P. D. Ouspensky on Magick and Psychology

"When I began to write A New Model of the Universe in 1907, 1 formulated to myself, as many other people have done before and since, that behind the surface of the life which we know lies something much bigger and more important. And I said to myself then that until we know more about what lies behind, all our knowledge of life and of ourselves is really negligible. I remember one conversation at that time, when I said, 'If it were possible to accept as proven that consciousness (or, as I should call it now, intelligence) can manifest itself apart from the physical body, many other things could be proved. Only it cannot be taken as proved.' I realized that manifestations of supernormal psychology such as thought transference, clairvoyance, the possibility of knowing the future, of looking back into the past, and so on, have not been proved. So I tried to find a method of studying these things, and worked on that line for several years. I found some interesting things in that way, but the results were very elusive; and though several experiments were successful, it was almost impossible to repeat them.

I came to two conclusions in the course of these experiments: first, that we do not know enough about ordinary psychology; We cannot study supernormal psychology, because we do not know normal psychology. Secondly I came to the conclusion that certain real knowledge exists; that there may be schools which know exactly what we want to know, but that for some reason they are hidden and this knowledge is hidden. So I began to look for these schools. I travelled in Europe, Egypt, India, Ceylon, Turkey and the Near East; but it was really later, when I had already finished these travels, that I met in Russia during the war a group of people who were studying a certain system which came originally from Eastern schools. This system began with the study of psychology, exactly as I had realized it must begin.

The chief idea of this system was that we do not use even a small part of our powers and our forces. We have in us, so to speak, a very big and very fine organization, only we do not know how to use it. "

--P.D. Ouspensky, The Fourth Way, Chapter 1

The Terrifying Truth Occultists Avoid at All Costs (As Sung By David Byrne)

When Blogs Attack

I couldn't get this to post as a comment at Mystic Journal (  https://mysticjournal.wordpress.com/2014/01/13/my-new-ish-way-of-thinking-about-magick/ ) so I slapped it down here.

j-man say: "You said you wanted to compare notes. What are your notes? Do you have them somewhere? I'd like to see what your experiences were and are.

Shawn (Me!) say:

 EXPERIENCES AND OTHER ERRATA

The latest experience that you might find interesting happened few months ago: I accidently put Padowan into a full-on state of catalepsy. If you didn't know, it's also called "waxy flexibility" because your willing victim turns into pretty much an frozen, posable flesh statue for the duration of the state.

Three Things You Can Say to Instantly Prove Yer A Complete Idiot

Intro!

I'm always willing to give anyone a chance -- until they open their mouths and prove they're a complete idiot. Here's three things fairly common in the "wizarding world" people say which prove them to be stupendiously stupid.

I. Speaketh tha word "quantum"

If you're one of those people who pepper mask your blatant ignorance with the word "quantum" (in other words, have never stepped in a lab and use the word frequently) -- I gots a challenge for ya.

Double Intermission

The first person who tells me how this relates to the occult gets a prize. How? Comments are below.

Intermission

Sup the wizdom, biatches!

Occultism: Perspectives