metaphysical mumbo-jumbo: 8/1/07

anger: an acquired taste

Anger is an acquired taste, just like blue cheese, frogs legs or witchetty grubs. When you first try anger, you’re not sure you like it. But you soon learn to appreciate it. You soon learn how much more enjoyable it is to succumb to anger than to manage it.

Many times have I been drunk on Anger. The oh-so-delectable feeling of being out of control---of being authorised, empowered even, to transgress boundaries you wouldn’t normally cross.

Rage is an even headier brew--the bitter toxicity of it burns your throat as you gulp it down. Rage makes you feel …fine and hot.

Then there are the bittersweet flavours of Resentment, Disappointment and Humiliation. Not to mention the more exotic delights of Despair, Jealousy, Unrequited Lust. As for the sweeter, more wholesome dishes, I’ve tasted Joy on the odd occasion, Peace once or twice, Tranquility now and then.

Some people are hooked on Loneliness, others addicted to Self-abasement. Speaking personally, over the years I’ve drunk deep at the well of Selfishness. And worshipped at the Shrine of Pain. Acquired tastes, all of them. And how we love ‘em.

But remember this, there are things that hurt a lot more than pain---the belief that one is alone, for instance, separate from others and from God.

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what would you say?

What would you say to a person who--brimming with intelligence, talent and creativity--consciously and deliberately sabotages zer potential and walks a path leading to destruction of self?

What can you say about a person who--since the dawning of zer own awareness--has sought mediocrity in order to knowingly cripple zer soul?

What would you say about a person who assures zerself that zer descent into the abyss of self-abasement is the only and best means available to test the true measure of zer superior capabilities?

What can you say to person who embraces damage to mind, body and soul in the belief that ascension to fulfillment (self actualisation, if you must) will only be complete once every conceivable obstacle is overcome?

What would you say to a person who creates zer own obstacles? Who makes psychic investments such that they offer the least return with the highest risk?

What would you say about such a person?

I would say: “What a schmuck!”

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187 varieties of hair-spray

The end of the world is nigh; 2012 to be precise. Or so the myths and legends of several different cultures predict. And considering the state of the world today, and the state of our so-called culture, you'd have to admit it's looking pretty bleak. Thing is, I doubt it will be the end of the world. The end of the species may very well be nigh, but the world will get on quite nicely without us, thank you very much. And good riddance too.

Of course, I do understand there are many different cultures still extant today, but for the purposes of simplicity, in this discussion I'm focusing on one of the sickest, wrongest, least fulfilling cultures of them all: Western free market 'democracy' (?!), Westdem for short. Westdem happens to be the predominating culture, not by virtue of being the most suitable but simply by virtue of being the most aggressive and greedy. Westdem has been so successful it has consumed many other cultures in its march to the top, and continues to insidiously permeate many if not most other cultures such that virtually everywhere you go you're not too far away from a coke or a big mac. I call the process "McDonaldsisation"--the homogenisation of everything into a big grey bland ball of crap.

So what's wrong with the world, with our culture? Nothing is wrong (or right) in absolute terms. There is no good or evil, right or wrong. There is only that which serves the relevant purpose, and that which does not serve the purpose. So what's wrong with Westdem? Is it the triumph of shareholder value over personal values? Is it the triumph of individual values over group values? Is it the fact that we are poisoning ourselves? (If humans are so smart, how come they piss in their own water supply? That's not evil. It's not bad or wrong. But it certainly does not serve the purpose of having a potable water supply.) Is it that we refuse to recognise or acknowledge any limits to or constraints on our pursuit of whatever it is we are pursuing (we don't actually know, do we?). Is it that we have gone so far down the relativist road that we cannot see or understand or value one thing over another so we end up valuing nothing at all?

But let's not get bogged down in value judgements. If people prefer watching television to communing with nature (yuck!) that's OK. That's not bad. That's not evil. If people prefer golf courses to wetlands, that's fine. That's not bad. That's not evil. I do not pass judgement. But... and it's a biggie... But I can and do say that the paths we have chosen and continue to choose have not and will not lead to the outcomes we say we desire. The decisions we are making are preventing us from achieving the objectives we say we wish to achieve.

Pollution is not bad; it's not evil. But if the desired outcome is a clean and healthy world, then clearly to continue polluting will not lead to the desired outcome. It's not bad or evil to put harmful chemicals in foodstuffs---it is simply that to do so will not lead to the desired outcome: that what we eat should taste good and be health-giving not health-destroying. Having 187 varieties of hair-spray available on supermarket shelves is not bad, it's not evil. But it works against the achievement of our stated objectives, including preserving natural resources, minimising waste, minimising pollution etc

Personally, I believe it's too late. I believe we're heading for extinction in a matter of decades. I believe that even if we woke up right now, and understood the plight we have put ourselves in, and immediately started to put things right, that it would still be too late to prevent our imminent demise. Remember the canary in the coal mine? How the death of the canary would be a warning sign to the miners of the approach of toxic gas?

Well, our children are the canaries today. And the ever-growing number of young people self-mutilating, committing suicide, turning to drugs and alcohol is a warning sign to us of the approach of doom. In effect, our young people are saying to us: "We don't like this world, this culture you have created. In fact we hate it so much we would rather die, or slice our arms and legs with razor blades, or smash our brains and bodies with ice, or high speed street racing, etc, etc". I hope I'm wrong about all of this (actually I don't, come to think of it) but I'm pretty damn sure I'm right. Still, the prospect of failure doesn't mean we shouldn't try. Ideas, anyone?

And here's a story to illustrate the nature and scope of the problems facing us today.

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the illusion of difference

People argue a lot, very often about a thing called "God". Often we fight and kill for reasons to do with a thing called "God".

There are many different fights about God. About the existence of God (whether ze exists) and the nature of God (what ze is). Whether there is only one god, or many, or none. Fights between people called “believers” and people called “scientists”. Between those who believe they believe in a different god to that in which others believe they believe. Between people who believe that God is “X” versus people who believe “Y” is God.

(Of course, God is not the only thing we kill each other about. We kill each other for political reasons (to do with power), economic (wealth, resources), cultural, racial… you name it, we’ll kill in the name of it.)

We have seen the effects: Crucifixions. Burnings at the stake. People fed to lions. Lampshades of human skin. Crusaders and Saracens. Tutsis and Hutus. Northern Ireland. Jerusalem. Baghdad. Iraq. Afghanistan. Been there, done that.

Now, we could keep on the same way: fighting, arguing, killing. If that’s what we want to do, choose to do. If we feel it serves our purposes to keep fighting, then that is what we should continue to do. That’s assuming we want to serve our purposes. If we choose not to serve our own purposes, we are choosing self-destruction: neurotic if not pathological behaviour. (By the way, what are our purposes?)

Or, we could stop fighting, if we desired to, because actually there is no disagreement, nothing to fight about. Actually, we’re all in agreement, have been forevermore, will be forevermore. We just don’t see it.

We don’t see it for three sets of reasons. The first has to do with language, the meaning of words. The second concerns the Gestalt, set theory: the relationships and interactions between the whole and its parts, and between parts and other parts. The third concerns the Self: what it is, where it is, what it encompasses). Let’s look at the first set first, concerning language.

For starters, let’s not use the word “god”. There is just too much accumulated emotional, cultural and psychological baggage carried on the back of the word “god” (or “Allah”, “Yahweh”, “Ahura Mazda”, “Zeus”, “Shiva” or “Wandjina” or any so-called “name” of God in any language). So let’s start from scratch. Let’s invent a new label, a new word, something neutral, something without connotations or implications. How about “"eti"”? As in, for example, “her faith in Eti helped sustain her through a difficult childhood”. Or, “…they believe in a personal eti…”.

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capturing thought

Somewhere, somehow, somewhen, someone discovered a secret process to capturing thought. The discovery of the secret process meant that thought could be transported from one place to another; transplanted from one mind to another. The discovery meant that a bridge could be built between the realm of intangible, immaterial things like thoughts, ideas, memories and the like, and the realm of material, physical things like rocks, bodies, water, dust and the like. Amazing, don't you think?

Unfortunately, there is one small problem: thoughts and meanings captured or transported by means of the secret process become distorted, damaged, even destroyed. However, people do not allow that small problem to get in the way of using the secret process to capture, transport and transplant thought.

So, what do they call the amazing discovery that enabled a bridge to be built between the material and the immaterial? They call it "language", of course.

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answering the Big Question

Everything That Is (ETI) has been, will be and can be includes the real and the imaginary, the material and the immaterial (is there really a substantive difference?).

Within ETI are sentient beings and non-sentient beings, sentient beings with language, and sentient beings without language, subjects and objects, the living and the dead. So the Big Question is not about the purpose of life; it is about the purpose of life and death and everything between (POLADEV).

I believe that the POLADEV is to help ETI experience and understand Zirself in the totality of all Zir components, including what it is like to be me, what it is like to be you, what it is like to be a (specific) strange quark, what it is like to be a (particular) thought, what it is like to be a bat. The stuff of which ETI is made is the same stuff of which the parts of ETI are made, ie, ETI-stuff is incarnate in a rock, a tree, a bacterium, a force, an idea, a dog, a molecule, a piece of anti-matter, dark energy, light energy, a book, a singularity, a lightning strike, a formula, a thought, a person, an animal, an algorithm, an alien with language, an alien without language, etc. (And a bat.)

Now do you begin to understand entanglement? Now do you begin to understand why there is no separation between anything? Now do you begin to understand that everything is of the same stuff? Now do you begin to understand what the Buddhist said to the hotdog vendor ("make me one with everything")? It's the Great Chain of Being. It's worlds within worlds. Reality scales up as well as down.

Parts of ETI are smart. Parts are dumb. The parts that are smart comprise the brain and nervous system of ETI. Everything that is smart is a neuron firing in the brain of ETI. One neuron may not be aware of another, but ETI is aware of all.

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many mansions

What do we mean by "real"?

Is matter more real than energy? Is a tree (in or out of the quad*) more real than the idea of a tree? Is a sound more real than a thought? Is actuality more real than possibility?

What is an action? Is an action real? An action is not a physical thing. It is not a thought. Or is it?

Is the idea that there is (are) a god (gods) less real than the fact (assuming it is a fact) of there being a god or gods?

In my father's house (the multiverse/reality) are many mansions: the Mansion of Matter, the Mansion of Mind, the Mansion of Memory, the Mansion of Mystery, to name but a few.

You can find roast chicken in the Mansion of Matter. You can find a recipe for roasting chicken in the Mansion of Mind. You can find molecules in the Mansion of Matter. You can find ways to understand what a molecule is in the Mansion of Mind.

The tree in the quad
There was a young man who said "God
must think it exceedingly odd
if he finds that this tree
continues to be
when there's no one about in the Quad."

"Dear Sir, your astonishment's odd
I am always about in the Quad
And that's why this tree
will continue to be
since observed by Yours faithfully, God."
(Msgr. Ronald Knox 1888-1957)

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all there is to it

OK. Let's get real. Here's how you make magic. Here's how you kill Schrödinger's cat. Here's the secret. The big one. The Philosopher's Stone. The Elixir of Life. The One Ring to bind them All. The Real Thing.

Want to know how to make enemies disappear? Know you have none. Want to have sex with anyone you please? Think about it--you do. Want to have everything there is to have? All the tastes, sights, aromas, sensations, pleasures, and pains of the flesh, the mind, the soul? Remember--that's all there is to it. Know. Be.

Look. Listen. Hear. Grok that what I'm trying to tell you is that you can be, do, have anything. Just choose it. But you can't do, be, have anything you want. Because you wouldn't want it if you already have it. And if you already have it, you don't lack it.

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