To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick,alt.philosophy.taoism,alt.consciousness.mysticism,alt.freemasonry,alt.amorc
Subject: Dissolution-Avoidance in Mysticland
From: xiwangmu <yronwode.com@nagasiva>
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2003 03:46:40 GMT

50030716 viii

"Jean-François D." <io_star@hotmail.com>:
# "The promise of dissolution." "The Grand Lodge above." 
# Hm. I'm wondering if an Initiate can enter that Grand Lodge 
# by mastering the dread of death before his or her time 
# expires, so-to-speak, on this planet. 

by my reckoning, that is the *only* way to ascend 
(prior to physical dissolution). all the others 
are just shell games in which the 'Initiate' loses.

# What do you think. Heaven, Paradise, the "New Jerusalem" 
# is a long way away if you think not. Never-mind about 
# dissolution just now....

unfortunately, that is the usual method of analysis by 
mystics who muster the courage to consider the finite life: 

	'I wonder whether it might be something that could
	be attained prior to physical death. Oh well, never 
	mind about death just now....'

but as fr virgo has recently been contending with respect to
Crowleyan religion, to take it literally is to err. the next
step, therefore, is to determine with some clarity and
precision to what it *does* refer beyond some literal post-
mortem fantasyland where every aesthetic desire is fulfilled.

my thought-process on the matter proceeded thusly: it seems
wise to start from a place which is somewhat obviously 
possible and consider more fantastic results beyond this.

"mastering the dread of death before his or her time" is
not something I'm sure that everyone may need to do. some
simply aren't afraid of death per se, unless we've become
indoctrinated into some kind of post-mortem Judgment Lie
which puts the Fear of the Judge into us. in which case,
such a mastery may be little more than counter-programming.

another possibility is the expansion of consciousness as a
perceivable phenomena. mystics sometimes speak of this as
being indicated by a lack of need for sleep, or a widening
of the aperture of awareness around one: noticing more in
one's general vicinity, having a larger perspective on 
the world, being capable of intuiting superior paradigms 
without being introduced to them directly. this is 
certainly measurable, were a scientific enterprise 
to set out to confirm or refute it.

yet another possibility is an internal perceptual shift,
deepening and lengthening experience such that life does
effectively telescope outwards, making overt aging less
of a concern as subjectively dissolution recedes into the
background until it is at the final moment welcome as a
release from intrusions of ill health and painful life.
this would be much more difficult to evaluate, though a
reliable account of someone attempting it (e.g. those
who understand the quest to 'become an Immortal' in 
this light and record their progress) might indicate 
the extent of its likelihood.  

without positing fantasy 'souls' and the survival beyond
an event it seems all living beings engage (dissolution),
there are several possible alternatives to a literal
interpretation of mystical aims and promises.

xiwangmu