Occult Initation: The Mind/Bowl TeststeemCreated with Sketch.

in #psychology7 years ago

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There's a quick way to determine if studying the occult with be worth your time.

Simply answer this question:

How can a mind be like a bowl?

If you are thinking that a mind is a mind and a bowl is a bowl, that a mind can't be like bowl or that a bowl can't be like a mind, and that it's ridiculous to even consider it could be otherwise, then congratulations!. You will be wasting your time. Every single second of it. There's nothing left for you to see here, move along.

If, on the other hand, you've already thought of one or more reasons, completely on your own, in which mind can be like a bowl, then congratulations! You have one of the fundamental skills you will need as an occultist: the ability to understand and use metaphors, allegories, similes, etc -- in other words, the ability to think about one thing in the terms of another.

Since I've already introduced you to the mind as a bowl metaphor, I'm going to go ahead and use it to show you are more detailed way in which metaphors are used as well as introduce you to some of the some of the work that's involved in your initial occult initiation.

If we take the mind to be a bowl, then the standard occult knowledge is like water that can fill it. Those who can't think in metaphors are completely incapable of grasping occult knowledge in the same way water can't be poured into a bowl that's upside-down. Imagine, if you will, pouring water into an upside-down bowl. See what I mean?

People like you are capable of grasping the standard occult knowledge as if your bowl is turned right-side-up. All you have to do is pour the water from it's container right into the bowl. But alas! As soon as the water fills the bowl it becomes so murky you can't see into the water at all, you can only see the black surface of the water. This is because as an initiate, you start with a lot of dirt and muck stuck to the inside of your bowl. The muck represents the useless and/or mental junk we've accumulated over our lives up until the time of initiation [2] -- beliefs, attitudes, broken or inaccurate mental models and habitual ways of thinking, it's all stuff like that.. One of the first things you're going to have to do as a part of your initiation is to start cleaning the shit out of your bowl. As you do so, over time, the water in the bowl becomes progressively clearer over time so that you will be able to see further past the surface. This is, of course, what studying the occult is all about: being able to peer past the surface appearance of things and revealing what was previously hidden by deepening your understanding of yourself and the world you live in. [3]

Back to metaphors:

In this example, I've used a metaphor to give you the "big picture" of one aspect of occult initation as well as a sort of roadmap. Even though, it's not a literal roadmap, it's useful enough to get your bearings: remember what you're doing, and why you're doing it. Even though it's no where near complete -- for example, I haven't said anything about exactly how the junk gets cleaned out -- it's complete in a general sense to give you a framework in which you can easily determine where any given information relating to this process belongs.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Fourth Way Fans will most likely already be familiar with the "mind as bowl" metaphor.

[2] I'm not saying that this kind of useless mental junk stops accumulating, only that initiation marks the first time a person really begins to take out the garbage.

[3] It's a trip. :)

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My mind is like a bowl, it's full of noodles! :D

This is really cool. It reminds me of a Buddhist analogy of pouring tea into a cup until it overflows. In order to learn anything new we must first empty our cup. You do an excellent job explaining this concept. I really like the bowl analogy. Excellent post

Thanks.

I always thought that was a Bruce Lee quote. :) I couldn't find the one I thought I remembered that was exactly as you state it, but I found this one:

"Emptiness the starting point. — In order to taste my cup of water you must first empty your cup. My friend, drop all your preconceived and fixed ideas and be neutral. Do you know why this cup is useful? Because it is empty."

That's good. i like it

"Start cleaning the shit out of your bowl." I'm going to start saying that to random people I see on the street.

Good post, hoss! I definitely felt the 4th Way influence.

I still have a lot of dirt and muck stuck inside my bowl, but I'm working on cleaning it out.
Thanks for a great post!

I can already tell I'm going to love all your posts. :-)

P.S. Are there really people who can't see any way a mind is like a bowl?

Of course there is, the best example being anyone who's a fundamentalist anything.

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@hartnell,

Great post, very intriguing. I've explored Occult on and off for several years wondering if I have what it takes. Perhaps I just haven't been dedicated enough. I feel like my results have been mixed though. So there's hope yet.

Regarding your exercise, the first thing I thought of was that the mind can be filled with knowledge and understanding. So that's how it's like a bowl. Afterwards I wondered how, like a bowl, the mind could be become too full and overflow. I wonder if that's true or not?

I like your analogy about cleaning the shit out of the mind as a starting point to have better clarity once filled with knowledge. Perhaps that's where I've gone wrong.

Cheers and thanks so much for leading me here.... Following you!

I've explored Occult on and off for several years wondering if I have what it takes.

What were you wondering that it took?

I not certain, honestly. Everyone who claims to have any understanding on the subject seems to have a slightly different opinion. I personally haven't been able to form a firm enough understanding myself and can't say what's missing.

My opinion at this point though is that the following are possible causes to a lack of success:

  • Lack of effort / intent in developing skills required
  • Incorrect technical execution
  • Incapable of developed skills required no matter how much effort

I'm curious to hear your feedback / thoughts?