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# Doubts about the path

#### Message 02028 of 3835

- To: BardonPraxis@yahoogroups.com
- Subject: Doubts about the path
- From: "David Yeh" <ldreamr@...>
- Date: Thu, 01 Jan 2004 14:52:27 -0000
- User-agent: eGroups-EW/0.82

    I have a number of questions I would like to put forward to you all,
    particularly the experienced practitioners like Rawn. Your feedback
    and guidance would be very welcome.

    I am feeling some basic doubts with regards to the Hermetic path.

    First of all, it seems to me that Bardon gave a sort of bare-bones
    outline in IIH of what is needed to achieve each step. But what
    about the particulars of the technique or instruction? The language
    he uses in the Step One exercise about vacancy of mind, for instance,
    is very forceful, i.e. suppress your thoughts. But what I've
    gathered, particularly from exploring writings of systems such as
    Buddhism that really focus on the natural emptiness of mind, is that
    you can't really fight the mind. You have to let go and be mindful,
    or you have to "love your ego to death" or something like that. So
    right there is one thing where I think, "Hmm, I can't quite trust
    Bardon." If I start to distrust Bardon in Step One, what does that
    mean for the rest of the course?

    Further, Rawn mentions on his website that Bardon doesn't really
    mention, except in a couple of sentences, that EOM is meant to be
    practiced throughout the ten steps. It is implied. Well, what else
    is implied that isn't set out in so many words? So how can I trust
    it?

    Moreover, what is the goal of the Hermetic path? In Buddhism it
    seems that the goal is very simple: be enlightened. I am unsure what
    the goal is in Hermetics. If it is self-transformation and mastery,
    what is the purpose of developing all of those powers? I came to
    Bardon while trying to explore the practice of astral projection and
    needing more of a spiritual framework for it instead of doing it for
    recreation. Now I flip ahead in IIH and encounter a multitude of
    things that I will ostensibly be focusing my energy on, like magic
    mirrors and rituals and mental wandering. To me they are very
    tempting in terms of ego, though I know that supposedly by the time I
    reach the stage where those things are possible, I will have attained
    a degree of mastery that will eliminate that. Well what is the point
    of the powers in the first place? Why not, as some Buddhists teach,
    ignore all of it, because all phenomena are illusion, and place the
    focus simply on being awake in the moment?

    Also, there are lineages in Buddhism that are unbroken going back a
    few thousand years. There are teachers around and available with
    whom one can meditate and learn. Hermetics by comparison seems new
    and obscure and perhaps immature? Where are the guides and the
    wisdom teachings handed down over hundreds of years? Obviously I
    don't know much about it but I would appreciate someone enlightening
    me.

    One answer might be to practice Bardon and also seek out Buddhist
    teachers to help with some concepts. But I think it is really hard
    to have two teachers at one time. Something has got to give.

    I do think that part of it for me is the unfamiliar complexity. The
    four elements, three bodies, the Hebrew words and Qabalistic terms
    and talk of elementals that people bandy around. This is all very
    new to me and somewhat overwhelming. I know that part of my doubt is
    that I would rather retreat to something familiar. I take a look
    inside the Kybalion and my mind starts to shut down from the sheer
    overload of unfamiliar forms of information.

    But a part of me also wonders, isn't this unnecessarily complex? I
    guess that would, again, depend on the goal. If the goal of
    Theravadan Buddhism is simply enlightenment, then it is simple enough
    to go live in a monastery and work on being mindful of everything
    that arises in yourself. If the goal of Christianity is to feel
    God's love, then one simply must open oneself to it. I hope someone
    can tell me what Hermetics is about to them, because right now I
    still have this idea in my head that magick is about power over
    things in the world, rather than harmony with the world. That idea
    is very attractive and, as such, I think, dangerous to me if what I
    really seek is freedom. But I also know, from writings by Rawn and
    William Mistele among others, that that's not necessarily the case ...

    I would like to say that MY goal is to live life fully, both by
    removing the things in me that block my way to the Divine, and by
    expressing myself and exploring the wonders and mysteries of the
    world.

    So I'm begging for answers to my questions:
    Isn't a path like Hermetics, strewn with many possibilities for power
    and abuse of power, also prone to abuse of self and self-delusion?
    Doesn't it focus unnecessarily on methods of control rather than
    methods of communion? Would it not be simpler to give up the power
    and focus on experiencing the Divine, with paths like Buddhism?

    I hope that no one takes offense at my questions, they are posed in a
    spirit of honest inquiry.

    Thanks,
    David

- Follow-Ups:
  - Re: Doubts about the path
    - From: "Peter Reist" <preist@...>
  - Re: Doubts about the path
    - From: "Rawn Clark" <rawnclark@...>
  - Re: Doubts about the path
    - From: "loumade_1999" <loumade_1999@...>

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