"But if you wish at once to do nothing and be respectable nowadays, the best pretext is to be at work on some profound study...
(p23) Sketches From Cambridge by Leslie Stephen (1865)It is the purpose of this page is to pose questions fit for profound study. Such questions often do not seek answers. Answers spell the end of inquiry and while they may be of value in dealing with a recalcitrant automobile, they stifle the process of on going unfolding that serves to deepen understanding. This is a moderated forum so you can expect responses to be at least marginally connected to the current question.
Please comment on one or all of the following via the MoonWeb e-mail......
1. IS THE TRUE WILL AND ITS DOING AN ABSOLUTE? Posed by Larius Ingalls
*** If an absolute has the characteristic of being "without cause" then the True Will would not qualify as an Absolute. The True Will is traditionally determined by ones physical characteristics, the mental attitudes one is prone to, general genetic in heritance, the situation one has incarnated into... It is one's place in the universe and the configuration of that universe that determines the True Will. Louis Martinie'*** I believe that True Will can be a fine Absolute in that it leads the magician to Love and then goes away...disappears in the union. Any Absolute worth its salt has the sense to go away. Louis Martinie'
*** I think that the structure of things is like a Chinese puzzle box: for any given perspective there are other perspectives contained by it and it is likewise contained by yet greater perspectives. Add to this the concept of inter-penetrating realit ies for an even more complex structure of things. To be dedicated to working Ones' True Will is (in my opinion) to be commited to working for a goal across a span of lifetimes. This can be viewed as Bodhisattvic/Tulku, Odinic, or from the perspective of becoming an Ancestor as in Santeria/Voudon. This is an awesome perspective that could span the millenia, and yet given the Chinese Puzzle box nature of things, I doubt that it is an absolute perspective. Fra Geh Mad.
2. WHAT ELEMENTS ARE NECESSARY FOR A RITUAL TO BE OF THE VOODOO? Posed by Singh Li
*** An honoring of the Dead that ARE the ground upon which the ritual is performed. The placement of a stick into this ground. These are the minimal necessary and sufficient elements. Louis Martinie'
3. WE WERE TRAVELING TO BOUGALASA,LA AND WERE STOPPED BY FOG ON THE CAUSEWAY. WE ARRIVED AT THE RITUAL TWO HOURS LATE.? THE COMMENT WAS MADE, "SHOULDN'T SPIRITUAL PEOPLE KNOW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN?" Posed by Louis Martinie'
*** This knowledge would take all of the surprise out of living. T. C.*** I like this previous response as I know a person that had a rather detailed "flash" of what their future would entail. Such knowledge really makes life much more difficult, like Cassandra in Greek Myth. She is always moved to test her vision and that makes it difficult for her to be detached and objective. - Fra. Geh Mad
*** Child listen, if there was a fog so thick you actually had to stop then going to the ritual was a bad thing for you. Nothing happens without a reason only possible through the fabric of chaos and balance...but then that's just me. - Adam Cornelius
*** That might have been the easiest way to put into motion a chain of events that would shape the future according to will. Mr. Willey
*** Perhaps spiritual people are more interested in establishing a willed relationship to events/situations than in controlling the events/situations themselves. The time and energy spent in this type of control is not worth it in the long run. Events seen as unsatisfactory are always with us to some extent and only in extreme instances are they worthy of action. I once knew a magician who did divination even before catching a bus. He avoided a lot of problems but at tremendous effort. Louis Martin ie'
*** I would postulate that you got there at the right time for the ritual, or were not meant to take part in it... Fra Geh Mad
*** A counter-question: Did you arrive late or right on time? Perhaps the ritual started (for you) in the fog on the causeway.
Another thought: All rituals require some degree and form of preparation/ purification. Perhaps getting thrown off balance by the "delay" put you in the exact frame of mind needed by the ritual. (Remember, if a ritual needs you in a propeller beanie, you'll find on on your head!)
Peace, -- LausF
4. "FORM IS EMPTY, EMPTINESS IS FORM. COMMENT? Posed by Mishlen Linden
***I once read that the value of a cup rested in the empty space enclosed by its sides. Louis Martinie'*** Silence (the descriptor of the noun). - Steve
***"Form is empty; emptiness is form." This is a true equation, where the verb "is" really means "=".
Form is empty: the perceptible is illusory. What the senses grasp as form (or shape, kind, manner, etc.) can be unfolded to its molecules, their atoms, their paritcles, to pure matter/energy and all its octaves and harmonics. Matter/energy itself is illusion, and the mother of illusions.
Emptiness is form: emptiness is a state of being which can only exist in something capable of being empty. As such, it could be considered the potentiality of plentitude. Emptiness itself is illusion, and the father of illusions.
THAT is neither form nor emptiness.
- Nema
*** "Form is clothes. Emptiness is body. They are facets of the gem that is non/existance."
- Lynda H Berdin
QUESTIONS OF A MORE TECHNICAL NATURE:
WHAT, IF ANY, IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DOCTOR AND BOKOR? Posed by Louis Martinie'
*** "The relation between Doctor and Bokor would be that of specialists in different areas. A Doctor might look to a Bokor for a condition affecting both the body and the spirit. Medicine recognizes that spiritual problems (which it lumps in with mental problems) can have physical manifestations and sometimes conducts treatment accordingly. This has included sending the patient to a priest (or rabbi) for counseling instead of to a psychiatrist. (As HMO costs go up, this may become more common - a padre is cheaper than a shrink!) Problem is, the medics can measure the steroids they put into you, but not your peace of mind (inches, cups or pounds?). A Bokor, on the other hand, should be able to accurately judge the state of a patient and get him into an optimal condition for the medical treatment to have maximum effect. Alternatively, a Bokor may send a patient to an MD to get a (relatively) purely physical problem under control before starting a strenuous procedure of his own."- LausF