Are we as autistics at higher risk of occultism?

[Ecclectic79]

I ask because when you really think about it, our whole process of trying to understand the world around us and 'make it' in society requires us to split hairs and ask ridiculously in-depth questions that people who aren't neuro-variant to our degree don't have to ask themselves.

Admittedly over the past few years, before coming back to Christ, I fell in with the esoteric or the chase of the esoteric to a degree. At least in my own case it feels like this was a direct extension of the questions I had to ask myself - daily - in dealing with a world that seemingly 'like magic' recoiled from me. Adding further to this was learning that social skills aren't enough - that if people are different they're different, and that society has a blind spot you could sail the Titanic through when it comes to that issue (especially when its implied that social skills are the be-all-end-all of what separates autistic spectrum individuals from everyone else).

Do you guys think the very nature and shape of our struggles pre-dispose us somewhat?

 

[grandma dolittle]

No, I don't. However, I do think it leaves you vulnerable to being taken advantage of. People who are not personally acquainted with autism have no perception of what it is like and tend to treat autistic persons as if they had no intelligence. It is quiet the opposite. As a retired special ed teacher, I have many fond memories of my autistic students. They certainly kept me on my toes and often left me with my head spinning.

Autistic persons are not the only ones with social skill issues... I know many so called normal people who have less social skills than you do. Please question something if they leave Christ out of the equation.

 

[BlueLioness]

Autistic persons are not the only ones with social skill issues.

I have Autism and yes I do struggle with being social. I'm introverted, quiet, and I keep to myself. Like, all the time.

My mom says I never talk.

My sisters describe me as being quiet.

But my entire family thinks its because of my Autism.

 

[BlueLioness]

As a retired special ed teacher, I have many fond memories of my autistic students. They certainly kept me on my toes and often left me with my head spinning.

Wait a minute...you were a special education teacher?

Can you teach me stuff too?

 

[grandma dolittle]

Depend on what you need. Being on a computer leaves us at a disadvantage, but I will help you all I can.

 

[Standing_Ultraviolet]

I ask because when you really think about it, our whole process of trying to understand the world around us and 'make it' in society requires us to split hairs and ask ridiculously in-depth questions that people who aren't neuro-variant to our degree don't have to ask themselves.

I'm not totally sure that this is a matter of trying to fit in. I've always been very curious about things in the world around me, and I'm not even so sure that's related to Autism, so much as it was just a personality trait.

Outside of that, though, I can see how that could lead toward the occult for some people. For me, it was less toward the occult and (at least at times) more toward atheism, because of difficulties reconciling some scientific facts with the religious beliefs of my later teen years. I've never been a superstitious person, at least not since childhood, and so the idea of astrology, divination, etc., has never appealed to me very much.

 

[Ecclectic79]

For me, it was less toward the occult and (at least at times) more toward atheism, because of difficulties reconciling some scientific facts with the religious beliefs of my later teen years.

That's actually what happened to me from 17 until 32 where for a long time I was the kind of agnostic/atheist who liked Christians and Christian values but also was a big raver and liked exploring psychedelics just in that they tended to give something extra.

I was in a full-determinist full-materialist slump for several years when I got hit with some of the new evidence of NDE's, that sort of pried my eyes open. I was nervous about going back to faith because I was terrified of what kind of emotional roller coaster that might bring back to my life. Unfortunately it was new age, albeit I researched it quite deep and got the heaviest hitter stuff I could find. It was about December when I'd already been having a continual downhill roe with that and finally I ended up watching Aquarius Age of Evil and Age of Deceit on Youtube - those hit me harder than they would have hit most people because, all of the reading I'd already been doing caught up with me and they were right on all accounts. If I'd realized at that time though that it was specifically Luciferian (I hadn't read Blavatski unfortunately) I never would have gotten into it, just that out of all the NDE's people have been having lately the bulk of them tend to lead in that direction.

That lead me of course to a very frightening realization: 1) NDE's are quite often fundamentally satanic manipulations of consciousness which act as a forgery of the real thing 2) most of the people dabbling in new age really have no clue what it is, and people like in my situation felt like they all of a sudden had something to cease on to make the world a better place, to be a better and better version of themselves, to take hold of their destiny - what proactive person wouldn't love that? That intuitive appeal is what's so frightening about that stuff.

Ever after that, aside from reading the bible cover to cover for my first time, I started reading (in the last few months) the real core occult books - but for spiritual warfare purposes. I really want to get to the bottom of what's going on and how to essentially sort it out in the world around me or see its marks.

 

[RCF]

Ecclectic79,

What I know is that people on the autism spectrum fall into many different categories, just like people off the spectrum. But there tends to be a large number on the spectrum that are what I would call knowledge seekers. Without being grounded in Christianity, I could see where many unhealthy things, physically and spiritually, could be one of the study focuses of someone on the spectrum. You are now searching the literature to seek knowledge, just as you were before. It could still be dangerous to you. Satan tends to attack when and how we least expect it and are most vulnerable. With additional knowledge of the subjects you are seeking, comes a greater necessity for Christ and Christian counsel.

I applaud you for your work and conscious role in spiritual warfare, and I will keep you in my prayers. Please make sure you are seeking wise guidance from places like this, but also in the non-digital world you live in.

RCF

 

[Ecclectic79]

TY

I'm presently a little under 2/3 of the way through MP Hall's 'Secret Teachings' and some of the stuff in there is just jaw-dropping, more so than my read of Agrippa. Suffice to say, to the extent that people don't know this stuff, I see a societal exposure to control (always been there) that you could just about drive the Titanic through.

RCF - my biggest fear is that I have heavy pragmatist leanings and have a tendency to go for the most cogent answer. As far as I can tell the 2 Thes 2:11 strong delusion will be an appeal to scientific reasoning, so a lot of my reading is to cover my own vulnerabilities and get ahead of the strong delusion in small doses so my faith doesn't falter under such extreme corrosives.

 

[RCF]

And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? Acts 1 9:15.


This story shows two things of concern pertaining to our subject.
1. Don't get in over your head. A little bit of knowledge goes only so far. Knowing enough to get you in trouble is something to guard against.
2. Paul, Jesus, Peter, and many others are known by demons because of their spiritual strength. When and if you do grow enough to be noticed by not only God, but by the demons, you will be tested and tempted at their pace as well.

I am not saying slow down. On the contrary, speed up. Intensify your studies, and be prepared for whatever may arise before you.

And recognizing your own weakness is a huge step in preventing it from overcoming your spiritual defenses. eg.- recovering alcoholics do not need to look for a job at a bar. too much temptation when they should be running instead of fighting.

 

[Ecclectic79]

So far I've learned this much explicitly - their worst weapon isn't pain but rather pleasure. Pain entrenches extremely vivid images and alarm bells, pleasure short-circuits memory, short-circuits logic, and tears down defense mechanisms. When someone is hit with a gale-force storm of pleasure they could be sold the Brooklyn Bridge or land in the Everglades and even the most devout believer, if they don't know how to stop that onslaught (ie. invoke Jesus name) could have their logical thought processes decimated.

That's where a person could be sold something as absolutely backward as dream logic (ie. that kind of thought process you have when you're half asleep, have some imagry, think you've had some grand level epiphany but wake up a minute later and realize it made absolutely no sense). Lucifer, aside from being the biggest mass-murderer in history, is also the most corrosive flirt in existence.

That's the kind of thing I wish I could impart to everyone really. My take, when the powers and principalities come down they'll quite likely be dressed in their full 'benevolent' glory. Some people make a tie between Thule (Nazi's), hyperborea, the Draco constellation (one thinks of Obediah 1:4), in UFO citings the 'nordics', and of course the whole Tom Horn and Chris Putnam 'Exo-Vaticana' story. Part of what's so frightening is how many people have a very specific counter-culture idea of what satanism is (thinking of men with shaved heads and pointed goatees in black and wearing Eliphas Levi pentagrams), what they're going to see is going to see - at least as far as I can tell at this point - will be far more elegant, fare more classically beautiful, far more seductive, and too many people I'm afraid will be too drunk on the return of the gods of antiquity (Greek, Roman, Egyptian, etc.) and blown away by the zodiac ecliptic monuments matching both on Earth and Mars.

I'm inexpressibly grateful that the Lord lead me to read about these things because I can't even imagine how bad of a way I'd be in if I'd been pulled into a very center-of-the-bellcurve near materialist perspective still and out of the clear blue the whole Sci Fi channel steps in to pay us a visit. I think a lot of minds will shatter under the weight of that and they'll be absolute putty in their hands. Incredibly, incredibly nasty stuff.

Anyway, lol, sorry about the rant. Its just that I really try to stay polite IRL, I only talk about this kind of thing face to face with a few open-minded friends, but with most people I know talking about anything that isn't light, fluffy, or vacuous is social suicide - thus telling them is worse than transmitting no message at all, rather it causes full discount of personal credibility. Better I think perhaps to just slip subtle suggestions to people who are in that position and help them connect the dots on their own. I just hope there's *some* gradient to what's coming rather than reality going completely out the window all at the same time. If it is the later case - the remnant will be tragically small.

 

[MoeSzyslak]

I have hung around a cult or two in my day. I so badly desire to be part of some type of close knit community that I sometimes have my eyes on that and don't look where I actually am.

 

[Ecclectic79]

I have hung around a cult or two in my day. I so badly desire to be part of some type of close knit community that I sometimes have my eyes on that and don't look where I actually am.

Well, occult not cult. Occult = hidden knowledge. Cult = Scientology, etc.

 

[Kairu]

I would say either: very resisting bunch or easy to be influenced. Autistics are living in extreme high or low levels of thinking etc. They are never in between. So my conclusion would be probably a variable.

As for the people of whom you know that they are wrongfully influenced or having a strong resistance of knowing Christ, you can only pray for them and letting Jesus interfere in their life. So that they themselves can experience a supernatural life that we also experienced.

 

[Ecclectic79]

The thing I'm coming to realize is that, just by my nature, I'll probably always have a Hermetic/Anthroposophic streak in my outlook on religion.

I'm presently reading 'Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism', by 'anonymous' but anonymous is really a gentleman by the name of Valentin Tomberg who lived from 1900 to 1973 and had this book published post-mortem for the sake of preserving what he wanted to say. It has about 30 pages per card of the major arcana expanding on the symbolic mysteries and concepts presented with each and in his tenth letter on the Wheel of Fortune which I just read last night he closes the letter/chapter in addressing how the professor and the priest would both beg to differ with Hermeticism - ie. the professor might not find it ascetic or disciplined enough, the priest would accuse a Hermeticist perhaps of seeking knowledge or truths that only saints or prophets are worthy of and hence they're commiting a crime of pride against humility being that the bible in its exoteric sense has all that's needed for salvation. His argument - some of us simply can't switch it off, ie. if we're not on the treasure hunt to unravel the mysteries of life and the universe we feel like we've completely stepped off of the train, we feel like we've shut our lives down or set them on pause which will only be resumed when we get back on. If we try to push ourselves off and stay off on principle our minds will start cannibalizing our souls. In that sense he addressed Hermeticism as not being a school, not being an organization of dogma but rather something that happens to people - ie. those people know who they are and know that if they're on that path there is no other path. To an extent when I look at my situation the parable of the three investors (given 5k, 2k, and 1k) come to mind - I don't want to be the guy who buried the 1k out of fear of whether or not I conform to mainstream orthodoxy, similarly if something's so imbued in my nature that scientific inquiry into spirituality and religion, trying to splinter a square peg into a round hole would not only be incredibly unedifying but it could readily be an affront to the one who created me with these attributes.

At least, on the bright side, that world isn't somehow fundamentally void of the Christ or the Holy Spirit - ie. they shed light on everything. Similarly one can look to the serpent or the dove, or alternately take Christ's advice and be 'wise as serpents, gentle as doves'.

All this said I'm hoping to get baptized next Sunday (8/18), I had a Catholic baptism as a baby but nothing as an adult. I think that will be telling in terms of whether something jumps out of me or whether nothing seems to really change at all, ie. the thought has crossed my mind in the past that its not impossible that I have a demon of some kind but for the extent to which I had begged the Lord to kick it out, to set me on the straight and narrow (if it was outside of where I'm going), and for as much as I listened to spiritual warfare evangelists on cleansing and purging of unsavory influences - little has changed and since this hasn't chased me away from Christ, even has drawn me closer albeit off of a somewhat unorthodox angle, I'm more inclined to simply say that life and reality are more complicated and less monochrome than what's generally projected rather than to adhere to a notion that it's been the result of slow, steady life-long harrassment (ie. I've kind of always been a geek/nerd for this stuff and the less divided my attention is the moreso I become). In that sense getting baptized will be a further theurgic dedication to the Holy Spirit and to Christ. Hopefully if nothing else the Holy Spirit will be stronger in me and help me find more peace, wisdom, and clarity.

 

[Gracelands]

The thing I'm coming to realize is that, just by my nature, I'll probably always have a Hermetic/Anthroposophic streak in my outlook on religion.

I'm presently reading 'Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism', by 'anonymous' but anonymous is really a gentleman by the name of Valentin Tomberg who lived from 1900 to 1973 and had this book published post-mortem for the sake of preserving what he wanted to say. It has about 30 pages per card of the major arcana expanding on the symbolic mysteries and concepts presented with each and in his tenth letter on the Wheel of Fortune which I just read last night he closes the letter/chapter in addressing how the professor and the priest would both beg to differ with Hermeticism - ie. the professor might not find it ascetic or disciplined enough, the priest would accuse a Hermeticist perhaps of seeking knowledge or truths that only saints or prophets are worthy of and hence they're commiting a crime of pride against humility being that the bible in its exoteric sense has all that's needed for salvation. His argument - some of us simply can't switch it off, ie. if we're not on the treasure hunt to unravel the mysteries of life and the universe we feel like we've completely stepped off of the train, we feel like we've shut our lives down or set them on pause which will only be resumed when we get back on. If we try to push ourselves off and stay off on principle our minds will start cannibalizing our souls. In that sense he addressed Hermeticism as not being a school, not being an organization of dogma but rather something that happens to people - ie. those people know who they are and know that if they're on that path there is no other path. To an extent when I look at my situation the parable of the three investors (given 5k, 2k, and 1k) come to mind - I don't want to be the guy who buried the 1k out of fear of whether or not I conform to mainstream orthodoxy, similarly if something's so imbued in my nature that scientific inquiry into spirituality and religion, trying to splinter a square peg into a round hole would not only be incredibly unedifying but it could readily be an affront to the one who created me with these attributes.

At least, on the bright side, that world isn't somehow fundamentally void of the Christ or the Holy Spirit - ie. they shed light on everything. Similarly one can look to the serpent or the dove, or alternately take Christ's advice and be 'wise as serpents, gentle as doves'.

All this said I'm hoping to get baptized next Sunday (8/18), I had a Catholic baptism as a baby but nothing as an adult. I think that will be telling in terms of whether something jumps out of me or whether nothing seems to really change at all, ie. the thought has crossed my mind in the past that its not impossible that I have a demon of some kind but for the extent to which I had begged the Lord to kick it out, to set me on the straight and narrow (if it was outside of where I'm going), and for as much as I listened to spiritual warfare evangelists on cleansing and purging of unsavory influences - little has changed and since this hasn't chased me away from Christ, even has drawn me closer albeit off of a somewhat unorthodox angle, I'm more inclined to simply say that life and reality are more complicated and less monochrome than what's generally projected rather than to adhere to a notion that it's been the result of slow, steady life-long harrassment (ie. I've kind of always been a geek/nerd for this stuff and the less divided my attention is the moreso I become). In that sense getting baptized will be a further theurgic dedication to the Holy Spirit and to Christ. Hopefully if nothing else the Holy Spirit will be stronger in me and help me find more peace, wisdom, and clarity.

Your journey has been really similar to mine.

You seem to thirst for the Holy Spirit. I pray your thirst is quenched and you are filled to overflowing by El Shaddai and co That you are drenched by the waters of life and know His lavish love for us.

I was chistened as a baby but then got dunked as a charismatic/pentacostal adult. Lol then confirmed as a an Anglican. They're beautiful rituals and worship that i believe God delights in.

Have a lovely day and find an increase of that divine, clarity, peace and wisdom (that you already have )then pass the platter in this direction please !

 

[MDCSWildcats86]

Unlikely.

I have an adult cousin with full-blown autism. His father is a pastor, and AFAIK, the cousin with autism isn't into the occult at all.

I have Asperger myself. When I was diagnosed 6 years ago, I was told I may have had it all my life and just never knew it. I'm not into the occult/astrology, either.

 

[Seeker16]

Firstly congratulations on your baptism - hope all went well.

I did get into the occult in a big way - not sure if it is because I have Aspergers, however I think having Aspergers adds to me becoming obsessive with things. I wanted to know about almost everything and more in depth, rather than just 'dabbling'.

I think I am much more picky when it comes to knowledge now, I not sure all knowledge is 'good' and some things I read previously just seemed to have messed up my mind a bit and seemed detrimental when I became a Christian - having to maybe unlearn some stuff. I do know a lot of 'new age' and 'occult' stuff (if not all) is very deceptive/illusion, can be subtle at times too. I am very thankful God has been helping me with discernment.