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Questions (help would be appreciated)

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05:42 / 01.12.04

Don't worry about it, Scarboi. It can be hard to change years of Christian beliefs, so I know where you're coming from and can empathise with a lot of what you've posted. You're not wasting anyone's time, and if people have posted to that effect then fuck 'em. You're just doing the best you can with what you've currently got. One tip: you seem to be very concerned to not throw out the good bits of what you were bought up with. Keep that in mind - it'll mean you'll battle with yourself and your beliefs for a longer period, but you'll be left with something integrated and robust. I know a lot of occultists who simply rebelled against their Christian upbringing, defined themselves against it and have an extremely facile and limited understanding of magic, religion and themselves as a result. Don't cut corners.

21:03 / 01.12.04

You should also be very clear about distinguishing between (what I call) *philosophical* Taoism -- the stuff straight from the Lao Tzu (Tao te Ching) and the Chuang Tzu -- and *folk* Taoism, which involves lots of divination, ancestor worship, alchemy, and other things that don't jibe too well with the Old Testament.

There was a great website out there, operating out of Taiwan, that showed the difference between the two. As someone here pointed out, most of what you see here in the New Age bookstores is *philosophical* Taoism, with a smattering of feng shui and I Ching mixed in.

I can't find that site right now. But I can recommend giving a read to the Wengu Zhixin site, a multilingual collection of translations of the central texts of Chinese culture. Take your time with that site and browse around.

The only *folk* Taoism resource I have knocking around right now is this list of Chinese deities, with brief descriptions. If you do a few Google searches using their names, you'll find more about their background, stories, and how they function in the religion as it is practiced.

01:33 / 02.12.04

One of the things this thread has taught me is the necessity to use simple, concrete language when you are discussing abstraction.

Another things its taught me is that semiotics is a battlefield. It is very important to attempt to define what I mean by words like "truth".

Thank you for the posts, Seth and grant.

I remain open to your comments and suggestions.

Wolfangel's suggestion was one that resonated for me.

Must remember that nature can mean very different things to different people. For me when I hear the word nature it reminds me of being fourteen, writing poetry after taking walks with my father. Some of the happiest times of my life are encased solidly in my simultaneous love of nature and the written word.

Perhaps the Word is a control structure imprinted on the human psyche, but if it is, who controls us?

I am trying not to be a theological reactionary.

I am trying to cultivate silence.

Lilith, your words reached me too.

I could think my entire life and not understand femininity intellectually. I really don't want to be the patriarch here if it means taking anything away from a woman.

Any women.

For me patriarchy is something like perverse empowerment.

I wear a beard, because I enjoy it.

Its a failing of mine. But it feels like a natural failing as opposed to one I went out of my way for.

And like half the people here I identify as queer/bisexual.

That complicates things significantly for me.

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