Page 1 of 2

Philosophy & Religion

Posted: June 20th, 2011, 10:03 pm
by j∆ckr∆bbi†
I thought this might be an intriguing topic to bring up given the general occult vibe around much of this music scene. How would you identify your philosophy and/or religion? For me personally, I'm a panentheist, i.e. I believe that we are all God, that all things are God, and we are simultaneously within God. To put it in a more complex manner and to quote a great person, I feel that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. I also believe that Gods, fairies, devils, unicorns and all that shit is real at least in the degree that they have permeated culture and collective consciousness in such a manner as to have become archetypal images that we can all identify with. I used to be less into conceptualizing my 'religious' beliefs but I had a very gnarly psychedelic experience that led me to understand that we are all God, it was more complex than that but it's kind of a silly thing to talk about. Anyway, I'm heavily influenced by Taoist philosophy, in particular The Way of Infinite Harmony [ http://www.wayofinfiniteharmony.org/ ], Sufism, everything Terence McKenna has written, Daniel Pinchbeck's Breaking Open the Head, "Shamanism", Anton LeVay's Satanism [I've got most of his books and was very into him as a teenager], Incan cosmology, and the idea of Chaos Magic. However, my beliefs aren't unchanging so I'm constantly being influenced by new stuff.

How about you guys?


(BTW, I doubt this will be an issue, but as this is a sensitive topic I'd like clarify that this post a place for people to learn about others beliefs, not a pissing contest, so if you don't agree with something someone posted, deal with it. When it comes to religion and philosophy, nobody will ever be right, it's a very subjective matter but we can all learn something from eachother.)

Re: Philosophy & Religion

Posted: June 21st, 2011, 5:04 pm
by WIK/\N
I posted these in the films section !!! They are some books that sent me off down the left hand path

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Goddess

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_Law

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Bough

Paul Devereux : The Long Trip: The Prehistory of Psychedelia

Paul Devereux : The Sacred Place

Also check out the visionary T.C. Lethbridge who has an amazing selection of readings L:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Charles_Lethbridge

In particular :

Gogmagog: The Buried Gods (1957)
Ghost and Ghoul (1961)
Witches: Investigating an Ancient Religion (1962)

Re: Philosophy & Religion

Posted: June 22nd, 2011, 3:27 am
by TakeshiAndTheKid
I used to be involved in the pagan soc back in college but I'm not terribly interested in that now. I'm still very interested in a lot of the older myths and ideas that lead to modern paganism but in general I find paganism too superstitious, religion isn't for me. I think what really turned me off it is when I went to a friends house and they asked me if I had felt that the energy in their bathroom was messed up. I think I don't mind a certain degree of play pretend with that kind of stuff(like I do when I dress up as a witch), but taking it seriously is another matter. I think belief, in the way that it's nice to believe in fairies, is nice, you're not quite an atheist but you're not devoting your faith to the idea that there's some zebra headed goddess in the sky who will reward you with Jam sandwiches if you do well enough in your finals.

I wouldn't say I'm quite an atheist either, as I am not firmly materialistic, but in the literal sense in believing in any traditional form of God, then yes I probably am.

I am critical of religion but still respectful to some degree of what it can mean to others, if that makes any sense. I saw one gay guy tearing into atheists(at least atheists that weren't him) and them being all "I wish my Christian friends a happy easter" on facebook, I thought it was so transparent he was trying to earn brownie points with a group he'd traditionally as an agnostic gay man have some rivarly with, but disowned people like me and atheists in the process. Basically any atheist that actually actively disagreed with the concept of religion, or made Zombie jesus jokes of any sort, was an immature COOL GUY, hurr other people's beliefs I believe he typed.

I hate this sort of stuff. It's important to be respectful to some degree but that also extends to the right to disagree conceptually with religion(or atheism, if it comes to it, perhaps).

Re: Philosophy & Religion

Posted: June 26th, 2011, 5:50 am
by Nova Sol
for a long time i simply didn't believe anything, but lately i seem to've taken to actively disbelieving almost everything. i would love to find some kind ov truly transcendental or occult experience, but i no longer think it's possible.

...oh yeah, and taoism's pretty cool. i used to consider myself taoist, back when i was brute-forcing myself into beïng a stable person.

Re: Philosophy & Religion

Posted: July 5th, 2011, 3:59 pm
by ✝SLAVERY✝
Well one of the things that drove me to witch house is the christian undertones and the crosses (see my name :) ) and the whole irony of the witch and dark themes.

Re: Philosophy & Religion

Posted: July 8th, 2011, 5:25 am
by symbols n shit
When I was very young (I think around 9ish), I got very into the occult through some books I had found. At the time I was into the paranormal and supernatural in general-aliens, ESP, Cryptids, all that shit. Anyways, over time the evidence against against that kinda stuff just got too obvious, and by 18 I was a pretty staunch atheist. However, since then I've just been getting more interested in general with the crazy shit people believe, from Christianity to Conspiracy Theories to Urban Legends to all that Occult and UFO shit I used to be into as a little kid. I guess that's part of what I like about witch house-all that occult stuff is both kind of nostalgic and also extremely fascinating from a sociological perspective.

Philosophically I believe the following:
That pleasure is more important than physical health.
That no act can be said to be immoral unless there was harm or fraud involved.
That the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the few is never a good thing.
That childbirth is ultimately pointless, as there's no real reason to perpetuate the species.
The fact that something is "Natural" DOES NOT make it any inherently better than something which is "Unnatural".
If your reason for doing something involves the words "chi", "energy", or "spirits", it's probably pretty stupid.

Re: Philosophy & Religion

Posted: July 8th, 2011, 5:36 am
by Nova Sol
symbols n shit, i strongly concur.

Re: Philosophy & Religion

Posted: July 31st, 2011, 11:50 am
by Sasha
I was raised as an atheist by parents that did not believe that the religion of their child was their choice to make. However, there was a period that I went through between the ages of 12 and 15 where I sought to find a religion or philosophy set I could be a part of. However, I did not find one and today I am still an atheist.
I guess my naturally gloomy and pessimistic outlook on life could have been shaped by my atheist upbringing. There weren't the comforting rituals that many religions and philosophy sets have (using the term ritual loosely here, mind you), and there was never a greater being I could blame.
Oh well.

Re: Philosophy & Religion

Posted: August 22nd, 2011, 1:32 pm
by iamthesunset
I was raised as an atheist but got into meditation after participating in a guided meditation during an R.E. lesson at school at the age of around 14-15 (i'm 28 now). I felt weightless and refreshed after and thought there was definitely something in there. I started to admire a lot of the buddhist teachers like the Dalai Lama (obviously), Achaan Chah, Thich Nhat Hanh, and the American dharma teacher Jack Kornfield. Whilst i still subscribe to a lot of the buddhist thought and meditations, and listen to shit-loads of dharma talks and attend retreats, i don't do the chanting or deity visualisations, etc. I'd say i'm quite spiritual, but not quite buddhist. Taoism, buddhism, zen, and many hindu scriptures all fascinate me, but they all point to the same thing which is i guess what i strive for overall.

It's a very personal journey. I know it sounds cheesey as fuck, but you don't get to a place by constantly looking at the signpost(s). You need to walk alone and look inwards to yourself. I respect and admire anyone who does that.

Re: Philosophy & Religion

Posted: October 14th, 2011, 10:29 am
by dirtypharms
I've been studying occult philosophy for a while and i used to do lots of black magick and skrying which brought me into some pretty dark holes with bad spirits. Recently i have been studying Judaism a lot and i really dig the ritual nature of it, though i don't actually have the discipline to follow it as much as i would like to. i like to reach higher states of consciousness through music, either through making beats, free improvisation, chanting kirtan or chanting jewish prayers. i also practice Tai Chi and Yoga.

all of the above are practices that i have found fun. as far as actual spiritual beliefs go, i am not sure if i actually have any, because i don't believe that concepts of true/false or real/fake apply on a absolute level, only on a relative one.

Re: Philosophy & Religion

Posted: January 5th, 2012, 2:28 pm
by Rusalka
Pantheism is really interesting and refreshing, that's definately the way of thinking I'm more drawn to... especially Dual Pantheism.

I'd just consider myself Agnostic, however, as I love to learn about different beliefs and spiritualies and sort of build up my own as I go along... I have no faith in anything, but I think there are a lot of nice thoughts out there which would be lovely if they were definately true. I believe that there must be something more than the obvious reality we are all experiencing as a collective.

Re: Philosophy & Religion

Posted: March 29th, 2012, 6:54 pm
by fooziex
I think WIK/\N posted some nice books, and so I concur with his recommendations (esp Book of the Law and Golden Bough). I'm interested in the occult, and have a few books I can strongly recommend. Two really good resources for getting some occult material are Sacred-Texts and Digimob / Occult Digital Mobilization

Jacques Vallee - Dimensions
Jacques Vallee - Passport to Magonia
Pretty much anything by Jacques Vallee that I've read is top-notch UFO material. I think the UFO phenomena that we see now are much more likely to be spirits, demons, fairies, ghosts, angels, whatever you like, rather than aliens in spaceships. Vallee is one of the UFO researchers who isn't obsessed with the ET theory. Another book in the same vein is the well known (?):
John Keel - Mothman Prophecies
Hopefully this isn't drifting too far off topic, but here's a classic work that ties in well with the UFO books I just mentioned:
W. Y. Evans-Wentz - The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries (full text online)
Another similar one I just recently purchased is:
Wirt Sikes - British Goblins (full text online)

As far as actual occult lore, I'm not as well versed, but I think I'm pretty safe recommending:
Israel Israel Regardie - The Golden Dawn
Agrippa (tr. Tyson) - Three Books of Occult Philosophy
AE Waite - The Book of Ceremonial Magic
Eliphas Levi (tr. Waite) - The History of Magic (full text, in French)
Joscelyn Godwin - The Theosophical Enlightenment
You might notice I'm a bit heavy on Golden Dawn-related material, but they were my entry point into ceremonial magic (as one could also say of Crowley).
This book I've bought but haven't been able to talk anyone into actually joining me in occult practice, so I can't yet speak on its efficacy:
Chic and Sandra Tabatha Cicero - Self-Initiation Into the Golden Dawn Tradition

And a few bonus items:
The Nag Hammadi Scriptures (tr. Robinson)
Bart Ehrman - Lost Christianities
Poke Runyon's DVDs:
Dark Mirror of Magick
Magick of Solomon (companion book)
Rites of Magick

And I haven't even mentioned Charles Fort or Richard Shaver's I Remember Lemuria which launched the Shaver Mystery!

Re: Philosophy & Religion

Posted: August 8th, 2012, 3:38 am
by ghettoa55witch
I've always been fascinated with the Occult, however I always tend to err with Science more so than the spiritual.

I ascribe to Chaos Theory and the belief that for everything that happens there must be an equal and opposite reaction, that everything is guided by probabilities, and that patterns will always emerge because everything is interconnected.

Wikipedia explains it better than I ever could :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory

Re: Philosophy & Religion

Posted: August 16th, 2012, 2:21 pm
by Felice Fawn
Atheist here, but I've been studying a slew of monotheistic religions, ideologies and philosophies for years now.

My book shelf: http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/7829504

Philosophy Religion

Posted: January 4th, 2017, 3:58 pm
by RandalllAmift
Note the title. The comparison between James and Watts is irrelevant.

The point is that a meaningful discussion in a philosophy of religion forum must begin with an understanding of what is meant by "God," and atheists in this forum generally dont know what the f theyre their talking about--or even care to know. The excerpt makes that clear.