you have to break the conformism, even the chaos magick or Aleister crowley one, which is shit. in other words you have to eliminate the references or tether them to a minimal framework.
Yeah, it's interesting to think on. I think with "facts" and so forth, following the Syrian revolution makes it hard for me to be as sympathetic to conspiracy thinking. Nothing has been weaponised more powerful against the Syrian cause. And seeing oceans of this shit pour out to cover up the gassing and bombing of kids and families just makes me go "ugh". It's a visceral reaction. It's happening right now in Idlib, and there will be some cunt on the internet lying about it. So conspiratorial material I might've simply found entertaining before I'm more critical about.
I have a different mode of thinking when I'm doing magic or thinking with it - I'm open to whatever, inspiration, correspondences, coincidence but for the most part, I'd be very wary when mixing that with politics or having as a catch all way of understanding the world. Occultism can also be a vector for shitty thinking - outright alt-right nationalism in some instances, blood and soil is but a short journey away from paganism - so I think the criticality that you mostly find in academia is really useful here. If you were going to start invoking the loa, this brings up questions about what does it mean for a white guy to do this? What about colonialism, history, constructions of blackness and whiteness? You don't need to bring these into play but they're kind of in the room with those kind of practices. Does that make sense?
I went to an event last week about this actually - "Towards a progressive magic" at The Horse Hospital. People who're much more able thinkers than I were talking about what does it mean to practice magic now, in the age of Trump? and trying to pick apart some of the underlying philosophical threads.
I do have a bias toward the experiential but that's a slightly different topic. I think it's only when you try these practices that you understand them, see how you might use them.
wanted to inscribe this one in my heart, turn it over in my mind, nail it to my doorpost, wrap it around arms and my hands and wear it on my head.jcommunism is closer in this aspect to islamic salvation, there is no dawn and no christ dying for our sins. we either continue to make mistakes of seismic historical proportions and lead to microsovereignties and starvation, or we attempt to repent not for forgiveness but in the hope that we are forgiven.
What are your conclusions so far?
i'm absolutely guilty of taking shitty ready-made Tank positions on tons of stuff. i was brow-beaten into it as an impressionable teenager but actually taking it publicly as a position is absolutely on me.