I think it is important to define how I personally see the right and left hand paths of spirituality.
As I have come to understand, the right hand isn't "good" and the left hand isn't "evil" or "bad". They are both right and true paths, both necessary for spiritual development, and to ignore one in pursuit of the other is foolhardy, or more accurately, impossible. The logic of this is that I have two hands. I use them both. I need them both. I could not do much with only one hand, and I would be severely limited in my ability to accomplish anything spiritually without both of these paths present in my life. To me, they are ultimately one path.
I see the right hand as that which acknowledges oneness with all things. It is the realization that everything is from the same divine source, that physical reality is illusion, that each and every being that exists is ultimately part of one Source. Those who seek to escape the mortal confines of physical reality are following the right hand path. This is expressed in Buddhism and Christianity, for example. Buddhists seek enlightenment to ultimately reach beyond attachment to the physical world, and Christians seek to cast away "sin" in hopes of one day reaching heaven.
The left hand path is more earthly, and focuses on the Self and the Ego. It focuses on the god within, and to bring spiritual forces under control of the practitioner. The left hand path is about liberation, individuality, challenging the taboos of the physical realm that human beings put on themselves and each other. The left hand path does not seek enlightenment to escape the confines of physical reality, but to maximize the experience of the here and now, on this earthly plane and to gain as much wisdom as possible on this plane of existence.
From everything that I can tell about these so-called opposed paths is that they are, in fact, not in opposition to one another at all. They exist simultaneously together and work together. The left hand knows that they are ultimately one with the divine already (or will figure it out at some point)and brings forth that realization to empower themselves as individuals, living a human experience. The right hand, if they are being honest (which, sometimes they aren't) knows that physical reality exists for a divine reason or divine plan.
Attempting escape from the physical, as in the right hand path, is to rejoin with the Divine. But as I see it, we are born into physical reality for the purpose of exploring the Universe, and getting to know it as we know ourselves, so that the Universe, the Divine can ultimately come to understand Itself. We are not here as punishment for having fallen from grace. We re not here to wake up from physical reality like Neo waking up from the comforts of the Matrix to the reality of the really REAL world.
We are also not here to get caught up in physical reality and be subject to the whims of egotistical gods and spirits who pull our strings and the strings of reality like great puppet masters. We are here, the whole point of being is, to experience and learn as much as possible and learn how all this works. We are the eyes, ears, feelers of the Universe, and I'm quite sure that all planets, all living things, all spirits, and all iterations of cosmic order and disorder are here to answer the great cosmic question, echos of the Logos asking that question since the the dawn of Time: Who am I ? Because of the limitless expansion of the Universe, that question is always followed again and again by "What else?" as we walk this plane as co-creators.
Our time here is precious. Because of the limits of our mortal flesh, we must ultimately rejoin the divine in Death, and the end of escaping reincarnation is only at the point when we have finished answering the question that we represent from the Universe about Itself. Your individual self embodies the lesson, not for you alone for your personal development, but to achieve that greater end. So as you seek your own personal ends, it doesn't matter if you try to escape or indulge in physical reality. At the end, we ourselves remain both the question and the answer.
So go forth and do what thou wilt. If that is to become an astronaut, a priest, a sorcerer, a mother, a painter, a hedonist, or an ascetic, then follow that drive, because you are ultimately, no matter what, on your own path, as a living question of the Divine.
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