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To: alt.magick.tyagi,talk.religion.newage,alt.satanism,talk.religion.misc,alt.pagan,alt.individualism
From: satanservice.org@boboroshi (SOD of the CoE)
Subject: Dark New Ageism and the LHP
Date: Sun, 29 Feb 2004 08:09:02 GMT

RE the difference between RHP/LHP as collective/individual:

this does indeed serve to
emphasize the RHP-orientation of most New Agers.
exceptions I can think of relegated the entirety
of the individual path to some mystical dimension
such that one realistically might compare it with
a type of Solipsism ('You are God. Your experience
is the manifestation of the cosmos. You can only
have knowledge or authority about your own Path'
and the like), which makes collective approaches 
more potentially practical and strategic than any
kind of absolute necessity.


RE: "Create Your Own Reality (CYOR)" cosmology
 
there are really 2 versions of this I've 
encountered, speaking strictly from a
cosmological perspective:

	1a -- 'Weak' CYOR: 'reality' herein
	   described constitues *only* one's
	   own, and in this sense is a buffer
	   of *experience* which one conditions
	   through mysticism or has conditioned 
	   *for* one (often by society, or by
	   one's upbringing), 'colouring' it or
	   'prejudicing' one's perspective and,
	   by extension, the quality of one's
	   experience of the universe; this
	   'reality' is acknowledged as relative
	   to each individual and constitutes a
	   rough equivalent of reifying the term
	   'experience', it having been unfairly
	   dismissed by hard-core materialists
	   as composed of 'nothing real or 
	   meaningful'.

	1b -- 'Strong' CYOR: 'reality' herein
	   described constitutes *everything*
	   that surrounds one, including events,
	   interactions with all others, and the
	   varying levels of challenge and error
	   which on encounters during life; no
	   real attempt is usually made to explain
	   how these various creative processes
	   are meshed if we're all creating our
	   surrounding reality simultaneously:
	   often this is overlooked or ascribed
	   to the power of some morally-discerning
	   or all powerful divinity which is, 
	   at times, related to our composite 
	   'spirit' or 'consciousness'.
 

RE K&C/HGA 

usually I've heard the K&C/HGA referred to as
an *experience* or even an "Adventure" which
is classed with things Rosicrucian and quasi-
Kabbalistic (usually Christian/Hermetic 
variants on some of the same) 'Crossing (of)
the Abyss' or 'Ascertainment of (one's/the)
Logos' (or 'Word' in a Rosicrucian ascension):
in general psychospiritual developments.

the Adventure is amusingly varied in an approach 
to its 'accomplishment', the occultist even 
concealing to some degree, or merging, the 
technology from one tradition with that of another
for the purposes of proclamation of hir grand
escalation of power and spiritual maturation.
e.g. Crowley's usage of "The Sacred Magic of
Abramelin the Mage" and Enochian Magic for his
particular trascendental, supposedly maturing,
experiences.

the LHP people I've known occasionally looked
*down* on the whole mystical process and its
various metaphors, correctly (by my measure)
understanding the degrees of likelihood that
these things are going to be misused and 
subject to the machinations of those 
struggling for better Herd positions.


RE the problem of practical techniques to attain:
 
this isn't just a Satanist problem. there are very
many accounts of the endpoint Carrot upon which
the Herd is invited to focus its attentions (at
times while the edifice promoting it bilks them).
it is in some measure a testimony to conservatism
(how can I tell if what is working for me will be
of value to others?) and practicality (if I have 
something unique, I may get tricked into spending 
my time teaching, and I may not want to do that :>)
that the diversity of possible paths is unseen.

it also seems that those promoted tend to favour
the interests of collectives, hierarchies, and
social orders investing in the propaganda. for 
this reason I have favoured studies with what are
termed 'unseen intelligences' initially over that
of human schools and masters. there is some good
support of this in both RHP New Age and LHP 
currents such as those clinging to Rosicrucian 
edifices (von Eckhartshausen and his "Cloud Upon
the Sanctuary", Bulwer Lytton's "Zanoni" and a
number of others foment investigation into such 
peculiar 'colleges'). presumed the Central 
Intelligence Agency for the transphysical, it 
is interesting to note the diversity of their
instruction and the types of individuals who 
wish to promote their material to other humans.


RE the 'Make Up Your Own Path' Critics

I've heard my share of haughty
criticisms of "Have It The Way You Want It
Spirituality", but never anything that gave me a 
rational leg up on opposing it where it remains humble 
and conservative. in fact, my first experiences with 
rite and advice from such intelligences (part of a
course on Wizardry) was as regards the unimportance
of form. "If one's will is strong enough," it was
explained, "then whatever course is taken will get
one to the Summum Bonum, True Wisdom and Perfect
Happiness." I'm not sure I believe this, but it
is consoling in association with Dark New Age
attitudes toward smorgasbord path-construction.

a good deal of the motivation for reproduceable
or reliable testimonies on the spiritual path is
selfish on *someone*'s part. we naturally want to 
gravitate toward that which is liable to lead us 
to a better experience (qualitatively or sensorily),
and denigrating those which are not universal 
(or at least marketable as such :>) seems, to a
good many RHP collectivists, a social service.  

in fact, it may not be more than a distraction
away from hedonistic, antisocial, unique, and/or
self-aggrandizing (originally LHP) trajectories.
also, these may survive if somehow transformed into 
a usable and socially-stable institution (e.g. 
Mormonism), in contrast to those which appear to
be founded entirely on mythos (Christianity, the
Cult of Lao, Xiwangmu, Neopagan recreationism, etc.).

it was in part the New Age antagonism to the sanctity 
and sovereignty of individual magic and ritual that 
had me evaluating it as 'not dark enough', so I think 
I'm right with you on this point. at some point there
simply is no room made for critical analysis and the
novel, unique pathway. either it is universalizable,
or it is suspect and subjected to conservative tests.


RE the inherent unusualness of LHP optimism

thus my abject lack of qualification for any real
and lasting goth-connections: I'm an optimist. :>


RE the macabre/negative as a useful technique/platform

this is a wonderful testimony to the power of moving
beyond 'dark/light' into a more pragmatic and, by my
limited understanding, healthy relationship to the
cosmos at large. it is one of the reasons that I've tried 
to tie together fluffy-bunnyism with Satanism, walk the 
Satanist path as part of a Christian Formula derived 
from the New Testament and its Elemental Initiation,
and consider the spectrum to be something from which
I'd like to sample in a collage, making my way, rather
than sticking with some age-old program I hope will
serve those following it in the way that they desire.


RE positive expectations generating desired results

I'm not sure this is true, but I have found it to
be a generally more enjoyable ride when laying a
foundation of supportive, confident willfulness.
at times this has yielded failure, but on the whole,
as they say, it seems better to have ventured. :>
 

RE LHP rejection of 'surrendering to a higher power':

it is difficult for me to know where to draw the
line with such surrender. I've known distantly of
demonolaters, for example, and could consider myself
to be amongst their number, throwing myself before
the Queen of Demons as much out of love as out of
some sincere means of reigning in the problems 
of egotism and debauch that tend to ravage my 
compatriots in the occult world.


RE LHP rejection of 'subordinating oneself to a 
       larger whole' and the like

this is where it begins to touch on the collective
and therefore becomes completely engulfed in the
RHP. there are 'cross-over hits' for the 'LHP
community' which approximate to this kind of
self-negation or self-betrayal. some ceremonial
magicians promote 'the death of the ego', for
example, and even quasi-bhakti notions like 'the
blood of the saints of Babalon' at which we may
verily wonder whether said Lady is vampiric.


RE CYOR practical issues

...that experience
is malleable, programmable by the clever religio-
magician (cf. sources like 'Undoing Yourself' by
Anterro Alli and other self-manipulation/masturbation
manuals) does not explain what our best aim might be
given the limitations with which we are really faced. 

if the Weak CYOR orients in the face of a largely
materialistic truth underlying engineering and the
growth and development of consciousness, then this
may be sufficient for any purposes one acquires. 

*Strong* CYOR can be somewhat daunting to those who
have strong guilt-ridden complexes as a result of
abusive influences in childhood or other intimacy.
it may be seen as incredibly arrogant to effectively
take on a Solipsistic subjective set. occultists are
sometimes keen to adopt a more dualistic and less
aggrandized version of this in polarity-devotion
('regarding all eventualities as dealings with the
Great Divinity as part of an interaction between
that Divinity and oneself'; aka 'Oath of the Abyss').

thanks again blessed beast!

boboroshi at-sign satanservice.org: Satanic Outreach Director
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