XPost: alt.religion.wicca, alt.arts.poetry.comments, alt.writing   
   XPost: alt.magick   
   From: dmh7@skypoint.com   
      
   Peter J Ross wrote:   
      
   >   
   >>And - at any rate - the Bible -for   
   >>all its obvious faults and flaws - is a rough (if borrowed and often   
   >>self-contradictory) sort of philosophy with very real effects in the   
   >>world,   
   >   
   >   
   > There are hints of borrowed philosophy in parts of the Old Testament,   
   > but I'd say that 90% of it is uncontaminated by any kind of   
   > speculative thought.   
      
   I'd say so also, but I must say that that 10% beats the percentage   
   garnered by accounts of magick by a good mile and a half. And - speaking   
   from a purely aesthetic vantage point - the literature and art that has   
   coalesced around Biblical images/ideas makes the literature and art that   
   has crawled out of the "magick bag" look like a dog emptied out with a   
   soup spoon. And this is not an unimportant consideration, for the   
   "value" of something is often determined by its influential power upon   
   the imaginations of others and by the matter that is produced. So on the   
   Biblical side we get such figures as Blake, St. Augustine, Goya, Henry   
   Purcell, etc. etc. etc. Even from the atheists we derive such figures as   
   Voltaire, Rimbaud, Da Vinci, etc. etc. etc. From the "magick bag" we get   
   such shining lumps as Aleister Crowley (a sort of Ur-Jim Morrison) and   
   that guy who bent spoons (and opened wallets) with his mind.   
      
   >The "philosophy" comes from later interpreters.   
   > Mostly it's a fascinating jumble of legends, poems and chronicles, of   
   > varying literary quality, and if it weren't so gloriously   
   > self-contradictory half the best bits would have been left out.   
      
   Of course, but as I say, the "value" lies precisely in what uis   
   derivable from it. The very "patchwork" quality of the Bible makes it a   
   good vessel for any number of philosophical/cultural/artistic tangents.   
   to me that's about the only value of the Bible. No matter what one   
   thinks of its "contents" (and they are - as you say - a variable lot)   
   one cannot deny it has been a strong "strange attractor" for a lot of   
   interesting (even if incorrect) meditation. Magick is sick by comparison.   
      
      
   >   
   >>and not a few people wearing robes and trying to make the trees   
   >>talk. "Magick" - as a movement - has nothing to show for its existence   
   >>but a few moon-worhippers and a New Age crystal shoppe at the mall.   
   >   
   >   
   > Of course, it also provides a hope of having sex even if you're   
   > repulsive to all non-deluded people.   
      
   This is what punk and goth do also, right?   
      
   Dale   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)