Shiva Dancing

It may be pointed out that the word “occult” has its origin in the vires occultae, the unseen forces of nature, and in the occulta, the secrets relating to the ancient mysteries; in fact, however, modern occultism is by and large no more than the study of extrasensory phenomena, one of the most hazardous of pursuits by reason of its wholly empirical character and its lack of any doctrinal basis. Occultism ranges from pure and simple experiment to pseudoreligious speculations and practices; it is only one step further to describe all authentically esoteric doctrines and methods as “occultism,” and this step has been taken either through ignorance, indifference, or a carelessness, and without shame or scruple, by those who have an interest to serve by this kind of depreciation. It is as though one were to describe genuine mystics as occultists on the grounds that they too were concerned with the unseen.

Come Let Us Mock At The Great by W. B. Yeats

The proliferation of textbooks and lecture courses in our educational system today is the surest sign of our declining literacy.

That article is blatantly false for those who aren't ignorant. I myself being Tibetan know that "Deng Hsu" isn't even a Tibetan name lmfao, it's Chinese. The content is so unauthentic I think it's really supposed to be a piece of satire. Thanks.

Whoever it is that seeks to have a greater share of life, letting moderation slip out of his thoughts, I count him a fool, a persistent fool; I am clear in mind of that.

We are all, whatever our years, old, because we are living at the end of the cycle. You might say: What is the difference between us and the Middle Ages; what is 500 years in a cycle, which consists of many thousands of years? The answer is, that in the Middle Ages, that old age of the cycle was overlaid by the youth of Christianity and the youth of Islam. Both Christianity and Islam are clearly in their old age; there is no youth to rejuvenate this old age, and that is why everybody today is old, whether they are young in years or old in years; they all have a certain old age and with everybody the question arises: Which aspect of old age are we to choose? The positive aspect or the negative aspect? The fact is that the vast majority of people, without realizing it, have chosen the negative aspect, which is senility. We have the possibility of choosing the positive aspect of old age, which is wisdom. Each one of us, theoretically speaking, has that possibility. So, let us reflect on this and make our choice.

Every cosmic phenomenon is both a fact and a symbol of noumenon. In a profound sense modern science, being concerned with phenomena only as facts and not as symbols of noumena, is like religious literalism in the interpretation of scripture.

What is never understood by those who have a passion for racial purity is that there is a greater qualitative difference between the psychic heredity of different natural castes -- even if the race be the same -- than between that of members of the same caste of differing race; fundamental and personal tendencies have more importance than racial modes, at any rate so far as the major races or healthy branches of these are concerned, though not degenerate groups.

In the nineteenth century the bourgeois laity in Europe had for reasons of equilibrium to realize in their turn the qualities of the classes that had been eliminated; we are not referring here to the fact of belonging to the bourgeois class, which is in itself unimportant, but to the bourgeois spirit, which is quite a different thing. The preoccupation with science in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, proves, not indeed that humanity has ‘progressed’, but that the intellectuality of men of mercantile type is hardly able to rise above the level of mere facts. The current illusion that man can rejoin metaphysical realities by dint of scientific discoveries is quite characteristic of this heaviness of spirit and only goes to prove that, as Guénon wrote, ‘the rise of the vaishyas spells intellectual night’. Moreover ‘civilization’, without any qualifying epithet and taken as the civilization, is a typical vaishya concept, and this explains on the one hand the hatred now often felt for anything supposed to partake of ‘fanaticism’ and on the other hand an element of pretentious kindliness which is a deadly feature of the systematic oppression dealt out by the civilization in question.

Critical opinion is a valid form of self expression

"We [Spartans] are both warlike and wise, and it is our sense of order that makes us so. We are warlike, because self-control contains honor as a chief constituent, and honor bravery. And we are wise, because we are educated with too little learning to despise the laws, and with too severe a self-control to disobey them, and are brought up not to be too knowing in useless matters."

In these days of modern culture and new civilization, in this era of scientific advancement, these lines may not be relished by some people. They may remark that some of the terms are jarring, revolting, offending and indecent and will not suit the people of refined tastes. They are entirely mistaken. These lines will produce a very deep impression in the minds of thirsting aspirants who are longing for liberation. Their minds will be entirely changed. There is no real spiritual culture amongst the people of modern society. Etiquette is mere show. Everywhere you can see much show, hypocrisy, pretended politeness, meaningless formalities and conventions. Nothing emanates from the core of the heart. People lack sincerity and integrity. The utterances of the Mahavakyas of the sages and the valuable teachings of the scriptures will not produce any impression in the minds of passionate, worldly-minded persons. They will be like seeds thrown in rocky soil. They will be like pearls thrown before swine.

And [Jesus] said, "humankind is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of little fish. Among them the wise fisherman discovered a fine large fish. He threw all the little fish back into the sea and with no difficulty chose the large fish. Whoever has ears to hear should hear."

Ananda K. Coomaraswamy on the Hindu Caste System

The struggle to exist leaves [the modern European] no time for reflection. Philosophy can only be known to those who are alike disinterested and free from care; and Europeans are not thus free, whatever their political status. Where modern Industrialism prevails, the Brāhman, Kshattriya, and Shudra alike are exploited by the Vaishya, and where in this way commerce settles on every tree there must be felt continual anxiety about a bare sustenance; the victim of Industry must confine his thoughts to the subject of to-morrow's food for himself and his family; the mere Will to Life takes precedence over the Will to Power. If at the same time it is decided that every man's voice is to count equally in the councils of the nation, it follows naturally that the voice of those who think must be drowned by that of those who do not think and have no leisure. This position leaves all classes alike at the mercy of unscrupulous individual exploitation, for all political effort lacking a philosophical basis becomes merely opportunist. The problem of modern Europe is to discover her own aristocracy and to learn to obey its will.