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Why did you quit ritual Magick?
Stapp, of course, has created a theory of consciousness which he calls the quantum zeno effect. If you measure/observe a system often enough you lock it into one eigenstate.I'm with Tom Campbell (with regards to the power of thinking etc.) All you can do with your thoughts (if we can consider them while completely separating the power they have on your physical actions) is alter odds. Quantum physics has shown (as has the placebo affect) that our thoughts DO affect matter. So what you can do, is alter the odds in your favor that a particular outcome will occur. The less uncertainty a given event has....the greater you can affect the probability of a certain outcome into your favor by way of your thoughts. You can't generate certainties, you can only manipulate PROBABILITIES. The extent which you can do this may depend upon the mental capability of the individual and, of course, the event which you are trying to manipulate. If somebody has shot a bullet at you and its a foot from your face, your thoughts probably aren't going to help you much, thats because there is almost no uncertainty involved at that point. Campbell, and others, have stated that your ability to manipulate your surroundings is MUCH greater when you are not tied to your physical body. So, when people have OBE's or NDE's, they become much more capable of affecting the outcomes of surrounding situations with their mental capabilities.
I guess Alex had to do his Skeptiko thing, but it felt like it was on steroids today
I felt that I could hear a little of Alex's own hero myth in his defence of the Tony Robbinses of the world, and his disdain for the Chaos Magicians (whatever they are).
Chaos Magick is basically taking scraps of traditional, tribal, and shamanic magick and mixing random stuff together. A lot of traditional practitioners don't want to share their secrets with Caucasian people. Because it gets twisted and perverted and it get commercialized. Like the New Age movement and Yoga and other things that are "hip" now. My mentor made it clear that he is only giving us watered down stuff as for 1. we are little babies 2. it can be dangerous 3. you need a foundation.I used to read some Peter Carroll and Phil Hine and practice their stuff. It's mostly just psychology, I found the approach to be profoundly disrespectful as well. They have no problem switching between paradigms as if they are first jungian archetypes, materialistic psychology or ancient magic and come off as disrespecting all of it with their casual attitude towards these things. Gods, demons and angels become mere playthings for the magicians psyche as it flits from whim to whim.
A big part of chaos magic is that it is reductionist. They reduce everything down to willpower and the beliefs necessary to direct the will, therefore the many ancient and venerable wisdom traditions become unreal. instead they are a self con job people commit merely to direct their willpower.
I also think they take Crowley way too seriously, as Alex has said the guy was an asshat in my opinion.
I do like a lot of the Chaos magic stuff but I just can't stand when people are disrespectful. It reminds me of something I heard Sheldrake say about Sam Harris, that we should try to get the gems out of the dungheap of religion.
Probably because we turn their sacred experiences and traditions into party topics or veil them as secret ways to make a lot of money.A lot of traditional practitioners don't want to share their secrets with Caucasian people
Yes it wasn't anything racial, lots of people in my group were white. Its just the way things were seen. As a matter of fact they didn't want to get it in to the hands of a lot of people no matter what the race. Because things can get bonkers and sometimes opening doors lets bad things enter inProbably because we turn their sacred experiences and traditions into party topics or veil them as secret ways to make a lot of money.