Expansion of Understanding (February 2018)

“Religion is the emulation of the adult by the child. Religion is the encystment of past beliefs: mythology, which is guesswork, the hidden assumptions of trust in the universe, those pronouncements which men have made in search of personal power, all of it mingled with shreds of enlightenment. And always the ultimate unspoken commandment is ‘Thou shalt not question!’ But we question. We break that commandment as a matter of course. The work to which we have set ourselves is the liberating of the imagination, the harnessing of imagination to humankind’s deepest sense of creativity.”
— Frank Herbert

 

The universe is non-simultaneously apprehended”
― R. Buckminster Fuller

 

By non-simultaneously apprehended, Fuller meant that the universe was too big to be understood all at once by us contained within it. Even if everything that is in the universe is in us microcosmically. If you add to that the unending void that the universe springs from, the possibility of anyone holding the complete and unquestionable truth (never mind being able to understand it) becomes impossible.
There is always more to learn, new gnosis to gain and old worn out ideas to discard. Avoid like the plague those who would feed your inner laziness by offering you the children’s model that they hold as absolute, especially if they ask you to take it on faith. (In my experience when someone asks you to take something on faith, they do not offer lube to ease it in but that is neither here nor there. Explore and question your knowledge, your beliefs, your gnosis and your understanding being willing to discard it all or any of it for a better model. You will find help along the way. Seek to know and act creatively reaching to expand and ascend and become. I know of no more worthwhile endeavor.

 

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Gem From Beneath by GAR

 

Holding the Space (redux) by GAR

 

Spatial Extremities (redux) by GAR

 

Gnosis (February 2018)

 

“As understanding deepens, the further removed it becomes from knowledge.”
― C.G. Jung

 

“Enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier. Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth. It’s seeing through the facade of pretense. It’s the complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true.”
-Adyashanti

 

I used to be a seeker after knowledge. More and more I seek understanding. That doesn’t mean that I will discard any knowledge I come across in my travels. In many ways it is the trade currency that will gain more understanding. In order to understand something deeply, old knowledge has to be cast off. This makes sense in a way, for what is knowledge but a snapshot of how a certain subject looked at a certain moment in time. Understanding feels more dynamic however.

 

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Answers Forthcoming (redux) by GAR

 

In the Eye by GAR

 

A Successful Working (redux) by GAR

 

Archways at the Centre (January 2018)

 

“The means by which we may enter into communication with these atavisms of magical heredity through the Gateway of our own bodies may best be described in terms which are at once both mystical and practical. We are taught that the Primal Goddess, who is Life Itself, must be called upon at the Place where three roads meet. These three roads are the three states of awareness – Waking, Dreaming and Sleeping. The Goddess is the Continuity of Awareness – the State in which the Adept abides after the accomplishment of contemplative, ritual and votive disciplines. Beyond the Meeting-place of the three roads there is the Fourth Road; this is entered through any State of ‘Inbetweenness’, such as a ritually induced hiatus of consciousness or more often the State of Hypnagogia. The Fourth Road is the Trance State Itself — the State of Silent Knowing or Gnosis. The Sabbatic Teaching is that where the Four Roads meet the Power of Death resides. As the God of the Cross’d-Roads he leads the Aspirant through the Psychostasis of the Initiatory Ordeals, thus granting him communion with the ‘Living And the Dead of All Blessed And Wise’.
In summary, the instantaneity of Illumination is the immediate result of contact with the innermost sanctum of our own being. It is the unveiling of all past and future transitions of entity through which the Indivisible ‘I’ will pass, by the means of going to the ‘Cross-roads’ or Transvocatory Point between all Space and Time.”

— Andrew Chumbley

 

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At the Center (redux) by GAR

 

Worship (redux) by GAR

 

Archway (redux) by GAR

 

Words of Pain and Pleasure Spoken and Unspoken (January 2018)

 

“People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”
― C.G. Jung

 

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Yada-Misha by GAR

 

The Unspoken by GAR

 

In the Mouth of the Serpent by GAR

 

Blessing, Curse or Challenge (January 2018)

 

The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.
–Carlos Castaneda

 

Yes, I know I’ve used this quote on my blog more than once before. To me tho, this epitomises such an important principle that I see so many overlooking. Where we are and where we find ourselves in our lives is the present state of things. Were we lucky so far to bring us here? It doesn’t matter. What matters is where we go from here. Were we cursed by someone (enemies, random malice, the gods, demons, fate) and is that what brought us here? It doesn’t matter.
Here to me are the essential questions. Where are we and where do we wish to be? What strengths do we have to get from point a to point b? What is holding us back? What resources do we have? How do we expand our resources and our strength. How we got here ultimately doesn’t matter half as much as how do we move on with the challenges we have?
As each new day or new event arrives, both positive and negative things will happen. New challenges present themselves yet the questions remain the same? How do we get from where we are to where we are going? How do we meet these challenges? If we get caught up in the whys instead of the hows, it becomes a matter of blame or seeking restitution and ultimately brings us no farther (indeed the resources we have will be caught up in either blame / revenge or worse yet excuses and despair). Few have time for that bullshit. I know I do not

 

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To Speak Answers by GAR

 

Phoenix Rising From Destruction (redux) by GAR

 

To Put Out the Stars by GAR

 

Watching Chaos Descend (January 2018)

 

“Dualism means to look upon all as black and white, which is viewed by Satanism as a cosmic delusion.
Paradox means to look upon all as something contradictory and absurd, but just as well true and real. Which is viewed by Satanism as a chaotic harmonization”
–Vexior 218, Panparadox

 

I have come to disbelieve in absolutes. As I watch more and more people becoming polarized in their views both politically and spiritually to the point where it seems difficult to not only entertain opinions that are contradictory but to cut off the people who hold them as totally and completely as they can. Less and less is there a consideration that two seemingly-contradictory things can both hold truth. I find the absurdity of this viewpoint to be hilarious.
Only a few years ago, people were quoting Bruce Lee “Be like water”, left and right. They embraced examining one’s views and self-reflection. Yet with very little effort, that changed. Never before have I seen so many people unwilling to move beyond their own limited sense of right and wrong. So delusional and so funny. Ultimately I don’t see embracing either the left or the right (either politically or spiritually) as being half as destructive as this unwillingness to bend, to embrace paradox, to be even somewhat open to other possibilities. It is the polarization of people and beliefs that will push us over the brink. Personally I would rather embrace the chaos of a multiplicity of viewpoints than the ultimate stagnation and destruction that comes from unyielding tunnel vision.

 

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She Watches in the Depths by GAR

 

Attendance by GAR

 

Sib-Li by GAR

 

Being Burning Becoming (January 2018)

 

The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.”
― Charles Du Bos
and in that constant sacrifice to realize an infinite becoming that leads to apotheosis and ascension

 

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Onn (Gorse) by GAR

 

Witin My Cave of Becoming by GAR

 

Burning Reflections by GAR

 

Contemplating Darker Paths (January 2018)

 

“The Other Side (called in the Qabalah “Sitra Ahra”) is this side of reality that is not contained within the frames of Creation. It is the realm of dark, chaotic powers that exist outside the structured universe, the nightside of the Cosmic Tree, and a negative mirror of light and order.”
— Asenath Mason

 

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Contemplating (redux) by GAR

 

Namir-Ha by GAR

 

Black Sun Gateway by GAR