KoreyS
Bluelighter
Hello to all my truth-seekers in the land of the drug-head. I'm new to PaS forum, and just thought I'd introduce myself while posting videos from a small spiritual gathering I held a couple months ago called The Hour of Reprisal.
Let me begin by speaking briefly about my own views and beliefs: I consider myself to be highly spiritual. This is not to be confused with being religious or superstitious. I often wrestle between whether agnosticism or atheism is more accurate for my own beliefs or lack of. I'm borderline atheistic when it comes to any sort of superstitious, faith-based belief that has any sort of mystical, paranormal or other-worldy element to it. This goes for virtually anything supernatural - reincarnation, a soul or spirit, God(s) and/ or Godess(es), ancient astronaut theories, astral projection, remote viewing, psychic abilities, various forms of Magick/ witchcraft, crystal healing, ghosts - the list goes on. There's one thing all of these things have in common: they are all faith-based superstitions, with the reason for that being that they lack any real evidence to validate them. Some of the more "belief"-oriented, or superstitious theists reading this will disagree, and that's perfectly cool, but I digress. The agnostic side of me has certain spiritual knowledge and understanding that, based on firsthand experience through my own practices, have lead me to accept as truths. In that regard, I - once again - do not have (faith-based) "beliefs" - at least not the kind I spoke of previously - but rather have truths and understanding that I know myself to be true because I have dealt with them firsthand and have been able to validate them myself. Of course there are broad levels of agnosticism, and my stance is much further to the atheistic side of things, pretty much based on what I just explained. In a nutshell, I have things I know to be true, and the rest I'm impartial to because, by default, I'm stuck with no other choice but a simple "I don't know."
Once again though, I consider myself highly spiritual. Spirituality no doubt can still exist without the supernatural. There are many spiritual paths and practices that do not tread into mystical territory and deal only with this mundane existence. I used to be a theist. I went to a Catholic school for 14 years, so I adopted these beliefs at a very young age as they were really all I knew. These beliefs ended when I - well... grew up. Religion and spirituality in general are one of my favourite things to learn and read about and have been for awhile now. I research all sorts of stuff relating to theology. It's just a general interest I have. Can't say I'm a huge scholar when it comes to philosophy however. I like Richard Dawkins, I like reading the bible, I like viewing documentaries, watching debates by theists or leaders of "The New Atheist" movement, I used to do a bit of yoga. I've had my fair share of naive spiritual pipe dreams along the way and had stages where I sought out spiritual insight through psychedelics. As a result of understanding I have gained mainly through my Zen practice (more on this later) I have come to the realization that psychedelics of any kind are not ideal for true spiritual wisdom and understanding and those that feel that way can be quite deluded (I can be very deluded also lol). I know many will disagree with this, given the site we are on, but that's fine and I respect your opinions. I've been into Anton LaVey and his brand of Satanism for a while. I identify quite a bit with his philosophy, although I do not profess to be a (Laveyan) Satanist. Another one of my favourite writers is Matthew Alper. He has a book called The God Part of The Brain which is a study where he theorizes that humans are genetically hard-wired to believe in a higher power of some sort, while others are theistically/ religiously retarded or tonedef in a way. It resonated very well with me and has moulded my outlook on things a lot and helped me to understand much more clearly why I differ from so many others when it comes to lacking faith in such things.
I also read a lot about Zen and Buddhism. The majority of my time and attention is dedicated to this and I have enjoyed a plethora of favourite Buddhist books and authors over the years. I am 25 now and have been involved in Zen Buddhism since 17. I travel down to services at a fairly distant Zen Buddhist Temple from time to time where I practice. I purchased a zafu and zabuton and began practicing zazen meditation at that age and continued off and on for a few years. It was then that I became much more serious about my practice and allotted about an hour a day to practicing. That said, I have been sitting zazen every single day for about an hour. Sometimes it's a bit less, sometimes it's for several hours. I've been practicing this for several years. The insight and understanding gained through deep-seated, long-term Zen practice can only be achieved through the meditation practice itself. It has helped me to become much less deluded and irrational and come to terms with who I am and understand the true nature of reality much more clearly - the type of thing that does not come from many superstitious Tibetan type Buddhist books or teachings. Zen is like the "back-to-basics" form of Buddhism. It's not about reincarnation, studying texts, thinking or philosophizing your way to "enlightenment", spiritual pipe dreams or having beliefs; it's about the fundamental practice of zazen meditation, doing it consistently. The result is having a greater appreciation and understanding for life and the present moment and seeing through all the mental haze that was once there. Your reflection becomes much clearer after all of the mental waves and ripples have settled. Despite this, the brutal truth is understanding that there is no realistic, obtainable scenario where real life problems will vanish, and part of Zen is staring reality dead in the face and realizing this. I know that after years of practice, I'm still littered with horrible faults and most definitely always will be, and I still haven't been practicing for that long. Zen is not a religion in the traditional Western, Abrahamic sense, nor a philosophy of thought; it is a philosophy of action. This means the only way to truly get a grasp of Buddhist understanding is not to listen to the deluded ramblings of your own conceptual mind, but to sit there in the lotus (or any of it's variants) posture with an erect back and let reality reveal itself to you over the months and years of continual practice, free of illusory mental conditioning. Buddhist understanding does not equate to knowledge or intellect. If you're not sitting (doing zazen) everyday, then reading books about Buddhism or listening to a dharma talk is futile and utterly useless. I plan to continue practicing Zen until I die as I feel there is no better approach to life than Zen Buddhism and the fundamental practice of zazen.
That all took way longer than expected, especially since it's besides the whole point of the thread lol. I made this thread so that I can share and get feedback on an annual spiritual celebration I have called THOR as sort of an intro to me starting to mingle into this forum. I wanted to biefly explain my own history and experience with religion and spirituality before sharing the videos from THOR as many people will be thinking "Uhh what's the point of all this?" lol. But here goes:
On October 7, 2012, me and two close friends participated in the second annual Hour of Reprisal gathering. The event is there to celebrate the arrival of autumn and the countdown to Samhain. The festivities took off with a brisk walk to take in the autumn atmosphere. My friends and I all agree that autumn is an incredibly uplifting and joyous season that gives a powerful spiritual aura at it's peak. When we arrived from the walk, we went to The Ritual Chamber, a room which was peppered with all sorts of fun religious decor to improve on the aesthetics. Candles and incense are lit in ceremonial, ritualistic fashion at this time with the lights out. You can view the layout in the first video below. We practiced 30 min of silent contemplation or meditation. This is there to unwind, focus and prepare for the following festivities. I am unsure what specific techniques the others employed during this time, but I sat my usual zazen, as is customary for me. Next, we indulged in wine and a feast that consisted of cheese cubes, olives, a loaf of bread (symbolic of the last supper), pumpkin pie and assorted meat pieces. These can also be seen in the first video below.
Next was The Burning Monk Ceremony which can be viewed in the second video provided below. It was a short ritual that involved the lighting of a minuature Tibetan monk incent. It was just a small and brief, aesthetically and aromatically pleasing tidbit that we threw in for our enjoyment and turned out to be neat.
The festivities (and the entire year leading up to this point) culminates in a listening session of the beautifully crafted Psycho-Social, Chemical, Biological and Electro-Magnetic Manipulation of Human Consciousness album by Jedi Mind Tricks. The album holds an intense, powerful, spiritual vibe without carrying any pretentious, preachy intent of any kind. There's no sort of agenda or message beneath the surface, but is sprinkled with 50 minutes of all sorts of religious, spiritual, mystical, supernatural, other-worldy, occult, philosophical, references that make for an incredible listening experience. A few years back we became aware of just how much the album resonated with this particular season, and so we made it an annual tradition to listen to it in heavy rotation during only the months of October and November and retire it each time until next year when it is time to "become one with science and mathematics and the rising of the sun", hench The Hour of Reprisal was born. It's basically an uplifting gathering we throw that acts as the annual unveiling and first listening session of the Psycho-Social album. Anyone who hasn't heard this album yet, I suggest you do and bathe in the sweet, sonic goodness.
I'd like to end by stating that each person there had their own religious, spiritual, philosophical views and beliefs, or lack of. None of these were attempted to be promoted through this ceremonial gathering. It was there to embrace our own spirituality and enjoy ourselves during a positive and uplifting couple hours. THOR does not represent any philosophical or theological beliefs of any kind. Our event has been criticized before as being negative, as burning effigies (someone said the incent lighting video was disrespectful blasphemy because it took place on a Jesus last supper floor mat lol... some people and their superstitions *rolls eyes*) , and often as just being pointless. I understand the latter to a bit, as many people often ask how you can have so many spiritual rituals when you don't even believe in anything. But hey, haters gon' hate. lol
I'd like to get some peoples thoughts on the event and the videos I provided. Does anybody else like to throw their own mini spiritual masses? I've got another celebratory, ritualistic evening on Dec 21 called The Coming of Tan, but we won't get into that just yet. lol oh and if anyone wants to like, comment or subscribe to my youtube page, please do. You can also visit www.facebook.com/omnicronandforever
First video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ9hU4V4GM4
Second video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQPhzoq_-Ng
Let me begin by speaking briefly about my own views and beliefs: I consider myself to be highly spiritual. This is not to be confused with being religious or superstitious. I often wrestle between whether agnosticism or atheism is more accurate for my own beliefs or lack of. I'm borderline atheistic when it comes to any sort of superstitious, faith-based belief that has any sort of mystical, paranormal or other-worldy element to it. This goes for virtually anything supernatural - reincarnation, a soul or spirit, God(s) and/ or Godess(es), ancient astronaut theories, astral projection, remote viewing, psychic abilities, various forms of Magick/ witchcraft, crystal healing, ghosts - the list goes on. There's one thing all of these things have in common: they are all faith-based superstitions, with the reason for that being that they lack any real evidence to validate them. Some of the more "belief"-oriented, or superstitious theists reading this will disagree, and that's perfectly cool, but I digress. The agnostic side of me has certain spiritual knowledge and understanding that, based on firsthand experience through my own practices, have lead me to accept as truths. In that regard, I - once again - do not have (faith-based) "beliefs" - at least not the kind I spoke of previously - but rather have truths and understanding that I know myself to be true because I have dealt with them firsthand and have been able to validate them myself. Of course there are broad levels of agnosticism, and my stance is much further to the atheistic side of things, pretty much based on what I just explained. In a nutshell, I have things I know to be true, and the rest I'm impartial to because, by default, I'm stuck with no other choice but a simple "I don't know."
Once again though, I consider myself highly spiritual. Spirituality no doubt can still exist without the supernatural. There are many spiritual paths and practices that do not tread into mystical territory and deal only with this mundane existence. I used to be a theist. I went to a Catholic school for 14 years, so I adopted these beliefs at a very young age as they were really all I knew. These beliefs ended when I - well... grew up. Religion and spirituality in general are one of my favourite things to learn and read about and have been for awhile now. I research all sorts of stuff relating to theology. It's just a general interest I have. Can't say I'm a huge scholar when it comes to philosophy however. I like Richard Dawkins, I like reading the bible, I like viewing documentaries, watching debates by theists or leaders of "The New Atheist" movement, I used to do a bit of yoga. I've had my fair share of naive spiritual pipe dreams along the way and had stages where I sought out spiritual insight through psychedelics. As a result of understanding I have gained mainly through my Zen practice (more on this later) I have come to the realization that psychedelics of any kind are not ideal for true spiritual wisdom and understanding and those that feel that way can be quite deluded (I can be very deluded also lol). I know many will disagree with this, given the site we are on, but that's fine and I respect your opinions. I've been into Anton LaVey and his brand of Satanism for a while. I identify quite a bit with his philosophy, although I do not profess to be a (Laveyan) Satanist. Another one of my favourite writers is Matthew Alper. He has a book called The God Part of The Brain which is a study where he theorizes that humans are genetically hard-wired to believe in a higher power of some sort, while others are theistically/ religiously retarded or tonedef in a way. It resonated very well with me and has moulded my outlook on things a lot and helped me to understand much more clearly why I differ from so many others when it comes to lacking faith in such things.
I also read a lot about Zen and Buddhism. The majority of my time and attention is dedicated to this and I have enjoyed a plethora of favourite Buddhist books and authors over the years. I am 25 now and have been involved in Zen Buddhism since 17. I travel down to services at a fairly distant Zen Buddhist Temple from time to time where I practice. I purchased a zafu and zabuton and began practicing zazen meditation at that age and continued off and on for a few years. It was then that I became much more serious about my practice and allotted about an hour a day to practicing. That said, I have been sitting zazen every single day for about an hour. Sometimes it's a bit less, sometimes it's for several hours. I've been practicing this for several years. The insight and understanding gained through deep-seated, long-term Zen practice can only be achieved through the meditation practice itself. It has helped me to become much less deluded and irrational and come to terms with who I am and understand the true nature of reality much more clearly - the type of thing that does not come from many superstitious Tibetan type Buddhist books or teachings. Zen is like the "back-to-basics" form of Buddhism. It's not about reincarnation, studying texts, thinking or philosophizing your way to "enlightenment", spiritual pipe dreams or having beliefs; it's about the fundamental practice of zazen meditation, doing it consistently. The result is having a greater appreciation and understanding for life and the present moment and seeing through all the mental haze that was once there. Your reflection becomes much clearer after all of the mental waves and ripples have settled. Despite this, the brutal truth is understanding that there is no realistic, obtainable scenario where real life problems will vanish, and part of Zen is staring reality dead in the face and realizing this. I know that after years of practice, I'm still littered with horrible faults and most definitely always will be, and I still haven't been practicing for that long. Zen is not a religion in the traditional Western, Abrahamic sense, nor a philosophy of thought; it is a philosophy of action. This means the only way to truly get a grasp of Buddhist understanding is not to listen to the deluded ramblings of your own conceptual mind, but to sit there in the lotus (or any of it's variants) posture with an erect back and let reality reveal itself to you over the months and years of continual practice, free of illusory mental conditioning. Buddhist understanding does not equate to knowledge or intellect. If you're not sitting (doing zazen) everyday, then reading books about Buddhism or listening to a dharma talk is futile and utterly useless. I plan to continue practicing Zen until I die as I feel there is no better approach to life than Zen Buddhism and the fundamental practice of zazen.
That all took way longer than expected, especially since it's besides the whole point of the thread lol. I made this thread so that I can share and get feedback on an annual spiritual celebration I have called THOR as sort of an intro to me starting to mingle into this forum. I wanted to biefly explain my own history and experience with religion and spirituality before sharing the videos from THOR as many people will be thinking "Uhh what's the point of all this?" lol. But here goes:
On October 7, 2012, me and two close friends participated in the second annual Hour of Reprisal gathering. The event is there to celebrate the arrival of autumn and the countdown to Samhain. The festivities took off with a brisk walk to take in the autumn atmosphere. My friends and I all agree that autumn is an incredibly uplifting and joyous season that gives a powerful spiritual aura at it's peak. When we arrived from the walk, we went to The Ritual Chamber, a room which was peppered with all sorts of fun religious decor to improve on the aesthetics. Candles and incense are lit in ceremonial, ritualistic fashion at this time with the lights out. You can view the layout in the first video below. We practiced 30 min of silent contemplation or meditation. This is there to unwind, focus and prepare for the following festivities. I am unsure what specific techniques the others employed during this time, but I sat my usual zazen, as is customary for me. Next, we indulged in wine and a feast that consisted of cheese cubes, olives, a loaf of bread (symbolic of the last supper), pumpkin pie and assorted meat pieces. These can also be seen in the first video below.
Next was The Burning Monk Ceremony which can be viewed in the second video provided below. It was a short ritual that involved the lighting of a minuature Tibetan monk incent. It was just a small and brief, aesthetically and aromatically pleasing tidbit that we threw in for our enjoyment and turned out to be neat.
The festivities (and the entire year leading up to this point) culminates in a listening session of the beautifully crafted Psycho-Social, Chemical, Biological and Electro-Magnetic Manipulation of Human Consciousness album by Jedi Mind Tricks. The album holds an intense, powerful, spiritual vibe without carrying any pretentious, preachy intent of any kind. There's no sort of agenda or message beneath the surface, but is sprinkled with 50 minutes of all sorts of religious, spiritual, mystical, supernatural, other-worldy, occult, philosophical, references that make for an incredible listening experience. A few years back we became aware of just how much the album resonated with this particular season, and so we made it an annual tradition to listen to it in heavy rotation during only the months of October and November and retire it each time until next year when it is time to "become one with science and mathematics and the rising of the sun", hench The Hour of Reprisal was born. It's basically an uplifting gathering we throw that acts as the annual unveiling and first listening session of the Psycho-Social album. Anyone who hasn't heard this album yet, I suggest you do and bathe in the sweet, sonic goodness.
I'd like to end by stating that each person there had their own religious, spiritual, philosophical views and beliefs, or lack of. None of these were attempted to be promoted through this ceremonial gathering. It was there to embrace our own spirituality and enjoy ourselves during a positive and uplifting couple hours. THOR does not represent any philosophical or theological beliefs of any kind. Our event has been criticized before as being negative, as burning effigies (someone said the incent lighting video was disrespectful blasphemy because it took place on a Jesus last supper floor mat lol... some people and their superstitions *rolls eyes*) , and often as just being pointless. I understand the latter to a bit, as many people often ask how you can have so many spiritual rituals when you don't even believe in anything. But hey, haters gon' hate. lol
I'd like to get some peoples thoughts on the event and the videos I provided. Does anybody else like to throw their own mini spiritual masses? I've got another celebratory, ritualistic evening on Dec 21 called The Coming of Tan, but we won't get into that just yet. lol oh and if anyone wants to like, comment or subscribe to my youtube page, please do. You can also visit www.facebook.com/omnicronandforever
First video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ9hU4V4GM4
Second video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQPhzoq_-Ng
