Beginners Guide to Metaphysics
by Anthony Tyler
“That’s why we look
behind appearances, see the world like the eye on the pyramids”
– Raiza Biza
In
today’s society, “magic” and “religion” have become loaded words. From
a scientific perspective, they have become akin to fairy-tales, folklore, and
psychological simplicity. Those who find the value in it are sometimes treated
with a condescending nature, or politely asked how they could put some much
merit into “blind faith.” While it’s true that at times it does misplace and
mis-interpret the idea of faith, considering religion and magic (or mysticism,
as they will be referred to together from here on out for scholastic reasons) a
psychological crutch is not only incredibly conceited, but also incredibly
illogical and irrational.
The
mind of the modern, science-exclusive person, paints as many broad strokes in
ideology as the mysticism it critiques, and today the theories of the Big Bang
and even Darwinism and Relativity are indeed contested due to their scientific
discrepancies. This is not to say that they are entirely untrue, but that they
are merely incomplete in their current representations.
Some may scoff at the
idea, but there is a great deal of philosophy (most notably David Hume) that strongly argues how
the idea of “empiricism” (empirical deduction in science) cannot be a truly
objective form of investigation. This is not meant to discredit the value of
empirical thought, but rather to equate ideas of mysticism and science through
the common denominator of theory–nothing is set in stone, and so all is subject
to change. After all, the data may be accurate, but human error in translation
of the data will be ever-pervasive.
The
problem here is that “Ideas” have been compartmentalized into a million
different names. What started out simply as “Philosophy” in ancient societies
has now become religion, politics, science, psychology, medicine, et cetera–not
even counting all the secular schools of thought within these topics. The ideas
of human progress must once again be reunited under one banner. It doesn’t
matter what it’s called, the important part is that not a single piece of data
is excluded from the process–all must be taken into account, and filtered
through the context of two ways of action:
1) Helping life flourish
2) Helping life diminish
This is a fundamental truth of the Earth and the life she carries, as demonstrated by the classical thought-experiment of watching a lion, for instance, stalk its prey so that it may feed its cubs later. If the lion, in this case, were stalking its prey to rape and murder them, this would be an evident example of #2.
Mysticism
is such a difficult field to enter into from a research-perspective because
its ideas are always tossing around concrete resolutions that were
developed to contain doublespeak–Mysticism is allegorical/analogical thought,
and without the knowledge of the allegory, the ideas held about the
mystical/religious principles are incomplete–this is the equation of symbolism
and the context of its knowledge. This is why a person cannot equate one
specific deity or entity to “Good” and “Evil” because the deity is only half of
the equation–when considering “God” only as a monotheistic deity, the allegory
that this image was meant to evoke has become lost, and what is left is merely
and incomplete concept.
Likewise,
there are ideas like “the Devil.” While this could upset a lot of people’s
understandings here: just because a person is a Luciferian does not mean that
they do things like sacrifice virgins, drink blood, and have orgies in the name
of evil. To briefly explain this before moving on, the allegory that the image
of Lucifer represents in Christianity serves an entirely different purpose to
the pupil than what Lucifer represents to an actual Luciferian.
To a
Luciferian, Lucifer is not considered a Christian “Satanic Devil” but a “Light
Bringer” synonymous with the archetype that the Greek titan Promeutheus as well
represents. The archetype of the Light Bringer (Light Bringer being what
Lucifer literally translates to) is meant to represent a bringer of truth,
knowledge, and wisdom, thus becoming two totally separate entities in their
function, despite sharing symbolism. This is not to say that the Satan/Lucifer
of Catholicism is something that anyone should ever consider “worshipping”
because this would be an entirely separate archetype represented by a
Luciferian’s representation of the Light Bringer, which is an inherently
positive thing to the Luciferian.
(More
information on this concept can be read in Part 8 of this series.)
What
follows in this 8-part article series “Beginner’s Guide to Metaphysics,” will be a
brief, connective roadmap between the recurring ideologies of the surviving
schools of mysticism in order to bring to discussion the second half of
mysticism as a whole–its allegory. This allegory is what occultists, mystics,
and scholars alike consider the “Old Religion” or “Prisca Theologia,” which is described as
the recurring, underlying and fundamental truths that can be found in all forms
of mysticism throughout human history. In fact, the idea of this Prisca
Theologia is the actual definition of what is considered “the Occult,” and
those considering the Occult to have a negative connotation have yet to breach
one of the barriers to understanding metaphysics.
The
important thing to remember from here on out, is that the choice in
religion/mysticism was never meant to be either “Right” or “wrong” in and of
themselves, only their interpretations can be bent around an individual’s good
or evil wills. A dogmatic person will, of course, vehemently disagree with
this, but progress has never been made through dogma, and in order to
empirically assess the body of metaphysics from a scientific viewpoint, they
all must be considered from the same objective viewpoint, with good and evil
separated from the data and left in the realm of human emotion.
Perhaps
a disappointment to some, a beginner’s guide to metaphysics does not come with
any answers. The beginning of metaphysics is not finding hidden truths about
the world or yourself–that comes later. The real beginning is learning to ask
the right questions. True to this idea, the following analysis focuses on the
mindset that each ideology is aimed to cultivate within an individual, and what
types of questions that these mindsets are aimed to pose.
Eastern Mysticism – Taoism,
Buddhism and Hinduism
Eastern
Mysticism can be considered as three major schools of thought, more or less:
Taoism, Buddhism and Hinduism. Their precursor, generally speaking, was the
ancient Indian mysticism “Jainism,”
which is the origin of the Swastika as a symbol of the union with the Cycle of
Life, and is one of the oldest recorded religions on the planet. Jainism
quickly evolved, and developed under the variety of Eastern metaphysics that is
with society today. Like most ideologies, Taoism, Buddhism, and Hinduism
tend to break off into a variety of interpretations; and in the case of
Buddhism, for instance, it was developed as a protest to the “religious flare”
that Hinduism brought with its variety of gods under different human
incarnations, and ritualism.
To
the original Buddhists, the rituals and symbols of the Veda (Hindus) was a
convolution of the mental faculties, and that a deeper form of metaphysic
asceticism was required in order to truly understand reality. As the Hindus
sought to understand the microcosm of human psychology in relation to the
macrocosm of the cosmos, Buddhists attempted to do the exact opposite by
analyzing the macrocosm of the cosmos (and human society) in order to gain a
deeper understanding of the self. Of course, this is a
bit of a generalization as well, since both philosophies focused on both
aspects; but to explain this a step further: while Hinduism used their theology
and symbolism in allegory to the experience, the Buddhists tended to perceive
the human experience as allegory for the divine.
Meanwhile,
in China, ancient metaphysicists like Lao-Tze took these ideas of the
microcosm and macrocosm to an entirely different, perhaps more applicable
level. Using an asceticism likened to Buddhism, and a mystical, selfless
awareness likened to Hinduism, Taoism can perhaps be considered the most
pragmatic of the metaphysics, producing such works as the I-Ching, which serves
as a geometric codex to understand and decipher the nature of the Tao (reality,
so to speak), and can be seen in full right here.
All these discussed forms of mysticism were heavily contingent upon the idea of reincarnation as a spiritual-evolutionary progress through the illusions of the dualism between the physical and metaphysical, the “Veil of Maya” in Buddhism. It was taught that energy created cannot be destroyed, only recycled, and so did the cognizant soul perspective’s present moment continue to be recycled through life experiences, until the individual shed the confines of its karmic limitations, on its path towards “enlightenment.” To the Eastern mystics, karma was seen as sort of physical limitation to the mental faculties, impeding a person’s deeper understanding of themselves and the universe, in order to achieve a state of metaphysical transcendence. This state of transcendence is generally considered as an overall integration into the “Tao” or the “divine essence” in all things.
On
a final note in this section, it is a common misconception that Eastern mystics
did not have traditions of “Heaven” and “Hell,” or “angels” and “demons,” and
there is basically no form of mysticism that does not involve supernatural
entities and varying metaphysical states of consciousness. To the East, this is
exactly what Heaven and Hell were: states of consciousness that occurred during
and after physical incarnation. A person had the choice between Heaven and Hell
at all times in the present moment, and whether they realized it or not, they
were always making the decision between the two. Eastern Mysticism made the
effort to train the thought processes toward divine potential and away from
human illusion. In this respect, states of karmic thought-process were
considered a determinant factor between Heaven and Hell, a notion that Dr.
Stanislav Grof has put 50 years of psychiatric research into through his ideas
of “Condensed Experience System” (CoEx Systems).
All
in all, Eastern Metaphysics can be considered the mindset that requires
cultivation during times of spiritual famine. A man bereft of his amenities
would be forced to find the value in asceticism if he wanted to prosper; a man
bereft of love and affection would be forced to find these things within
himself, alone, before he could discover anything more; and a man with the
turbulent wind of restless thoughts would only find peace and solace in his
discipline of emptying his mind, so that he may place new and better ideas
within it.
Witchcraft – Paganism, Voodoo
and Native American Mysticism
Paganism,
Voodoo, and the spirituality of Native Americans are put in the same
category in this part of the series not to generalize them as
completely the same, but because so much of the cause and effect within
the mysticisms are the same, and unite under the same method of
spirituality: witchcraft.
Witchcraft,
from the anthropological definition, is a spiritual belief in the presence of
Nature itself, very generally speaking. Witchcraft was developed as peasant
religions during times of cultural and philosophical discrimination, and
because of this, witches developed an intimate and observation-based connection
between themselves, the world around them, and the metaphysical world of
“spirits” that connected them.
Witchcraft in the West had been around long
before the Catholic church, and because of this, it was considered one of its
primary targets–as well, because of the Church’s detest for Witchcraft, it is
one of the first times in recorded history that the ideology becomes more of a
recorded social philosophy. Up until that point, Witchcraft (Paganism, in this
case) had been more of a collection of ideas that different people pursued in
very different ways, for very different reasons. There was never any set gods
or goddesses and witchcraft perceived the god of individual worship to be
dependent on the individual–because it was meant to be a reflection of the
individual’s higher self, something akin to Plato’s “ideal forms.”
Magick from a historical point of view involves knowledge of plant medicines and poisons for “potions,” an understanding of occult knowledge/symbolism to any varying degree, a manipulative charisma that could practically “charm” people, and understandings of psychology and things like hypnotism. Beyond that, there is plenty of argument for extra-sensory perceptions as well, like clairvoyance, precognition, astral travel, telepathy, and communion with metaphysical entities to a varying physical degree–but for brevity, it will be left at that.
Voodoo,
which was born out of the juxtaposed African culture in slave society, can be
seen as a conjugation of orthodox Catholicism and African tribal shamanism, by using the Christian
explanations of angels and demons, et cetera, to map out their shamanistic
traditions. In an attempt to generalize here, both African and Native American
(including Mesoamerican) mysticism can be seen under the same context as the
origins of pagan witchcraft (although it is undeniable that there was a trickle
effect of the Mystery Initiations and their esoteric knowledge into
peasant-oriented witchcraft– see Part VI for more details).
Witchcraft,
being the anthropological definitions of the mysticism of the Pagans, the
Voodoo, and the Native Americans, is characterized as a peasant religion, based
on the observation of nature, and the integration of its patterns into human
life on a personal and social level. This is enacted by a variety of symbolism
and ritual that is predominantly associated with shamanism. However, it cannot
be denied that all forms of witchcraft can and were used for nefarious
activities, as black sabbaths and black magick have been a recurring theme
throughout all of human mysticism. To the adepts of witchcraft, the fields of
study also involved various modes of alchemy, astrology, and numerology,
depending on cultural context of these ideas.
Author’s Note: This 8-part series
was written while smoking blunts exclusively.
Sources: https://aras.org/, http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/hamlets_mill/hamletmill.htm, http://72.52.202.216/~fenderse/The-White-Goddess.pdf, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVO2eEXs2-4, https://ccwe.wordpress.com/tag/dr-susan-greenwood/, http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/sta/index.htm, http://theaeoneye.com/2015/05/28/forbidden-gnosis-in-prometheus-lucifer-and-icarus/, http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/s/sin_and_rebellion_archetypal_transgressions_against_the_gods.html
http://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Tibetan-Book-of-the-Dead.pdf, http://www.dlshq.org/download/bgita.pdf, http://www.thebuddhistsociety.org/page/fundamental-teachings, http://www.sacred-texts.com/tao/, http://www.ancient.eu/The_Vedas/
: http://www.thewica.co.uk/Pentagram.htm, http://geraldgardner.com/History_of_Wicca_Revised.pdf, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rNmTkKj0cc, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRNkcsk81eU, http://www.africanholocaust.net/news_ah/vodoo.htm
From The Last
American Vagabond @ http://www.thelastamericanvagabond.com/top-news/beginners-guide-metaphysics-part-1-introduction/
For more information about consciousness see http://nexusilluminati.blogspot.com/search/label/consciousness
- Scroll down
through ‘Older Posts’ at the end of each section
Hope you like this not
for profit site -
It takes hours of work every day by
a genuinely incapacitated invalid to maintain, write, edit, research,
illustrate and publish this website from a tiny cabin in a remote forest
Like what you see? Please give anything
you can -
Contribute any amount and receive at
least one New Illuminati eBook!
(You can use a card
securely if you don’t use Paypal)
Please click below -
Spare Bitcoin
change?
Xtra images by R. Ayana - https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7330/8730938597_b7a4180870_h.jpg
https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3719/12400023973_12563473ba_k.jpg
For further enlightening
information enter a word or phrase into the random synchronistic search box @
the top left of http://nexusilluminati.blogspot.com
And see
New Illuminati – http://nexusilluminati.blogspot.com
New Illuminati on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/the.new.illuminati
New Illuminati Youtube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/newilluminati/playlists
New Illuminati’s OWN Youtube Videos
-
New Illuminati on Google+ @ For
New Illuminati posts - https://plus.google.com/u/0/+RamAyana0/posts
New Illuminati on Twitter @ www.twitter.com/new_illuminati
New Illuminations –Art(icles) by
R. Ayana @ http://newilluminations.blogspot.com
The Her(m)etic Hermit - http://hermetic.blog.com
DISGRUNTLED SITE ADMINS PLEASE NOTE –
We provide
a live link to your original material on your site (and links via social
networking services) - which raises your ranking on search engines and helps
spread your info further!
This site
is published under Creative Commons (Attribution) CopyRIGHT (unless an
individual article or other item is declared otherwise by the copyright
holder). Reproduction for non-profit use is permitted & encouraged - if you
give attribution to the work & author and include all links in the original
(along with this or a similar notice).
Feel free
to make non-commercial hard (printed) or software copies or mirror sites - you
never know how long something will stay glued to the web – but remember
attribution!
If you
like what you see, please send a donation (no amount is too small or too large)
or leave a comment – and thanks for reading this far…
Live long
and prosper! Together we can create the best of all possible worlds…
From the New Illuminati – http://nexusilluminati.blogspot.com
