Tripping The Muse

Tripping The Muse

Snippets of Future Works

The following is the beginning of a somewhat, at this time, an unedited meandering dialog that is a part of a book I am working on based on pages of my website Kether Muse. My intent is to write on information I have collected over the years on subjects ranging from Spirituality to Politics. Just a short glance at the Site Map at the Muse will give an indication as to what I am doing and what is to come.

People have asked why I don't have much personal dialog in the Muse. Well, I created it as sort of a storage space of click links to information of study for myself and I have little plans of “reinventing the wheel” so to speak, as so many much smarter than me have already done the real work. These little dialogs of mine will not contain links like my site does and will consist of my personal thoughts about the subjects I explore. Sometimes a bit autobiographical as in this first chosen part of the larger work in progress. I am not a professional writer and at times I may misspell words or use sentencing with odd structure and punctuation but part of the point is to present the information in way it is easy to understand. I ain't no scholar, just a common seeker. Hope you enjoy it some and for more information please visit and share Kether Muse starting in the Wormhole.

Now to begin:

One of the fundamental aspects of our human existence is the search for meaning. French idealist philosopher and Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is quoted as saying, "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience." Since the first humans looked up into the sky we have been asking, “Why?” And that search for meaning has propelled us forward. From Socrates to Plato to Aristotle and beyond our minds have been filled with profound questions. Personally I have found I am well suited to the Socratic paradox, "I know one thing: that I know nothing". (scholars translate this in different ways, but I like this one)

In a way it seems that Buddha changed that a bit in the search to touch the “ultimate truth” by instructions to have your mind in a place of “no-thought”. But to understand it is seeking a place of non-attachment to our thoughts that bring us freedom and in touch with the infinite. And in this place of non-attachment it is a hope that duality fades away like morning dew in the sun and we are engulfed in a sea of oneness. Man that sounds so easy at times. Abraham, the entity channeled by Ester Hicks has said to change our world it only takes 68 seconds of pure thought! So, to think or not to think, that is the question. Bouncing around all these philosophies can just tucker a guy out at times. One does not want to be an “enlightenment junkie” wandering from place to place forever never satisfied, but then again limiting ones self to some sort of dogma seems dangerous to me.

Chaos Magick, by it very nature, is hard to define with words as words have components and a common structure and Chaos Magick itself has none. But here is one definition (made by me combining words and phrases by others). “In short, chaos magic is about using whatever ideas and practices are helpful to you at the moment, even if they contradict ideas and practices used previously. A postmodern magical tradition which emphasizes the pragmatic use of belief systems and the creation of new and unorthodox methods.” So to be clear I have adopted this form of spirituality as one that suits me well as I believe what Pierre Teilhard de Chardin has said quoted above. Even giving my belief system a title seems a bit out of sinc for me, but people like to know what one's spirituality is and as I said it seems to fit me closely.

I abhor dogma. So being involved in a formal group of spiritual practitioners has never appealed to me, although there has been occasion in my life to do so for short periods of time. One of those times was when I was young and I got swept up in what was called the Jesus People's Army, or Jesus Freaks as we were affectionately, or not, called. The term Jesus Freak a pejorative term from non-Christian hippies that backfired as the movement adopted it themselves. It was a movement that started on the west coast of the USA and spread across the county and into Europe and Central America like a wildfire. I burned all my drugs and occult books and grabbed my Bible and became a street preacher. And instead of being a common “field hippie” in the local parks I started irritating my fellows with words like “Repent!”

It was during this time I studied the Bible every day and went to the local Bible Collage and sat and read for hours, pulling books off the shelve devouring all the information I could. I was seeking that place of “oneness” with the infinate with “God” and the bliss of the Buddha. It was two little things that finally made me go, “What? Huh? Well now!” First was when I learned that it was not until the Second Council of Constantinople in 553 Christians decide it's doctrine would not have a belief in reincarnation and debated for hundreds of years started by a dude named Origen of Alexandria , a noted theologian of the early church. Now I had been studying religions since I was about 15 and reincarnation was a doctrine I had adopted as a personal belief. And to find that it was one around in the time of Jesus and was being debateded shocked me to say the least.

The second finding that twisted my head to the side was when I started hearing and reading about the Knights Templar. While in the Bible College I asked the librarian to steer me toward information on them for my studies. She took me to a very small set of books on the subject and I started reading. I quickly began to see that they were considered “evil” and practitioners of witchcraft. I, being a rebel at heart, felt the strong need to know more about the “Warrior Monks”. Dissatisfied with what I found there I was compelled to go to the public library to see if I could find more information that was not soaked in the flavor of the Christian church. There I discovered that the Church had basically tried to wipe the memory of them from the minds of the “common man” and the records were buried deep in the vaults of the church. The reason was the Templars were powerful and even more so than the king or the church itself. I found that under extreme pressure from King Philip IV, Pope Clement V issued an edict officially dissolving the Order. This after all sort of tactics used against them from arrest to imprisonment to torture. And so I thought, “Well this sucks!” I suppose my personal feelings of justice were assaulted by this new knowledge and knowing I could do nothing about the past, I decided to steer my future away from the dogma of the Christian bible as it now was becoming clear to me that it was built on lies myths and misinformation. Now don't get me wrong, I did and still do love words attributed to Jesus, but the dogma of being a Christian was no longer for me. So off I went, once again in my search for truth. I knew it was a monumental task as in the words of André Gide express. “Trust those who seek the truth but doubt those who say they have found it.” And back to Socrates "I know one thing: that I know nothing".

So, God. Being an Omnist, coined by English poet Philip J. Bailey in 1839, (one who holds the recognition and respect of all religions) I have seen that the very word is such a huge subject. An fundamental question. Is there a “god”? And next, do I have a “soul”? God and Soul. And basic consciousness. “I Think Therefor I Am” as Descartes said was the only rational starting point when we are all surrounded with a sense of doubt in what is “real” or the “truth”. Socrates and Descartes simple words guide me often. Many folks are sustained by what is termed “faith”. Although I do have much faith in things unseen and in much of what some call pseudoscience, I am drawn to know the why and how of things too. Some have said that science can be a religion in its self. They call it Scientism, a world view that worships Empiricism. I see faith and reason as a young couple walking down a country lane, hand in hand in love. But as they come to the fork in the road they begin to argue whether to go to the right or to the left. The tyranny of duality! Shadows and Light! Can make one's soul ache, (that is if we have one).

For a moment perhaps a little exploration of some of the names of god. The word Theoria seems to fit here. It is Greek for contemplation. Corresponding to the Latin word contemplatio meaning "looking at", "gazing at", "being aware of."

Theologians tell us that basically the word “God” is a Christian and monotheistic term for “the” supreme being. For Christians it means "belief in one personal and transcendent God". But also there is panentheistic monotheists which believe that “the divine” is in every part of the universe and also extends beyond time and space. Now don't confuse panentheists with pantheism, which holds that the divine and the universe are identical, but maintains a distinction between the divine and non-divine and the significance of both. Well to further confuse the issue of the monotheistic God Muslims, also an Abrahamic religion, call God “Allah”. The reason they say is using "Allah" instead of god while speaking English is that “the word god can be plural i.e. god/gods but "Allah" is always singular which relates to the most important Islamic fundamental of "Allah" being the one and the only god.” And the Jewish faith uses Jehovah and Yahweh and Rabbinic Judaism describes seven names for "God" which must be erased if ever written down. Well now. I personally believe they worship the same concept of God but many, these days especially, like to argue that Allah is not God. But I am not going to get into that debate. Let's move on a bit. Maybe just some bullet entries.

Ein Sof is a Kabbalahistic term for God prior to his self-manifestation in the production of any spiritual realm.

Demiurge is an artisan like figure responsible for the fashioning and maintenance of the physical universe. The term was adopted by the Gnostics.

Monad is a word used for “god” in trying to understand form, “atomism”, and substance as being all made of the same thing, God.

This has been just a toe in the lake of the names of god focused with an Abrahamic lens. When entering into mythology, paganism or the occult concepts and terms take on a much larger ocean of beliefs. Or the theosophical and new age ideas surrounding “I Am”. Or question of what is meant by Genesis that says, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”. Who was he talking to?? And in some Christian dogma God is three and one at the same time.. Well, now. Seems my work is cut out for me.

To be continued....