this intense but cozy feeling of finally "coming home". I thought about it and remembered that the idea of the marriage of opposites is associated with Mercury. I looked up the date and time and I was interested to see that the time I was in bed was almost precisely the hour of Mercury. Also note this was a Wednesday. It makes perfect sense that I would have such an intense epiphany on the subject during the day and hour of Mercury. I find it interesting how sometimes I can naturally feel what the current planetary hour is. In magic and alchemy there is often advice given to perform a ritual during the relevant planetary hour, but I have experienced that often things just happen that way seemingly by coincidence.
One does not have have to travel far off the beaten path to come across information supposedly proposing ways to find harmony between the ideas of science and the ideas of spirituality. However, I am often very disappointed and frustrated at how counter-productively these ideas of harmony and union are expressed.
Once I came across an article on the internet about "the hidden brain". Obviously it was discussing the subconscious, and fortunately someone in the comments section pointed that out. He also pointed out that the term "the subconscious" has taken up some negative connotations and that is why they use "the hidden brain" instead. Terrible articles like that is why I am so skeptical when there are discussions about how humanity is advancing and evolving. Instead of developing ideas as far as they'll go, instead the same ideas get thrown out over and over again, repackaged and relabeled. Then when it is rediscovered, many people who notice this repackaging decide that that is reason enough to dismiss the idea.
One of my pet peeves is how near-death-experiences are described. They always make it sound like a once-in-a-lifetime experience that only happens to people who are sick or get into an accident. They are conflated with out-of-body experiences. The reality you do not have to be near-death to have these experiences. Many people, naturally or with training, can have out-of-body experiences at will whenever they want. But in the vast majority of articles on the subject, no mention is made of this whatsoever. The casual reader is left thinking, "that sounds cool to experience, but meh it will never happen to me".
I love the books by Robert Bruce, but they disappoint me too. His books about out-of-body-experience and energy work are the best, except he almost never mentions or refers to the traditions that have already discovered and described this kind of work. If you look in depth in the forums for his website or something, he will mention that he has studied and practiced a great deal along the lines of Franz Bardon's works, but he never mentions that in his books. In a way I understand, he wants to sell books, and reach an audience that believes that the occult is scary and evil and too hard. But still... I am disappoint. Divorcing practices from its history and symbols practically neuters it. No one technically needs to know about classic occult ideas and symbols, imagery, words of power, to experience astral projection, but using them can make the process far more efficient.
Then it boggles my mind how conspiracy theorists typically are so quick to completely dismiss anything related to magic(k) and the occult as devil-worship and mind-control. ("Conspiracy Theorists" has a negative connotation, okay, but some write sober well-researched and interesting books, I am talking about them.) They speak of the wool being pulled over humanity's eyes, but then turn their backs on the very tools that would give them the knowledge and power to overcome the pathocracy.
Recently I came across some videos called "Debunking David Icke". Ironically, it convinced me more than ever that David Icke is a worthwhile source of information. It went into detail about how he has downplayed his alleged communication with incorporeal entities, and how his ideas are similar to theosophical ones. Often I do not like the way he words things, but I can tell that he really gets it; He gets that physical reality is an illusion, and humanity is part of something much bigger. However, my main point is that David Icke yet another decent source of information that downplays his connection to taboo "occult" sources.
Another obstacle is just plain old lack of critical thinking and intelligence. If you look for evidence of alien abductions and UFOs, most of the time you come up with utterly worthless anecdotes about sleep paralysis or a picture of the sky with a smudge on it. The casual researcher will come to the conclusion that UFOs started appearing in the 1950's and evidence is slim. But that is ignorant nonsense. Meanwhile there is plenty of real evidence that does not get mentioned at all. There is a book I read called Operation Trojan Horse by John Keel. He gives information about incidents that conveniently get left out of newspaper articles about UFO sightings. There are countless incidents from all over history about flying saucers and meetings with strange humanoid beings. Evidence suggests that alien abductions and UFOs are just a modern manifestation/interpretation of age old demonological phenomena. If someone meets a strange creature they might call in an angel, ghost, demon, alien, fairy, elf, it depends on their mindset and preconceptions. The problem I mean to highlight here is that I have observed that even people who have read about good evidence do not favor that convincing evidence over "one time I got drunk and lost time" stories.
The other day I came across a video called "The Primacy of Consciousness". It was a presentation by one Peter Russell. It was interesting food for thought, but some of his main points were not logically sound. I found it particularly annoying how the audience kept laughing at or applauding things he said. It left me with the distinct impression they just liked his ideas because they support their feel-good new-agey beliefs, not because the reasoning is actually sound.
So I find this frustrating, science and spirituality could have gotten "married" a long time ago. So many people are just so unintelligent and close-minded, and then those in the know end up pandering to the unintelligent and close-minded. I get to wondering how humanity can ever evolve if we cannot put these two approaches to reality in harmony. But then, the voice I hear from within tells me that it's not that evolution is put on hold until this harmony is found, it is that this very process of finding that harmony is evolution in itself. The same phenomena on a different level is the lone yogi striving to join his prana and apana. Joining of male and female, solar and lunar, science and magic, all this is the same evolution reflected on different levels of reality. I think the image of an eclipse symbolizes this pretty well. This is what evolution is about. It's not about the end result, its about the journey. We should enjoy the journey, but personally... frankly, I do not.
* * * * *
My inspiration for this essay was a memorable experience. I just woke up in the morning feeling so energetic, and inspired, and I was flooded with ideas with theme of the marriage of opposites. After reading and writing for a while I decided to lie in bed, intending to rest, but instead the experience culminated in an emotional roller coaster ride. I got this intense but cozy feeling of finally "coming home". I thought about it and remembered that the idea of the marriage of opposites is associated with Mercury. I looked up the date and time and I was interested to see that the time I was in bed was almost precisely the hour of Mercury. Also note this was a Wednesday. It makes perfect sense that I would have such an intense epiphany on the subject during the day and hour of Mercury. I find it interesting how sometimes I can naturally feel what the current planetary hour is. In magic and alchemy there is often advice given to perform a ritual during the relevant planetary hour, but I have experienced that often things just happen that way seemingly by coincidence.
Magic For Personal Gain
Spiritual traditions teach humanity about the basic rules of how reality works. But then egotistical humans twist it around, and make the rules all about morality, shame, and worthiness. For instance, the basic law of karma, that what goes around comes around, it is not about individuals "deserving" good or bad things. Karma is just about action and reaction. If I punch something with my fist, I am likely to hurt my hand; My hand does not hurt as punishment, it hurts because of basic physical laws. That is easier to understand because these physical laws are straightforward to observe compared to metaphysical phenomena.
This is also the situation when it comes to ideas about using magic for personal gain. There are plenty of people out there who would try to shame you for daring to ask universe for more money, love, power. But performing magic for any real significant external effect is just like starting a business. You can start a business for personal gain, for sure, but the business will surely fail or be a great deal of trouble if your business is not for others' benefit as well. Running a successful business is all about fulfilling the needs of the customers. Also, in most businesses one must get some investors and employees on board to make things happen.
That is how magic is, magic is unlikely to work unless it is to fulfill some needs, but in this case the customer is the universe. Getting things done is a matter of aligning ourselves with the forces on each level of reality. This idea was highlighted to a while ago, I had finally worked up the motivation to do a practical spell. When I got to down to doing it, it was like something else had taken over my body, I was running on autopilot, compelled by some source of supplemental energy, improvising effectively in ways I had not planned for.
There are many ways to approach practical magic, books are easy to find these days describing different ways. But note that candles and incense are always very useful in practical magic. Sold in any drug store, they generate a significant amount of etheric energy which attracts and sustains the incorporeal entities that would help you.
This is also the situation when it comes to ideas about using magic for personal gain. There are plenty of people out there who would try to shame you for daring to ask universe for more money, love, power. But performing magic for any real significant external effect is just like starting a business. You can start a business for personal gain, for sure, but the business will surely fail or be a great deal of trouble if your business is not for others' benefit as well. Running a successful business is all about fulfilling the needs of the customers. Also, in most businesses one must get some investors and employees on board to make things happen.
That is how magic is, magic is unlikely to work unless it is to fulfill some needs, but in this case the customer is the universe. Getting things done is a matter of aligning ourselves with the forces on each level of reality. This idea was highlighted to a while ago, I had finally worked up the motivation to do a practical spell. When I got to down to doing it, it was like something else had taken over my body, I was running on autopilot, compelled by some source of supplemental energy, improvising effectively in ways I had not planned for.
There are many ways to approach practical magic, books are easy to find these days describing different ways. But note that candles and incense are always very useful in practical magic. Sold in any drug store, they generate a significant amount of etheric energy which attracts and sustains the incorporeal entities that would help you.
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