Hello, I’m James. This is my site. I occasionally write essays and blog posts, I am on X, and I host Hermitix Podcast. Check out ...
You are not listening to me; you are listening to yourself. - U.G. Krishnamurti It appears social media is over, at least where its original purpose is concerned. The functions and UI are still there. The actual websites, users, and 'interactions' are still there. But the actual interactions have been reduced to what I can only perceive as a strange mixture of cruelty, paranoia, and low-level…
A real teacher will push you into a corner, blocking all the escapes. - U.G. Krishnamurti ~ Before we can begin practicing magic, that is, cultivating honesty, there is an immediate, foundational question to address. The I, me, or myself who is being honest (or dishonest, as the case may be), who or what is that, exactly? Or, more succinctly, who am I? To answer this question sufficiently, I want…
As many of you know, I've been working on an online magical school for a while. It is now officially live here: https://the-hermitage.mn.co There is no endpoint, no correct sequence, no single tradition that covers the terrain. The Hermitage offers courses and guidance rather than a curriculum. You decide where to begin, and exploration takes care of the rest. Courses at Launch: Magical…
If you touch fire, you burn. It’s Nature’s Law, whether you’re a child or a saint. – U.G. Krishnamurti ~ Magic is honesty, and most writing about magic and spirituality is dishonest. The attempted lie tends to vary in its breadth and sophistication, often being dressed up in ceremonial garb, defended by a psychodynamic credential, or inflated by such academic caution that magic becomes de-fanged…
Introduction It's been a long time since I've engaged with the work of Nick Land, a philosopher whose conclusions, when taken absolutely, hit a wall quite like the singularity-adjacent terminus it beckons forth. However, my recent interest in the philosophy of Ludwig Klages (pronounced Klah-guhs, if you were wondering) has allowed me to philosophically understand Land's work in a different,…
Cynical reason, as defined by Slavoj Žižek via Peter Sloterdijk, is as follows: “Peter Sloterdijk puts forward the thesis that ideology’s dominant mode of functioning is cynical, which renders impossible—or, more precisely, vain—the classic critical-ideological procedure. The cynical subject is quite aware of the distance between the ideological mask and the social reality, but he none the less…
Goner - Slang: a person or thing beyond help or recovery, esp a person who is dead or about to die ~ The sincere spiritual seeker is someone for whom the internal wish to just be without fear, to be free , is so overwhelming that they feel at times that they might literally have an aneurysm, collapse, or go insane. There comes a point in the seeking of said individuals where everything has fallen…
Learned helplessness is a biological condition that is created by inescapable stress. In this state, animals that would normally swim for hours will stop swimming after a few minutes and allow themselves to drown. They simply don't have enough mental or physical energy to overcome challenges. — Ray Peat, Serotonin, Depression, and Aggression: The Problem of Brain Energy About 1957, psychologists…
I'm going to create a separate 'Courses' page on this site soon, but for now... I have just released my new course on the psychology of Carl Jung. The course is intended as an introduction to the psychology of Carl Jung, introducing the student to Jung’s basic concepts through a 10-week course, consisting of 14 lectures, lecture notes, and a practical workbook. The course seeks to balance…
The myth of progress is the contemporary myth. It is the primary cornerstone of our current world-cycle’s form of consciousness. Beneath nearly all of our actions is the conditioned assumption that we’re heading some where. And, not only that, but that some where is defacto going to be better, faster, larger, greater, or more-er. The notion of progress hides so many assumptions that we…