I'm giving up on "witchy" s**t

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Oops. I apologize.

What I posted was meant to be both encouraging and humourous.

My bad.

Not trying to proselytise, but have you had a look at Buddhism? It won't give you stock answers, but will encourage you to look at your questions with a new light and perspective.

As others have said:
The universe is meaningless process.
Make your own meaning.
The spiritual journey is a journey of understanding yourself, not something external.

I really appreciate the beauty of making my own meaning, especially after being raised in a stiflingly strict religious environment where I was spoon-fed everything I was supposed to believe and think. Ultimately, it was extremely unsatisfying and empty.

The universe is vast, complex, scary but also exceedingly beautiful. For me, life is about savoring the beauty for the short amount of time I am here.

I wish we could go beyond the Earth-Moon system.

There is so much in the Universe which we have no knowledge of. We might be able to speculate using the “laws of physics”—but I feel we really won’t know, say, Alpha Centauri until we actually come in the area of it.

A personal reflective journey starts with a grounding exercise (as the REM song) basically stand in the place where you live, think about directions wonder why you haven't before. Your feet are going to be on the ground, your dead is there to move you around.

Translation: filter out your own thoughts and focus on your own body, the weight of your feet on the ground. the sound of your own breathing. Make sense of the place you are. The environment, plants, animals and soil. Start with getting a sense of place.

Many of us don't connect with the land we live.

That's why I go barefoot. I need to ground myself on the earth to feel connected.

I don’t know. Whitman was enthralled by looking at a blade of grass:

“A blade of grass is the journeywork of the stars”

Seeing the stars from a distance (or in a comfy seat in a planetarium) is more than enough for me.

Why give up on witchy s**t?

At least the Earth is proveably real, worthy of respect, admiration, appreciation, even worship.


IMO the sky God, Mother Earth, divine higher power of the Universe etc etc etc are all one in the same universal cosmic energy higher power anyways so it doesn't really matter which you believe more or less in.

Create meaning.

We all explore many things when we are young, Who knows? he may find something else "witchy" to replace the tarot cards.
In the meantime billions pray to the old hebrew sky god.

Yes. The closest I've ever got to anything in the 'religious/belief' ball-park is listening to the recorded lectures of Alan Watts (1915-1973), which I still do occasionally.

What I like about Watts is that he didn't actually practice Buddhism himself, or at least not as a discipline, and coming from an Anglican church background (with a mother who'd spent time in pre-communist China) and serving as a priest for a time, he had the skills - possibly unique - to convey an Eastern philosophy to a western audience in a very engaging manner that's easy to understand.

He ended up being an alcoholic which likely contributed to his death at 58, so there's no danger of a personality cult developing around him that could ever be taken seriously, he just leaves a set of sign posts and a torch that might help lead you out of a dark forest and then it's up to you to navigate your way from there to wherever you feel you need to be.

I'd say discovering him was as life changing for me as taking LSD, he helped me make a lot sense of what I'd experienced on LSD several years after I'd last taken it.
Oddly enough I first came across him through an experimental album/LP he'd made in 1962 (pre-Beatles first single incredibly), a track called "Love you" which upon first hearing would probably strike the average listener as one of the most disturbing and insane pieces of 'music' ever committed to record, particularly the ending which could easily be mistaken as satanic, but I got it straight away and it led me into investigating him further.

^ There is a genre of internet media clips called "Watts Wave". Recordings of Alan watts added to a backing of some spiritual/trippy music.
He certainly "got it", in some important way. Pity he couldn't heal all his own issues.

LSD may change most nihilists. But it can also make some people nihilistic who weren't nihilists before. The probability that it works is higher, but it's not really predictable.

Disclaimer: LSD is not a toy. It's very powerful and can cause damage.

I'd say listen to John Vervaeke's lectures and interviews regarding the meaning crisis, relevance realization, etc..

I think he's right on the money in terms of people having 'ecologies of practice', ie. you need 'something' for psychological health, social health, and as far as conscious / subconscious relationship you may want to continue experimenting with ritual but consider taking it more as resolving a holistic integration need rather than perhaps worrying too much about cosmology.

I'm still in the same boat as before - ie. I'm going to continue ritual, contemplation, looking at various esoteric systems because I think there's a lot there, I've experienced enough kundalini syndrome / awakening that I'd like to see what can happen if I keep revving the engine. I'm also still looking at it from this perspective - I'm not wild about being here, it's a pissing contest that ends in an urn or casket, and I'd rather squeeze as much work into this life as I can to reduce the number of times I feel compelled to return.

The truth is no one person seems to have all the answers do they? I've mentioned before the societal constructs we live in are controlled by people who are not driven or motivated by altruism. They have personal agendas to communicate a particular stance on something they believe. . The world we live in is competitive. it is a pissing contest, Not a community of people singing kumbayah.

Within that belief system they reconcile a "trickle down" where others will benefit from their beliefs. Following a particular philosopher, scientist, life coach, guru, teacher or intellectual might bring you closer to the truth? there again you might just be convincing yourself it works because you "feel right" or you have a hunch.