[T]here is no culture where there are no standards to which our fellow-men can have recourse. - Ortega y Gasset

I have been thinking about the things that contribute to making a culture. Some people might argue that art, music, economies, etc make a culture. Perhaps, but I think these are the products of as culture, not that which creates a ( Read more... )

According to Gerald del Campo's LiveJournal, Gerald has resigned from the O.T.O. I have have written some thoughts about this here.

I was informed last night that this post in my personal blog is a violation of the new USGL “Patriot Act” directives. If I do it again, “action” will be taken. I have asked what this “action” entails. I have yet to receive an answer ( Read more... )

Over the last few years I have noticed three major kinds of attitudes regarding the state of the OTO. Each attitude is about where they see the O.T.O.’s “best of times.” You could call these time periods epochs and the “best of times” the plentitudes ( Read more... )

On November 2, 2004, the O.T.O. Grand Master sabazius_x informed me that US Grand Lodge was beginning the process of Strategic Goals development. They had selected a book for their planning process, the Field Guide to Nonprofit Strategic Planning and Facilitation, and they were in the midst of getting the books distributed. That was 21 months ago. We still ( Read more... )

One of Jose Ortega y Gasset’s primary philosophical assertions was "Yo soy yo y mi circunstancia" (“I am myself and my circumstance”). How many people look at their circumstances and ponder why they are where they are? Frequently I see people claim that they are great magicians but live in squalor and their life is in shambles. How well does their ( Read more... )

When a leader in the military holds those under him or her accountable, they also have to hold themselves accountable. Discipline only works when the leaders hold themselves to a standard as high as or higher than the people under themselves. If they don’t it undermines their authority and shows them to be hypocrites ( Read more... )

Yesterday keith418 pointed out this essay from Stephen Gardner. Since I have read some of Rieff’s Triumph of the Therapeutic, I eagerly dove into the essay. I found it fascinating and a good overview of many of Rieff’s points in the book. It also gave me an opportunity to look at the world around me and reflect.

The rise of democracy and equality, the ( Read more... )

This weekend I was reminded of a phenomenon in our culture that I have noticed over the years; one that goes back farther than I have been alive but has really picked up steam in that last few decades. It is the inversion of culture creation; the proletariat creating culture and not the upper classes ( Read more... )

I was reading more of the Jane Wolfe biography this weekend when I read a letter from O.P.V. (Norman Mudd) to Progradior (Frank Bennett). Bennett had complained to Jane Wolfe (Estai) that he was receiving negative responses from the public about his involvement with Crowley’s system and his followers were not supporting him due to fear of negative ( Read more... )