[Opinion] The Imagined and The Real (and how one leads into the other)

[DangWizards]

As seekers of esoteric truth we have a tendency towards the magical, the impossible, the exalted. It’s difficult to recognize the truth on the level I live my life, I turn my nose up at the mundane. Anything actually attainable seems beneath me and so I go on imagining, attaining nothing. I don’t realize that I can take part in this miraculous life and that I can do it right now. We are always standing in a doorway, perpetually fumbling for the key to an open door.

We often think to ourselves “if only I could start over as a kid but with the knowledge I have now”. What we should say is “I wish, to return to the curiosity, interest and openness I once had as a child”. Over the course of our education and conditioning we have become productive members of society, this is a good thing but what was the cost? Layers of attitudes and fear responses have been heaped upon us as a result of this shaping process. We acquired a childlike habit of flinching internally at truths and realities that we could “take on the chin” now. It is time to reacquaint yourself with this, yet nascent, being within you that was plastered over during youth. That doesn’t mean losing all you’ve learned but rather, it means no longer being the slave of what you’ve learned. Beyond the fog of life there is a real self, a hidden treasure which loves to be known.

Some how this religious imagination of mine, by dangling a fantasy in front of my face, has led me to an unadorned taste of my real life. How to deepen this?

 

[FireBorn]

Okay, I fell off the cliff with the overdone prose a bit there. I had to read it a few times. Here is where I landed:

You want to taste your real life? Chew.

 

[DangWizards]

Okay, I fell off the cliff with the overdone prose a bit there. I had to read it a few times. Here is where I landed:

You want to taste your real life? Chew.

Haha, I definitely thought I might lose some people once I got to"yet nascent", it is a bit bulky. I'm usually in a state of heightened emotion when I write and didn't take the time to tone it down before posting.

To your response: I am understanding what you are saying as "immerse yourself deeply in activities and surrounding life". I don't disagree with that, it always helps to leave ones usual rut. Is that a correct interpretation of what you meant?

 

[FireBorn]

Haha, I definitely thought I might lose some people once I got to"yet nascent", it is a bit bulky. I'm usually in a state of heightened emotion when I write and didn't take the time to tone it down before posting.

To your response: I am understanding what you are saying as "immerse yourself deeply in activities and surrounding life". I don't disagree with that, it always helps to leave ones usual rut. Is that a correct interpretation of what you meant?

Glad you didn’t take my comment as a personal attack. Wasn't meant to be.

I’m saying: your life is probably already fucking amazing. You might just be looking at it through fogged-up lenses.
Magick is everywhere, but we’ve been spoiled into thinking it has to be fantastical to count. Yes, the fantastical is real, and yeah, sometimes we touch it. But the deeper current of magick is in the mundane. That’s the whole point.

So get out of the dusty-ass grimoires for a bit and go live. Try a new hobby. Go somewhere you’ve never been, even if it’s just for an afternoon. Eat something new. Listen to music you’ve never heard. Live. You gotta give the magick room to move.

 

[DangWizards]

I tend towards a sort of morose writing style (kind of like a penitent christian mystic or something). I don't feel that my life is bad, in fact things seem to keep going right for me. I'm not dissatisfied with my life but there is occasionally a vibrance that harkens back to a feeling I used to have as a young child, or maybe it was the feeling of being a young child. But this feeling comes to me and seems to add such weight and meaning to my thoughts and even a sense of direction and a definite goal begins to emerge from the fog of my inner world. Then it is swept away. I don't mean I become depressed but rather I become distracted.

In these times of deeper sensitivity I can sometimes see people in a different way. I may be going down a blind alley right now but to me it feels like harnessing the ability to remain in or return to this state is the doorway to real examples of clairvoyance, hypnosis ect.

I think you are right that magic is all around us, I've felt tat very strongly when under the influence of psychedelics.

 

[FireBorn]

In these times of deeper sensitivity I can sometimes see people in a different way. I may be going down a blind alley right now but to me it feels like harnessing the ability to remain in or return to this state is the doorway to real examples of clairvoyance, hypnosis ect.

I think that’s the doorway to the liminal. Clairvoyance, clairaudience, trance states, all of it. What you described is the space where communion happens, where real magick breathes.

If you’re able to drop into that state without needing elaborate ritual? That’s a serious skill, most write entire books trying to get people there without quite saying it outright. A lot of people perform magick and never touch that space. You’re walking right into it. Honor that. Hone it.

You're morose writing style is just fine. I'm not the most learned dude walking around, so I face planted reading it.

 

[silencewaits]

As seekers of esoteric truth we have a tendency towards the magical, the impossible, the exalted. It’s difficult to recognize the truth on the level I live my life, I turn my nose up at the mundane. Anything actually attainable seems beneath me and so I go on imagining, attaining nothing. I don’t realize that I can take part in this miraculous life and that I can do it right now. We are always standing in a doorway, perpetually fumbling for the key to an open door.

We often think to ourselves “if only I could start over as a kid but with the knowledge I have now”. What we should say is “I wish, to return to the curiosity, interest and openness I once had as a child”. Over the course of our education and conditioning we have become productive members of society, this is a good thing but what was the cost? Layers of attitudes and fear responses have been heaped upon us as a result of this shaping process. We acquired a childlike habit of flinching internally at truths and realities that we could “take on the chin” now. It is time to reacquaint yourself with this, yet nascent, being within you that was plastered over during youth. That doesn’t mean losing all you’ve learned but rather, it means no longer being the slave of what you’ve learned. Beyond the fog of life there is a real self, a hidden treasure which loves to be known.

It is hubris to think we have a perfect understanding of reality, even magical reality. No matter how airtight our 'symbolic system' is, the map is not the terrain. We can imagine we know things, that certain things are possible or impossible, but the urge to test our assumptions must be developed lest we grow stagnant. I have learned, to a point, to let go. I have stopped trying to force reality to bend to my will. I have stopped thinking of the reality in front of my eyes as the only thing I affect. The desire to start over as a child is to correct our mistakes, to re-taste our lost youth, and to create a better future for our mature selves. But it is only through our suffering, through the loss of our youth, and the experience of a inadequate present that we can recognize our path forward.

Some how this religious imagination of mine, by dangling a fantasy in front of my face, has led me to an unadorned taste of my real life. How to deepen this?

To deepen your taste, create new heights. Transgress, surpass. There are moments when the world feels exceptionally real. What is your call to action then? If you find none - there is your path. Discover what you can strive towards even in what seems to be your last moments. The razor's edge. And when you can connect with that, everything else will line up. And at every point something clicks into place, with every synchronicity that drives you further, you will gain further insights into the raw nature of "magic".