Re: Combating evil Forces

["Jason Paris" <jambay53@...>]

Hi Peter,

> I would like opinions on the following. Is it part of the duty of 
> one on the path to like bardon fight against the evil forces in 
> existance? By this I mean evil orders like FOGC.

Two things: if there's any "duty" in Bardonian Initiation, it's to 
better oneself, not to "fight" with others until they conform to 
what we expect of them.

Secondly, Hermetic philosophy promotes acceptance, tolerance, 
respectfulness and inclusiveness.....not just for those whom we 
like, but for all.

By doggedly maintaining these qualities in your life, you'll find 
that concepts such as "good and evil" exist only because you 
*choose* to believe in their existence.

[Re-read the Theoretical section of IIH. Bardon plainly spells it 
out: "good" and "evil" don't exist objectively in the Universe.]


Putting all this together, one can see that an initiate's "duty" is 
to work on himself to develop an Acceptance of the validity of all 
things - including the "evil" stuff.

And, when confronted with something offensive, it's the 
initiate's "duty" to wield the tool of Introspection to examine 
*why* Offense has arisen within, then to convert Offense into 
Understanding and Acceptance.

It's hard for me to see why one would choose Hermetics and still 
cling to discriminating concepts like "we're on the good side - 
they're on the evil side".

There are *no sides*, except in the minds of those who *believe* in 
sides!!! :-)

Aren't you glad you asked for opinions?! ;-)

Cheers,

Jason Paris