gurugeorge
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Hello all!
Name's George, 49, and I've been interested in Crowley since my teens, with a period of fairly heavy involvement in A:.A:. practices during my mid to late 20s (I was a Probationer under Marcelo Motta, in good standing at the time of his death).
My main interest is in the mystical side of things, as I had some non-dual epiphanies as a child, which set me off on a path away from the Roman Catholicism of my upbringing, and steered me to an interest in Buddhism, Daoism, and then eventually the equivalent Western traditions. I found Crowley to be interesting because I felt he was someone who had "been there" but talked about this stuff in a way that was fresh, direct and contemporary, and not filtered through (possibly dubious) translations of Asian religious texts.
However, although I've had mystical experiences, by intellectual temperament I'm a fairly hard-headed rationalist and materialist, so I tend to view mysticism in those terms, and I'm also highly sceptical of Magick. Nevertheless, having actually had some mystical experiences, I'm more tolerant of people describing their unusual experiences (of whatever kind) than your average rationalist materialist
I heard about this forum through LaShtAl, and thought it might be nice to engage in a more unbuttoned discussion of mystical ins and outs than the (necessarily) strict rules of that great forum allow.
It's nice to see people discussing these matters out of a genuine interest in practice, and I'll be here giving whatever advice I may have out of my own experience, FWIW, and look forward to getting useful nuggets from others. My feeling is that (with suitable caveats for the pitfalls, such as trolling, viral marketing, etc.) forum networking and the kind of sifting of ideas that goes on on the web like this is extremely powerful - possibly the most powerful intellectual tool we humans have yet developed. In this context, while experts have a place, discussion is more about simply sharing one's point of view into the ether, and letting it filter its way through to become part of a greater whole of knowledge, trusting in peoples' ability to develop their own filters and sifting mechanisms.
Failing that, at least it's fun to have a nice chin wag on topics of mutual interest!
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Dear gurugeorge,
@gurugeorge said
"Name's George, 49, and I've been interested in Crowley since my teens, with a period of fairly heavy involvement in A:.A:. practices during my mid to late 20s (I was a Probationer under Marcelo Motta, in good standing at the time of his death).
My main interest is in the mystical side of things, as I had some non-dual epiphanies as a child, which set me off on a path away from the Roman Catholicism of my upbringing, and steered me to an interest in Buddhism, Daoism, and then eventually the equivalent Western traditions. I found Crowley to be interesting because I felt he was someone who had "been there" but talked about this stuff in a way that was fresh, direct and contemporary, and not filtered through (possibly dubious) translations of Asian religious texts.
However, although I've had mystical experiences, by intellectual temperament I'm a fairly hard-headed rationalist and materialist, so I tend to view mysticism in those terms, and I'm also highly sceptical of Magick. Nevertheless, having actually had some mystical experiences, I'm more tolerant of people describing their unusual experiences (of whatever kind) than your average rationalist materialist
I heard about this forum through LaShtAl, and thought it might be nice to engage in a more unbuttoned discussion of mystical ins and outs than the (necessarily) strict rules of that great forum allow.
It's nice to see people discussing these matters out of a genuine interest in practice, and I'll be here giving whatever advice I may have out of my own experience, FWIW, and look forward to getting useful nuggets from others. My feeling is that (with suitable caveats for the pitfalls, such as trolling, viral marketing, etc.) forum networking and the kind of sifting of ideas that goes on on the web like this is extremely powerful - possibly the most powerful intellectual tool we humans have yet developed. In this context, while experts have a place, discussion is more about simply sharing one's point of view into the ether, and letting it filter its way through to become part of a greater whole of knowledge, trusting in peoples' ability to develop their own filters and sifting mechanisms.
Failing that, at least it's fun to have a nice chin wag on topics of mutual interest!
"Nice to see you here. I'm surprised to hear you describe yourself as a fairly hard-headed rationalist - you never come over that way on Lashtal, I must say. In fact, I've never come across a rationalist advaitin before, but doubtless there's a first for everything.
Best wishes,
Michael.
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93, feel as though I am talking to a ghost as I'd imagine
You're no longer here at the forums.
93 93 /93