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I don't think it's reduced when you see it as a set of analogies, when you apply the Hermetic adage, As Above, So Below; because you will see that the anaogies are parallels to greater realities, microcosm mirroring macrocosm, and so forth.
It's still very good when you see it as analogies, certainly.
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We are bound by the empirical and Maya. It is all that we have, but it is not all that exists. The goal of any spirituality, I think, is to try and attain understanding, by non-empirical means, of these higher realities. When you attain this understanding, there is no way to prove or quantify it, and as such every person's spirituality is forced to be subjective. There can never wholly be a consensus, and that's just something we're forced to accept. You can codify all you like, but there's no personal experience in accepting a codification as gospel. And if there's no personal experience, there's no point in the pursuit.
There's a certain zen in being aware of the dichotomy of it being right or wrong, also being aware that treating it as a set of analogies solely means you also believe the occult is just mysticism, but also pursuing occult study because it might be true.