> We have ideas like biological taxonomies and genetics that provide a shared basis for cross-cultural understanding and exploration of universally relevant fields. “We need that for the deep end of spiritual experience,” he said. “What works as well in Riyadh, as Rome, as Rio, as rural Alabama? What’s the functional, scalable essence?”
That was the purpose comparative tools like correspondence charts[1] were intended for; Aleister Crowley and Allan Bennett put a bunch of effort of surveying all spiritual experience they could learn about, followed by tabulating it all and trying to pattern match. The result was a shared basis for cross-cultural understanding, though the actual form of it could be heavily criticised.
> Advanced meditation for everyone?
> “My hope is that ultimately, this work will contribute to bringing advanced meditation out of the monastery,” Sacchet said, describing its “incredible promise for moving beyond addressing mental health issues, toward helping people thrive.”
That was also Crowley's primary goal: to show that anyone at all could attain, and easily, while living a normal life, and thought that it would help them thrive. He stated this over and over again.
I love that we're finally making effort towards the thought he had, that
> Diverse as these statements [on mystical experiences] are at first sight, all agree in announcing an experience of the class which fifty years ago would have been called supernatural, to-day may be called spiritual, and fifty years hence will have a proper name based on an understanding of the phenomenon which occurred. (Book 4, Part 1; 1911[2])
though it's 70 years later than he thought. I'd love to be involved in work like this, both as an occultist/experienced meditator, and as a computer scientist / software developer, though I don't know how to get involved. Maybe by contacting the EPRC listed? :)
Magick in Theory and Practice is 'part 3' to the 'Parts 1 & 2' of Book 4, and it is dense and hard to read. I wouldn't recommend MiTaP to most people. The compilation of letters you're thinking of is 'Magick Without Tears'[1].
Personally, I think Book 4, Part 1[2] is one of the best explanations of what Crowley was about. It's essentially an argument for meditation, and will be very familiar to anyone who has read Swami Vivekananda's Raja Yoga. It helps a lot that it was a collaboration between him and Mary d'Este Sturges rather than a solely 'Crowley' writing.
Abandon guided meditations and audio-based meditations, and focus to a simple programme of breath-focus. You just:
1. sit quietly and comfortably
2. breathe through your nose
3. find the feeling of air moving in and out of your nose
4. observe that feeling of air
5. if your mind starts observing other thoughts instead of the breath feeling -- 'I have an itch', 'this sitting position is uncomfortable', 'what about my meeting tomorrow' -- you notice your observation has left the air-in-your-nose feeling, and you gently redirect it back to focusing on that instead of the thoughts.
6. Repeat. You'll slowly increase from 2-3 seconds of focus to minutes at a time.
> 3. Most importantly, unsurprisingly, I suck at it. I keep trying every now and then; maybe I'll give it another go :)
You're better off with 3-5 minutes daily, regularly, than with longer sessions sporadically. It's a matter of practice and getting the knack of concentration down. Slowly increase to 10-15 minutes a day over a month or two, and really focus on getting the technique mastered more than anything.
The book Mindfulness in Plain English is both available freely online, and my favourite guide to getting it right.
This is basically the idea. Exact techniques vary, but the point is to keep gently re-focusing on something minor and physical. It doesn't really matter what it is, scan direction vs breath flow vs something else, none of it matters, just pick one and work on focusing.
When you sit you may feel discomfort of a kind that makes you want to move. Sit for a bit longer. The discomfort will move rapidly from place to place, since it is an artifact of the revolutions of the mind stuff.
It's kind of like spam subject lines... a call to action.
My nose is bleeding? I need to...
Wait, my ankle is killing me, let me just...
Oh, no, now my back, quick stretch will ...
Hmm, I'd be so much more meditative if I just pop on to Amazon and order a proper cushion...
Just sit. You'll be fine.
Remember that the word user also governs the skeletal muscles. Not the most ideal situation, but you have to expect some strange things if you grow such a complex thing as a brain from some goo. When these things, or other things happen, just watch them, let them pass, and then bring your attention back to the breath in your nose.
It's like balancing. How do you get better at balancing? Stand precariously every day and eventually your muscles will strengthen and you will be balanced.
Similarly, bringing your attention back to the breath in your nose is how you get better at this thing.
Are you saying this because you have aphantasia and this is your personal experience?
When you say 'you probably won’t visualize' do you mean completely internal/mental visualisations or are you including all sorts of hallucinogenic visualisations typically reported?
(I'm asking these because I have aphantasia and have been psychedelic/hallucination-curious, but still haven't given anything of the sort a try. I do engage with mystical practices, though, have had 'mystical visions' (which had actual no visual component!), and have been curious how psychedelics might compare.)
Notably, however, there can be ethical or sustainability issues with how incense resins are harvested, so being choosy about finding a seller may be worthwhile.
You can find it locally often enough, too. Look for 'occult' or 'new age' shops and if they don't have it in, they may be able to get it in from a reputable source. There are at least two shops local to me I know of where I can buy multiple varieties (if they exist) of frankincense, myrrh, dragon's blood, copal, and almost any other I've looked for.
> sometimes carried a paperback book stuck in their back pocket
> and one reason why we read more was that television was just not as good as it is today...
I feel like there's a little disconnect between these two statements. It's not that television is taking priority, it's that the times when people used to break out a book -- that they carried in their back pocket or purse! -- now break out their phones and engage with social media, or they check their work email, or respond to slack messages, or they get involved in texting, or they play some video game just to make the time go faster. I suppose some of them put in headphones and watch Netflix, but I don't see that often, to be honest.
The world has gotten so busy and defaulting to 'on' that no one feels they can default to reading a book, but you can. You just have to decide to carry a book and, instead of breaking out a phone at those times to stay connected, you just let yourself be disconnected, and you read a book. Or meditate.
That's how I go about my life, and frankly I don't understand why more people don't. I never use my phone unless it's an emergency. I get a lot more out of life meditating and reading books than checking my email, playing candy crush, and engaging with twitter.
Depends on the antidepressant, but SSRIs like Zoloft do suppress the effect. MAOIs, on the other hand, tend to increase the effect. I'm not sure about Wellbutrin.
