»What are we all looking for?«

ShiniGami wrote:

To answer your other question, that ritual is not written, only passed by direct experience to the initiant. Maybe you can find it on the net, but I cannot reveal further. The scar is a burn, not on my wrist, but on the back of my wrist. To transcend the mortal, you must prove personal control beyond the incarnate. Willingly placing your flesh directly into a candle flame for a minute or more shows your personal resolve. The mortal coil burns, but the shell remains. The burned flesh is not important, but the conviction is. Many years ago I had the mindset to complete this ritual, but no longer.

And of course you had Adepts who were guiding you right?

P.S. DO NOT DO THIS AT HOME KIDS.

Was this in the O.T.O? Or some other group? Can you say which one?

Look for the mark on the back of the wrist, right were the main blood vein comes down the hand and joins the arm. The scar, if you pass this step, never goes away. The Kung-Fu TV show of moving the cast iron vessels I had never thought of till you mentioned them. It was nothing of that order. I will not say further.
I chose to take that step, and passed it, and it opened doors.
The Thelemic participation/research I did was so long ago, and there are so many variations, it was fun to think again is those terms, as in 2=0 or 2+x=0. Outside the Tree ;p

When I was younger, and religion and philosophy were more passions than academic, I did participate in many rituals. I must say, I did have some very interesting things happen to me, but I chose not to believe or have faith. I have to imagine these outcomes and results were coincidence. Otherwise, I'd probably have devoted my life to these regimens.
I've been to Buddist Shines and Temples thruout China, Shinto and Meiji Shines in Japan, Holy sites in India. While I do believe many of these systems have good as their basis, I am not a follower. I am not searching for answers, rather, intrigued by how similar they all are, and how they all interact. I am not looking for salvation. I want to do good, do good to others, and hope that will be returned. If not, that's life.
And 25 years ago I thought joining the Masons was the ultimate secret society. Boy, was I wrong.

But I've had fun on this forums. I love the Matrix series for making large masses of people start to question reality, convictions, faith, belief.

Also, thanks for granting me a level beyond poser. I could go on about the GD or AA for days. Altho, my personal involvement was with the GD. I just knew and read about the AA. Sometimes I may be flip in my posts, and it may not come off as such.

Gomenasai, Dewa Mata.

Hi GhostDog et al,

GostDog, your original posting in this thread about it is happy and sad to see us all here disecting the movie ... and about the search for meaning of life, I can *ASSURE* you that you are certainly not the only one with that feeling.

If a person sometimes feel lonely or the emptiness of life, that is only normal, or at least as normal as a human being should be. We are not machines. We may have emails, computers, internets, and microwaves. All those equipments may add convenience to our lives ... BUT, and that is the BIG but, we are still human beings.

Why did I watch Matrix 1 over 20 times in my old VCR? Is it being of the woman in red? Or the acting of Kenau? Or the black leather outfit that makes Trinity either sexy or cool? Or the martial arts fighting? All of the above, but NONE of the above. The reason is that the movie speaks to me. Morpheus speakes to me.

GhostDog, I am not coming out of a high horse to tell you I figure out the meaning of life. I certainly cannot be condescending to say I know how you feel because I cannot read your mind. But I am a human. Do I feel lonely sometimes, do I feel the emptiness of life sometimes? Yes, of course, I do. I am actually GLAD that I do, because it means I am still a human, not a machine.

But now why are we here? I can only speak for myself, whether you find it "happy" or "sad" that we are here. I love the Matrix trilogy, because its themes of philosophy, religions, and all that touch on many issues that SPEAK to me. It provides a vocabulary, at the very least. It makes me think about the meaning of life, different religions, philosophy, and all that.

Have I figured out the meaning of life? No way. But in the process of thinking about the issues brought upon by the Matrix trilogy, it actually HELPS me enormously about thinking about life.

It provides various scenarios, and in some cases, I would say I can no longer believe in the same thing that I used to prior to the Matrix trilogy. What other movie, could I possibly say, "this is a movie that forver change the way I look at the world and think about life".

I understand the world or the universe is not the Matrix. I understand the trilogy is just a movie (or 3 movies). But by thinking about the issues raised by the movie, and by getting my mind used to a net set of vocabulary, it DID help me to think about life. It is a long process, it took me years, and there is no short answer to any deep question like meaning of life. There is no short answer like know-thy-self or look-within or even follow-the-bliss.

Hope this might help just a tiny bit