Chaos, Discord, Thelema... A Trinity of Fun, Kink and Nonsense.
93!
Today I have experienced a bit of a funny revelation. While reading my usual unwieldy amount of books today I realized that throughout my life, I have constantly gotten "on-track" when it concerns my life-style/religio-metaphysical practices, and then I get "off-track". For example:
During my high-school days, I studied the pseudo-religion/joke of Discordianism. In fact, the page I made on Tripod still exists even though almost all the links have broken. You can view it here…http://imok23.tripod.com/imok.html.
At the age of 19-20, I had picked up the study of Thelema and Crowley. And as mentioned in prior posts, I had already accepted the Book of the Law but done nothing with it.
At that time, I had also taken a slight interest in Chaos Magick but did little with it, likely because my mind and Chaos Magic could not mesh well at the time.
In 2007, thanks in part to Lady_Savant, I got back into Chaos Magick and (IMHO) became fairly proficient in the concept and practice of it. Since then, Chaos has remained my primary focus when dealing with the occult. Recently as you all know, I have reintegrated Thelema and the writings of Crowley back into my life. This I do while still practicing Chaos Magick since Thelema and Chaos do not need to exclude each other (especially since major figures of Chaos identify as Thelemites including Ramsey Dukes and Austin Osman Spare just to name a couple.)
Now over the last couple days I have decided to re-read the book Cosmic Trigger Vol. I but this time, to Lady_Savant and also the Illuminatus! Trilogy. Over the years and through my own magical practice and study, these books make a LOT more sense. As a result of these books, today I looked back at the books of Discordianism and I find that it meshes well with my acceptance of Thelema and practice of Chaos. In fact a vast majority of Chaos practitioners incorporate Discordianism. Many people greatly misunderstand the point of Discordianism and claim it exists only as a joke religion, while many make the claim of it as a genuine religion. The "truth" lies somewhere in between. However do not take my word for it. One of the tenets of Discordianism states: "Don't believe anything you read."
In my mind, this fits well with how I think. And while much of Discordianism seems utterly ridiculous, and generally seems so intentionally, a person can learn much from all of the above paths. And while Discordian "beliefs" and Thelema usually do not get combined whereas Discordia and Chaos look like they belong together, to me… these three ideals make a nice fun and kinky three-some that can twist your mind and alter your reality to the point you become (in the words of Lady_Savant) an "agnostic to reality".
In a way, I have come full-circle and now can integrate and incorporate all I have learned. I think I can happily declare that I identify myself as a "Chaos Magic practicing, Thelemic-Discordian".
What and odd yet cool combination.
I wish all of you luck and watch out for the fnords!
93 93/93 and Hail Eris!
Today I have experienced a bit of a funny revelation. While reading my usual unwieldy amount of books today I realized that throughout my life, I have constantly gotten "on-track" when it concerns my life-style/religio-metaphysical practices, and then I get "off-track". For example:
During my high-school days, I studied the pseudo-religion/joke of Discordianism. In fact, the page I made on Tripod still exists even though almost all the links have broken. You can view it here…http://imok23.tripod.com/imok.html.
At the age of 19-20, I had picked up the study of Thelema and Crowley. And as mentioned in prior posts, I had already accepted the Book of the Law but done nothing with it.
At that time, I had also taken a slight interest in Chaos Magick but did little with it, likely because my mind and Chaos Magic could not mesh well at the time.
In 2007, thanks in part to Lady_Savant, I got back into Chaos Magick and (IMHO) became fairly proficient in the concept and practice of it. Since then, Chaos has remained my primary focus when dealing with the occult. Recently as you all know, I have reintegrated Thelema and the writings of Crowley back into my life. This I do while still practicing Chaos Magick since Thelema and Chaos do not need to exclude each other (especially since major figures of Chaos identify as Thelemites including Ramsey Dukes and Austin Osman Spare just to name a couple.)
Now over the last couple days I have decided to re-read the book Cosmic Trigger Vol. I but this time, to Lady_Savant and also the Illuminatus! Trilogy. Over the years and through my own magical practice and study, these books make a LOT more sense. As a result of these books, today I looked back at the books of Discordianism and I find that it meshes well with my acceptance of Thelema and practice of Chaos. In fact a vast majority of Chaos practitioners incorporate Discordianism. Many people greatly misunderstand the point of Discordianism and claim it exists only as a joke religion, while many make the claim of it as a genuine religion. The "truth" lies somewhere in between. However do not take my word for it. One of the tenets of Discordianism states: "Don't believe anything you read."
In my mind, this fits well with how I think. And while much of Discordianism seems utterly ridiculous, and generally seems so intentionally, a person can learn much from all of the above paths. And while Discordian "beliefs" and Thelema usually do not get combined whereas Discordia and Chaos look like they belong together, to me… these three ideals make a nice fun and kinky three-some that can twist your mind and alter your reality to the point you become (in the words of Lady_Savant) an "agnostic to reality".
In a way, I have come full-circle and now can integrate and incorporate all I have learned. I think I can happily declare that I identify myself as a "Chaos Magic practicing, Thelemic-Discordian".
What and odd yet cool combination.
I wish all of you luck and watch out for the fnords!
93 93/93 and Hail Eris!