LESSON 2

Mercurial Sphere







Mind precedes thoughts, mind is their chief,

their quality is made by mind,

if with pure mind one speaks or acts

through that happiness follows one

like shadow which does not depart.

(from the Dhammapada)





TASK

OBSERVE PERSONAL REALITY SPHERES



What common sense refers to by the word "reality" is a composite concept. Most of what makes up an individual's sense of reality is in fact a mental space that individual has created and is constantly sustaining through their personal experience. The remainder of so-called reality is determined by the interactions between those individual mental spaces. What a person considers to be real depends entirely on the contents of their individual mind. Once a strong (i.e., strongly tied to emotions) belief is formed about reality, no philosophical arguments, positive facts or empirical evidence can make an individual change their mind. Note that there is no practical difference between "changing one's mind" and "changing one's reality."

This is not an attempt to psychologize practical occultism. Such an attempt has been done before by more knowledgeable individuals, and you are advised to review their work. What you need to learn here is that the "outside" of a person's head, their "external" reality, is the same as the inside of their head and their inner reality. Everything we perceive and think we know about the "external" world is created by the mind in a very literal way: all we have are mental images of the universe, and one person's picture not always matches the picture formed by someone else.

For the next two weeks, you will add one more category to the notes on your magic journal. Make daily notes about your interactions with others and try to label them as follows:



At the end of each week, go back to your notes and try to figure out what went right or wrong about each interaction. Try to understand how individual realities create collective realities when they come into contact, and try to discern the kinds of things that count as evidence or "proof" in different collective realities. For example: quoting the Bible may serve as strong evidence to support an opinion within certain religious congregations, but may fail to count as evidence to convince a non-Christian person.





>>> HOME <<<