[Opinion] Occultism and ontology

[alhaqq]

Greetings,
Wanted to get your thoughts on something I often kick around in my head: the relationship between occultism and ontological beliefs about the world, what is in it, and how to interact with it. The question I am most curious about is: What do you believe the fundamental structure of reality to be (should be easy to answer, surely!), and how does that impact your magickal practice?

For example, I am best described as a monist because I believe there is only One Reality (God, Brahman, the Real, the One, etc) and that the world is this reality perceiving itself through limitation and duality. A side effect of this view is that, for example, I am not very moved by the notion of life as a cycle of suffering that we must be liberated from (because it is the expression of a Reality that is fundamentally good), or the Gnostic idea of life as incarceration in matter (because we are the voluntary incarnations of a reality which is absolute freedom). I also do not put much emphasis on the confrontational or combative aspects of magick (such as solomomic evocation that involves extensive threatening with hellfire or binding spirits based on authority to do them harm) because I fundamentally do not understand magick as an act of struggle, but rather as a harmonizing force that aligns one with the Most High, not something that has to do with “spiritual warfare” or things of that nature.

What do you guys think? If you’d care to, give us a sketch of the basic premises of your worldview and how that view impacts your practice, what you do and what you avoid, etc.

Blessings of Love and Light
M.S.F.

 

[Robert Ramsay]

I see the universe as a twisted tree of Einsteinian block universes, spreading out in an unbelievably huge timeless mass, that we negotiate as multiple versions of ourselves, each normally unaware of the others, even as we depend on them and become them; an immense "choose your own adventure book" where we only see the path that we choose, as we are choosing it. Time passes for us because we are inside the timeless structure.

As for my practice, I believe that as Crowley's definition "Magick is the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with the Will." applies to both "normal" and "magical" actions, so we are able to choose a path "normally" or "magically". You do not change the world; you experience the version of the world that contains the change.

The two things to avoid, are letting your conscious mind get in the way of your magic, and sharing magical acts with anyone not involved whilst the acts are incomplete.

 

[solxyz]

Great topic. I'm very much looking forward to this discussion.

My views on these matters are basically Phenomenological. That is, I take experience as ultimate and attempt to hold views which serve as articulations of what and how experience manifests itself. I seek to hold beliefs which are not theories about the world but which draw out the often-overlooked features of what I am always experiencing. Correlative to this, I take life as my central principle and model. I seek to think and act in a way which is conducive to the flourishing of life, and oppose those ways of thinking which I see as doing violence to life.

I believe thus in a fundamentally living, relational reality in which solidity and awareness are deeply inter-penetrating. I do not believe in a single unified self of any kind, neither personal, nor cosmic. I believe rather in nested functions in various degrees of integration that always exist in a dynamic self-world relationship and that reconfigure themselves creatively based on the relationships that they find themselves in. I do not believe in any fundamental hierarchy of being (e.g. keep that damn Kabbalistic Tree away from me) nor in any lasting escape from or overcoming of the challenges and vicissitudes of life. I believe rather in increasing one's personal depth and breadth, understanding one's personal needs, desires, goals, etc within the context of the life process itself, understanding oneself and others with greater nuance, depth, and precision, and building alliances that span inner and outer realms to allow for maximal flourishing.

 

[alhaqq]

Correlative to this, I take life as my central principle and model. I seek to think and act in a way which is conducive to the flourishing of life, and oppose those ways of thinking which I see as doing violence to life

100% agreed with this as a foundational premise. Dr. John Lily really packaged this concept well as “solid state intelligence” vs what we think of as biological life. Very enthusiastic second to this sentiment.

What a very rhizomatic view of things! My immediate question is— do you see these functions:

nested functions in various degrees of integration that always exist in a dynamic self-world relationship and that reconfigure themselves creatively based on the relationships that they find themselves in.

Configuring themselves in any way, shape, pattern, etc? For example, an eventual final integration of all functions into a single function identifying as itself (a Hegelian “self realization”) or anything to that effect, or for you is the process endless and iterative based on the eternal unfolding of new possibilities? Also, does causation play a meaningful role in your understanding of the reconfiguration of nested function-relationships? Or do they possess a more casual, free, creative nature?

Thanks for sharing!
M.S.F.

 

[solxyz]

What a very rhizomatic view of things! My immediate question is— do you see these functions
Configuring themselves in any way, shape, pattern, etc? For example, an eventual final integration of all functions into a single function identifying as itself (a Hegelian “self realization”) or anything to that effect, or for you is the process endless and iterative based on the eternal unfolding of new possibilities?

The latter. The actual life situation is always in process and always open-ended.

Also, does causation play a meaningful role in your understanding of the reconfiguration of nested function-relationships? Or do they possess a more casual, free, creative nature?

There is a lot that could be said to interrogate the notion of causation. I think there are some problems with the way that concept has been developed. But the short answer is: both. I believe that genuine creativity lies at the heart of life, but life also finds itself within certain constraints and intimately involved with features of the world that are relatively solid and regular.

 

[Nembra]

Your view seems very Christian (in an initiated, not really folkloric way), and I mean it as a compliment.

Yet, there is still struggle - between all the things that pretend to be the Most High.