.. I have friends everywhere ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle"

 

 

 

- George Orwell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 .. even in first class, there's turbulence ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"success breeds complacency .. complacency breeds hubris .. hubris breeds arrogance"
 

 

 

- from MobLand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Was dada particularly philosophical other than just the starting point that everything is absurd?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took it more as an attempt at showing a miniaturized representation of the underlying "insane / meaningless / absurd" incongruities of modern living for human organisms at that point in historical time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But also that that art which is displayed on walls is not all that different from the experienced life of a people, and that the boundary between art, or fiction, and reality becomes blurred when viewed through the lens of the absurd as a personal experience of the imposing, impersonal, piece of art that is the civilization and culture created by our long dead ancestors, or not even that, but the civilization of some conquering people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The absurd is still “art”, even if there was a controversy at the time. It was, is, maybe the art we are forced into confronting - and if our way of living is absurd, and the absurd is a form of art, maybe our way of life needs a very intentional remodeling along some different aesthetic thread.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It doesn’t have to be the experience we are all forced to live through, but also, a sufficiently large number of people have to agree to give the living piece of art that is a civilization and culture the vital force to sustain it over some timespan. Which requires a very high degree of collaboration on a set of minimum values.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey, people got to eat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yet, now in particular, it is obvious that that boundary between the real and unreal, illusory, or at best possibly real, is deteriorating. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simulation is cheaper that the real thing, or, will hifi word-churns replace the real, fleah-and-blood, deal?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"When did our lives get so empty that we have to constantly stuff them full of this shit?"

 

- from Your Friends & Neighbors

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 .. if life is absurd, both generally & especially in the world of today, we can still give it our own meaning .. people find meaning in work, in family & their children, in larger organizations that make them feel part of something important ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. but then what happens when one or more of these disappoints them in some way, & they lose that sense of meaning ..? .. well, they often spiral into nihilism or give into self- or other-destructive tendencies .. maybe there's a firmer foundation on which to base & from which to derive one's meaning ..?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. the esoteric practitioner is the center, the very heart of their own magickal universe ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. now, in thinking thrugh this point & its implications, it's important to be careful to avoid hyperbole & especially reflexive & oppressive either/or binaries.. it's not about choosing between self & others .. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. & yet, all of our experiences, decisions & actions are from our own perspective, so it's phenomenologically accurate to ground one's sense of meaning within ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

..  to seek & find meaning esoterically, in this Way, is thus accurate to experience & more sincere; deeper, because it doesn't depend on, nor is it subject to, other people & organizations .. but this doesn't mean that others are somehow unimportant or expendable .. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

..  if one is the center of one's magickal universe, then the response ability for their actions & their con sequences are also their own .. in actual fact, it's not possible to build a functional, let alone a fruitful society unless this is the case .. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. what does it mean to seek & find meaning within ..? .. well, it isn't something that can be pointed to, like an object; inner meaning being literally subjective .. nor is it an inner state, like an emotion ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. finding one's inner meaning would entail a search to seek it out, & moreover, it may well change over time .. but once it is actually gnown, it becomes like a center from which one's decisions & actions emerge, a foundation for one's position & effects in the world ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. the magician is the center of their own magickal universe, & they are response able for its outcome; whether it flowers & flourishes, or degenerates & devolves ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"No, truth is not a mirror. Truth is a Promethean torch burning amidst the darkness of predominating occultation. This is why I say that every ‘truth’ has the violence of a Promethean act of theft"

 

 

 

- Jason Reza Jorjani, Aletheion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. we run it like a business, we run it like an op; 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

we run it like a Workshop ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(retro)causality: commod(e)itized li(v)es

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. there's only one Way to learn patience ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. & yes (needless to say..?) ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. it's the hard way ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Those we call heroes only did what they had to do"

 

 

 

- from The Wheel of Time

..  it's re@LLy all in the delivery  .. some might offer dead ends, whereas others offer means to discern a Way ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 .. let me drop this (2) on you ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. up/down - dropping the proverbial deuce ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flush it all away why don't you - you know it's headed there anyways: spin spin down the drain. Everything's falling, just saying. You ever notice how the vertical of gravity sometimes seems to shift in altered states, down is not quite "down" if you catch my drift. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And if "down" is how we're centered, anchored, to Terra, then maybe we can shift our view about in some way if only we can shift the "down".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While our bodies respond naturally to being pushed or pulled, whichever it is, you know some have conjectured that there is no such thing as a pull. Everything is pushed and smooshed together like all that flotsam and jetsam bobbing up and down in our junk yard oceans. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's a matter of density, see. Even when we go about pulling things, we have to hook our hands around whatever it is, and then those trailing hooks end up doing some pushing - we're then also pushing off against the ground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The proprioceptive accounting of our bodies' tie to the earth is one thing that can be shifted, then along with the visual apperception of that linear chain from head to foot. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You know, how when you tilt your head "down" stays "down" and shit doesn't look all that out-of-place? So two things here we can attempt to adjust, both of which are basic feelings that attend to the sensory intake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pick a point out there somewhere, preferably very, if not infinitely, far off. Make yourself feel that you are being pulled, or pushed, towards it. Transpose the greater center of gravity from the standard earth -> (moon) -> sun -> etc. chain to some other unique location, but then you won't be on earth any more. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This modulation of the perception of gravity is very apparent with the diviner's sage, however, you know now that you can look for these deviations and even attempt to cause them. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the everyday, with walking or standing in a shop, it is possible to notice being "pushed" around by the environment. Notice the varied trajectories of your body and how they adjust as the external changes. Changes in the local, physical, down will tend to make you lean and veer one way or another. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The psychic structure of verticality is not wholly the same. The first relates to the being of activity in the common, shared, world. The second to how we "put together" that material world. Nevertheless, following along with the familiar can lead to the unexpected.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are only able to act on the sensed environment, whatever the extent of that sensing. The internal state is also a sensed environment that, however, seems uniquely bound up in what we consider to be ourself, say, apart from a tree or a house. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forget that our identity is tied up in all of our perceiving, and reflect on the fact that the human gestalt has certain invariants attributed to it, one of which is "down". 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These structures that underly the assemblage of environmental data into some sort of coherence are deeply seated assumptions of the self and changes to them are reflected subsequently in great measure. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The effects of various substances and the emotional, mental, internal reactions in some sense indicate the degree to which variances in the fundamental structures cascade into the rest of the functioning of the individual. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other words, if you succeed in modulating "the down", you might just notice some things - and maybe act a bit off.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. people like us are dangerous, but not because we're a danger .. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. rather, we @LL but compel others to operate at a high(er) standard ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"There is no beginning; no end. Life is a scratched record looping over and over again.."

 

 

- from The Devil's Hour 

 

 

..  shades (.. thus named because he could barely remember who he was when he started on this Way .. ) is gnown to have said,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

".. I don't be lie ve in sadness as a category .. maybe that's a magickal act to empty it of its power .. but Castaneda says (don Juan said) that sadness is a sort of acclimation to a change in the state of affairs, & I read that to mean that one who has a plan really has no use for sadness as such, save perhaps to channel it towards fulfilling said plan .. might even put this in the upcoming issue, for that matter .."
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. which isn't to say that having a plan & operating with ambiguity should be seen as mutually exclusive .. the former pertains to being prepared & organized, whereas the latter emerges from a sense of con fidence in oneself, which are two different trajectories ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. con fidence doesn't doesn't come out of nowhere, or rather that's exactly where it comes from .. what happens over time is that we either reinforce this originary self-assuredness, or gradually lose (sight of) it ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. but the latter shouldn't be seen as the end of the story; not unless we decide it is .. it's possible to regain this self-con fidence, over time, by engaging with reality in creative ways ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. retrocausality, or reverse causation, is defined as an effect "causing" (or is it effecting..?) a cause, literally putting the cart before the horse, so that the cause comes after the effect in time.. it's a difficult con cept to con ceive, but this is precisely where it's useful for the magician ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. we can also think about retrocausality as rewriting reality, & like all magickal techniques, it's as dangerous as it is powerful, its level of threat determined by the character & intentions of its wielder ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. it can be used to justify atrocities ("if it wasn't for that, we wouldn't have a progressive pushback") just as well as to strengthen & empower the practitioner ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. we're always looking backwards; that's just how memory works .. so why not have fun with it, as long as it's toward a positive & productive cause .. maybe a past mistake was merely an "experiment" that didn't quite pan out .. & really, isn't that exactly what it was ..?

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. originary self-con fidence & a sense of playful experimentation aren't mutually exclusive, but, on the con trary, are one & the same; they emerge along parallel trajectories .. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. mistakes (or 'experiments') are an inextricable part of life, & should be seen as either detours from, or further & deeper explorations of the Way, as the practitioner wills ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. by opening to these approaches & attitudes, we can eventually, with patience & practice, gain the ability to retrocausally affect past events to better con nect to our present spaciotemporal location, &, in a double movement, simultaneously free the present to refer to the future & vice versa, thereby accessing the inner truth of retrocausality within our own experience ..

 

 

 

 

"Suicidal hierarchy, racing in reverse;
 

 

everything that's done today will be tomorrow's curse .."

 

 

- Slayer, Fictional Reality

.. when you have enough money ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. everything is cheap as shit ..

.. but isn't it enough ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. don't u think u have enough stuff ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. can't you make do ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. without that thing or (#)2 ..
 

the kakistocrats

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 .. caught in a spiral again & spinning ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. con fused & disoriented & seeking signs, mantras ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. a Way to stay grounded as I assemble the world ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. as I've done countless times before ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Tous les jours à tous points de vue, je vais de mieux en mieux"

 

 

 

- Émile Coué, La maîtrise de soi-même par l'autosuggestion consciente

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, well, well - what do we have here? Looks like you're staring at a computer, reading some through a square grid of pixels superimposed on your approximately hexagonal arrangement of rods and cones. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything is just all square, normal. Those right angles just make everything so... independent, right (angled) where they belong; separated into neat little houses, all contained within those black-lined walls where nothing bleeds through, especially all those photos and videos of people hacking and slashing one another. Well that would make a mess.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But the pictures still stay, the after-images of passing frames, echoing and asking for a response. Fiction is one thing, dreams, stories of good and evil, predator and prey, but who wants to think about apex predators outside of the comfort of one's living room. Who has the time, or energy? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The machine is set to run through its human batteries, one-by-one: If you're not in the driver's seat, you're worse off than Fred Flintstone; at least he had to put in some effort, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, the machine may feed off people, be composed of people and things people have built, but that's a sort of secondhand apex predator. More like a body that discards dead cells when it's done with them, a bit too abstract to usually be thought of as threat to life and limb, unlike a rabid dog, for instance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do the cows, chickens, pigs, and all the other animals headed off to the abattoir know they're about to meet their maker? How do they image their two-legged masters? Can they have any intimation of the sort of predicament they are in? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not even hunted by a predator, but raised in a state where they need not want for food or water or shelter. All comfortable like, yet still their fate awaits them. Can this state of affairs still be considered one of predation? A factory farm from cradle to grave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We eat the flesh of (some of) the animals we keep, and nothing seems to be taking a knife or teeth and claws to our bodies, chopping them up for stew. At least not with anything approaching the regularity with which chicken is eaten for dinner. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, collectively we seem to be apex predators as far as physical nutriment is concerned, but there is at least one common cannibalistic way of feeding on humans and that is through the money totem. But that's old hat, and no-one cares. Just like with the animals on factory farms, the machine we feed takes care of us and there's really no vivid emotional reaction to predation of this sort.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's just not that scary. What we want are those bulbous headed greys, the little green men, the H.R. Giger inspired aliens. What fun is a hospice? We want to be eaten alive, or, more likely probably not, but we would want something we can actually grab ahold of and fight against. But do we even want that? Again, probably not. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I summon a UFO, all I want to get for a souvenir is a t-shirt, thanks. I'll skip the implants and all that. We really don't want to deal with the probable fact that there are aliens, or that they might already be here, up to whatever interstellar shenanigans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We should consider the possible role of consciousness, belief, awareness: I think I'll pass on summoning any UFOs for the time being, but maybe other people'd like to take the job. Like people in the military and intelligence circles, perhaps. It's their work to consider crazy ass-hat possibilities and threats, take them seriously, give them that little sliver of belief. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If the inconceivable is imperceptible, then it makes sense that the militaries and some of their personnel are the most likely to come into close encounters with the "third kind", indeed with any fringe phenomena. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Especially if they've already come across hints or even physical facts that suggest they're "on the right track" regarding the alien agenda. Belief snowballs, crystallizes into a worldview where the impossible happens, and may become commonplace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, let it be said, that I believe I have come across a non-human embodied intelligence capable of approximating a human being. As well also as other, apparently alive and self-acting, energies and apparent humans appearing and acting suspiciously under suspicious circumstances. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I'm right there with you, who I assume also has doubts about WTF exactly is going on. Even if I have to get up, eat, work and do it all over again. Put the incongruities out of mind and go about my day. I'll save the aliens for t.v...

a warrior, a master & a kakistocrat walk into a bar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. Carlos Castaneda likes to talk about the warrior, & one can certainly see the appeal .. the warrior lives by a code of honor, is disciplined & organized, & above all is effective at what they set out to achieve .. who wouldn't want to think of themselves as a warrior ..?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 .. that's someone who's capable yet serene; equanimous, even .. engaging in actual warfare is almost an afterthought, because the idea is that if one can comport themselves in this Way, victory is @LL but assured .. ergo, if the warrior sets out to attain to Mastery, then surely if not ineviably, they will, in time ..
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. wanna know how to tell if a self-styled master is a true master..? .. there isn't a master who doesn't meditate .. meditation changes you on a profound metaphysical level, puts you in touch with yourself in parallel universes, con nects you to the wider scheme of things, the so-called "big picture" .. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 .. in other words, & if one is in the market for a definive trait of the masters, one could do a lot worse .. to be sure, it's also worth keeping in mind that there are many Ways to meditate, & to attune to different aspects of the Great Mystery ..

.. as for the kakistocracy, we can con trast their need for external validation to the more "organic", holistic con nections of the masters to deeper existential layers .. the former seek the approval of others, & wrongly surmise that worldly success will somehow offset their lack in other, deeper & more essential trajectories of attainment ..

.. kakistocracy is a word that refers to government by the least suitable or competent citizens of a state; to a society that is determined or driven by its least adequate or capable .. with apologies if that hits a tad too close to home ..

 .. the kakistocrat will do whatever it takes to get ahead, without regard for moral quandaries, red lines or, most damning of all, any internal code of con duct or ethics .. this isn't something they even con sider; it lies beyond their purview ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 .. there's an old joke called 'the aristocrats', but for our purposes here it might as well be 'the kakistocrats', because it underlines this point .. the kakistocrat isn't driven, determined, motivated by a subjective Way to be, but instead seeks attainment & approval externally, from others .. & by this, they define themselves ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 .. all of which is emphatically not to say that only by choosing to be a member of the kakistocracy can one advance in the world .. on the con trary; only the warrior, the master, can ever experience true success ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

.. the point isn't to delineate attainment in the world from success in one's self-determined goals in the first place; to be sure, both of these can and often do con verge .. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. rather, it is to emphasize that the one isn't identical to the other, & to underline that which of these one chooses to prioritize goes a long Way to determine what kind of person they will become ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The only true aristocracy is that of consciousness"

- D H Lawrence

.. & Working in this Way ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 .. following the signs through the lifeworld I've con structured ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 .. I con tinue my journey home, ever onward ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 .. to my Self ..

ex(tra/cre)mental

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. never liked sad songs ..
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. cuz if "everything's shit",
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

why don't u change it ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. play a different tune ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
.. that's what a magician would do ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We'LL live for ever, even if we have to die to do it

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those who came to [a] religion through no fault of their own: they were not given a religion, no hand-me-downs; for their ancestors and their gods were buried, and must be dug up, sifted through the notions of the times that still are the bedrock on which we have built our human world. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But... we have left our ancestral homelands, forsaken our past, the tongues and tales of our forebears, who certainly were tougher than we are now, who came to rule the natural world through its laws and build mighty civilizations and cities - all from a more raw state of nature, where the simplest of comforts was a blessing and had to be wrought out with personal, familial, tribal knowledge of the operations at play in a more natural, sometimes unforgiving, yet in a different way than now, world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were fewer people to listen to back then, fewer people to which you could give your initiative and intuition by merely accepting for value without critical thought: you HAD to think for yourself, for there was no-one to think for you and even those in close communication still cared for you, and you were all an extended family. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But, we have left our homeland and, headed to the cosmos, we built a grand machine to care for us; an attempt at a cosmopolitan amalgam of humanity who aLL want to serve the machine, because the machine serves us; makes us comfortable and entertained, amused, active.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes too active, but the clocks have already been shifted. The machine has sped up the clock. We can do more faster. Our power output as individuals, and consequently in the various societies, has increased. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our ability to calculate, which enables our capacity to build complex apparatus, has increased along with the clock to unfathomable sums, and which could never be performed by hand as any human normally is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, so it began...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. its aLL obsession, isnt it ..?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. love itself might be thought of as an aspect of it ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. obsession is prayer, obsession is magic ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. maybe even existing itself is a symptom of obsession ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Hey, look around, they are lying to you
Can't you see it is just a silly ruse?
They are lying, & I am lying too"

 

 

- Sleater-Kinney, Entertain 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. to be certain, it's the aeon of the con artist .. don't be lie ve me, take a walk down the street, & look at the ads & what all the people are hawking .. but what does this actuaLLy mean ..?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. William S. Burroughs in Nova Express wrote that "to speak is to lie — to live is to collaborate" .. & what he meant by this is that merely to exist is already to participate in a con, & on more than one level, at that ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. there is the deceit involved in the social con structions of reality, where saving face often takes precedence over sincerity, but on a deeper level, there is the existential con fidence trick of experiencing oneself as a separate being apart from the infinite flux that is existence .. the only advantage that the con artist has is that they're aware of these facts & use them to their benefit ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. these senses & more underlie the term 'aeon of the con artist' .. in fact, we might say that what makes it so is that today everybody is a con artist (which is another way to say a magician), whether they know it or not, but especially because increasingly many seemingly do gnow this ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

..  but this doesn't mean all con artists are alike .. far from it .. those who succeed in this aeon will be con artists for the right reasons .. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. a cautionary example here is the (literal?) bankruptcy of the right, who claim that freedom of expression, doing what one will, & supporting those less fortunate are 'illegal', & accuse those who stand for such of being 'criminals' .. but who's the real criminal here, in the large scheme of things ..?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 .. just as neither sociopathy nor psychopathy are acceptable, let alone respectable political platforms, the con artist would be well advised to entirely avoid such trajectories in their own Work .. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. on the con trary, the magician may well find that their Work is successful precisely to the extent that it benefits others to varying degrees .. in fact, the most effective con benefits everyone involved, to varying degrees ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"You've got time to escape
There's still time to escape
It's no crime to escape
There's still time, so escape
It's no crime"

- Pearl Jam, All those yesterdays

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. do what u can then let it go at that ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. shouldn't overthink it ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. get out of your head .. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

we're @LL response able .. this is our watch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

better 2: raining hell / agent provocateur

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. first there was a will, then there was a way ..

.. ergo, the energetics precede the biologics ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"We never stop choosing who we are"

 

 

 

- from Moana 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
- .. was out and about and got very pissed off; started throwing around deadly forms, but in a calm state. the shop grate was half down and some guy quickly came in, stood at the desk that I was sitting next to, did some mumbo jumbo with his hands that I could not see, then turns and walks off with a bottle of something. My family and I leave the eyeglass place and along past us walking to the exit is the guy doing some kind of ritualistic walk, holding the bottle very “peculiarly”. He ambulates ahead

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- .. a fellow practitioner perhaps; a magician ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- The question then is though, what was the nature of the bottle and if any contents prior / after the manuevre? I initially got the impression it was some form of alcohol, but i only saw a sliver of it

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- .. could be .. liquor has a lot of ritual uses, including pacifying spirits for example; it's offered as a gift to propitiate them ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- for some reason, I thought he was bottling it up to be used elsewhere

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- .. could well be so, ya .. water at least is said to hold energetic impressions, & even if it was booze, it's not so unlikely that spirits might hold .. spirits

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- they certainly do let them out when imbibed .. release them, that is ..
 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reichenbach, or Secret Visions of the 5th Dalai Lama

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I forgot I hadn't written anything this time around, just some scattered notes on the ground - chicken scratch in the sand, hunting and pecking with pen in hand, but at the end of the day: very little to show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Languages are cages that hem in the noetic flux - sometimes the mind gets stuck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We're just apes with variously, to some degree, mechanically functioning languages: the analogy is complete (enough). The cranks of engines were first turned on paper pages, the machine world first took shape on a drawing board.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reaching out, extruding ectoplasmic people through cathode ray tubes. Duplicated characters shared amongst cogs. The engineering languages, the various mathematics with their shapes, signs, rules, and results find a close enough approximation to a one-to-one mapping with factual occurrences, that people have been able to, for a long time now, to simulate reality on paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reduce the world('s) (to two) dimensions and (re)assemble. The telling of a thing is always less than the thing, or, information can be compressed if you don't care about fidelity. But, you have to care about the fidelity of the fact; we haven't figured out how to compress an apple without making apple juice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We're just apes with variously, to some degree, meta functioning languages: the analogy is complete (enough). We program ourselves like we program machines or computers, if we know what we're doing - either wise we're trained just like the silicon neural nets. Target objective result. Repeat - focus on a goal, don't nitpick the details, they coalesce to the condensing nucleus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Practice is the part where you have the goal and pay attention to what you are doing. Slowly building (real [someone else can sense it]) nerve control pathways. When we're entering a world through a body, effectively random, white noise stimuli, punctuated with the relative darkness of sleeping, is sensed and we flail pushing into the sound with various forces, until... something sticks, that is: we have a real response from the environment - i.e. I can now discern shapes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If we are to continue growing, something of the same sort needs to be attended to: pushing somewhat randomly into the environment and seeing what returns a response in return, always (hyper) local to varying degrees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day was the dead day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The signal / response pattern is a set of languages in the various sensory apparatus :: input + output.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If there is always an output language associated with an input language, for each sensory apprehension, hmmm, which corresponds to which ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The crowd always wants to grow. There are no natural boundaries to its growth. There are no institutions which can be absolutely relied on to prevent the growth of the crowd once and for all"

 

 

 

 

 - Elias Canetti, Crowds and Power

 

.. once again, friends, it is eye, shades (thus named cuz 

 

 

 

 

"One by one we're all becoming shades"

 

 

 

- James Joyce, The Dead), your fear less dealer, with another joint ..  a notably experimental one, but then, we're @LLways trying things out here to see what will shift reality in a more positive & con structive Way .. u know how it is in this biz ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. & it sure seems like we need it, what with things seemingly getting worse (hopefully before they get better) .. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 .. ah, but that's the thing - are we lying around waiting for things to get better, or are we actively Working, i.e. investing energy, with a view to improving ourselves & the wider world..? .. surely, at the very least, we're wishing that it may be so, for certainly that's better than doing nothing at all ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. as we've noted before, this world belongs to investors; those who invest time, energy (..& isn't money just a crude measure of such..?), etc, & who then collect benefits on these investments ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. case in point: if, as many have theorized, we're living in a second so-called Gilded Age, where the greatest threat to the common good, to the individual and their freedom, are the oligarchs, the plutocrats, (or, as some have gone so far as to call them,) the robber barons, why is this the case ..? .. is it not because they have so much more invested than the 'average' person, at least in financial terms ..?

.. assuming this is the case, & it seems reasonable to make such a deduction from the observations at hand, then what is needed to counter, indeed to overcome, said robber barons is, simply put, an (at minimum) equal & opposite 'investment', understood in the broad terms outlined above as con sisting of time, energy, etc, & with the goal of resisting their sociopathic agenda in favor of a more holistic understanding of reality ..

.. & so, maybe if everyone who isn't happy with the state of the world today put their 'money' where their metaphorical mouth is, we could reach a criticaL mass, an escape veLocity into a future that would put this present mess into con text, as a nightmarish past from which we have successfuLLy awakened ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"If you change the rules on what controls you, you will change the rules on what you can control"

 

 

 

 - from Revolver

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. LLegends don't die  ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. they just become more interesting ..

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

world'soul war / there is no center but you

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. once more unto the breach ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Victory is celebrated in the light, but it is won in the darkness" 

- from Dune: Prophecy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything changes on New Year's Day.... Just like every other day, and so on down towards whatever non-existent smallest unit of time. It's all a matter of scale, see - the geometries are ever shifting, at least slightly. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All presentments to the senses, and thus to consciousness, are facts or the assumptions of facts. The inability to determine the truth of the past means that is labile in its presentment and how it can be made to act. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, there remains also the firm belief that there is some ultimate factual matter standing at the root of whatever current present happens to be manifest. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yet, remaining human, there is no way for a non-present observer to come to terms with the fact of what must always remain in an uncertain state, unless there is further evidence that follows accepted laws. Yet again, evidences can be deceiving when they are the productions of fellow human beings; fraud and its ilk. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Use the budget to budge it, 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

make ‘em move how you want, you know? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dangle some cash in front of their noses

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Somewhere it seems, we are forced to abdicate our direct knowing for at least second hand information which must be culturally filtered, merely because there are two separate individuals involved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scale:->

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then there are times when the kaleidoscopic view in front of us hangs in the balance, and at a sudden all the pieces tumble and shift in a catastrophic collapse to a new ground, or base state. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That thing in front of you that kinda just sits there as you flex your tubes around. If you don't shift your gaze, your gaits, your posing and restraint, then nothing would change. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If it were possible for you yourself to not change, that implies that the world would be unchanging or static .. it just depends on whether or not the frames would sync up if you decided to start the world again. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't know anyone who can (at least) often do that, - but it is certainly possible for any one of us to turn our eyes: the view, after all, is never the same.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Five percent of people are saints; five percent are evil. In their soul, stone evil. The other 90, they're just sheep.. they will follow whoever has the upper hand .."

- from Special Ops: Lioness

.. in the battle between light & dark, there can be no permanent 'winner' .. at any given point, one has the upper hand, while the other appears to have 'lost', when in fact it has receded only to return reinvigorated to, eventually, prevail in turn ..

.. the cycle of the seasons, day & night are merely the most obvious & immediate examples of polarity in our experience, but one should be cautious if they want to transpose such principles to the inner, esoteric world ..

.. one should especially be careful to avoid the con clusion that, if everything levels out to zero when all is said and done, then 'nothing really matters' .. ignorance & evil are very real to their victims, & simply to say "well, it's all the same in the end" does perhaps less than nothing to alleviate their suffering ..

.. knowing this, the magician must weigh their actions carefully to determine if they con tribute to the good or if they result in evil .. this is, after all, how we experience freedom in our lived experience ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. & certainly, we all wish to be free, but we must always ask the question, 'free to do what ..?' .. surely freedom, more than the absence of restraint, is on a much more profound level to truly know what we want, so the wishes & desires of others are not determining our own behavior ..

.. the ideal is that, if we truly are doing what we really want, we can reduce evil, ignorance to a minimum, which is but the result of error or con fusion .. & the challenge set before us is to reach that point of the gnosis of our own true will ..

.. don't be led by those who have been misled ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. cuz if they win, u lose ..

"-In the city, always a reflection; in the woods, always a sound ..

-What about the desert?

-You don't want to go in the desert .."

- from Spartan

.. happens to the best of us .. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. the peaks are the most treacherous ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. so don't lose he/art ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.. & get back up  ..