College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

A thought.

If you take the chemist route and depict the atomic placement of particles around a nucleus, you see that the carbon atom (which has 6 electrons, 6 neutrons and 6 protons) arranges in a manner in which you have two electrons on the first orbital on opposite ends of the vertical and then 4 electrons in the second orbital forming a square. By drawing a line through all of these, you achieve the unicursal hexagram. Personally, I am more inclined to look at it through the lens of the Pythagorean decad, thus giving me the thought of universal rigidity, stability, adaptability and crystalline structures, instead of linking the 666 together. I find that those concepts can apply to the fact that all organic life has a 6 like nature as well as a biological foundation on the carbon atom. As though the carbon atom is the gateway, the Tiphareth of the biological sphere.

Thoughts?

@Dar es Allrah said

"By consciously choosing to widen your vocabulary, it affords both you and others the opportunity to wield the language more precisely, and the mind is made receptive to new idea's simultaneously."

Also, if you widen your vocabulary beyond your native tounge, you can start to speak from different cultural frames of reference which can completely shift the context of the word and therefore widen the context of your view.

@Uni_Verse said

"(Similar to some of RAW's stuff.) "

I really liked how he broke down his self into 16 different aspects that worked as a whole. How thought that a very good exercise.

The sword pierces through the veil, it paves way through and into illusion.
@Jim Eshelman said

"It's not about appearances - it's about effectiveness, skill, discipline, drilling, what you can do with it."
That applies to more than just the sword.
Mind you I have not come across high level math professors, but from my experiences with math teachers, there is a lack of fire or depth in their appreciation. From what I see today, the intellect has been dumbed down into something more readily accessible for the masses, so when dealing with actual intellect, it has the appearance of being over-intellectual. But assumptions are dangerous and I digress.

I think that true spirituality is innate within the human experience and the we are born with all of the tools that are needed. But drugs like pot, opium, and mushrooms are talked about very frequently. I would imagine they were very quickly found to be varying degrees and access points of the same thing and that only recently have they become tainted with this batch of negative connotations. Getting laid is not the only way though, and there is nothing about it that implies that it is a more significant method than being celibate for ones entire life. The chemicals are not only accessible through sex, though it is a wonderful way, I am not in a situation where it is as devoteable as it is for somebody who has a long term other, so I must find other means. And my means are not through drugs, I just find them to be a helpful tool. To each their own.

People seem to be convinced that having a developed sense of language or being very picky with words implies being arrogant and over-concerned with appearing intelligent. You make a good point, math teachers need to stop being so dry. None of them seem to get behind all of the implications of what they are doing and the source of the entire concept. It gets over-intellectualized into a thing that scares a lot of people when most of its useful components are very base, not only in method but in origin.

I did not mean to come off like I was berating you or denying your abilities to any degree, and I try to destroy false assumptions whenever I can, but when looking at the method of union I can not help but look at the massive history of drug consumption that appears to go hand in hand. That is a thing I find beautiful about the human structure, it appears so perfectly constructed. I do not advocate drug use for the reason that it usually becomes a crutch, given that with our will and our brain we can do the things that people would normally take drugs to do, it only seems to point towards them being unnecessary for any shift in consciousness. But it is a method, just like any other and is for some people and not for others. They are treated as a drug and not as a sacrament which is why I get on people's cases for treating them like they are tied with a poor quality human.
@Veronica said

"It strikes me, that the American culture seemed to have mastered the whole survival thing, and progressed to the self actualization...yet... American culture was comsumeing astronomical amouts of products that were unhealthy, and unsustainable, products that detracted from life"
It seems that Americans have not passed the love and belonging stage, we live in such a hostile country that is constantly perpetuating war and division between groups. We have sectarian inculturation entered into our perception from our earliest days in school. A lot of Americans seem like they are over obsessed with safety because they don't find comfort anywhere else, they close up into their house or into a neat box that they have constructed for themselves where they don't have to see face to face some of the things that normally happen.

On a side note, I am not advocating drug use, I am advocating not telling people what they are and are not allowed to do in order to reach attainment. That sects like the Aghori that partake in cannibalism and death rituals are just as capable as some drug free celibate who lives in the monastery. That the left hand path and right hand path are two paths that lead to the same place and that (from my experiences) right-hand pathers are more likely to be dogmatic in their practice because they are not as ready to engage in activities that seem a little weird or "evil".

@Avshalom Binyamin said

"Obviously her point is that "Do what thou wilt" is not free license to engage in any activity to excess. I see no unfair vilification of drug use, per se."
And my point is that the one who brought that statement into this light engaged in these things that she demeans. Wasn't he a cat killer in his youth? At this point it is irrelevant though and Takamba, I appreciate your assistance in clarifying.
Yoga as well has acts of purification, and they come even before any physical exercises, showing that before you can even gain full control of physicality you must be of a pure and healthy body. Not even physical progress can be made if you are consistently being weighted down by all of the si that is in your body.

It not out of context, she put drugs in the list of things that are being detrimental to the progression of our species. I am merely saying that is unfair and that within the context of spirituality throughout the ages, drugs have been a large part, as well as fasting, and being anti-social. That Aleister Crowley, the man who originated this doctrine was himself a complete indulger. That when she asks who these masters were, a lot of them were partaking in some of these acts that she deems not suitable for a healthy consciousness. I brought out a small snippet because I agreed with most of what she was getting across but found that a large part of what she was saying I found untrue. She was drawing such a fine line between what you can and can not do in order to be healthy enough to engage in occult learning and it was weighted on some things that have no validity or are relying on an opinionated impression of a something. I thought I would take out a few bricks and shake the foundation a bit. Moderation is the key, not the clumping into right and wrong.

@Jim Eshelman said

" mindfulness of word choice"

Be mindful of your environment, increasing situational awareness will build receptivity to subtle changes in your immediate perceptive area. I also agree that etymology is extremely useful, seeing words in other languages allows a wider range of reference when seeking descriptors and watching the evolution of a word through time makes one a lot less likely to misuse and misconvey. It gives a broader comprehension region. I also found that getting at least a basic to intermediate mathematical understanding of physics and algebra (set theory helped too) allowed for me to think in more abstract and hypothetical ways that still maintained a grounding in logic. Look into the different logical fallacies, cognitive biases and memory biases that could possibly skew your perception into a more ego-favourable direction and with enough mindfulness you could stop them before they become an issue.

@Veronica said

"Do drugs, smoke cigarrettes, drink alcohol, be anti social, kill animals, rape, sodomize in excess and do what ever they want at the moment. "

Did Aleister Crowley not consistently do heroin? Do Sadhu's not smoke pot and renounce from all societal function? Are mushrooms and marijuana not mentioned time and time again within texts and writings of ancient times? What was soma? Who was Seshat? I see what you are saying with healthy living and all, but we are all on drugs, all the time, our brain is a drug producing monolith and some of these substances have been shown to be more beneficial than harmful. While we are consuming food that is killing us and drinking water that dehumanizes us, we are immediately at a disadvantage when it comes to the chemical make-up of our brain and should not feel obligated to not partake in natural ways of altering brain chemistry (like magick and mysticism) just because our westernized inculturation tells us that drugs are harmful. It is like a gun, or science for that matter, you can't blame them for the problems that are caused by their irresponsible use.