"Evaluating Metaphysical Claims" by Manly P. Hall

[Deleted]

Many metaphysicians claim to have experienced extraordinary psychic phenomena. They describe visions of an amazing nature, asserting that they are able to see and converse with ghosts, spirits, elementals, superhuman creatures, invisible adepts and divinities, and even the persons of the Godhead. Many metaphysical organizations make similar claims, affirming their material movement to be directed by superhuman entities.

The problem set forth above is of the most fundamental importance, yet because of the intimate nature of its implications, it is difficult to drive the facts home to people who really do not want to know the truth. It is very difficult for a novice in things occult to perceive clearly the actual degree to which things superphysical impinge themselves upon our physical concerns. Not only is there a natural ignorance in this matter, common to all imperfectly developed mortals, but there is an artificial ignorance caused by the studied dissemination of misinformation on all the phases of the subject.

We all like to believe that our fellow creatures are honest and sincere, people above ulterior motive and the exploiting instinct, but unfortunately such is not the case. Wherever profit is concerned, man’s ethical standards are apt to be corrupted. In all parts of society, the ignorant are exploited by the shrewd; nor has religion escaped the general contamination of the age. Numerous are the lies that are circulated in the name of Truth, and equally numerous are the evils committed in the name of good. It seems to be part of Nature’s plan that the ignorant must suffer. A wisdom greater than ours has probably ascertained that only through suffering, disillusionment, and dilemma can the state of ignorance be made so miserable that mankind will no longer be satisfied to remain therein.

Of those who suffer from the results of their own folly only a few, however, learn the lessons which experience intends. The majority of people extricate themselves painfully from one evil only to fall into another equally stupid. Yet a man cannot be greater than himself, nor wiser than his own experience. Warnings do little good. Each individual feels himself an exception to the general rule, and must learn painfully the moderate courses of the wise.

Nearly all religious people have been taught certain reasonable standards of right action, and nearly all religious people promptly forget the practical moralities of their faith. As of the religious world in general, so of the metaphysical in particular. Any person worthy to be called rational realizes that the universe is bound together by certain laws and principles that cannot be violated, and which give to every man according to his works. The numerous disillusionments in metaphysics are due to the failure of common sense and integrity. Under the glamour of the supernatural, the sense of values and proportion is lost, and foolishness is rewarded with disaster.

Psychic phenomena is a term to conjure with. Many people feel that it is a special virtue to see things they cannot understand. It is a tragic error to permit occult studies to unseat the reason and destroy the perspective so necessary to intelligent living and thinking.

A person leaving an orthodox faith or coming into a new thought from the sphere of material science, finds the sphere of the occult sciences a world of wonders indeed. To find one’s equilibrium in this new concept of the universe is not easy. It is for this reason that the great metaphysical schools of the past permitted only the the most advanced persons to become aware of the secret sciences. Since the profaning of the old Mysteries, knowledge suitable only for the wise has become the more or less common property of the unqualified and the uninformed. The result is bound to be philosophical chaos. It is no longer possible to keep the secret sciences from the profane. It is therefore necessary to instruct the many in the ethics of the divine institution of thought intended only for an enlightened few.

[Deleted]

The only problem with anything metaphysical is that it can't be proven beyond a doubt. Even when strange things do happen then if you're skeptical like myself, you look for a natural reason. Sometimes you find it and sometimes you don't.

Another problem with metaphysics and the occult is that when people hear or see what they want to believe or what they need to believe, it is way to easy for other's to prey on the vulnerabilities and it turns into a cult.

I do believe in the supernatural, the paranormal and metaphysical but am a big skeptic especially when it comes to psychics. I do believe we all have psychic abilities but can't quite conquer the use of them. Can't quite put a handle on exactly how to manipulate the ability so we dream. We have feelings of Deja Vu, feelings of "something is going to happen" good or bad. But TV psychics I just can't have any kind of faith in. I can do the same thing with people. All you do is ask general questions and the people will make the conclusion and give you more info to work with. I have seen Psychics that seemed to be really tuned into something, but they aren't on TV or famous and really don't want that kind of attention.

One thing about it whether metaphysical, paranormal or supernatural, most don't really want a definitive answer because then they would have to face a whole different perception of the world in which they live.

[Deleted]

[Deleted]

OK so that is kind of like an insane Merry-Go-Round. Yesterdays truths are todays lies and vice versa. History changes according to the ideology of who is writing it. The Boston Tea Party during the Colonial days of a Young United States is proof of that.

I agree though. Absolute truth is absolute truth. But what is the truth? Can we even realize the truth without perceptions? We see our Universe and the points of light we call stars. But gravity bends light (discovered during a total solar eclipse when a specific star could be seen that was supposed to be directly behind the sun) so does gravity bend time too? The truth is absolute but I don't think anyone can comprehend the absolute truth. Whatever the truth is. I don't think we will know the truth for a very long time as a species if we ever know at all. Anyone that claims to know the truth I am kind of skeptical of just like psychics.  I don't know and will never know the absolute truth. All I can do is live to the best of my abilities and what I "perceive" is my "truth".

[Deleted]

Luckily, I am chock-full of amazing quotes!

"The possible truths, hazily perceived in the world of abstraction, like those inferred
from observation and experiment in the world of matter, are forced upon the profane
multitudes, too busy to think for themselves, under the form of Divine revelation and
scientific authority. But the same question stands open from the days of Socrates and
Pilate down to our own age of wholesale negation: is there such a thing as absolute
truth in the hands of any one party or man? Reason answers, 'there cannot be.'
There is no room for absolute truth upon any subject whatsoever, in a world as finite
and conditioned as man is himself. But there are relative truths, and we have to make
the best we can of them." -Madame Helena P. Blavatsky

But as Mark Passio explains, there is only Truth and Perception. Think of Christ as Truth and Satan as Perception. Christ provided the moral and spiritual basics of good will which was entirely in accordance with Natural Law, and Natural Law is unwavering. Itself is Alpha and Omega, Above and Below. To shake its foundations would be to cause cosmic chaos. That's why it is considered Law and not mere suggestion. A speed limit sign is meant to regulate traffic according to its proper location and surroundings, but a speed suggestion sign can be ignored with only minor risks.

Truth is the cosmic "super glue" that we cannot see in the everyday life. We take it for granted. We can feel it, though, because it is beneath the skin of the Earth, of the body, of the soul. It branches out infinitely. Sometimes it more apparent, so we reach out for a taste without realising that what we're reaching for is only a poor representation. That's where Perception kicks in, and without discernment we begin adapting ideologies and theories and philosophies when they placate our emotions and sense of wonder.

That's why the occult sciences were born. Someone, in some point in time, had a sharper sense of things, and like a subtle knife would they cut away the pretenses and illusions of man's ignorant religious posturings about the nature of God and Reality. The early adepts of wisdom were like the surgeons of the mysteries, and they knew that such knowledge had to be fiercely protected. Thus, the first mystery school was born, to guard the secrets of God and the truth of Man's inherent divinity.

But then, one day, their temples fell and their libraries looted, and those thirsty for power would pervert these secrets and horde them while feeding the world only dilutions of Truth in the form of patriarchal prisons of the mind and spirit called religion. These religions would provide just enough of the Truth to satiate their ever-withering spirits aching for redemption and rapture, and dangling before them promises of salvation, condemning all spiritual paths independent of their catholic (meaning "throughout the whole") legalism. Truth, then, has recoiled itself — rendering itself seemingly moot and relinquishing its role in Man's direct evolution — as the host of Perception acquires the crown.

After enough passing time the very idea that Truth is a conscious, pervasive and immutable force evades the collective unconscious, but its name lives on as the pseudonym for Perception as it writes page after page of doctrine, parable, psalm and spell in its various mythoi.

The mystery schools still live on, though, and they continue to reveal the hidden layers, but only to those genuine seekers. There are "black lodges", as well, though. Their zealots still permeate the higher seats of religion and politics as well as media and entertainment. They ensorcel humanity through subversive use of symbolism, Neuro-linguistic Programming, illusions of hope and salvation, social constructs, and create false paradigms for use to "choose" from (i.e. you're either with us or against us). They give words and ideas inverted meanings (i.e. occult, magic, mystical, esoteric, etc) to sway us from ever finding Truth again as if it's locked away in some secret abyss; but it's not. Truth simply preserves itself, and then only reveals itself to those attuned to its frequency.

The agents and adepts of true occult wisdom are the custodians of Truth, but Perception would have you believe otherwise as it naysays and dismisses all direct connections and pathways with the vigilance of a parasite. It is the Adversary; the Satan; the False Prophet. The true occultist has psychic immunity to it, because once you have Truth searing through your consciousness you become like Neo seeing through the great lie that calls itself Reality.

Truth has nothing to do with ideas, doctrines, philosophies, theories, spiritual avatars or holy books. Truth is "The Force" that guides the Will towards illumination. It doesn't need to be questioned, or suspected, or interpreted in some archaic tongue. It is the lens that pierces through and beyond the veil. It is the Equilibrium and the Unifier of Man (Microcosm) and God (Macrocosm). Perception is the Divider and Conquerer as it tries to enslave the spirit under its own law in defiance of Natural Law.

Truth says, "seek and you shall find, for I am the Kingdom of Heaven within," while Perception says, "behold, the only true way, for the Kingdom of Heaven awaits!"

[Ayla]

I love these quotes .....

[Deleted]

Feb 3, 2015 11:20:10 GMT 8 @illuminess said:

Luckily, I am chock-full of amazing quotes!

"The possible truths, hazily perceived in the world of abstraction, like those inferred
from observation and experiment in the world of matter, are forced upon the profane
multitudes, too busy to think for themselves, under the form of Divine revelation and
scientific authority. But the same question stands open from the days of Socrates and
Pilate down to our own age of wholesale negation: is there such a thing as absolute
truth in the hands of any one party or man? Reason answers, 'there cannot be.'
There is no room for absolute truth upon any subject whatsoever, in a world as finite
and conditioned as man is himself. But there are relative truths, and we have to make
the best we can of them." -Madame Helena P. Blavatsky

But as Mark Passio explains, there is only Truth and Perception. Think of Christ as Truth and Satan as Perception. Christ provided the moral and spiritual basics of good will which was entirely in accordance with Natural Law, and Natural Law is unwavering. Itself is Alpha and Omega, Above and Below. To shake its foundations would be to cause cosmic chaos. That's why it is considered Law and not mere suggestion. A speed limit sign is meant to regulate traffic according to its proper location and surroundings, but a speed suggestion sign can be ignored with only minor risks.

Truth is the cosmic "super glue" that we cannot see in the everyday life. We take it for granted. We can feel it, though, because it is beneath the skin of the Earth, of the body, of the soul. It branches out infinitely. Sometimes it more apparent, so we reach out for a taste without realising that what we're reaching for is only a poor representation. That's where Perception kicks in, and without discernment we begin adapting ideologies and theories and philosophies when they placate our emotions and sense of wonder.

That's why the occult sciences were born. Someone, in some point in time, had a sharper sense of things, and like a subtle knife would they cut away the pretenses and illusions of man's ignorant religious posturings about the nature of God and Reality. The early adepts of wisdom were like the surgeons of the mysteries, and they knew that such knowledge had to be fiercely protected. Thus, the first mystery school was born, to guard the secrets of God and the truth of Man's inherent divinity.

But then, one day, their temples fell and their libraries looted, and those thirsty for power would pervert these secrets and horde them while feeding the world only dilutions of Truth in the form of patriarchal prisons of the mind and spirit called religion. These religions would provide just enough of the Truth to satiate their ever-withering spirits aching for redemption and rapture, and dangling before them promises of salvation, condemning all spiritual paths independent of their catholic (meaning "throughout the whole") legalism. Truth, then, has recoiled itself — rendering itself seemingly moot and relinquishing its role in Man's direct evolution — as the host of Perception acquires the crown.

After enough passing time the very idea that Truth is a conscious, pervasive and immutable force evades the collective unconscious, but its name lives on as the pseudonym for Perception as it writes page after page of doctrine, parable, psalm and spell in its various mythoi.

The mystery schools still live on, though, and they continue to reveal the hidden layers, but only to those genuine seekers. There are "black lodges", as well, though. Their zealots still permeate the higher seats of religion and politics as well as media and entertainment. They ensorcel humanity through subversive use of symbolism, Neuro-linguistic Programming, illusions of hope and salvation, social constructs, and create false paradigms for use to "choose" from (i.e. you're either with us or against us). They give words and ideas inverted meanings (i.e. occult, magic, mystical, esoteric, etc) to sway us from ever finding Truth again as if it's locked away in some secret abyss; but it's not. Truth simply preserves itself, and then only reveals itself to those attuned to its frequency.

The agents and adepts of true occult wisdom are the custodians of Truth, but Perception would have you believe otherwise as it naysays and dismisses all direct connections and pathways with the vigilance of a parasite. It is the Adversary; the Satan; the False Prophet. The true occultist has psychic immunity to it, because once you have Truth searing through your consciousness you become like Neo seeing through the great lie that calls itself Reality.

Truth has nothing to do with ideas, doctrines, philosophies, theories, spiritual avatars or holy books. Truth is "The Force" that guides the Will towards illumination. It doesn't need to be questioned, or suspected, or interpreted in some archaic tongue. It is the lens that pierces through and beyond the veil. It is the Equilibrium and the Unifier of Man (Microcosm) and God (Macrocosm). Perception is the Divider and Conquerer as it tries to enslave the spirit under its own law in defiance of Natural Law.

Truth says, "seek and you shall find, for I am the Kingdom of Heaven within," while Perception says, "behold, the only true way, for the Kingdom of Heaven awaits!"

But the whole thing is polarity. If there is a good there has to be a bad. If there is a north there has to be a south. If there is an east then there has to be a west. If the there is a beginning then there has to be an end. Polarity is human thinking. What if evil is a part of good? If the world flipped and we wil know if we ever see the Southern Cross in the norhten Hemipshere, but how many people are really amatuer astronomers. Would we even know if it wasn't a destructive violent action?

As humans we incessently and eternally need heros and villians. Well the same God that created us, created Lucifer and since God is Love, are Satan and God actual enemies? I know the Bible talks about Fallen Angels. Fallen is lower. So if you listen to Theoretical Phycists the Fallen angels are couild be at a lower esonance or vibrational level than the devine angels. OK so a philosophical question. Lead's resonance is extremely low. It is thick, it is mushy it can be molded and it is extremely dense. We can feel lead. Are we the fallen angels at such a lower resonance than the Devine angels? OK so I'm not vain. I will be the first to say that I may have fallen from Grace. Not a bad thing though because the instant that Eve ate from the tree of knowledge, she sealed our fate on a fast track or one hell of a super Highway to hell. Evne in Genesis is the statement, "They are one of us now. They know the difference between good and evil". Who said this? The Elohim? Some angels which still could be the 7 Elohim? 7 and 12. Coincidence? I don't think so. There are 7 days in a week and there are 12 months in a year. There are 12 gates of heaven.

It's one hell of a mystery. It is a shame that people fight over this great mystery instead of putting thier intellegences together to try and understand it. But Polarity rules the world. Good and evil. Black or white and it goes on and on. But without evil we wouldn't have good.Oh we would but could we recognize Divinity without it's opposite? the whold thing about it is is that one's good is another's evil and vice versa. One person's trash is another person's treasure.

You are really talking about things that the greatest philosophers like Plato and Socrates couldn't answer without more questions. Maybe there is no definative asnwer. Maybe deep, really deep down inside we need no answer. Maybe we know the answer extrememly deep witin ourselves. But it will be way deeper than the conscious mind can even begin to comprehend. Take the Big Bang. A lot of smart people have decided that the Universe is 14 some oadd billion years old. How do you come up with that? Red Shift and Green Shift. Wow freaking Doppler Radar. Can we really judge the Universe by earthbound physics? In the Universe since you have both red and green shifts. So is it contracting or retracting? Do these people even know? Or are they just guessing? What if the Universe is eternal? What if it has been here for infinity and will be here for infinity? No beginning and no end, just is and will be? Can we grasp that? That goes totally against human thinking. I believe in infinity. I believe that time is not linear like everyone else does. I believe that time doesn't exist outside the human mind so, when it comes to the universe, time is infinate. Much like numbers. Keep adding 0s or -s depending on our markers of time.

OK so what is Metaphysics? Is it something that exists outside the commonly perceptives of physics? What came first Illuminess, the chicken or the egg? It is a paradox.

There is no answer and be very, very wary of those that claim to know the Truth. The Truth is unknowable right now. Anyone that claims to know the absolute truth be extremely wary of because they are wanting fortune or fame. I don't know the truth and spent my whole life looking for it. I know my truth. But that is mine own truth and no one else's. Everyone has their own truth. When someone claims to know the absolute truth then they7 either want fortune or fame or both. Kind of like Jimmy.

Be very wary of people becaus there are many false profits. The false profits will lead you the wrong way everytime. Yeah I know a bible reference but let's leave the bible our of it. No one knows the truth. I don't, Brother Jimmmy and Brother Jim don't. There are a couple of sisters that claim but they haven;t been called like Jimmy Swaggert and Jim Bakker.

Personally I think we know the truth better than just about anyone else that claims to know. We, being trans and feeling tow different parts of ourselves, know more than anyone else. We can disconnect the body from the Spirit. Hell we feel the disconnect ever freakin' day. I feel it every freakin' hour of every freakin' day of every freakin' week of every freakin' year to every freakin' decade. A gift or curse? It all depends. Polarity doesn;t really exist other than in the human mind. I feel that polarity but I think I am blessed. It has allowed me to seperate the body (UGHHHHH ) from the Spirit of the true me (AHHH, freedom at least) and that is probably one of the best gifts that the Universe, God or nature could ever give me. Being able to seperate the phsycial from the Spirtual is one hell of a gift. It may not seem like it though but it is.

[Deleted]

When it comes to all those specifics I really don't bother much. The intellect loves to pick apart the details. The wise simply remain open to possibility and appreciate what they can understand right now. Socrates, Aristotle, Plotinus, Hypatia, Pythagoreas — they were all wonderful thinkers and philosophers, but each new generation will have its own who may very well surpass them.

Wisdom doesn't have a roof, and the only walls it may have are the ones we give it. It all depends on what level of comfort you're after. If you want heroes and villains, then you'll find a way to anthropomorphise whatever is necessary to invent them. If you want God to fit neatly in a box so that you can recognise it/him/her/them, then that's what you'll do. We'll interpret things either freely or accept interpretations without much inquiry, as it all depends on how ready we are to expand ourselves to greater truths. Whichever choices we make it really doesn't matter, because we're all on our own paths.

No religion on the planet holds all the keys and none of them have any right to claim authority. No matter how any of us interpret reality and divinity, there still remains only two Prime Directives: Truth and Perception. And within us all are both Dark and Light. Instead of trying to cling onto one or the other, you have to figure out how to keep them in balance. Balance is where Clarity is manifest. Each duality within us must be reconciled. This is The Great Work.

And Wisdom isn't about knowing absolutes. It may strive for them, but that's why there's a difference between wisdom and knowledge. You can know all sorts of things and not have a lick of wisdom. I would say there's very little wisdom in the obsession for knowledge. It will come naturally and precisely when needed. Taking it further than that and you'll suddenly become acquainted with madness.

Anyway, I'd better not waste my time writing anymore cerebral blog posts right now. I have some fiction to focus on!