College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

Thankyou Jim - so nobody can help me on this matter. That's all I needed to know.

I appreciate the prompt reply.

TaMo

I am grateful for your good grace that you would reply. I was becoming bemused, if nothing else, by the lack of response from such an apparently august fraternity.

I was, after this time, assuming at least an "I don't know" from those who claim mantles of various authorities.

However, I am not sure what your response indicates.

To repeat my initial query, on behalf on anyone who may be in Australia, is there an avenue to the A.A. in Australia?

Thankyou

F

Dear Law

I'm not sure if this addresses your query, but this is an extract from a recent article of mine concerning the use of koans (or, specifically, "hua tou"s), citing the work of an eminent authority in the field.

*James Austin, Professor Emeritus of Neurology at the University of Colorado and experienced Zen practitioner, describes in his popular text, Zen and the Brain, the process of Neuroplasticity that the brain undergoes during focused mental effort or meditation. The brain rewires itself, he explains from his research, forming new neuronal connections between different parts of the brain that were previously largely disconnected. Austin coins the term 'emergent properties' to describe the development of new neural pathways and mental capacities that Zen practice can produce. He writes "… at its higher physiological levels of emergent processing, our brain also develops remarkable new causal properties." He proposes that "…mystical experiences arise when normal functions reassemble in novel conjunctions." *

Ta Mo

Dear all

It seems all but impossible to find a (credible) A.A. lineage to approach here in Australia. I've found two that seem legitimate, and one is not accepting applications and one only tends to their American flock.

Does anyone have any advice regarding how an Australian could apply to the A.A.?

Much thanks

TaMo

Frowclown wrote:

**No I do not see,

Did Alan Watts or Kin Wilber have to get a special charter to teach Buddhism or to invite people to their home to meditate?

If I want to be a Buddhist, all I have to do is read a book about Buddhism and set my self to practice what I read their in. If I then believe I have myself attained the same Trance, hallucinations, or whatever you want to call the sate Siddhartha achieved under that tree, then I am just as much an enlightened (awakened master) as the student who was taught in most revered monastery in Tibet that claims lineage to Buddha himself.**

With respect Frowclown, what aren't you getting here? No, Alan Watts or Kin Wilber did not need a special charter to teach Buddhism. Nor do you need a special charter to teach Thelema. HOWEVER, if they chose to teach Buddhism within a specific tradition of Buddhism which clearly stated and explained a required charter of succession or relevant authority to do so, then they WOULD need that "special charter".

You can teach Buddhism any way you want. But don't say you do it with the authority of a temple or lineage if you don't. Same with the A.A.

As I clearly said, I myself could be MORE enlightened that Buddha (assuming the possibility of the concept), and more entitled to start a world religion, but that doesn't mean I can open a valid temple in the name of my lineage without my Abbot granting that right.

TaMo

@Jim Eshelman said

"Something commonly missed in St. John's Dark Night of the Soul... I don't know if you're missing it, but it's commonly missed.

Inherent in the definition of the Dark Night is that it was preceeded by a day - it is the experience of the loss of (a level of) intimate connection with God, not a "having not gotten it yet." There was always a prior kindling (in the present incarnation), otherwise we're talking about a different phenomenon."

I would suggest it is both a "loss" and a different phenomenon. The loss is of an impression of an intimate relationship with God, whereas the *different phenomenon *pertains to a different order of relationship. A relationship experienced after a different manner, via different faculties.

Assuming I understand your point correctly.

This form of Christian mysticism made much of the distinction between meditation (what we might call prayer and visualisation) and contemplation (what modern Westerners, in common with Eastern practice might generally call meditation).

The "dark night" represents the loss of the value and psychological affect that comes with holding images of God and the enflamed emotions that come with it (meditation). The "dark night" stage is required before becoming able to accept the "imageless prayer" and the direct numinous experience (without images or emotion) of God (contemplation).

In a sense, it is to move from the Briatic consciousness of "archetypal images" to the Atziluthic consciousness of "imageless archetypes". (Forgive a very limited and clumsy use of Qabalistic reference there).
It is also a move from "love of another" to a direct unitary experience of reality. From loving God, with all the ideas and images implicit, and the absorption into a non-dualistic awareness.

By the way, much as I admire the Spanish Carmelites and the Rhineland mystics, I would suggest the anonymously written "The Cloud of Unknowing" as the best elaboration of these points.

TaMo

@Tamara_Tornad said

"93

Thank you, This is reassuring. I was visualizing better a couple weeks ago than I have been the past few days. It made me worry, why am I doing worse?

I've never practiced visualizing every day before, it's new for me.

• Tamara"

Hello Tamara

I don't think you need worry about the fact that you fluctuate with what appears to be variable results. Greater familiarity may well breed contempt, but only at a superficial level, the level which wants entertainment and stimulus. At another level, greater familiarity breeds greater competence, and a deeper appreciation and "resonance" between levels, both psychological and (if you accept the theory) "extra-planar".

For your own reassurance, too, don't necessarily assume it will all be "up". That's simply a need for stimulus (which, I would suggest, may be 99% of the motive for 99% of practitioners). And much as it may be a minority opinion, don't be too hard on yourself if you decide to occasionally take a day (or even a week or month) off from the discipline. As the Sufis say "Sometimes even the tautest bow must be unstrung". Just be wary of this being the ego's way of avoiding discipline.

TaMo

@h3fall3n777 said

"So I would like to clarify, to see if we can discuss what I was grasping at. In my original post, I put:

"For instance you can find a demon for Greed or Lust, but try to find a demon for "culture shock" and you'll be out of luck."

Is the Goetia too out-dated to work for a magi of today? Can it be up-dated or somehow re-conformed to work on the pscyhological problems of today? Or is something new needed?"

It is unnecessary to assume that new terms and concepts equate to new realities. "Culture shock" is just a new phrase. For "culture shock", read, simply, confusion (or any of a variety of other simple terms).

TaMo

@Kingsolomon said

" I have a neighbor who is wiccan, since I was revealed that she has something against me, I've stopped associating with her
By association and eating her food, She sent me a letter informing me, that I built a magical link beyond my aura, that she can control me, If I am anywhere in the world, If she wills it strong enough, I can come back to her.
Case in point, I was stationed in Virginia, Things went bad and I had to come back home. And thats when she told me that it was HER doing..
I didnt believe it.. and I was being superstitious..but now... I'm thinking to myself, what if it could be true..

How do I break a "magical link" And i mean astrally
quote]

Given that there is communication between you, it is open, and you yourself are possibly enabling any effect to occur due to increasing concern about it, I would suggest that "banishing by laughter", popular with Chaos Magicians, might just do the trick.

Firstly, it may well demoralise or embarass her, weakening her resolve and capacity (assuming she really has any in the first place).
Secondly, it may help you to snap out of being dragged into her game.

The more you believe, or are worried about, any "power" this woman has the more susceptible you are to her intent.

A good laugh in her face might be all you need.

Ta Mo

@Jim Eshelman said

"Read the Denning & Phillips 5 volume main series and you'll see various references to his work.

I woulodn't say he had a direct influence. I'd say that various people over the years have drawn on his published work in their own innovations for the Order."

I'm familiar with those references. They also suggest The Holy Books as valuable reading within their tradition. I've just never seen anything or anyone suggesting quite so significant an influence as what we were discussing regarding the technical development of Aurum Solis' Setting of the Wards.

But certainly, if there have been "refurbishings" of the Order's materiel, then it would be difficult to leave out Crowley's and Regardie's innovations.

Thanks

TaMo

@Jim Eshelman said

"
@TaM said
"
@Jim Eshelman said
"The A.S. technique is modern and was copied from the published Star Ruby."

Can you tell me how you arrive at this conclusion? You sound very certain so I presume this is more than speculation?"

I was told by people inside the A.S. who were in a place to know for sure."

Thankyou for that elaboration (do you prefer "Jim"?)

If I could trouble you further, can you tell me (or direct me to any relevant information) that gives any other indication of Thelemic, or Crowley's, influence in the Aurum Solis?

Ta Mo

@Jim Eshelman said

"The A.S. technique is modern and was copied from the published Star Ruby."

Dear Jim

Can you tell me how you arrive at this conclusion? You sound very certain so I presume this is more than speculation?

Ta Mo

**Buddhists don't need permission or lineage to start Buddhist temples, and Shinto priests can build shrines anywhere they like. **

Dear Froclown

Much as I don't want to appear like I am ganging up on you, I can only reiterate what James has been telling you. Unfortunately, you are simply incorrect on basic points.

I am a Chan (Zen) Buddhist priest and let me tell you, you DO need permission to open a Buddhist temple, IF YOU ARE GOING TO USE THE NAME OF A LINEAGE TO GRANT IT SOME VALIDITY. You can open a Buddhist study group, if you wish, but if you were to suggest or infer it it a part of an established lineage, you need to be able to show WHO has conferred that right. As with the A.A., you will require authorisation from your appropriate superior to do so.

Now, this does not mean that you cannot call yourself an AA Magus or a Buddhist Abbot, it just means you are appropriating a title and an authority you simply do not have. That authority must be conferred. If you call yourself Magus within the AA, you are simply misleading people. No-one with any legitimacy conferred that right.

Froclown, you are continually misunderstanding the difference between attaiment and entitlement. You are more than entitled to call yourself Magus, you can even call yourself the Supreme Unguent of Kether, Grand Poobah of the Cup of Babalon, or Crowley's Unacknowledged Son, if you wish. You can call yourself anything you want. And what you achieve and attain may even be sacred - of course, from my Chan perspective, the very concept of a difference between sacred and profane is at best purely for convenience but almost invariably a non-sensical indulgence - but that doesn't mean you are in any way entitled to being able to claim recognised office in an organisation.

I am legally ordained Buddhist priest, but I can't just open a VALID temple, even if I am wise and enlightened beyond the experience of Buddha himself, without the permission of my Abbot.

Do you see?

Ta Mo