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

 

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 eight steps of IIH, then don't attempt practices like evocation or creative speaking. Not attempting practices you aren't ready for is the most basic safety precaution in magical training, yet it is a safety precaution that Bardonists ignore all the time.

This is why I'm hoping at least a large portion of the Bardon community was paying attention to the Titan implosion story. The implosion of the Titan shows that ignoring safety precautions can have serious negative consequences. I think many of the Bardonists who ignore safety precautions aren't fully cognizant of that fact, and therefore would benefit from being woken up to that fact. The thing about water is that it's real. Water pressure is real too. If you ignore safety precautions and dive deeper than you should, the water pressure you experience may very well cause your submersible to implode. Similarly, the four elements, astral and mental planes, planetary spheres, and cosmic letters are all real. If you work with them in an unwise manner, which is exactly what you're doing when you attempt practices you aren't ready for, then the negative consequences you'll face will also be real. 

Within the community of deep sea divers, Stockton Rush was an anomaly. No one else ignores safety precautions to the same level he did. However, unfortunately, in the Bardon community things are the opposite. I can't count how many times I've been asked by people on the beginning steps of IIH for guidance on astral wandering, or how many times I've seen members of Bardon forums who clearly lacked magical equilibrium asking for guidance on Quabbalistic practices. In the past, Stockton Rushes were everywhere in the Bardon community. I can only hope that now that we have seen what happens to Stockton Rushes, the Stockton Rushes within the Bardon community will reconsider their ways and become people who follow safety precautions.