This is not what I planned on...
I was planning on writing, once again, how slow today was (just like yesterday). How I spent it reading more e-mail (some people write really long posts to the groups I'm in), watching some South Park and was introduced to some new anime.
But I'm not going to do that now. ;)
Instead, I'm going to go on for a little about my worldview a little more.
I believe in a lot of strange things, by most "normal" standards. Ghosts, UFOs, psychic powers, all sorts of things that usually get one classified as a "kook" at best. Because of this, many things I do and say, don't really make sense to "normal" people around me.
At the absolute top of my list is my belief in the power of the human mind. Based in part on personal experience, I am firmly entrenched in the idea that our ideas can, in and of themselves, create changes in reality.
"But that's just silly!" you say. "Thoughts are just, well, thoughts. Things in your head! They can't affect anything in the real world."
Really? I beg to differ.
Those things in our heads are the basis for everything we do. If we don't think it, we don't do it.
Now, before anyone gets all up in arms over instinct and reflexes and other such things, let me just say this: We don't always know what we're thinking.
In fact, I'd go as far as to say that many people go out of their way to not know what they're really thinking. (This is where we get into the territory of rationalizing our actions and digging ourselves into psychological holes.)
Thought, when directed (for the sake of this argument, we'll call the conscious version of that directive force "Will), can be quite the powerful thing.
This is the basis for all forms of magick (notice the "k" at the end, a convention adopted by many to differentiate this sort of thing from stage illusions).
Aleister Crowley, possibly one of the best known (and often disliked) names in the modern magickal world, in fact defined magick in the intro of his book Magick in Theory and Practice as:
Magick is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will. (Illustration: It is my Will to inform the World of certain facts within my knowledge. I therefore take "magickal weapons", pen, ink, and paper; I write "incantations"---these sentences---in the "magickal language" ie, that which is understood by the people I wish to instruct; I call forth "spirits", such as printers, publishers, booksellers and so forth and constrain them to convey my message to those people. The composition and distribution of this book is thus an act of Magick by which I cause Changes to take place in conformity with my Will.) In one sense Magick may be defined as the name given to Science by the vulgar.
Now, being a writer myself, I can really relate to the illustration Crowley gives. But that's just me. :)
In my everyday life, I have realized how important it is to at least be aware of the big thoughts running through my own head. This is especially true when I'm feeling down, depressed or even worse.
Once I hit 6th grade I began an amazing downward spiral into self-loathing. I'll spare you all the details at this point and just say that it wasn't until at the end of my high school career I began to really realize what was going on in my head. I we depressed. I was often suicidal (though only once came close to doing anything about it... and a random, apparently silly, thought kept me from ending up dead). I was, in a word, miserable.
Luckily, I was also interested in the power of the mind. Applying that interest (and after clearing my head with the help of some very patient friends, who I think I scared a lot as I emptied the contents of my brain on them [metaphorically speaking]), I've managed to keep myself pretty stable and create a generally pleasant life.
How do I do it? By being aware of what thoughts in my head are creating the things that I feel.
I've learned the interesting trick of removing myself from, well, myself. Being able to stand above and look down at the storm that is a depressed, self-destructive mind, really helps one wait out the sunshine. It also keeps one from doing stupid things in those horrible moments that one ends up regretting later.
It's that awareness that allows the different polarities to flow smoothly together. Awareness is the oar used to steer the canoe as it bobs down the rapids. It is the key to making disparate ends meet.
Because I know what's going on in my head (at least the broad strokes of it), I have a considerable amount of power over my world. Not necessarily how things happen (that's another story altogether), but over the more important part: how I react to them.
But I'm not going to do that now. ;)
Instead, I'm going to go on for a little about my worldview a little more.
I believe in a lot of strange things, by most "normal" standards. Ghosts, UFOs, psychic powers, all sorts of things that usually get one classified as a "kook" at best. Because of this, many things I do and say, don't really make sense to "normal" people around me.
At the absolute top of my list is my belief in the power of the human mind. Based in part on personal experience, I am firmly entrenched in the idea that our ideas can, in and of themselves, create changes in reality.
"But that's just silly!" you say. "Thoughts are just, well, thoughts. Things in your head! They can't affect anything in the real world."
Really? I beg to differ.
Those things in our heads are the basis for everything we do. If we don't think it, we don't do it.
Now, before anyone gets all up in arms over instinct and reflexes and other such things, let me just say this: We don't always know what we're thinking.
In fact, I'd go as far as to say that many people go out of their way to not know what they're really thinking. (This is where we get into the territory of rationalizing our actions and digging ourselves into psychological holes.)
Thought, when directed (for the sake of this argument, we'll call the conscious version of that directive force "Will), can be quite the powerful thing.
This is the basis for all forms of magick (notice the "k" at the end, a convention adopted by many to differentiate this sort of thing from stage illusions).
Aleister Crowley, possibly one of the best known (and often disliked) names in the modern magickal world, in fact defined magick in the intro of his book Magick in Theory and Practice as:
Magick is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will. (Illustration: It is my Will to inform the World of certain facts within my knowledge. I therefore take "magickal weapons", pen, ink, and paper; I write "incantations"---these sentences---in the "magickal language" ie, that which is understood by the people I wish to instruct; I call forth "spirits", such as printers, publishers, booksellers and so forth and constrain them to convey my message to those people. The composition and distribution of this book is thus an act of Magick by which I cause Changes to take place in conformity with my Will.) In one sense Magick may be defined as the name given to Science by the vulgar.
Now, being a writer myself, I can really relate to the illustration Crowley gives. But that's just me. :)
In my everyday life, I have realized how important it is to at least be aware of the big thoughts running through my own head. This is especially true when I'm feeling down, depressed or even worse.
Once I hit 6th grade I began an amazing downward spiral into self-loathing. I'll spare you all the details at this point and just say that it wasn't until at the end of my high school career I began to really realize what was going on in my head. I we depressed. I was often suicidal (though only once came close to doing anything about it... and a random, apparently silly, thought kept me from ending up dead). I was, in a word, miserable.
Luckily, I was also interested in the power of the mind. Applying that interest (and after clearing my head with the help of some very patient friends, who I think I scared a lot as I emptied the contents of my brain on them [metaphorically speaking]), I've managed to keep myself pretty stable and create a generally pleasant life.
How do I do it? By being aware of what thoughts in my head are creating the things that I feel.
I've learned the interesting trick of removing myself from, well, myself. Being able to stand above and look down at the storm that is a depressed, self-destructive mind, really helps one wait out the sunshine. It also keeps one from doing stupid things in those horrible moments that one ends up regretting later.
It's that awareness that allows the different polarities to flow smoothly together. Awareness is the oar used to steer the canoe as it bobs down the rapids. It is the key to making disparate ends meet.
Because I know what's going on in my head (at least the broad strokes of it), I have a considerable amount of power over my world. Not necessarily how things happen (that's another story altogether), but over the more important part: how I react to them.