The Dangers of Belief

BELIEF...IS A DIRTY AND BEAUTIFUL WORD 

            Sitting around a study group session discussing an upcoming evocation and various roles that each of us initiates would undertake, one of our members piped in with, "Still looking for people to run equipment?" To which I replied, "Yes" and they, "Good, because I don't believe in this."  I've seldom been split in my emotions of agreement and hurt like I was at that moment.   Delighted that they didn't hold profane beliefs and hurt because maybe they thought that I did.  I do not want to turn this into a diatribe or a "know-it-all" session, as a few of my better known colleagues are so apt in doing but, I do need to explain why belief is a dirty word and a blessing in the same breath.

BELIEF AS A BLESSING TO THE OCCULTIST

           To a student of the subjective and occult sciences, belief is a tool.  Belief is a series of reasoning and thought brought about consciously, albeit emotionally.  So, when understood, belief can be manufactured and used.  A mentalist can manufacture a belief...(I've seen Youtube videos where Darren Brown converts atheists).  So in this light, belief is a blessing to the occultist because the occultist understands that by using various systems and by invoking certain emotion on purpose they can manufacture and use belief.   In other words, they trick themselves into making a belief, a reality.

            To paraphrase a cliched quote, 'even if there are no Gods in the universe, the universe behaves as if there are'.  So, if the mood struck me and I felt so inclined I might evoke the great spirit of the Italian sausage meatball using the various liturgies, mantras and prayers to the great God named The Flying Spaghetti Monster.  What's more is that with the right frame of mind, setting and some skill I could evoke the Italian sausage meatball spirit into physical appearance for an entire group of people.  Once done successfully, the occultist can then ask the serious questions like; was reality just bent by belief or is this a case of mass hysteria?  Which leads us into the discussion that Belief is a dirty and profane word.

BELIEF AS A DIRTY AND PROFANE WORD

            Once an occultist understands the fact that belief can be manufactured then, a revelation that it has been used like a crack whore on the mass populace of the profane occurs.  If I can materialize the great spirit of the Italian meatball for a group of people then, the great spirit of the Italian meatball is, for them, a reality.  The great meatball is other worldly and elusive, it is the living representation of substance in a dish full of chaos.  Round, like the Earth, it holds a sacred geometry and therefore is a divine messenger of fullness.  It is at this point in this ridiculous situation that I can implant ethics and platitudes such as; chicken is a forbidden food, the mixing of ranch with marinara is also forbidden and eating the main course is a cardinal sin in the eyes of the Flying Spaghetti monster.  As preposterous as this scenario sounds, it is only ridiculous because humans cannot identify with a plate full of spaghetti like they can a bearded man in the sky, a sacrificed martyr or any number of the prophets from bygone eras.  

IN SUMMATION

          Belief is a human construct.  When belief is philosophical or theological and not based on inference, it can be a tool for study and use by the occultist but, the bane of the profane.  You can find this tool being used in main stream religion, pagan religions, and systems such as the kabbalah, enochian and even Tarot.  

Take what you need, Discard the rest
LiS