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pereldan's notebook  Things have been hectic lately, but I'm starting a new job on July 6th, and I will have weekends and evenings off, so I will be starting regular weekly entries soon. In the meantime, I'm currently reading Deepak Chopra's The Way of the Wizard which is rather enlightening...I recommend it. Current mood:  chipper.Current music: bird song. Found an interesting essay on magic theory from Cat Vincent, so I figured I'd share it: Previously, I made the point that any theory or description of how magic works will be necessarily subjective, partial and on some level utterly incapable of fully describing what happens. But I’m going to have a go anyway. So, a magician takes patterns in their mind, forges meaningful connections between symbols, events, people and places and things. This set of patterns, their map of the universe if you like, orients them and shows possibilities of action. What happens next? That depends on the map. Full article here All my life I have wondered if America really could sink into the abyss of dictatorship as Europe did in the mid-20th century. Intellectually I have know it could happen as we have lost freedom after freedom to "regulation." Tonight in Obama's acceptance speech fascism in America was made concretely real as it never was before. Now I am convinced it can happen here. Every word out of Obama's mouth is about how we will all sacrifice to the collective. And like it. From Bill St. Clair The belief that we are pluriforms of God voluntarily descended to this prison world, voluntarily losing our memory, identity, and supernatural powers (faculties), all of which can be regained through anamnesis (or, sometimes, the mystical conjunction), is one of the most radical religious views known in the West. But it is known. It is regarded as the Great Blasphemy: replication of the original sin mentioned in the First Book of Adam and Eve and in Genesis. For this pride and aspiration (we are told by orthodoxy) our original fall and exile and punishment, our being taken from our home the gardenland and put into the prison, was inflicted on us. "They wish to be equal to--like--us," the Elohim say, and toss us down. Yet I have reason to believe that this, "the Great Satanic Blasphemy," is true. First, we are here voluntarily. We did not sin and we were not punished; we elected to descend. Why? To infuse the divine into the lowest state of creation in order to halt its decomposition--the sinking of its lower realm. This points to a primordial crisis in creation in the total macrocosm (hexagram 12 This is a view compounded of Zoroastrianism, Brahmanism, Gnosticism, Taoism, the macro-microcosmos of Hermes Trismegistus and other mystery religions, and not very much of orthodox Christianity. Christianity can be added if the pluriform microsparks of light are considered plural saviors or Christs comprising a single mystical corpus that is distributed widely in time and space in the dark realm but possessing only one psyche that is somehow also God, the yang or light god. I have read the above cosmology over, and find no fault in it. In fact, I am amazed. It is in a sense acosmic, and certainly Gnostic, but the Taoist overlay is novel and pleasing; the Taoist overlay redeems it from the flaws of conventional dualist religions and the problems therein. Instead of stressing moral aspects ("good vs. bad"), it stresses epistemological ("real vs. irreal," which I can understand). The lower realm sinks, not because it is corrupt or evil or somehow has rebelled but because, as shown in Hexagram 12, it is the nature of yin to sink, as it is the nature of yin to rise. The pre-Socratics (and Plato in "Timaeus") were aware of this; v. the model of the winnowing fan and the concept of the vortex. Yang must assimilate yin to keep the totality intact; i.e. yang must renounce its natural tendency to rise and must descend. It cannot expect yin to rise, because yin is not wise; it is only noos that can understand that it must compensate against its own natural tendencies, and do what is unnatural to it. Yin is, so to speak, thick, unthinking, not noos (mind), but soma (body); noos and soma (or psyche and soma) are the total universe organism. Descending into the yin realm is a sacrifice on yang's part, which through its bright or wise nature it realizes it must make, but it pays a great cost in terms of suffering: loss of memory and identity, abilities, and faculties: It becomes pseudoyin, literally disguised in the yin realm as if it were actually yin, even to the point of forgetting (until reminded) that it is not. This is the agony we face in this irreal and dense yin realm, we yang traces: This is not our home. We are voluntary exiles here, alienated and alone, violating our own natures for a salvific purpose--a necessary purpose. Yin would not understand this, and until anamnesis sets in for us, we in our distress do not understand the reason either. Eventually it will be revealed to us; meanwhile we ache with longing for our proper home, dimly remembered but deeply felt for. Thus we suppose we are being punished; it feels like punishment, and we make the error of assuming we have sinned. On the contrary, we have renounced joy now, to produce greater joy later, for the good of all creation; we are the Godhead itself suffering the need to be what it is not, to ensure the ultimate stability of krasis (as Empedocles termed it): the unity of love. Lest any Christian reject this, let him now read the Fourth Gospel in connection with this, and see for himself the similarities. Lest any Taoist reject this, let him now see that hexagram 12 has turned to hexagram 11, Peace. The upper trigram, in descending, has forced the lower trigram to rise. Disorder no longer reigns; heaven and earth are not pulling apart. There is harmony. Moral: It is the ethical requirement placed on the yang traces by their own bright nature to abandon their nature to rise, to escape what is heavy and dark and sinking; they must go in pursuit of the falling part of the cosmos, for the benefit of those and that which otherwise would be lost. This is the highest law: to violate one's own nature for another's good. And the most difficult--and painful--law to fulfill. Because of this need there is distress in the cosmos, distress for the innocent especially. My cosmology simply presents it as fact. To escape it we would have to allow the cosmos to decompose. Could we do that? The tragedy is that by the very nature of the sacrifice we make we are occluded from knowing why. This is part of our sacrifices: our yang understanding. We must take on the dullness of yin to save the cosmos; we sacrifice the knowledge of why we sacrifice, and assume guilt--spurious guilt--in its place. This is asking alot. But consider who we really are. Or once were and will be again. Who else can do it? There is no one else. There is only yin, which does not know. The part of the organism that knows must help the part that doesn't know, but this means abandoning its own knowing. It becomes what it helps, a dreadful irony, one that hurts. But it is only temporary, just for a little while. And then we go home for all eternity. Current mood: awake. I Am A: Neutral Good Halfling Druid (5th Level) Ability Scores: Strength-15 Dexterity-14 Constitution-13 Intelligence-14 Wisdom-16 Charisma-11 Alignment: Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable. Race: Halflings are clever, capable and resourceful survivors. They are notoriously curious and show a daring that many larger people can't match. They can be lured by wealth but tend to spend rather than hoard. They prefer practical clothing and would rather wear a comfortable shirt than jewelry. Halflings stand about 3 feet tall and commonly live to see 150. Class: Druids gain power not by ruling nature but by being at one with it. They hate the unnatural, including aberrations or undead, and destroy them where possible. Druids receive divine spells from nature, not the gods, and can gain an array of powers as they gain experience, including the ability to take the shapes of animals. The weapons and armor of a druid are restricted by their traditional oaths, not simply training. A druid's Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that they can cast. Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail) Current mood: calm.
But here's some interesting stuff I found: Gold used as medicine Longevity research Quantum computers That ought to keep some people busy for a few minutes... Current mood: busy. From Io9 "What's really exciting about this idea is really that we'll get tailor-made vitamins, nor even that we'll be sequencing our genomes all the time. Actually, what completely has me floored is the idea that all we may need to feel better are good vitamin supplements. You hear a lot about stem cells, gene therapy, and other fancy cures, but rarely does anyone say: You know, you might be less depressed and heal faster if you just took these simple vitamins." Current mood:  groggy.
As if unknowingly dropping acid wasn't enough for the unsuspecting victims to experience, de-patterning techniques designed to erase the personalities of patients were performed along with massive electroshock treatments. These atrocities were the brainchild of a psychiatrist named Ewen Campbell who worked with the CIA in a futile attempt at developing a Manchurian Candidate" type of mind-control technique</a> that could be used during the Cold War. CIA vs. Human Life Current mood: tired.
A recent story from here in Washington: After a gun battle erupted outside a local preschool, and the police refused the school's request for additional foot patrols, the school hired a security firm in Virginia to provide armed guards. Shortly thereafter, about a dozen DC police stormed the school, guns drawn, to arrest the security guards for not having proper "licenses" for their weapons. Keep in mind, the police stormed a school while it was filled with three- and four-year olds, who were, according to school officials, "traumatized." Perhaps even more telling is a letter to the editor I read in today's paper from a man who defended the police. He said the school was completely at fault for "failing to obey the law" when hiring the security firm. From WendyMcElroy.com Current mood:  aggravated.
Ashaan
Mother of Dragons, Queen of Air and Darkness, Glitterwing, Nightsky, Firstborn. Wise as only the Eldest of Ancients can be. Dark as the space between the stars. She hears secrets whispered in the night; She sees all that darkness hides As she sails the wiinds of the cosmic sky. The Wheel Black spaces between the stars. Stars that twinkle in the night. Night fades into Daytime's light. Light leads the Seeker to the Way. Way of the Dragon's Children. Faerie children of the Twilight. Twilight fades to black of Night. Mother Night's fire; free, wild Firstborn, Diamondwing Ancient Wisdom Old song, new verse Lives again, again Children of Nightsky, Hear her mournful cry to all who can't remember. Untitled (& Unfinished) Blue and silver, purple, Red, green, gold, flame Nightsky's Children Are never tamed. Dragon of the Twilight sky, Flying in the morning high; Blue and silver Harper sing, Sunlight glinting off your wing, Moonlit shadows in your eye. Dragon of the Golden Flame, Hidden by the sacred Name; Black of feather, Green of eye, Flying in the Nighttime sky, Jester laughing at all pain. |
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