/lit/ - Literature

What does /lit/ think of Kabbalah? Has anyone here read the Zohar or any secondary sources? I can post some great primers if anyone's interested.

>>11234418
you're imposing constraints on Nothing, what it can or cannot do, making it a determinate Something

>The universe can be described as a cybernetic system in which freedom and constraint are counterbalanced. The constraints function as structure; thus, the laws of physics are constraints which define the structure of spacetime, whereas freedom is that which is bound or logically quantified by the constraints in question. Now, since there is no real time scale external to reality, there is no extrinsic point in time at which the moment of creation can be located, and this invalidates phrases like "before reality existed" and "when reality created itself". So rather than asking "when" the universe came to be, or what existed "before" the universe was born, we must instead ask "what would remain if the structural constraints defining the real universe were regressively suspended?" First, time would gradually disappear, eliminating the "when" question entirely. And once time disappears completely, what remains is the answer to the "what" question: a realm of boundless potential characterized by a total lack of real constraint. In other words, the real universe timelessly emerges from a background of logically unquantified potential to which the concepts of space and time simply do not apply.

keywords: logically unqualified potential

mysticism, especially concepts like Qabbalah's Tree of Life, train you in an understanding of reality and oneself that is primarily emotional-intuitive.

as mystics progressed in spiritual development, deepened their trance states, purged their ego, whatever, they found a remarkable commonality of experience across many traditions. these experiences were conceptualized in systems like Qabbalah and hermeticism.

you become better able to understand and manipulate your energies, not like it's an anime, but in awareness of one's physical and mental state you can step outside the loop of your thoughts and become an observer, and in that vantage point there is an almost God-like sense of peace, oneness, and joy. it is unimpeded, unclouded, pure consciousness.

you don't have to believe in higher realms and astral travel and shit, but as a discipline in experiencing the absolute reality, it is unparalleled. ive made more progress in personal development studying theurgy, alchemy, and Qabbalah than I ever had studying CBT or psycho-pathology, although of course rationalism is not spurned. as with everything there is balance.

(gnosticism itself is a p cool tradition but there's nothing practical that isn't found in other traditions, specifically the idea of gnosis, ie personal subjective experience of the Divine. also the demiurge shit has been co-opted by fat nerds who hate their lives so id stay away from it)

Actual Bhuddism is nowhere near what is practiced by trendy white kid pop-orientalist pseudo-religious hipsters. What they are doing is basically just a fad. Im sure some sort of weird Hinduism will become popular eventually. I think part of the reason its so popular is that people pull that "its not a religion" bullshit, and it allows young people to hide behind a belief system that's "not a religion" and thus not what their parents want them to do.