How to Avoid Setting Your Wife on Fire: Some Thoughts on Wisdom

Today while surfing the web, I came across this video of a guy accidentally setting his wife on fire because he was playing around with a lighter while pumping gas. I think we can all agree that playing around with a lighter while pumping gas is an unwise thing to do. 

I have another book coming out through Falcon Books Publishing soon. It's called A Tiara of Pearls, and wisdom is one of the book's major themes. Wisdom has always been of immense interest to me. It's also something that Bardon considered very important. The word "wisdom" appears thirty times in IIH, fifty-five times in PME, and forty-five times in KTQ. Bardon considered wisdom a sign of magical progress and one of the true magician's most valuable assets. For me, however, the effort to acquire wisdom isn't just about becoming a better magician. It's also about not doing stupid things that ruin your life and hurt others. The guy in the previously-linked video was arrested and may face up to a year in prison. His wife suffered third degree burns. 

I've gained in wisdom during my years working through IIH. That doesn't mean I'm a wise person. It just means I'm wiser than I was when I first started. The wisdom I've gained has certainly helped me a lot. Sometimes, I wonder what my life would be like if I'd never decided to work through IIH. This afternoon, I found myself wondering if I'd be the kind of person who plays around with a lighter while pumping gas if I hadn't undergone the struggle for wisdom that is the process of initiation. 

The astral plane can be a strange environment. Wisdom is needed to navigate through it safely. However, wisdom is also needed to navigate through life safely. It's easy for someone like me to judge those who play around with lighters while pumping gas, but what unwise things do I myself do without realizing they are unwise? In life, unnecessary suffering is caused by making unwise choices. As long as I am alive, I can always benefit from more wisdom. The struggle for wisdom does not end when you finish Step 10. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

William Mistele's Writings on Saturn

The following is a list of William Mistele's writings on Saturn. 1. Finding Saturn in Yourself 2. Saturn Spirit Evocation 3. The Planetary Spheres This essay has a section discussing each planetary sphere. If you are going on a Saturn date , you only need to print out the section discussing the Sphere of Saturn. 4. The Presence of God, Part II This essay discusses several sephiroth. If you are going on a Saturn date, you only need to print out the section discussing Binah. 5. The Temple of Saturn 6. How to Speak Saturn Please do not print out the entire PDF. If you are going on a Saturn date, Chapters 11, 29, and 30 are the only ones you should print out. 7. A Saturn Meditation and the Idea of a Referee 8. Ten Rules for Spiritual Seekers If you are going on a Saturn date, copy and paste the Binah/Saturn section into a Word document and print just that section out.  9. Ten Rules for Spiritual Beginners This is a book-length manuscript based upon
Read more

How Will the Implosion of the Titan Affect the Bardon Community?

Image
  This is a post I've been meaning to write ever since the Titan imploded, but didn't have the time to do so until now. You may wonder, after reading the title, what the implosion of the Titan has to do with Hermetics. The answer is... a lot actually.  If we examine the reasons the Titan exploded, most of them boil down to Stockton Rush ignoring safety precautions. Any quick glance around the Bardon community, however, will show that a large portion of Bardonists also ignore safety precautions. What do I mean by this? If you read the writings of Bardon, and the writings of adepts like William Mistele and Rawn Clark who have worked through Bardon's system, one thing you'll find is that they warn many times of the dangers of attempting practices you aren't ready for. If you're only on the beginning steps of IIH, don't attempt practices like astral wandering, which are taught at the more advanced steps. If you haven't yet worked through at least the first e
Read more

Five Considerations for Unvaccinated Bardonists

This is a post I've been meaning to write for a while. When I take a look at my reasons for failing to write this post earlier, I find myself with some interesting insights about the negative and weak parts of my personality, the parts reflected in my black soul mirror. In Step 3 of IIH, Bardon mentions that courage is one of the four pillars of Solomon's Temple. I have been aware for a while now of the many deaths resulting from COVID-19, but despite knowing that this is a matter of life or death, I still hesitated for such a long time to write this post. So much for courage! First off, let me be clear that this post is not me telling you to get vaccinated. Every choice you make generates karma. This includes not just every choice to do something, but also every choice to not do something. In his essay "How to Speak Saturn," William Mistele discusses the idea of taking responsibility for your karma. For me, taking responsibility for your karma starts with taking resp
Read more