FraterUFA

Are you sure of that? UFA

I am sapiens serpentum. It is you who creates the opposition. UFA

The adept is the authority, no other. At least in the sense of a practical, working system that can be used for its intended purpose. It's a core teaching of the Hermetic Qabalah as well. UFA

Then you very much will not care for my views on Homo Illuminatus. UFA

Mixing Judaic Kabbalah and Hermetic Qabalah is asking for trouble. The two are not compatible and this is a good example of why IMO. In the Hermetic Qabalah, the Sephiroth cannot ever truly be out of equilibrium. What is perceived a state of disharmony is in actuality, useful and intentional. So referring back to that one-sided male perspective, one might hear a statement such as "Hod and Netzach are unbalanced". While the concept of a Ruach inbalance is indeed a valid and useful one, to state that Hod and Netzach are out of balance is to state that the universe is imperfect in some way... as if it is possible in any way to mar the harmony of the Supreme Being. It is a subtle distinction and one which leads the Judaic Kabbalists to misjudge the nature of reality. The Hermetic Qabalah allows for imbalance. In fact, it demands it below the supernals. Imbalance creates motion and binary consciousness. It is an integral part of the tree, built into it. The Sephiroth don't "move left or right" in the Hermetic philosophy. Concepts like this which have slowly accumulated within the Judaic Kabbalah (and which remain unchallenged) are why I hold that the Hermetic Qabalah is a vastly more effective spiritual system, having been stripped of religious legalism and dogma. UFA

I couldn't tell you anything about Taoism. I am an alchemist. UFA

Unity is not a product of binary consciousness. Binary consciousness is a product of unity. The product of one-sided masculine (or one-sided feminine) is dysfunction. UFA

The dualistic concept is found not merely in the traditions of the near East and Africa. In fact, we find it all over the world, transcending time and culture. That fact alone suggests that we are dealing with a fundamental truth about the human experience. Not quite. "As above, so below". What exists in the macrocosm exists in the microcosm. Not some of the time, all of the time. So while we may be justified in not concerning ourselves too much with vague cosmological theories in the beginning, any true inner exploration is going to rub up against this concept pretty quickly. Dualism describes a core aspect of what it means to be human. I think you understate your case here. It is not that seeing the viewpoint of dualism sheds more light on spiritual experience, but that all spiritual experience is fundamentally concerned with explaining dualism itself. We live in a binary world. Here I am typing this to you and there you are reading it. You do not perceive yourself to be me. Your life as you currently perceive it began with a birth which took place in a specific time and place. You perceive it as heading towards its end at what will be a specific time and place. You perceive pain and pleasure, loss and gain, youth and old age, male and female. You perceive yourself as a finite being... for what purpose? I would add that true understanding of dualism is the beginning of the spiritual path... what some might call "liberation". UFA

Are you claiming that elemental transmutation isn't possible? UFA

I think you need to take a step back and actually get some grounding in a spiritual tradition before you hurt yourself. The human body has evolved over millions of years into a beautifully functioning instrument. We have collectively endured every type of predator, poison, environmental threat, etc. imaginable. As a result of these forces, we have developed magnificent abilities such as resilience, immune systems, eyesight, rational thought, and so on. Yet in your arrogance (which you don't even recognize having deluded yourself with erroneous views of concepts like mindlessness and non-attachment), you believe that you, Songtsan, can somehow consciously improve upon an end product which you scarcely understand. It is about as sane as if you were bash the fingers of a master pianist with a hammer, in order to make him a better pianist. I am done with this conversation or any of the similarly inane ones that go on here. I do recognize that there is a place for them but my place is not among them. Best, UFA

What you are describing is mental illness. There is no escape from life. Best, UFA

The sutras was a particular interest of mine for almost a decade. It is a book intended for adepts. It will not produce the described results for an ordinary individual. UFA

And you know this how...?

You can no more end the "mind fabrication" than you can end the universe. Mind is not something inside our little heads. It is not something that can be contained. Mind creates the forms which we misinterpret as its vessels. Aside from the profound intellectual arrogance and pride being put on display throughout this thread, the main error I see is in attempting to define purpose as a noun. Purpose is not a thing, a reason, a belief. Purpose is a verb. It is something that flows through us. I am not being symbolic or obtuse here. Purpose can be felt just as surely as you feel your little finger. If you do not feel it, do not assume it can't be felt or that those who claim they do are all lying or deluded. If you do not feel it, it means you have not yet learned how to feel. Another error I see here is the belief that purpose has anything to do with our personal lives. Whether you are childish or mature, generous and kind, or selfish and contentious, has no bearing on the matter. Purpose transcends these insignificant personalities, the bodies we incorrectly identify with, and not just something we have chosen to wear temporarily. Whether you are wise or are just an asshole, both are beautiful and true. Just as the pain which comes from immaturity is beautiful and true. It serves a purpose which you cannot see. Just as the delusions of materialism, separateness, and science having all the answers are all beautiful and true. Just as the deaths of billions of people who having experienced profound pain but have no answers and no sense of purpose, are all beautiful and true. In the same manner, this field of information who is addressing you, which has formed about itself a temporary cloak of matter and energy for the sole purpose of reorganizing itself ever more finely and reducing its entropy, will soon relinquish its garb and will choose to take on a more finely organized form. The common man sees that as the bundle of matter and energy called "UFA" passing on, because he does not see the field of information behind it nor understand its reasons. You want to know what purpose is? Purpose is all around you but you do not open your eyes. Every phenomena, every iota of matter, every event in your life, no matter how seemingly trivial and mundane, is saturated with purpose. Those who claim purpose is subjective or deny it altogether appear to me as a child trying to hold his breath until he gets his way. Purpose is matter playing catch up with divine Will. It is the master dancing on the tops of the trees during a tornado. I cannot state it any clearer than that. UFA

Well, he's not wrong. It is supposed to be there. UFA

It's interesting that you take this particular path, which is just one of many. But it is the best place to start. You describe yourself here as a metaphorical cog in a vast machine (I am oversimplifying, as there are at least three main cogs in your personal machine). You go about your life and I bet you would agree with me that most of your day consists of meaningless activities. Let us say, brushing your teeth, going to the store, picking up some milk and turkey, etc. Let's call these "survival activities". Now mankind is obsessed with survival activities. Everywhere you look, this is what you will see. Men acting as ants in a vast colony... Moms mechanically carting their kids around to dance, soccer, and karate classes ("Children are the greatest gift in life!" they robotically chant). Throngs of people climbing on buses and trains, clocking in at jobs they hate, to collect paychecks to sustain their lives... All fueled by a vast system which has been put in place to perpetuate the system. Beer, electronics, video games, music, etc. promoted largely by appeal to our most basic animal drives: sex and violence. A system maintained unconsciously by the very same people who are affected by it, ironically enough. But eventually they grow tired or disillusioned and are replaced, just like any worn cog will be in a well-maintained machine. Are we on the same page so far? If so, what happens next to all of those people? I think that is rarely the case. I would argue that 99.999% of everything that happens in physical life occurs without any conscious intent. Perhaps there are a few instances in each person's history in which they made a truly conscious decision. If you go back a bit further to the beginning on the universe, physicists tell us that there were no physical laws at that point (No matter, no energy, nor anything which can be a consequence of those realities). Then the big bang occurred, after which the physical laws became manifest. Prior to this point, there was no speed of light, because there was no light. Afterwards, the speed of light, the constant c, "evolved" from that initial event. These physicists go on to tell us that the of these hundreds of different known physical laws, the allowable range within which any possibility for life (or even matter in some cases) is very small. The "odds" of our universe existing at all are unfathomably infinitesimal. It's unthinkable that we even exist and that is a very difficult point for some people, when they choose to think about it at all. Their only resort is to appeal to survivorship bias... that ours is the only universe of trillions that survived. But that's rather silly because numbers and statistics don't exist before the big bang, do they. Science: "Give me just one miracle and we'll explain the rest". There's a lot of assumptions in that statement. It's probably better to keep the conversation closer to home. UFA

Now we're getting somewhere. Honesty is a good start. If you look back over your life, what do you see has been manifested? Love? Conflict? Wealth? Struggle? Unhappiness? Family? Loneliness? Friendship? Isolation? Loss? Tell us, if you can. UFA

I couldn't tell you anything about the Fourth Way. In my opinion, all such schools are simply temporary stops which one must eventually grow out of long before they become a candidate for authentic initiation. It's a very good quote though.

What a good quote by Gurdjieff. He speaks here, of course, of the masses of humanity. Who not knowing their purpose, yet serve those of many different masters. A notion that is ignored by most, derided or feared by almost all the rest. He speaks obliquely here. Illumination is ultimately in the general best interest of the planet. Yet it is at the same time inimical to the systems which surround the adept, who extricates himself from their rulership. If you have seen the scene in the Matrix where Neo's boss gives him a speech about being late, it is kind of like that. Bossman doesn't care about you, just what you can do for him. Again, he speaks in a cunning manner. No one can evolve themselves. And no one is out there who will save the would-be spiritual seeker from the world. But the seeker saves himself by conjuring up a teacher. Here G has given away a great hint about the first illumination. The vast swarm of humanity neither knows nor cares about evolution. Of those who do, most casually stroll up to the temple and demand that the great gift be given them, knowing not what it is nor even if they are capable of attaining it. Of the small percentage who persist, most turn away once they find out what it is. UFA

I think we should step back and address the above speculation. K&CHGA does not require anyone's death to achieve. The Higher Genius will make itself known on its own terms and on its own timeframe, regardless of what you do or don't do. Or rather, that which you think you are doing to manifest its presence should rightly be considered its own plan unfolding through you. The HG does not need to be summoned to physical manifestation. And the Abramelin operation is allegedly one man's description of how he did it, one approach among many intended to bring one to a place where they are able to knowingly stand in the presence of the HG. I might add that most who have achieved K&C have never heard of anything called a "manipura chakra". UFA

Both of those are excellent. UFA

Hi Jadespear, I meant it in exactly that way and those people I am referring to are the members of the underground western esoteric current. They don't seem to correlate and for good reason. This concept grazes on the very heart of the first mystery that separates the illumined from the common man. Yes, spirit does comprise an aspect of who we are, you and I. We are all sons and daughters of God. But Jesus realized it in his conscious awareness. Not as a mere theory but as a practical, everyday reality. The phrase, "son of man" can be taken quite literally: we are the sons and daughters of the mundane man, the barely conscious animal who sleeps with his eyes open. Jesus was both: the son of unenlightened man who received the grace of the divine which illumined him: an animal who awakened to the awareness of his own godhood. Also a very good way of looking at it. UFA

An esoteric interpretation would go a little differently. Jesus was the son of God because of the descent of God into physical manifestation. He was the son of man because he rose up (evolved) from matter and was exalted above the status of purely material man. The meaning of the two phrases in conjunction are equivalent to the symbolism of the Star of David. UFA

Thanks for being the voice of reason here, Nungali. The abyss is considered the second gate, not the first. UFA