Esotericism/Mysticism

I have a casual (and gradually more serious) interest in esoteric/mystical philosophy and spirituality. Please post here if you're interested in this sort of thing.

My current beliefs owe a lot to Bill Hicks, Joseph Campbell, Manly P. Hall, and lots and lots of mushroom trips, to name a few. Sort of a silly list of influences, but it's true. I believe that consciousness is fundamental... that all "reality" is the self-reflexive, subjective experience of a single, unified divine mind. "All is One" in the truest sense!

There's a fine line between esoteric wisdom and New Age nonsense, however, so I'm pretty wary about what I read on these subjects. But, some of it resonates with me pretty deeply and I'd like to hear what others here might have to say on the subject, since our little green friend has also been a "powerful spiritual ally" for me!

Have you ever read anything my Krishnamurti? Nothing to do with Krishna, he is an indian philospher who claims to be enlightened. He had and still has a cult following, but I swear the man is gen up, in my view. I've read some of his transcripts, they are simple, but very deep.

J. Krishnamurti or U.G. Krishnamurti?

J. Krishnamurti

Not too familiar with J. Krishnamurti... U.G. is the more cynical of the two. He died pretty recently, actually. Wiki article.

Do you have any J. Krishnamurti readings to recommend?

To piggyback on my earlier post, I heartily recommend Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces and Manly Hall's The Secret Teachings of All Ages! They both strike me as rather erudite, yet down-to-earth.

Try ebaying his later compendium, Fear of the Unknown, its made up by someone after he died, a selection of his most profound words. Or anything really, he is an interesting man. Some stuff on you tube, better maybe you read the words on paper maybe.

Cool, will look into it.

BTW, are you familiar with Hicks? I know he has a pretty healthy following in the UK... for my money the best stand-up of all time!

Yeah I've heard of him. can't remember laughing much, but I've never really given him the time. I like Larry David, the current US funny man of the time over here.

Yeah, I identify quite a bit with Larry David, myself. ;)

Hicks isn't so much laugh-out-loud funny to me, esp. since his territory has been well-trod by other comics in the past 10-15 years. He's more of a "stand-up philosopher" type. Rant in E-Minor might be a good place to start if you want to give him a chance.

Maybe. It seems like lesser talents like Dennis Leary have been able to make decent careers out of Bill Hick's old material.


I agree that Krishnamurti has got some pretty legit ideas. Afterall, it's not his fault that other people considered him to be the next great incarnation since he was a child.

For philosophy I think you might be interested in some of the works of post-structualism, deconstructualism, and phenomenology as a whole. There's a philosophical view that holds consciousness as the basis of all things called pan-protopsychism that's very similar to what you were talking about, I think.

I'd also mention Terrence McKenna, if you haven't already come across that name. Literally wrote the book (or several books) on hallucinogenic philosophy.

Yeah, Denis Leary definitely ripped off a few of Hicks' bits....

McKenna's written some interesting stuff. I don't agree with all of it, but there's a lot of food for thought there.

I'm interested in a lot of contemporary writings on this subject, but the "classics" can't be beat... I like the Upanishads, the Gnostic Gospels, etc.... all good stuff.

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Originally Posted by discohaze

There's a fine line between esoteric wisdom and New Age nonsense, however, so I'm pretty wary about what I read on these subjects.

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There cannot be "New Age" nonsence simply because it can only mean what you want it to mean, there is no defined meaning to that phrase. There are however people that call themselves "New Age" because thier psycic, but they dont try to seek enlightenment or a higher state of being like spirit is trying to teach us. A few people that claim to be new age that I have spoken to seem to have one thing in common..they all say that you do not have to be rid of ego to reach the highest consiousness. That is just strait up false so they really have given that phrase a bad name.

Bottom line, "esoteric wisdom" is included in "new age philosophy". What ever you paint over those words is only your own unique interpretation.

You got any good stories of memories while trippin?..hope we can talk about that cause I got an infraction for talking about X the other day.

Yeah, good point... like a lot of people, I use the term "New Age" to invoke the, erm, flakiness that often accompanies unconventional spiritual beliefs these days. When I think of the New Age, I think of attempts to make old spiritual traditions sound novel and exotic, to put a misleading "self-help" spin on certain spiritual practices, etc., all more or less for marketing purposes. That's not an entirely fair perception, of course, especially since the term "New Age" isn't really easy to define in the first place.

I wouldn't say esotericism is included in the New Age at all. Esoteric thought has been around in diverse forms for thousands of years, whereas the New Age is a recent appellation and, as I said, largely tainted by the efforts of so many to exploit the self-help/marketing angle. Plus, from what I can tell, the New Age often takes esoteric ideas and makes them palatable for an exoterically-minded audience, basically carving the real meat out of the old teachings.

But, yeah, these are all just words, and words have a tendency to reveal some truths while getting in the way of others! I know there are always exceptions in cases where I paint with broad strokes here....

Most of my interesting trip stories, btw, are the bad ones! :) Lots of stereotypical dumbass-on-drugs moments, but also lots of intellectual/emotional insight gained. I might write more about it later (another thread perhaps?)

When i use the term new age it is normally with specific reference to the emerging scientific paradigm, replacing the old mechanistic world view. Also because of the many parallels with spiritual beleifs.

The phrase "New Age" originally came from a channeled angel, its one of the only things given by spirit that I notice most people know about..its a start.