Self-Improvement and Interesting Knowledge

dogma

The Difference between The Map and The Territory

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Categories: The Paranormal

In my last article, I discussed the idea that you should use whatever occult or mental discipline most inspires you. I equated this discipline to a kind of propellant and a rocket, that could be used to get you off the material space.

But as I mentioned in the article, once that discipline has taken you far enough, I said that you should strive to go beyond it, to be able to get off the rocket as it were, because if you did not, you might be stuck within the limitations of that discipline itself, within the boundaries of that rocket, and in that sense you would go from one trap to another.

After posting that article, I received some feedback that was wonderful in helping to clarify some key points, and it is my desire to further define and give clarity to a key issue that I think are of extreme importance.

This key issue has to do with a fundamental facet of the way of inner alchemy, one that is so important that I feel needs to be further described and redefined from another angle here, and one that is seldom defined in exactly this particular fashion, at least in my opinion.

To try to explain this in the best way possible, I could say that a key component of any particular inner discipline, that is any good mental or occult science, is that such a discipline makes it clear at some point as you progress through it, that, as Alfred Korzibski said, the map is not the territory.

And beyond this, and this is the important part, this discipline gives you a starting technique, for learning how to see the territory yourself directly.

So, whether you are studying the Kabbalah, ceremonial magic, alchemy, Wicca, or whatever else, if such a mental discipline is worthy of you, then it should be spelled out as you progress within that discipline, that the map is not the territory. And within such a discipline, there should be some effort made for the practitioner to be able to go beyond that map, and to see the territory that is the foundation of that map.

What this statement basically means, the map is not the territory, is that the description of a thing, a theory of a thing, a model for a thing, the discipline itself, is not the thing in itself, it is instead just a map of the actual thing. So, in the context of this article, if we think of alchemy for example, we could say that the model of alchemy, the discipline of it, its basic foundational terms and symbolism, its dogmatic principles, are in essence the map, they are not the territory itself. As such, it is always the case that as the adept progresses and moves beyond the many restrictions that are imposed on them in this material world, that they also begin to understand that alchemy itself is not the ultimate truth, that it does not hold some kind of underlying meaning to  existence in and of itself, but that it is itself just the model to try to explain something that is beyond all models. In other words, the territory is beyond all maps.

To explain further, I could say that, no matter which phenomenal structure you use, which model, no matter which mental discipline you are using therefore, such a model because it is trying to define something that is beyond itself, must use a communicative process, a language, that in and of itself could never explain the territory, but at best could only give the clearest and cleanest, the most impeccable if it is a good discipline, map of a territory that exists outside of it, beyond it.

A simple and accurate way to think of this, is to imagine the idea that certain explorers travel outwardly, far beyond their country of origin, and through those travels they are able to discover new lands, new territory. Then when such voyagers return to their original place, and in trying to explain the nature of that land they saw, and the way to get to that distant country, they create maps, the most accurate maps possible for them, so that others might be able to travel to those lands themselves. The maps therefore are highly useful, all important sometimes, but they are not the territory itself, they are just a way to understand and get to that land where those intrepid scouts have gone.

This was all discussed in the last article, using my version of a map to try to define the reasons why you must discover that territory for yourself. But in doing so, while it is my hope that such an article was in and of itself concise, a point that needs to be addressed with far more precision and clarity, is that the physical senses cannot in the case of the kind of territory that inner alchemy is talking about, for example, perceive the territory.

The physical senses can only perceive the map, only the inner senses can perceive the territory.

The map is not the territory. The inner senses allow you to see the territory, the physical senses allow you to see the map. The map is useful to traverse the territory, but once you have gone far enough you must throw away the map. The map, no matter how useful and how powerful it seems to be, holds no underlying fundamental truth, the only way to truth is to perceive the territory directly yourself, to use the inner senses yourself, because everything else beyond the inner senses is in a way folly, it is just a model, a map, in broader terms the map is a kind of illusion.

The key and important point here, the reason for this article, is to explain that the physical senses can only see the map, it is only the inner senses that can see the territory.

The land that inner alchemists are trying to describe, the territory that they have travelled to, is so distant and so far, you could say, that the physical senses can never be used to perceive such a land. This is of key importance, the physical senses can only perceive the map, it is only using the inner senses that you will be able to perceive the territory that alchemy is trying to describe.

Inner alchemists therefore strive to develop their inner senses, because if they do not then they will be stuck potentially believing that the map is the territory, and this can be a costly mistake. Given enough time, it is a fatal one.

The map is very useful, it allows us to traverse and to work effectively within this dimensional space where the physical senses work relatively well. Our maps therefore are necessary and can be highly useful if used effectively, but in order to go beyond the limits of those maps, we must learn to engage our inner senses, and develop our own maps as we progress further and further.

There is no greater truth in the map. If such a thing is perceived when one studies a map of occult science, if one feels that there is some kind of underlying truth in a particular model, then the perception of such an underlying truth comes from the fact that the map is so good, that it accurately describes many of the aspects of the vastness to be found beyond this physical dimension, and being that this discipline, this model, seems to go beyond this purely physical dimension, it seems like the model is better than the purely material world, and it therefore hold some kind of fundamental truth about reality. But this can be a dangerous mistake, because in the end a map is just a map, and it is imperfect being that it is bound to this material dimension.

As such, this map then seems to, and truly does in a way to some extent, provide a kind of greater truth within physical parameters, in that thanks to it one can understand things even beyond this physical dimension. But such truth is relative as I will explain, and without understanding the use of the inner senses, those truths become obsolete the minute that they are communicated.

So, to explain this relativeness further, this instant obsolescence, I could say that for the current of inner alchemy, the only truth is energetic truth, the only foundational truth, therefore, is that which can be perceived by the inner senses only. And such perceptions are, of the moment only, they exist in the moment only, there is no past or future in them.

In other words, there are no pasts, or future projections in the perceiving of the territory using the inner senses, there is only direct perception in the infinite now moment point. As such, in accordance with inner alchemy as it is practiced by my current, we can define dogma as something that is stuck within a linear time model, that is, it is something that has a past and future, something of the physical world, something that can be perceived by the physical senses. While energetic truth, the perception of the inner senses, is something that goes beyond linear time models, beyond all material dimensional rules, and exists in an infinite moment point that is beyond the perceptions of the physical senses, and the language, the phenomenology, of physical reality, of the limited physical dimension.

The physical senses work within physical space. It is within this physical space that we communicate to each other, and such communication, being that it is happening within the physical dimension, must abide by certain rules, and the biggest rule being linear time. What this means is that in the physical dimension time is a linear event, the vastness of the now moment point is not perceivably possible for the physical senses, therefore that infinite moment point is filtered, broken apart and fed to the physical senses and the physical cognitive structure, in accordance to a linear time model, where we see the infinite moment point separated into a past, present, and a potential future.

Being that all dogma exists within the physical dimension, all dogma has a past, present, and a future. The territory described by inner alchemy on the other hand, is not bound by such linear frameworks. Such a territory exists and is part of an infinite now moment, as such any map that relies on linear time to try to describe something that is outside of such a time limitation, is flawed the minute that it was created, because the moment that it was created it attained a kind of stasis that binds it to a very limited causal framework.

A more useful way to see this, would be to say that even though a scout and adventurer might have travelled to distant territory, and may have seen incredible wonders and incredible energetic truths there, on their return to their country of origin, to their home dimension in this case, in order to describe and communicate where they have gone and what they have seen, they in essence have to create a map of that territory. But that map, by the time it is created and it is being used by others who are hoping to go to that same place that the scout discovered, is already in some ways obsolete, because even though this map is static, unchanging on the page that it has been drawn, the territory that it is describing does continue to change, is continually changing. As such, that map needs to be constantly updated, but only updated by those that can truly see, that have seen the territory. This is an infinitely important point.

As such, maps can be a dangerous thing, they can lead you astray. And in that sense then, inner alchemy tries to offset the dangers of the map by always making it clear to the practitioners of inner alchemy, that a key balancing component of the current, is the ability to right from the outset, begin to practice using the inner feelings sense.

Nothing out there is true, nothing that you look at, touch, smell, taste, or hear, using just your physical senses is true, it is just a filtered and constrained possible representation of something that was, and that continues to evolve, beyond the physical brain structure. If you would like to know more about this, I recommend reading the book, The Occult Experience.

In order to be able to begin to use the inner senses yourself, I recommend the book The Magnum Opus, a step-by-step course, there in chapter 4, I describe how to use the inner feelings sense, and that, using such a technique but extending it further and developing through your own practice, will be the only way that you will discover any fundamental truth to anything. Only through the continual use and development of the inner feelings sense, will you ever have a chance of accurately and truthfully seeing the territory yourself directly.

Use Whatever discipline works, but do not become trapped by it!

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Categories: The Paranormal

There are many different ways. There are many traditions and methodologies to proceed by, to try to find the underlying truth of things, to try to find the underlying power, that is the birthright of every single one of us.

No matter what methodology you are using, as long as it feels right to you and is working for you, then use it.

You can think of these methodologies as sort of like a kind of propellant, in that they can help to get you off the ground, like a rocket needs propellant to get off the ground. Just like a rocket taking off from the earth, the amount of effort, the amount of fuel, the amount of propellant needed, is prodigious. And even finding this propellant in the first place can be very difficult, so, if you are able to find this propellant, in whatever way works best for you, then you need to use it, take advantage of it.

Some people for example, might wish to learn about and practice the Kabbalah, other people might want to learn about the tarot, about Wicca, ceremonial magic, yoga, or any of a number of other occult disciplines. That is what I mean by your initial propellant, and you should definitely use whatever works best for you, whatever speaks to you, whatever is working for you.

Inner alchemy as a further example, can in that same sense be one of these kind of propellants, and if it works for you, then it is definitely a fuel that you need to use in order to escape the binding forces, the gravity, of this wholly material existence, that imposes upon all of us, a bounded three dimensional space, a prison made up of six walls, that in the end traps us within a kind of psychological framework, and yet very solid and material framework, that makes us feel that we are far less than what we truly are, that we are small, limited, powerless to a great degree, objects.

Any good methodology, any one of the mental disciplines mentioned, can take you very far indeed, can allow you to glimpse around the edge of those walls. Such methodology can be a good takeoff point, a starting point, the ground zero for the start of a great and difficult journey. And it is at this zero point, where the greatest amount of fuel is needed, because without a prodigious amount of it, you may never leave the ground. You therefore need to follow the discipline that inspires you, empowers you, gives you wings as they say.

But it is very important, that as you begin your ascension, and you start to feel the incredible gravitational forces (the g-forces) pull you down, that right then and there you start to take notice, become aware of, and start to right there, counteract the potentially ensnaring forces of that fuel and the rocket itself.

What I mean by this, is that whatever methodology that you use, such methodology, such mental science, whether it is inner alchemy or the Kabbalah, or whatever, can through unquestioned dogma, trap you to the rocket itself. Whatever occult discipline you follow, you can think of this discipline as that rocket, not just the fuel but also the rocket that is carrying you higher and higher beyond this purely physical dimension. This rocket is for those of us that want to go beyond the three-dimensional cube, a blessing, our great escape. This rocket can help us to get higher and higher, farther and farther, from that three-dimensional trap that we know is not the end of us.

But that rocket is in and of itself, as we get farther and farther from that material world that we have wanted to leave behind for so long, as the gravitational forces ease up on us and we get farther and farther away, as we feel lighter and lighter, well, this rocket, it can if we are not careful, become our trap. That rocket that is helping us can become our trap, if we are not careful, this is a very important point that you must consider carefully.

This rocket is not a material thing per se, and yet it is in its own way just as solid and potentially heavy as the earth itself. It is made up of the underlying belief structures that have made this construction possible, that give this rocket the structural integrity needed to take us higher and higher. In order for this rocket to go so far and to fight so much gravitational resistance, it must be a very strong and sound structure. What this means is that the symbolism, the dogma, that belief system that created such a structure, must be very powerful.

As such, inner alchemists knowing that this structure, this rocket can indeed become a trap in time, strive from the very beginning to always point out that such a structure, such a rocket is in and of itself a kind of illusion. For the inner alchemist the only thing that matters is energetic truth, the truth to be found beyond the symbolism, beyond the dogma, beyond the methodologies, beyond the structured outer interpretation of an inner knowing that created the rocket in the first place. For them, the only thing that truly matters is inner knowing, direct knowing, direct energetic perception.

For that reason, I have always told all those that asked me, if following one particular occult discipline or another is good, to always follow whatever it is that works best for them, what speaks to you. If Wicca works best for you, if it appeals to something deep within you, then use that, use that as your propellant and your rocket to get off the heaviness of this material world. If the Kabbalah or the tarot work for you in whatever way to whatever degree, in opening up and expanding your power, in revealing to you those dimensions to be had around every corner, then use those and keep using them for as long as it feels right for you, as an individual.

But, in accordance with the way of my current, the way of inner alchemy as it is practiced by my house, you must always strive to go beyond the belief structures that are in place to maintain the construct, of whatever rocket you are using. To do that, my current always strives to teach all practitioners of inner alchemy to learn how to see, how to use what I have referred to as the inner feeling sense. Without the ability to do this, you will just leave one trap and enter another.

To be truly free, you must let go of that rocket once it has taken you far enough. And to do that, to free yourself from all traps, you must begin to create your own maps, your own symbols if those are needed, right from the start. At the very least, you must always strive to go beyond even the limiting power of that which got you this far, because if you do not, you will only hit another wall, and you will find yourself trapped once again. This new trap might seem bigger, it might give you greater freedom and greater possibilities, it might make you feel superior to those still trapped in the cube you left behind, but in the end, it will still be a trap.

The only way to escape this, is to learn to see, to know directly yourself, to begin to use your inner senses and go beyond any established dogma yourself.

For example, whether you are practicing the Kabbalah, chi-gung, or whatever else, in order to find an underlying balance, I recommend that you try to lightly read, if it is possible for you, the book, the magnum opus a step-by-step course. In chapter 4 of that book learn about and practice the technique of using the inner feelings sense. This technique is all important as you progress in power and practice. Such a book tries to keep symbolism down to a minimum, so whatever other occult science you are using, this book should not be too heavy dogmatically, so it should not counteract or go against the belief structures of your initial rocket.

So, whatever your initial discipline, just lightly read it, use it as a balancing force, learn the technique of using the inner feeling sense in particular, and learn to try to manipulate and work with energy directly, learn to perceive energy directly, learn to see beyond and past the symbolism that might be the structured rocket that you are using at the moment, whether such a rocket is inner alchemy itself, yoga, ritual magic, Hermetics, or whatever else.

In that way, it is my hope that you are not held back by any future trap, the trap of the rocket itself. Whatever practice you are using, use that initial methodology as wisdom, as a decent road to establish a path for yourself as an individual, as a powerful way to rally your forces and get off the heavy material earth. But as you progress up this road that you have set for yourself, at every step, balance this journey from the outset, by learning to perceive and see beyond any symbolism used, beyond any patterned belief structure used. Learn to look into that symbolism, past it, so that you can see the energetic conglomerations that make that symbolism possible, that are the underlying meaning of that symbolism. In that procedural manner, there will be nothing to stand in your way once you are high enough and confident enough to step a little bit outside of that rocket, that was so useful in getting you off and beyond this wholly material world.

In time if you wish, you could continue by reading the next two books in that trilogy, learning how to become a projectionist yourself, that is learning how to make yourself into an unstoppable rocket, and then learning about the way of the death defier, that is how to escape the cycle of life and death forever, using projectionist techniques of creating your own rocket. But, once again, remember to always use this wisdom, these techniques, the symbolism, as a guiding force to try and help you on your journey, in establishing your own individual journey, and allowing you to maintain a steady course. But whatever you do, do not get trapped within the symbolism, learn to use your inner feeling sense, learn to see, learn to perceive energy directly, and look beyond that symbolism into the energetic conglomerations that such symbolism truly represents, that such symbolism is trying to explain. Experience that vast conglomeration of energies and make your own assessment, your own maps. In time you will make your own way, and you will never be limited by constructs of external origin. And at that time, you may look back and see that it is not just the earth that you have left behind, far behind, but you have also left behind that rocket that allowed you to free yourself from that binding gravity in the first place.

That is true freedom. Only that, is true freedom.

What happens after we die?

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Categories: The Paranormal

Depending on a person’s belief system, each individual may have a different answer to this question.

And even within the bounds of certain belief structures, there are individual ideas about what life after death if any might be like.

Here in the west many of us might believe in a heavenly realm, or a fiery hell. Many people are atheists as well, and such individuals tend to believe that once we experience biological death, we are no more, like biological machines, we just turn off and then that is the end of us. Others may have other beliefs, such as reincarnation and the belief that instead of a heaven or a hell, we pay for the consequences of our actions in a future life where such incarnations may either be positive or negative in accordance with what we have or have not done in past lives.

Often, people may be quite wide-ranging in their beliefs, and may choose to take a little bit from a large pool of belief systems. They may believe in a monotheistic kind of God, but also believe in reincarnation. Some may believe that death is the end of everything as individual beings, but they may believe that the stuff that was us is recycled in a way, that what we were, the plants, the earth, the stars) is what we go back to becoming, and in that sense, they cheat in that way that utter gloom of the atheistic finality.

Whether it is reincarnation, classical heaven and hell, atheistic finality, or any of the number of beliefs that people have about what happens after you die, these beliefs are almost always dogmatic ones.

By dogmatic I mean that in almost every case, all these beliefs are based not on personal experience but on a kind of faith in the general belief systems of the times. Few people claim to have seen past the veil of the material universe. They can only see what their physical senses can reveal to them. For that reason, most believe that such a thing, seeing what happens after death, is fundamentally an impossibility, at least for them, and as such they only have the opinion of experts in this field to rely on.

Such experts can be the clergy and the theology of the times, these experts may also be the intellectuals and the philosophers that are prominent in an era, and they may even be, at least in this modern period, the scientists, and the scientific establishment.

There is certainly nothing wrong with belief in the dogma of the time if such dogma provides hope and a sense of ease in a difficult world. And while these dogma-based belief systems are and have always been, when the human population gets large enough, the main way that people can come to terms with the hardest part of living, which is the dying, you should know that this dogmatic understanding of things is not the only way to understand the after death experience. Belief in faith and faith in belief is not the only way to know about the after death experience.

 

In other cultures, often times cultures that have a closer relation to the earth, there are different ways of knowing, of seeing, the after death experience. There are also different groups, different currents if you like, that while in the midst of large and well organized civilizations, practice traditions, techniques and methodologies, that try to overcome the many hindrances of dogma especially when it comes to the veil of the objective world, the world of matter, and the after death experience, that is, what happens after death.

One such current, is the way of inner alchemy. Such a current has as its main focus the intentionality of first teaching those that are part of that current how to see beyond the veil, the maya, the illusion, of the material world. Once this is possible, which could generally be referred to as being able to see, to be a seer, an Oracle, such an individual is then able to let go of dogma, let go of the established dogmatic beliefs of the times and directly perceive for themselves, what exists beyond physicality and therefore what exists after physical death.

In this video I would like to discuss briefly what these personal direct individual perceptions might be, and I say might be because each individual perception is different being that each individual is fundamentally different. We are individuals, we see differently, we can, away from physicality, perceive slightly differently, and our psychology presents us with different obstacles and allegory, and for that reason the way that we perceive such energetic truth is also highly individual and may involve all sorts of perceptive mechanisms and symbolism that must be explored and plumbed into in order to find the greater reality within the scope of the human grasp of energetic truth.

 

In accordance with the seeing of inner alchemist therefore, the nature of the after death experience is not something that is discovered by studying the general dogma of the times, or by believing what someone else says, even what I am saying right now. It is instead discovered through the ability to see, to perceive energy directly, which can be taught by reading a book, but that must later be used to go beyond all language so that what you know from then on is individual in nature. Once this ability to perceive directly is established, these seers, this confluence of oracles, can then come together and establish a general intentionality, that creates a current, and each individual seer can either participate or not, in accordance with their own highly individual perceptions and actions. The current that I am a part of can be termed the current of inner alchemy.

While it may seem contradictory of me to try to describe such seeing to you, being that in essence this then becomes dogmatic knowledge, sometimes the descriptions of such things, such direct perceptions by the intentionality of inner alchemy for example, can help an individual to tune into their own intuitions, their own highly individual inner feeling sense about what it is that they have somehow always known to be true deep within themselves, and in discovering this inner alignment, they can then choose as individuals to try to perceive directly themselves and after doing so, by the sheer act of such perceptions, join a current in accordance with their own individual intentions.

So, after all of that, from the inner alchemist point of view, from their direct perceptions, what happens to us after we die?

Well, from that group intentionality, from that current, the after death experience in many ways resembles what the general human collective refers to as the dreamscape, the dreamtime. If you want to know what death is like, then all you must do is begin to explore your dreams and the nature of the dreamtime environment that you are part of for a third of your life.

In the dream-scape, in that dimensional zone where dreams are a reality, a real otherworld, you are there yourself and yet you have left your physical body behind. To many, this dreamtime can be quite chaotic and for the most part forgotten, but of the things that you might remember, you might notice that there is incredible flexibility here, and in this place you may partake in many adventures where you might be yourself as you understand yourself within physical space, or you might be completely other selves, at least other instances of yourself that may take forms that may be quite different from what you may consider to be your physical being. While it is generally the case that people tend to only remember those dreams that are coherent enough for them to be perceived as a rational sequence, linear and orderly, it is also the case that many of these dreams can be so expansive and the feelings and perceptions so beyond rational possibility, that such dreams are quite often either completely forgotten, or so beyond the conscious mind that they may never be known to you.

And while it is the case that in this dream reality, perhaps when it comes to the hardest dreams to dream, those dreams that we call nightmares, there is always this sense that you can wake up and return to your physical self, and to the stability and the hardness of the objective, of the object filled world, because no matter how hard both physically and metaphorically this solid world might be, it is still a refuge from the powerful expansiveness of what you truly are and will continue to be after physical death.

With that in mind, now imagine what it might be like to enter a dream, to enter this dream verse where your individuality at times seems to be so strained, so hard to hold and identify, meaning that it can at times be so difficult to maintain your individuality, your individual identity, and then find out that you can never wake up to the physical you ever again. This is death, this is the after death experience, and at least in accordance to the current of inner alchemy, it is a highly complex affair that, like a dream, involves the exploration of quite real and very individually pertinent experiences of the most sensual nature.

Many people believe dreams to be quite ethereal, that is they do not think dreams feel as real in a way as what they considered to be physical reality, and in that sense some people might even believe that the after death experience is a relatively sensually numb one, where, like some kind of wandering phantasm, they are not able to touch or feel as much as they did when they were physically alive. But, as those that can recall dreams quite vividly will tell you, the dream experience is often made up of sensual experiences that often times far surpass anything that could be felt in the physical reality, containing both feelings, sounds, smells, tastes, and visuals that far exceed anything possible in the physical dimension.

The after death experience is a highly complex one that far surpasses any dogmatic belief, and completely redefines any idea of the linear space and time that all current dogmatic beliefs rely on so much. As such, the only way to truly perceive the nature of the after death experience is for you to personally learn to become a Seer, an Oracle, an individual who can perceive energy directly yourself.

The way of inner alchemy is a multifaceted process that involves a great deal of focus and a kind of movement that completely defies both the ar conic mob mind of the times, and any notions of rationality and purely three dimensional mechanical based logic. In order to try to reveal the complexity of these motions, these inner motions of inner alchemy, I have put together a trilogy of course books that reveal the nature of this intentionality without any of the complex symbology and cipher that is usually found when this current is examined.

If you are interested in learning more about the nature of the after death experience and about how inner alchemists fight for immortality, then I recommend the book, The way of the death defier

To get the full picture and the background information needed to understand the way of inner alchemy, which includes the nature of the energetic way, energetic truth, about projecting and moving beyond three dimensions, what the ghost in the machine is, how to see energy directly, and about how inner alchemists create the philosopher’s stone and use that energy to defy all archonic control, then I would recommend the full course book trilogy, which includes, The Magnum Opus, The Way of the Projectionist, and The Way of the Death Defier.