another theory heard from

Thanks for sharing some of your experience, Iago. Keep at it!

If we don't actually practice to experience this stuff first-hand, it's no different than dressing up like elves and hobbits and talking about Middle Earth; shredding on Guitar Hero but never learning any real scales or chords; settling for a Taco Bell meal instead of learning how to cook authentic food for a fiesta with all your friends!

So, yeah - keep exploring, and always keep in mind what function all this metaphysical speculation plays in your practice. If it isn't helping, what's the point? If it is helping, well - there's the point.

Jackson, I definitely see your point about prefacing that statement with "My teacher says..." I admit I was a little too audacious with that statement.

I am in love with ideas and concepts, sharing and sparing, distilling and synthesizing. So I do this stuff for fun. However, I also recognize, thanks to my Zen training, that it won't get me anywhere spiritually, if that's what I want as well. So I supplement my philosophizing with daily meditation and self-inquiry. I was SO happy to discover self-inquiry because it allowed me to practice all day long. I just want to assure you that despite that I am building these sand castles I am simultaneously working to see them for the ephemera that they are.

Though I am interested in asking my teacher about the optimal relationship between philosophizing and practice. I know we talk about holding beliefs that support one's practice, but I am also interested in building philosophical frameworks that capture, albeit crudely, the awakening process and structure of reality. It may seem useless and impractical to some, but it's what I enjoy.

Iago, thanks for sharing! I don't have much experience with magick, so it's interesting to hear (i.e. read) your process.

The writings of a tradition (the scriptures, frameworks, theories, etc) can be a sort of map and guide for students, helping them figure out "where they are" and motivating them to continue practicing etc. One thing to consider is that most of these writings started out as the personal journals of individual practitioners. Some survive predominantly in that form (Aleister Crowley's writings, just for example) and others are compilations over centuries (texts from traditions like Buddhism, Christianity, various yoga practices, etc.). In the case of centuries passing, the original "personal journal" aspects are often fairly lost in a codification, editing and institutionalization process, so that the simple original teachings ("this is what I did and this is what I experienced when I did it, and it so moved me that I must tell you all about it") may turn into complex or obscure systems.

But at root, that is what a personal journal can offer: not only something to look back at and see how your own practice is shifting (because our memory tends to rewrite history constantly and the ego loves to keep us thinking we are doing the right thing when we may be just going in circles or feeding our pride), but also, potentially, as the source material for helpful guidance to others. If one reads the practice threads on boards where that is common, one can find people who are dealing with the same phases of practice as oneself and see the same patterns one is working through oneself. One can read the entries of more or less "advanced" practitioners and see what may lie ahead and what how others are struggling with things we struggled with in the past. Sharing ones own practice offers this help to other people, and also helps (I think) keep us a bit more humble, as we can receive zen whacks from others when we are spinning in useless stuff, or recognize our own mistakes and make a beneficial practice of admitting them and growing from them.

Not saying these are reasons anyone MUST keep a practice journal (in public), but just some of the reasons it can be beneficial.

Jake, this may seem a stark contrast to what I've been saying in this thread, but I LOVE that you're passionate about this stuff. I am too, and I hope it comes through. I find no inherent problems with conceptuality, which - like a kitchen knife - can either enable one to prepare a scrumptious meal, or slit their neighbor's throat in cold blood. Neither is passion (being "in love") inherently wicked, but can also be skillfully wielded for myriad beneficial outcomes.

I know I'm not your teacher, and I shouldn't pretend to be. Forgive me if I come off that way. I like to offer pointers to my peers when the opportunity arises, and this was just such an occasion.

During my undergraduate studies, a had an outstanding professor for my Philosophy of Religion class. At the time I was considering applying for graduate programs in philosophy after college, but I didn't know where to began. I brought this up to him once, and he said to me, "I'm a Capricorn*, see, so I'm like a goat. A goat climbs a mountainside one step at a time - step, step, step. So that's how I make plans for something like graduate school. What's the next thing I have to do, and then the next, and then the next." Needless to say, it stuck with me.

*His mention of his astrological sign was hilarious. I guess you'd just have to know him.

Thank you, Ona. That makes a lot of sense.

Jackson, I very much appreciate that you offer pointers when you think they could be helpful. I understand that it may have appeared that I was simply spinning conceptual fluff, since I don't talk about my practice much here.

Will do, Chris.

Chris Marti wrote:

When Jackson and I created this forum it wasn't aimed at astral projection and things like that.

Though a topic about OBEs (speculative from the beginning) turning into disccusion about astral projection isn't that off the mark.

Still, I get the overall message, and I'm ok with focusing on practical considerations. Specially because I can talk about astral projection (or anything) almost anywhere, but it's not that easy to find a good non-sectarian sangha with so many experienced meditators (:

Ona wrote:

But at root, that is what a personal journal can offer: not only something to look back at and see how your own practice is shifting (because our memory tends to rewrite history constantly and the ego loves to keep us thinking we are doing the right thing when we may be just going in circles or feeding our pride), but also, potentially, as the source material for helpful guidance to others.

Yes! I would remark that even if you don't ever re-read your older entries you can still benefit enough from the journal to make it worth the effort. The very act of writing forces you to remember and rethink your sitting, and then unknown aspects and problems can come to light.