Mirror of Shadows - QotD
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10:59 am
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QotD
(since it relates directly to last night's converstion...)
It is said by various 'authorities' that the Faith of the Wise, when they do believe in its existence, is a simple matter: a pre-Christian religion, based upon whatever Gods and Goddesses are the current vogue - full of simple, hearty, peasant-like things, things that in some cases complex, nervous sophisticates also enjoy doing in urban parlors. Consequently we have an interesting phenomenon: civilized sophisticates running round behaving like simple peasants and simple peasants who have never heard of such things! It is also maintained by the same 'authorities' that we follow a belief which, as one dear old fellow put it, is headed by a deity "Who is the sweetest woman, everyone loves her". To quote someone else who is just a student of the Craft, "Witchcraft is about rituals", which I suppose to be true, if one cares to accept the definition as witchcraft.
All this worries me somewhat - since I am not a peasant and neither am I particularly interested in being led by a sweet woman, and ritual to me is merely a means to an end. So what is the Faith all about? Admittedly I can only speak for myself, and what I write here are my own opinions, but here goes.
Unfortunately for authorities, students and 'mere seekers after truth', the Faith is not about anything that has been written above. The Faith is finally concerned with Truth, total Truth. It is one of the oldest of religions, and also one of the most potent, bringing as it does man into contact with Gods and man into contact with Self. As such the Faith is a way of life different and distinct from any theory promulgated by the 'authorities' or historians. Within the disciplines of the Faith, man may offer devotion to the Gods, and receive certain knowledge of Their existence by participation in something of the perfected nature of Godhead, recalling that both within and without which is most true. The Faith is a belief concerned with the inner nature of devotion, and finally with the nature of mysticism and mystical experience.
It has in common with all great religions an inner experience that is greater than the exterior world. It is a discipline that creates from the world an enriched inward vision. It can and does embrace the totality of human experience from birth to death, then beyond. It creates within the human spirit a light that brightens all darkness, and which can never again be extinguished. The True Faith is the life of the follower, without it he is nothing, with it he has contained something of all creation.
Force requires form at this level of being, therefore ritual exists to contain that force. Godhead demands worship, therefore ritual exists to give and formulate that worship. Man needs help. Therefore ritual is designed to give that help. It is possible to comprehend Godhead or Force without ritual, since the first principle of Godhead is present at all levels and in all things at all times - but total perception is not present in humanity all the time. Therefore ritual basically becomes a matter of increasing perception until something of Godhead is finally revealed, and that which is within and without is partially understood: comprehended in the spirit, the mind and the physical person of the participant until it becomes one with his total being. The forces comprehended are as part of the living person incorporated into everyday life as part of a spiritual, mental and physical discipline that returns the devotee again and again to the original Source.
Devotion requires proof. Therefore that proof exists within the disciplines of the Faith. The nature of proof can only be shown by inference and by participation, not by intellectual reasoning. ... And having enjoined with such forces, there cannot afterwards be any doubts as to the nature of the experience. Man suffers from doubt at all times, but to the participant in such experience, the doubt centers around the reality of the external world, not the inner. The reality of such experience illuminates the whole life.
... The Faith is a complex philosophy, dealing finally with the nature of Truth, Experience and Devotion. It requires discipline and work, plus utter and complete devotion to the common aim. It can only be fulfilled by service, some labors taking many years to complete. ... Within the structure of the Faith all things may be contained and are contained. ... It is secret because only those who are best suited may enter the awful silences of the Places of the Gods. It is silent because in silence there is strength, protection and a future. ...
Robert Cochrane, 1965 [orig. pub. Pentagram]
Current Mood:  working
Tags: qotd
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| | LOL. I was reading along, nodding, nodding, and thinking "so true" and "I wish I wrote this" then I saw who wrote it, and busted up.
:)
~DB the Cochranite, at your service.
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/58134985/576057) | | From: | ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.3) veedub |
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| Date: | July 14th, 2005 10:22 pm (UTC) |
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...and you can do it in your living room (or urban parlor, if you're british and traditional).... Hi Sana, I'm using this journal now so add me back. :-) |
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