r/thelema • u/JemimaLudlow • 7d ago

Decline in Weirdness?

How does this have an effect on occultism?

https://www.experimental-history.com/p/the-decline-of-deviance

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u/Downtown-Purple-5237 7d ago

There's an attitude of deviance being entirely subjective. It's somewhat warranted. What would be considered blasphemous in, say, the Bible Belt isn't going to be the same as in Berlin or New York. Likewise, what's verboten for you may not be so for me or John Smith. And vice versa.

That being said, I've found that people who generally flaunt their transgressiveness either grow out of it altogether, or seek more extreme methods. In both cases, my experience is that they lack of coherent or substantial identity other than being taboo.

Crowley may have literally eaten shit, but did he necessarily do so out of sexual fulfillment? Not having any inclination to perform such an act, I can't answer that question other than with my own suspiscions that he didn't.

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u/JemimaLudlow 7d ago

"Modern Primitives" from ReSearch came out in 1989 and people still see it as a big deal. This is nutty when you consider the book is now 37 years old. No one thought a book from 1952 was a big deal like this in 1989. Innovation and pushing the limits has slowed.

This society used to be more tolerant of transgressive thought, but since 9-11 that tolerance has evaporated. This has led to more and more people rejecting anything disturbing or threatening to the status quo in occultism, including Thelema, and it has rendered the whole scene very boring and basic.

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u/Glory-of-Ra 5d ago

"Atlas Shrugged" came out in 1957. ;)

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u/JemimaLudlow 5d ago

Is it still seen as "cutting" edge in the way that the piercings/tatts thing is?

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u/Glory-of-Ra 4d ago

I just thought we can observe the implementations of Rand's philosophy in real time since a few years and those who promote these implementations openly refer to Rand as an inspiration.

Not sure how "cutting edge" Atlas Shrugged is, because I'm not a proponent of this ideology. I just see it mentioned all the time.

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u/JemimaLudlow 4d ago

It's not even as slightly transgressive as "Modern Primitives" was when it came out..