WHAT IS OCCULTISM? HOW IS SCIENCE PART OF IT?
Based on my academic and personal exposure to it, I (Bhex) define occultism as an exploration and analysis of "occult" phenomena, where the occult is an interaction with uncertainty or unknowingness to which prediction methods are consulted for future guidance.
Occultism is prefaced by the unknown and an estrangement from knowledge. Prediction is interwoven with occultism. People use various prediction method such as praying, reading tarot and even watching the stock market. There are many occult scenarios with both religious and secular means of predicting outcomes and their relationships.
Science is also a part of occultism, and scientists are also occultists (though not every occultist is a scientist). The scientific method is an alternative way of predicting information about the unknown and answering questions regarding occult curiosity and uncertainty.
6 SECULAR OCCULT READING RECOMMENDATIONS
These are excellent and challenging secular additions for your occult reading list. The reason these are listed as "occult" books is because they are written about topics that are not common knowledge. These are secular predictions about unknown or undiscovered aspects of existence.
Secular occultists may be less likely to perceive religious texts as being reliable or useful. Therefore, secular reading lists may be more likely to be filled with critical work and literature that expand on scientific insight and discovery.
The scientific method is a difficult yet rewarding way to process existence, and these are superb books to get you started!
♦ The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins is a prominent evolutionary biologist. This is his book is about the magick of science.
♦ Principles of Synthetic Intelligence by Joscha Bach
Joscha’s book is about the architecture of “Psi” theory and how it influenced his development of “MicroPsi,” an AI architecture modeled after Psi theory. From the foreword: “It provides a conceptual framework that highlights the relationships between perception and memory, language and mental representation, reasoning and motivation, emotion and cognition, autonomy and social behavior.”
♦ The Demon-Haunted World — Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan
Astrophysicist Carl Sagan and his wife co-authored this book as a guide to critical reasoning and distinguishing the scientific method from pseudoscience.
♦ They Feynman Lectures on Physics
This is a physics 3-part textbook based on the lectures of Richard P. Feynman, an American Physicist and Nobel Prize winner. This set includes comprehensive instructions on the principles of physics and quantum mechanics.
♦ The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
Another Dawkins recommendation! Despite being authored in 1976, this book remains a masterpiece for outlining how “selfish” genes are responsible for evolution.
♦ Organic Chemistry as a Second Language by David Klein
This is a highly-regarded conceptual manual for the principles of organic chemistry. Organic chemistry is important because it’s the study of the design and function (or the magick) of organic compounds containing carbon atoms, or what is known as life.
