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Objects of my Idol Worship.
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I have many favourite authors, seekers, artists and actors as does anyone. Here are two who have had great impact on my path...
Timothy Leary
It's funny... There's a contradiction or paradox about my interest in Dr. Leary. He came to the mystical POV from a diametrically opposed direction from me. He was a professor at Harvard... Ivy League, but his experiments with LSD quickly brought him expulsion from the university, fame in the drug subculture, opposition from the government and eventual imprisonment for tax evasion (the standard offense for a government that can't find a legitimate way to get rid of a 'troublemaker').
He developed an idea, a theory about how the mind worked. Based on the notion of evolution and its effects on the human brain, he outlined 8 stages of evolution or circuits in the brain. It starts with the reptilian brain, which is completely oriented around survival, and works it way upward into greater complexity to political thinking, abstractions and morality. After these four, a second set of four circuits that Dr. Leary believed are lying latent awaiting humanity's development as an extraterrestrial species. He felt that magick, mysticism and certain drugs could awaken these circuits early and give us extraordinary insight into the universe.
I first read about him through the Deoxyribonucleic Hyperdimension in conjunction with the work done by Robert Anton Wilson. RAWilson had gotten the opportunity to correspond with Dr. Leary and began expanding on his theories with his own wit and insight. Through the Cosmic Trigger series, Prometheus Rising and Quantum Psychology, RAWilson really showed me what Timothy Leary was trying to show us. Really, mind-blowing stuff. However, what truly sold me on Dr. Leary was this poem he wrote:
You must know your mythic origins.
Facts and news are reports from the current TV drama.
They have no relevance to your 2-billion-year-old divinity.
Myth is the report from the cellular memory bank.
Myths humanize the recurrent themes of evolution.
You select a myth as a reminder that
you are part of an ancient and holy process.
You select a myth to guide you when you drop out of the
narrow confines of the fake-prop studio set.
Your mythic guide must be one who has solved the death-rebirth riddle.
A TV drama hero cannot help you.
Caesar, Napoleon, Kennedy are no help to your cellular orientation.
Christ, Lao-tse, Hermes Trismegistus, Socrates are recurrent turn-on figures.
You will find it absolutely necessary to leave the city.
Urban living is spiritually suicidal.
The cities of America are about to crumble as did Rome and Babylon.
Go to the land.
Go to the sea.
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I have made my choice and will act on this poem... if it strikes you as strongly as it has me, make your choice, choose wisely and listen...
Francis Israel Regardie
Dr. Francis Israel Regardie is, in my opinion, one of the unsung heroes of the Western Mystery Tradition. When most occultists were getting 'Hooked on Crowley',
I found his secretary much more interesting. Instead of poetry, he brought clarity; instead of borders, he built a bridge and instead of arrogance, he was a truly humble teacher. Israel Regardie's The Golden Dawn was one of the first occult books I ever read. The second was Gems from the Equinox and I must speak truthfully and say that at the tender age of 17, Gems made absolutely no sense to me. Even still, I slowly followed Regardie's teachings and picked up Garden of Pomegranates and The Middle Pillar, both excellent books.
Dr. Regardie developed the notion that psychotherapy was crucial to the Great Work. A daunting statement for any beginner, myself included. He backed up his theories by delving deeply into Reichian therapy and meshing its theories with the Western Tradition. No surprise then that his later life heralded some interesting allies for Regardie. Timothy Leary and Robert Anton Wilson , in particular. In fact, Regardie's own apprentice, Dr. Christopher Hyatt has developed a body of work that seems to span the gap between psychotherapy, modern consciousness theory and the Western Tradition.
17 years later, having studied several variations on the Microcosmic Orbit meditation of Taoism and pagan energy exercises, I find myself returning to Dr. Regardie's wisdom with new eyes. I'm currently studying his One Year Manual, which I now see as a foundation for any magickal work, and look forward to some serious study into the Middle Pillar ritual and The Art of True Healing.
Here are a few links that I can offer:
The Art and Meaning of Magic
The Middle Pillar Exercise
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