Introduction to the Concept of Chaos Magic and Reflections on De-religiousization

 Most people believe that only Chinese people engage in metaphysics. In fact, the West has never stopped exploring. Some of their exploratory achievements have positive significance. In the West, this field of study is called Theosophy, and there is an organization called Theosophical Society. Some domestic materials translate it as the Theosophical Association, which is actually incorrect.

 This organization is still very active today. For example, "The Secret," which discusses the Law of Attraction, is something they created. There are many others, which will not be listed here.

 Since their website is blocked, I will not post the link to avoid it being blocked as well.

 This article only introduces the relevant concepts of Chaos Magic as inspiration.

 First, let's mention some books related to the concept of Chaos Magic. Those interested can read them on their own:

• Greer, John Michael (2003). The New Encyclopedia of the Occult. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications. p. 97. ISBN 9781567183368. Jesper Aagaard Petersen (2009). Contemporary religious Satanism: A Critical Anthology. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 225. ISBN 0-7546-5286-6.
• Vitimus, Andrieh (2009). Hands-on Chaos Magic: Reality Manipulation Through the Ovayki Current. Llewellyn Worldwide. ISBN 978-0-7387-1508-7.
• Hugh B. Urban (2006). Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic, and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism. University of California Press. p. 247. ISBN 0-520-24776-0.
• Hine, Phil (1995). Condensed Chaos. New Falcon Publications. ISBN 1-56184-117-X.
• Hawkins, Jaq D. (1994). Understanding Chaos Magic. Capall Bann Publishing. ISBN 978-1898307938.
• Knowles, George. Austin Osman Spare (1886–1956)
• Carroll, Peter J. (1987). Liber Null & Psychonaut. Weiser Books. ISBN 0-87728-639-6.
• Carroll, Peter J. (1992). Liber Kaos. Weiser Books. ISBN 0-87728-742-2.
• The Book of Results, 1978. Ray Sherwin, ISBN 1-4116-2558-7
• Grant Morrison. "Pop Magic!". In Richard Metzger. Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult. Disinformation Guides.
• Disinformation Books. pp. 16–25. ISBN 0-9713942-7-X.
• Fries, Jan (1992). Visual Magick: A Handbook of Freestyle Shamanism. Mandrake of Oxford. ISBN 1-869928-57-1.
• Sacred Texts: Chaos Magic
• Hine, Phil (1993). Prime Chaos. New Falcon Publications. ISBN 1-56184-137-4.
• Fries, Jan (1997). Seidways. Mandrake of Oxford. ISBN 1-869928-36-9.
• Hawkins, Jaq D. (1996). Understanding Chaos Magic. Capall Bann Publishing. ISBN 1-898307-93-8.

 In previous articles, I mentioned that the British eccentric worshippers refer to this type, self-styled as Chaos Magic. This belongs to the modern school, originating in the UK in the 1970s.

 The thinking of this school is as follows: religious beliefs are rigid and fixed patterns, while the human mind is free and should not be constrained within the mythology of a single religion. Faith itself is merely a tool; the existence of religion is to allow people to use faith to awaken gnosis.

 During the period of the ancient Roman Empire, many mystical sects were popular along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. They were different schools but shared a general consistent idea, which centered on gnosis, emphasizing the understanding of "gnosis" (Greek: gnosis). Because of its pronunciation, this gnosis is "No Si" (Gnosis). Those who mastered "No Si" were called "Gnostics" (Greek: gnostikoi), which is generally referred to as wise men in the West.

 At this point, some people may find that this is similar to the saying in Zen meditation that one will attain wisdom to a certain extent. This is indeed the same because they originally share the same origin.

 Therefore, they are collectively referred to as Gnostics. In the Western Theosophical movement of the 20th century, because the ideas were similar to Gnostic thought, it was also believed that Gnosticism was its source.

 Furthermore, they believe that whether it is meditation, traditional forms of magic, or other elements, they have no intrinsic value and are merely packaged. They are only manifestations of techniques for inducing gnosis.

 The reason this type of operation is named Chaos is: no regulations, no organization, no laws, everything is based on practicality.

 However, in practice, this school is quite problematic because, in addition to meditation and breathing techniques, they also attempted to absorb the principles of African witchcraft involving the ingestion of hallucinogenic herbs to perform magic. They used drugs to mobilize and amplify personal mental abilities, which often led to addiction to drug use from which it was difficult to extricate oneself.

 By the way, it is interesting that some modern scholars studying Daoism believe that ancient Daoist alchemy involved many toxic pills. When people consumed them, they experienced hallucinations. This is actually the same principle, leading to an expansion of spiritual power, which is the same as the African witchcraft practice of ingesting hallucinogenic drugs. Why don't a few bricks fall from the sky to knock out these ignorant scholars?

 The creator of Chaos Magic was a painter who grew up with a witch. There is now a hypothesis that the witch might have had some connection to the Gnostic sect, as she was reportedly from a witch lineage. He absorbed a lot of the witch's consciousness. The reason he became a painter was to try to express his psychedelic worldview. Later, he seemed to have sobered up and proposed his own philosophy:

 The world is unknowable, and any cognition is therefore incorrect. Therefore, neither science nor religion can be correct. Humans are part of the universe themselves, and any religion only leads to false idol worship.

 Most people are easily fooled when they read this. However, if you have read my article "Exploration of Orthodox Belief in Daoism," you will understand that his cognition is very biased because he equated illusion with nothingness and non-existence, and mapped nothingness and non-existence to right and wrong.

 In 1978, the British Peter Carroll established the Illuminates of Thanateros organization in 1978. The Chinese translation is Illuminates of Thanateros (Gods of Death and Love). Then, by piecing together elements from Hinduism and Chinese Daoism, he formally proposed Chaos Witchcraft. The philosophy proposed on this basis is truly meaningful.

 It believes that whether demons, ghosts, or various deities, they are archetypal powers hidden in the collective consciousness. Personal consciousness can mobilize these energies through the subconscious, i.e., the True Self. It integrates the concepts of Brahman, Emptiness, and Dao, and believes that everything is empty and that all worldly phenomena are illusions, which also bind the human mind. At the same time, it believes that any belief is a useful illusion and can also be correct.

 At the same time, this school proposed an interesting concept. Other occult and related organizations believe that if magic is used randomly, one will receive triple compensation. This school believes that the phenomenon of triple compensation is not an objective law. It appears only because of the user's own feelings of guilt and anxiety.

 Precisely because of this, the thinking of this school is very active. Using Doraemon as a god, Spider-Man as a god, Ultraman as a god, etc., are all means of their practice, and such practices are effective.

 Why are they effective? Having read my other articles, it should be easy to understand here what they are actually worshipping.

 The research of these Western organizations has reference value, emphasizing the power of the spirit, which is actually the power of the soul, and attempting to communicate with the outside world, then trying to mobilize the energy hidden in the collective consciousness to achieve one's goals.

 Taking the Law of Attraction as an example, it emphasizes first setting a goal to gather, i.e., concentrating mental power. After concentration, what needs to be handled is the subtle balance between positive and negative. For example, if you desire wealth, you must abandon the concept of poverty. This abandonment means not even thinking about it, but completely discarding it. This abandonment is "emptying" rather than "confronting," because once you "confront" it, you acknowledge its existence, and the attractive effect cannot be generated.

 The correct consciousness for attempting to possess wealth should be how to concentrate mental power on having more money, rather than concentrating mental power on how to get rid of poverty. This mental power, after forming positive mindfulness, will resonate with the positive mindfulness in the collective, thereby generating positive and beneficial influences, bringing good luck to people, and causing a huge transformation in their fortune.

 It should be noted that this type of technique has a certain impact on changing luck, but it cannot break the limitations of destiny. This must be kept in mind. It only makes the flow of luck in destiny more beneficial. However, for most people, this little bit of benefit is also very valuable.

 More importantly, one must understand that mental power is useful, but do not exaggerate its role without limit. Some schools exaggerate mental power to infinity, believing it is omnipotent. In the face of reality, this is purely self-torture. Exaggerating the role of mental power without limit is most common in Hinduism, Buddhism, and some European sects. The most interesting thing is that those holding this view are mostly countries that have been bullied and invaded for a long time in history and have rarely been powerful.

 A counterexample: Think of the Great Leap Forward steel production campaign. At that time, no one thought it would fail. Surpassing Britain and catching up with America was no problem. But the result was still a failure, and it brought many negative effects.

 Why is this? Reality is objective, and its power is extremely rigid. Although mental power has a certain influence, it is not sufficient to change all reality through mental power alone. To put it simply, before there were living beings, the universe was evolving on its own. After living beings appeared, even when their spiritual intelligence was not high, there were still natural disasters and objective survival of the fittest. This has always existed and will not change just because of mental power. After all, mental power is too weak. The power of pure mental power can only change personal luck within a certain range.

 Sects like Buddhism and Hinduism easily exaggerate the influence of mental power. This must be taken seriously. Historically, if mental power were truly powerful enough, India would not have been invaded repeatedly and reduced to a colony.

 The concept of "de-religiousization" is currently popular, especially in places like Insight Meditation centers, which also attempt to de-religiousize. The results of de-religiousization have also caused backlash from many schools, such as the black witch in American TV series accusing Constantine: "You are cultural thieves."

 Let's not discuss whether it is cultural theft first. De-religiousization and then elevating it to a philosophical height sounds like a good choice, but the problem is that after de-religiousization, most people will lose the correct direction, leading to more chaotic results. For example, many practices of Chaos Magic involve addiction to sex and drug use, resulting in things getting worse and worse. The initial intention to explore the truth has long been thrown away somewhere.

 The reason religion has been passed down for so long, and myths have also been passed down for so long, is that religion and myth are inseparable parts. If the practical part is simply extracted from religion, learners often cannot find their way.

 For example, the Immortal Studies extracted from Alchemy today. Although researchers are numerous and many secret Daoist texts are now public, with many ancient secret scriptures presented to modern people, most people practicing Immortal Studies today cannot understand them at all. They force interpretations and dismantle them randomly, resulting in more and more confusion. However, those who truly practice Daoism can understand the Daoist scriptures at a glance. Why? If you do not understand Daoist mythology, you cannot understand Daoist cultivation, because many insights and empirical experiences are hidden in the myths. So-called de-religiousization is actually just a joke.

 For example, Dongwang Gong. Daoist mythology says that to ascend to immortality, one must first worship Dongwang Gong and then Xiwangmu. Many people who do not understand this will feel disdain or say it is just superstition. Here, it clearly writes out a step-by-step order in Daoist alchemy cultivation. Without knowing this order, there is a 50% chance of practicing the steps in reverse. Once reversed, it is seeking death. In addition, many myths hide some and reveal others. If you are not familiar with Daoist mythology, you will not know the direction of many things. Not knowing leads to random practice, and random practice is seeking death. There is nothing more to say.

 There are many who passed away while sitting in meditation. One day, while meditating, they suddenly did not wake up, and then it was discovered that they had died. Then everyone rejoiced, saying they had achieved enlightenment. This is truly ridiculous.

 Who says the ancients treasured the most secret things and refused to speak? It is that the world is dull; they just spoke but no one listened. Furthermore, it is said: "Sages pass on the medicine but not the fire; the timing of the fire is rarely known by people."

 Is it really not passed on? In fact, it has long been passed down, but the ignorant mislead themselves.

 Judging the heart of the sage with the heart of the fool, one does not know the truth: "People use foolishness to suspect the sage, I do not use foolishness to suspect the sage; people use wonder to expect the sage, I do not use wonder to expect the sage."