Apech

I love Jackson Pollack ... I now feel I am in a community of philistines

@ Aaron ... viewing things with the flame of craving ... 'wanting' as the driving factor is samsara, when this flame is extinguished this is nirvana ... this is Hinayana view. Mahayana view is that both samsara and nirvana are both empty and inseparable ... this is the non-dualist view ... you can't have a non-dual view which is dualist or it simply wouldn't be non-dual. @ Vmarco ... I agree basically with what you are saying in your post. Not sure what HDL vid will add but may watch it if I have the time.

Excuse me for butting in here but that (the bolded sentence) doesn't make sense at all. Suffering is part of a dualistic world ... but we perceive the non-dualist nature of existence on enlightenment. If enlightenment includes, as it must do, seeing things as they really are ... according to you 'non dualistic' then the suffering which is part of dualism (according to you) should be removed ... no? Of course the classic Buddhist analysis would be that suffering is exactly that which arises through ignorance (of how things are) and craving for things ... this generates the samsaric view ... and is, being based on ignorance, a mistaken view. So the suffering that beings experience is unnecessary and the basis of compassion is knowing that this is so ... that beings suffer and they don't need to. Compassion is not a feeling or sentiment it is an understanding ... an understanding of youself and others and their relation to reality.

We've got a file on you.

The Egyptians had two words for heart. 'hty' and 'ib' ... 'hty' means something like that which is in front (of the chest cavity) and became in late periods to be used exclusively for the physical organ, which 'ib' was used for the 'psycho-spiritual' centre or mind etc.

@sinfest 2 judgement day : wise words from the pink plastic horse person.

This is correct. The Egyptians also through cranial surgery knew how to care and protect the brain, diseases such as epilepsy were understood ... so they did know about the physiological importance of the brain. And they did not value it as an organ in the funerary cult ... as well as the heart which was usually retained in the body cavity ... they paid special attention to the liver, lungs, stomach and intestines which were protected by deities. The heart was the centre of mind, character and volition ... its quality was what made you the person you were and it was the heart which was weighed in the hall of judgement. They also viewed it as the mother of the person ... a famous text says 'my heart my mother' ... thought some Egyptologists translate this as "my heart of my mother" ... which makes no sense since it was their own heart the Egyptians were addressing. The heart was often protected by or sometimes replaced by an amulet of a scarab beetle ... sacred to a form of the sun god Khepera whose name means "to be, to evolve, to transform" ... Khepera unlocks the key of time in the sacred Zep Tepi or First Time ... of which every moment is a recapitulation. The power to transform and evolve was considered essential in the second phase of the Book of the Dead when the deceased says that he will perform all the transformation which his heart is pleased with.

Maybe the difference that I'm thinking of is really about active versus passive ideas. I would advocate the following for myself and anyone who agrees. Continually strive to construct the most self-consistent and 'true' conceptual framework for your work. Then test it to destruction ... actively try to find weaknesses and inconsistencies ... and if it doesn't stand up throw it away and get a new one. Most likely this will not result in complete rubbishing of previous thoughts but in refinement, knocking off the rough edges and too easy assumptions. Ideas are NOT abstract dead forms ... they are active energy structures with their own vibrational state (phrase this how you like) ... on their own level they are entities (don't believe this if you don't agree of course) but if you look at the history of how ideas have been understood by human beings .... for a far longer time than not they were understood in this way. Treated with respect they are impeccable allies (see other thread) of a kind. Anything ... anyone who discourages one from treating ideas in this way is not to be trusted. There are too many people pulling wool over the eyes of others. Just like Jing, just like chi, an idea is a power ... friend or foe. Those who would pour passive ideas into us are our enemies. Its like eating bad food.

Are we making a distinction between ideology and philosophical view? I think the later supports practice especially in 'difficult' times in that it kind of carries you through ... and more importantly cultivation (of any kind) is cultivation of the mind as well as body/energy etc. so philosophy of the path is a way of refining your mind in tune with other practice. Ideology and belief I think have all been distorted by our Judeo-Christian culture which requires belief without understanding and a kind of compliance with an unexamined view. So when we see the word 'belief' we don't think of a helpful sustaining faith that carries us through moments of darkness (i.e. faith = will or similar) we think 'blind faith' or 'you must believe without questioning'. You can understand belief to mean 'love to be' ... I would love to be healthier, wiser, more spiritually attained (however defined) and I will to develop ... this is not a blindness in itself but indeed a kind of light for times of darkness ... Ideology as a set of beliefs/ideas imposed from outside ... yes beware ... any suggestion about compliance or fitting in to a view without examination is not helpful ... I think this comes especially where groups of people meet together ...

Are you really lumping Cartland and Shakespeare together? Apart from anything else there's a failry strong argument to say Shakespeare was a hermeticist or at least he knew of and understood hermeticism. http://www.scribd.co...-and-the-Occult

I lived in this place for 5 years .... ... beat that

I would say immaculate but I can see a spot.

"We are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep." Bard too ... Avon calling.

"Why then 'tis none to you; for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." The Bard.

Fanatics have their dreams, wherewith they weave A paradise for a sect; the savage too From forth the loftiest fashion of his sleep Guesses at Heaven; pity these have not Trac'd upon vellum or wild Indian leaf The shadows of melodious utterance. But bare of laurel they live, dream, and die; For Poesy alone can tell her dreams, With the fine spell of words alone can save Imagination from the sable charm And dumb enchantment. Who alive can say, 'Thou art no Poet may'st not tell thy dreams?' Since every man whose soul is not a clod Hath visions, and would speak, if he had loved And been well nurtured in his mother tongue. Whether the dream now purpos'd to rehearse Be poet's or fanatic's will be known When this warm scribe my hand is in the grave. John Keats.

@vmarco ... your book ... what is its title?

@Vmarco ... you make some interesting points but I always stop reading when the font changes because you have cut and pasted a large section of text. You could at least put it in quotes and cite the source ... even if it is your own work. Thanks.

I didn't mean short circuit really ... I was just suggesting that with most of us its not possible to go into 18 months retreat ... but that does not mean we should think that we can do nothing. And I'm not sure the spiritual/magickal process is always consists of herculean efforts but rather something more sustained and integrated into daily life. Just some thoughts.

We all ready have a Grandmaster ....

Yes I imagine his daughter's death was more pressing than organising the G.D. It is not a text which I have spent much time on ... but I think that it is highly valued. And also some things can be gained even if the whole operation is not followed and completed. Is it necessary I wonder to perform lengthy and taxing magical operations to get in touch with your higher self ... which is always present and operational whether we perceive it or no.

Found this:

The sea is empty also aha!

It claims to be more complete, and translated from more of the original documents, some of which were not available to Mathers. Do you know anything about this edition? That is true I think ... Mathers worked off a French manuscript which had some parts missing. Good point ... stick to the newer translation from the German. Although I know people who used the Mathers text with some success ... and I think Crowley did although for reasons I forget he didn't finish the whole operation.

Conversation with the Holy Guardian Angel is the goal of the Book of Abramelin the Mage. http://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Magic-Abramelin-Dover-Occult/dp/0486232115

If you had done you would have been eliminated and not illuminated.