Path: shell.portal.com!shell.portal.com!not-for-mail From: nagasiva@yronwode.com (Xiwangmu) Newsgroups: alt.magick,alt.magick.tyagi,alt.pagan.magick,alt.culture.usenet,alt.conspiracy.usenet-cabal,alt.usenet,alt.zen,alt.philosophy.zen,alt.philosophy.taoism,talk.religion.buddhism Subject: Sphinces and A.Mgk (Was Re: really stupid posts) Date: 11 Dec 1995 11:10:33 -0800 Organization: Portal Communications (shell) Lines: 63 Sender: tyagi@shell.portal.com Message-ID: <4ahvn9$jrn@jobe.shell.portal.com> References: <4afv50$a4k@puzzle.palace.net> Reply-To: nagasiva@yronwode.com (Xiwangmu) NNTP-Posting-Host: jobe.shell.portal.com Xref: shell.portal.com alt.magick:61056 alt.magick.tyagi:5314 alt.pagan.magick:24 alt.culture.usenet:19359 alt.conspiracy.usenet-cabal:1442 alt.usenet:1 alt.zen:19287 alt.philosophy.zen:4919 alt.philosophy.taoism:2233 talk.religion.buddhism:13747 kaliyuga 49951211 [no, not 'sphincters'] peter li'ir key (key@netcom.com) wrote about alt.magick: |> ...alot of the meatier discussions just fizzle out. |> start talking about things beyond a certain depth and |> everyone clams up. |> and don't give me that sphynx crap 'cuz i don't believe it. chaos@crystal.palace.net (Matthew R. Sheahan) responds: |yeah. this is normally just people trying to impress the marks. i'm |harassing jess karlin on account of this right now, mostly because i |don't think it has a place in this forum. The discussion here pivots around what is in Hermetic tradition called 'the Fourth Power of the Sphinx'. These powers are variously ordered but usually include: to will, to know, to dare and to be silent. |>[some of the lurkers may not be] |> capable of adding stuff to the threads that is really |> meaningful, in which case their silence may be justified. |because the importance of these ideas is only apparent through the |process of arriving at them, i try to spread hints and employ the zen |stick in a fashion which will encourage people to undergo this process. |to the extent that i behave in a sphinxlike manner, this is why. I think this is a rather skewed and extreme interpretation of the Fourth Power of the Sphinx and its application. Typically people attempt to apply it to others or use it to obscure their ignorance. However, there are many wonderful variations on this Power, such as are indicated in the world's mystical philosophies (usually having something to do with 'ineffability' and the forkedness of tongues). In some contexts the Silence of which we will speak ought be capitalized so as to impart a meaning greater than vocal acquiescence and quietism. Compare the 'not-doing' (wu-wei) of taoism or 'emptiness' ('sunyata') of buddhism. The Buddha is said to have transmitted the dharma with but a single flower. Xiwangmu nagasiva@yronwode.com --------------------------- ...Well, it's just a simple fact. When I want something, I don't want to pay for it. I walk right through the door. Walk right through the door. Hey all right! If I get by, it's mine. Mine all mine! ...And we did it just like that. When we want something, we don't want to pay for it. We walk right through the door. Hey, all right! If I get by, it's mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine.. 'Been Caught Stealing', by Jane's Addition, (Album: Ritual de lo Habitual), 1990 Virgin Songs, Inc. -- CC public responses to email (I may respond publically to any email I receive). READ alt.magick.tyagi TRY : http://www.hollyfeld.org/~tyagi/nagasiva.html ______________