"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 ..
