So, I was recently watching Maybe Logic with a friend of mine who goes by the name Spiritus 93. Maybe Logic is a mosiac of video bites of Robert Anton Wilson. For those who don't know, RAW has been called a genius, a guerilla ontologist and an Illuminatus. He's likely all three, even if he doesn't know it. To me, he's a brilliant man who began with the notions of Dr. Timothy Leary and ran with them into realms I don't think Tim would have expected.
Certain thoughts struck me as I watched the movie. Perhaps it's all true; perhaps consciousness is simply a by-product of an advanced brain and our experience of life is a fluke of DNA. Perhaps we are all living in a reality tunnel. Perhaps the key to enlightenment is to break free of our reality-tunnel. Perhaps the true meta-physics is revealed when we learn to stop experiencing reality as an animal does. The whole "Free your Mind" trip. Perhaps both science and magick are true forms of exploring existence.
But what came to mind was the pentagram. In the occult, the pentagram represents the four classical elements (fire, air, water, earth) with spirit as the primal element. Typically, it's drawn with spirit at the uppermost point to represent spirit or deity above or superior to the four material elements. In black magic or satanism, the pentagram is inversed with the spirit at the bottom of the figure representing the physical universe as superior to spirituality. What's interesting about this is that I considered the notion that Science has always held consciousness as a mild curiosity. Anything that gets close to consciousness (ie. psychology) winds up being viewed as a pseudo-science because it doesn't deal with the cold, hard facts of reality.
So, what was in the past considered black magic and evil is now mainstream and anything else is nonsense. I almost wonder with some degree of amusement if science is the new Satanism. There is no God, there is no spirit, there is no You. There is only matter and energy and we are simply advanced animals with behaviours that can be predicted and triggered by certain stimuli. If Satan exists, is he sitting in Hell right now, chuckling to himself while a shrewd lawyer defeats a murder conviction based on circumstances in the murderer's past which predisposed him to violence. It's funny to consider what we do to ourselves as a species in the name of intellectual pride.
Well, aside from that ethical diversion, an interesting thought comes to mind. If this universe, Malkuth, is the lowest point on the Tree of Life, the progression of Creation from spirit to matter ends here. All things that succeed in attaining manifestation end up here. Spirit proceeds matter. However, on the other hand, if consciousness is a by-product of an advanced brain then would not humanity be an indication of the opposite movement towards Dissolution, spirit from matter? We, who are spirit from matter, assist in pulling spirit down to matter.
In the end, I don't think it matters, forgive the pun. Science and magick are equally valid. I suspect that the body is simply a nest for the mind and the mind is simply an egg containing a foetal god. Regardless of how we believe, whether we work with reality-tunnels or deal with spirits, I think we have techniques to develop as gods and the greatest of us can crack the egg, leave the nest and soar.