Quotations relevant to the Path

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obnoxion
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Re: Quotations relevant to the Path

Post by obnoxion »

...The language of alchemy is a language of reverie, the mother tongue of cosmic reverie. This language must be learned as it has been dreamed, in solitude. One is never so alone as when he is reading a book of alchemy. One gets the impression that he is "the only person in the world". And immediately, he dreams the world; he speaks the language of the beginning of the world.


- Gaston Bachelard: "The Poetics of Reverie". (Beacon Press, 1971, p. 70). Italics by Bachelard.
One day of Brahma has 14 Indras; his life has 54 000 Indras. One day of Vishnu is the lifetime of Brahma. The lifetime of Vishnu is one day of Shiva.
Angolmois

Re: Quotations relevant to the Path

Post by Angolmois »

"What does the future hold for us? A modern monastic-type movement of people who, out of their own free will, will restrain their outer needs in order to create space for spiritual life? Or material prosperity at the cost of an unheard-of automation of life and denial of spiritual freedom? That is for us to decide. But one thing is certain: either we decide to cultivate Saturnian virtues of deepening and self-discipline willingly, or we will be impelled to do the same in fetters. Those individuals, who are spiritually alive and inwardly strive for progress, will transform Oriphiel's gifts into the fruits of culture. For the rest, the gifts will become a curse, bearing down on them from outside as inexorable fate."

- Emil Pales, Seven Archangels
Angolmois

Re: Quotations relevant to the Path

Post by Angolmois »

"An eminent Hindu scholar, Das Gupta, has indicated connections between Left-Hand Path and certain "obscure religious cults". We have stated above that very widespread misunderstandings of a moralizing character exist with respect to the essence of this Path; we must also note a number of its degraded and degenerate forms. In fact, we stand on rather treacherous ground here, especially if we proceed to true and proper evocations. There are practices the ultimate meaning of which could be summarized thus: to activate that which stands beneath form, in order to carry oneself above form. By "form" here is meant all that which is variously conditioned and ordered with a certain fixity in the human being or in a given structure. Every order is defined as a form which yokes and ties the formless and elementary - the demonic, if you please, in the ancient and non-Christian moral sense of the term. The formless or elementary is now liberated; by emerging, it cannot help but act destructively on form. If we stop here, we find ourselves in the field of obscure rites of witchcraft. Forms of possession (potentially not perceived as such) might result. If rather the destruction of form carries beyond and above form, all of this might acquire a positive character. One could even speak of a "white manipulation of black magic" (which extends as far as to include even the so called "black masses"), and this might form an aspect of the Left-Hand Path."

- Julius Evola, Recognitions
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Nefastos
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Re: Quotations relevant to the Path

Post by Nefastos »

The quote above has been my favorite thought from Evola so far, thank you Rúnatýr! Then, something completely different...

"But the Master made no move.
'All substance is one to him who holds the key of the cosmos,' he said cryptically. 'To an adept nothing is immutable. At will, steel blossoms bloom in unnamed gardens, or flower-swords flash in the moonlight.'
'You are a devil,' she sobbed.
'Not I!' he laughed. 'I was born on this planet, long ago. Once I was a common man, nor have I lost all human attributes in the numberless eons of my adeptship. A human steeped in the dark arts is greater than a devil.'"

– Robert E. Howard: The People of the Black Circle

I just sent a post to the Finnish side about Robert E. Howard's extreme escapism, and how it has these two Martian hero-types, both equally tied to man's challenges with the Mother. On exoterical level, we have the immanentely Martian Howardian heroes like Conan, who embody pure thisworldly dream of libido. Its counterpart on esoteric level is the anti-hero of the Howardian (or Lovecraftian, or pretty much any other) sorcerer, who has attained the union with Mother (Magna Mater as the macrocosmic substance of aether). These two Martian types, the Hero and the Wizard, are the ultimate prizes for masculine energy to strive for, but unless great compromises are made and escapistic self-centeredness tamed by humble altruism, there is no hope for them to be nothing but parodies of omnipotent masculinity, not only laughable but also seriously threatening. (Cf. Jung's interpretation of Hitler as an obvious Hero archetype, and how this ardent wish for a nation to give birth to a Hero acted out.)
Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
Kavi
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Re: Quotations relevant to the Path

Post by Kavi »

Nefastos wrote: Tue Oct 06, 2020 4:20 pm These two Martian types, the Hero and the Wizard, are the ultimate prizes for masculine energy to strive for, but unless great compromises are made and escapistic self-centeredness tamed by humble altruism, there is no hope for them to be nothing but parodies of omnipotent masculinity, not only laughable but also seriously threatening.
Does this imply or associate with the following saying found in Bible that "those who give away receive it in multiplied"?
Although your post is touching on broader topic, but I tried to approach it from perspective that is familiar for me.
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Nefastos
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Re: Quotations relevant to the Path

Post by Nefastos »

Can you tell the exact place of your reference, to place it in the context? In the Gospels that which is given & then multiplied in this world and in the kingdom of heaven is the mundane energy (focus). (Like in Luke 18:29-30) Thus that process can be taken as both "Conan becoming the magician" and Conan and the magician giving up their intensity in matter, to become something less self-centered.

By this quick reference of the adept also being possibly a problematically self-centered ideal I was referring to the dual challenge in the sublimation of energies. Such a devil-wizard is the Luciferian Ego, still in danger of remaining too tied to the lesser ego's small ambitions. This problem is reflected in these Sword & Sorcery tales by the fact that such a person is nearly always antagonistic. (The other aspect of this is that the higher Ego is apparently antagonistic to the lower "hero" type when the latter remains thisworldly.)

The challenge of releasing the strong tension of self-centeredness and going through the experience of positive disintegration as a result is seen even more clearly in a similar saying about the death of the corn wheat. (John 12:24) The quite extreme problem [in how the] Christian world has misunderstood this teaching is the emphasis on martyrdom & herd mentality: obeying blindly, because it would be prideful to think on one's own. But the "death" should not be literal, nor the death of reason, but instead the process opening up & becoming a living stream, able to give.
Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
Kavi
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Re: Quotations relevant to the Path

Post by Kavi »

Nefastos wrote: Thu Oct 08, 2020 10:12 am Can you tell the exact place of your reference, to place it in the context? In the Gospels that which is given & then multiplied in this world and in the kingdom of heaven is the mundane energy (focus). (Like in Luke 18:29-30) Thus that process can be taken as both "Conan becoming the magician" and Conan and the magician giving up their intensity in matter, to become something less self-centered.

By this quick reference of the adept also being possibly a problematically self-centered ideal I was referring to the dual challenge in the sublimation of energies. Such a devil-wizard is the Luciferian Ego, still in danger of remaining too tied to the lesser ego's small ambitions. This problem is reflected in these Sword & Sorcery tales by the fact that such a person is nearly always antagonistic. (The other aspect of this is that the higher Ego is apparently antagonistic to the lower "hero" type when the latter remains thisworldly.)

The challenge of releasing the strong tension of self-centeredness and going through the experience of positive disintegration as a result is seen even more clearly in a similar saying about the death of the corn wheat. (John 12:24) The quite extreme problem [in how the] Christian world has misunderstood this teaching is the emphasis on martyrdom & herd mentality: obeying blindly, because it would be prideful to think on one's own. But the "death" should not be literal, nor the death of reason, but instead the process opening up & becoming a living stream, able to give.
Yes exactly Luke 18:29-30.
Which is interesting in prosperity theology that they turn this mundane energy into more mundane energy. That there should be visible evidence that they have truly done something and God is blessing them for doing so.
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Nefastos
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Re: Quotations relevant to the Path

Post by Nefastos »

Kavi wrote: Sun Oct 11, 2020 3:54 pmWhich is interesting in prosperity theology that they turn this mundane energy into more mundane energy. That there should be visible evidence that they have truly done something and God is blessing them for doing so.

Prosperity theology comes pretty close to absolute evil, especially when seen in its context of Christian metaphysics – God as omnipotent, omniscient, and thus either de jure or de facto preordaining being. Yet in it can be seen some of that healthy, ultimately child-like trust, that comes close to the principles of tantra.

EDIT: Speaking of the criticism of prosperity theology, I opened my daily Zohar reading after writing the above, and it read thus:

Zohar wrote:When the Angel of Destruction is granted permission to destroy, the righteous are in as much danger as the wicked. (Vayera, 369)

This is quite a relevant quotation to the occult path. It is sadly rare that good things happen to good people straight away. If anything, it is mostly the opposite in the time like ours (Kali Yuga, when the longer persisting karmic burdens are released, and those who open their hearts for the whole suffer also for the sins of those who only want things for themselves).
Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
Angolmois

Re: Quotations relevant to the Path

Post by Angolmois »

"Theosophy or world war."

- Blavatsky
Mars
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Re: Quotations relevant to the Path

Post by Mars »

“Perhaps my best years are gone. When there was a chance of happiness. But I wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in me now.”

- Samuel Beckett, Krapp's Last Tape
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