Michael Sternbach

Luke, You are totally WRONG about that!!! LOL!

I'm looking forward to them too.

Oberon

I suggest to do a general reading for you then. Regarding your husband's professional situation, a more thorough and detailed analysis in fact seems recommendable, given the sensitivity of the topic. Let's talk about it by PM. Great. Whenever you can find the time for it. Sure enough! Maybe you would like to ask the cards how you could become more selfless? Thanks for your interest everybody! This thread is closed to further querents until further notice. (But I will likely start up another round sometime.)

Hi Brian, Here goes! I did this four cards spread for you, using the Thoth deck (you may want to google images of the cards), no particular question asked: 1 2 3 4 Where 1 = Topic = Prince of Pentacles 2 = What you are attracting = 6 of Pentacles (Success) 3 = What you are sending out = Ace of Pentacles 4 = Conclusion, key = 2 of Wands (Dominion) Summary card*: IX (The Hermit) Shadow card*: Prince of Cups *The numerical summation of the cards in the spread. **The shadow card is the one left on the bottom of the shuffled deck after the cards for the spread have been dealt. As the Prince of Pentacles informs us, this is about building up something on the material plane in a calm and steadfast manner. A project like a new home or a new source of income... Something more or less tangible, anyway, as also suggested by the prevalence of Pentacles on this spread overall. The Hermit and the Prince of Cups as accompanying cards make me think that this started as a secret plan following an inner impulse. It looks really good! What you are attracting is represented by the very promising 6 of Pentacles (Success). In line with this, what you are radiating is symbolized by the Ace of Pentacles, thus you have the aura of a confident winner, and this will surely be reflected back on you. The key to the situation is to courageously and boldly move forward, as indicated by the 2 of Wands (Dominion), ever acting from your centre, and not hesitating to step on yet untrodden territory. Hope this helps. Best, Michael

Banzai

Bodhi tree

The Body Shop

As I said, my knowledge of Wilber's philosophy is rather incomplete. But I think he (like some other advaita philosophers) is cutting a lot of corners regarding spiritual development. Its aim is NOT a blending with the undifferentiated sea of consciousness. That would be regressive. Rather, an entity reunites with original divinity by manifesting this divinity itself - by becoming a divine creator itself, eventually. "The drop may sometimes understand that it is in the ocean, but rarely does it realize that the ocean is also in itself."

It's neither moral nor unmoral.

But he does look like a physicist.

First off, we would have to define "moral".

I would love to share a photo of myself, but I can't. Because I don't exist!!!

I am of two minds in this question. Not so much because I am worried about the immense sums being spent. Could that money be used more meaningfully? Possibly. Could it be spent more stupidly? Most definitely!!! Examples for that abound, but I would find it too tedious to elaborate on this right now. That said, I agree with Nikolai that a lot of modern cosmology falls short regarding the deeper questions. Such as: How does the world soul create and act in the cosmos? How are we connected to the cosmos? What is our place in it? What is humanity's mission? These are metaphysical questions. A materialist may laugh about them. Contemporary science is materialistic overall. It is studying its subject as a lifeless and soulless thing. Yet its findings can sometimes be interpreted in meaningful ways. Yes, it is of value to understand if and to what degree Einstein's theories hold true. And gravitational telescopes may open new windows to the universe, such as optical telescopes and radio-telescopes (etc) did before. Even though they won't replace the insights that can be gained by intuition and meditation alone. For instance, Giordano Bruno in the 16th century had visions of an immense cosmos full with suns and planets carrying life - at a time when fixed stars were still considered to be the holes in a perforated crystal sphere. And he never had an opportunity to look even through the kind of telescope that is nowadays given to kids on their birthday.

Rock 'n' Roll

Rick's Café (in Jamaica)

Rembrandt

alchemical

And yet, Julius Evola wrote an interesting treatise on the parallels between The Secret of the Golden Flower and Hermetic spiritual alchemy. I don't subscribe to "everything means anything" at all, but there are sometimes parallels between the systems of different cultures that only come as a surprise as long as we don't appreciate that they are describing the same facts of metaphysical nature, only perhaps from slightly different perspectives. We likely won't agree on this, and this is not the place to discuss this further. This thread is about practical alchemy by which I mean laboratory alchemy (which indeed likely limits the topic to western alchemy, as there are not many books on eastern lab alchemy available in western languages), and you are right that it has been taken OT, although with the best of intentions. So let's get back to Lully, Flamel and Fulcanelli then.

A good teacher will throw their students back on themselves, eventually.

I agree with Nikolai about Ken Wilber being a great thinker. He doesn't provide all the answers as far as I'm concerned, and neither does anybody else. But he exemplifies what I am attempting myself, to find my answers wherever I may, from sources both external and internal, ever aspiring to fill out the template which is my own potential self. This is individuation. Nobody else can be a perfect model for myself, because there is nobody else who is just like me and has just the same telos. People like Wilber can give us an outline or map for our development that will work for us as far as it goes. The image of perfection they draw may serve as a guiding light, even if I see neither myself or its author or anybody else actually ever achieving it. I know of nobody who isn't or wasn't flawed; it looks like even the Buddha was sometimes opinionated and bad-tempered. Who cares? Even "flaws" have a reason for being. We don't need people to worship. We only need mirrors that reflect and help us amplify parts of ourselves. Sure enough, we will feel attracted to those who can be our mirrors during certain stages of our development. And sometimes, a fictional character is great for that. We can draw from them as you could from a real (but idealized) person. In either case, what we are dealing with is our own archetypes and their projection.

Yes, DB, that sounds like a good idea. Why limit yourself to one small source of information if you can have many.

... they will meet whales!

Yada yada... Blah blah blah...