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Author Topic: Occult Subversion of Traditional Catholicism  (Read 1389 times)

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Offline Meg

Re: Occult Subversion of Traditional Catholicism
« Reply #45 on: Yesterday at 01:31:49 PM »
Reading some of my posts backs I just realized I might've come across as a jerk, sorry about that, I'm just very passionate about the sacramental worldview this is just brothers in Christ talking here innit I love you guys.

With the underlined statement is what I disagree with, I think everything in nature has something spiritual to teach us because I believe that everything in nature means something.

I don't know much about deer to be honest, I only mentioned them because I said David and the psalm came to mind but I guess I would say they mean the soul's thirst of God who's the living water, the agility of the holy man to evade the enemies of the soul and their snares and to run quickly in the path of justice, the ability of a holy man secure in God to walk securely through the rocky terrain of life without stumbling, also that the holy man must have simplicity and a sort of child-like humility about him;)

There's probably even more to be said I just don't know the scientific facts, asking AI it seems like the they regrow their antlers every year, can detect magnetic fields and know where north is and they see ultraviolet lights that we can't see. How about you, do you see any spiritual meaning in these?

I appreciate your thoughtful response.

Yes, I suppose we can see the attributes that God has given deer, or any other animal, and see how it can apply to our life. But ultimately, it is God himself (the Holy Trinity) who is the best teacher, IMO. We can also follow the lives of the saints, and see how they gave themselves up to God. It wasn't easy for many of them.

No, I don't see any spiritual meaning in animals, though I do admire some of them. And it's good to consider the animals that are mentioned in Scripture, but mainly in relation to the context that they are used in Scripture. God has been quite specific in how He has depicted animals in Scripture. Nature was created by God. Shouldn't we consider looking to Him who was/is the creator, rather than look for meaning in the created? Just my opinion.

Re: Occult Subversion of Traditional Catholicism
« Reply #46 on: Yesterday at 01:55:53 PM »
I appreciate your thoughtful response.

Yes, I suppose we can see the attributes that God has given deer, or any other animal, and see how it can apply to our life. But ultimately, it is God himself (the Holy Trinity) who is the best teacher, IMO. We can also follow the lives of the saints, and see how they gave themselves up to God. It wasn't easy for many of them.

No, I don't see any spiritual meaning in animals, though I do admire some of them. And it's good to consider the animals that are mentioned in Scripture, but only in relation to the context that they are used in scripture. God has been quite specific in how He has depicted animals in Scripture. Nature was created by God. Shouldn't we consider looking to Him who was/is the creator, rather than look for meaning in the created? Just my opinion.

Okay then we just disagree, I do see spiritual meaning in animals and every created thing. You don't. And that's perfectly fine. But back to the thread title surely you recognize this is not at all "occult" or "satanic" it's just a more medieval cosmology?

I've seen this sentiment echoed a few times in this thread of "If there's the Bible and Tradition, why spend any time on all this? Are they bored and itching for novelty" And I don't know I see it as kind of convoluted. As the famous phrase goes "It's not an either/or, it's a both/and".

Can not a pious Catholic read both the Bible, Kempis, Shakespeare and the Book of Nature without "being bored of God", rather, seeing God present in all of it and talking with Him about it?

Also "shouldn't we consider looking to Him who was/is the creator, rather than look for meaning in the created? Just my opinion.", then why have an elaborate liturgy that engages all senses? Because God wants us to use created things, we are created beings. IMHO "Reading" a horse is not worshipping a horse, it's reading the "Horse Letter" written by God to us.


Re: Occult Subversion of Traditional Catholicism
« Reply #47 on: Yesterday at 10:10:38 PM »
The main problem with this sort of thing is where to draw the line. Much like the wisdom we get from the Orientals. Take medicine, for instance. There's obvious some truth in Chinese medicine, acupunture and reflexology, but it is hard to know where the true wisdom stops and the dragon stuff begins.

We could say the same about Newton. He was a great physicist, but he was also a kind of warlock.

William Blake was a great poet, but his art was full of occultist stuff. It's all mixed up.

Re: Occult Subversion of Traditional Catholicism
« Reply #48 on: Today at 03:16:01 AM »
The main problem with this sort of thing is where to draw the line. Much like the wisdom we get from the Orientals. Take medicine, for instance. There's obvious some truth in Chinese medicine, acupunture and reflexology, but it is hard to know where the true wisdom stops and the dragon stuff begins.

We could say the same about Newton. He was a great physicist, but he was also a kind of warlock.

William Blake was a great poet, but his art was full of occultist stuff. It's all mixed up.
This highlights that "occult" is a very flimsy label IMO. Evola committed many errors, so did Hesiod, Pyrrho, Voltaire, Thomas Jefferson, Hume, Locke, what makes Evola's errors especially "occult" compared to them? That they get sold in new age stores? That they have a spooky vibe?

Online ElwinRansom1970

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Re: Occult Subversion of Traditional Catholicism
« Reply #49 on: Today at 08:44:12 AM »
What is going unmentioned here is the very event that has necessitated a re-enchantment in the contemporary world --

The ersatz Enlightenment with its sterile Rationalism!

The whole contemporary world has been infected with this Rationalism, including traditionalist Catholicism. It grounds the way that we are structured as societies and even the way that we think and behave. Further, it forms a mental barrier that blocks off a mystical and medieval grasp of Reality, a barrier whose removal is an arduous, life-time struggle for us moderns. Even the supposed post-moderns who verbally reject Rationalism still arrive right back at a Rationalist framing of the universe.

Msgr. Williamson referred to the Enlightenment as the Endarkening.

As for knowing from Scripture and Tradition alone, that falls right into the very fissure of Faith and Reason brought about by the so-called Enlightenment. The Via Naturalis (Reason/Philosophy) is not opposed to the Via Supernaturalis (Faith/Theology). These are two different ways of arriving at Truth. They are complimentary, not antagonistic as Modernity views them to be. The Via Naturalis is subordinate to the Via Supernaturalis, of course. The starting points are different as too the questions that these learning approaches ask. Nevertheless, their sought ends are identical -- the Good, the True, and the Beautiful -- and, ultimately the Greatest Good, namely, God.

This is what is being lost here in trying to form an apologetic for a re-enchantment, i.e., mystical approach to understand reality.