It might even be sometimes useful to consider that the objects, people, and events in our lives are themselves metaphors for spiritual concepts, principles, dynamics.
One useful text for the beginner to get used to the idea of how spirit translates into reality is Louise Hay's little book "Heal Your Body." Another is "When the Body Says 'No'". If a person can begin to understand with their own body, they can then extend this understanding outward, and hopefully expand the whole basis as well to things of the mind and soul.
In my conception, this spiritual sight can be thought of as a full awakening to your own subjective values. With a materialist mindset money can solve all problems. After all, material generally always has some exchange value. The thing is, whether it can be appreciated or not, people value things that cannot be exchanged. We have proof of this in the empirical data that demonstrates material wealth beyond a certain point doesn't correspond to satisfaction with life. Even if there is nothing beyond the material world, and these nonexchangeable values merely emerge from a purely material universe, acting in accordance with these values ensures that you will never have to deal with the cognitive dissonance of compromising yourself. It kind of sucks that we live in a time where being aligned seems more and more likely to land you in a gulag of some kind, but to paraphrase Gandalf that isn't for us to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
Great piece, Luc. I'll respond more coherently in a day or so. I'm currently enmeshed in a spell of Nature, in a place where the deer do not act like deer (indeed, they behave so differently, I suggested to my wife we should come up with a different name for their species, as we were engaged in a pleasant "conversation" with a mother and two of her fawns at the time.).
Till then, my short answer is this: I indeed believe it can be dangerous to approach spiritual matters too literally, falling into the twin traps of material-reduction and "will to power" psychopathologies. But I believe there is also a hidden danger to not taking such matters literally enough. The danger there lies in losing touch with the meaning of our embodied forms, and therefore of joy and suffering in general. If we believe that God Himself took on a human shape, and with that shape performed miracles (i.e. magic), it is possible He did so to in part show us something about the mystery of our creation, and what it truly meant to be an embodied creature imbued with a spark of divinity.
I'll touch more on this later, but one mild note of protest: I think it's somewhat unfair to characterize the prospective spell in question as something done for material gain, as a way to enhance one's power walking in the world of Man. I didn't sense that was its purpose, only one of its potential effects. And I didn't obtain that insight through reasoning. As you may discover, I am not what anyone would refer to as a "rational man", lol.
I am an artist, and I see the world through those eyes. People are often very confused about what that means, mistakingly using terms like "creative genius" and other misnomer. And to realize oneself to be an artist is not to brag; I am as often a witness to horror as I am to beauty, and am certainly no genius. I even think it's possible we were all dropped on our heads as babies!
In any case, keep up the great work. I have a date with some deer (or is it "dear"?)
"But I believe there is also a hidden danger to not taking such matters literally enough."
I agree - the danger, imo, lies in desperately trying to fit any descriptions of the spiritual, or spiritual phenomena, into the modern materialist paradigm, and using a "metaphorical" interpretation as an excuse. I hope it comes out that I'm not having that!
"I think it's somewhat unfair to characterize the prospective spell in question as something done for material gain, as a way to enhance one's power walking in the world of Man.
I actually didn't have your description of the "spell" in mind when writing that, I was thinking more of some forms of ritual magic that seek to punish enemies, get favors, or produce effects for show etc. I.e. the idea to literally summon higher forces to achieve some selfish end.
And btw, it sounds absolutely lovely where you are. Perhaps you even hear some deer roaring? It's the season after all, at least in my neck of the woods.
It is. And, no, these creatures never roar that I have heard. At most they will sidle up to you for a nice petting, or perhaps a handful of nuts (though they never beg for treats). Even the dogs are placid around them. It is quite surreal at times.
The wide array of timescales over which spiritual causation (and retrocausation) can manifest is something that we see throughout history. Ideas expressed in one age may fail to take root, lie dormant and forgotten for centuries, only to flower in later generations. Indeed this seems to be a regular feature of many revolutionary movements. It is frequently the case that a movement is crushed in its time by the powers of its day, only for the ideals expressed by that movement to triumph by capturing the conscience of a later generation. The story of Christ can be seen as an allegory for this process. Christ was defeated utterly in the material realm: abandoned by his followers, mocked and despised by the people, executed as a common criminal. Yet the church founded in His name came to exercise dominion over the whole of the known world, and through it the ideals He represented (even if often misunderstood and misrepresented) prospered.
I like Nina's comment. " Our desire for and sincerity in requesting contact with the unseen". Jesus said we need to be children, who are sincere, open, curious, amazed at the mystery of life. Expectation of a result then gets in the way.
I remember a November day where I went to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. I spent 2 or more hours trying to experience the paintings of the Renaissance. I felt leaving the gallery that I failed (expectation). I was walking and I came to the Piazza San Spirito, when without effort the scene was transformed into beauty and light for some moments, because time changes. dwoods44
That which tries "to do" the work or make the effort is precisely what is in the way of experiencing it. It is like you have to make effort while letting go of the ego making the effort. Also, the effort may not be lost effort, only the energy gained is not seen immediately, but later.
It might even be sometimes useful to consider that the objects, people, and events in our lives are themselves metaphors for spiritual concepts, principles, dynamics.
One useful text for the beginner to get used to the idea of how spirit translates into reality is Louise Hay's little book "Heal Your Body." Another is "When the Body Says 'No'". If a person can begin to understand with their own body, they can then extend this understanding outward, and hopefully expand the whole basis as well to things of the mind and soul.
In my conception, this spiritual sight can be thought of as a full awakening to your own subjective values. With a materialist mindset money can solve all problems. After all, material generally always has some exchange value. The thing is, whether it can be appreciated or not, people value things that cannot be exchanged. We have proof of this in the empirical data that demonstrates material wealth beyond a certain point doesn't correspond to satisfaction with life. Even if there is nothing beyond the material world, and these nonexchangeable values merely emerge from a purely material universe, acting in accordance with these values ensures that you will never have to deal with the cognitive dissonance of compromising yourself. It kind of sucks that we live in a time where being aligned seems more and more likely to land you in a gulag of some kind, but to paraphrase Gandalf that isn't for us to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
Great piece, Luc. I'll respond more coherently in a day or so. I'm currently enmeshed in a spell of Nature, in a place where the deer do not act like deer (indeed, they behave so differently, I suggested to my wife we should come up with a different name for their species, as we were engaged in a pleasant "conversation" with a mother and two of her fawns at the time.).
Till then, my short answer is this: I indeed believe it can be dangerous to approach spiritual matters too literally, falling into the twin traps of material-reduction and "will to power" psychopathologies. But I believe there is also a hidden danger to not taking such matters literally enough. The danger there lies in losing touch with the meaning of our embodied forms, and therefore of joy and suffering in general. If we believe that God Himself took on a human shape, and with that shape performed miracles (i.e. magic), it is possible He did so to in part show us something about the mystery of our creation, and what it truly meant to be an embodied creature imbued with a spark of divinity.
I'll touch more on this later, but one mild note of protest: I think it's somewhat unfair to characterize the prospective spell in question as something done for material gain, as a way to enhance one's power walking in the world of Man. I didn't sense that was its purpose, only one of its potential effects. And I didn't obtain that insight through reasoning. As you may discover, I am not what anyone would refer to as a "rational man", lol.
I am an artist, and I see the world through those eyes. People are often very confused about what that means, mistakingly using terms like "creative genius" and other misnomer. And to realize oneself to be an artist is not to brag; I am as often a witness to horror as I am to beauty, and am certainly no genius. I even think it's possible we were all dropped on our heads as babies!
In any case, keep up the great work. I have a date with some deer (or is it "dear"?)
"But I believe there is also a hidden danger to not taking such matters literally enough."
I agree - the danger, imo, lies in desperately trying to fit any descriptions of the spiritual, or spiritual phenomena, into the modern materialist paradigm, and using a "metaphorical" interpretation as an excuse. I hope it comes out that I'm not having that!
"I think it's somewhat unfair to characterize the prospective spell in question as something done for material gain, as a way to enhance one's power walking in the world of Man.
I actually didn't have your description of the "spell" in mind when writing that, I was thinking more of some forms of ritual magic that seek to punish enemies, get favors, or produce effects for show etc. I.e. the idea to literally summon higher forces to achieve some selfish end.
And btw, it sounds absolutely lovely where you are. Perhaps you even hear some deer roaring? It's the season after all, at least in my neck of the woods.
It is. And, no, these creatures never roar that I have heard. At most they will sidle up to you for a nice petting, or perhaps a handful of nuts (though they never beg for treats). Even the dogs are placid around them. It is quite surreal at times.
The wide array of timescales over which spiritual causation (and retrocausation) can manifest is something that we see throughout history. Ideas expressed in one age may fail to take root, lie dormant and forgotten for centuries, only to flower in later generations. Indeed this seems to be a regular feature of many revolutionary movements. It is frequently the case that a movement is crushed in its time by the powers of its day, only for the ideals expressed by that movement to triumph by capturing the conscience of a later generation. The story of Christ can be seen as an allegory for this process. Christ was defeated utterly in the material realm: abandoned by his followers, mocked and despised by the people, executed as a common criminal. Yet the church founded in His name came to exercise dominion over the whole of the known world, and through it the ideals He represented (even if often misunderstood and misrepresented) prospered.
I like Nina's comment. " Our desire for and sincerity in requesting contact with the unseen". Jesus said we need to be children, who are sincere, open, curious, amazed at the mystery of life. Expectation of a result then gets in the way.
I remember a November day where I went to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. I spent 2 or more hours trying to experience the paintings of the Renaissance. I felt leaving the gallery that I failed (expectation). I was walking and I came to the Piazza San Spirito, when without effort the scene was transformed into beauty and light for some moments, because time changes. dwoods44
Beautiful story and a good illustration. You can't go to see art with the expectation of having some great insight. This seems to block the energy.
That which tries "to do" the work or make the effort is precisely what is in the way of experiencing it. It is like you have to make effort while letting go of the ego making the effort. Also, the effort may not be lost effort, only the energy gained is not seen immediately, but later.