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Aleister Crowley and William Butler Yeats get into an occult battle (2016)
31–40 of 123 posts
Re: Aleister Crowley and William Butler Yeats get into an occult battle (2016)
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
I avoided Sam Harris for the longest time due to some interviews of him that I had heard before, but I started listening to his meditation instruction recently, and it's by far the best I've ever heard for bridging the gap between traditional mysticism and modern secularism.
I've not heard of him - I'll have a look. This may not apply to him, but what I'm wary of is anything that makes the practice a personal improvement exercise - it has to reach for the heavens and encourage empathic love for other people, or it'll end up in the wrong place, IMO.
That’s quite demanding. If one is in a dark place then one surely must first light one’s own path before reaching out?
Augh, sorry about the horrible poetics.
What I meant to say there is IMO nothing wrong in utilizing meditative practice for mental self-help and relaxation.
Just trying to survive in a bleak world without going insane is not evil, even though the level of - um, “enlightenment” you remain at is “not depressed”.
Re: Aleister Crowley and William Butler Yeats get into an occult battle (2016)
#33There seems to be interest on HN when it comes to articles about Crowley and similar figures. Can some one help me understand why it's popular with this audience?
I don’t reckon HN is a coherent whole that can be this audienced.
Re: Aleister Crowley and William Butler Yeats get into an occult battle (2016)
#34Crowley, and his forebear Eliphas Levi, are responsible for the stupid air of sulphur which hangs around a lot of modern esoterica. AC has his apologists, and he was obviously clever, but he was unquestionably a complete turd, and created a religious system which was fundamentally Satanic, wrapped in enough layers of obfuscation that it can fascinate intelligent people, especially those who have received a substandar…
> There are better ways of squaring the circle, but they're less sexy.
Don't tell me: You learned of these ways from the one True Scotsman.
Re: Aleister Crowley and William Butler Yeats get into an occult battle (2016)
#35I dunno man. They both seem kinda intellectually obsessive. All that writing.
I dunno man. That Usain Bolt. Seems kinda obsessed with running really fast.
Also that Magnus Carlsen. All he does is play chess.
W.B. Yeats was a literal writer by trade. Of course he did “all that writing”.
For people who are unfamiliar with his work, W. B. Yeats was an absolutely extraordinary poet. I would encourage you to check out “The Second Coming” for example[1]. It’s amazing for such a short poem how many times it has been referred to/quoted etc in other other works.
[1] https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43290/the-second-comi...
Re: Aleister Crowley and William Butler Yeats get into an occult battle (2016)
#36Crowley, and his forebear Eliphas Levi, are responsible for the stupid air of sulphur which hangs around a lot of modern esoterica. AC has his apologists, and he was obviously clever, but he was unquestionably a complete turd, and created a religious system which was fundamentally Satanic, wrapped in enough layers of obfuscation that it can fascinate intelligent people, especially those who have received a substandar…
I avoided Sam Harris for the longest time due to some interviews of him that I had heard before, but I started listening to his meditation instruction recently, and it's by far the best I've ever heard for bridging the gap between traditional mysticism and modern secularism.
I recommend Shinzen Young in addition.
Re: Aleister Crowley and William Butler Yeats get into an occult battle (2016)
#37Crowley, and his forebear Eliphas Levi, are responsible for the stupid air of sulphur which hangs around a lot of modern esoterica. AC has his apologists, and he was obviously clever, but he was unquestionably a complete turd, and created a religious system which was fundamentally Satanic, wrapped in enough layers of obfuscation that it can fascinate intelligent people, especially those who have received a substandar…
Many a modern individual has lost the community of 5 decades prior, a station occupied by the community church in many parts and more fixed abodes, and so strive beyond optimistic humanism to a thirst to believe in anything and anyone. Barking up the wrong tree when it is connecting with themselves and their neighbor that is missing and not depressive bibliomania, hypergrafia, or wandering the internet for flat earth conventions for connection conflated with meaning and sense of purpose.
Re: Aleister Crowley and William Butler Yeats get into an occult battle (2016)
#38* yeets
Re: Aleister Crowley and William Butler Yeats get into an occult battle (2016)
#39There seems to be interest on HN when it comes to articles about Crowley and similar figures. Can some one help me understand why it's popular with this audience?
I like boats, too.
Re: Aleister Crowley and William Butler Yeats get into an occult battle (2016)
#40Crowley, and his forebear Eliphas Levi, are responsible for the stupid air of sulphur which hangs around a lot of modern esoterica. AC has his apologists, and he was obviously clever, but he was unquestionably a complete turd, and created a religious system which was fundamentally Satanic, wrapped in enough layers of obfuscation that it can fascinate intelligent people, especially those who have received a substandar…
> ...substandard education in theology.
Isn't most of theology just folks getting red faced arguing over things which are ultimately just made up, and are unknowable anyway in the first place? It's only a step away from a couple of guys shouting at each other about how the warp nacelles work in Star Trek.