Jack Parsons: Occultist involved in early rocketry
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Re: Jack Parsons: Occultist involved in early rocketry
#2That's a shame really. Recording history shouldn't be motivated by politics and other peoples' sensibilities being offended. Regarding Aleister Crowley being 'The Wickedest Man on Earth', not even close. If you've ever read M. Scott Peck's 'People of the Lie', then you know what I mean.
Re: Jack Parsons: Occultist involved in early rocketry
#3Prejudice takes many forms, and those who forget their own personal responsibility for the destructive effects of judgement, incur the final injustice. The people we choose to 'hate' and 'despise' - for religious, political, industrial, or .. other .. reasons - end up being a part of the universe that we isolate ourselves from.
The universe is bigger than you. Get over it. Make friends. Prejudice against the lives of others is a little step closer to the grave.
Re: Jack Parsons: Occultist involved in early rocketry
#4Parsons still has a crater on the moon named after him. Very interesting story though. I think Parsons is more renowned in occult circles than in scientific circles. His legacy remains in both.
Re: Jack Parsons: Occultist involved in early rocketry
#5Prejudice takes many forms, and those who forget their own personal responsibility for the destructive effects of judgement, incur the final injustice. The people we choose to 'hate' and 'despise' - for religious, political, industrial, or .. other .. reasons - end up being a part of the universe that we isolate ourselves from. The universe is bigger than you. Get over it. Make friends. Prejudice against the lives of…
Bravo. There's also something to be said for persuasion through friendship and tolerance. E pluribus unum and all that. There are many different textures in a good melting pot.
Re: Jack Parsons: Occultist involved in early rocketry
#6I wonder why Wired magazine has been wading into "deep politics" more and more recently. I mean the German and Occult underpinnings of NASA is a significant can of worms for a publication with a mainstream readership to be opening.
Re: Jack Parsons: Occultist involved in early rocketry
#7That's a shame really. Recording history shouldn't be motivated by politics and other peoples' sensibilities being offended. Regarding Aleister Crowley being 'The Wickedest Man on Earth', not even close. If you've ever read M. Scott Peck's 'People of the Lie', then you know what I mean.
That was a title Crowley took for himself, as he enjoyed being a notorious figure. His actual behavior, though, amounted to little more than being a sex maniac and saying blasphemous things during a much more socially conservative era. His 'autohagiography' makes for entertaining reading if you can get past the turgid Victorian prose.
As for Parsons, the Wired article is being a bit clickbaity. In the last paragraph: Wired.co.uk contacted JPL and we asked whether Parsons had been written out of the history books. Historian Erik Conway said: "Jack Parsons is included in history books and other venues, and in fact, his role is discussed in the JPL-involved standard history, JPL and the American Space Program by Clayton R. Koppes. Parsons was one of the original founders of JPL. He was the team's chemist and developed the first castable solid propellant used to power aircraft."
Re: Jack Parsons: Occultist involved in early rocketry
#8In today's atheistic science culture I'm not even sure who is offended by this.
Re: Jack Parsons: Occultist involved in early rocketry
#9Prejudice takes many forms, and those who forget their own personal responsibility for the destructive effects of judgement, incur the final injustice. The people we choose to 'hate' and 'despise' - for religious, political, industrial, or .. other .. reasons - end up being a part of the universe that we isolate ourselves from. The universe is bigger than you. Get over it. Make friends. Prejudice against the lives of…
Bravo. There's also something to be said for persuasion through friendship and tolerance. E pluribus unum and all that. There are many different textures in a good melting pot.
I imagine a world where the vast, arbitrary .. human .. distance between magic and science are embraced by the world at large, and not shunned by the ruling technocratic order. What if, in fact, we could discuss the vast magick order here on Earth so comfortably well that one day, we do it on the Moon?
I wonder if we will go to Mars with purely scientific purposes in mind? I hope not.
Re: Jack Parsons: Occultist involved in early rocketry
#10I wonder why Wired magazine has been wading into "deep politics" more and more recently. I mean the German and Occult underpinnings of NASA is a significant can of worms for a publication with a mainstream readership to be opening.
Titillating 'secret history' isn't really the same thing as "deep politics", it's just cocktail-party conversational fodder. If you didn't know of NASA's roots in the Third Reich's military rocketry programs then you weren't paying attention in history class - especially true for readers of Wired's UK edition, since the vast bulk of German rocketry efforts were targeted on London after the Luftwaffe was defeated in the Battle of Britain. You can't live in the UK for any length of time and not be aware of this.