Fact vs. Truth
When it comes to matters of spirituality and magickal or metaphysical practice, critical thinking can get you to the door of truth but it may also keep it from opening. Allow me to explain critically:
There is a difference between fact and truth.
Definitions from wikipedia (the people's encyclopedia)
Fact-can refer to verified information about past or present circumstances or events which are presented as objective reality. In science, it means a provable concept.
Truth-Truth has a variety of meanings, such as the state of being in accord with a particular fact or reality, or being in accord with the body of real things, real events or actualities. It can also mean having fidelity to an original or to a standard or ideal. In a common archaic usage it also meant constancy or sincerity in action or character. The direct opposite of truth is "falsehood", which can correspondingly take logical, factual or ethical meanings. The method used to recognize a "truth" is termed a criterion of truth. Since there is no single accepted criterion, they can all be considered "theories". Various theories and views of truth continue to be debated among scholars and philosophers. There are differing claims on such questions as what constitutes truth; how to define and identify truth; and whether truth is subjective or objective, relative or absolute.
That being said...there is very little that can be established as fact in the realm of spirituality, occultism, philosophy, metaphysics, etc. but there are many truths. The only ascertainable facts on these subjects are who wrote it and when. The older a document is the harder it is to establish a definite time and place of origin...but it's also of the utmost importance to understand that, while the antiquity of a concept gives us a sense of validation, it has no real bearing on its level of truth.
The truth of many things of this nature can only be ascertained by the individual's willingness to surrender some part of themselves to the practice, which may, at times, involve a temporary removal of your critical thinking caps....which some would consider a worthy sacrifice in the pursuit of true wisdom.
Critical thinking is just one of more the important tools in the arsenal of the truth seeker...but hardly the most important.
My intention is merely to remind folks that the practice of magick, to some extent, involves a temporary suspension of disbelief. Having completed a session of ritual it's then favorable to write the experience down as accurately as possible and record any and all related effects in the weeks to come so that the practitioner can evaluate the results or effects of their magickal working thereby honing the efficiency of their techniques through critical evaluation ...but there's a moment during actual practice in which it is necessary for the critical mind to step out of it's own way in order to accomplish any magickal working, not to mention meditation and trance work. Critical thinking is an essential aspect of philosophical and scientific pondering but to employ critical thinking at all times and in all situations could be counterproductive as too much can dull the other faculties that help us to assimilate our experience of reality such as imagination, instinct, intuition and creativity. To live completely in the realm of critical thinking is as unbalanced an approach to life as blindly believing everything someone tells you. In my humble opinion critical thinking is no more important to our enlightenment, evolution, or survival as a species than imagination, instinct, intuition, or creativity. And I would even go so far as to say it's actually far less important than the faculties of our being that allow us to feel compassion and empathy for other living things. But again this is not to imply that critical thinking isn't an important tool in the assimilation of truth...so long as it's used in balance and cooperation with other equally important faculties.
Had Hitler himself employed a little less critical thinking and a little more compassion....he may not have ended up being Hitler....
The Truth Unveiled by Time by Bernini (ironically never finished)
There is a difference between fact and truth.
Definitions from wikipedia (the people's encyclopedia)
Fact-can refer to verified information about past or present circumstances or events which are presented as objective reality. In science, it means a provable concept.
Truth-Truth has a variety of meanings, such as the state of being in accord with a particular fact or reality, or being in accord with the body of real things, real events or actualities. It can also mean having fidelity to an original or to a standard or ideal. In a common archaic usage it also meant constancy or sincerity in action or character. The direct opposite of truth is "falsehood", which can correspondingly take logical, factual or ethical meanings. The method used to recognize a "truth" is termed a criterion of truth. Since there is no single accepted criterion, they can all be considered "theories". Various theories and views of truth continue to be debated among scholars and philosophers. There are differing claims on such questions as what constitutes truth; how to define and identify truth; and whether truth is subjective or objective, relative or absolute.
That being said...there is very little that can be established as fact in the realm of spirituality, occultism, philosophy, metaphysics, etc. but there are many truths. The only ascertainable facts on these subjects are who wrote it and when. The older a document is the harder it is to establish a definite time and place of origin...but it's also of the utmost importance to understand that, while the antiquity of a concept gives us a sense of validation, it has no real bearing on its level of truth.
The truth of many things of this nature can only be ascertained by the individual's willingness to surrender some part of themselves to the practice, which may, at times, involve a temporary removal of your critical thinking caps....which some would consider a worthy sacrifice in the pursuit of true wisdom.
Critical thinking is just one of more the important tools in the arsenal of the truth seeker...but hardly the most important.
My intention is merely to remind folks that the practice of magick, to some extent, involves a temporary suspension of disbelief. Having completed a session of ritual it's then favorable to write the experience down as accurately as possible and record any and all related effects in the weeks to come so that the practitioner can evaluate the results or effects of their magickal working thereby honing the efficiency of their techniques through critical evaluation ...but there's a moment during actual practice in which it is necessary for the critical mind to step out of it's own way in order to accomplish any magickal working, not to mention meditation and trance work. Critical thinking is an essential aspect of philosophical and scientific pondering but to employ critical thinking at all times and in all situations could be counterproductive as too much can dull the other faculties that help us to assimilate our experience of reality such as imagination, instinct, intuition and creativity. To live completely in the realm of critical thinking is as unbalanced an approach to life as blindly believing everything someone tells you. In my humble opinion critical thinking is no more important to our enlightenment, evolution, or survival as a species than imagination, instinct, intuition, or creativity. And I would even go so far as to say it's actually far less important than the faculties of our being that allow us to feel compassion and empathy for other living things. But again this is not to imply that critical thinking isn't an important tool in the assimilation of truth...so long as it's used in balance and cooperation with other equally important faculties.
Had Hitler himself employed a little less critical thinking and a little more compassion....he may not have ended up being Hitler....
The Truth Unveiled by Time by Bernini (ironically never finished)
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