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Re:Aleister Crowley, the Wickedest Climber Ever? (2022) by dr_dshiv on Friday January 06, 2023 @05:06PM (#34281935)
1. Pythagorean secret societies lead to science

2. Florentine Academy leads to art

3. Hermetic inspiration of Roger Bacon, Isaac Newton, etc leads to more science

4. Gnostic Mandaens seem pretty chill. Living community.

I suppose I agree that esoteric philosophies tend to emphasize personal self discovery over explicit doctrine. (Not always the case). That can lead to good or bad things. I’m surprised to hear such a negative take. Like, hard to believe they are worse than big time religions. Do you have examples?

Re:Aleister Crowley, the Wickedest Climber Ever? (2022) by DontchaKnowit on Monday January 09, 2023 @11:17AM (#34312025)
As far as phtsical violence, yes traditional religions are worse. Although hitlers occult practices could arguably be blamed for at least some portion of the holocaust.

But what I really mean is that it is destructive from a moral and societal standpoint. These occult schools (and really I am talking about anything blovatsky or crowley inspired, or adjacent. Rosecrucians, OTO, hermitic order of golden dawn, etc) promote a view of moralitt that is objectively selfish in the truest sense of the word. It makes people on confused and makes them pursue things which are not right. In the more serious cases, it completely ruins a persons moral compass. Effectively grants someone permission to behave like a sociopath ubder the guuse of "true will" orother magical bullshit.