tim (05/08/83)
Like Dean Radin, I "waver" between the mystical and the scientific approaches to knowledge. There are some apparent contradictions in the approaches, but they are not insoluble. One approach is to consider them as operating in totally disjoint realms of discourse. You rarely use mysticism to build machines or determine the laws of motion, and science is not very good at inducing visions and blissful states. Their separation prevents contradiction. Another approach, my favored one, is to combine the two. The vastly lied about and defamed Aleister Crowley referred to his system as "Scientific Illuminism". The basic difference in the system is the journal which the person keeps. In this, all yogic and ritual practices are recorded in as full detail as possible directly after the experience. Skepticism and doubt are encouraged, although not during the actual experiences, or course, since that would destroy them. (Except Samadhi, but no need to get into that right now.) It is hoped that by this means, the person can come to a full knowledge of the Will through the scientific method. If I go an any longer, I'll be accused of trying to make converts, but I'll be happy to discuss this in greater detail if anyone likes. There's one final point in Dean's posting that I'd like to address: But has this greater success made us happier? Us with our computer net and washing machines? Can one be "illuminated" in the mystical sense and still be an engineer or computer scientist? Seems incompatible, and that's the crux of my question. This sort of question irritates me. The primary units of human satisfaction are food, shelter, health, and sex. Of course, there are others, but these are the most important. Through science, we have vastly inproved the first three, through industrialized agriculture, the mechanics of construction, and modern medicine. (I don't want to hear from anyone about the marvelous contribution of the battery to the fourth.) More people are happier now than ever before because of technology, and the only way we can lose sight of this fact is by letting ourselves become jaded by our wealth. Jack Parsons, by the way, an early (mid-forties) computer scientist in California who for some reason has a crater named after him on the Moon, was a devoted follower or Crowley's system. His poetry shows reckless abandonment to the raptures of the mystical, yet he saw no contradiction between that and his career. Tim Maroney duke!unc!tim