From: jds2@po.CWRU.Edu (John D. Specht)
Subject: Re: Possible to Obtain magic powers>?
Reply-To: jds2@po.CWRU.Edu (John D. Specht)
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 23:13:17 GMT


(They're ganging up on me! Fr. Negris, comments?)
In a previous article, erc@unislc.uucp (Ed Carp) says:

>jds2@po.CWRU.Edu (John D. Specht) writes:
>
>: I think I would find being all-powerful INTENSLEY boring. That's probably one
>: of the few reasons I'm not. The only limitation of the individual are the ones
>: he/she chooses. (Richard Bach, _Illusions_) As for the part about "what
>
>But you are.  All of us are all-powerful.  We have accepted the limitations of
>flesh so that we can experience those limits, and learn from them.

Um, that's an interesting way to look at the situation, and I can't argue it 
except I don't have any memory of "accepting the limitation of the flesh" at 
any time, so I'm wondering if maybe I was drunk at the time.

>: >urealistic. Each person comes into this world to learn something. Some
>: When did you discover this information? If you found it in yourself, it is
>: true for you. If your teacher told you, and you chose to believe, it is 
>: true for both of you.
>
>Are you saying that it is not true for you?  There are basic rules by which
>the universe operates, and that is one of them.

How did you discover these rules? Again I would argue that what you have found
to be your truth may be not so true for those not sharing all of your
previous experiences.

>: >integrety, which again is a learning process.
>: I have no integrity in the social sense of the term. I would as easily kill 
>: a lady as kiss her, depending on the necessary behavior. (What _I_ decide is
>: necessary.) And I have no appreciation for that which does not benefit me 
>
>Then what do you base your decisions on?  Are you not ruled by your own karma?
>Killing will generate a large amount of disharmonious karma.  Kissing her, in
>some circumstances, may also generate disharmonious karma.

If a man has roamed the country, doing much bodily harm for some time, and 
I have an opportunity to end this destruction, I will. I consider the 'karma'
(if you want to call it that) of the world, rather than my own, and in fact,
I would benefit from that act, having made the world a better place.

>: used. Every individual's perceptions are tainted by every previous 
>: perception, and making the individual aware of this is a great first step
>: in enlightenment.
>
>Only for children is this a "great step".  Every student of Zen, every monk
>in a monastary, learns this as a necessary first step.

I consider this a first step for the begining 'mage' or any normal person
who has come to me for magical or mundane help. I have read almost as 
much applied psychology as applied magick (maybe more) and find some 
interesting similarites. This step is first in many magickal study methods,
and in the most successful method of applied psychology I know about.

Paul

Live and Learn? How about Live TO Learn?
-- 
jds2 	John D. Specht (Heads I win; Tails you lose.) Virtual reality is life!
ae358	Paul Bort (It ain't pretty being easy) Spring: Forces, Coiled again!
If you want to save an endangered species, hug a romantic.
Love is the triumph and pleasure and joy and light that makes life bearable.