About objectivity, reality and dogma in Magick

[Frater.Akenu]

Well, this is going to be one of those weird articles about dogma I am used to write on a regular basis, but stay with me, ok?


About truth
I think the truth is what we all seek, digging deep into the core of mystery, avoiding the sharp edges of disinformation, fighting the shark of dogmatism with our harpoon of logic to finally find that treasure chest on the bottom of the ocean (too much analogy?). I think this is an important topic everywhere, after all none of us wants to get stuck in a malfunctioning system full of weird beliefs, silly practices and brainwashed hierarchy. We want to avoid all that and get to the sweet bottom where the chest is hidden.


Few years ago I was arguing with psions about existence/non-existence of chakras. They claimed chakras don't exist and I claimed they bloody do. My argument was that I had already seen them, their claim was that you cannot see a chakra of a person that was never in contact with some "guru" teaching about chakras and therefore they are just invented constructs rather than natural occurence of the energy body.


Reality versus experience
Sure I was dogmatic regarding chakras at the time (same as they were dogmatic of their non-existence, duh), but I was also dogmatic much later with my "avoid dogma at all costs" approach. Dogmatic system still has some useful value to it which you wouldn't experience without going through the dogma, which I think is the main point of Chaos Magick and its paradigm shift. To really become the monk, to really become the shaman, to really become the trickster. Only through experience you can move forward.


Let's now check our chakra story. Question shouldn't be whether chakras are real or not. The question should be more like "Can I miss something by avoiding them?" The answer might not be so obvious i case of chakras, but what about elements? Do we really want to miss the experience just because we don't believe everything in this universe consists of 4 primary substances that came from the fifth primordial substance? Same goes for spirits and same also goes for travelling. Whether you believe or not believe in Astral shouldn't block you from Astral projection, because the whole experience of the projection is so beautiful and scary that you really don't want to miss it . The whole idea of separating your subtle self from a material body and travel on its own is more than just scary, especially during the first separation, as it equals to the blind jump into the abyss, an unknown place where anything can happen and you don't even know if you can breathe there or protect yourself (or return back, that's usually the major concern during the separation). Yet once you are there you find yourself speechless with the beauty. That's definitely not something to miss because of the dogma "to avoid all dogmas".

[ButterflyWoman]

Dogmatic system still has some useful value to it which you wouldn't experience without going through the dogma

Absolutely. Very well said.

I tend to be anti-dogma, but only in the sense that for most of the dogmas I now disregard and heretically eschew, I went through a period of clinging to them as if they must be true, correct, etc. I don't reject dogma on principle, but I do tend to dismiss it as some sort of ultimate truth, unless it's something I have personally experienced, in which case I assume it's true for me.

And as I'm writing this, I have the strongest feeling of deja vu. I suspect I dreamed this (that is very common in my life story). I wouldn't normally mention it, but this is a metaphysical forum, and, well, there you go. Does it mean anything? Probably not. This happens regularly. But it is quite interesting to me when it does.

[Frater.Akenu]

And as I'm writing this, I have the strongest feeling of deja vu. I suspect I dreamed this (that is very common in my life story). I wouldn't normally mention it, but this is a metaphysical forum, and, well, there you go. Does it mean anything? Probably not. This happens regularly. But it is quite interesting to me when it does.

Maybe there is some astrological event that's causing this synchronicity, let's see if more people thought/dreamed about this recently .

[buzzcock]

I'm not sure about dogmas. But I have a possibly connected thought. I think that sometimes taking on an identity or label can not be a bad thing. If it makes you feel good about yourself or leads you to new experiences. Say if you want to see yourself as martial artist, intellectual, gothic vampire, or whatever you feel like at the time. All the spiritual books I read say you should go beyond labels and identities. Personally I think it's ok to take strength from them at times.

[CFTraveler]

Well, this is going to be one of those weird articles about dogma I am used to write on a regular basis, but stay with me, ok?


About truth
I think the truth is what we all seek, digging deep into the core of mystery, avoiding the sharp edges of disinformation, fighting the shark of dogmatism with our harpoon of logic to finally find that treasure chest on the bottom of the ocean (too much analogy?). I think this is an important topic everywhere, after all none of us wants to get stuck in a malfunctioning system full of weird beliefs, silly practices and brainwashed hierarchy. We want to avoid all that and get to the sweet bottom where the chest is hidden.


Few years ago I was arguing with psions about existence/non-existence of chakras. They claimed chakras don't exist and I claimed they bloody do. My argument was that I had already seen them, their claim was that you cannot see a chakra of a person that was never in contact with some "guru" teaching about chakras and therefore they are just invented constructs rather than natural occurence of the energy body.


Reality versus experience
Sure I was dogmatic regarding chakras at the time (same as they were dogmatic of their non-existence, duh), but I was also dogmatic much later with my "avoid dogma at all costs" approach. Dogmatic system still has some useful value to it which you wouldn't experience without going through the dogma, which I think is the main point of Chaos Magick and its paradigm shift. To really become the monk, to really become the shaman, to really become the trickster. Only through experience you can move forward.


Let's now check our chakra story. Question shouldn't be whether chakras are real or not. The question should be more like "Can I miss something by avoiding them?" The answer might not be so obvious i case of chakras, but what about elements? Do we really want to miss the experience just because we don't believe everything in this universe consists of 4 primary substances that came from the fifth primordial substance? Same goes for spirits and same also goes for travelling. Whether you believe or not believe in Astral shouldn't block you from Astral projection, because the whole experience of the projection is so beautiful and scary that you really don't want to miss it . The whole idea of separating your subtle self from a material body and travel on its own is more than just scary, especially during the first separation, as it equals to the blind jump into the abyss, an unknown place where anything can happen and you don't even know if you can breathe there or protect yourself (or return back, that's usually the major concern during the separation). Yet once you are there you find yourself speechless with the beauty. That's definitely not something to miss because of the dogma "to avoid all dogmas".

I want to quote this in a spanish translation for a spanish-speaking FB group. Can I?

[Frater.Akenu]

@CFTraveler: No problem
@buzzcock: Yup, that's pretty much related .

[CFTraveler]

@CFTraveler: No problem
@buzzcock: Yup, that's pretty much related .

Yay! Thanks.