Beyond the "Occult"...

[Galahad]

To a large extent my thoughts here are semantic: it's a question of which words indicate which categories within a social context. This is made more complex by my sense that, as this stage, I've moved a very long way away from society. I really do not know how the general public perceive things anymore.

There is no question that, at one time, when I underwent my first awakening, my interests were "occult". The context for that awakening was largely within the Western Mystery Tradition and I was interested in things that touched upon the New Age (past life-regressions, Atlantis, etc.). However, over the years, that context fell away and my work is now so personalised that I really don't know if "occult" is the right term for it. I think a general observer seeing me engaged in a rite would certainly call it "occult" but that perception is one ultimately rooted in the idea that any spirituality outside of recognised religions is occult. Some of my interests, especially alchemy and tarot, would fit neatly under the category but many of my other thoughts are actually deeply opposed to the theologies which underlay unarguable instances of the "occult" such as Cabala, Goetia or Agrippa.

I wonder if the term includes more that I am now opposed to than inspires me. This is complicated yet further in that I have not replaced an "occult mindset" with a rational one. On the contrary, my thoughts have become more noetic and individual with time. Time was when the occult section of a library would be the first place I would head towards. Now I'm more inclined to spend time among the Romantics and aesthetes who move me far deeper than the conjurings and incantations which seem to comprise the bulk of "occult discourse", even on sites such as this. Should I renounce my "occultism"? Of course, I'd continue to engage in my personal magic and the mystical traditions which speak to me (Sufism, Tantra, Ukiyo) but I wonder if the idea of the "occult" has outlived its usefulness for me...

 

[IllusiveOwl]

Occult is just the word used for knowledge, thoughts, technologies, and wisdom that has to do with the underlying nature of reality. It's obvious, but it's also invisible. It's like directions on how to look at a fuzzy picture to make out something coherent... then how to move the fuzz around into pictures fitting your agenda.

The mystical traditions you mentioned, I wouldn't call them occult, esoteric would be a better mouth-noise... but if you're sick of all that, you could just bah-humbug it away and call yourself a mystic, free of all the red-tape of occultism.

I've moved a very long way away from society. I really do not know how the general public perceive things anymore.

You would be very disappointed. I make a point to ground and immerse myself with a normal life, to maintain an "alter-ego" so I don't spiral off into incoherency and to see how much I grow, because for the large part everyone else stays the same in comparison.

Football is still around, youth know how to communicate even less than before, people are largely faux to each other in public, fewer people are out in nature or doing things outside of commercialized pre-packaged events, there's crime & desperation, and everything is saturated with the omnipresent genre of human incompetence, mixed with the knowledge that there is a predatory seperation between goats & sheep.

Stay sane and positive, friend. Remember that even if you had everything you wanted, you'd still have nothing to do but spend time with others, or be alone doing your own thing.

 

[Galahad]

The mystical traditions you mentioned, I wouldn't call them occult, esoteric would be a better mouth-noise... but if you're sick of all that, you could just bah-humbug it away and call yourself a mystic, free of all the red-tape of occultism.

Possibly and my re-evaluation of "occultism" perhaps applies to the "language contract" of places where I interact with others.

As much as anything else, I think today is the day I recognise that this forum has outlived its usefulness for me. Interestingly, it's the anniversary of when I started really using my old account here.

Books can be found by interested parties in the usual places so there's little fun in finding and posting those just to say they're in this forum too (I'm also increasingly ethically unsure about posting books by living authors). Serious conversations are orientated towards systems which have no interest for me (see above Cabala, Goetia, Agrippa, etc.) and there's been an increasing amount of immature LARPing guising as a form of occultism for months now and users not checking their presumptions (the classic sign of immaturity) before interacting.

A lot of the personalities who used to be more active here would be interesting to interact with because, even when we were coming from radically different directions, their questions would cause me to have to think, to defend my ideas, and so interacting with them became a pleasant mental exercise. There's very little of that here at the moment.

Yep, I think it's time Galahad/Wintruz checked into somewhere new.

 

[IllusiveOwl]

Yep, I think it's time Galahad/Wintruz checked into somewhere new.

Never got a chance to interact with you much before, but it was nice knowing you. Have fun following wherever the wind takes you

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 12:48 AM

Some unsolicited career advice: I think you'd do really well driving out to the nearest desert and try out being an anchorite