I thought I’d do a post on some of the
reading I’m currently doing – or have recently done, and a few other matters
that cropped up this week (for various reasons).
I’ll begin with a fascinating book on the
history of chakras: “Rainbow Body: A History of the Western Chakra System from Blavatsky to
Brennan”, by Kurt Leland (pub. Ibis
Press, Forth Worth [USA], 2016, ISBN 978-0-89254-219-2; available on Amazon). As the title states, this book covers
the history of the chakra system in “the
West”, but with suitable acknowledgement of Asian (“Eastern”)
influences.
I’m still reading this comprehensive tome,
nut it is pleasing to see the authors I regard highly getting due
acknowledgement in this book – people like Leadbetter
and Ouseley, along with the authors commonly
attributed with having an influence. It is also pleasing to see the confusions
and controversies dealt with.
Furthermore, having learned to review and
delve into books very quickly at uni and since (because of the information overload that gores with staying up to
date), I have read the final two chapters, and the last one is, to me, one
of the most interesting, as it deals with where we are heading. Some of this
overlaps what I teach on chakras,
but the idea that chakras exist and need to be activated on each level of our
being is a slightly different – and, in many ways, perhaps better – view,
development of the sheaths on each level into full bodies (which addresses some of the inadequacies of teachings about
development of our being on others that I consider Theosophy has, as well as
giving useful insight into astral and etheric travel problems), and “free
movement of the star of consciousness” - which is akin to my use of Castenada’s
teaching of the assemblage
point.
Overall, an excellent book – one that I
recommend people buy and read (even if only for the end chapters :) ), and one
that has given me better development exercises and that will guide a revamp of
my chakra workshop.
I disagree with a few aspects –such as the
use of the term “white” when that should be “clear light” or “brilliance”, but
not enough to have major problems with the book.
One other thought on this: critics have
made much over the apparent change in numbers of chakras and other evolutions
in our understanding as reasons to discount acceptance of the validity of these
teachings, but … why hasn’t that approach been applied to our human issues that
we gradually increase our understanding of, such as the circulation of blood,
biochemistry and microbiological understanding, the mind, and so forth?
On the other hand, I’m finding Thomas
L. Friedman’s “Thank You for Being Late”
(pub. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New
York, 2016; ISBN 978-0-374-27353-8; available on Amazon) somewhat tedious. The author is making
his case about accelerating rates of change in various fields of life with
great thoroughness, but I’m simply not that interested in the minutiae of how
technological breakthroughs and advances have been made.
Some of the content I’ve read so far has
undeniably been good, however, such as the Dov Seidman quote (“When you press the pause button on a
machine, it stops. But when you press the pause button on a human beings they
start”) and the very useful concept of viewing economies from the point of
view of how they manage “flows” rather than as stock markets, I’m curious about
what is going to be written about (implacable)
Nature, and I suspect I am going to appreciate the coming suggestions about
humanness (yes, I’ve scanned ahead),
but the journey to get there is harder work than I consider is merited.
I’ll possibly write more on this book when
I finish working through it.
I’m also finding Anthony
Lester’s “Five Ideas to Fight For:
How Our Freedom is Under Threat and Why It Matters” (pub. Oneworld, London,
2016, ISBN 978-1-78084-761-3; available on Amazon) somewhat tedious, despite the five
topics being excellent ones, well worth considering and well considered in this
book, but this is more because the author is emphasising his role in fighting
for these rights.
On the other hand, John
Rawls’ “A Theory of Justice” (my copy pub. Harvard University press,
1999, ISBN 0-674-00078-1; available on Amazon, originally published 1971), although
also long and slow and tedious (it is,
after all, a University textbook :) ), is more engaging – or at least the
section I jumped ahead to is :) .
The last three are being read as a result
of my interest in human rights (specifically,
actions taken in the mundane world – rights apply in all levels of existence [1]
), and my private study of political science; going back to less mundane
matters, I am also still
reading – and enjoying - Victor and Wendy Zammit’s excellent – and logical
- book “A Lawyer Presents the Evidence
for the Afterlife” (pub. White Crow Books, Guildford [UK], 2013, ISBN
978-1-908733-22-1; available on Amazon) , and will write a review on that when
I do finish it, but I want that to be a comprehensive review, so it may be some
time.
Now I’ll move on to some of the random
contemplations from this week.
I’ve been doing more reading on LinkedIn –
which is a good way to stay up to date with the latest management fad (and many of them are just that – and often
recycled every few years). I’ve been noticing for some time how the latest “buzz
words”, to borrow a phrase from “our American cousins”, are things like “disruption”,
and these are all built around computer technology. I have to comment,
therefore, that computers and people in information technology (IT) are, for
the most part, no longer the rebels they think they are: they have become
mainstream, everyday and mundane. Being a rebel these days is not
having a so-called “smart” phone.
Furthermore, a lot of these terms are
actively used as a put down of people who aren’t like – particularly those who
aren’t liked by the IT/computer technology elites – and they have formed an
elite, much as the nobles were an elite in the Middle Ages (note that not all nobles were rich back then, but they were still part
of the social elite: I know quite a few tech-oriented people who are very poor,
and yet they are part of an evolving
elite).
So far, those people are mostly failing in
how they handle the power they have as a result of being in that elite – badly.
I’ve also been thinking – partly as a
result of reading Mr Friedman’s book –about the aspect of developing technology
being possibly viewed as an attack on our humanity. The IT being actively
developed by society’s new elite is destroying jobs and creating massive
amounts of fear, but that is abuse / misuse / unthinking use of power, rather than
an attack on our humanness.
Some social media alienates people from
each other, but it also gives other people an opportunity they didn’t have to
connect – and a lot of IT applications are about aspects of being human, such
as our inherent desire for an easier way to do things. That isn’t always good,
but it is human.
There are changes happening, however, that
are profound – almost as profound as the invention of the printing
press, the linked development of agriculture
and civilisation,
and the domestication of fire.
Almost, but not quite.
I would rate the changes happening now as
greater than the changes that happened during the industrial
revolution, even thought that has put the planet’s ecosystems at risk, but
less profound than the three changes I mentioned in the preceding paragraph.
The invention of civilisation (or “the domestication of humans”, as I
somewhat irreverently refer to it from time to time :) ) resulted in specialisation
of work, time to move beyond struggling to survive, and thus thinking. The
industrial revolution resulted in more specialisation of work, the (human connections, cross-fertilisation of
ideas, etc) and disadvantages (poverty,
pollution, more crime, etc) of larger cities.
The IT revolution is going to result in more
specialisation of work, but also – as it is going now – an underclass
of underemployed people, the Morlocks
in HG
Wells’ novel “The
Time Machine”. I also consider it unlikely to lead to any greater
thinking – there will be a lot more detailed assessment of bits and pieces, but
nothing “big”.
We need, for the sake of the quality of our
humanness, to find a balance between diving onto the IT bandwagon, and being
compassionate, caring and inclusive.
Having a computer does not absolve one of
karma, or the obligation to grow and develop as a human being.
Finally, some reading links:
- from the ever excellent John
Beckett:
- “The Authority of the Gods”;
- a respectful festival of jealousy (I’m jealous of the lot of ‘em – which you will understand when you read the linked posts :) );
- a healthy perspective on Nature and the Deities;
- a thoughtful critique of being rooted vs. being on the move (with a few other interesting perspectives :) );
on being authentic;
- open vs. occult in the context of simpler vs. deeper; - lists of attributes can limit our depth of understanding and connection with the Deities (and lots of other things in life);
- some
thoughts on what I would term “nonBPM” use of magick – or, to put that more
accessibly, using
magick to harm or hinder others. Now, I am all for using magick in a BPM
way, and I am up for BPM use of magick in a psychic or spiritual war (as often accompanies the physical conflicts
in this world), but the biggest problem I have with what this article – and
its follow
up – are considering is that it is too often vengeful, and thus ultimately
harmful to the person using the magick, as well as its victim (and I use that word deliberately). Such
actions can be needed and justified when they are in the
context of stopping someone who is harming others – as happens in every
clearing of an uncooperative
– and I do that regularly, as I posted about recently.
However, before you do anything like, you need to be absolutely
sure (a) there is nothing personal about this (talk to someone who can judge that – and if you aren’t prepared to do
that, I would suspect there is a strong personal element to it), and (b)
that is done as dispassionately and objectively and carefully as possible as if you were a police officer subject to
the rule of law and thus unable to use excessive force, etc (and I know that is not always observed, and
does not exist in all nations). A few other thoughts I would add to this
debate:
- the harder, judgemental types of magick were often practised in situations where survival was at risk, which is not the case today;
- religions such as neochristianity practice their equivalents of hexing, and that needs to be acknowledged and debated as well. Examples of that would be the prayer wars, putting non-christian people on lists for special attention, religious right-to-lifers, sexism and misogyny, etc – but I’m not including the terrible history of child abuse here (and on that, in addition to neochristian abusers, here is an update on a Pagan abuser); and
- there is an issue of it being unfair that those in a discriminated against group have to try harder and be “nicer” to get acceptance (it applies to women, refugees, etc as well), but being politically naïve about that is not necessarily the best approach – and I have seen a lot of political naiveté on this topic recently. On this aspect, the follow up article has a lot of good comments about the issue of safety (although I disagree that “being truthful” initially wouldn’t have made us less safe now: the author is talking about practices that not all Pagans accept, just as not all neochristians accept physical self-flagellation [some do], and, incidentally, I consider Wicca to be a valid path and not just a put down). Of course, there is also the issue that to be restrained can be both incredibly difficult and damaging to human beings … ; - relevant to the previous point, a post on the problem of “silliness”;
- spiritual (and psychic) composting;
- personal growth as a result of becoming a witch;
- some excellent advice in “Night Has Fallen, Light Your Torches”;
- the need to be political here, here, here, and here;
- an interesting, nuanced perspective on history – not trying to recreate it, and not idolising it;
- religious approaches to magick (some very good and/or interesting points);
- a PhD thesis “The Cultic Life of Trees: What Trees Say About People in the Prehistoric Aegean, Levant, Egypt and Cyprus” has been published – and I hope to read it one day :) ;
- PAN has a new website (looks good);
- an article on parenting, kids, rituals and standards of behaviour;
- Jungian perspectives on the election of the new US President (I liked the comment about “Active Imagination”, and might explore that further … );
- from
the Correllian YouTube channel:
- a nuanced explanation of the reasons why the First Priest and Paramount High Priest of the Correllian Tradition chose not to be part of the attempted binding spell on the current US President (including that these views come from a neochristian movement which has been working towards these goals since the late 1960s, and a questioning of efficacy) … and the (malicious? stupid?) misuse of that vlog / images;
- a nuanced view on “reflecting harm” back to others, and the risks (I would also suggest reading the situation where Dresden uses this type of spell in “Proven Guilty”);
- commentary on the rubbish notion that chakras are things to be removed, with a comment that it may be an outgrowth of a neochristian idea;
- electric candles and energetic constructs;
- incarnational diversity;
- the similarities and differences between corporate and traditional totems; - from the Zen Habits blog (which I am WAAAY behind on reading):
- the antidote to self-harshness and resentment (I particularly liked the reference to a “Love Muscle” – I will have to see if I can track that down on that blog);
- three practices for the overwhelmed, stressed and anxious (sadly, I tend to follow the Harry Dresden approach to worry: it’s never solved anything before, but there’s always a first time :) [joke, Joyce]);
- how to build the “change muscle”.
Notes
1.
I’m aware that there are also responsibilities, but I
have too many negative associations with bigots (yes, I’m p****d off with them)
trying to use “responsibilities” as a “tough love” type justification for not
respecting rights.
I apologise for publishing these posts
twice, but Blogger keeps changing my formatting. I can either publish it and
then correct it, or save and close the post and correct it when I reopen it,
but that leaves an extra copy in my "drafts" folder ...
Love, light, hugs and blessings
Gnwmythr
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear")
Pagan Energy Worker, Wéofodthegn, Bellatrix Lux, Venatrix Maga, would-be Drýicgan.
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear")
Pagan Energy Worker, Wéofodthegn, Bellatrix Lux, Venatrix Maga, would-be Drýicgan.
My "blogiography" (list of all posts and guide as to how to best use this site) is here, and my glossary/index is here.
I started this blog to cover karmic regression-rescue
(see here and here), and it grew ... See here for my group mind project, here and here for my "Pagans for Peace" project (and join me
for a few minutes at some time between 8 and 11 PM on Sunday, wherever you are,
to meditate-clear for peace), and here
for my bindrune kit-bag. I also strongly recommend
learning how to flame, ground
and shield, do alternate
nostril breathing, work
with colour, and see also here and be
flexible.
May the best in me, my Higher Self,
and those of the Clear Light who assist me,
help me to keep myself grounded, centred and shielded,
to be Balanced and a Fulcrum of Balance,
a centre of Balanced Positivity and Spiritual Maturity,
with my aura continuously cleansed, cleared and closed,
repelling all negative or unwanted energies,
whilst allowing positive, balancing and healing energies in and through.
The real dividing line is not between
Christianity and Islam, Sunni and Shia, East and West. It is between people who
believe in coexistence, and those who don’t.
- All of the above - and this blog - could be wrong, or subject to context, perspective, or state of spiritual evolution ...
Tags: abuse of power, astral travel, change, chakra, discrimination, elites, etheric travel, growth, human rights, morality, politics, power, society, survival after death, technology,
First published: Manadagr, 17th April, 2017
Last edited (excluding fixing typo's,
Blogger's change of my formatting and other minor matters): Monday, 17th April, 2017
