1) You'll have to ask someone who's studied Hindu occultism, which I haven't. Anyone have any suggestions?
2) Your friend reminds me of a once-famous poem:
"Last night I saw upon the stair, A little man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today. Oh, how I wish he'd go away!"
In answer to your friend's question, I'm not a fan. I read Carroll's Liber Null and Psychonaut when it was first published in 1987, and I also read its primary inspiration, the appendix on magic in Shea and Wilson's Illuminatus! trilogy, back in the 1970s. Every so often somebody comes up with something like this, a version of magic that's been stripped of everything offensive to modern materialist thinking; it's always very popular for a while, precisely because it doesn't challenge the conventional wisdom of its time, and so -- since such projects are always portrayed as radical, cutting-edge, rebellious, and exciting -- they allow people to pretend to be edgy while conforming to the official beliefs of their time. Some people apparently get good results from chaos magic; I find it resembles lite beer, compared to the good robust brown ale of more traditional approaches.
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2023-07-03 06:32 pm (UTC)2) Your friend reminds me of a once-famous poem:
"Last night I saw upon the stair,
A little man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today.
Oh, how I wish he'd go away!"
In answer to your friend's question, I'm not a fan. I read Carroll's Liber Null and Psychonaut when it was first published in 1987, and I also read its primary inspiration, the appendix on magic in Shea and Wilson's Illuminatus! trilogy, back in the 1970s. Every so often somebody comes up with something like this, a version of magic that's been stripped of everything offensive to modern materialist thinking; it's always very popular for a while, precisely because it doesn't challenge the conventional wisdom of its time, and so -- since such projects are always portrayed as radical, cutting-edge, rebellious, and exciting -- they allow people to pretend to be edgy while conforming to the official beliefs of their time. Some people apparently get good results from chaos magic; I find it resembles lite beer, compared to the good robust brown ale of more traditional approaches.