Denial Dictionary

ascetic: A person who leads a life of contemplation and rigorous self-denial, shunning comforts and pleasures for religious purposes. See: monk, nunk, asceticism.

(See also: Ascetic , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Adept

An esoteric master. An individual highly experienced and skilled in occult wisdom or magickal craft, as a result of the study of various mystical techniques and philosophies. An initiate that has willfully achieved the highest attainment in the mastery of the occult sciences and powers. Adepts often take on students or chelas, in which case, the adept is known as a masters.

The chela must first accomplish self-denial and self-development in order to become worthy to become a chela. . The activities of adepts are diverse, being concern with the direction and guidance of the activities of the rest of mankind.

According to Theosophy, their knowledge, like their powers, far surpasses that of man, and they can control forces both in the spiritual and physical dominion, and are said to be able to prolong their lives for centuries. In alchemical lore there are always eleven adepts. The term adept was also employed by medieval magicians and alchemists to denote a master of their sciences. See Mahatma.

(See also: Adept , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

A Dream Dictionary including dreams about:

Advice, Advocate, Affliction, Affluence, Affrighted, Affront, Afraid, Africa, Afternoon, Agate, Age , Agony, Ague, Air , Alabaster, Alarm Bell, Album, Ale-house, Alien, Alley, Alligator, Alloy, Almanac, Almonds, Alms, Alms-house , Alum, Aluminum, Amateur

For more dream interpretation, see: Dream Dictionary

For more about dreams, see: Dreams.

God In its widest sense, the origin and root of all that is. Absolute being may be regarded perhaps as one equivalent expression, but even being itself may be regarded as a condition or attribute, and beyond it we must therefore postulate be-ness.

The idea of a root or origin sometimes connotes supreme power and governance; but such conception of a rootless root or infinite origin does not exist, for whatever is, or has been, or ever will be, must ultimately spring from the womb of boundless infinitude, and we can speak only of a power and governance in connection with the subordinate or minor -- however supernal or sublime they may be -- which spring forth from the Boundless in virtually infinite numbers through beginningless and endless duration.

Monotheists recognize but one God, conceived as a supreme personality and usually endowed with attributes pertaining to human personality, this mental image of God therefore being but a reflection of the human mind, with its inherent limitations and biases; yet even monotheists tacitly recognize other gods under the name of natural forces. Polytheism recognizes hierarchies of divine beings, and pantheism discerns divine power as everywhere and eternally present.

The human being also in essence is a divinity. The attribution of personality to God is justly regarded as an inadmissible limitation; but there is a lack of clearness as to the meaning of such words as personality, self, and individuality, which unfortunately leads some monotheistic minds to the fear that the denial of personality will reduce the conception of divinity to merely an empty abstraction. Yet our inability to conceive the inconceivable has nothing to do with our intuition and duty, nor with the vision of the inner god as the supreme guide in a human life.

See also PERSONAL GOD

(See also: God , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Tapas:

Tapas: purificatory action; ascetic  self-denial; austerity; penance; mortification.

(See also: Tapas , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

A Yoga Dictionary from Asanas to Zerosis

Note that all words in grey (like the following examples; Yoga, Kundalini, Enlightenment) in the dictionary are links to archives with articles related to that word or expression.

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Christian Scientist. A newly-coined term for denoting the practitioners of an art of healing by will. The name is a misnomer, since Buddhist or Jew, Hindu or Materialist, can practise this new form of Western Yoga, with like success, if he can only guide and control his will with sufficient firmness. The

"Mental Scientists" are another rival school.

These work by a universal denial of every disease and evil imaginable, and claim syllogistically that since Universal Spirit cannot be subject to the failings of flesh, and since every atom is Spirit and in Spirit, and since finally, they - the healers and the healed - are all absorbed in this Spirit or Deity, there is not, nor can there he, such a thing as disease.

This prevents in no wise both Christian and Mental Scientists from succumbing to disease, and nursing chronic diseases in their own bodies just like ordinary mortals.

(See also: Christian Scientist , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)

penance: Prayashchitta. Atonement, expiation.

An act of devotion (bhakti), austerity (tapas) or discipline (sukritya) undertaken to soften or nullify the anticipated reaction to a past action.

Penance is uncomfortable karma inflicted upon oneself to mitigate one's karmic burden caused by wrongful actions (kukarma). It includes such acts as prostrating 108 times, fasting, self-denial, or carrying kavadi (public penance), as well as more extreme austerities, or tapas. Penance is often suggested by spiritual leaders and elders. Penitence or repentance, suffering regret for misdeeds, is called anutapa, meaning "to heat."

See: evil, kavadi, papa, prayashchitta, sin, tapas.

(See also: Penance , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Pyrrhonism (Ancient Greek). The doctrine of Scepticism as first taught by Pyrrho, though his system was far more philosophical than the blank denial of our modern Pyrrhonists.

(See also: Pyrrhonism , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)

austerity: Self-denial and discipline, physical or mental, performed for various reasons including acquiring powers, attaining grace, conquering the instinctive nature and burning the seeds of past karmas. Ranging from simple deprivations, such as foregoing a meal, to severe disciplines, called tapas, such as always standing, never sitting or lying down, even for sleep. See: penance, tapas.

(See also: Austerity , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

PHALLUS

It may be seen as an emblem of the present moment, whose worship is a denial of past and future. That's also why the "historical" west fears it so, but Carpe diem ("Seize the day!") was the classical rule. For Aleister Crowley, just as the Sun was the supreme deity whence all life derives, so on earth the phallus was its "vice-regent" and the supreme power as giver of life.

With the advent of monotheistic religions, the phallus became an object of taboo in an effort to disguise its "holiness." But this was not everywhere true. Until recently in Naples and other Italian cities, giant images of the phallus were carried in religious processions, along with the saints and other holy artifacts.

The God Priapus, attempted to rape the sleeping goddesses and mortal maidens after an Olympic feast. In punishment by Zeus he was banished to his bees and vines, to hide himself forever from the sight of men. Ever since, in revenge, winged phalloi have surreptitiously dominated historical erotic art. The wings portray the phalloi in their extremis as totally liberated and unconnected to any distracting mere person. The phallus is, in fact, the destroyer of ego and individualism bar none.

Of course the phallus remains an object of fascination and obsession for homosexual and savage alike. Even for the ordinary man, however, it engages him for life in an unconscious participation mystique with his brothers, from which he never really departs. It is symbolized by an endless parade of objects: the key, the wand, the baton, the scepter, the sword, the maypole, the battering ram, the Tibetan stupa, the Egyptian obelisk, the cathedral, the American skyscraper, the automobile, the airplane, the horse, the serpent, the bull, volcanoes, monoliths, trees, flowers of all kinds and even fire. In the modern American male's domain, also loom large the pistol and the rifle -- serving in countermeasure, as instruments capable of expelling the seeds of death, as the penis expels the seeds of life.

For the magician the phallus is much more than an organ of generation or a source of debauchery. It is a font of energy that can be channeled and funneled in a variety of ways. On the other hand, the power of the witch sometimes, though not as a general rule, derives from an astute understanding of how to subvert or divert this organ to her own purposes. The feminine mystique, however, is infinitely more complicated than males understand and finds its center far beyond the genital zone.

In our era of total damnation, however, since semen now carries death as well as life, the scientists who created the HIV plague have made a mockery of procreation. (See NIANTIEL.)

(See also: PHALLUS , Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul,)

Materialism In the rigid philosophical sense, any theory which considers the facts of the universe to be sufficiently explained by the existence and nature of matter. A familiar form of this is what has been called the atomo-mechanical theory, which derives all phenomena from the movements of material atoms in space. The philosophical definition of materialism differs according to the meaning of the word matter; as for instance, when we limit matter by no physical attributes or implications alone, but

See in it the sevenfold prakritis or pradhanas of Hindu philosophers and mystics, matter is then seen to be but a name for the veil or shadow of spirit -- the other side of spirit as it were. This distinction makes materialism but a synonym for spiritualism -- i.e., the profound philosophic theory that the universe is built throughout, from and of the substances and attributes of spirit, which become matter in its innumerable and manifold forms and phases on the lower cosmic planes. What physicists have been calling matter is a percept derived from the interaction of the physical senses with the physical plane of prakriti or nature.

Matter is one of the twin aspects of universal life, coeternal with spirit and indeed spirit's veil or vehicle, and hence is present on every plane of manifestation, from the highest to the lowest. When the manifested One of a universe is considered as a unit or unity, it is called the First or Unmanifest Logos; when it is considered as a duality it is called the Manifest-Unmanifested or Second Logos, and is spirit-matter or life, spirit being its positive pole and matter its negative. Matter is everywhere the vehicle of spirit, and in matter inhere the attributes which spirit expresses in it. Hence materialism, in this sense, would define the whole theosophic philosophy.

The history of philosophy presents a rivalry of schools where materialism is contrasted with idealism, but all these rival schools originated outside of the Mysteries of the sanctuary, although many if not all contain substantial elements of occult verities. The attempt entirely to separate the notions of spirit and matter, of mind and body, of noumenon and phenomenon, results in futility and confusion; a purely ideal world is as unreal as a purely material one.

Materialism, however, stands commonly for an attitude of mind which exalts sense-life, together with its appropriate species of intellectualism, into a summum bonum; and which strives to devise a philosophy that will justify such an attitude. It is an attitude towards life consisting of mental and emotional attachment to externals, to the senses, and to reasoning based on sensory perceptions; and a corresponding neglect and denial of real values. This kind of materialism undermines morals by substituting self-interest or expediency for an innate moral sense, as the basis for conduct. It places illusory power in the hands of man, while at the same time depriving him of his real power of penetrating discrimination, and hence of his ability while under this illusion to use the powers of nature aright.

(See also: Materialism , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

SEX AND DEATH

Death and the entry into the Abyss of Non-Being is the equivalent of the sexual act. As the orgasm is the ultimate affirmation of the body, so the death spasm is the ultimate denial of the body. On the common level we move in and out of Death and Life, in and out of the Void, from Manifestation to reincarnated Manifestation, endlessly. The Samsaric wheel of birth and death is the endless cosmic act of coitus until the final "orgasm" resulting in the bliss of Nirvana.

777

Reincarnation. We live 700 lives as an animal, 70 lives as a human being learning to overcome the Kama-Manasic levels and, finally, 7 incarnations as an Initiate.

(See also: SEX AND DEATH , Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul,)

 Lord division of Self and World and the assumption that what is good  for the Self is all that matters. Good magic is based on the understanding  that Self and World are one. Therefore, what is good for the world is  automatically good for the Self. Intelligent though that sounds on the  surface, it's illogical and amounts to wishful thinking. Whats good for  the head isn't necessarily good for the feet and what's good for the world  isn't always good for the self. Exploiters of evil are quick to point out  the disadvantages of self-sacrifice and altruism.

The wicked prosper because Evil is ignorant and any development of the  ego, being an act of ignorance, automatically rides over doubt. Thus  egotism propels itself forward with confidence. Egolessness, on the other  hand, lacking self-assurance, falters and is exploited. So we come back to  words. Illusion, ignorance and darkness are just synonyms for the Ego,  whose main job is to protect the body from destruction. Enlightenment is a  synonym for the elimination of the ego and the relingquishment of its  protection. From a materialistic point of view, therefore, the functions  of Good and Evil are reversed. It is only the highly advanced spiritual  understanding that accepts death not merely as inevitable, but as a  strange paradox: the non-existence of existence. What we mean by advanced  spiritual understanding is the recognition that since death is also an  illusion, then there really is no separation of self from other.

We really are crucibles for the testing of character. If we maintain  our materialistic selfishness, we're heaped with worldly rewards. If we maintain our faith in self-denial, we earn injustice, if not crucifixion.  Good can triumph on earth only if the Self really does benefit more from  its connection to the world than from its separation. So we have to move  beyond Good and Evil, to the World beyond the world and to the Self  beyond the self, to the ultimate paradoxical truth: the only self that  matters is the individual, or that very idiosyncrasy which maintains the  strongest expression of self within the context of World or Other.

Self draws strength, in other words, not from identity, but from  contrast. This means that if we want to raise the self to a higher level,  we somehow have to raise the world first. Archimedes can do nothing in an  anthill. The materialist, on the other hand, being concerned only with his  isolation, sees the world in a parasitic fashion, strictly as his  life-support system. Thus Evil stands revealed as self-preoccupation at the expense of the world and Good as the Self striving to be an  enhancement of the world. More esoterically, we can define Positive  Evil as that which goes against the evolutionary current, Negative  Evil as the opposition of an interior momentum not yet overcome.

(See also: Metod , Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul,)

Christian Fundamentalism

Fundamentalism is a Protestant view that affirms the absolute and unerring authority of the Bible, rules out a scientific or critical study of the scriptures, denies the theory of evolution, and holds that alternate religious views within Christianity or outside are false.

A Bible conference of conservative Protestants at Niagara, New York, in 1895 affirmed five doctrinal points that were later named the "five fundamentals":

• the verbal inerrancy of scripture,
• the divinity of Jesus,
• the virgin birth,
• the substitutionary atonement, and
• Jesus' bodily resurrection and physical return.

Although these points do not include all the elements of Protestant fundamentalism, they are regularly present in fundamentalist views.

A series of volumes entitled The Fundamentals by American, Canadian, and British writers (1910-15) carried the discussion further by attacking Catholic doctrine, Christian Science, Mormon teachings, Darwin's theory of evolution, and liberal theology's critical study of the Bible and denial of miracles. In 1920 C. L. Laws used the term fundamentalist in the Baptist Watchman-Examiner to identify these views. In the North during the 1920s and following, Presbyterians and Baptists, among others, were torn by controversies over fundamentalism. From this struggle came institutions like Westminster Theological Seminary (1929) and new denominations such as the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the Conservative Baptist Association of America (1947).

Interdenominational organizations were also formed, e. g. , the American Council of Christian Churches (1941, to offset the National Council of Churches) and the National Association of Evangelicals (1942). By the 1950s, Neo-Orthodox theology with its emphasis on biblical revelation had changed the theological situation from a standoff between fundamentalists and liberals by developing a middle ground between them. Since the more militant fundamentalist leaders had settled into their own organizations by then, the basis for intragroup fights lessened, and the controversy waned. With the political swing to the Right in the 1980s fundamentalist voices found new support. Attacks on evolution and liberal scholarship fell into the background as some fundamentalists emphasized more positive themes such as conversion, personal and social morality, and a right-wing political agenda. In other groups, however, attacks on nonfundamentalist scholarship came with new vigor. Fundamentalism is characteristically evangelistic. Some ministries combine evangelism with healing.

Premillennialism, the view that Jesus will return to earth in visible form and establish a thousand-year kingdom, has frequently been an aspect of the fundamentalist movement. Finally, since the Scopes trial (1925) fundamentalism has waged a war against contemporary science, particularly the theory of evolution. Scientific creationism is one form of the attack. In an attempt to harmonize Genesis 1 and certain scientific arguments, this school holds, for example, that the geologic layers of the earth cannot be used to support the vast time sequences of standard earth science because the catastrophic flood of Noah's day was the source of much of the layering. Core beliefs of the movement are virtually identical with evangelical Christianity.

Some fundamentalists, however, later distinguished themselves from evangelicals (or neo-evangelicals) whom they saw as too compromising and ecumenical. The term ÒfundamentalistÓ is a synonym for one who is narrow-minded, bigoted, antiintellectual or divisive.

(See also: Christian Fundamentalism , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Iroquois medical botany: Traditional medical usage of herbs in the culture of the six Native American peoples that constitute the Iroquois League.

According to the Iroquois theory of disease, symptoms are manifestations of a disturbance of the vital principle (life force) within an individual and result from any of four acts:

(1)           violating a divine guideline,

(2)           self-denial,

(3)           interacting with entities or events that give off negative power or evil, and

(4)           offending someone who has access to great knowledge regarding the manipulation of spirit forces.

Iroquois herbal medicines include antighost plants, anti-witching remedies, and cures for bad luck and even death.

(See also: Iroquois medical botany , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Christian Fundamentalism

Fundamentalism is a Protestant view that affirms the absolute and unerring authority of the Bible, rules out a scientific or critical study of the scriptures, denies the theory of evolution, and holds that alternate religious views within Christianity or outside are false.

A Bible conference of conservative Protestants at Niagara, New York, in 1895 affirmed five doctrinal points that were later named the "five fundamentals":

• the verbal inerrancy of scripture,
• the divinity of Jesus,
• the virgin birth,
• the substitutionary atonement, and
• Jesus' bodily resurrection and physical return.

Although these points do not include all the elements of Protestant fundamentalism, they are regularly present in fundamentalist views.

A series of volumes entitled The Fundamentals by American, Canadian, and British writers (1910-15) carried the discussion further by attacking Catholic doctrine, Christian Science, Mormon teachings, Darwin's theory of evolution, and liberal theology's critical study of the Bible and denial of miracles. In 1920 C. L. Laws used the term fundamentalist in the Baptist Watchman-Examiner to identify these views. In the North during the 1920s and following, Presbyterians and Baptists, among others, were torn by controversies over fundamentalism. From this struggle came institutions like Westminster Theological Seminary (1929) and new denominations such as the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the Conservative Baptist Association of America (1947).

Interdenominational organizations were also formed, e. g. , the American Council of Christian Churches (1941, to offset the National Council of Churches) and the National Association of Evangelicals (1942). By the 1950s, Neo-Orthodox theology with its emphasis on biblical revelation had changed the theological situation from a standoff between fundamentalists and liberals by developing a middle ground between them. Since the more militant fundamentalist leaders had settled into their own organizations by then, the basis for intragroup fights lessened, and the controversy waned. With the political swing to the Right in the 1980s fundamentalist voices found new support. Attacks on evolution and liberal scholarship fell into the background as some fundamentalists emphasized more positive themes such as conversion, personal and social morality, and a right-wing political agenda. In other groups, however, attacks on nonfundamentalist scholarship came with new vigor. Fundamentalism is characteristically evangelistic. Some ministries combine evangelism with healing.

Premillennialism, the view that Jesus will return to earth in visible form and establish a thousand-year kingdom, has frequently been an aspect of the fundamentalist movement. Finally, since the Scopes trial (1925) fundamentalism has waged a war against contemporary science, particularly the theory of evolution. Scientific creationism is one form of the attack. In an attempt to harmonize Genesis 1 and certain scientific arguments, this school holds, for example, that the geologic layers of the earth cannot be used to support the vast time sequences of standard earth science because the catastrophic flood of Noah's day was the source of much of the layering. Core beliefs of the movement are virtually identical with evangelical Christianity.

Some fundamentalists, however, later distinguished themselves from evangelicals (or neo-evangelicals) whom they saw as too compromising and ecumenical. The term ÒfundamentalistÓ is a synonym for one who is narrow-minded, bigoted, antiintellectual or divisive.

(See also: Christian Fundamentalism , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

A Christian theological definition of Empiricism according to CARM - The Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry:

"

Empiricism

See also: Empiricism , Christianity, Body Mind and Soul

God In its widest sense, the origin and root of all that is. Absolute being may be regarded perhaps as one equivalent expression, but even being itself may be regarded as a condition or attribute, and beyond it we must therefore postulate be-ness.

The idea of a root or origin sometimes connotes supreme power and governance; but such conception of a rootless root or infinite origin does not exist, for whatever is, or has been, or ever will be, must ultimately spring from the womb of boundless infinitude, and we can speak only of a power and governance in connection with the subordinate or minor -- however supernal or sublime they may be -- which spring forth from the Boundless in virtually infinite numbers through beginningless and endless duration.

Monotheists recognize but one God, conceived as a supreme personality and usually endowed with attributes pertaining to human personality, this mental image of God therefore being but a reflection of the human mind, with its inherent limitations and biases; yet even monotheists tacitly recognize other gods under the name of natural forces. Polytheism recognizes hierarchies of divine beings, and pantheism discerns divine power as everywhere and eternally present.

The human being also in essence is a divinity. The attribution of personality to God is justly regarded as an inadmissible limitation; but there is a lack of clearness as to the meaning of such words as personality, self, and individuality, which unfortunately leads some monotheistic minds to the fear that the denial of personality will reduce the conception of divinity to merely an empty abstraction. Yet our inability to conceive the inconceivable has nothing to do with our intuition and duty, nor with the vision of the inner god as the supreme guide in a human life.

See also PERSONAL GOD

(See also: Goblin , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Jainism

A world religion begun as a reform movement of Hinduism. by Mahavira (b. 599 BC ) who denied the existence or worship of a supreme deity and taught enlightenment through strict self-denial and non-violence. Later followers deified Mahavira himself, calling him the 24th Tirthankara (last great savior teacher) who descended from heaven without sin and with all knowledge.

(See also: Jainism , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)