|
features of the universe have a very strong aetheric pattern which
makes them fairly predictable but difficult to influence by the
aetheric patterns created by thought. Magicians see themselves as
participating in nature. Transcendentalists like to think they are
somehow above it. Materialists like to try and manipulate it.
Now this universe has the peculiarly accomodating property of
tending to provide evidence for, and confirmation of, whatever
paradigm one chooses to believe in. Presumably at some deep level
there is a hidden symmetry between those things we call Matter,
Aether and Spirit. Indeed, it is rare to find an individual or
culture operating exclusively on a single one of these paradigms and
none is ever entirely absent. Non dominant paradigms are always
present as superstitions and fears. A subsequent section on Aeonics
will attempt to untangle the influences of each of these great world
views throughout history, to see how they have interacted with each
other and to predict future trends. In the meantime an analysis of
the radically differing concepts of time and self in each paradigm
is offered to more fully distinguish the basic ideas.
Transcendentalists conceive of time in millennial and apocalyptic
terms. Time is regareded as having a definite beginning and ending,
both initiated by the activities of spiritual beings or forces. The
end of time on the personal and cosmic scale is regarded not so much
as a cessation of being but as a change to a state of non material
being. The beginning of personal and cosmic time is similarly
regarded as a creative act by spiritual agencies. Thus reproductive
activity usually becomes heavily controlled and hedged about with
taboo and restriction in religious cultures, as it implies an
usurpation of the powers of deities. Reproduction also implies that
death has in some measure been overcome. How awesome the power of
creation and how final must earthly death subconsciously loom to a
celibate and sterile priesthood.
All transcendentalisms embody elements of apocalyptism. Typically
these are used to provoke revivals when business is slack or
attention is drifting elsewhere. Thus it is suddenly revealed that
the final days are at hand or that some earthly dispute is in fact a
titanic battle against evil spiritual agencies.
Materialist time is linear but unbounded. Ideally it can be extended
arbitrarily far in either direction from the present. To the strict
materialist it is self-evidently futile to speculate about a
beginning or an end to time. Similarly the materialist is
contemptuous of any speculations about any forms of personal
existence before birth or after death. The materialist may well fear
painful or premature death but can have no fears about being dead.
The magical view is that time is cyclic and that all processes
recur. Even cycles which appear to begin or end are actually parts
of larger cycles. Thus all endings are beginnings and the end of
time is synonymous with the beginning of time in another universe.
The magical view that everything is recycled is reflected in the
doctrine of reincarnation. The attractive idea of reincarnation has
often persisted into the religious paradigm and many pagan and even
some monotheist traditions have retained it. However religious
theories invariably contaminate the original idea with beliefs about
|