I notice with both of these labels, you make sure to add 'Western'. How does this make the path differ?
Buddhism (as well as the LHP) strives to help the individual recognize unconscious cultural programming and to mindfully think for themselves instead of just letting the unconscious cultural programming unmindfully take over. The "western" designation is to show that my cultural programming is from Western culture.
Tell me more about what this entails.
LHP occultism: occult means
hidden. It's a practice done in private (hidden from public view,) and in my case, it is done to draw out things
hidden in my unconscious mind.
I don't know much of Pastafarianism, but was under the impression it was mostly meant as a joke. Are there deeper teachings?
It is a joke, but one with meaning. It was created in response to the
Kansas Board of Education wanting to teach creationism in science classes.
The argument was made that if you are going to teach intelligent design in science, you have to include all of the intelligent designers, such as the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Much of the mythos of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster consists of humorous examples of logical fallacies, one example being
correlation does not prove causation. In the Church of the FSM, it shows the inverse correlation between the number of pirates and mean global temperature over time. If you apply the logical fallacy of correlation proves causation to the data, then one can only conclude that Pirates are holding back Global Warming! This discovery made Pirates heros within the Church, and pirates (Capt Mosey and his crew) were soon integrated into the lore. Captain Mosey and his crew are credited with bringing us the
Eight I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts (aka the 8 condiments.)
What is the Sacred Clown tradition?
The Sacred Clown tradition is used as a sociological category, although some cultures have formal inductions to a Sacred Clown Tradition.
The function of a Sacred Clown is to speak Truth to Power, and to help raise morale among the people through humor. Court jesters are one example you might be familiar with. The court jestor could often convey criticism towards policies the royal family instills without getting his head chopped off for disloyalty or speaking ill of the royalty.
Another example of a Sacred Clown tradition is the Heyoka of the Sioux nations. They are contrarians who don't necessarily conform to the status quo. For example, when all the people are complaining that it is so cold outside, a Heyoka might dance around naked in the cold, complaining how hot it is. This is not only a show of humor to help cheer people up, but it is also a demonstration of humankind's ability to survive through adversity. Other aspects of the Heyoka correlate with some LHP traditions in that they represent a reversal of energy (facing west instead of east) and not being tied to the status quo.
I'm only vaguely familiar with chaos magick. Can you elaborate any on it?
The part relevant to my belief is that
belief is a lens through which you perceive reality. You won't see what is contrary to your belief, while things that confirm your belief will be highlighted. Therefore, you can enhance your perception by changing your lens (or belief, or by at least suspending disbelief.) In this regard,
belief becomes a perceptive tool that can enhance your ability to perceive something.
The Big 5 Personality traits would categorize this as the
Openness to Experience trait, except in chaos magick this is consciously cultivated and used in a conscious manner for specific purposes.