Key: Ruling Faculty
Monday, November 23, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
MindWar Doctrine 1
My young warriors,
In a few minutes you will enter into the Place of Honor where, one by one, you will learn whether or not you are fitted to swear the oath which will bind you to the Imperial Stormtroooper Force forever.
For five years you have been preparing for this moment. You have mastered the techniques of PolWar and Intersystem Relations, of translite navigation and combat, as well as a host of subjects too numerous to mention. Your studies have encompassed every area of knowledge and have provided you with the most advanced preparation available to any being in the known galaxy. Though you were carefully selected for this training, many who began with you are not here today.
In the process of your training here, you have sharpened to a keen edge certain qualities:
unusual powers of observation and memory; a degree of patience and persistence unknown among the masses of men; and, above all, the ability to clear each problem given you of its accidental elements - to arrive quickly at its essentials. Here you have also learned courage and honor, for these are the marks of all true warriors.
Yet for all this you may only have become excellent warriors, a credit to the Stormtrooper force, but NOT graduates of this academy; for there is more that you must know. You must know how you will be Mind Warriors.
What have eyou learned of the Universe you will soon be roaming freely?
That it is a million-billion parts? That it stands against itself? That it sleeps and wakens and dies? I tell you to learn this: It is ONE.
Have you remembered your yesterdays and dreamed your tomorrows? Thought and wearied of thought? Admired and despised? You have been mistaken: They are ONE.
The Oneness of the Universe is found in your KNOWING of it and in the corners of your mind where knowing is most at home. Knowing and the Known are ONE, indivisible, inalienable. The true knower labors not but lets the known become him.
What is a god? It is only a shadowy image in our dreams of what we might be if we knew the Universe. Let me teach you that you WILL be gods if only you will labor not against the Universe but will know it as it is to be known.
How may you do this? Dismiss from your memories the fear of death, for it stands in your way. The living is in the dead and the dead is in the living, and they are ONE. The Universe does not notice a distinction between life and death, but is forever changing its colors and textures to become another and to seem fixed and inviolate. You shall see in number what the Universe is not. And what is in a number but the fear of death.
Dismiss also from your imagination any lingering hope that you may resist the pulsing life and death and Oneness which is the Universe. The ages are filled with the howling ghosts of the fools who have tried. Were your resistance to succeed, what would be the result? You would obliterate your own being, as it is one with ONE. For you are ONE, and at ONE, and of ONE. But your resistance will not succeed.
And how shall this teaching change you? How may this final instruction make you a Mind Warrior?
It will give you eyes to see the weakness of your enemy, for he cannot distinguish the essential from the accidental. He must depend upon his own Will; that is to say, he must depend upon his vacant hope to be what he may not be. This hope, I teach you, rests in the heart of your enemies. They despise you because you have no hope; but you will be victorious over them, and they shall be defeated. You will know them, and you will know your time. You will know yourselves and when your time is not. You will be alone and they will be in hosts but you will KNOW and they will not KNOW. They will be feverish and will think of their fever as a virtue, but you will be cold and will KNOW.
They will hate you, but you will hate not, for you will KNOW. They will pray to pull you down; but you will not pray,and you will not be pulled down.
You will look down into the minds of your enemies and you will find there the hope which they have lodged there. You will measure their hope against their power. They will have power, for their hope is but a part, and they are ONE also. But their power will avail them not, for you will not attack their power, which is ONE; but you will attack their hope, which is not ONE. In this you will defeat them by knowing them and by knowing their wills and by making the error which is their wills cause their defeat. And you shall know their errors even before they may be committed, because you will know how they are not at one with ONE.
I teach you that it is ONE, and that the ONE is a thought, and that you are thinking that thought. Henceforth you may not see as other men see, nor hear as they hear, if you are thinking the thought that it is ONE. You must be a riddle to men and a danger, but you may not be of them any longer.
And whom do you serve? We are warriors of the Empire, for it is the time of the Empire and not another time yet to be. And the Empire is making the Universe ONE in its way, for it is time to make the Universe ONE. You will, therefore, serve the Empire.
Now you will each proceed alone into the Place of Honor. As you pass within, you will find two doors. On each door you will see a sigil, unbeknownst to you. Behind one door is the Oath Scroll and the Trapezoidal altar. Behind the other, the Universe in which you once lived. He who selects the latter door may never return to this Hall.
In the sigil on the first door is the KNOWLEDGE OF THE ONE which leads to the path of MindWar. It is the sign of overgoing and bridging and seeing. In the other sign, however, there is hope. If you have understood these final instructions which I have spoken, you will sleect the first door because you will recognize the sign. If you have not understood, you will select the 2nd door because you will be drawn to its sigil. When you have opened one door the other will be forever sealed to you, so choose well; but choose as you will choose.
Those who sign the Oath Scroll will dine tonight in the Great Hall and will learn of the company there. Pass through, if you may, for I have completed these instructions.
-General Terclis/Colonel Richard L. Sutter, U.S. Army
excerpted from `The Dark Side`, by Michael Aquino
for access to full text, go here:
http://www.xeper.org/maquino
In a few minutes you will enter into the Place of Honor where, one by one, you will learn whether or not you are fitted to swear the oath which will bind you to the Imperial Stormtroooper Force forever.
For five years you have been preparing for this moment. You have mastered the techniques of PolWar and Intersystem Relations, of translite navigation and combat, as well as a host of subjects too numerous to mention. Your studies have encompassed every area of knowledge and have provided you with the most advanced preparation available to any being in the known galaxy. Though you were carefully selected for this training, many who began with you are not here today.
In the process of your training here, you have sharpened to a keen edge certain qualities:
unusual powers of observation and memory; a degree of patience and persistence unknown among the masses of men; and, above all, the ability to clear each problem given you of its accidental elements - to arrive quickly at its essentials. Here you have also learned courage and honor, for these are the marks of all true warriors.
Yet for all this you may only have become excellent warriors, a credit to the Stormtrooper force, but NOT graduates of this academy; for there is more that you must know. You must know how you will be Mind Warriors.
What have eyou learned of the Universe you will soon be roaming freely?
That it is a million-billion parts? That it stands against itself? That it sleeps and wakens and dies? I tell you to learn this: It is ONE.
Have you remembered your yesterdays and dreamed your tomorrows? Thought and wearied of thought? Admired and despised? You have been mistaken: They are ONE.
The Oneness of the Universe is found in your KNOWING of it and in the corners of your mind where knowing is most at home. Knowing and the Known are ONE, indivisible, inalienable. The true knower labors not but lets the known become him.
What is a god? It is only a shadowy image in our dreams of what we might be if we knew the Universe. Let me teach you that you WILL be gods if only you will labor not against the Universe but will know it as it is to be known.
How may you do this? Dismiss from your memories the fear of death, for it stands in your way. The living is in the dead and the dead is in the living, and they are ONE. The Universe does not notice a distinction between life and death, but is forever changing its colors and textures to become another and to seem fixed and inviolate. You shall see in number what the Universe is not. And what is in a number but the fear of death.
Dismiss also from your imagination any lingering hope that you may resist the pulsing life and death and Oneness which is the Universe. The ages are filled with the howling ghosts of the fools who have tried. Were your resistance to succeed, what would be the result? You would obliterate your own being, as it is one with ONE. For you are ONE, and at ONE, and of ONE. But your resistance will not succeed.
And how shall this teaching change you? How may this final instruction make you a Mind Warrior?
It will give you eyes to see the weakness of your enemy, for he cannot distinguish the essential from the accidental. He must depend upon his own Will; that is to say, he must depend upon his vacant hope to be what he may not be. This hope, I teach you, rests in the heart of your enemies. They despise you because you have no hope; but you will be victorious over them, and they shall be defeated. You will know them, and you will know your time. You will know yourselves and when your time is not. You will be alone and they will be in hosts but you will KNOW and they will not KNOW. They will be feverish and will think of their fever as a virtue, but you will be cold and will KNOW.
They will hate you, but you will hate not, for you will KNOW. They will pray to pull you down; but you will not pray,and you will not be pulled down.
You will look down into the minds of your enemies and you will find there the hope which they have lodged there. You will measure their hope against their power. They will have power, for their hope is but a part, and they are ONE also. But their power will avail them not, for you will not attack their power, which is ONE; but you will attack their hope, which is not ONE. In this you will defeat them by knowing them and by knowing their wills and by making the error which is their wills cause their defeat. And you shall know their errors even before they may be committed, because you will know how they are not at one with ONE.
I teach you that it is ONE, and that the ONE is a thought, and that you are thinking that thought. Henceforth you may not see as other men see, nor hear as they hear, if you are thinking the thought that it is ONE. You must be a riddle to men and a danger, but you may not be of them any longer.
And whom do you serve? We are warriors of the Empire, for it is the time of the Empire and not another time yet to be. And the Empire is making the Universe ONE in its way, for it is time to make the Universe ONE. You will, therefore, serve the Empire.
Now you will each proceed alone into the Place of Honor. As you pass within, you will find two doors. On each door you will see a sigil, unbeknownst to you. Behind one door is the Oath Scroll and the Trapezoidal altar. Behind the other, the Universe in which you once lived. He who selects the latter door may never return to this Hall.
In the sigil on the first door is the KNOWLEDGE OF THE ONE which leads to the path of MindWar. It is the sign of overgoing and bridging and seeing. In the other sign, however, there is hope. If you have understood these final instructions which I have spoken, you will sleect the first door because you will recognize the sign. If you have not understood, you will select the 2nd door because you will be drawn to its sigil. When you have opened one door the other will be forever sealed to you, so choose well; but choose as you will choose.
Those who sign the Oath Scroll will dine tonight in the Great Hall and will learn of the company there. Pass through, if you may, for I have completed these instructions.
-General Terclis/Colonel Richard L. Sutter, U.S. Army
excerpted from `The Dark Side`, by Michael Aquino
for access to full text, go here:
http://www.xeper.org/maquino
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Writing Samples
***From Up From the Feuilleton: A Theory of the Filmic Game, a research paper comparing Herman Hesse’s novel The Glass Bead Game to current trends in computer technology
...Stories and games, stories in games, and games in stories are converging into a hybrid art form that blends cinematic narrative with dynamic interaction. The formation of Wingnut Interactive in September of 2006 is a sign of the times, heralding a concept known as the ‘filmic game’[1]. This art form resembles life more so, perhaps, than any previous discipline because it is dramatic, story-driven, moves backward or forward according to the participant’s decisions and is disturbingly real. Thus, it is existential. The Glass Bead Game is an ideal narrative for this new storytelling discipline because it is an existential story about a game by one of the foremost authors of the twentieth century. And, it is a story, which, up until now, has hardly been touched by the newer media.
In trying to understand some of the underlying reasons for our culture’s obsessive fascination with gaming, it might be useful to go back and investigate Hesse’s work. Throughout the text, the word Game is capitalized. Hesse thus transforms the meaning from just a game into the Game. The Game is sacred. All games contain within their kernel, elements from the Game. In Hesse’s consideration, gaming represents a metaphysical activity. But why is this so?
In the General Introduction that he provides, the 'present age' (approx 23rd century) is an era in which there is little creativity. Human culture has matured and accumulated an enormous amount of intellectual history. After the troublesome Age of Feuilleton (20th century) has passed, the primary endeavor becomes a playful examination of thoughts and ideas that have been collected through history. These concepts have an underlying symbiosis and a game is formed based on the ability to relate disparate topics together; to see hidden connections between musical motifs, scientific theorems, floral patterns, etc. ad infinitum. The Glass Bead Game is an engagement of elaborate idea association. It is a play of synchronicity; of meaningful intersections. It demonstrates that knowledge of the occult relationships and the secret connections between all things. It is a metaphor of the mind's synthetic power; it's ability to recognize subtle associations and analogies amongst diverse and apparently unrelated subjects. The Glass Bead Game is closely identified with music, rhythmic processes, and variations on a theme. The Glass Bead Game is the Mind's playful and lightning quick ability to examine, measure, analyze, compare, contrast, and recombine data. The Glass Bead Game is the Imagination of Knowledge. Most importantly, the Game represents the authoritative achievement of Mind’s triumph over Church and State as the emerging vessel or symbol of divinity in a new age.
*** From Technecromancy (“Technological Necromancy”), a proposal for a video game cinematic based on the 1911 Savannah automobile races.
My approach to the video game discipline comes from an appreciation of cinema and a love of history. Cinema has opened up the past in such an immediate way, literally making real the concept of a dimensional portal between different periods. With video games this process became interactive. I am interested in the overarching concept of the game itself, the driving storyline, epic, or mission. What is the essence of the idea, the summary? How well is it presented? A good game should take us into the movie. It is this brief sketch or preview that I have begun to make the cornerstone of my career as a game designer. I collect kernels and their immediate associations and arrange them in a way to present a comprehensive imaginative vision. This aspect enables more freedom with detail, camera movements etc. than in the actual play of the game.
The industry focuses on two general concepts: the environment and the avatar. There is a world and there is something or someone moving through the world. Immersion refers to both. We enter the virtual world. We become accustomed to it. It insulates us. We also become the hero or whoever's identity it is that is at the center of action. Understanding this basic dichotomy leads to the next point.
The subject matter of the video game world is wild and wacky ranging from cartoonish figments of the puerile imagination to real moments cut out of wars or other portions of recorded history. For the purpose of this project, the focus is on the historical imagination. My intention is take two moments that have been recorded in some visual way, through photograph or painting etc. and make them come to life. In order to isolate the different categories of environment and avatar the subjects are distinct and unrelated.
The subject matter of the video game world is wild and wacky ranging from cartoonish figments of the puerile imagination to real moments cut out of wars or other portions of recorded history. For the purpose of this project, the focus is on the historical imagination. My intention is take two moments that have been recorded in some visual way, through photograph or painting etc. and make them come to life. In order to isolate the different categories of environment and avatar the subjects are distinct and unrelated.
For the environment, I will be taking a painting done by Peter Helck in 1911, concerning the international car races held in Savannah. For the avatar, I am focussing on a daguerrotype of John C. Calhoun done in the 1830s. My intention is simply to bring these moments into real time. The race cars come alive and zoom by. John Calhoun perks up and begins delivering his "Disquistion on Government."
Technology offers humanity powerful new tools to amplify its reflective historic experience. Photographs, old paintings, sketches, and the dusty tomes accounting previous experience are not obsolete items. My thesis is that the energy of a culture depends on its ability to access its history imaginatively. By utilizing contemporary software developments, the past is no longer a dead yesterday but a living portal to another dimension.
When confronting the overwhelming and complex sprawl of computer languages, the massive and multiple data systems that support or are supported by them, and the speed at which it is all taking place, it is sometimes difficult to discern whether civilization is approaching a 'confusion of tongues' scenario like the one depicted in the 'Tower of Babel' story from the Bible or a hitherto unprecedented evolution of the logoidal impulse towards a universal meta-language similar to that described by Herman Hesse in his novel The Glass Bead Game. It is not this paper's intention to satisfy that philosophic question. This is due, in part, to the immensity of such a task as well as the writer's own ambivalent moods and multiple confusions on the subject, though he does have a few notions one way and/or the other. The main focus, rather, will be on analyzing the ‘glue-like’ phenomenon of server-side scripting languages; addressing their current position within the world of Information technology. These languages in many ways do symbolize the aforementioned gargantuan and thus beg for an analysis that moves beyond technical specifications toward existential reflection. Thus, it may be useful, periodically, to frame them in such a way that a more comprehensive picture of their function emerges.
Server-side scripting languages are made up of variables, functions, tags, and objects put together as programs, that relay messages between a client making certain requests and a server who receives that request and acts based on certain instructions. Whereas, originally, web pages were read-only HTML documents, now they involve complex interactive applications that require dynamic updates. This is why these languages are important and popular. Whether a user is buying a book from a shopping cart application like Amazon, searching for a piece of music on the Database of Recorded American Music, or generating multiple emails to remind students not to be tardy with their assignments, server-side scripting is increasingly in demand. To be effective, these languages must have the capacity to 'talk' to several different systems and users and either 'fetch' information from a database/file stored somewhere on the server’s system or generate a new file, and then bring it all back to the client’s browser. They are integrative or hermetic in the sense that they make possible links between different interfaces, facilitating live communication. In order to operate them, a programmer must become adept at moving from one interface, system, platform, environment, or language to another.
This paper will compare and contrast four different languages: Perl, PHP, ASP, and ColdFusion. The format will move in a nonlinear fashion from a general run through of each language's history, development, and defining characteristics; to comparisons and contrasts between them; and, finally, to some general statements regarding the cultural impact of the underlying trends that each represent.
***From The Devil Went Down To Georgia, Revisited, an original short story
A strange red-bearded man holding a fiddle appeared in Johnson square a few minutes before our pub tour was supposed to go out at 9:30 PM. It was March 17, St. Patrick’s Day - a bit muggy for a spring night. There was fog in the air and thunder in the distance. Nobody saw from which direction the man had come. He was just there, all of a sudden, in the midst of tuning his fiddle. We walked over towards him and he turned to rosin up his bow. I’m not sure why we were so attracted. It just seemed that he was there for us. He reeked of whiskey and it looked like he was missing a tooth. Could this be our tour guide? The sponsoring company was a reputable one, well spoken for by all the concierges in the city. Yet this fellow was a rogue by even the most conservative and generous consideration. Who would dare hire this vagabond? Or was it an illusion? Was it just a costume? An act? Maybe. We couldn’t be for sure in a city where so many outlandish characters were incorporated into a professional touring industry of enormous proportions. It was probably best to give him the benefit of the doubt.
He was standing upon the base of the Nathanael Greene monument. He raised the fiddle bow up in the air. Then, suddenly, a string of fire ignited along the bow's length. He arched his back and slid the bow of fire down his throat and out again. Then he cocked his head at a forty-five degree angle and spewed out a dragon's breath so big that it must've singed the leaves on the live oak trees leaning over the square. A clump of Spanish moss ignited.
The gentleman standing near me remarked in disbelief,
"That man just ate fire."
Knowing a little bit about the history of the city, having taken a day tour earlier in the afternoon, I ventured a speculation.
"Well, you know this is where the biggest secession rally in the whole South was held, six days after South Carolina seceded in December of 1860, right before the Civil War."
"You don't say?" the man was still in disbelief.
"Yeah, apparently there were about 10,000 people jammed in this square and all the fire-eaters made their speeches right there on the Greene monument under a flag with a rattlesnake coiled that read, "Don't tread on me". That was what they called a passionate Southern orator at the time. A fire-eater.
He apparently didn't hear me for he had wandered up with the others to get a closer glimpse. I followed.
As we gathered around him, the fire-eating fiddler straightened his lanky body, took a long glance at everyone, and then grinned. He introduced himself as Darby Hicks and said that he was here to lead us on a pub tour in old Savannah that we would never forget. His voice had the lilt of a prankster, varying in pitch, creaking from high to low in a single sentence. It sounded almost like his fiddle as he plucked it to check the pitch.
He then went on at some length about the mysteriously haunted nature of the city and warned us to stick close, emphasizing that we would be creeping along an energy vortex where the spirits of the past peered into the present. Savannah was the most haunted city in the United States and he was going to tell us why. And if we weren’t careful with our ‘mead’ intake we might get caught up in the romance of it all. And what a tragedy that would be! Then he gave a knowing wink. Everyone looked at each other under the spell of an intrigued wonder as he waved his arm forward and turned to the south. He was moving fast and before we knew it we were on our way down Bull Street, the “Avenue of Heroes,” drawn along by a strangely magnetic force and an old Irish lay.
***From This World, That World, a research paper on technology and spirituality
The promise of another world is an ancient concept informing religions, mythologies, mystery schools that advocate spiritual initiation, and the imaginative literature surrounding individual descriptions of transcendent visionary experience through the ages. It is the place of the idea. Whether this place is a destination, an origin, or a realm that one can periodically interact with while in the process of becoming, the legend is that there is another place outside of mundane reality where a different order prevails and strange and extraordinary things are said to happen. The general belief that cuts across cultural lines is that this is a spiritual realm or plane where the operant entities are to a degree disembodied and where traditional physical laws break down and give way to concepts of immortality and strangely enough, chaotic magical theories underlying the cosmos. Fundamentally important, is the dualistic nature of human consciousness and the recognition of the significance of multiple dimensions and their relationship to the real world. Even in the blander more behavioral forms of modern psychology, there is the admission of the mytho-poetic spiritual dream world of the subjective individual psyche haunted simultaneously by phantoms, archetypal motifs, and memories, as well as the material world of objective relationships where logic dictates clearly visible causes and effects. Distinguishing between these two visual realms and learning to properly synthesize them, according to those who recognize the existence of both, is the hallmark not only of sanity but also of transcendence and the evolution of consciousness.
***From The Electromagnetic Frontier, a proposal for a video game
Panic seizes the United States of America after a devastating earthquake saddling the San Andreas Fault has destroyed much of the lower half of California. Lamentations are heard everywhere as lava flows through the streets of Hollywood. A chain reaction of explosions deep within the earth has ruptured the planet’s electromagnetic field and caused a warp in the space-time continuum. An enormous volcanic mountain, radiating a strange gamma ray light never seen before, has arisen where coastal California once stood proud. The geothermal radioactivity has ripped a dimensional veil and destroyed the barrier between the past and present. Different peoples and creatures from the past are suddenly walking forth in the present. The world is overcrowded with its history.
Everyone is being drawn in a westward direction toward the volcanic mountain which is attracting the world like an enormous magnetic black hole vortex. An ancient sea creature circles the volcanic mountain, viciously guarding it. The world is about to implode upon itself as civilization approaches a critical mass. Both theologians and scientists argue that this is the end...
The energy crisis has made it virtually impossible to rectify the situation. Civilization has taught mankind to depend on energy that flows from a cosmopolitan grid. Due to the present chaos, however, people are no longer able to derive their power from artificial sources. Older survival tactics from the period of frontier settlement must be studied so that power can once again be retrieved from natural organic sources. Oil reserves have been disrupted and most roads destroyed because of the earthquakes. Mechanical transportation is currently defunct. The only way to travel other than foot or horseback is by light waves on...The Electromagnetic Frontier.
Electromagnetic Frontier (“EMF”) Blueprint Flow Chart
***From The Challenge of Charisma: Vanity, Deceit, or Inspiration, a research paper on postmodern directions in American Theater…
The concept of theater as an arena where human interaction is played upon through time in various ways suggests that the medium may provide general representations of the values of a particular milieu and thus might serve as a useful laboratory in which to analyze this tumultuous period. The eclectic shifts in thought and action in American theater since the 1960s are too enormous to encapsulate within a brief study. Another complication makes itself apparent when one is trying to ascertain whether or not it is possible to establish, equivocally, any unity in American theater at all, its pluralism refuting simplistic summary or interpretation. However, there are certain contemporary microcosmic productions in the past thirty years that offer a useful glimpse at some of the more important ideas that are still effecting change throughout the country.
This analysis will focus on the work of the Wooster Group, from New York’s Soho, during the early 1980s, arguing that it represents a culmination of the revolutionary theatrical practices initiated earlier in the century and coming to the fore during the 1960s and 70s, with special regard for its production L.S.D.(...Just the High Points...). This work represents a certain maturity in the troupe’s development. It is an excellent isolate example of American postmodern theatre. And because of the controversy it caused with its appropriation of Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, it brought up several important contemporary questions concerning postmodern methodology and its irreverent premises, the relationship between playwright, text, and interpretation, the antagonism between being and becoming, and the function of morality and responsibility in the public theater…
The Wooster Group is headed by director Elizabeth LeCompte and has been producing plays in New York under that heading since 1980. It is descended from Richard Schechner’s Performance Group which had been in operation since the late 1960s. In October of 1984 the Wooster Group opened a production to the press (after almost a year of showing portions of it to special audiences) entitled L.S.D.(...Just the High Points...). In this piece, LeCompte juxtaposed excerpts from writings of key Beat generation activists with scenes from Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible. Timothy Leary was the representative icon in the group’s production and provides a contrasting identity of sorts with the hero of The Crucible, John Proctor (Savran 180).
The issue of textual analysis is a somewhat difficult one, for L.S.D. follows no concrete verbal script. In a review of L.S.D in the Summer 1985 issue of The Drama Review, Arnold Aronson describes their subject matter as often evolving “from instinctual or subconscious sources”(65). And for that reason, this analysis will not dwell long on a review of the play as much as it will on the particular methodology that the Wooster Group used when fielding this production and the subsequent controversy that it engendered. Aronson summarizes their approach effectively in his review:
...the Group has taken modern classics (The Cocktail Party, Long Day’s Journey into Night, Our Town, and The Crucible) as raw material upon which to construct theatre pieces. Out of these sources come fragments of scenes, characters, dialog, and thematic material, which are explored, reworked, echoed, quoted, blended, and juxtaposed with fragments from popular, cultural, and social history as well as events, ideas and situations that emerge from the personal and collective experiences of members of the Group. (66-7).
Their techniques have been influenced by “the expressionistic style of many ensemble groups of the late 60s” especially in regard to the emphasis on immediacy (65). It is impossible to have an accurate appreciation of the Group’s work, therefore, unless one has actually been there to see the performance. However, “the structure-- the most dominant aspect of the performances,” according to Aronson, “is highly formal and abstract,” and is thus available for effective analysis (65).
***A review of the film, Being Light (2002)
Being Light (2002), an independent film written, directed, and performed by Ramain Duras and Jean-Marc Barr, is a satire of “heavy” Western modes of expression. The story involves the journey of Maxim and Jack from Paris to India, in search of the beautiful Justine. Through the conversations engendered from their various adventures and relationships, Duras and Barr demonstrate the wisdom of Being Light.
As the backgrounds shift, the perceptions about the characters transform in the contrast between Western and Eastern worlds and the value systems that each represent. In part, the character Jack personifies the West. His ruling idea is that “Greed is the engine of progress!” Maxim personifies the East in the worship of his guru, a small plastic pig that he often pulls out of his pocket and speaks to: “O beloved Pigmaster, give me the courage to know all worlds around me!” Next to the title, the exhortation to explore multiple worlds is also a driving theme as the plot develops around a quest that bridges those worlds.
The symbols of these worlds also extend past the attributes of the characters. The West, as Paris, is shown as fast moving, unethical, materialist, and coarse to elevated sensibilities, a place where Maxim must be locked up. The East, as India, is depicted as a realm where spirituality and madness are actually cultivated rather than restricted, a place where Jack must die.
One method that Duras and Barr use to establish the contrast between the worlds is through suggesting an identity between advertising slogans and ancient enigmatic oracles. Maxim, a lunatic that has recently escaped the Flowery Field asylum, is entranced by the statements that he reads on signs: “Follow your instinct!”, “Even when we are closed we are open!”, “Wake up your tongue!”, “Please empty the trash!”, “Beauty is our city. Preserve it by keeping it clean!” He reads them with great enthusiasm, not as a consumer fooled by his own appetites or as a citizen mindful of his obligations to the hygiene of a community, but as a seeker after truth, following encoded suggestions from worldly signposts. His humorous exaggeration that achieves the imperative commands with astute earnestness, ridicules the ways that signs direct the actions of individuals.
By the end of the story, Maxim, the escaped mental patient, is recognized as a lucid spiritual guide (Though he has much to learn from Justine). Jack, who is successful in the business world, is exposed as a shallow idiot who has been hiding behind a wig (literally and figuratively) and who is incapable of appreciating experience without considerations of profit potential. This is the most important reversal in the film. The taxi driver in India begins referring to Maxim as “Sir Maxim” after he receives unabashed advice from him concerning marriage and the treatment of his wife, advice that Jack would be embarrassed to give. This is enforced by the reference to a mad child in India as one who is “protected by the gods” and also by the epileptic fits intentionally induced in Indian shamans, to achieve higher levels of consciousness.
There is an identity here between the asylums of the West and the sacred temples of the East when Maxim begins slapping a man during a fit and warning him that he will have to go to the third floor if he does not calm down. This again suggests the close connection between madness and wisdom.
The friendship between Maxim and Jack, however, is mutually reinforcing and rises above a direct criticism of capitalist aggrandizement. Jack, by listening to Maxim, and observing his interactions with the world and also to Justine, is able to restore part of his compassion and sense of humor. Maxim, through Jack’s worldliness, is able to fully express himself with security. Duras and Barr carefully express the more serious themes indirectly, though, in accordance with the title, which directly undercuts any attempt to assign meaning. It is a paradox. The meaning of the film, even when we attempt to assign one, is that there is significant value not trying to assign grave meaning. With this interpretation, the taxi driver’s rebuke of Jack’s pretentious humility, embodied in the exhortation to “Forget Ghandi!,” becomes clear.
The strength of this film is in its simplicity. Ramain and Barr concentrate on conversation, human interaction, and an intriguing plot development to hold the attention of the audience. The natural environment of India and cosmopolitan Paris make for colorful contrasting backdrops. There are no special effects. The vivid personality of the characters against these backgrounds is the real enhancing element. Maxim is the central figure and “hero” of the film. More than anything else, Being Light is an exuberant reflection of his life spirit which is light, free from the gravity of the Western world. The best scenes in the movie are those in which he dances with Justine on a mat. There is no music. It is a nonsensical expression of joy that interrupts the serious undertakings that surround the two of them in an asylum, restaurant, landscape, or in any world that they may meet.
[1] 'The Future of Storytelling' - panel speculating on potential of the filmic game narrative
at the XO6 conference, September 2007.
[2] Joseph Knecht, the Magister Ludi (Master of the Game), is the hero of Herman Hesse’s final novel, The Glass Bead Game(1943). ‘Knecht’ is a German word for ‘servant’. Servant and server are often used interchangeably in the English language.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Platonic Politics 1
And so we shall go to war, Glaucon. Shall we not?
Most certainly, he replied.
Then without determining as yet whether war does good or harm, thus much we may affirm, that now we have discovered war to be derived from causes which are also the causes of almost all the evils in States, private as well as public.
Undoubtedly.
And our state must once more enlarge; and this theim there will be nothing short of a whole army, which will have to go out and fight with the invaders for all that we have, as well as for the things and persons whom we were describing above.
Why? he said; are they not capable of defending themselves?
No, I said; not if we were right in the principle which was acknowledged by all of us when we were framing the State: the principle, as you will remember, was that one man cannot practise many arts with success.
Very true, he said.
But is not war an art?
Certainly.
And an art requiring as much attention as shoemaking?
Quite true.
And the shoemaker was not allowed by us to be humbandman, or a weaver, a builder - in order that we may have our shoes well-made; but to him and to every other worker was assigned one work for which he was by nature fitted, and at that he was to continue working all his life long and at no other; he was not to let opportunities slip, and then he would become a good workman. Now nothing can be more important than that the work of a soldier should be well done. But is war an art so easily acquired that a man may be a warrior who is also a husbandman, or shoemaker, or other artisan; although no one in the world would be a good dice or draught player who merely took up the game as a recreation, and had not from his earliest years devoted himself to this and nothing else? No tools will make a man a skilled workman, or master of defence, nor be of any use to him who has not learned how to handle them, and has never bestowed any attention upon them. How then will he who takes up a shield or other implement of war become a good fighter all in a day, whether with heavy armed or any other kind of troops?
Yes, he said, the tools which would teach men their own use would be beyond price.
And the higher the duties of the guardian, I said, the more time, and skill, and art and application will be needed by him?
No doubt, he replied.
Will he not also require natural aptitude for his calling?
Certainly.
Then it will be our duty to select, if we can, natures which are fitted for the task of guarding the city?
It will.
And the selection will be no easy matter, I said, but we must be vrave and do our best.
We must.
Is not the noble youth very like a well-bred dog in respect of guarding and watching?
What do you mean?
I mean that both of them ought to be quick to see, and swift to overtake the enemy when they see him, and strong too if, when they have caught him, they have to fight with him.
All these qualities, he replied, will certainly be required by them. Well, and your guardian must be brave if he is to fight as well?
Certainly.
And is he likely to be brave who has no spirit, whether horse or dog or any other animal? Have you never observed how invincible and unconquerable is spirit and how the presence of it makes the soul of any creature to be absolutely fearless and indomitable.
I have.
Then now we have a clear notion of the bodily qualities which are required in the guardian.
True.
And also of the mental ones; his soul is to be full of spirit?
Yes.
But are not these spirited natures apt to be savage with one another, and with everybody else?
A difficulty by no means easy to overcome, he replied.
Whereas, I said, they ought to be dangerous to their enemies, and gentle to their friends; if not, they will destroy themselves without waiting for their enemies to destroy them.
True, he said.
What is to be done then? I said; how shall we find a gentle nature which has also a great spirit, for the one is the contradiction of the other.
True.
He will not be a good guardian who is wanting in either of these two qualities; and yet the combination of them appears to be impossible; and hence we must infer that to be a good guardian is impossible.
I am afraid that what you say is true, he replied.
Here feeling perplexed I began to think over what had preceded. My friend, I said, no wonder that we are in a perplexity; for we have lost site of the image which we had before us.
What do you mean? he said.
I mean to say that there do exist natures gifted with those opposite qualities.
And where do you find them?
Many animals, I replied, furnish examples of them; our friend the dog is a very good one; you remember that wellbred dogs are perfectly gentle to their familiars and acquaintances, and the reverse to strangers.
Yes, I know.
Then there is nothing impossible or out of the order of nature in our finding a guardian who has a similar combination of qualities.
Certainly not.
Would not he who is fitted to be a guardian, besides the spirited nature, need to have the qualities of a philosopher?
I do not apprehend your meaning.
The trait of which I am speaking, I replied, may be also seen in the dog, and is remarkable in the animal.
What trait?
Why, a dog, wherever he sees a stranger, is angry; when an acquaintance, he welcomes him, although the one has never done him any harm, nor the other any good. Did this never strike you as curious?
The matter never struck me before; but I quite recognise the truth of your remark.
And surely this instinct of the dog is very charming; - your dog is a true philosopher.
Why?
Why, because he distinguishes the face of a friend and of an enemy aonly by the criterion of knowing and not knowing. And must not an animal be a lover of learning who determines what he likes and dislikes by the test of knowledge and ignorance?
Most assuredly.
And is not the love of learning the love of wisdom, which is philosophy?
They are the same, he replied.
And may we not say confidently of man also, that he who is likely to be gentle to his friends and acquaintances, must by nature be a lover of wisdom and knowledge?
That we may safely affirm.
Then he who is to be a really good and noble guardian of the State will require to unite in himself philosophy and spirit and swiftness and strength?
Undoubtedly.
-Plato, The Republic, from Chapter 2
Most certainly, he replied.
Then without determining as yet whether war does good or harm, thus much we may affirm, that now we have discovered war to be derived from causes which are also the causes of almost all the evils in States, private as well as public.
Undoubtedly.
And our state must once more enlarge; and this theim there will be nothing short of a whole army, which will have to go out and fight with the invaders for all that we have, as well as for the things and persons whom we were describing above.
Why? he said; are they not capable of defending themselves?
No, I said; not if we were right in the principle which was acknowledged by all of us when we were framing the State: the principle, as you will remember, was that one man cannot practise many arts with success.
Very true, he said.
But is not war an art?
Certainly.
And an art requiring as much attention as shoemaking?
Quite true.
And the shoemaker was not allowed by us to be humbandman, or a weaver, a builder - in order that we may have our shoes well-made; but to him and to every other worker was assigned one work for which he was by nature fitted, and at that he was to continue working all his life long and at no other; he was not to let opportunities slip, and then he would become a good workman. Now nothing can be more important than that the work of a soldier should be well done. But is war an art so easily acquired that a man may be a warrior who is also a husbandman, or shoemaker, or other artisan; although no one in the world would be a good dice or draught player who merely took up the game as a recreation, and had not from his earliest years devoted himself to this and nothing else? No tools will make a man a skilled workman, or master of defence, nor be of any use to him who has not learned how to handle them, and has never bestowed any attention upon them. How then will he who takes up a shield or other implement of war become a good fighter all in a day, whether with heavy armed or any other kind of troops?
Yes, he said, the tools which would teach men their own use would be beyond price.
And the higher the duties of the guardian, I said, the more time, and skill, and art and application will be needed by him?
No doubt, he replied.
Will he not also require natural aptitude for his calling?
Certainly.
Then it will be our duty to select, if we can, natures which are fitted for the task of guarding the city?
It will.
And the selection will be no easy matter, I said, but we must be vrave and do our best.
We must.
Is not the noble youth very like a well-bred dog in respect of guarding and watching?
What do you mean?
I mean that both of them ought to be quick to see, and swift to overtake the enemy when they see him, and strong too if, when they have caught him, they have to fight with him.
All these qualities, he replied, will certainly be required by them. Well, and your guardian must be brave if he is to fight as well?
Certainly.
And is he likely to be brave who has no spirit, whether horse or dog or any other animal? Have you never observed how invincible and unconquerable is spirit and how the presence of it makes the soul of any creature to be absolutely fearless and indomitable.
I have.
Then now we have a clear notion of the bodily qualities which are required in the guardian.
True.
And also of the mental ones; his soul is to be full of spirit?
Yes.
But are not these spirited natures apt to be savage with one another, and with everybody else?
A difficulty by no means easy to overcome, he replied.
Whereas, I said, they ought to be dangerous to their enemies, and gentle to their friends; if not, they will destroy themselves without waiting for their enemies to destroy them.
True, he said.
What is to be done then? I said; how shall we find a gentle nature which has also a great spirit, for the one is the contradiction of the other.
True.
He will not be a good guardian who is wanting in either of these two qualities; and yet the combination of them appears to be impossible; and hence we must infer that to be a good guardian is impossible.
I am afraid that what you say is true, he replied.
Here feeling perplexed I began to think over what had preceded. My friend, I said, no wonder that we are in a perplexity; for we have lost site of the image which we had before us.
What do you mean? he said.
I mean to say that there do exist natures gifted with those opposite qualities.
And where do you find them?
Many animals, I replied, furnish examples of them; our friend the dog is a very good one; you remember that wellbred dogs are perfectly gentle to their familiars and acquaintances, and the reverse to strangers.
Yes, I know.
Then there is nothing impossible or out of the order of nature in our finding a guardian who has a similar combination of qualities.
Certainly not.
Would not he who is fitted to be a guardian, besides the spirited nature, need to have the qualities of a philosopher?
I do not apprehend your meaning.
The trait of which I am speaking, I replied, may be also seen in the dog, and is remarkable in the animal.
What trait?
Why, a dog, wherever he sees a stranger, is angry; when an acquaintance, he welcomes him, although the one has never done him any harm, nor the other any good. Did this never strike you as curious?
The matter never struck me before; but I quite recognise the truth of your remark.
And surely this instinct of the dog is very charming; - your dog is a true philosopher.
Why?
Why, because he distinguishes the face of a friend and of an enemy aonly by the criterion of knowing and not knowing. And must not an animal be a lover of learning who determines what he likes and dislikes by the test of knowledge and ignorance?
Most assuredly.
And is not the love of learning the love of wisdom, which is philosophy?
They are the same, he replied.
And may we not say confidently of man also, that he who is likely to be gentle to his friends and acquaintances, must by nature be a lover of wisdom and knowledge?
That we may safely affirm.
Then he who is to be a really good and noble guardian of the State will require to unite in himself philosophy and spirit and swiftness and strength?
Undoubtedly.
-Plato, The Republic, from Chapter 2
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Jedi Initiation 1
¨There are three types of knowledge, Luke. First, there is knowledge acquired through experience, as in the case of the craftsman. Secondly, there is knowledge acquired through study, as in the case of the scholar. Finally there is knowledge acquired through initiation, and this is the special province of the Jedi Order.
Initiation does not teach you to know or do anything in particular. It is rather a process of awakening certain latent sensitivities within rare individuals. These sensitivities enable the Jedi to see situations and events around him with a clarity and objectivity unknown to non-Jedis. Thus he is able to impress his Will upon situations in a manner that is as effective as it is subtle. This Jedi characteristic, mysterious as it is to others, has resulted in our being suspect to those in positions of social power...
Now, the knowledge of the Jedi requires two factors. The initiation process is one factor; it is the deliberate sensitizing of the individual to the abilities that lie within his-or her- consciousness. This initiation may be encouraged and to some extent guided by others, but it is essentially a poersonal, private experience. Hence at the Citadel of the Jedi we never spoke of ´training´ Jedi - but rather of recognizing their respective levels of initiation.
...The other factor is the raw material. We have found that not everyone can respond to initiation, or respond to it at comparable levels. Nor is the capacity for initiation tied to the ability to acquire knowledge of the other two kinds, though of course a Jedi with such knowledge is all the more effective. In certain individuals - beings of all species throughout the galaxy - there is...the ´Force´, as we generally call it. It is the raw material, that, when refined through initiation, enables the Jedi to effect change in accordance with his Will...
The Jedi´s commitment is to change as something desirable in itself...but of course there are value judgments involved. There is nothing to be gained by influencing a peaceful, progressive society to disintegrate into war, for example. But a peaceful society which fails to progress may benefit in the long run from a destabilizing shock. The art of the Jedi lies in the ability to estimate when and if a change in the existing situation will stimulate positive evolution.
The strength of the Jedi lay in their ability to set processes in motion, not necessarily to force those same processes to conclusion...
If we are so subtle...then why the lightsaber?- A paradox of sorts: A more primitive weapon than a laser pistol, and yet I called it ´more civilized.´ I will tell you why. Pistols, laser cannon, missiles: All these enable one to kill with detachment, from a psychological as well as a physical distance. Death becomes an abstraction, something that can be dispensed for whimsical reasons. The Jedi´s use of the lightsaber necessitates intense personal involvement with the prospect of death.
The Jedi must risk life to take life, and the process of taking life is graphic, ugly, and physical. The lightsaber is not an advantage or convenience to the Jedi, it is a hindrance."
(47-48)
---------
"Ben, there´s something I´d like to ask you...I can´t help thinking that this whole thing has happened to me too, well, precisely. The situation with the Alderaan ship. The death of my aunt and uncle. It´s as though events have conspired to make my choices inevitable. Is there anything to this, or am I imagining things?"
"You´re asking me the greatest of all questions, my young friend: whether I am some mysterious being who can orchestrate wills in that fashion. Whether I have created this entire state of affairs to put you and others through some private ordeal I have conceived. How comfortable for you were I to say yes, for then your sense of responsibility for your decisions could be abrogated. On my shoulders would be all blame for anything less than an ideal outcome.
Luke, even the most advanced of Jedis, even the source from which Jedi initiation springs - cannot predetermine choices. If there were no real freedom of choice, then initiation would be no more than an elaborate sham - and a cruel joke. All of our efforts to exercise will would be merely a higher function of natural instinct. And, for all the effort we put forth to perceive ourselves as being entities of independent will, we might as well be insects building hives while deluding ourselves that we had ´decided´to do so.
So I say to you no, that is not the case; and however you may suspect my Jedi motives, believe that I speak the truth in this. I do not know what you will do a moment from now - or what Captain Solo or the Alderaan government or the Galactic Emperor will do. It is of the utmost importance that I don´t, because in that fact rests the essential proof of the truth of initiation...
To the charge that I am controlling this situation, I answer yes - to the extent that the factors governing it are functions of natural, instinctive behavior. But I also answer no to the extent that conscious, non-natural will is being exercised by those able to do so.
I add that the Jedi understands truly-conscious exercise of will to be a far rarer phenomenon then the non-initiate might believe it to be. You believe in your freedom of will. Can you offer me a single choice you have made since our meeting that was not made for reasons which were motivated by a desire for pleasure or a fear of pain?"
Luke stared back at him in astonishment. He thought carefully back through the decisions he had made - and found, as he examined them - that all of them had implicit motives as Kenobi had suggested. Then something occurred to him. He said, "My decision to become a Jedi. I didn´t know what that might portend- only that it implied change to a higher state of existence."
Then, for the very first time, Luke saw Ben Kenobi really smile at him - a smile so full of pleasure and affection that the young man couldn´t help grinning back. "You´re right, of course," said Ben.
(53,54)
---------
"I am now but the shell of the Jedi you once knew. I have sought knowledge forbidden by the Order; I have the blood of nameless things on my hands. Even my body is an outrage to the Universe; it belongs to Death, yet even this covenant I have denied. I have wrenched it back from the threshold because of the Change brought about in me by the Dark Side. I am accursed by the order of existence."
"Whatever you may think of me," answered Kenobi, "believe me in this; that I do not mock you. But I do not pity you your trials either, for each of them - no matter how loathsome it may have seemed to you -has ennobled your Being. Not the shell in which it is imprisoned, but your Being itself"...
Then with great dignity he raised his arms above the black helmet in the ancient Jedi greeting of XA. He said -
"Esseai aqanatoz qeoz, ambrotoz, ouk eti qnhtoz"
(You shall be an immortal god, divine, no longer mortal.)
60
---------
The Jedi have long regarded the Force as either an active intelligence or a passive tool for use in manipulating the natural laws of the cosmos. In the Yellow Text an entirely different application of the Force is suggested. It involves the creation of matter and energy by recourse to the Force alone, without reference to the pre-existing laws of the Universe. More than that, it approaches the inertial qualities of the natural universe as an inconvenience and an impediment to the spontaneous application of the Force for such creation...
There is more to the Yellow Text...It contains a formula for divesting the self of its material body and transferring it to the vehicle of the Force itself. In short, immortality and virtual limitlessness in extension of the mind.
84
--------
"Since you have made your choice," she said, "you must learn the secret of the planet."
...Han Solo approached the awesome statue and ran his hand gently over the silvery one of the creature, positioned on its knee. He drew back suddenly, conscious of a strange sensation that tingled through him.
"That is the Fire of Sith," said Krel. "According to Darth Vader it was sealed into this statue by the creature himself dim aeons ago, when this entire galaxy was just beginning its upward struggle from savagery. It is not of the Force, but it explains the Force. And sometimes it seems to speak with a purpose of its own.
"Yes," said Han Solo slowly. "I have just understood something of that purpose. I have learned that the influence of Darth Vader might have enabled the Empire to continue its climb to higher levels of civilization. But he has been slain, and now the Empire faces an unstable and uncertain future..."
89
---------
[Kenobi]"As for Sith, he and I understand each other very well. We are, you might say, old friends. And in the fortunes of human evolution we both have our prerogatives."
93
---------
Luke, the Force is not something which you can use as you would a lightsaber. Rather it reflects and magnifies the self. Seek therefore to know yourself for what you have Become.
The Force will be with you always.
118
----------
"A girl desires to please those whom she loves, but to Leia it seems that all around her take their pleasure only in power. Therefore she struggles to be powerful for you, but her true self abhors it. She is a creature who yearns in her heart to be innocent, and to be loved by someone who loves innocence. Do you know what ´innocence´is, Luke?"
"Immaturity, I guess," he replied. The girl´s silence told him that she was waiting to hear more.
"No," he reflected. "I think I know what you are getting at. Not immaturity. Something positive...something worthwhile for itself. Like honesty, I would say, perhaps, a delight in life for its own sake. A rejection of justifications, causes, excuses, and guilt at being alive. To be innocent is to say: I do not live to serve, to atone, to sacrifice, but simply to be. That´s it, isn´t it? Hey!"
119
----
"...what´s it for? Are you doing this for the thrill of it, or to get Leia to fall for you, or what?...what does it mean to you? That´s what I want to know."
Luke bit his lip. "If you´re going to put it that way, then I´d have to say that all the fights and victories and medals don´t really mean anything in the long run. They´re exciting, all right, but what´s really important is what happens next. All the fighting is because we think we have a better set of values to give to life than those determined by the Empire..."
----
...Vader stopped a few feet away, lowered his own weapon, and stood looking at Luke. The red eyes glowed from within the mask.
"So, you would take my life because of the evil you think I have done. Do you not know that I too am a Jedi, and the student of Obi-Wan Kenobi? How do you know that when you look at me you do not see what you too will become? Will you wield the power of the Force according to your own standards of good and evil, or will you be guided by others who have not the wisdom of the Jedi?
Luke flushed. He said angrily:
"A Jedi must know his limitations as well as his strengths. And, if he intends to influence the lives of others, he must give thought to their feelings, not just to his own desires. I will use the Force in the cause of Freedom - not to tighten the grip of the Empire!"
"How wise you are that you can so easily know ´freedom,´" said Darth Vader with irony. "I have never found it, and I have searched for it for a lifetime. You cannot ´give´ freedom to anyone. What you give you can also take back, and therefore it is not freedom that you give, but rather a form of slavery that you deem enlightened and benevolent." He lashed out suddenly with the purple lightsaber and Luke jumped back and raised his own blade to strike back.
"Now see for yourself the DOOM of the Jedi," said the Lord of Sith. "You will use the judgment that you have, but you will never know whether what you do is for freedom or for a new slavery. Such things are not decided by you, but by those whom your actions affect. The Jedi cannot impart his wisdom to others; he can only allow them to gaze upon him and see, if they can, why he chooses as he does.
But I will tell you now that you will rarely know the comfort of being understood. You will be a mystery, and the common man fears and hates the mysterious. Do you think you will be a hero throughout the galaxy? Once I was foolish enough to have that dream myself, Luke Skywalker. Now I doubt that there is anyone more feared or despised. Would you still become a Jedi?"
Luke stared at Darth Vader, then slowly nodded his head. "I will accept the risk and the Doom because I have no real choice. It is my will to become a Jedi, and no lesser fear shall deter me. Perhaps I shall suffer your fate, or I may be honored and loved as Ben was. But either way, I shall not turn back."
120
----------
The Fire of Sith...
It is because we have seen the horrors that we have that we know this for what it is. Behind all beauty is horror, Terclis. Here in this garden the plants tear at each other for light and nourishment and insects engage in combat far more savage than that of your stormtroopers. Nature is not beautiful; nature is indifferent to such things as beauty or ugliness. It is we who decide what we shall consider beautiful, and we make such judgments because we have also decided what we shall consider horrible.
126
---------
Luke said, "I think I understand. The Jedi Order is not merely the beings who may exist within it at any one time. What is important is that the idea of the Jedi be preserved, and that the unique qualities that characterize a Jedi be recognized and confirmed in those who embody them..."
"So, you would be a Jedi, Luke? Then begin to rely upon your own judgment rather than being content with blind obedience to others, no matter in what esteem you may hold them."
122
---------
"Is this General Terclis a Jedi?" he asked.
When Dodonna shook his head, he continued:
"We succeeded against the Death Star. Why? I`ll tell you why. Not because we calculated the odds and found them favorable, or because I got lucky with a proton torpedo, or because the ghost of Ben Kenobi started talking to me up there. We succeed because we did something that the master strategists who conceived and built that Death Star never expected an enemy to do. We didn`t attack it with bad odds - we attacked it in a way that could not be measured in odds. And that`s why we were able to blow it to bits.
Now, I know what you`re saying, Jan, and I`ve had enough social engagements with Stormtroopers to know what sort of person this Terclis must be if he`s the one who got them together. And if he were also a Jedi - in which case he would also have considered the `impossible` alternatives - then I might agree with you that we`ve had it. But, for all his strategic skill, there is that in h im which spurns the Jedi philosophy and which sees situations, only in practical, logical terms. And Jedi - we Jedi - have a habit of doing the impossible."
139
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Vader: Jedi, you are hereby Recognized to your high office. From this time you are cast forth into the worlds of the galaxy, to exercise that license which is yours by reason of our Virtue and your Wisdom and your Understanding. Alone you may disregard all laws, all conventions, all standards of what others call morality. You may do these things because you are charged to discern and influence the evolution of life, and so you are also trained in skills necessary to safeguard your own lives. For there will be danger, both from those whom you seek out and perchance from the Empire itself. Your freedom is the freedom to KNOW, to DARE, to SPEAK, and to BECOME. All are perilous; any one may warrant your death. Threaten the stability of established cultures and you will find yourselves Imperial knights no longer but hated and hunted outlaws.
163
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What is behind efforts to civilize? To civilize is to create the artificial from the natural, which means to exercise will in order to be sure of its presence and keep it alive. Hence there is no actual other justification for civilization than the simple willing of conscious existence.
However, the drive for civilization is also based upon instinctive, animalistic drives - specifically the instincts for self-preservation and the avoidance of pain and the cultivation of pleasure. These force the continuation of civilization along certain lines. They are much more powerful in the mundane sense than the factor of conscious will.
Darth Vader personifies the conviction that the will for conscious existence is superior to the other two drives. He has this conviction via his exposure to the Dark Side of the Force, which one might also call the Fire of Sith (or also `Platonic intuition of the Forms`).
Darth Vader also thinks that, while civilization does not in itself ensure mass progress of all included beings toward actualization of the conscious will, it does provide the most fertile environment for this quality to be present and grow in the few.
Finally, Darth Vader considers civilization an artifical situation. Left alone, people would tend to use it as an expedient to help them fulfill basically natural desires. In order to effect expansion of will, civilization must be forced beyond the level of mere gratification.
Empèror Palpatine understands this concept intellectually, but not in the magical intuitive sense. He himself is driven by the Nietzschean Will to Power, being the desire to see the civilization preeminent as a thing in itself.
Xronos says that his own inspiration as a consequence of his exposure to the Fire of Sith is that Andromeda be given a massive stress-trial to offer it the chance to change direction from Palpatine`s point of view to Darth Vader`s - so that the entire civilization may be oriented along the quest for higher consciousness instead of that being merely a struggling, insignificant, incidental phenomenon.
To accomplish this Xronos proposes to apply a certain pressure such that use of the Will to Power will prove insufficient to deal with it. The Andromedean civilization must then seek a solution through consciousness...
The Empire, says Xronos, has reached a critical point. Left to itself, it will now decline because of lack of creative challenges. The Rebellion was thus a single system of a more general tendency.
Darth Vader correctly perceived that, but he thought that countering the Rebellion and stabilization of the Empire would solve the problem. It will not. The paradox of the situation is that both mundane challenge and the lack of challenge act to deteriorate the Empire. What is needed is a special sort of challenge whose resolution will lead upward.
The Empire, observes Xronos, has finally trained a leader who combines expertise in the three essential qualities: (Platonic)Politics, MindWar, and Jedi initiation. This is Luke.
183,184
-------------
-Michael Aquino, excerpts from `The Dark Side`
for access to the full text, go here:
http://www.xeper.org/maquino
Initiation does not teach you to know or do anything in particular. It is rather a process of awakening certain latent sensitivities within rare individuals. These sensitivities enable the Jedi to see situations and events around him with a clarity and objectivity unknown to non-Jedis. Thus he is able to impress his Will upon situations in a manner that is as effective as it is subtle. This Jedi characteristic, mysterious as it is to others, has resulted in our being suspect to those in positions of social power...
Now, the knowledge of the Jedi requires two factors. The initiation process is one factor; it is the deliberate sensitizing of the individual to the abilities that lie within his-or her- consciousness. This initiation may be encouraged and to some extent guided by others, but it is essentially a poersonal, private experience. Hence at the Citadel of the Jedi we never spoke of ´training´ Jedi - but rather of recognizing their respective levels of initiation.
...The other factor is the raw material. We have found that not everyone can respond to initiation, or respond to it at comparable levels. Nor is the capacity for initiation tied to the ability to acquire knowledge of the other two kinds, though of course a Jedi with such knowledge is all the more effective. In certain individuals - beings of all species throughout the galaxy - there is...the ´Force´, as we generally call it. It is the raw material, that, when refined through initiation, enables the Jedi to effect change in accordance with his Will...
The Jedi´s commitment is to change as something desirable in itself...but of course there are value judgments involved. There is nothing to be gained by influencing a peaceful, progressive society to disintegrate into war, for example. But a peaceful society which fails to progress may benefit in the long run from a destabilizing shock. The art of the Jedi lies in the ability to estimate when and if a change in the existing situation will stimulate positive evolution.
The strength of the Jedi lay in their ability to set processes in motion, not necessarily to force those same processes to conclusion...
If we are so subtle...then why the lightsaber?- A paradox of sorts: A more primitive weapon than a laser pistol, and yet I called it ´more civilized.´ I will tell you why. Pistols, laser cannon, missiles: All these enable one to kill with detachment, from a psychological as well as a physical distance. Death becomes an abstraction, something that can be dispensed for whimsical reasons. The Jedi´s use of the lightsaber necessitates intense personal involvement with the prospect of death.
The Jedi must risk life to take life, and the process of taking life is graphic, ugly, and physical. The lightsaber is not an advantage or convenience to the Jedi, it is a hindrance."
(47-48)
---------
"Ben, there´s something I´d like to ask you...I can´t help thinking that this whole thing has happened to me too, well, precisely. The situation with the Alderaan ship. The death of my aunt and uncle. It´s as though events have conspired to make my choices inevitable. Is there anything to this, or am I imagining things?"
"You´re asking me the greatest of all questions, my young friend: whether I am some mysterious being who can orchestrate wills in that fashion. Whether I have created this entire state of affairs to put you and others through some private ordeal I have conceived. How comfortable for you were I to say yes, for then your sense of responsibility for your decisions could be abrogated. On my shoulders would be all blame for anything less than an ideal outcome.
Luke, even the most advanced of Jedis, even the source from which Jedi initiation springs - cannot predetermine choices. If there were no real freedom of choice, then initiation would be no more than an elaborate sham - and a cruel joke. All of our efforts to exercise will would be merely a higher function of natural instinct. And, for all the effort we put forth to perceive ourselves as being entities of independent will, we might as well be insects building hives while deluding ourselves that we had ´decided´to do so.
So I say to you no, that is not the case; and however you may suspect my Jedi motives, believe that I speak the truth in this. I do not know what you will do a moment from now - or what Captain Solo or the Alderaan government or the Galactic Emperor will do. It is of the utmost importance that I don´t, because in that fact rests the essential proof of the truth of initiation...
To the charge that I am controlling this situation, I answer yes - to the extent that the factors governing it are functions of natural, instinctive behavior. But I also answer no to the extent that conscious, non-natural will is being exercised by those able to do so.
I add that the Jedi understands truly-conscious exercise of will to be a far rarer phenomenon then the non-initiate might believe it to be. You believe in your freedom of will. Can you offer me a single choice you have made since our meeting that was not made for reasons which were motivated by a desire for pleasure or a fear of pain?"
Luke stared back at him in astonishment. He thought carefully back through the decisions he had made - and found, as he examined them - that all of them had implicit motives as Kenobi had suggested. Then something occurred to him. He said, "My decision to become a Jedi. I didn´t know what that might portend- only that it implied change to a higher state of existence."
Then, for the very first time, Luke saw Ben Kenobi really smile at him - a smile so full of pleasure and affection that the young man couldn´t help grinning back. "You´re right, of course," said Ben.
(53,54)
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"I am now but the shell of the Jedi you once knew. I have sought knowledge forbidden by the Order; I have the blood of nameless things on my hands. Even my body is an outrage to the Universe; it belongs to Death, yet even this covenant I have denied. I have wrenched it back from the threshold because of the Change brought about in me by the Dark Side. I am accursed by the order of existence."
"Whatever you may think of me," answered Kenobi, "believe me in this; that I do not mock you. But I do not pity you your trials either, for each of them - no matter how loathsome it may have seemed to you -has ennobled your Being. Not the shell in which it is imprisoned, but your Being itself"...
Then with great dignity he raised his arms above the black helmet in the ancient Jedi greeting of XA. He said -
"Esseai aqanatoz qeoz, ambrotoz, ouk eti qnhtoz"
(You shall be an immortal god, divine, no longer mortal.)
60
---------
The Jedi have long regarded the Force as either an active intelligence or a passive tool for use in manipulating the natural laws of the cosmos. In the Yellow Text an entirely different application of the Force is suggested. It involves the creation of matter and energy by recourse to the Force alone, without reference to the pre-existing laws of the Universe. More than that, it approaches the inertial qualities of the natural universe as an inconvenience and an impediment to the spontaneous application of the Force for such creation...
There is more to the Yellow Text...It contains a formula for divesting the self of its material body and transferring it to the vehicle of the Force itself. In short, immortality and virtual limitlessness in extension of the mind.
84
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"Since you have made your choice," she said, "you must learn the secret of the planet."
...Han Solo approached the awesome statue and ran his hand gently over the silvery one of the creature, positioned on its knee. He drew back suddenly, conscious of a strange sensation that tingled through him.
"That is the Fire of Sith," said Krel. "According to Darth Vader it was sealed into this statue by the creature himself dim aeons ago, when this entire galaxy was just beginning its upward struggle from savagery. It is not of the Force, but it explains the Force. And sometimes it seems to speak with a purpose of its own.
"Yes," said Han Solo slowly. "I have just understood something of that purpose. I have learned that the influence of Darth Vader might have enabled the Empire to continue its climb to higher levels of civilization. But he has been slain, and now the Empire faces an unstable and uncertain future..."
89
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[Kenobi]"As for Sith, he and I understand each other very well. We are, you might say, old friends. And in the fortunes of human evolution we both have our prerogatives."
93
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Luke, the Force is not something which you can use as you would a lightsaber. Rather it reflects and magnifies the self. Seek therefore to know yourself for what you have Become.
The Force will be with you always.
118
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"A girl desires to please those whom she loves, but to Leia it seems that all around her take their pleasure only in power. Therefore she struggles to be powerful for you, but her true self abhors it. She is a creature who yearns in her heart to be innocent, and to be loved by someone who loves innocence. Do you know what ´innocence´is, Luke?"
"Immaturity, I guess," he replied. The girl´s silence told him that she was waiting to hear more.
"No," he reflected. "I think I know what you are getting at. Not immaturity. Something positive...something worthwhile for itself. Like honesty, I would say, perhaps, a delight in life for its own sake. A rejection of justifications, causes, excuses, and guilt at being alive. To be innocent is to say: I do not live to serve, to atone, to sacrifice, but simply to be. That´s it, isn´t it? Hey!"
119
----
"...what´s it for? Are you doing this for the thrill of it, or to get Leia to fall for you, or what?...what does it mean to you? That´s what I want to know."
Luke bit his lip. "If you´re going to put it that way, then I´d have to say that all the fights and victories and medals don´t really mean anything in the long run. They´re exciting, all right, but what´s really important is what happens next. All the fighting is because we think we have a better set of values to give to life than those determined by the Empire..."
----
...Vader stopped a few feet away, lowered his own weapon, and stood looking at Luke. The red eyes glowed from within the mask.
"So, you would take my life because of the evil you think I have done. Do you not know that I too am a Jedi, and the student of Obi-Wan Kenobi? How do you know that when you look at me you do not see what you too will become? Will you wield the power of the Force according to your own standards of good and evil, or will you be guided by others who have not the wisdom of the Jedi?
Luke flushed. He said angrily:
"A Jedi must know his limitations as well as his strengths. And, if he intends to influence the lives of others, he must give thought to their feelings, not just to his own desires. I will use the Force in the cause of Freedom - not to tighten the grip of the Empire!"
"How wise you are that you can so easily know ´freedom,´" said Darth Vader with irony. "I have never found it, and I have searched for it for a lifetime. You cannot ´give´ freedom to anyone. What you give you can also take back, and therefore it is not freedom that you give, but rather a form of slavery that you deem enlightened and benevolent." He lashed out suddenly with the purple lightsaber and Luke jumped back and raised his own blade to strike back.
"Now see for yourself the DOOM of the Jedi," said the Lord of Sith. "You will use the judgment that you have, but you will never know whether what you do is for freedom or for a new slavery. Such things are not decided by you, but by those whom your actions affect. The Jedi cannot impart his wisdom to others; he can only allow them to gaze upon him and see, if they can, why he chooses as he does.
But I will tell you now that you will rarely know the comfort of being understood. You will be a mystery, and the common man fears and hates the mysterious. Do you think you will be a hero throughout the galaxy? Once I was foolish enough to have that dream myself, Luke Skywalker. Now I doubt that there is anyone more feared or despised. Would you still become a Jedi?"
Luke stared at Darth Vader, then slowly nodded his head. "I will accept the risk and the Doom because I have no real choice. It is my will to become a Jedi, and no lesser fear shall deter me. Perhaps I shall suffer your fate, or I may be honored and loved as Ben was. But either way, I shall not turn back."
120
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The Fire of Sith...
It is because we have seen the horrors that we have that we know this for what it is. Behind all beauty is horror, Terclis. Here in this garden the plants tear at each other for light and nourishment and insects engage in combat far more savage than that of your stormtroopers. Nature is not beautiful; nature is indifferent to such things as beauty or ugliness. It is we who decide what we shall consider beautiful, and we make such judgments because we have also decided what we shall consider horrible.
126
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Luke said, "I think I understand. The Jedi Order is not merely the beings who may exist within it at any one time. What is important is that the idea of the Jedi be preserved, and that the unique qualities that characterize a Jedi be recognized and confirmed in those who embody them..."
"So, you would be a Jedi, Luke? Then begin to rely upon your own judgment rather than being content with blind obedience to others, no matter in what esteem you may hold them."
122
---------
"Is this General Terclis a Jedi?" he asked.
When Dodonna shook his head, he continued:
"We succeeded against the Death Star. Why? I`ll tell you why. Not because we calculated the odds and found them favorable, or because I got lucky with a proton torpedo, or because the ghost of Ben Kenobi started talking to me up there. We succeed because we did something that the master strategists who conceived and built that Death Star never expected an enemy to do. We didn`t attack it with bad odds - we attacked it in a way that could not be measured in odds. And that`s why we were able to blow it to bits.
Now, I know what you`re saying, Jan, and I`ve had enough social engagements with Stormtroopers to know what sort of person this Terclis must be if he`s the one who got them together. And if he were also a Jedi - in which case he would also have considered the `impossible` alternatives - then I might agree with you that we`ve had it. But, for all his strategic skill, there is that in h im which spurns the Jedi philosophy and which sees situations, only in practical, logical terms. And Jedi - we Jedi - have a habit of doing the impossible."
139
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Vader: Jedi, you are hereby Recognized to your high office. From this time you are cast forth into the worlds of the galaxy, to exercise that license which is yours by reason of our Virtue and your Wisdom and your Understanding. Alone you may disregard all laws, all conventions, all standards of what others call morality. You may do these things because you are charged to discern and influence the evolution of life, and so you are also trained in skills necessary to safeguard your own lives. For there will be danger, both from those whom you seek out and perchance from the Empire itself. Your freedom is the freedom to KNOW, to DARE, to SPEAK, and to BECOME. All are perilous; any one may warrant your death. Threaten the stability of established cultures and you will find yourselves Imperial knights no longer but hated and hunted outlaws.
163
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What is behind efforts to civilize? To civilize is to create the artificial from the natural, which means to exercise will in order to be sure of its presence and keep it alive. Hence there is no actual other justification for civilization than the simple willing of conscious existence.
However, the drive for civilization is also based upon instinctive, animalistic drives - specifically the instincts for self-preservation and the avoidance of pain and the cultivation of pleasure. These force the continuation of civilization along certain lines. They are much more powerful in the mundane sense than the factor of conscious will.
Darth Vader personifies the conviction that the will for conscious existence is superior to the other two drives. He has this conviction via his exposure to the Dark Side of the Force, which one might also call the Fire of Sith (or also `Platonic intuition of the Forms`).
Darth Vader also thinks that, while civilization does not in itself ensure mass progress of all included beings toward actualization of the conscious will, it does provide the most fertile environment for this quality to be present and grow in the few.
Finally, Darth Vader considers civilization an artifical situation. Left alone, people would tend to use it as an expedient to help them fulfill basically natural desires. In order to effect expansion of will, civilization must be forced beyond the level of mere gratification.
Empèror Palpatine understands this concept intellectually, but not in the magical intuitive sense. He himself is driven by the Nietzschean Will to Power, being the desire to see the civilization preeminent as a thing in itself.
Xronos says that his own inspiration as a consequence of his exposure to the Fire of Sith is that Andromeda be given a massive stress-trial to offer it the chance to change direction from Palpatine`s point of view to Darth Vader`s - so that the entire civilization may be oriented along the quest for higher consciousness instead of that being merely a struggling, insignificant, incidental phenomenon.
To accomplish this Xronos proposes to apply a certain pressure such that use of the Will to Power will prove insufficient to deal with it. The Andromedean civilization must then seek a solution through consciousness...
The Empire, says Xronos, has reached a critical point. Left to itself, it will now decline because of lack of creative challenges. The Rebellion was thus a single system of a more general tendency.
Darth Vader correctly perceived that, but he thought that countering the Rebellion and stabilization of the Empire would solve the problem. It will not. The paradox of the situation is that both mundane challenge and the lack of challenge act to deteriorate the Empire. What is needed is a special sort of challenge whose resolution will lead upward.
The Empire, observes Xronos, has finally trained a leader who combines expertise in the three essential qualities: (Platonic)Politics, MindWar, and Jedi initiation. This is Luke.
183,184
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-Michael Aquino, excerpts from `The Dark Side`
for access to the full text, go here:
http://www.xeper.org/maquino
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
THE BETTER MEN
There is but one conclusion that remains for the dispassionate student of history. Whatever may be the partial explanations of the downfall of the Southern Confederacy, and whatever may be the various excuses that passion and false pride, and flattery of demagogues, may offer, the great and melancholy fact remains that the Confederates, with an abler government and more resolute spirit, might have accomplished their independence.
This reflection irrestibly couples another. Civil Wars, like private quarrels, are likely to repeat themselves, where the unsuccessful party has lost the contest only through accident or inadvertance. The Confederates have gone out of this war, with the proud, secret, deathless, dangerous consciousness that they are THE BETTER MEN, and that there was nothing wanting but a change in a set of circumstances and a firmer resolve to make them the victors. To deal with such a sentiment, to keep it whipped, to restrain it from a new experiment requires the highest efforts of intellect, the most delicate offices of magnanimity and kindness, and is the great task which the war has left to American statesmanship.
Would it be strange, in a broad view of history, that the North, pursuing a policy contrary to what we have indicated, and venturing upon new exasperation and defiance, should realize that the South has abandoned the contest of the last four years, merely to resume it in a wider arena, and on a larger issue, and in a change of circumstances wherein may be asserted the profit of experience, and raised a new standard of Hope!
-Pollard, The Lost Cause, pg 729
This reflection irrestibly couples another. Civil Wars, like private quarrels, are likely to repeat themselves, where the unsuccessful party has lost the contest only through accident or inadvertance. The Confederates have gone out of this war, with the proud, secret, deathless, dangerous consciousness that they are THE BETTER MEN, and that there was nothing wanting but a change in a set of circumstances and a firmer resolve to make them the victors. To deal with such a sentiment, to keep it whipped, to restrain it from a new experiment requires the highest efforts of intellect, the most delicate offices of magnanimity and kindness, and is the great task which the war has left to American statesmanship.
Would it be strange, in a broad view of history, that the North, pursuing a policy contrary to what we have indicated, and venturing upon new exasperation and defiance, should realize that the South has abandoned the contest of the last four years, merely to resume it in a wider arena, and on a larger issue, and in a change of circumstances wherein may be asserted the profit of experience, and raised a new standard of Hope!
-Pollard, The Lost Cause, pg 729
Friday, November 6, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
kwisatz haderach 3
¨You who have defeated us say to yourselves that Babylon is fallen and its works have been overturned. I say to you still that man remains on trial, each man in his own dock. Each man is a little war.¨
The Fremen said of Muad´Dib that he was like Abu Zide whose frigate defied the Guild and rode one day there and back. ´There´ used in this way translates directlyom the Fremen mythology as the land of the ruh-spirit, the alam al-mithal where all limitations are removed.
The parallel between this and the Kwisatz Haderach is readily seen. The Kwisatz Haderach that the Sisterhood sought through its breeding program was interpreted as ¨The shortening of the way¨ or ¨The one who can be two places simultaneously.¨
But both of these interpretations can be shown to stem directly from the Commentaries: ¨When law and religious duty are one, your selfdom encloses the universe.¨
Of himself, Muad´Dib said: I am a net in the sea of time, free to sweep future and past. I am a moving membrane from whom no possibility can escape...
507
The Bene Gesserit program had as its target the breeding of a person they labeled ¨Kwisatz Haderach,¨ a term signifying ¨one who can be many places at once.¨ In simpler terms, what they sought was a human with mental powers permitting him to understand and use higher order dimensions.
They were breeding for a super-Mentat, a human computer with some of the prescient abilities found in Guild navigators.
508
-Dune
The Fremen said of Muad´Dib that he was like Abu Zide whose frigate defied the Guild and rode one day there and back. ´There´ used in this way translates directlyom the Fremen mythology as the land of the ruh-spirit, the alam al-mithal where all limitations are removed.
The parallel between this and the Kwisatz Haderach is readily seen. The Kwisatz Haderach that the Sisterhood sought through its breeding program was interpreted as ¨The shortening of the way¨ or ¨The one who can be two places simultaneously.¨
But both of these interpretations can be shown to stem directly from the Commentaries: ¨When law and religious duty are one, your selfdom encloses the universe.¨
Of himself, Muad´Dib said: I am a net in the sea of time, free to sweep future and past. I am a moving membrane from whom no possibility can escape...
507
The Bene Gesserit program had as its target the breeding of a person they labeled ¨Kwisatz Haderach,¨ a term signifying ¨one who can be many places at once.¨ In simpler terms, what they sought was a human with mental powers permitting him to understand and use higher order dimensions.
They were breeding for a super-Mentat, a human computer with some of the prescient abilities found in Guild navigators.
508
-Dune
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Absolute Person 2
Personality is a level of deified reality and ranges from the mortal and midwayer level of the higher mind activation of worship and wisdom up through the morontial and spiritual to the attainment of finality of personality status. That is the evolutionary ascent of mortal - and kindred - creature personality, but there are numerous other orders of universe personalities.
Reality is subject to universal expansion, personality to infinite diversification, and both are capable of well-nigh unlimited Deity coordination and eternal stabilization. While the metamorphic range of nonpersonal reality is definitely limited, we know of no limitations to the progressive evolution of personality realities.
On attained experiential levels all personality orders or values are associable and even co-creational. Even God and man can coexist in a unified personality, as is so exquisitely demonstrated in the present status of Christ Michael - Son of Man and Son of God.
All subinfinite orders and phases of personality are associative attainables and are potentially co-creational. The prepersonal, the personal, and the superpersonal are all linked together by mutual potential of co-ordinate attainment, progressive achievement, and co-creational capacity. But never does the impersonal directly transmute to the personal. Personality is never spontaneous; it is the gift of the Paradise Father. Personality is superimposed upon energy and it is associated only with living energy systems; identity can be associated with non-living energy patterns.
The Universal Father is the secret of the reality of personality, the bestowal of personality, and the destiny of personality.
The Eternal Son is the ABSOLUTE PERSONALITY, the secret of spiritual energy, morontia spirits, and perfected spirits. The Conjoint Actor is the spirit-mind personality, the source of intelligence, reason, and the universal mind. But the Isle of Paradise is nonpersonal and extraspiritual, being the essence of the universal body, the source and center of physical matter, and the absolute master pattern of universal material reality.
The personality of mortal man is neither body, mind, nor spirit; neither is it the soul. Personality is the one changeless reality in an otherwise ever-changing creature experience; and it unifies all other associated factors of individuality. The personality is the unique bestowal which the Universal Father makes upon the living and associated energies of matter, mind, and spirit, and which survives with the survival of the morontial soul.
-Urantia, 8-9
Reality is subject to universal expansion, personality to infinite diversification, and both are capable of well-nigh unlimited Deity coordination and eternal stabilization. While the metamorphic range of nonpersonal reality is definitely limited, we know of no limitations to the progressive evolution of personality realities.
On attained experiential levels all personality orders or values are associable and even co-creational. Even God and man can coexist in a unified personality, as is so exquisitely demonstrated in the present status of Christ Michael - Son of Man and Son of God.
All subinfinite orders and phases of personality are associative attainables and are potentially co-creational. The prepersonal, the personal, and the superpersonal are all linked together by mutual potential of co-ordinate attainment, progressive achievement, and co-creational capacity. But never does the impersonal directly transmute to the personal. Personality is never spontaneous; it is the gift of the Paradise Father. Personality is superimposed upon energy and it is associated only with living energy systems; identity can be associated with non-living energy patterns.
The Universal Father is the secret of the reality of personality, the bestowal of personality, and the destiny of personality.
The Eternal Son is the ABSOLUTE PERSONALITY, the secret of spiritual energy, morontia spirits, and perfected spirits. The Conjoint Actor is the spirit-mind personality, the source of intelligence, reason, and the universal mind. But the Isle of Paradise is nonpersonal and extraspiritual, being the essence of the universal body, the source and center of physical matter, and the absolute master pattern of universal material reality.
The personality of mortal man is neither body, mind, nor spirit; neither is it the soul. Personality is the one changeless reality in an otherwise ever-changing creature experience; and it unifies all other associated factors of individuality. The personality is the unique bestowal which the Universal Father makes upon the living and associated energies of matter, mind, and spirit, and which survives with the survival of the morontial soul.
-Urantia, 8-9
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
10 gifts from Apollo
Consider these things...
1. First, what is my relation to men; we are made for one another; or, in another view, I was made to be set over them, as a ram over a flock or a bull over a herd. But examine the question from first principles: If all things are not mere atoms, it is nature which orders all things; if this is so, the inferior things exist for the sake of the superior, and these for the sake of one another.
2. Second, consider how men are at table, in bed, and so forth; and particularly, under what compulsions they are with respect to opinions; and as to their acts, consider with what pride they do what they do.
3. Third, that if men do rightly what they do, we ought not to be displeasedñ but if they do not right, it is plain that they do so involuntarily and in ignorance. For as every soul is unwillingly deprived of the truth, so also is it unwillingly deprived of the power of behaving to each man according to his deserts. Accordinly, men are pained when they are called unjust, ungrateful, and greedy, or charged with behaving wrongfully to their neighbors.
4. Fourth, consider that you also do many things wrong, that you are a man like others; and even if you abstain from certain faults, you still have the disposition to commit them, though either through cowardice, or concern for reputation, or some such mean motive, you refrain from wrongdoing.
5. Fifth, consider that you do not even know whether men are doing wrong or not, for many things are done with a certain reference to circumstances. In short, a man must learn a great deal to enable him to pass a correct judgment on another man´s acts.
6. Sixth, consider when you are vexed or grieved that man´s life is only a moment, and after a short time we all lie stretched in death.
7. Seventh, that it is not men´s acts which disturb us, for those acts have their foundation in men´s ruling principles, but it is our own opinions regarding them. Take away these opinions then, and resolve to dismiss your judgment about an act as if it were something grievous, and your anger is gone. How then shall you take away these opinions? By reflecting that no wrongful act of another brings shame on you; for since that which is shameful is alone bad, you must of necessity do all sorts of evil, become a robber and everything else.
8. Eighth, consider how much more pain is brought on us by the anger and vexation caused by such acts than by the acts themselves, at which we are angry and vexed.
9. Ninth, consider that benevolence is invincible if it be genuine, and not merely an affected smile and playing a part. For what will the most violent man do to you, if you continue to be of a benevolent disposition towards him and, as opportunity offers, gently admonish him and calmly correct his errors at the very time he is trying to do you harm, saying, "Not so, my child. We are constituted by nature for something else: I shall certainly not be injured, but you are injuring yourself, my child." And show him with gentle tact and by general principles that this is so, and that even bees do not as he does, nor any animals which are formed by nature to be gregarious. And do this neither with any double meaning, nor in the way of reproach, but affectionately and without rancor in your soul; and not as if you were lecturing him, or to show off before others, but quietly in his own ear, even if others are present.
Remember these nine rules, as if you had received them as a gift from the Muses, and begin at last to be a man so long as you live. But you must equally avoid flattering men and being vexed by them, for both are unsocial and lead to harm. And let this truth be present to you in the excitement of anger, that to be moved by passion is not manly, but that mildness and gentleness are more manly, just as they are more in conformity with human nature. And he who possesses these qualities possesses strength, nerves, and courage, and not the man who is subject to fits of passion and discontent. for in the same degree in which a man´s mind is nearer to freedom from all passion, in the same degree also is it nearer to strength; and as the sense of pain is a characteristic of weakness, so also is anger. For he who yields to pain and he who yields to anger are both wounded, and both submit.
10. But, if you will, receive also a tenth gift from Apollo, leader of the Muses, and it is this: That to expect bad men not to do wrong is madness, for he who expects this desires an impossibility. But to allow men to behave evilly to each other, and not to expect them to do you any wrong is irrational and tyrannical.
-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 11.18. 119-122
1. First, what is my relation to men; we are made for one another; or, in another view, I was made to be set over them, as a ram over a flock or a bull over a herd. But examine the question from first principles: If all things are not mere atoms, it is nature which orders all things; if this is so, the inferior things exist for the sake of the superior, and these for the sake of one another.
2. Second, consider how men are at table, in bed, and so forth; and particularly, under what compulsions they are with respect to opinions; and as to their acts, consider with what pride they do what they do.
3. Third, that if men do rightly what they do, we ought not to be displeasedñ but if they do not right, it is plain that they do so involuntarily and in ignorance. For as every soul is unwillingly deprived of the truth, so also is it unwillingly deprived of the power of behaving to each man according to his deserts. Accordinly, men are pained when they are called unjust, ungrateful, and greedy, or charged with behaving wrongfully to their neighbors.
4. Fourth, consider that you also do many things wrong, that you are a man like others; and even if you abstain from certain faults, you still have the disposition to commit them, though either through cowardice, or concern for reputation, or some such mean motive, you refrain from wrongdoing.
5. Fifth, consider that you do not even know whether men are doing wrong or not, for many things are done with a certain reference to circumstances. In short, a man must learn a great deal to enable him to pass a correct judgment on another man´s acts.
6. Sixth, consider when you are vexed or grieved that man´s life is only a moment, and after a short time we all lie stretched in death.
7. Seventh, that it is not men´s acts which disturb us, for those acts have their foundation in men´s ruling principles, but it is our own opinions regarding them. Take away these opinions then, and resolve to dismiss your judgment about an act as if it were something grievous, and your anger is gone. How then shall you take away these opinions? By reflecting that no wrongful act of another brings shame on you; for since that which is shameful is alone bad, you must of necessity do all sorts of evil, become a robber and everything else.
8. Eighth, consider how much more pain is brought on us by the anger and vexation caused by such acts than by the acts themselves, at which we are angry and vexed.
9. Ninth, consider that benevolence is invincible if it be genuine, and not merely an affected smile and playing a part. For what will the most violent man do to you, if you continue to be of a benevolent disposition towards him and, as opportunity offers, gently admonish him and calmly correct his errors at the very time he is trying to do you harm, saying, "Not so, my child. We are constituted by nature for something else: I shall certainly not be injured, but you are injuring yourself, my child." And show him with gentle tact and by general principles that this is so, and that even bees do not as he does, nor any animals which are formed by nature to be gregarious. And do this neither with any double meaning, nor in the way of reproach, but affectionately and without rancor in your soul; and not as if you were lecturing him, or to show off before others, but quietly in his own ear, even if others are present.
Remember these nine rules, as if you had received them as a gift from the Muses, and begin at last to be a man so long as you live. But you must equally avoid flattering men and being vexed by them, for both are unsocial and lead to harm. And let this truth be present to you in the excitement of anger, that to be moved by passion is not manly, but that mildness and gentleness are more manly, just as they are more in conformity with human nature. And he who possesses these qualities possesses strength, nerves, and courage, and not the man who is subject to fits of passion and discontent. for in the same degree in which a man´s mind is nearer to freedom from all passion, in the same degree also is it nearer to strength; and as the sense of pain is a characteristic of weakness, so also is anger. For he who yields to pain and he who yields to anger are both wounded, and both submit.
10. But, if you will, receive also a tenth gift from Apollo, leader of the Muses, and it is this: That to expect bad men not to do wrong is madness, for he who expects this desires an impossibility. But to allow men to behave evilly to each other, and not to expect them to do you any wrong is irrational and tyrannical.
-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 11.18. 119-122
Kwisatz Haderach 2
KWISATZ HADERACH - "Shortening of the Way." This is the label applied by the Bene Gesserit to the unknown for which they sought a genetic solution: a male Bene Gesserit whose organic mental powers would bridge space and time. (from "Terminology of the Imperium" - Dune)
---
"He's awake and listening to us," said the old woman. "Sly little rascal." She chuckled. "But royalty has need of slyness. And if he's really the Kwisatz Haderach...well..." (3)
---
"...ever sift sand through a screen?" she asked.
The tangential slash of her question shocked his mind into a higher awareness: Sand through a screen. He nodded.
"We Bene Gesserit sift people to find the humans."
He lifted his right hand, willing the memory of the pain. "And that's all there is to it - pain?"
"I observed you in pain, lad. Pain's merely the axis of the test. Your mother's told you about our ways of observing. I see the signs of her teaching in you. Our test is crisis and observation."
He heard the confirmation in her voice, said: "It's truth!"
She stared at him. He senses truth! Could he be the one? Could he truly be the one? She extinguished the excitement, reminding herself: "Hope clouds observation."
"You know when people believe what they say," she said.
"I know it."
The harmonics of ability confirmed by repeated test were in his voice. She heard them, said: "Perhaps you are the Kwisatz Haderach. Sit down, little brother, here at my feet."
"I prefer to stand." (10)
---
Paul felt himself coming more and more out of the shock of the test. He leveled a measuring stare at her, said: "You say maybe I'm the...Kwisatz Haderach. What's that, a human gom jabbar?"
"Paul," Jessica said. "You mustn't take that tone with - "
"I'll handle this, Jessica," the old woman said. "Now, lad, do you know about the Truthsayer drug?"
"You take it to improve your ability to detect falsehood," he said. "My mother's told me."
"Have you ever seen truthtrance?"
He shook his head. "No."
"The drug's dangerous," she said, "but it gives insight. When a Truthsayer's gifted by the drug, she can look many places in her memory - in her body's memory. We look down so many avenues of the past... but only feminine avenues." Her voice took on a note of sadness. "yet, there's a place where no Truthsayer can see. We are repelled by it, terrorized. It is said a man will come one day and find in the the gift of the drug his inward eye. He will look where we cannot - into both feminine and masculine pasts."
"Your Kwisatz Haderach?"
"Yes, the one who can be many places at once: the Kwisatz Haderach. Many men have tried the drug...so many, but none has succeeded."
"They tried and failed, all of them?"
"Oh, no." She shook her head. "They tried and died." (13)
---
"So I had a son!" Jessica flared. And she knew she was being goaded into this anger deliberately.
"You were told to bear only daughters to the Atreides."
"It meant so much to him," Jessica pleaded.
"And you in your pride thought you could produce the Kwisatz Haderach!"
Jessica lifted her chin. "I sensed the possibility." (22)
---
The old woman stared at Paul, then: "Young man, as a Proctor of the Bene Gesserit, I seek the Kwisatz Haderach, the male who truly can become one of us. Your mother sees this possibility in you, but she sees with the eyes of a mother. Possibility I see, too, but no more."
She fell silent and Paul saw that she wanted him to speak. He waited her out.
Presently, she said: "As you will, then. You've depths in you, that I'll grant."
"May I go now?" he asked.
Don't you want to hear what the Reverend Mother can tell you about the Kwisatz Haderach?" Jessica asked.
"She said those who tried for it died."
"But I can help you with a few hints at why they failed," the Reverend Mother said.
She talks of hints, Paul thought. She doesn't really know any thing. And he said: "Hint then."
"And be damned to me?" she smiled wryly, a crisscross of wrinkles in the old face. "Very well: 'That which submits rules.' (27)
---
"Grave this on your memory, lad: A world is supported by four things..." She held up four big knuckled fingers. "...the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the righteous and the valor of the brave. But all of these are as nothing..." She closed her fingers into a fist. "...without a ruler who knows the art of ruling. make that the science of your tradition!" (30).
---
"She asked me to tell her what it is to rule," Paul said. "And I said that one commands. And she said I had some unlearning to do...She said a ruler must learn to persuade and not to compel..."(31)
-Frank Herbert, Dune
---
"He's awake and listening to us," said the old woman. "Sly little rascal." She chuckled. "But royalty has need of slyness. And if he's really the Kwisatz Haderach...well..." (3)
---
"...ever sift sand through a screen?" she asked.
The tangential slash of her question shocked his mind into a higher awareness: Sand through a screen. He nodded.
"We Bene Gesserit sift people to find the humans."
He lifted his right hand, willing the memory of the pain. "And that's all there is to it - pain?"
"I observed you in pain, lad. Pain's merely the axis of the test. Your mother's told you about our ways of observing. I see the signs of her teaching in you. Our test is crisis and observation."
He heard the confirmation in her voice, said: "It's truth!"
She stared at him. He senses truth! Could he be the one? Could he truly be the one? She extinguished the excitement, reminding herself: "Hope clouds observation."
"You know when people believe what they say," she said.
"I know it."
The harmonics of ability confirmed by repeated test were in his voice. She heard them, said: "Perhaps you are the Kwisatz Haderach. Sit down, little brother, here at my feet."
"I prefer to stand." (10)
---
Paul felt himself coming more and more out of the shock of the test. He leveled a measuring stare at her, said: "You say maybe I'm the...Kwisatz Haderach. What's that, a human gom jabbar?"
"Paul," Jessica said. "You mustn't take that tone with - "
"I'll handle this, Jessica," the old woman said. "Now, lad, do you know about the Truthsayer drug?"
"You take it to improve your ability to detect falsehood," he said. "My mother's told me."
"Have you ever seen truthtrance?"
He shook his head. "No."
"The drug's dangerous," she said, "but it gives insight. When a Truthsayer's gifted by the drug, she can look many places in her memory - in her body's memory. We look down so many avenues of the past... but only feminine avenues." Her voice took on a note of sadness. "yet, there's a place where no Truthsayer can see. We are repelled by it, terrorized. It is said a man will come one day and find in the the gift of the drug his inward eye. He will look where we cannot - into both feminine and masculine pasts."
"Your Kwisatz Haderach?"
"Yes, the one who can be many places at once: the Kwisatz Haderach. Many men have tried the drug...so many, but none has succeeded."
"They tried and failed, all of them?"
"Oh, no." She shook her head. "They tried and died." (13)
---
"So I had a son!" Jessica flared. And she knew she was being goaded into this anger deliberately.
"You were told to bear only daughters to the Atreides."
"It meant so much to him," Jessica pleaded.
"And you in your pride thought you could produce the Kwisatz Haderach!"
Jessica lifted her chin. "I sensed the possibility." (22)
---
The old woman stared at Paul, then: "Young man, as a Proctor of the Bene Gesserit, I seek the Kwisatz Haderach, the male who truly can become one of us. Your mother sees this possibility in you, but she sees with the eyes of a mother. Possibility I see, too, but no more."
She fell silent and Paul saw that she wanted him to speak. He waited her out.
Presently, she said: "As you will, then. You've depths in you, that I'll grant."
"May I go now?" he asked.
Don't you want to hear what the Reverend Mother can tell you about the Kwisatz Haderach?" Jessica asked.
"She said those who tried for it died."
"But I can help you with a few hints at why they failed," the Reverend Mother said.
She talks of hints, Paul thought. She doesn't really know any thing. And he said: "Hint then."
"And be damned to me?" she smiled wryly, a crisscross of wrinkles in the old face. "Very well: 'That which submits rules.' (27)
---
"Grave this on your memory, lad: A world is supported by four things..." She held up four big knuckled fingers. "...the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the righteous and the valor of the brave. But all of these are as nothing..." She closed her fingers into a fist. "...without a ruler who knows the art of ruling. make that the science of your tradition!" (30).
---
"She asked me to tell her what it is to rule," Paul said. "And I said that one commands. And she said I had some unlearning to do...She said a ruler must learn to persuade and not to compel..."(31)
-Frank Herbert, Dune
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Channel 22 - Conclusion of USA network
OLD SOUTH SAVANNAH PARLOR - FUTURE
The Yankee businessmen are still arguing over the situation trying to determine a course of action.
TRUSTEE 2
What was his real name?
CEO
Michael Bayzer.
TRUSTEE 2
So, where did the name TRISTAN come from?
CEO
He had been calling himself that since he was in college.
It was an alter ego.
TRUSTEE 4
His vision of a superhero.
CEO
There is an account that he had been treated for
a concussion back in 1996 for jumping headlong
into a television set.
TRUSTEE 1
What?
TRUSTEE 2
Well, that would explain it.
CEO
His explanation, though, was that it was a metaphor of transcendence.
That diving through the television screen was symbolic of the discovery of a higher self.
An evolutionary Individuality that had miraculously reincarnated.
TRUSTEE 2
He believed he was the reincarnation of something?
CEO
Of somebody.
TRUSTEE 3
Who? Specifically.
CEO
The ancient knight known as TRISTAN.
TRUSTEE 1
What?
CEO
The Child of Sorrow.
He believed there was a thread that connected the chivalric code of the Middle Ages to the Southern Cause in 1861.
That somehow they were fighting for the same thing but that modern prejudice against the South was clouding the true perception of her vital role in defending the ideal of Western
Civilization.
In the end he became confused by the virtuality of the park into actually trying to fight the Civil War again using modern information technology.
He built a Cult of Personality around himself.
It is known that the employees on Island of the Old South had begun calling themselves the Rapscallions.
TRUSTEE 3
RAPSCALLIONS NEVER SAY DIE!
TRUSTEE 1
What?
CEO
I would venture to speculate that he was exploiting an ignorant population for some crazy plan of world revolution that would be effected through a seizure of the airwaves.
TRUSTEE 4
So he would send people down this roller coaster.
CEO
And they would never come back.
TRUSTEE 2
The police received word that the first wave of visitors to Island of the Old South were not returning from their vacations to Savannah.
They initiated investigations and that’s when
The disaster occurred.
TRUSTEE 3
THE DERAILED RIDE.
TRUSTEE 4
Where did they go?
The people that rode into LEVIATHAN.
CEO
Into the airwaves?
TRUSTEE 1
Impossible.
TRUSTEE 3
And the explosion?
CEO
The last ride.
He was closing the portal behind them.
TRUSTEE 3
But I am talking about the nature of the explosion.
Plastique? Dynamite? Nuclear?
CEO
Actually, it was a sonic boom.
But it appears to have involved some sort of interdimensional rupture opened by a hitherto forgotten audio frequency.
When turned down and analyzed it becomes apparent...
TRUSTEE 4
What was the furious sound?
CEO
A human voice, a logoidal amplification!
TRUSTEE 3
You’re kidding.
CEO
No.
---------
They take a momentary pause.
---------
TRUSTEE 2
THE REBEL YELL
CEO
He must be stopped.
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