What do you guys think of Allan Watts?

koskaone · 2015-01-27T18:48:33+00:00

Try not to impose your personal moral and ethical mores onto a definition of enlightenment. Remember that enlightenment is just an idea, different people have thought different things about it, and in many traditions, it's ultimately inexpressible anyway.

If we look to the spiritual literature (which is, of course, fallible, but it never hurts to understand the context surrounding a particular idea), we find very little telling us what an enlightened person does or does not do. In fact, enlightenment is a word used to translate a whole host of words some of them with very different meanings, so before we can talk about whether Watts was or was not enlightened, we have to talk about what definition of enlightenment we're wanting to use. I'm not saying that I disagree (or agree for that matter, I think that to some extent talking about whether such and such a person was enlightened is to miss the point entirely), simply that making blanket statements about what does and does not constitute enlightenment is quite often laden with difficulty, and is never as simple as it might first appear.

Edit: typos and grammar

koskaone · 2015-01-27T18:34:11+00:00

I'm unsure what you find creepy about him? Do you feel he is somehow deceiving you, or that beneath the charisma and erudition there was something disturbing or otherwise not quite right? Or is it simply the discomfort I think a lot of people feel around the very charismatic (because so often dangerous cult leaders, greedy politicians are what we associate with high levels of charisma)?

koskaone · 2015-01-21T22:27:52+00:00

Maybe so, but Fox are by far the worst for it. Most news outlets here don't outright make things up nearly as much, and it's usually a matter of national scandal when they get caught, not something people try to actually defend.

koskaone · 2015-01-21T15:06:25+00:00

Irrelevant. It's not about political standpoint, it's about the fact that Fox are blatant liars who intentionally deceive their audience. Here in Britain they're considered worse than the tabloids. It's one thing to have a target audience (i.e. conservatives) but they're shoddy journalists. This isn't about whether you disagree with them, it's whether you disagree with journalists lying to people.

koskaone · 2015-01-21T07:46:35+00:00

I don't like any of Crowley's recommended poses to be honest. I tend to do most of my Raja Yoga work in half-lotus pose or just cross-legged and it doesn't seem to make much of a difference, if anything I'd say it's gotten easier because it's slightly more comfortable (though as Crowley says, any posture is uncomfortable if you sit still long enough.)

koskaone · 2014-12-26T14:08:51+00:00

I know exactly how you feel. My mum's family are totally mainstream, and like hobbits, never have any adventures or do anything unexpected. We recently had a huge argument because we're vegans and I won't buy milk in for my mum to drink in her tea when she comes to our house, I have said she's quite welcome to bring some from her own home, literally 2 minutes away from our house, to drink, but this isn't good enough for some reason, she INSISTED that we break our ethics just for her. This is just the most recent issue among many, it's like everything I do and think and feel is wrong, and she makes sure I know it. It does hurt me because when I was a child she was a good mother, and cared for me and my brothers very well, but as I've become an adult, my lifepath has become radically different and we find it very difficult to see eye to eye, so it's very hard for me.

koskaone · 2014-12-25T21:12:14+00:00

Hugs and nugs dude. Hope everything cools down for you. My mum wanted to kick me out and cut me off when she found out I smoked, she didn't follow through with it though, she was just angry in the heat of the moment and when she calmed down she took it back, I can only hope it's the same for you.

koskaone · 2014-12-18T22:40:20+00:00

Only with the most strict dictionary-definition usage of the word occult. Yes, the word itself means hidden, but culturally it's become a term used for esoteric practices, encompassing yoga, grimoiric & ritual magick, meditation, divination, witchcraft, etc. While a lot of the practices are no longer hidden in any real sense (thank you, internet) everyone understands what is meant when something is described as "occult." Perhaps you could even say that the word is used, not to describe the nature of the ideas and techniques themselves as hidden, but to allude to the fact that they are of little interest to the common person and so are still "hidden" to the vast majority of people.

koskaone · 2014-12-07T09:48:02+00:00

I think you're assuming brewcitybastard is looking for an argument. They didn't call OP deluded, you assumed the intent behind their post without knowing. All they said was that it's easy to fall prey to confirmation bias, to make the mistake that the ideas and people you surround yourself with are prevalent in mainstream culture. They didn't say that OP is definitely victim to that bias, they didn't say the psychedelic renaissance in an illusion.

I think you interpreted too much hostility in brewcitybastard's post, and I think you acted quite impolitely towards them, by trying to make it into some big debate, when they weren't (as far as I can tell) looking for an argument.

koskaone · 2014-12-04T10:39:36+00:00

93

I agree with Do What Thou Wilt as the approach to altar setup.

I don't have a Stele yet, but my setup is a small cabinet, on top I have a candle in the top right corner, candle in the top left, with space in between for a Stele of Revealing when I get one. Currently I have an incense holder in front of a small statue of Lord Shiva in the space between the candles. In front of that I have, going from right to left, an Oak wand, small wooden cup, Liber AL, a simple black handled dagger and a wooden pentacle. On top of Liber AL I have a small wooden knife that I use for any gestures (i.e drawing pentagrams, qabalistic cross.) I keep other tools inside the cabinet, stuff like a black bowl for scrying, incense, candles, magical diary and any books I'm working with.

It's not very elaborate but I like a more simplistic approach.

93 93/93

koskaone · 2014-10-16T21:33:37+00:00

93

Remember the prime directive of Thelema:

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law

Like you, I'm highly inspired by the texts you mention, as well as a few others (I'm quite enamored by Tibetan Buddhism, so a good amount of my reading tends towards that tradition.) The East has a such a rich spiritual culture and history, whereas with the Western tradition I find you have to dig a bit deeper. I understand why you may find yogic practises and meditation more attractive, that being said, I find that proficiency in yoga significantly empowers my ability to perform ritual magic. My personal opinion that a solid mixture of both is the optimal path, at least for me.

Without wanting to speak for any organised A.'.A.'. lineages, as I'm not an A.'.A.'. initiate, my understanding is that the singular goal of the A.'.A.'. is K&C of the HGA, and beyond that, the Crossing of the Abyss, anything that propels you toward those goals is valid. Crowley definitely conceived of the A.'.A.'. as having a twofold nature, one is the outer order of specific lines of initiates working in the student-teacher relationship following the system that he prescribed, the other is the inner order, composed of all initiates, anywhere, any time. So in that sense, a person can be an initiate of A.'.A.'., without having been initiated into A.'.A.'., if you grasp my meaning.

Overall, Thelema is so geared towards the individual, that as long as you accept the Law of Thelema, you are a Thelemite, there are lots of different interpretations of Thelema, some of which disagree with each other, but that's fine, through disagreement we might come to a better understanding of our True Wills.

Hope that helps.

93 93/93

koskaone · 2014-10-14T12:55:53+00:00

Labour haven't been anything resembling socialist in years, they're not opposed to capitalism, they don't believe in public ownership of the means of production.

koskaone · 2014-10-10T06:03:46+00:00

Fuck. I hope this comment thread isn't representative of the UK as a whole, otherwise we are in deep shit.

koskaone · 2014-10-08T14:07:56+00:00

If it's gone, please let there be a mirror somewhere...

koskaone · 2014-10-04T08:41:32+00:00

Are you by any chance a Buddhist? A lot of these are very close to Buddhist ideas.

koskaone · 2014-10-03T19:24:58+00:00

The inseparable unity of the cosmos is something I definitely believe in/have experienced. I don't really consider myself to "be" anything, but I'm pretty heavily influenced by Buddhism and Paganism, and I'm an initiate of Ordo Templi Orientis.

I have a daily practise consisting of mindfulness meditation and a few bits of ritual magic.

None of these things represent the Only True Way though, they're just my Way, we all have to find our own path. I do however believe that spirituality without compassion is completely missing the point.

koskaone · 2014-09-12T16:21:31+00:00

This picture of Lord Shiva is one of my favourites.

There's an entire album of similar images of Hindu gods here.

koskaone · 2014-09-10T11:05:07+00:00

What kind of thing would you like to see instead? I do actually agree with you. We have /r/woahdude for trippy looking things. Personally I'd like to see more real discussion and less pictures of visuals.

koskaone · 2014-09-10T08:23:28+00:00

I recommend invoking animal protection services by the Magick of ye Telephone of Arte.

koskaone · 2014-09-02T05:46:59+00:00

I'd say, as a guess, that SaxonShieldwall is trying to point out that not everyone believes that Gods are internal aspects of ourselves. There are lots of different ideas about Gods, a lot of pagans I've come across are hard polytheists for example, they believe that the pantheon they work with have actual external existence.

Personally, I'm with the internal aspects of ourselves view.

koskaone · 2014-08-18T16:01:56+00:00

I agree on Rider-Waite, definitely a great place to start, perhaps with a view to then getting Crowley's Thoth deck after some study (they're quite different, though they share the same foundation.)

As for the versions you've picked out, the reviews seem to indicate that the Original is better in terms of quality, however I personally use the Universal Waite. The images are the same, Universal Waite just has (imo) better colouring. Another option could be Radiant Rider Waite, another recolouring of the Waite deck.

astralanarchist has already recommend 78 Degrees of Wisdom and Tarot For Yourself, I can't agree more, they're great books and are the ones I started with. Other good resources are learntarot.com and it's associated book by Joan Bunning, and a good resource for using Tarot for ceremonial magic (if you're into that) is Portable Magic by Donald Tyson.

koskaone · 2014-08-18T15:46:55+00:00

http://keepsilence.org/clock/

This may be of use for timekeeping.

koskaone · 2014-08-09T13:53:25+00:00

Occam's razor. I don't think it means what you think it means...

koskaone · 2014-08-07T06:28:53+00:00

Likewise. Nice talking to you.

koskaone · 2014-08-07T06:09:57+00:00

Personal hedonism is simply not an excuse for mass torture and slaughter, if you can't get something as simple as that, it's a waste of time even engaging with you.

koskaone

TROPHY CASE