XPost: alt.magick   
   From: purestdeformity@hotmail.com   
      
   On 29/09/10 18:26, Robert Scott Martin wrote:   
   > In article,   
   > Absorbed  wrote:   
   >> With so many posts, and so little utility to be had, I sincerely doubt   
   >> that anyone will consider posts like yours (or mine, for that matter)   
   >> deeply enough to extract some hard-earned utility.   
   >   
   > Now for us back here in the now, utility's in the eye of the beholder.   
   > That's magick too.You don't get any return on your investment, I respect   
   > your frustration.   
      
   I'm not frustrated about the lack of utility in Usenet posts.   
   Self-evidently, I get enough utility, whatever form it takes, to keep   
   coming back.   
      
   > Man finds his friend on the sidewalk crawling around, asks what's going   
   > on. Friend says "I lost my wallet." Man helps him look. Nothing. Man   
   > finally asks, "You're sure you lost it here, right?"   
   >   
   > Friend says "Actually I lost it down the street, but the light's better   
   > here."   
   >   
   > Maybe alt.magick is not where your wallet is. But hey, the debating's   
   > soft, right?   
      
   I have no idea what you're referring to with "my wallet". If I was   
   trying to find something in alt.magick, I've already found it. It was   
   obvious when I was searching, because I trying to pick Tom and Erwin's   
   brains at every opportunity.   
      
   As for the debating's soft, do you mean other people tend to have little   
   skill in debating? It can be tsujigiri (you'll like that) most of the   
   time now, but not everyone here was a pushover when I arrived.   
      
   Even when I'm debating with someone who doesn't debate much, it still   
   makes me think about what I believe, along with sharpening my debating   
   ability generally. Those are a couple of reasons why I post here.   
      
   Another is to learn stuff. I've learned stuff here that I'm not sure I   
   would have learned anywhere else. There are spiritual blogs everywhere   
   with people who have had some sort of experience, and yet their   
   intellectual understanding of the subject tends to be confused and   
   wishy-washy, if that.   
      
   Alt.magick is also an entertainment and a distraction. Though that said,   
   I stay present more while posting here now than I ever have. As time   
   goes on, I find more and more things become reminders to be present.   
      
   >> I suspect the people from the future who search the alt.magick archive   
   >> will be searching to clarify particular issues rather than randomly   
   >> browsing. Who invented so-and-so ritual, who used such-and-such word   
   >> first, but was Crowley linked to Hubbard though do you think, and loads   
   >> of other trivial, bullshit questions.   
   >   
   > Now that's interesting. You really think they'll care about that kind of   
   > thing?   
      
   I'm inclined to think historical records will be the main reason people   
   in the future would turn to the Usenet archives. I doubt many people   
   browse the archives randomly now, putting aside when participation is no   
   longer possible and Usenet is only an archive.   
      
   > When was the last time so-and-so ritual and such-and-such word came up   
   > around here?   
      
   There were many of those sort of discussions in the past.   
      
   > Because me, I think the trivial bullshit dies first and buries whatever's   
   > left. I'm told it's where fossil records come from.   
   >   
   > If anything, this is a good layer of mulch for simmering the really   
   > good stuff in. Same as it always was, really.   
   >   
   > [alchemical references to "scoria" and manure temperatures omitted as too   
   > technical for this newsgroup]   
   >   
   >> I'm sure you could make time to explore your beliefs and motives, if you   
   >> wanted to.   
   >   
   > Probably. But I already know what my navel looks like.   
   >   
   > In your opinion, what is alt.magick "about?"   
      
   I've explained my reasons for posting above -- for me it's about that.   
      
   > What, if any, is the value of   
   > truly occult practice -- not just stilling the chatter but sparking new   
   > conversations?   
      
   That depends what you call truly occult practice. I'm not sure what you   
   mean by the phrase.   
      
   > Debate is good. It's a start.   
      
   A start towards what?   
      
   > But the best debates are about some thing.   
      
   Every debate is about something. And alt.magick often debates the   
   subjects I like.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)