Personal Belief Systems Vs. Objective Reality
© 2002
>> However, my personal belief is that since billions of people throughout history have empowered this great entity (God), that even if the Almighty did not exist then He did come into being and is extremely powerful and capable of whatnot. That's one of the reasons why High Magick works so well. <<
What you suggest is partly true but again, it comes down to understanding the differences between the human-universe and the rest-of-the-universe. We humans have indeed created an entire class of gods and goddesses *out of the substance of the Universe* and *as an unconscious, unintended consequence of nature's own mechanisms*. However, there remains infinitely more to the universe than that encompassed by these human creations. They are a *part of* the Whole, but not the Whole ItSelf.
Humans hold sway over an infinitesimal part of the physical universe. Likewise, we hold sway over an infinitesimal part of the astral and mental levels of the Universe. In other words, we are simply not capable of creating a god or goddess powerful enough (i.e., ALL powerful or omnipotent) to truly be the Ultimate Creatrix.
>> For example, if one is Catholic and has a great amount of guilt for the wrongs that he has done in the world, and also believes that he will burn in hell for those, then shall burn in hell, only because he believed he will. On the other hand, no matter how sinful a life a person lives and does not believe in any kind of hell (atheist?) then he will not. <<
Yes, this has to do with the nature of the astral realm. This is a demonstration of the mind's power to shape the astral materia. When the average human psyche is released from the physical body, it "arises" (or "descends") to a level of the astral that is predicated upon their own beliefs, expectations, etc. This dense level of the astral realm is the
personally created arena where we then process our baggage from the incarnation that just ended. As we process our "stuff", the nature of this realm changes apace with our own transformation. Eventually, the astral body itself becomes so purified that it completely disintegrates and we "rise" to the level of the mental plane that we're most suited to.
In any event, this 'heaven-or-hell-or-neither' that a person enters after physical death, is a temporary state, created by the person themselves, out of the astral materia. It is only during this transitional stage within the denser layers of the astral that our surroundings are determined by our physical-lifetime's belief system. Beyond that point, our perceptions are not limited in that way and we then directly experience the Universal forces that lie behind those densely astral experiences. We then see that, although our beliefs determined the shape of the symbol-language in which we perceived those Universal Forces, they did not determine the shape of the Universal Forces themselves. In other words, we shape only our *interpretation and perception* of the Universal Forces -- not the Forces themselves.
Ultimately, our physical-incarnation's belief system has no power to absolve us of the consequences of our actions. In other words, if an atheist murders someone they must still deal with the consequences, whether they experience an after-life hell or not. Their process of redemption is still undergone, but it transpires within the context of symbols relevant to *their* beliefs and expectations instead of those relevant to a theist.
>> One of the most standard beliefs of some serious occult orders and occultists is the realization of one's current faith or belief system. The same standard idea holds true for all kinds entities, maybe even God (although I am not too sure about this), that if one believes God to exist then He does, otherwise not (just for that specific person). <<
The idea that our beliefs create our own reality (which is the philosophic root of this "standard") is only partly true in that it applies to only part of our total experience. At the level of personal incarnation this is most true, but as soon as you step beyond the personal level, it becomes less and less true. What we do most certainly create is our own personal response to, and interpretation of, Universal Forces.
Magic can be just about these human created levels of reality or it can also be about those greater levels that our human-level merely symbolizes. In other words, we can reach beyond the symbols we interpret these Universal Forces through, and directly experience these Forces themselves. For example, in a "standard" evocation, what is most likely to be evoked is a human-interpretation of a Universal energy or force -- it has shape and characteristics understandable to a human experience. But in a true Bardonian evocation, the Universal Force itself is evoked into astra-material form within the Triangle. It may be *consciously* dressed in symbols relevant to the magician, but this is only a matter of Art and the magician recognizes the true essence of the Force. In other words, the Bardonian evocationist penetrates to the essence of the Universal Force instead of focusing just upon the humanized symbolic clothing it may wear.
My best to you,
:) Rawn Clark
02 Jul 2002