The Perils of Occultism in this Mad Age
Dec. 1st, 2021 12:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
causticusSome recent thoughts of mine on why occultism (psychism) is can be such a dangerous path for the type of people who exist in this age and culture:
1. The practice of Psychism devoid of Spirituality always leads to disaster, in my estimation. Many people have enough trouble navigating the material plane without any solid principles to live by; taking the same condition to the astral is going to be even worse by many degrees. It's simply too easy and common for the ignorant and egocentric to get seduced and tricked by the various classes of baddies who dwell on the subtle planes.
2. Spirituality devoid of religion (which doesn't necessarily have to be a big, organized one) offers very little in the way of an intelligible means for the average seeker to distill spiritual principles into concrete rules, precepts, guidelines, advice, ect. Yes, more mature seekers, ones who are at least somewhat self-directed, and philosophically-minded, can do this on their own (granted they are practicing an established system or method) but this doesn't really work for the untrained and clueless, which is the vast majority. I would consider myself a lower-level seeker and I've come to terms with the idea that I'm struggling quite a bit with trying to practice spirituality in a self-directed manner; even using established methods has proven to be quite the challenge. But on that last part; this is why reputable teachers and written sources are so crucial. I almost hate to admit that I find myself religion-shopping (A cringe term, I know...) once again. For most, I don't think the esoteric can be practiced safely in lieu of an exoteric doctrine or set of precepts; and if two are combined then they cannot be too symbolically dissimilar, lest the unfortunate combination might amplify the pre-existing elemental imbalances of the immature seeker.
3. The degenerative culture we now live in is one of hyper-atomized individualism; people by and large reject competence hierarchies when it comes to the qualitative sciences. Ever since the late 60s, we've been mentally programmed to think it's "cool" to see the Critical Parent archetype (which in Spirituality, is the Hierophant or Guru) as something to constantly mock, deride, and act in defiance of. And since then, any formal type of social organization (except the state or one's big corporate employer, funnily enough) scaled higher than the nuclear family is something that's to be seen as suspect. And now the family itself is under this same type of attack. So, by all of this, the notion that one must defer authority and experience in spirituality to a reputable grand master or high priest or even a humble teacher with a lot of sweat equity under his or her belt, is something to be harshly rejected; because after all, it's an affront to modern sensibilities! There's no question why the vast majority of those butting their nose into occultism these days have no clue what they are doing. In fact, they probably pride themselves on this, though likely that part takes place subconsciously. In our Brave New (Woke) World, Truth is subjective and everyone is their own pope. The legions of astral critters chomping at the bit out there in the shadowy mists must absolutely adore this arrangement.
4. With this arrangement of inverted and broken-down social hierarchies being the norm now, most attempts to organize a group of seekers along sane principles and a proper baseline respect of knowledge and skill, is bound to devolve into chorus of shrieks, howls, and general psychodrama. The so-called "alt spirituality" scene, the place where those interested in occultism tend to flock, are the kind of people who were raised by the TV, online social media, and the sort of mind-rotting garbage that passes for "education" in today's government indoctrination centers. In other words, the kids sure weren't raised by knowledgeable and caring elders, much less ones they've personally met face-to-face. As a result, when the misguided moderns and postmoderns dive head-first into things like occultism and the attempt to venerate the Old Gods, they're bound to see things like deities, spirits, spiritual powers/attainments, psychic abilities, ect. like they are pokemons or power-ups they easily grab in their favorite video game. No one is around to teach them otherwise, and even if they were, their knowledge would surely be spat upon with puerile defiance.
5. I think the relative anomaly this is JMG's Ecosophia group/commentariat , helps illustrate some of my above points. Through years of JMG's diligent comment-weeding and troll-banning, we have a nice little group of respectful and open-minded people who can respect expertise and knowledge without falling into the opposing extreme of blind guru worship or devotional madness (typical Piscean pitfalls). This I think might be good template of how spiritual order gets reestablished in the Aquarian Age. But most seekers today aren't fortunate to have found a group like this. Or they lack the character and maturity to behave courteously in such a group.
6. No matter how much I rant about how occultism today is too dangerous for most people, those curious people are going to do it anyway. And may the universe have mercy on their souls when they screw up big or just do something really stupid. I've been taught that the Gods don't really have a plan for this, or really any sort of systematic mitigation process in place. The notion that most of the Gods are uncaring is another factor that's brought on my new round of religion shopping. The Eastern religions in particular all tend to be anchored around transcendent principles that aren't dependent on mythological particulars and peculiarities from 3000 years ago.
1. The practice of Psychism devoid of Spirituality always leads to disaster, in my estimation. Many people have enough trouble navigating the material plane without any solid principles to live by; taking the same condition to the astral is going to be even worse by many degrees. It's simply too easy and common for the ignorant and egocentric to get seduced and tricked by the various classes of baddies who dwell on the subtle planes.
2. Spirituality devoid of religion (which doesn't necessarily have to be a big, organized one) offers very little in the way of an intelligible means for the average seeker to distill spiritual principles into concrete rules, precepts, guidelines, advice, ect. Yes, more mature seekers, ones who are at least somewhat self-directed, and philosophically-minded, can do this on their own (granted they are practicing an established system or method) but this doesn't really work for the untrained and clueless, which is the vast majority. I would consider myself a lower-level seeker and I've come to terms with the idea that I'm struggling quite a bit with trying to practice spirituality in a self-directed manner; even using established methods has proven to be quite the challenge. But on that last part; this is why reputable teachers and written sources are so crucial. I almost hate to admit that I find myself religion-shopping (A cringe term, I know...) once again. For most, I don't think the esoteric can be practiced safely in lieu of an exoteric doctrine or set of precepts; and if two are combined then they cannot be too symbolically dissimilar, lest the unfortunate combination might amplify the pre-existing elemental imbalances of the immature seeker.
3. The degenerative culture we now live in is one of hyper-atomized individualism; people by and large reject competence hierarchies when it comes to the qualitative sciences. Ever since the late 60s, we've been mentally programmed to think it's "cool" to see the Critical Parent archetype (which in Spirituality, is the Hierophant or Guru) as something to constantly mock, deride, and act in defiance of. And since then, any formal type of social organization (except the state or one's big corporate employer, funnily enough) scaled higher than the nuclear family is something that's to be seen as suspect. And now the family itself is under this same type of attack. So, by all of this, the notion that one must defer authority and experience in spirituality to a reputable grand master or high priest or even a humble teacher with a lot of sweat equity under his or her belt, is something to be harshly rejected; because after all, it's an affront to modern sensibilities! There's no question why the vast majority of those butting their nose into occultism these days have no clue what they are doing. In fact, they probably pride themselves on this, though likely that part takes place subconsciously. In our Brave New (Woke) World, Truth is subjective and everyone is their own pope. The legions of astral critters chomping at the bit out there in the shadowy mists must absolutely adore this arrangement.
4. With this arrangement of inverted and broken-down social hierarchies being the norm now, most attempts to organize a group of seekers along sane principles and a proper baseline respect of knowledge and skill, is bound to devolve into chorus of shrieks, howls, and general psychodrama. The so-called "alt spirituality" scene, the place where those interested in occultism tend to flock, are the kind of people who were raised by the TV, online social media, and the sort of mind-rotting garbage that passes for "education" in today's government indoctrination centers. In other words, the kids sure weren't raised by knowledgeable and caring elders, much less ones they've personally met face-to-face. As a result, when the misguided moderns and postmoderns dive head-first into things like occultism and the attempt to venerate the Old Gods, they're bound to see things like deities, spirits, spiritual powers/attainments, psychic abilities, ect. like they are pokemons or power-ups they easily grab in their favorite video game. No one is around to teach them otherwise, and even if they were, their knowledge would surely be spat upon with puerile defiance.
5. I think the relative anomaly this is JMG's Ecosophia group/commentariat , helps illustrate some of my above points. Through years of JMG's diligent comment-weeding and troll-banning, we have a nice little group of respectful and open-minded people who can respect expertise and knowledge without falling into the opposing extreme of blind guru worship or devotional madness (typical Piscean pitfalls). This I think might be good template of how spiritual order gets reestablished in the Aquarian Age. But most seekers today aren't fortunate to have found a group like this. Or they lack the character and maturity to behave courteously in such a group.
6. No matter how much I rant about how occultism today is too dangerous for most people, those curious people are going to do it anyway. And may the universe have mercy on their souls when they screw up big or just do something really stupid. I've been taught that the Gods don't really have a plan for this, or really any sort of systematic mitigation process in place. The notion that most of the Gods are uncaring is another factor that's brought on my new round of religion shopping. The Eastern religions in particular all tend to be anchored around transcendent principles that aren't dependent on mythological particulars and peculiarities from 3000 years ago.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-12-02 05:59 pm (UTC)The main bind I'm in right now is that I see every great religious tradition that has survived to this day as being rotted out husks, most which have have degraded into various forms of legalism, scriptural literalism, and pernicious superstitions posturing as irrefutable truths. All maybe with the exception of Hinduism, which ins't even a specific religion but rather a cultural umbrella consisting of many different philosophies, sects, and practices; much like Hellenism was before it decayed and succumbed to Christianity.
I'm of the opinion that most doctrinal/ideological religions first began as esoteric sects and that the later exotericms emerged as dumbed-down (and sometimes even mutilated) versions of that original esoteric core, though with intact symbolism, for the most part. On that last question, I'd say the formal praxis most certainly shapes the participant if that praxis is infused with magical qualities.