Hi Pitch..
>>So in my earlier comment, I had no intention of calling the Church of
Satan's effective magical or authentic religio--spiritual qualities into
question. I didn't cross my mind that a Church of Satan Satanic Mass ritual
considered as performance art might imply that it was not somehow magical or
religio--spiritual.<<
Yep, I just asked really, 1, because you used the CoS as an example - and
lots of people don't even want to talk about the CoS, and 2, also I was
wondering if, because you used this particular example, you thought that
they - as opposed to other magickal groups - were doing performance art,
only... and not magico-religious ritual. Lots of people think La Vey was a
"fake" (Oh, like a whole pile of other Magi were *not* fakes in many ways as
well???)
I agree with what you've said - gee, it must have been a fun time in San
Francisco then ;-)
>>I am reluctant to limit or restrict all this *just* to *art.*<<
Yes, I think I'm leaning towards that conclusion as well.
I just read in Roy A. Rappaport's book "Ritual and Religion in the Making of
Humanity", in the introduction by Keith Hart, the following... "Religion
belongs to a set of terms which also includes art and science. It is a
measure of the declining intellectual credibility of established religions
that science, which began as a form of knowledge opposed to religious
mysticism, is now most often opposed to the arts. If science may crudely be
said to be the drive to know the world objectively and art is pre-eminently
an arena of of subjective self-expression, religion typically adresses both
sides of the subject-object relationship by connecting what is inside each
of us to an external force; it stabilises our meaningful interaction with
the world, provides an anchor for our volatility."
.:shrug:. I don't know what I think of this right now.. but I guess it is
providing food for thought.
~Caroline.
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