Shifting the Code: Magick, Reality Disillusionment, and Navigating the Thin Line of Delusion

[fedighassen]

When you realize reality is malleable, it’s incredibly easy for the mind to lose its anchor. I’ve noticed that if I spend too much time operating in highly fluid, magical mindstates without active maintenance, a form of spiritual derealization can creep in. You start over-interpreting signs, falling into a loop of "lust for result," or letting your thoughts spiral into obsession.

It reminds me of the old warnings in traditional mysticism: if the "vessel" (your mind and body) isn't strong enough or grounded enough to hold the light, the container cracks. In modern terms, if you don't keep one foot firmly planted in baseline reality, your magical practice stops being an act of willpower and turns into a coping mechanism or a psychological trap.

 

[stalkinghyena]

In modern terms, if you don't keep one foot firmly planted in baseline reality

Just over the past few years I have been wondering if anyone in the overall schema of social boundaries actually knows what that "baseline" is. Even the stark cold presence of the Angel of Death is just another proponent of some opinion, and this just being an expression of a subversive "will to power" designed to oppress and restrict a self-referential ideal of freedom that is fluid and shifting in its own right. Usually this ideal is combative, but for what purpose? The multiplicity of hair color?

The only question that seems reasonable to me is "Are you a danger to yourself or others?" I thought that one was safe, but now I see many folks, esoteric or otherwise, do not know the actual difference between self and other.

That I am also now hearing that nuclear weapons may not in fact be as dangerous as I was raised to believe kind of bothers me. Should it?

your magical practice stops being an act of willpower and turns into a coping mechanism or a psychological trap.

My feeling is that this is probably the only real consistent line of discussion/accusation for most esotericists since the Protestant Reformation. Since this a personal feeling, it could be unhinged.

 

[Robert Ramsay]

As Grant Morrison put it: "Banishing reminds you that no matter how many gods you talk to, no matter how many fluorescent realms you visit, you still have to come home, take a shit, be able to cook dinner, water the plants and, most importantly, talk to people without scaring them."

That I am also now hearing that nuclear weapons may not in fact be as dangerous as I was raised to believe kind of bothers me. Should it?

Unless this is a joke, I have to disagree - nuclear weapons are exactly as dangerous as we were raised to believe in - anyone who tells you anything different is selling you something

 

[stalkinghyena]

Unless this is a joke, I have to disagree - nuclear weapons are exactly as dangerous as we were raised to believe in

It's kind of that "thin line" shifting, you see? This can potentially become notions that "creep". Even if "grounded" in whatever, a magician can still convince themselves of the silliest of things and not know it. I read it all the time.
In the macro-level, some people think they can "win" a nuclear war - probably with lots of irradiated infantry in a "brokeback" sense, idk.

But this one was fun - the guy has some interesting videos:

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anyone who tells you anything different is selling you something

Well it is Youtube.

 

[Robert Ramsay]

a magician can still convince themselves of the silliest of things and not know it.

You don't have to be a magician for this. As @HoldAll likes to quote "No one can fool you like yourself"