Month: January 2017 Page 1 of 2

Deviltry

By

On January 28, 2017

In Philosphing

“In a recent survey of people who had an opinion, four out of five report that they would prefer to do good over evil if given the choice.”

(Okay. I just made that up.)

In my experience, ninety-nine percent of people would choose to do good. And most of them would fail utterly. At least in the eyes of others if not in their own. The road to hell can indeed be paved with good intentions.

Have you ever met an evil person? I have come across very few. I have run across some who considered themselves to be evil but only a primarily good soul is able to recognize evil within itself.

For those of us in the western world, Hitler is most commonly held up as the face of evil incarnate. Not only did he ruin the name “Adolph” as far as anyone being able to name their kids that, he also made it quite impossible to sport that funny little mustache without incurring the opprobrium of others.

If you spend some time studying what Hitler said and wrote however, you will discover that he never considered himself to be evil at all. He was just honestly trying to help out. He was simply trying to make the world a better place. A better place for himself. And a better place for (a certain segment) of the German people. This over-achieving epitome of evil actually considered himself to be an agent for good.

In all probability, you consider yourself to be one also. But what if your good is someone else’s evil?

What is good anyway? What is evil?  Are they opposites? Is one to be preferred over the other?

Well, first of all, those two terms are way too nebulous. They can mean different things to different people. Maybe we could replace them with the terms, “Order” and “Disorder”. Okay? So now let’s try to define those two words. Order might be described as the tendency to form patterns whereas disorder would be its opposite. Random chaos.

But are they really opposites? I mean, are they completely different from each other? Or are they degrees on a scale that have no meaning unless compared to another degree on the same scale? In other words, can there be light in the absence of dark?

To embrace this viewpoint is to accept the fact that evil is every bit as necessary as good in this world. It allows one to morally embark on a path of conscious evil or what is called the “Left-Hand Path” in occult circles. The person who pursues this course usually comes from a background of enforced piousness. Aleister Crowley for instance was raised within a fundamentalist Christian household. As was I.

If you would pursue the Great Work, I advise you to tread carefully! To bring on the Precipitation in a premature manner is to court not only madness but also a willing decent into absolute darkness, pain and despair.

At least, that’s my experience.

Death Sentences

By

On January 20, 2017

In Philosphing

You’re going to die.

How scary is that? Could anything compare to the deep, soul-wrenching fear you should be experiencing from contemplating this fact? There is an old saying that only death and taxes are inevitable. That’s just a joke though. Not everyone pays taxes.

You will die though. It is absolutely certain. The time of your death is approaching and you will not escape. Stabbed. Drowned. Cancer. Heart-attack. Slaughtered in some manner you cannot predict. Why aren’t you screaming all the time? This is an emergency!

Probably because you believe in something. You choose to hope that some god will take your soul, give it hug and set it down in some heavenly place. Or maybe you think you can come back to Earth albeit with no memories of this life now. (Would that really be you anymore? Without your memories?) Maybe you’re just resigned to the belief that when the lights go out, you’re just gone. Boom. Nothing.

But no matter what you believe, you could be wrong.

One thing is for sure though. You try not to think about it much. Not just about your own death. Your family’s. Your friend’s. The people that you love and who love you back. All will be struck down. They are all going to die, leaving only a memory. And that won’t even last very long.

Of course, you could be one of those depressed people who do think about death all the time. But that just makes you mentally ill so you’re screwed anyway.

Think about this. It’s really important.

A-mused my Tongue

By

On January 20, 2017

In Poeting

A-mused my tongue,
my soul, my lips
to recall the bright and battered ships
that sailed beneath the baleful sun
and in the silver mist.
Stumbling thoughts of beauty lost,
the veteran fleet of tempest-tossed
vessels, proud and old.
Oh! So proud.
Oh, so bold!
But sailing on, they are gone.
Mine but a moment
then they are gone

to the Sea.

Quest(ion)ing

By

On January 20, 2017

In Philosphing

Is everything we experience predetermined?  Or do we have free-will?

I would have to say, “Yes”. But that’s just me. Or is it?

Sorry. I love to play with words and philosophy is just that for the most part. The manipulation of symbols, the juggling of labels. As we ascend toward higher concepts, words start to lose their effectiveness. It becomes harder to communicate about such things. Why do you think that is?

I say, “Red”. You know what I mean. I say, “Coffee”. You know what I mean. I say, “Cup”. You know what I mean. This is because you have experienced these things. I can even say, “Red coffee cup” and you will be able to blend these ideas in your mind even if you have never seen a red coffee cup.

What are colors? They are the gradients within the very thin segment of the electromagnetic spectrum that we can sense directly.

“Richard Of York Gained Battles in Vain.”

That’s the mnemonic I was taught as a child in order to help me remember the basic colors in order of their frequency from low to high. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Violet. This thin slice of the spectrum is all we can see. By various indirect ways however, we can measure some of the frequencies that lie below (infrared) and above (ultraviolet) this.

Frequency. Vibration. A state of energy.

Okay, let me ask you a question. Have you ever seen a gamma coffee cup? Can you imagine one? Probably not very well. Why is this? Not because they don’t exist, but because you have never seen one. You cannot fully comprehend a concept that you have never experienced. This is why when Enlightened individuals speak among themselves, they have no problem understanding each other. They can also identify their brethren within a few, short sentences. To the unenlightened however, they will seem to be talking gibberish.

“My responses are limited. You must ask the right questions.”

Sound familiar? It is a quote from the character Dr. Alfred Lanning in the movie, “I, Robot” (2004). It illustrates the nature of trying to learn from a spiritual teacher. You may not get very far that way. Plus you place yourself in an inferior position to someone who may get off on just screwing with you.

You don’t need a guru. All questions are self-answering if you can define what you mean by each element of that question. You might ask yourself, “What color is that cat?” . You know what a color is. You know what a cat is. The answer is self-evident; the cat is black.

The neophyte philosopher might ask something like this: “For what purpose did God put me here?” What answer immediately springs forth?

<crickets>

Nothing of course. You must first know what you mean by “purpose”. By “here”. By “God”. And most importantly, by “me”. Once you know what these things are, the question will answer itself. (Alternatively, you may realize that the original question didn’t make any sense.)

So, lets go back to the question at the top of this post. Is your life predetermined?  Or do you have free-will?

To crack this particular nut, the prerequisite questions must be addressed first. You must define your terms…

See? Once you do that, the answer becomes obvious!

Astra-Nautics 101

By

On January 14, 2017

In Philosphing

Derived from the Emerald Tablet, we have the old saying, “As Above, So Below”. In the Bible we find reference to man being created “in the image” of God. Hermetic writings sometimes refer to Liber Munde; The Book of the World.

These concepts are all related and deserve much thought but I don’t want to get bogged down trying to explain them with words. We are skirting on the very edge of where labels are useful.

That help? It is the modern astronomical symbol for the sun but it’s origins lay in the realm of alchemy. What does it mean in plain language? Voltaire once took a crack at it, “God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.”

See? You’ve got to get up above the words to understand this stuff.

Okay, what we are dealing with here are the Qabalistic emanations of God and the fact that all things are a reflection or an image of the God-head (Kether). Therefore, we can often learn to comprehend higher spiritual concepts by using everyday relationships as a symbolic representation of the Celestial. I know how hard this can be to understand but stick with it. This is the language of wizardry.

How’s you imagination? Have you ever day-dreamed? Do you lose yourself in dreams while your body sleeps? If the answer is “no”, then go watch television or something. You’re wasting your time here.

Picture something in your imagination that doesn’t “really” exist.  How about an eight-legged kitten? Can you see it in your mind’s eye? Skittering across the room like a great, furry spider (but cuter)? See it scramble up a tree-trunk? Wow! Now notice that you will experience some mild emotional reaction to “seeing” this creature. How would you react if this thing actually ran across in front of you right now? Amazement? Laughter? Wonder? Fear? Disgust? A little of each?

Is this thing you’ve imagined real? Of course it is. You just created it. It will fade away from your awareness when you stop thinking about it. But it might come back tonight in your dreams. And then that thing will be as real as can be. And your emotional reaction will be a whole lot stronger too. If you are scared by the spider-kitten (spitten?), you might deem it a nightmare and try to wake yourself up. As Above. So Below.

Although you are dreaming, some part of you knows it’s a dream and can wake you up when you no longer want to be in the dream. As Above, So Below.

A “lucid dream” occurs when that same part of you realizes that you are dreaming. You then “wake-up” within the dream. You are still in Wonderland but it is no longer in control. You are. The world hasn’t changed. You have. And now you have Powers. As Above, So Below.

In occultism, you will find references to the “astral” world. This is simply an old word for the imagination, the dream-scape. There is a very important clue hidden here. Why use that particular word?

“Astral” – “of, relating to, or coming from the stars” – Merriam-Webster

What in the world do stars have to do with the imagination? With dreaming?

Alright, deep breath. Here it is…

The stars and galaxies and universes are infinite. Really, really think about that. Infinite. Now, in a truly infinite universe, any world you can imagine exists out there somewhere. And you can visit any of them by using your imagination. (Of course, that’s a two-way street…)

Everything is Real.

As Above, So below.

Ego Me

By

On January 8, 2017

In Poeting

Boasting, bursting ego,
how you’ve borne and bored me
across the many years.
Wounded by the merest pin-prick.
Sick with shame when others blame
or laugh
at your struts and raves
upon the Stage.
Giving form to a costume worn,
you look at yourself and fleetingly see…
You clown!
You puppet!
Me!

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