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Paradigm shifting

  
 
Eudaimonic.lvx
12:55 / 11.03.05
Sorry if this subject has been done to death, but something which is confusing me as a reader of books and beginning practitioner is the area of paradigm shifting.

I mean, sounds good in theory, how many people actually do it as described in Chaos Magick Theory? ie constantly shift paradigms, merely using them to achieve results and then discarding them?

Surely an eclectic approach, which I define not exactly as paradigm shifting, more working with one or two models and synthesising them as required is more likely. This seems to me to be historically proven, as Crowley did. Also, suerly I need to learn one system in depth even if I dont believe it wholly, ie I sit it within the context of the meta-paradigm of CMT. This could take a number of years.

So CMT sounds good to me, but I am a little unsure of how it works in practice.

What paradigms etc do people here use, and how many / how often? Is it possible to work as CMT suggests, constantly shifting?

Sorry for these dumm questions, like I say, Im a beginner as far as practical work goes.... I've been working on Liber MMM, but then what?

cheers
MZ.
 
 
Gypsy Lantern
13:42 / 11.03.05
I think you're totally right about that. I think the approach of "paradigm swapping" where you constantly move through belief systems without identifying with any of them for any period of time is possibly the most twatish idea in contemporary magic. I don't see how you can get any real depth of understanding out of a "paradigm" without a prolonged involvement and sincere engagement with it. All you're doing is scratching the surface and not hanging about long enough to see what's underneath. I think it's based on the erronous belief that there is no more to magic than a few basic mechanisms that need to be reheated by constantly tarting them up in new clothes. Besides which, you're not really "shifting paradigm" at all, because you're still very firmly entrenched within the "chaos magic paradigm". If you wanted to really shift paradigm you would become a Pentecostal Christian healer or radical Islamic philosopher for ten years to really experience the mutability of your belief systems.
 
 
Gypsy Lantern
13:57 / 11.03.05
I think the way to go is eclecticism. Getting a solid foundation in whatever it is that appeals to you the most, and then studying other forms in order to broaden your understanding. Like a martial artist might get a solid grounding in wing chun and then cross train in western boxing and brazilian jui jitsu to fill in some gaps.

In doing this, I think it's useful to keep the uncertainty principle at work, whereby you can look at reality from the perspective of say... both Vodou and Tantra, without either one having to assert dominance over the other or either one having to be exclusively "right". Both of them are right, in the same way that an electron can be a wave or a particle depending on how you perceive it. You can study two traditions without having to fit them both together clumsily into one composite beast. This is the error people make when they compulsively hang other symbol systems onto the tree of life, thereby diminishing the nuances of all of them. It isnt necessary to do that, you just have to be able to keep two ideas in your mind at the same time. If certain elements begin to synthesise naturally then that's great, if they don't, then that's OK too.
 
 
Skeleton Camera
14:45 / 11.03.05
The conviction that there must be a SUM to something, that there must be a point of unification, is one inherited from the worst aspects of Modernism. Invert the triangle - instead of accumulating a mass of data (info, experience, perception) and trying to cram it all into The One Truth, start with one particular data and follow it outwards until you encounter others...and explore them as well.
 
 
Unconditional Love
14:46 / 11.03.05
there is one thing that paradigm shifting taught me, but there are otherways to learn it, constant inconsistancy in belief, allows you to see outside the narrative of belief you are in, and not confuse that narrative for reality. in that respect its useful, to seperate the narrative of verbal consciousness from consciousness as a sensory experience or otherwise.

but for actually learning majik or a spiritual system it tends to become tiresome if done too frequently,and is in danger of disrespecting traditional spiritual practices, and perhaps making your own practice look and sound half hearted to others, perhaps its wether you value integrity in a practice or not, that could be a value to look at.
 
 
Seth
07:42 / 13.03.05
I doubt that anything other than the most facile surface level beliefs will be changed either. My happiness, strengths, passive aggressive tendencies and insecurities are likely to be the same regardless of whether or not I currently identify as a pagan, atheist or Gnostic. It won’t help with one’s habitual tendencies that are often literally built into our bodies and our use/misuse of them. That kind of work requires a lot of specialised technique.
 
 
Warewullf
11:17 / 13.03.05
...you're not really "shifting paradigm" at all, because you're still very firmly entrenched within the "chaos magic paradigm".

Exactly what I was going to say. I think most of us have taken the ecclectic approach. I know I have. I've married various techniques and beliefs into a unique worldview that works for me. It may grow and change but I certainly don't shift my paradigm.
 
 
Unconditional Love
12:38 / 13.03.05
not so much about changing a belief,but more an awareness to the self creation of belief within verbally constructed thought forms, ie how binding in consciosness is achieved by attachment to verbal thought constructs through the use of language via communication and thinking, how symbol codes place limits on conscious expression, not so much change of that structure which in my opinion would involve unlearning that entire process of conscious encoding, but awareness of the flow and formulations that take place within the internal belief narrative.

its as useful as flicking channels on a tv set, the tv set remains.
 
 
akira
18:26 / 13.03.05
Try shifing to the rock n roll star Paradigm, that will move it.
 
 
LVX23
20:25 / 13.03.05
mark r wrote: ..not so much about changing a belief, but more an awareness to the self creation of belief within verbally constructed thought forms...

Yeah, I feel that this was one of the most valuable contributions of Chaos Magick. That you don't have to dedicate yourself to one single system/tradition - you can create your own gods. Magick is personal, relativistic.

I think a lot of CM arose in response to dogma - traditional, religious, esoteric, etc... The maxim "Nothing is true, everything is permitted" summarizes the relativity and mutability of beliefs that the Chaos current was celebrating. Beliefs are just beliefs. Don't get stuck on any specific one being true. This is generally interpreted as prescribing a sort of momentary utililty of belief systems, predicated on the attainment of results (which is a whole 'nother discussion topic in itself). But the idea is that whatever works for a given situation, so be it.

Having said all that, I tend to have definite core strains running through my own practice, and they evolve over time and take on new relationships and partnerships. By having an open mind we're able to bring new ideas and belief systems into view, working them to see if they fit in and help our practice. So, while your face may not change very much, there are inumerable masks that one can wear.
 
 
Eudaimonic.lvx
10:45 / 14.03.05
cheers all for the info... sounds like these are pretty much the conclusions which I had a reached... I like the approach of Jan Fries who seems to work in a lot of elements I am intersted in, mainly fairly nature based, Northern tradition stuff, Spare style of working, along with Thelemic ideas and a nod towards Taoism.

Shifting the focus a bit, aside from following one tradition, then incorporating other traditions and interests, what about totally making your own paradigm up, ala Spare? How many people actually do this, working with the Disney deities or whatever one chooses? Do people generally find this to be useful?

many thanks.
 
 
Eudaimonic.lvx
09:00 / 24.03.05
Interesting ideas by Julian Vayne, which are useful to the discussion I reckon

If we want in the future to delineate highly eclectic approaches to magick from those that are bounded within a given tradition or system perhaps the word 'freestyle' might be appropriate. Perhaps the chaos current has done its job in freeing occultism from the dead grip of religion and other superstition. Thus we might simply talk about 'magick' and only prefix the word when we want to discuss a particular style within it (eg 'Thelemic magick', 'voudou magick', 'mimetic magick' and so on). In the same way we talk about 'art' and then define different media or styles - neo-classical art, surrealist art, visual art etc.
 
 
Z. deScathach
09:31 / 25.03.05
In terms of myself, in the past I worked with several systems. The one that I went most deeply into was Wicca, which I trained in for quite a few years. Still, I have to confess ,that much of the symbolism that I used was left when I changed into a freestyle paradigm, (I guess that the term "freestyle" would best indicate what I do). The 5 element system has stayed with me, as well as many of the concepts of energy transmutation as related to the wheel of the year, (which has become oddly fused with taoist theory).It's one of the reasons why I don't talk a lot about my magick. It's so personal to me that it is hard to communicate concepts, so most of the time I simply stay out of the conversation altogether. I have solid core beliefs that deal with the arising and transformation of previously learned and personally perceived symbol systems and correspondences through creating a null ground through meditative means , and creating from that null point. How various energies "look" and "feel" to me is intensely personal, although I recognize that those appearances and feelings have arisen from previously learned concepts. I get those raw materials in an objective way through learning, and subjectively through contemplation,(yes, I realize that the terms "objective and "subjective" can easily be switched around here, which I think points to the flighty nature of "consciousness")..

I do believe that it is possible to do what you have described, to practice magick in a freestyle fashion. It's not so much the creation of a personal system, as the use of a group of skill sets, and then training them, all the while realizing that one is creating, and thus one's creations have no greater reality than anyone else's. In terms of disrespecting established tradition, yes that is possible, but the question I would ask is: Where does the outrage lie? It seems to me that it generally lies with the people that are protecting their given viewpoint of the universe, and there are as many of those viewpoints as there are individuals. True, persons within a particular trad may agree on many things, but they do not agree on all of them. I've had Wiccans get in a snit over my using Wiccan symbols in some of my work, when they no longer consider me to me "Wiccan". I've usually found that ,the best way to deal with such persons is to let the matter go. Point out the obvious Golden Dawn symbology in Wicca to them, and you're liable to get into a magickal or literal fist fight.

Work with fictional characters? Why not? I have, and have met with some success.It's another controversial practice that seems to start a lot of arguments. It gets once more into the perceived "truth" of things. I've always liked Issac Bonewits' Law of Infinite Universes, i.e., everyone's got one. The real question IMO isn't, "Which one is the True one?" but, "Will our Universes go to war?"
 
  
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