Your Own Religion
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Rosecrucian texts as well as the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage highly suggest that one keeps the religion you grew up with while adopting the deeper understanding of the adepts in context to your own particular religion, as opposed to completely throwing out that religion.
There are many reasons or theories as to why this is the suggestion:
1- to avoid persecution
2- one is 'hardwired" to their cultural religious upbringing
3- to avoid society or family conflict
4- to help change your religion "from within" to bring a deeper understanding to the non-adepts.Any comments on why this suggestion is good or bad, why they made it, and why Crowley thought it a bad idea?
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93
When Carl Jung was asked, & I'm paraphrasing, 'which religion is best for one to follow', he simply replied 'the one you grew up in'. It was his belief that attempting to discard one's religion was a blind for running from the Child. He thought it better to 'make friends' with it than fight it. It was his reasoning that, whether we adopted a new religion or not, our tendancies to perceive*(Sankhara)* were already predisposed to that mode of belief...we could build on it & gain new insight in it, but never rid ourselves of it completely...apparently Jung had, at that point anyway, not experienced Viññanam.
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FWIW, I agree with Jung. People who flee their childhood religion, instead of honoring it, seem to be fragmented.
In L.V.X.,
chrys333 -
David,
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.
@DavidH said
"Rosecrucian texts as well as the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage highly suggest that one keeps the religion you grew up with while adopting the deeper understanding of the adepts in context to your own particular religion, as opposed to completely throwing out that religion.
There are many reasons or theories as to why this is the suggestion:
1- to avoid persecution
2- one is 'hardwired" to their cultural religious upbringing
3- to avoid society or family conflict
4- to help change your religion "from within" to bring a deeper understanding to the non-adepts.Any comments on why this suggestion is good or bad, why they made it, and why Crowley thought it a bad idea?"
I have always found this an interesting suggestion. In my own upbringing, I had a pretty inconsistent experience attending various Christian churches until around 8 or 9 when my dad and soon-to-be-stepmom started taking the family to a Methodist church most Sundays.
But by then I had been bombarded by TV culture and knew a heck of a lot more about Spiderman, the Incredible Hulk and Kung Fu Theater than I did about Abraham, Moses or Jesus. In fact I would frequently find excuses to skip church to stay home to watch Kung Fu Theater instead of go someplace I really had little interest in.
So... should I stick to Methodism, Christianity... or Kung Fu?
Love is the law, love under will.
L
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Aum418,
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.
@Aum418 said
"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Some are more suited to their childhood religion for innumerable reasons. Some are more suited to eclecticism. It is a trivial point.
There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt.
IAO131"
Absolutely - there's definitely something to be said for feelings of certainty and a strong belief in the accuracy of one's perceptions, as opposed to the dogmatic hogwash that some people want to ram down your throat to make themselves feel like experts. As if THEY have all the answers, gonna tell you "HOW IT IS"... possessors of "THE ONE REAL TRUTH"(tm)... HA!
But you find those people in every community; religion is no different. Gotta love it!
Thanks for the reminder!
Love is the law, love under will.
L
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93,
I think it's crap. No offense, Jung.
This is how I feel about the reasons offered.
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I'm not afraid of being persecuted for not being Christian. Maybe if I lived in Iran I would feel differently.
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I find the idea that we are all tied to some racial memory deeply suspect. I'm willing to accept the idea that a racial memory does exist, but I don't believe that we are reincarnated along racial lines, that is to say, I don't believe that in my last life I was necessarily a Caucasian. Thus I don't think the fact that I'm not of native Mexican descent means that I cannot find resonance is Aztec myths. Fundamentally, religious experience is the birthright of every member of the species, and we have the capacity to experience it in unique ways.
I would be willing to accept that one's culturally-dominant religion may initially find more purchase in an individual's subconscious, but everyone's subconscious is being added to all the time, and to argue that simply because one's "native religion" strikes a deeper resonance initially one's life is fatalistically doomed to resonant most strongly with that religion forever is, in my view, a gross oversimplification. I expect a cross has a very different to meaning to those who grew up homosexual in the conservative south, than it does to heterosexuals who grew up in a loving, reasonably permissive, liberal protestant home.
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I don't think anything is to be gained by avoiding conflict.
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This assumes that the individual has some interest in changing his own religion from the inside. Many people don't.
Love=Law
- C
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"Quote David:
Rosicrucian texts as well as the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage highly suggest that one keeps the religion you grew up with while adopting the deeper understanding of the adepts in context to your own particular religion, as opposed to completely throwing out that religion.There are many reasons or theories as to why this is the suggestion:
1- to avoid persecution
2- one is 'hardwired" to their cultural religious upbringing
3- to avoid society or family conflict
4- to help change your religion "from within" to bring a deeper understanding to the non-adepts.Any comments on why this suggestion is good or bad, why they made it, and why Crowley thought it a bad idea?"
93 Al,
I asked a similar question in the past and I believe it may be revlent to your current question David and that is this; can you confuse your subconscious mind by using a different symbol sets? I believe the answer is yes you can. Maybe, this is the reason for the strong suggestion from the books and authors above. But, OTOH I believe you can rewire subconscious pattern by immersing yourself in new symbols over time. That is were the Tarot and QBL and other sets of symbols can come in handy. I hope this helps?
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I think many people fail to understand the real reason Abramelin mentions this. The reason is that to deny the religion of your upbringing is to deny formally and ceremonially the truths on which it was founded. All religions, at their root, are descended from the acknowledgment of Supreme Divine Powers. So to deny it, is a form of unbelief, which hinders Magical action because it checks the Will.
His example was Joseph of Paris who changed from Christianity to Judaism, and as a result, he could never practice fully 100% the Sacred Magic. And I believe that is what he means, to fully attain the Sacred Magic according to Abramelin one cannot deny the religion they are born with. Although if you do not plan on obtaining the Sacred Magic, switch at your leisure.
Also, one should consider the time it was written. They various sects of Christianity did not exist. So I don't believe this applies to changing from Catholic to Protestant, etc. Also, in Medieval Times when one changed religions they had to totally deny the former and totally accept the replacement. I find truth in certain aspects of all religions. While I certainly deny the organized aspects of modern Christianity, I don't deny the teachings in the Old and New Testament itself. I'm not part of the church but still accept the faith so to speak. Modern religions mask the esoteric origins of Christianity so they can dictate a code the followers need to live by, instead of freely expressing the individual spirit. The teachings of Christ go quite against that code as well.
Crowley had done away with, in my opinion, false Christianity with the Book of the Law. So, I think one could be a true Christian, Jew or Muslim (Wiccan, Buddist, etc.), and not "abandon the religion of their birth" without having to endure the corrupt aspects and falsehoods of the modern organized sects.
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@Nudor said
"Also, one should consider the time it was written. They various sects of Christianity did not exist."
93
I understand that when you say "various sects" you are referring to the various doctrinal branches that stem from the Roman Catholic Church - but there were varying christian sects with conflicting cosmologies long before the setting of The Book of Abramelin(15th century)...Mandaeanism, Manichaeism, Sethism, Valentinism, Basilidism, Ophism, Thomasism, etc.
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93,
I should remind people that Jung's work was all before the Sexual Revolution of the 60s where adopting Eastern religions & themes & ideas was the norm. If he had seen this, I am guessing he would've realized its quite easy to adopt other religions, especially when we aren't such a Christian nation (America) / area (Europe) as 50 or 100 years ago.
I agree with Nudoro in the sense that we should investigate the religion we are brought up by and such... there is no point simply cutting oneself off from it and moving away. The best way, I think, is to integrate this religion one supposedly grew up with, but not necessarily making one not move on to other religions ideas & symbols.
Again: There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt.
IAO131