Hey /fringe/ what is the real reason why you keep studying the occult, keep practising, and keep striving to develop magickal powers? What is compelling you to do all of this?
I've thought about it a good long while now and have arrived at the true answer why I personally do it.
It's not because of any evidence or demonstrations or whatever shown to me. I don't really need those things to be attracted to the occult and want to do study it and do it. Those things only make me more hopeful and give me more faith but even in the most pessimistic of circumstances I'd still press on.
It's because everything I experience is through my mind and I believe in the power of the mind to create any experience and to cross any barrier. Also my life-time of experiences in astral travel.
The fact I can go to the astral and it feels more real than this world makes me doubt everything about this existence.
It's a real moment of being able to look away from the shadows on Plato's cave wall. To see outside of the assault of my physical senses and see with my imaginal senses instead.
I think most fedoras are simply people who are afraid of their own minds. It's why they won't entertain thoughts, ideas, etc. that could lead to magickal results and why if they go through a ritual they'll do it while holding the subconscious intent of making the ritual fail. They are extremely afraid of being delusional, being judged, making a fool of themselves, being rejected by society, crashing their vehicle due to "hallucinations", not being able to continue their job, losing their friends, ending up like the people in an asylum, dying, and losing out what they feel is their only shot at life.
I am not afraid of my imagination I see it as my only path to liberation. I have noticed that I can feel, see, taste, smell, and even cross time barriers with my imagination. I believe that through my imagination I can achieve anything I want, experience anything I want, if I use it strongly enough. I am afraid NOT to use my imagination because it's the only way to achieve peace of mind, to forget my pains, to stave off and transcend the dissolution of my physical body, to gain more time (time is a product of consciousness, I don't think even the fedoras ever disagree on this), to connect to the astral and experience such incredibly beautiful things, and believe it or not but if you're willing to try you can connect to the consciousness of others and experience so called "dreams", "hallucinations", "imaginings", objectively as a shared experience.
Who here is not convinced of the powers of imagination in some way? Whether you're a Fedora afraid of your imagination's power or a Wizard who exalts and embraces it.