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Now, usually I'm pretty skeptical of my own strange 'mystical' experiences, but... I figure I might as well describe what has been bothering me with this one, simply because its been so... persistent.

For the last month or so I've had a real problem with the doors in my home, specifically the upstairs doors- to my bedroom and the bathroom, as well as to a storage room. If I should hesitate for even a moment before opening the door, I get this... image of a coweled figure with a goats skull for a head standing beyond the doorway. Other times, when I'm focused on a task upstairs, I get a feeling of something right behind me.

Now, I know I'd completely dismiss this out of hand- it sounds so darn corny, so stereotypical, I can barely believe that there is a problem myself... but... there is, and whether its a mental block of mine that has only recently arisen, or a true brush with the supernatural, its starting to effect me quite seriously.


So...

help?

[Why So Glum, Chum?]

Why So Glum, Chum?

"Evil will always triumph, because good is dumb"- Dark Helmet- Spaceballs.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" Edmund Burke

Well, it took me long enough, but now, finally, I have decided to sit down and write up a proper rant on the foundation of my own personal philosophy, and how I apply it to the world at large today. It may be rambling and incoherent in places, or maybe it'll be utterly mindblowingly amazing, I guess we won't know until we get there. I just feel that, given how I think I have appeared in recent discussions it is important that I put all my cards on the table, so to speak.

A major question in philosophy today is also a simple one- Where did this all come from? Well, it seems simple to me at least, where did the universe come from? Why, friend, why do you suggest that the universe came from anywhere? Why did it begin? How did it begin? Well, what we are dealing with here isn't as simple as the material universe, what we are dealing with is... everything. It may seem, and a good many intelligent men have fallen into the trap of believing, that because everything in it has a start and an end, the universe itself must fall prey to those laws. Not so, say I! Not so!

What evidence do I base this suggestion upon? Well, its simple really. I don't believe that anything truly has a beginning, or an end. I believe that everything that has been, still is, and everything that is, has been.

The human sensory system is only equipped to deal with a truly microscopic amount of the data that the universe throws at it, indeed, it is estimated that perhaps less than one millionth of the possible sensory data that the universe throws at people every day is actually processed. Couple this with the fact that the human mind is known to repress, distort, decay and destroy the information that actually does make it into the system and it soon becomes clear that, as a species, we truly are very badly equipped to deal with the universe.

But how does this relate to time? Well, I'll tell you.

I believe in a combination of the Epicurean Hypothesis and some more... esoteric thought that I have picked up along the way, simply, I believe that time as most humans understand it does not exist. I believe that the universe simply... is, and that it has had an infinite amount of 'time' in which to come to a state in which we can observe it as we do currently. I believe that the universe is constantly changing, and as such, we change with it, however, as time is infinite, it is my belief that humanity arose to fit the universe, not the other way around, and- more- as the universe expands and changes, humanity itself changes to try and perceive more of it.

In the past few decades it seems that massive advances have been made in the field of Astral Projection, we are getting more and more people claiming to have had Out Of Body Experiences, and more and more people claiming an ability to induce them far easier. This, to me, is a clear sign of the evolution of the human race towards being able to perceive more of the universe, the material realm is not all there is, there is... more. We do not know what it is yet, we have had thousands of years to try and understand the material realm and we are still grappling with elements of that, but as we progress, it is my belief that we will come to understand and be able to understand more of the universe.

However, I strongly believe that in coming to understand the material plane, humanity has gotten itself locked into certain modes of thought, humanity is no longer willing, as a whole, to challenge beliefs. It is not willing to accept new ideas, or to create them or voice them for fear of being shouted down by its peers. Humanity seems to be falling into a trap, and it is one which challenges our very spiritual development.

Now, this is where my beliefs begin to sound a little crazy, but please, at least try and consider them before shouting them down.

Have you looked at the world around you lately? Man kills man, man pollutes the air we breathe, poisons the food we eat, the water we drink. Man corrupts and kills and slaughters needlessly, exploits man all for the over-riding concept that mankind has taken instead of enlightenment or happiness, instead of joy or creativity. No, man no longer cares for these things. Now men kill men in the name, not of God, for God didn't serve their purposes, no, man now kills man for profit and nothing else.

Profit. Money. Riches. Fame. Glory. Possessions.

These are the new enemies of spiritual development, mankind has created its own prison, and the bars are locked into place in the minds of children from birth itself. Money is the new God, and as mankind progressed beyond the need of God, it has snuggled itself firmly into the grip of Profit. The Machine, that is, society, now crushes its cogs and and any who go against its cogs in the name of greater profit, greater advances, better ways to produce the stuff that The Machine tells its cogs they NEED, better, more efficient ways to slaughter the cogs of other Machines that go against The Machine (what a laugh, in reality, almost all of The Machines work together for the betterment of the top Cogs)

It has now reached the point where it is almost impossible to imagine a world without Money, without the Holy Dollar/Euro/Pound/Yen, it is an undeniable FACT that the governments of the world are corrupt, bought and sold like any other commodity, it is an undeniable fact that the exploitation of hundreds of millions of people feeds that top ten percent, although what they eat is paid for in blood.

It is said in the Principia Discordia, that Eris came to the prophets and said "You have built for yourselves psychic suits of armor, and clad in them, your vision is restricted, your movements are clumsy and painful, your skin is bruised, and your spirit is broiled in the sun."

I believe this to be the case- humanity as a whole has become so unwilling to accept new ideas that it is the duty of those of us who are a little bit closer to understanding the next step must try and do something. Mankind is killing itself, slowly, but it is killing itself. It is destroying the planet that birthed it in the name of Profit, and any who dare to speak out against it are discredited or written off as crackpots.

But I digress, there are still a few more fundamental points of my philosophy to impart to you. The most important I think is the concept of Chaos, and once I have finished outlining that, I'll stop this rant, get a nice cold drink, (no doubt paid for by the blood of a few dozen orphan children somewhere) and then post this up and let you all have a look, and tear it to pieces.

Chaos.

What is chaos? To me, Chaos is the only thing which can be applied to the entire universe, I classify myself as a Discordian, and as such I personify Chaos as Eris, (I don't care if other Discordians don't, haha!) I believe that the entire universe is now in Chaos, and has always been in Chaos. However, as 'time' has progressed, the Chaos has seemed to settle into patterns, and it is these patterns that Scientists classify, and, the more fundamental patterns, which have allowed humanity to evolve to the point where we can perceive the Chaos without going utterly insane.

However, I believe that, although there is definitely Order in the Chaos, that is, there are definitely patterns and systems which seem to have arisen, it is in the nature of the universe to change, and thus these patterns and systems are never, ever, going to be applicable to everything in the universe. For every rule, there will be an exception, and for every exception, there shall be a new rule, which shall itself have exceptions... and so on.

As touched upon earlier, I believe that humanity is evolving to be able to perceive more of what is already out there, however, I also believe that humanity is singularly unsuited to this task- we have already crafted for ourselves the cage of Money, I believe also that human though processes tend to fall into patterns and orders and try to question everything else as little as possible. Thus, in order to evolve, we must never stop questioning things.

This is the final trap that I warn you of, and something that the two quotes used to start this little rant touch upon, the trap of apathy. Humans try not to question things, and they also try to play down their own importance. "Oh what does the state of the world matter?" They cry, "What can I do? I am just one man!"

SO WHAT?!

Gandhi was just one man, Martin Luther King, Hitler, Stalin, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, even Jesus, these were all men who dared to stand up for what they believed in, and are now known as heroes or villains, these were all Just Men, just like you, although admittedly I find it more difficult to think of great Women, I know for a fact they they are out there too! ONE PERSON CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

Of course, you people probably find this hard to believe in the overwhelming force of todays apathy, why would everything seem to tell you that you can't possibly make a difference if the opposite was true, right? Besides, you need to work hard to keep up the payments on your house, car, holiday, loan, mortgage. You need more money for the latest technological gadget, the latest clothes, the latest way to disguise how horrible the human body is, right?

No. Wrong. All wrong. This is what The Machine mentioned earlier wants you to think. What you must realize is that you can rise above this. You too can be a great man/woman/hermaphrodite.

And I know that I am going to try my best to be just that, I am going to do what I believe is right, and damn the consequences.

Or Kill Me.

[Moderator Action: I am splitting a thread and making a new one because this is an important topic. The Background: In a previous thread, James S. said that we needed to stop thinking of ourselves as being separate from God and that the idea itself is "the greatest blasphemy of all time." James also introduced the metaphor that God is a VERB. The following is kai wren's initial response to James and then all following posts.~Beth]

How so?

I do not see how God -must- not be separate from us, it makes more sense to believe that God is both separate from us and not separate from us at the same time, does it not?

God created the universe, God also created man, I truly believe that God is part of everything and everyone, I do not wish to derail the thread with this concept, but to say that the greatest blasphemy is that God was ever separate from us seems... absurd.

God must have been separate from us in the Beginning to have created us, if indeed he/she/it created us at all. If God did not create us, is such a being God? At least in the sense many people understand the concept.

I do not believe so.

Recently I have been reading into this religion, becoming interested in it and I believe I may even take it on as my Official Faith, yup, no more agnosticism for me, Hail Eris!

The original Discordian Holy Book is the Principia Discordia, which is, I believe, KopyLeft, and therefore available for free right here http://www.ology.org/principia/body.html

I've found Discordianism philosophy very interesting, and on request I can suggest a few fora which can provide a look into the minds of other Discordians (warning, this may not be for the faint of heart) or even a long essay I wrote entitled an Introduction to Discordianism, which I decided not to spam you all with here.

I was just interested in what the opinions of others here would be of this fringe religion disguised as a joke disguised as a religion. So... yeah... discuss!

Hi all... its been a while.

Some of you might possibly remember me, I was Gohukes a few years ago now, never actually managed to achieve an Astral Projection of my own, all I ever got were a few lucid dreams, even in the years that followed, eventually I got frustrated and schoolwork kept me away ( I am now 17)

But... if I remember right, back then there was a lot of discussion and theories as to how Astral Projection worked, what it was, and I /think/ the dominant theory was that astral projection was a way for the conscious mind to project out and explore the mind and imagination in a more physical environment... I /think/ it was agreed meeting actual other AP'ers would be next to impossible...

Sooo... I guess my question is, how successful has this place been? How did it come about? And how long did it take for you to become good enough to get there?

This place has really grown whilst I've been away... I'm kinda sad that I've missed its growth, but equally happy that I remembered about it now.

Who knows, maybe I'll have more luck this time around.