QC

Traditionally, the occult is regarded as dangerous, taboo. I always thought this was just Christian superstition, but I've come round to the idea that even if demons and such aren't really *real*, that stuff is still dangerous, falsely enticing, and worth the taboo.

People who study the occult seem to often end up mentally ill to the point of detachment from reality, or afflicted with moral and psychological problems roughly describable as demon possession.

A demon is a willful entity who's basic substance is psychological. Demons can posses or otherwise haunt people, by lodging in the dark underbelly of their minds, and hop between minds by various means, like computer viruses. The occult is the study of this and related dynamics.

Studying demons is like studying generally intelligent computer viruses on your work machine. By paying attention, seeking out, making ontological room for them, you increase sensitivity and susceptibility, and eventually get containment failure.

The occult in general studies the interesting magic-seeming properties of the mind (telepathy, demons, etc) by turning up sensitivity to subtle hunches and influences. Hypersensitivity to subtle signals (and noise) is of course the bread and butter of insanity.

Psychedelics and the occult are very closely related. They tap into the same phenomena, and result in similar psychological pathologies. This is why they are both traditionally taboo.

Think of your mind as a city. Order is never complete; there is always some seedy underbelly of disorder, where petty demons lurk. Studying this underbelly too much is dangerous to sanity, and ultimately an aside from imposing your central ordering will on it.