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....
