Making Occult Studies more Accessible

[P3nT4gR4m]

One of the biggest hurdles you have to overcome is seeing yourself, ie your ego as, essentially, an imaginary computer program which you can gain total control over and rewrite at will. Try explaining to a layman or beginner occultist that "You aren't really what you think you are" and see where it gets you. Prolly why killing the ego seems like such a scary concept to begin with.

[LHX]

its a tool

killing it seems to mean understanding it for what it is

letting it run wild is the equivalent of letting something you create over-throw you

[AFK]

One of the biggest hurdles you have to overcome is seeing yourself, ie your ego as, essentially, an imaginary computer program which you can gain total control over and rewrite at will. Try explaining to a layman or beginner occultist that "You aren't really what you think you are" and see where it gets you. Prolly why killing the ego seems like such a scary concept to begin with.

I propose a beginner, then, should watch the final episode of "Newhart" 

[Triple Zero]

what's that?

[Bhode_Sativa]

One of the biggest hurdles you have to overcome is seeing yourself, ie your ego as, essentially, an imaginary computer program which you can gain total control over and rewrite at will. Try explaining to a layman or beginner occultist that "You aren't really what you think you are" and see where it gets you. Prolly why killing the ego seems like such a scary concept to begin with.

Reminds me of the Philip K. Dick "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"  where they have a Dial-A-Mood machine.  What people don't realize is they've already got one.

[AFK]

what's that?

It was a sit-com here in the States featuring Bob Newhart.  Basically it's this guy who runs a bed-and-breakfast in Vermont with his wife.  Anyway, in the final episode it is revealed that the whole thing, characters, events, etc., was just a dream. 

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

I was putting together a little compendium of functional occultism stripped down to a collection of scientific theories for a while. 

Basically it amounts to self fulfilling prophecy, what hypnotists call "bypassing the critical factor," and what seems to be an inate, biological tendency for self-delusion, which let's face it, has a strong link with happiness.  I throw out the possibility of the paranormal and focus on well established theories that explain how silly mahadgaheicke appears to work to the superstitious practitioner, and what the atheist can take away from the occult and use without feeling like a froofy dipshit.

But I stopped.  Didn't have the time to conduct interviews and write and make something worth publishing.  Also, hasn't somebody written this already?  Maybe I'll get back on that kick and ride it out.

[Mangrove]

I was putting together a little compendium of functional occultism stripped down to a collection of scientific theories for a while. 

Basically it amounts to self fulfilling prophecy, what hypnotists call "bypassing the critical factor," and what seems to be an inate, biological tendency for self-delusion, which let's face it, has a strong link with happiness.  I throw out the possibility of the paranormal and focus on well established theories that explain how silly mahadgaheicke appears to work to the superstitious practitioner, and what the atheist can take away from the occult and use without feeling like a froofy dipshit.

But I stopped.  Didn't have the time to conduct interviews and write and make something worth publishing.  Also, hasn't somebody written this already?  Maybe I'll get back on that kick and ride it out.

I don't think so. Or if it has, I'd like to find and read it. I've not read too many books that deal with magic (OMG, the insane spelling!) as a collection of techniques for entering altered states of consciousness or behaviour modification.

The closest contender is 'The New Hermetics' by Jason Newcomb who is big into the NLP. He's taken the typical occult (especially Golden Dawn) material and stripped it down into a generalized formula. I'm currently reading 'Walkers Between Worlds' which is compares/contrasts the shamanic and hermetic tradition. Again, the authors have tried to pare the occultism down to the minimum. Unlike Newcomb's book though, they are high on discussion and low on technique whereas his book is more direct & pragmatic.

Maybe it is time for a new kind of occult literature.

[LHX]

humility is tough to find in occult literature

at least i havent come across anything that was informative, humble, practical, and funny


i still havent seen NLP broken down into simple terms and given proper context

[Mangrove]

humility is tough to find in occult literature

at least i havent come across anything that was informative, humble, practical, and funny

i still havent seen NLP broken down into simple terms and given proper context

informative, humble, practical & funny - precisely the reasons why i love Lon Milo Duquette's writings. i wouldn't have persisted in wading through Crowley's catalogue if it were not for LMD.

the New Hermetics book is very geared toward NLP. i bought a book called 'introduction to NLP'...think it's by Joseph O'Connor (can double check that). that was a pretty straight forward & serviceable book on the subject.

[P3nT4gR4m]

humility is tough to find in occult literature

at least i havent come across anything that was informative, humble, practical, and funny

i still havent seen NLP broken down into simple terms and given proper context

informative, humble, practical & funny - precisely the reasons why i love Lon Milo Duquette's writings. i wouldn't have persisted in wading through Crowley's catalogue if it were not for LMD.

the New Hermetics book is very geared toward NLP. i bought a book called 'introduction to NLP'...think it's by Joseph O'Connor (can double check that). that was a pretty straight forward & serviceable book on the subject.

Lack of humblitude is one of Crowleys most amusingly endearing features. The guy is a total hoot. Knew a lot about western trad too.

[hunter s.durden]

You mentioned tarot cards being used for insight not vision, and someone else said soemthing about I Ching. It was always my understanding that I Ching was used as a guide, not a fortune teller.
It seems so often that the Chinese and Indians were so close to something, then let it slip into idiocy. My examples are Buddism and Taoism the philosophy versus the religions. I consider myself a Taoist in ways, then I see a "religious" textabout a God or blowing an ancestor, and I hate it.

Why does everyone feel the need to take good ideas and Mhadjyyk it up?

[LHX]

You mentioned tarot cards being used for insight not vision, and someone else said soemthing about I Ching. It was always my understanding that I Ching was used as a guide, not a fortune teller.
It seems so often that the Chinese and Indians were so close to something, then let it slip into idiocy. My examples are Buddism and Taoism the philosophy versus the religions. I consider myself a Taoist in ways, then I see a "religious" textabout a God or blowing an ancestor, and I hate it.

Why does everyone feel the need to take good ideas and Mhadjyyk it up?

my guess is profit
fame

etc

[P3nT4gR4m]

Off the top of my head theory:

Sometime in the dark ages a few people got a hold of the tarot system and used it to figure out their brains and how they fitted into the world. Compared to the average mud collector of the time they became very wise and able to pull of the kind of thought's and strategies that were so far in advance of the mud jockeys that the mud jockeys started groupie'ing them and asking all sorts of dumbass - "where can I find more mud?" - kinda questions. Now who the hell in their right mind wouldn't take advantage of that? "Yeah sure I'll find some mud for ya but it's gonna cost ya your eldest virgin daughter and some of that shiny metal shit you got in your pocket."

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

humility is tough to find in occult literature

at least i havent come across anything that was informative, humble, practical, and funny


i still havent seen NLP broken down into simple terms and given proper context

That's a tall order for most literature though.



How would you know you've got the right context?  People engage in a wide assortment of asshattery and call it NLP.  Seldom do I disclose having any connection to occultism and NLP because they've created such a ridiculous image for themselves.   

I could tell you NLP is a collection of mostly untestable communication methods, quite a bit of utter retardation, and some evidence-backed theory, all aiming at the nebulous concept of "excellence."  But at some point I think you need to pick up the idea and break it into your own terms and context...



I'll check out that Newcomb book, thanks Mangrove.