“The real men of Science are in absolute agreement that the advance in our knowledge, great as it has been, leaves us as ignorant of ultimate truth and reality as we were ten thousand years ago. The universe guards its secret: Isis can still boast that no man hath lifted her veil!”
— Aleister Crowley
Yet so many are so sure they know it all. I know that I’ve discussed this before yet in the last year I have discovered so many who believe that they know it all Why do so many believe the universe so small that they can have their own personal key to the truth. At most we can only get glimpses through Isis’s veil and those glimpses are always filled with error. We can only invoke the deities both within and without and gain just that much more gnosis and thus thin the veil if never fully uncover it. I find that there is always more awareness to be found a heartening prospect and hope that others do the same while realizing that these are but teasers.
AVE, G
“Every man is more than just himself; he also represents the unique, the very special and always significant and remarkable point at which the world’s phenomena intersect, only once in this way, and never again. That is why every man’s story is important, eternal, sacred; that is why every man, as long as he lives and fulfills the will of nature, is wondrous, and worthy of consideration. In each individual the spirit has become flesh, in each man the creation suffers, within each one a redeemer is nailed to the cross.”
― Hermann Hesse
Aleister Crowley in the Book of the Law said it. “Every man and every woman is a star.” Among other things this means to me that we are each unique and capable of expressing something that no one else can express. Oh our energy may incarnate in other times and other places but in this time, in this place with this energy we are unique. What is it that we are meant to express? Most of us spend our lives working at discovering this. Eventually we catch on to the fact that whether or not we do it consciously, whether or not we do it well, we are always expressing our uniqueness. Oh it is easy especially in this 21st century here-now to pretend to be someone or something other but ultimately we become ourselves. Our masks slip away. I don’t know that I would have it any other way.
Blessings, G
“The Tao can never be known until it interprets the most trivial actions of everyday routine. It is a fatal mistake to discriminate between the spiritual importance of meditation and playing golf. To do so is to create an internal conflict. “Let there be no difference made among you between any one thing & any other thing; for thereby there cometh hurt.” He who knows the Tao knows it to be the source of all things soever.”
— Aleister Crowley, from his introduction to the Tao Te Ching
It is easy to feel spiritual and present and focused after a half hour of meditation. Is it as easy to feel that way in a business meeting? How about when taking out the garbage or doing the dishes? So much of our daily modern lives seems spent avoiding what we are doing in the present moment. Either we are planning the evening activities or thinking about the hot man or woman we just saw or our vacation or even how much our arm itches or how soon we need to hit the bathroom. Yet if we see each thing we do as an opportunity to be present, it can lead to all kinds of inner discovery. It can change walking the dog from an arduous chore to something unique and interesting. Paying bills can become sublime if that is what we are doing. It is as if the way we normally do these activities is monochrome and by our mere focus and presence we add colour. I am not suggesting we do this all day every day. I am not sure that this is possible. Yet focusing on being in the moment for at least one or two activities a day will be life changing and enhance our conscious awareness immeasurably.
Blessings, G
“This is my secret; I don’t mind what happens. That is the essence of inner freedom. It is a timeless spiritual truth: release attachment to outcomes, and—deep inside yourself—you’ll feel good no matter what.”
— Jiddu Krishnamurti
“I told you once that our lot as men is to learn, for good or bad,” he said. “I have learned to see and I tell you that nothing really matters; now it is your turn; perhaps someday you will see and you will know then whether things matter or not. For me nothing matters, but perhaps for you everything will. You should know by now that a man of knowledge lives by acting, not by thinking about acting, nor by thinking about what he will think when he has finished acting. A man of knowledge chooses a path with heart and follows it; and then he looks and rejoices and laughs; and then he sees and he knows. He knows that his life will be over altogether too soon; he knows that he, as well as everybody else, is not going anywhere; he knows, because he sees, that nothing is more important than anything else. In other words, a man of knowledge has no honor, no dignity, no family, no name, no country, but only life to be lived, and under these circumstances his only tie to his fellow men is his controlled folly. Thus a man of knowledge endeavors, and sweats, and puffs, and if one looks at him he is just like any ordinary man, except that the folly of his life is under control. Nothing being more important than anything else, a man of knowledge chooses any act, and acts it out as if it matters to him. His controlled folly makes him say that what he does matters and makes him act as if it did, and yet he knows that it doesn’t; so when he fulfills his acts he retreats in peace, and whether his acts were good or bad, or worked or didn’t, is in no way part of his concern. A man of knowledge may choose, on the other hand, to remain totally impassive and never act, and behave as if to be impassive really matters to him; he will be rightfully true at that too, because that would also be his controlled folly.”
–Carlos Castaneda
“”…thou hast no right but to do thy will. Do that, and no other shall say nay. For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.”
–Aleister Crowley (AL I, 42-44)
Three quotes all of which seem to be saying very similar things to me. Learn what is our will to do, act on it and cultivate an attitude that it really doesn’t matter if it happens or not. In the long run it is all folly, our actions written on the sand. If our actions change things, then we will live with the results. If it doesn’t we will live with the results. As long as we are travelling on a path with heart (love under will), then we have done what it is in us to do.
Blessings, G
“The whole and sole object of all true Magical and Mystical training is to become free from every kind of limitation.”
— Aleister Crowley
We humans tend to find astonishing ways to limit ourselves. We do it through almost every social affiliation we have (whether it be religious, vocational, social or political). We do it by lack of imagination. We also limit ourselves through self-doubt. We are limitless beings and only by getting outside our boxes do we allow ourselves to see it. That is why Magical and / or Mystical training does such a good job of freeing us. By discipling ourselves out of the box and by training our focus and imagination we can transcend ourselves and find true freedom. There is no other way out with the possible exception of recreational drug use and that way is dicey at best. It offers only temporary glimpses and all too often becomes a limiting box in itself. They can be a good gateway however in terms of glimpsing possibilities as long as one remembers they are tools at best, rather like a double-edged sword that can easily cut the wielder as it does the target.
Blessings, G
“The journey is what brings us happiness not the destination.”
― Dan Millman
As the King in the King and I would say, “It is a puzzlement to me.”I believe that what Don Millman says in the above quote about the journey being more enjoyable than the destination is true. I have heard enough similar things stated that I believe many at least pay lip service to this. Yet so many people seem dedicated to convincing others that they have arrived, that they have climbed the mountain and reached the pinnacle of wisdom. What’s even more astonishing to me is that this is true of many on a spiritual path, which is one that to me is never-ending. There is always more ways to grow and develop that I don’t see a destination point in sight, nor do I wish one. The journey may be difficult at times but as hard as it may be it is also joyous and rather fun.
So why then the need to convince others or ourselves that we have reached understanding, that we have become Masters of the Temple or enlightened or any of the thousands of other ways that people describe it. I hope that I will always find myself to be mainly ignorant to have as Robert Anton Wilson said “no certainties but some suspicions” about the true nature of things and there are far worse last words than Aleister Crowley’s “I am perplexed.” As I said a puzzlement. Then, my journey has barely begun.
Blessings, G
Tonight some rapid fire quotes and comments just to mix things up a bit:
“You are precisely as big as what you love and precisely as small as what you allow to annoy you.”
Robert Anton Wilson
So many reasons for working on our shadow selves and this is one of the best.. What good is it to love the universe (love universally) if you become irritated at little things that parts of it do and say? The cognitive dissonance that this can bring up alone makes it a good idea to deal with those raw parts of ourself.
“It is a thousand times better to make every kind of mistake than to slide into the habit of hesitation, of uncertainty, of indecision.”
— Aleister Crowley, Magick Without Tears
Uncertainty and Hesitation tend to be parts of my own shadow. When choices seem equal and they almost always do, it becomes difficult to choose. Still gradually I am learning to lead with my chin and choosing rather than leaving it to others or to the universe. It is my own learning to take responsibility.
It’s done by hurling yourself into the abyss, and discovering that it’s a feather bed.
There’s no other way to do it.”
— Terence McKenna
In combination with the quote above, it is sometimes better to take that leap towards self-knowledge and empowerment and be willing to risk the changes that it may bring rather than to stall out at the edge. It might be a featherbed or I might end up like a Loony Toons character running on air and falling but I will make those leaps and if I fall I will rise again.
Blessings, G
Click on images to see full-sized:
In Search of Lost Treasure (Valac) by G A Rosenberg
“Balance every thought with its opposition because the marriage of them is the destruction of illusion”
— Aleister Crowley
Neils Bohr said the opposite of a fact is a falsehood but the opposite of a profound truth is another profound truth. R Buckminster Fuller said that the universe can only be apprehended asynchronously. In other words there is no way that we can understand the complete universe at any one time. Therefore at any given time we can only have a partial understanding of the truth. How then do we go about getting closer to the truth. The way that Aleister Crowley suggests above is a good one.
Testing what we think and believe with their opposite is extremely useful tho for some people challenging. Many of us identify so strongly with our thoughts and beliefs that when they are challenged by someone, we take it as being a challenge to our very being itself. Instead we should welcome it and yes, challenge ourselves. If we are correct, than the opposing view will obviously fall apart. If we are mistaken than the opposite thought will enlighten us. Far more often tho, the truth lies somewhere in between and it is by synthesizing the two that we can reach a higher understanding. Of course than occurring to Hegel, we should then look at the opposite of our synthesized view and keep on going until we reach a total breakthrough beyond thought.
Blessings, G
“The joy of life consists in the exercise of one’s energies, continual growth, constant change, the enjoyment of every new experience. To stop means simply to die. The eternal mistake of mankind is to set up an attainable ideal.”
— Aleister Crowley
Each moment a new beginning
Each line a new verse sung
Coming alive to the challenge
finding new ones to be slung.
Never want to find a day
that’s like the one before
Never want an end to striving
there’s no call I’d ignore
For stopping to rest
feels like ending the quest
of learning what I’m about
the universe awaits
and I’ll dare all the fates
and I know that I’ll win out </h4
Staying alert to the pathways
I walk along in my day
Embracing the new in everyday life
never settling for just ok
Never want to settle for
a routine that’s safe and non-varied.
I never walk down the same street twice
if conscious, its not necessary.
— G A Rosenberg
“It is a thousand times better to make every kind of mistake than to slide into the habit of hesitation, of uncertainty, of indecision.”
— Aleister Crowley
Caught up in a web of my own doubt
Fearful of consequences
earned by misact ion
I can sit here forever
living a frozen half life
or I can take a chance
and accept whatever comes
I can’t be a seed forever
only by pushing forward
can I grow
flower or weed
success or failure
either one is just a temporary game
and depends on taking that day’s chances.
— G A Rosenberg
Cave Awakening by G A Rosenberg 
