and now that you mention it, i can see a fair bit of overlap between the ancient “Mystery Schools” (which have their earliest recorded appearance in Egypt but could [and likely do] date even earlier) and MKUltra, namely the use of psychedelics under circumstances that are controlled and directed by someone else for “initiation”, use of symbolism as some kind of “mental code” which can be triggered or lie dormant, crazy amounts of secrecy and gradations of knowledge/initiation “lest the rabble discover our designs”, probably others too... very interesting indeed!
Yknow, somehow even after a decade+ of general interest and seeking, I’ve never done a dive into Mystery Babylon and Bill Cooper (despite its obviously massive influence on the “conspiracy” discussion). I remember once finding a (massive) archive of all his radio broadcasts, but do you have anything that’s like an overview of his research or maybe a documentary or something? It’s just a little daunting to dive into some 400(?) hour experience, which is probably why I’ve put it off so long lol.
Oh, and I didn't read the end of your earlier comment.
"Hellfire preaching"
I'm friend with a cool dude on Reddit that is an evangelical, and believes the Bible is 66 books only, and he kinda scoffed at my Bible (The New American Bible), which I got at my Catholic high school.
I like my Bible...it has the original words in the footnotes if there's scholarly argument about them, and has nifty cross-referencing and stuff like that.
Anyhow, point is that my Bible has such mild wording compared to the KJV. It is night and day in some regards.
I ALWAYS go to my Bible to check verses, because I haven't even seen the exact same translations online, even on Biblegateway and such that have all the different versions.
Sometimes...I even think that differing interpretations of a word or phrase between versions can both be true...almost like having multiple definitions or being double entendres.
Or like how Hebrew words lack vowels and there's similarty between words sharing the same consonants. Something along those lines...
Which is good, because r*ddit has been unusable for me for the last 4-5 years.
But yeah, there really is so much there, so it’s so disingenuous of some (atheists) to dismiss it out of hand, and to a lesser extent the dogmatists who dismiss everything but their interpretations. It’s one thing to believe strongly in what you’ve come to think to be true - that’s a great thing - but it’s another thing entirely to close yourself off to everything else because more often than not you’ll miss out on even greater truths
Some of these older posts might be interesting to you:
Many or most will dismiss offhand mythology, astrology, the idea of gods, demigods, etc.
I find it hard to believe that that stuff is meaningless.
Ya know, someone just linked me to the wiki for Eliphas Levi of Baphomet fame.
Here's an interesting quote...
Eliphas Levi cautioned: "The operations of [magic] science are not devoid of danger. Their result may be madness for those who are not established on the base of the supreme, absolute, and infallible reason. They may over-excite the nervous system, producing terrible and incurable diseases."[30] "Let those, therefore, who seek in magic the means to satisfy their passions, pause in that deadly path, where they will find nothing but death or madness. This is the significance of the vulgar tradition that the devil finished sooner or later by strangling the sorcerers."
I've browsed occult on reddit for years, and there is a modicum of "sorcerers" that make sure to invoke God first before doing anything....you know...the "supreme, absolute, and infallible reason".
If you read that guys wiki, he didn't really like ceremonial magic. It sure seems like it was more of an intellectual pursuit than anything. But he did do rituals still, for, ya know, "science".
The only guy I’ve ever been convinced was capable of what gets called “magic” was a Christian with a Taoist philosophy of life who healed many thousands of people without ever charging. The only reason we know about him was he felt a responsibility to ensure this knowledge was preserved with the coming (in his time, it’s basically here now) shift of the ages. What you share / that guy claims makes sense for sure.
And you may be interested similarly in the other posts on there (I’d love to see your own and others’ contributions, even if you’re just linking to posts you’ve made elsewhere!)
Interesting take on circumcision -
and now that you mention it, i can see a fair bit of overlap between the ancient “Mystery Schools” (which have their earliest recorded appearance in Egypt but could [and likely do] date even earlier) and MKUltra, namely the use of psychedelics under circumstances that are controlled and directed by someone else for “initiation”, use of symbolism as some kind of “mental code” which can be triggered or lie dormant, crazy amounts of secrecy and gradations of knowledge/initiation “lest the rabble discover our designs”, probably others too... very interesting indeed!
Yknow, somehow even after a decade+ of general interest and seeking, I’ve never done a dive into Mystery Babylon and Bill Cooper (despite its obviously massive influence on the “conspiracy” discussion). I remember once finding a (massive) archive of all his radio broadcasts, but do you have anything that’s like an overview of his research or maybe a documentary or something? It’s just a little daunting to dive into some 400(?) hour experience, which is probably why I’ve put it off so long lol.
I bought Bill's book (Pale Horse) when it came out, astounded someone had been allowed to print and sell it. I saw it as confirmation.
Another thing 'before it's time'.....MS 13 was used to eliminate him.
Ok - I’ve wasted 40+ hours on tv shows and games before so for information of this importance I’ll try to pencil it in lol, thanks!
Oh, and I didn't read the end of your earlier comment.
"Hellfire preaching"
I'm friend with a cool dude on Reddit that is an evangelical, and believes the Bible is 66 books only, and he kinda scoffed at my Bible (The New American Bible), which I got at my Catholic high school.
I like my Bible...it has the original words in the footnotes if there's scholarly argument about them, and has nifty cross-referencing and stuff like that.
Anyhow, point is that my Bible has such mild wording compared to the KJV. It is night and day in some regards.
I ALWAYS go to my Bible to check verses, because I haven't even seen the exact same translations online, even on Biblegateway and such that have all the different versions.
Sometimes...I even think that differing interpretations of a word or phrase between versions can both be true...almost like having multiple definitions or being double entendres.
Or like how Hebrew words lack vowels and there's similarty between words sharing the same consonants. Something along those lines...
I find a lot of interesting Christian discussion here, c/Christianity, and sometimes on c/ConsumeProduct
Which is good, because r*ddit has been unusable for me for the last 4-5 years.
But yeah, there really is so much there, so it’s so disingenuous of some (atheists) to dismiss it out of hand, and to a lesser extent the dogmatists who dismiss everything but their interpretations. It’s one thing to believe strongly in what you’ve come to think to be true - that’s a great thing - but it’s another thing entirely to close yourself off to everything else because more often than not you’ll miss out on even greater truths
Some of these older posts might be interesting to you:
https://communities.win/c/Christianity/p/12i3ug0dDN/the-literal-bible/c
https://communities.win/c/Christianity/p/12hkr8RTa1/what-is-going-on-with-the-echoed/c
https://communities.win/c/Conspiracies/p/12hkhql2aC/the-tree-of-life-motif-appears-t/c
Many or most will dismiss offhand mythology, astrology, the idea of gods, demigods, etc.
I find it hard to believe that that stuff is meaningless.
Ya know, someone just linked me to the wiki for Eliphas Levi of Baphomet fame.
Here's an interesting quote...
Eliphas Levi cautioned: "The operations of [magic] science are not devoid of danger. Their result may be madness for those who are not established on the base of the supreme, absolute, and infallible reason. They may over-excite the nervous system, producing terrible and incurable diseases."[30] "Let those, therefore, who seek in magic the means to satisfy their passions, pause in that deadly path, where they will find nothing but death or madness. This is the significance of the vulgar tradition that the devil finished sooner or later by strangling the sorcerers."
I've browsed occult on reddit for years, and there is a modicum of "sorcerers" that make sure to invoke God first before doing anything....you know...the "supreme, absolute, and infallible reason".
If you read that guys wiki, he didn't really like ceremonial magic. It sure seems like it was more of an intellectual pursuit than anything. But he did do rituals still, for, ya know, "science".
The only guy I’ve ever been convinced was capable of what gets called “magic” was a Christian with a Taoist philosophy of life who healed many thousands of people without ever charging. The only reason we know about him was he felt a responsibility to ensure this knowledge was preserved with the coming (in his time, it’s basically here now) shift of the ages. What you share / that guy claims makes sense for sure.
(If you’re interested in the guy I mention:)
https://communities.win/c/HumanPotential/p/141rVOZOu0/perhaps-the-most-important-video/c
And you may be interested similarly in the other posts on there (I’d love to see your own and others’ contributions, even if you’re just linking to posts you’ve made elsewhere!)
c/HumanPotential
Edit) Weird, my links keep breaking today - I think it’s because I’m linking to both individual posts and whole .wins