So, no, I don't think so: but that's not because it's wrong (or even incompatible), but rather I don't really think in terms of tools or utility, but instead in terms of relationships. Let me see if I can explain myself better.
They way I think of it is that there really are no rules to the universe at all, either fundamentally or at the level we operate at. Instead, I think that the "laws of nature" are more like a style guide or the guiding aesthetic of an art movement: it's a negotiation of sorts, in which all the participating beings each contribute a little to the way the world works itself out.
But, just like as in human society, the power or influence of each being has something to say about how much it can dictate. Think of it like a painting: minerals are quite minor and can maybe influence the particular tone of paint as it touches canvas; humans are less so, and can maybe influence the shape of brush strokes; angels, perhaps, can influence the subject matter of the painting; and gods are more powerful still, and can influence the stylistic forms being enacted.
As such, the world itself has no universal or objective rules... if the gods got together and decided, say, that they want to start working in watercolors instead of oil paints, all the things we take as fundamental (like gravity or the weak nuclear force or whatever) could simply cease to exist at once. And, of course, since it's consensus based, if the gods decided to make exceptions, they could do so and cause, say, a planet made out of strawberry cupcakes to appear from nothing. (But, of course, this doesn't tend to happen in practice, since there are many beings involved and all democratic processes are inherently extremely conservative, since there's so much inertia. Populus is Populus, after all.) That said, even though there's no fundamental rules, we're still subject to the constraints placed upon us at our level of being, right? You aren't an angel, you don't think like an angel and you don't have the power to act like an angel, so you don't get a seat at that table. Instead, you're limited to negotiating with the beings that operate at a similar level to you on what the rules are.
Since the rules are subjective, you can bend them. For example, as a human, you can choose to opt out of human society almost entirely if you wish; that is difficult and comes with a cost, but it is an option. But since you're not a higher being, you can't opt out of material existence; if you could, you would be an angel or a god by definition, right? So just because the rules are subjective or even arbitrary, your capacity to play with those rules is limited to your capacity as a being.
Consequently, I think "spiritual growth" is about growing the capacity to think like higher beings (philosophy?), act like higher beings (magic?), or else developing a special relationship with some of those beings such that they're inclined to listen (with however many caveats) to what you have to say (mysticism?). Thereby you may end up with a seat at a larger table, and get to help determine a larger (but still insignificantly tiny) slice of those subjective rules and transcend some of the limitations you have at your current level of being-hood.
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Date: 2020-11-28 05:10 pm (UTC)They way I think of it is that there really are no rules to the universe at all, either fundamentally or at the level we operate at. Instead, I think that the "laws of nature" are more like a style guide or the guiding aesthetic of an art movement: it's a negotiation of sorts, in which all the participating beings each contribute a little to the way the world works itself out.
But, just like as in human society, the power or influence of each being has something to say about how much it can dictate. Think of it like a painting: minerals are quite minor and can maybe influence the particular tone of paint as it touches canvas; humans are less so, and can maybe influence the shape of brush strokes; angels, perhaps, can influence the subject matter of the painting; and gods are more powerful still, and can influence the stylistic forms being enacted.
As such, the world itself has no universal or objective rules... if the gods got together and decided, say, that they want to start working in watercolors instead of oil paints, all the things we take as fundamental (like gravity or the weak nuclear force or whatever) could simply cease to exist at once. And, of course, since it's consensus based, if the gods decided to make exceptions, they could do so and cause, say, a planet made out of strawberry cupcakes to appear from nothing. (But, of course, this doesn't tend to happen in practice, since there are many beings involved and all democratic processes are inherently extremely conservative, since there's so much inertia. Populus is Populus, after all.) That said, even though there's no fundamental rules, we're still subject to the constraints placed upon us at our level of being, right? You aren't an angel, you don't think like an angel and you don't have the power to act like an angel, so you don't get a seat at that table. Instead, you're limited to negotiating with the beings that operate at a similar level to you on what the rules are.
Since the rules are subjective, you can bend them. For example, as a human, you can choose to opt out of human society almost entirely if you wish; that is difficult and comes with a cost, but it is an option. But since you're not a higher being, you can't opt out of material existence; if you could, you would be an angel or a god by definition, right? So just because the rules are subjective or even arbitrary, your capacity to play with those rules is limited to your capacity as a being.
Consequently, I think "spiritual growth" is about growing the capacity to think like higher beings (philosophy?), act like higher beings (magic?), or else developing a special relationship with some of those beings such that they're inclined to listen (with however many caveats) to what you have to say (mysticism?). Thereby you may end up with a seat at a larger table, and get to help determine a larger (but still insignificantly tiny) slice of those subjective rules and transcend some of the limitations you have at your current level of being-hood.