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Which particular magic system do you think is the most comprehensive in the way that not only it includes other systems practices but introduces novel ideas and insights as well?
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- Thread starter alextrasza78
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If we're just talking about versatility, novel ideas, and the inclusion of other systems practices. I'd probably say it's one of the European recreationist movements. Having a lot of holes in your mythology and practice seems to both allow and necessitate filling those holes with other things that already exist. I think there may also be something to said about not having the whole picture showing you where the edges are.
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Historically, it's probably chaos magick, at least as you've defined it. It could theoretically include the practices of any other system, because chaos magick is a "meta-paradigm" moreso than it is a "paradigm" in the traditional sense. To date, it was also the last truly watershed moment in occultism, it fundamentally shifted the development of the occult scene from the 1970s onward.
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Man, how I hate those threads with nondescript titles that give you no clue whatsoever as to what they're about…
"Magical systems that include other systems' practices" are obviously the syncretic ones. "Novel ideas and insights" are what you have yourself when you discover systems hitherto unknown to you. What might be a revelation to you would only raise a tired jaded eyebrow in other occultists. Right now, for example, I'm slowly working my way through the Theravadan Abhidamma, and I'm having "novel ideas and insights" all the time, even if it's been around for 2,300 years or so already. Did you know that a moment of consciousness only lasts one billionth of a lightning flash? Now you know.
Some systems look simple on paper but have hidden depths that will only become apparent in practice, or leave so much room for experimentation like e.g. chaos magic that there are simply no limits to their innovation. If you really want to compare systems, you'll have to give us more criteria than just "most comprehensive" and thought-provoking, or we're in apples-and-oranges country.
So much of occultism is experiential, even if these experiences are exclusively gathered in the armchair, and you can even get your mind blown by a small remark an author made just in passing. On the other hand, some of these humdingers are right in the open, like the Buddhist doctrine of no-self/non-self - just test your current belief system against the notion that there's no soul, and whoosh (or not, depending)! That idea has been likewise around for 2,500 years, and it's not even a magical system, strictly speaking. The most sophisticated system won't have any impact on you if you're not ready, find it boring, or too abstruse.
"Magical systems that include other systems' practices" are obviously the syncretic ones. "Novel ideas and insights" are what you have yourself when you discover systems hitherto unknown to you. What might be a revelation to you would only raise a tired jaded eyebrow in other occultists. Right now, for example, I'm slowly working my way through the Theravadan Abhidamma, and I'm having "novel ideas and insights" all the time, even if it's been around for 2,300 years or so already. Did you know that a moment of consciousness only lasts one billionth of a lightning flash? Now you know.
Some systems look simple on paper but have hidden depths that will only become apparent in practice, or leave so much room for experimentation like e.g. chaos magic that there are simply no limits to their innovation. If you really want to compare systems, you'll have to give us more criteria than just "most comprehensive" and thought-provoking, or we're in apples-and-oranges country.
So much of occultism is experiential, even if these experiences are exclusively gathered in the armchair, and you can even get your mind blown by a small remark an author made just in passing. On the other hand, some of these humdingers are right in the open, like the Buddhist doctrine of no-self/non-self - just test your current belief system against the notion that there's no soul, and whoosh (or not, depending)! That idea has been likewise around for 2,500 years, and it's not even a magical system, strictly speaking. The most sophisticated system won't have any impact on you if you're not ready, find it boring, or too abstruse.