The word occult comes from the Latin occultus (clandestine, hidden, secret), referring to "knowledge of the hidden"
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“From the kabbalistic perspective, that which is infinite and eternal is real and that which is finite, including this world and all that is a part of it, is illusion.”
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A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it. -Oscar Wilde
If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all. -Noam Chomsky
The Mystery Man came over An' he said: "I'm outa-sight!" He said, for a nominal service charge I could reach Nirvana t'nite If I was ready, willing 'n able To pay him his regular fee He would drop all the rest of his pressing affairs And devote His Attention to me!
-Zappa
We posit that the perceived reality is illusory
-Buddha
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Metaphysical studies generally seek to explain inherent or universal elements of reality which are not easily discovered or experienced in our everyday life. As such, it is concerned with explaining the features of reality that exist beyond the physical world and our immediate senses.
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(Co-authored with Niemann, Clio,MollyBloom,MCcrowler,Leftleaner, Carstonio,and others. Thank you!)
*This group's aim is polite philosophical debate*
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"The united states has long had a great deal of religious diversity, and was built on the idea of religious tolerance. But one type of belief was always rare: none. Until recently, that is. According to the Pew Research Center, the percentage of Americans who profess no religion (as opposed even to having one that they rarely or never practice) has risen from 16 percent in 2007 to 29 percent in 2021. (Back in the early 1970s, only about 5 percent of Americans espoused this position.)
This phenomenon of declining belief is of great concern to many religious leaders, as one can easily imagine. The Catholic theologian and bishop Robert Barron has built an enormous internet-based ministry in no small part by seeking to reach these so-called nones. Rather than simply railing against a secular culture, Barron turns the criticism around and calls the growth of this disavowal “an unnerving commentary on the effectiveness of our evangelical strategies.” .theatlantic.com.
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This group is named after "Complete illustrated Book of the Psychic Sciences" a book by Walter B. Gibson 1966.A fun and interesting read.Walter Brown Gibson (September 12, 1897 – December 6, 1985) was an American writer and professional magician, best known for his work on the pulp fiction character The Shadow. Wikipedia
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☆The 'Occult and Psychical Sciences' on DK
is a spooky group here on DK)☆
The group will consist of stories about the spooky and scary, personal anecdotes, and general Paranormal, Philosophical,metaphysical,Arcane, Esoteric,and Existential information,& conversation about the unexplained in the world and universe.(& all Religion is welcome here in this space.)
People are encouraged to share their personal spooky experiences, philosophy, and similar influences. (Please contact me in kmail if you wish to join us).~A spookylink: psychicscience
"I think it’s an English language thing, rooted in a Western thinking thing.
When I was doing my graduate thesis on comparing the shamanistic worldview to various schools of psychology, it kept striking me how smug Westerners (and especially scientists) belittle and misunderstand the shamanistic view, all while really revealing their own ignorance of the psychological sophistication of that view.
I think of the Ojibwa spiritual leader I went up and visited and talked to, and I don’t remember exactly how he put it, but the gist was: Talking about how the trees at the perimeters of the property were guarding and protecting the property, he basically said, “Look, we’re not stupid. We know they’re just trees in this reality [Ordinary Reality]. But in the other reality [the spiritual reality, Nonordinary Reality] they’re also spiritual guardians. They’re both.”
Similar to another I read, about the “Magickal” tradition, saying, “We know the moon is a big dead rock in space. That doesn’t invalidate that from the spiritual perspective, the nonordinary reality perspective, it is ALSO a mystical conscious being influencing the earth.”
I think that’s the whole point of so much Eastern emphasis on paradox, and so much of the poetry and metaphor used — pushing the mind past rational dividing and categorizing and dualistic framing:
When loss and gain, and up and down, Become the same then we stop going in circles. George Harrison
It struck me once that Lewis Carroll-like nonsense — “non-sense” — is very like that, turning logic against itself to baffle the left-brain and leave it … where?"
Fascinating to read about people’s thoughts on “belief.” Many of us do “belief work” on a cyclical basis, weeding out any “beliefs” that don’t serve us any more.
T. Thorn Coyle as an article called “Why I am not a Believer.” Here’s some excerpts:
To paraphrase Joseph Campbell: I don't need belief because I have experience. I can have profoundly moving experiences of deities, or swimming in a sea of light and connection, or have a deep intuitive insight into someone else. I might come up with theories based on these experiences over time, and test these against other people's. I can hold all of this, and still recognize that tomorrow, some new information may come along to change my mind. I can hold all of this, and know that I am holding one drop in a great ocean. I can set my skeptic aside and feel the power of my experiences of the numinous without feeling the need to build a creed around them.
Christianity is a strange religion. It is the only one which makes ‘belief’ a central component. Originally instituted by Paul of Tarsus, called ‘saint’, it was a way to get around circumcision. By believing in Christ Jesus, one becomes ‘circumcised of heart’. It has been argued that the purpose of this kind of talk was to stop scaring off the Roman men from early Christianity, which looked a lot like Judaism which required surgery for men to join. Clever.
Starhawk wrote the book "Spiral Dance," where she states:
"People often ask me if I believe in the Goddess. I reply "Do you believe in rocks?" It is extremely difficult for most Westerners to grasp the concept of a manifest deity. The phrase "believe in" itself implies that we cannot know the Goddess, that She is somehow intangible, incomprehensible. But we do not believe in rocks we may see them, touch them, dig them out of our gardens, or stop small children from throwing them at each other. We know them; we connect with them. In the Craft, we do not believe in the Goddess we connect with Her; through the moon, the stars, the ocean, the earth, through trees, animals, through other human beings, through ourselves. She is here. She is within us all. She is the full circle: earth, air, fire, water, and essence body, mind, spirit, emotions, change."
I've also done "Belief Work" with Jane Roberts' Seth Teachings....learning to be flexible with Beliefs in shaping my own reality.
Lately, I've been working with the concepts in Caroline Casey's School of the Compassionate Trickster, and, as she says, "Believe nothing. Entertain possibilities."
Welcoming all who wish to be ever more effective players on the Team of Creation at this time of dire beauty.
No rules, but guide-lines, no homework, but encouraging experiments. Drawing on her extensive study in myriad Mystery Schools, (such as Gurdgieff, Arica, Builders of the Adytum etc Santeria, Sufism, New Orleans Voudoun etc..) Caroline guides the Trickster Team to explore the potent possibilities of an increasingly dedicated team of visualizers to occasion mega-desirable mojo and reciprocal blessing.
Some people love to scare themselves in an already scary world − here’s the psychology of why
potent possibilities of an increasingly dedicated team of visualizers to occasion mega-desirable mojo and reciprocal blessing.
I've been thinking about the word "Belief." It seems to be related to "Be Live." When we "believe" in something, we put our own energy into it and bring it to life! In essence, we create something and it reflects our own energy back to us. How much better to drop the act and step into the moment, engaging with Life and Spirit as best we can, in partnership with All-That-Is!
They posit that the perceived reality is considered illusory not in the sense that reality is a fantasy or unreal, but that perceptions and preconditions mislead to believe that one is separate from the material. Reality, in this school of Buddhist thought, would be described as the manifestation of karma
"When I speak of darkness, I mean the absence of knowledge" Anon, C14th The Cloud of Unknowing Ed. William Johnston (Doubleday, 1973)
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When physicists are interested in a topic, they seem to automatically conduct experiments. Sometimes they seek answers to the mysteries of life and matter. When they looked into physical reality some time ago, the conclusions were alarming: the universe is not “real” after all. It seemed unfathomable, but plenty of proof was offered.
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The heart of their discovery was that objects have properties independent of observation. Not quite what Descartes would want to hear! A red apple exists because someone sees it. Now, it is red even when no one is looking. Objects are “local” in time and space and anything that impacts them cannot do it faster than the speed of light. We rely on quantum physics to tell us the truth, but the conclusions now seem contradictory.
Let’s look at the evidence. Objects are actually not influenced in context, meaning by their surroundings; plus the redness of the apple make not exist prior to observation. Thus the properties of the apple are not definitive or absolute. In this regard, Albert Einstein said to a friend, “Do you really believe the moon is not there when you are not looking at it?”
"I just don't trust any spiritual/occult/whatever situation which involves something to be gained by someone -- like money, obviously ... or fame ... or a "reputation" ...
Or, even if people are sincere (the psychics and/or their followers), if their personal senses of identity and self-esteem are too wrapped up in it, and their whole lives center around it, that can taint it too.
The only situations I really take seriously come from average, normal, trustworthy people whose lives not only don’t center around such things, but who usually avoid talking about such things, or putting themselves forward. Those are where I've heard and seen the most stunning things.
You probably read my recent comment with the example of my graduate school classmate who got the courage to tell me she was feeling that my grandfather was coming through to her with a certain strange-sounding word to pass on to me -- and it later turned out it was THE central word my grandpa had invented for his imagined ideal society and its language, which he had spent years privately writing about. On top of that, my friend specified the ending of the word was unclear to her; and it turned out that, being a root word, my grandpa had typed up listings of the word with a variety of different endings. What are the chances of that?
A number of times I’ve had people hesitantly and sort of embarrassedly tell me things like that — the key words being “hesitantly” and “embarrassedly” — only for them to be incredibly specific. One was the amazing counseling client who said to me, out of the blue, in the middle of talking about mundane counseling things, "Why did I just see 101 DALMATIANS on you?!" She said she saw the scene of the cat talking to the old dog. I told her I assumed it was because the actor who did the voice of the cat had been to my house the day before. (That was the day I met him, whom I now assist.) What are the chances of that?
Later that same client said, out of the blue, “Why did I just see BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS on you?” “I assume because I just went out and bought the dvd of it yesterday, because I’m going to meet Angela Lansbury in a few weeks.”
By contrast, I know someone in town here -- the wife of a creative friend, both of them extremely nice and honest people -- and some years ago she went through a "psychic training course" and has since set up her own business as a psychic. I think she really does have some talent that way, but I've more and more gotten the feeling it's gotten too mixed up with her self-identification as a " professional psychic", plus the pressure to show results as a "professional psychic."
About two years ago I went to see her for a session, as I was feeling a lot of mixed up confusion from the universe and thought I'd just see if anything came up, as a sort of different perspective. It was really disappointing, as it basically felt like a lot of generalities she was piecing together from knowing me and things going on around me -- basically guesses, but which she told herself were "psychic intuitions."
For example -- as a big contrast to my grad school friend and grandfather -- she said she felt my mom (who had died earlier that year) around me, and that there was an energy like, "My boy, my boy ..."
Well, who wouldn't guess that a mom might be doing and saying something like that? That could apply to any deceased mom with a son. It was so general as to be meaningless. Now if she had come up with something really specific, something only my mom would have known -- THAT would have been impressive.
A month or two later I did a group phone session with several of her "psychic" colleagues, and it reflects well on them that it cost nothing. They just do group phone sessions for free to stay in practice and to help people. That's admirable.
But again, nothing was specific enough to mean anything. It was a lot of generalities, and/or things that were so remote as to be unrelatable, like, "In a past life, millions of years ago, you were on another planet where you were attacked for being spiritual ..." Well, okay, maybe. But what am I supposed to do with that?"
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Science says something causes all of the Universe to behave in certain, specific ways with no deviations whatsoever allowed, though.
The word "says" is ambiguous here. Taken in the sense of "proves," that would be incorrect; in the sense of "assumes," yes, that is what science does. And further, science delimits its universe of discourse in such as way as a priori to deligitimate anything that doesn't seem to fit and/or cannot be measured and objectively replicated. (Which is fine, as long as we're clear about it.)
And science has been very successful in achieving certain goals, but it is only by induction, not deduction from those results, that the quoted generalization follows. There is no proof whatsoever that the world runs by undeviating rules in all ways at every possible level, and some possible indications that it may not.
(H/t to my favorite professor in my major subject, philosophy.)
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Is it really a sincerely held belief that you have? Or is it something that you CHOOSE to believe in because it makes you feel special and different?
Or is it an intuitive conviction that endures for the space of a dream, or a day, or an experiment, or a life-changing journey through the Valley of Shadow?
Is it possibly something you CHOOSE to believe, and even construct for yourself, because that makes life better, or even just endurable? So as not to choose instead the life of quiet desperation, the absinthe bottle, the obsessive collection of Matchbox vehicles 😉, or the shortest way to Hades?
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Also some open questions to toss out:
Does it matter if we believe six impossible things before breakfast? Are beliefs, among other possibilities, tools? Are spiritual beliefs exclusive, or is it okay to put down the mallet now and then and and pick up the needle, or the stick of incense?
Can a belief legitimately be provisional ?
What did Tertullian mean by, "I believe because it is absurd?"
In Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea, everyone had a true name that they would share only with the closest intimates, and even that was considered carefully first, because it was risky.* Do you hold any beliefs that are like an Earthsea name? :-)
"The core question I’m addressing is this — what exists or doesn’t exist independent of human belief or human emotion? In other words, if all life ceased to exist in the universe, what would continue to exist? The value proposition I’m making is that the answers to those questions are important and they matter. If one doesn’t like a proposed answer to a question, that’s all the more reason to try to determine whether the answer is correct or incorrect.
Is the empirical method the only possible way to determine what exists independent of belief and emotion? Of course not — there may be other ways unknown to us. Does the method embody the principle that objective fact isn’t determined by one person’s subjective viewpoint? Absolutely. Put another way, if a proposed hypothesis isn’t testable or falsifiable, we know of no way of determining whether it’s objectively correct. It could be indeed be true, but if we have no way of knowing that, then it appears to serve no purpose in the goal of knowing what exists and what doesn’t.
Here’s why that matters. Suppose a tree falls on someone’s house, and another person claims that a deity caused the tree to fall, either in a fit of anger or as a supposedly deserved punishment. The homeowner would understandably want to avoid having the deity do something like that again, so the person might want to know what would placate the deity, or what actions resulted in the punishment. The homeowner would be justified in asking the other person how they supposedly knew for a fact that a deity caused the tree to fall.
So by asserting a nontestable and unfalsifiable entity as a cause for the event, the person making the claim could arguably be characterized as cheating. A responsible journalist would want more evidence for the claim before writing a story about the tree falling. Similarly, a court wouldn’t, or shouldn’t, accept that standard of evidence when determining the guilt of a defendant.
We don’t know if human emotions are really perceptions of the world around us or reactions to other perceptions or some of both. Emotions can often mislead us — someone with traumatic experiences, especially in childhood, can have emotional reactions to situations that superficially resemble the trauma-causing events, even though the situations pose no danger to the person. The real issue is that what is in a person’s mind isn’t absolutely knowable to other people. We can have a reasonable suspicion what someone else is feeling by their behavior, but without asking we wouldn’t know if, say, they’re crying because of a personal tragedy or because they read a sad story. Or outside the emotional context, I could say I’m thinking of a purple elephant, but no one else would know if that’s true, they would know only that I say that I’m thinking of such an animal.
Again, of course there may be things beyond the bounds of empirical inquiry. That’s only objectionable when someone claims as absolute fact that such things exist and that the existence has direct implications for another person. The claimant should present evidence instead of expecting the other person to take his or her word for it."
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MollyBloom:
"The second type of belief is internal and private. Whether these beliefs are shared or specific to each individual isn’t known, since inner experiences cannot be fully and accurately expressed in language or other symbols, which are the most precise tools we have to communicate nonmathematical events. Internal beliefs may be biologically and experientially evolved. But they may be experimentally derived as well. Internal beliefs hold an individual’s interior world together.
Societies need at least shared external beliefs to function. Alas, we live in ‘interesting times’, and our society has lost its common external beliefs and its ability to operate in a way that benefits all its members."
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"It is not possible, in process metaphysics, to conceive divine activity as a "supernatural" intervention into the "natural" order of events. Process theists usually regard the distinction between the supernatural and the natural as a by-product of the doctrine of creation ex nihilo. In process thought, there is no such thing as a realm of the natural in contrast to that which is supernatural"
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Dr. John Dee 1574:
"Some persons have super-normal powers not of a magitien but of a peculiar and scientific qualiti"
BBC
witchcraft exhibition at a North York Moors museum will examine how fear led to "magical ways of thinking".
The Believe It Or Not? event at Ryedale Folk Museum near Kirkbymoorside features more than 200 objects, from crystal balls to "witch posts".
Researcher Rosie Barratt said it aimed to show how people were "frightened" as life was "unpredictable", whereas people nowadays had more security.
The witchcraft exhibition will run until Sunday 17 November.
You look as if you wished the place in Hell,'
My friend said, 'judging from your face.' 'Oh well,
I suppose it's not the place's fault,' I said.
'Nothing, like something, happens anywhere.'
from "I Remember, I Remember" (1954),
The Less Deceived
