12 Matching Annotations
  1. Sep 2023
    1. We shall call people who are satisfied in these needs, basically satisfied people

      Therefore, self-actualization is not a goal to attain, but a basic prerequisite for normal human functioning.

    2. Obviously a good way to obscure the 'higher' motivations, and to get a lopsided view of human capacities and human nature, is to make the organism extremely and chronically hungry or thirsty. Anyone who attempts to make an emergency picture into a typical one, and who will measure all of man's goals and desires by his behavior during extreme physiological deprivation is certainly being blind to many things.

      Another refutation of the pyramid structure

    3. If all the needs are unsatisfied, and the organism is then dominated by the physiological needs, all other needs may become simply non-existent or be pushed into the background. It is then fair to characterize the whole organism by saying simply that it is hungry, for consciousness is almost completely preempted by hunger.

      This may be one sentence used to justify the pyramid, but misunderstands the context of the rest of the explanation of basic needs.

  2. Dec 2021
    1. ABBREVIATIONS:

      • HT - Hermes Trismegistus
      • CH - Corpus Hermeticum
      • T3I - The Three Initiates
      • WWA - William Walker Atkinson, supposed author of the Kybalion, 1908

      TAGS:

      • #Reference - documentation needed
      • #Objective - stated goals of the text
      • #Question - worth discussing or to search for each other's annotations that need response
      • #Fallacy - issues of logic in the text
      • #ColonialismAlert - the book showing its age/gender
    2. a true student

      No True Scotsman

    3. the fundamental teachings of The Kybalion

      Okay, so this text we're reading is called The Kybalion. But this text also refers to a mythical, previous Kybalion? There's no record of such a book existing. It's almost like T3I/WWA are creating their own fictional holy text, worldbuilding an irresponsible conglomeration of hermetic aphorisms, reminiscent of Lovecraft's Necronomicon.

    4. while the "heathen raged noisily about them"

      I cannot find any reference to this quote outside the Kybalion. Shoddy record-keeping of the early 20th century? Or WWA masquerading himself as a reference?

    5. the folly of attempting to teach to the world

      This is a frustration with which I resonate, but I do not believe it should equate to gatekeeping. Knowledge should be readily available, not secreted away behind esoteric puzzles. We're no longer crucified for our beliefs. Let people seek and learn.

    6. There have always been a few Initiates in each generation, in the various lands of the earth, who kept alive the sacred flame of the Hermetic Teachings, and such have always been willing to use their lamps to re-light the lesser lamps of the outside world, when the light of truth grew dim, and clouded by reason of neglect, and when the wicks became clogged with foreign matter. There were always a few to tend faithfully the altar of the Truth, upon which was kept alight the Perpetual Lamp of Wisdom.

      Reminiscent of the Dark Souls bonfires

    7. reserved their truth for the few who were ready to comprehend and master it

      convenient

    8. Hermes Trismegistus, the "scribe of the gods," who dwelt in old Egypt in the days when the present race of men was in its infancy. Contemporary with Abraham, and, if the legends be true, an instructor of that venerable sage,

      While I'm not particularly concerned with whether or not HT was real, fictional, or a conglomeration of many scholars, it does strike me as irresponsible to present his legend as fact, especially when it was in dispute at the time of the writing.

    9. to give to the students a statement of the Truth that will serve to reconcile the many bits of occult knowledge that they may have acquired