So long!

This blog is such a big, bloated piece of crap that I felt the need to start a new one. So here it is.

Abyssal Subdivisions

This Is 4-D

th Isis 4-D

In the image above, there are a few elements that pop out to me. I'll make this quick. Leslie MANN is seen at the Sync with a Thoth-brush while Paul Rudd is in the background on a waterdoor throne with a (emerald) Tablet-type computer. The ISIS in the title sticks out like a sore thumb. So we have Thoth and Isis (both lunar deities) at corresponding water portals (water, of course, being associated with the moon through the tides). The poster has a very Lunar color scheme, consisting mostly of shades of gray. The 40/4D lends extradimensional (godlike) qualities to the whole thing. Now, add to that the reflective, lunar aspect of the Mirror which composes the majority of the picture.

We could also see a relation to the Moon tarot card, with the twin Dogs as being Leslie and her reflection, and Paul as the crayfish emerging from the water (and the mirror as the moon of course). The towers from the card could be seen as the two doors visible in the poster.

I'd also like to add that the Canines in the Moon tarot correspond to the Canines in Leslie's mouth, her teeth highlighted by the thoth brush.

"How many heads do you have?"

This here is an excerpt from chapter 5 of Robert Anton Wilson's excellent book "Quantum Psychology". Posted here because it really hurts my brain and I'm hoping transcribing it will bring a sense of clarity. I am in the midst of quitting my nicotine addiction for what must be the 10th time and I'm working out a few kinks. I tend to blog alot whilst in this mode of thought. On to the excerpt:

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"Borrowing a joke (or a profundity?) from Bertrand Russell's Our Knowledge of the External World, I will now demonstrate the reader has two heads.

According to common sense, and the consensus of most (occidental) philosophers, we exist "inside" an "objective universe", or - to say it otherwise - the "objective universe" exists "outside" us.

Very few people have ever doubted this. Those who have doubted it have arrived, inevitably, at highly eccentric conclusions.

Well, then, avoiding eccentricity and and accepting the conventional view, how do we know anything about that "external universe"? How do we perceive it?

(For convenience, I will consider only the sense of sight in what follows. The reader can check for himself, or herself, that the same logic applies if one changes the terms and substitutes hearing or any of our other senses.)

We see objects in the "external universe" through our eyes and then make pictures - models - of them in our brains. The brain "interprets" what the eyes transmit as energy signals. (For now, we will ignore the data that shows that the brain makes a gamble that it can interpret these signals.)

Again, very few Occidentals have doubted this, and those who doubted it all arrived at strange and incredible alternatives.

So, then, we live "inside" an "external universe" and make a picture or model of it "inside" our brains, by adding together, or synthesizing, and interpreting, our pictures or models of parts of the universe called "objects". Then, it follows that we never know the "external universe" and its "objects" at all. We know the model of the "external universe" inside our brains, which exist inside our heads.

But we have not arrived at Solipsism, remember. We still assume the "external universe" from which we started. We have merely discovered that we cannot see it or know it. We see a model of it inside our heads, and in daily life forget this and act as if the model exists outside our heads - i.e, as if (1) the model and the universe occupy the same area of space (as our map that tries to show "all" about Dublin would occupy the same space as Dublin) and (2) that this space exists "outside".

But the model and the universe do not occupy the same space and the space where the model exists can only be located "inside" our brains, which exist inside our heads.

We now realize that, while the universe exists outside, the model exists inside, and therefore occupies much, much less space than the universe.

The "real universe" then exists "outside" but remains unexperienced, perhaps unknown. That which we do experience or know (or think we know) exists in local networks of electrochemical bonds in our brains.

Again, if the reader cares to challenge any part of this, she or he should certainly try to imagine an alternative explanation of perception. It will appear, or it has always appeared to date, that any and all such alternatives sound not only queerer than this but totally unbelievable to "people of common sense".

Well, to proceed, we now have an "external universe", very large (comparatively speaking) and a model of same, much smaller (comparatively speaking), the former "outside" us and the latter "inside" us. Of course, some correspondence or isomorphism exists between the "external" and "internal" universes. Otherwise, I could not get up from my chair, walk to the door, go down the hall and accurately locate the kitchen to get another cup of coffee from something I identify as Coffee Maker.

But where does our head exist?

Well, our head obviously exists "inside" the "external universe" and "outside" our brain which contains the model of the "external universe". (This is where my brain starts to melt - Tommy) 

But since we never see or experience the "external universe" directly, and only see our model of it, we only perceive our head as part of the model, which exists inside us. Certainly, our perceived head cannot exist apart from our perceived body as long as we remain alive, and our perceived body (including head) exists inside our perceived universe. Right?

Thus, the head we perceive exists inside some other head we do not, and cannot, perceive. The second head contains our model of the universe, our model of this galaxy, our model of this solar system, our model of Earth, our model of this continent, our model of this city, our model of our home, our model of ourselves and atop our model of ourselves a model of our head. The model of our head thus occupies much less space than our "real" head. 

Think about it. Retire to your study, unplug the phone, lock the door and carefully examine each step of this argument in succession, noting what absurdities appear if you question any individual step and try an alternative.

Let us, for Jesus sake and for all our sakes, at least attempt to clarify how we can have two heads. Our perceived head exists as part (a very small part) of our model of the universe, which exists inside our brain. We have already proven that, have we not? Our brain, however, exists inside our second head - our "real" head, which contains our whole model of the universe, including our perceived head. In short, our perceived head exists inside our perceived universe which exists inside our real head which exists inside the real universe.

Thus, we can name our two heads - we have a "real" head outside the perceived universe and a "perceived head" inside the perceived universe, and our "real" head now appears, not only much bigger than our perceived head, but bigger than our perceived universe. 

And, since we cannot know or perceive the "real" universe directly, our "real" head appears bigger than the only universe we do know and perceive - our perceived universe, inside our perceived head.

The reader might find some comfort in the thought that Bertrand Russell, who devised this argument, also invented the mathematical class of all classes that "do not contain themselves". That class, you will note, does not contain itself unless it does contain itself. Also, it does contain itself if and only if it does not contain itself. Got it?

When not busy crusading for rationalism, world peace, common decency and other subversive ideas, Russell spent a lot of time in the even more subversive practice of inventing such logical "monsters" to bedevil logicians and mathematicians.

Returning to our two heads: Lord Russell never carried this joke, or this profound insight, beyond that point. With a little thought, however, the reader will easily see that, having analyzed the matter this far, we now have three heads - the third containing the model that contains the "real" universe and the "real" head and the perceived universe and the perceived head. And now that we have thought of that, we have a fourth head...

And so on, ad infinitum. To account for our perception of our perception - our ability to perceive that we perceive - we have three heads, and to account for that four heads, and for our ability to carry this analysis onward forever, we have infinite heads...

A model of consciousness which does arrive, very rigorously and with almost mathematical precision of logic, at precisely this infinite regress appears in The Serial Universe by J.W. Dunne, who uses time instead of perception as his first term but still arrives at the conclusion that we have, if not an infinite series of  heads, an infinite series of "minds".

Like the Zen teacher, I have just led you to the door of the Law and slammed it in your face. But wait. We will eventually discern "light at the end of the tunnel." If we can only open that damned door...

Alfred Korzybski, mentioned here several times (and a strong influence even when not mentioned), urged that our thinking could become more scientific if we used mathematical subscripts more often.

Thinking about this one day, I came up with the following analog of Dunne's argument without even using his infinite time dimensions:

I observe that I have a mind. Following Korzybski, let us call this observed mind, mind1.

But I observe that I have a mind that can observe mind1. Let us call this self-observing mind, mind2.

Mind2 which observes mind1 can in turn become the object of observation. (A little experience in Buddhist self-observation will confirm this experimentally.) The observer of mind2 then requires its own name, so we call it mind3.

And so on... To infinity, once again.

Of course, having mentioned Buddhism, I might in fairness add that the Buddhist would not accept "I observe that I have a mind." The Buddhist would say "I observe that I have a tendency to posit a mind.".

But that, perhaps, allows the felix domesticus to escape the gunnysack, as Mr. Fields would say."

God

is a machine building the stairs to nowhere you climb while the steps behind you crumble into the abyss below

So I was on 42 Minutes...

42 Minutes with your hosts Doug Bolles and Tommy Fulks, speaking with guest David Plate (AKA Dvd Platypus)

Today I was to fill in for Will of The Sync Whole and A Few Shots to Shaman sync blogs, starting our recording at 11:11 am this morning and speaking with the author of this fine blog. I thought I'd recount a strange dream I had.



A Night of Horror . . .

It all began yesterday as I initiated my midday nap. Having no stimulant drugs to propel me into unnatural excitement, I require naps throughout the day. As I entered the REM state, I envisioned flying along a dark road. Becoming lucid, I soared up into the sky into a dense fog. Everything goes fuzzy after this. After a couple of meaningless dreams, I become semi-lucid again. I walked from a rear-entryway into a strange looking white house. It reminded me of one of the model houses from Beetlejuice, everything had a strange artificial quality, almost like those pictures of haunted dolls that carry their unsettling ambiance. Entering the house I notice something strange. The house was like the TARDIS, it looked small on the outside but inside was much larger. Dark hallways with that odd, foggy sunlight common in dreams pouring in. A voice-over narration was saying some things about the house before informing me that it was haunted. The atmosphere was very much like several nightmarish astral projections I've had, where there is chaos within and without, terror behind every movement, dull, unassuming environments painted with dread. It's like being caught within a rift between worlds and having no idea of where to go or what to do but you do things anyway. So I began trying to find a way out of this evil house, but every doorway led to some interdimensional horror - every room seemed to be a portal to a bizarre, violent landscape. This is once again similar to Beetlejuice where there are doors that lead to where they store lost souls, and doors that lead to vast deserts of Saturn housing gargantuan sandworms. Eventually I found two nerdy-looking guys in a room who told me they were paranormal investigators. The next thing I remember, I am on a bed and we are recording the bedspread moving on its own. We review the footage and some sort of entity makes itself clear and it seems to have been acting through the two men as they are apparitions themselves, they disappear in the blink of an eye. There are strange winds blowing through the core of my being and I'm trying to find my way out of this place, but there are no exits, just pathways to strange, totally unnerving realities. I find a window, and outside there is a pool filled with dark blue water. The house seems to be situated on a tiny island floating on a sea of deep purple mist. I break out of the window and land in the pool. I know I have landed partially on land but there is no pain here. Before I am able to exit the pool, something drags me down into the water. I remember at this point as I am powerless to free myself seeing a translucent superimposed image of a Cthulhu-like tentacle-mouthed being standing facing me. He is wearing some sort of Victorian-era clothing, with a top hat and a cane. In the same "superimposed" fashion I begin seeing credits start to roll, as if this were all just some sort of TV show. Blackness, awakening.

Transcendental Key 6/4 (meat on the bone)

Today's key: "It's all in your head". Meaning your signature is found in everything you have ever experienced, everything you have collected about how the world works and what has happened is of your own device, of your own process. We have no knowledge of what's outside of our own mental interactions until we transcend the egoic mind and the application of arbitrary, mechanical association.

What does this mean to me? It means there is near-infinite space for expansion, it means there is nearly no limit to what we are capable of learning in this moment as it is sucked into the future. It also means that we are constantly connected to some-nothing that we have no way of immediately perceiving - I believe it acts as an analog to our sense-array, it is the non-being in reference to our being, so to say. A Logos of sorts. Like I said, these keys that I receive/create are like gear-teeth catching notches of problematic conundrums. As soon as that connection is made, it's time for another mystery. This great non-being seems to be the source of all mystery itself, a black hole from which no information escapes. I wonder if that is what I am, experiencing Being in order to create an infinite God with which to feed myself eternally.

In the throes of desperation and confusion one becomes aware of locks chaining them to anchors made of pain. The discovery of these locks is essential to discovery of the self. The keys that one receives during transcendental states hold no purpose without a matching lock. The crests and valleys of space-time unfolding are spiraling revelatory vortices, each dip into the pool of absolute inner chaos observed by the self to see all of itself. They are states to be understood, not feared.

masks guard the key

Seek the locks and the keys shall be received.

And if you ever disagree with me, you're wrong and you're going to hell.

Time-Mirror Reflections and "Keys"

"A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of an organism."

Everything has its fractal resonator. As we have viruses, parasites, and mosquitoes, in the macro realm we have psychopaths, "demons", archons, whatever you want to call them.

I realize that these destructive forces are essential to our process of transformation. There can be no optimization without evaporation of those forms which lock us into cycles of negative feedback. I am being shown a mirror of sorts in this realization. I am being shown these things are a part of my being, those which I must be aware of to properly proceed in evolving my mind to improve connection with creative dimensions.

Today went a lot better than the past few days. I went to bed at 5 in the morning and slept for 12 hours, making up for all the sleep I lost during the initial withdrawal. Not having a job or any people I have no choice but to interact with regularly has its benefits sometimes. It might sound like I'm overexaggerating things a lot, but you can only refer to your model, and I can only refer to mine.

We are restricted to the expectations we have derived through our history, the patterns we have recorded and have assumed are correct interpretations of "cause and effect". The imagination is full immersion into the flux of the current (redundant?) moment, a transformative destruction of the historic paradigm, and it is of the same experiential fabric as anything else one can experience and is therefore as valid an experience as one's physical reality.

We need not to try and "figure things out" as they happen in the physical world, this process runs entirely on its own and it is our job in this simulation (hot term at the moment), potential fractal-time recursion (endless loop), to program our death, to expand the lens of our perception to imagine ourselves fully into the fold of love itself. We have an infinite amount of perceptions available to us, like the holographic nature of language and its symbols constructing, deconstructing and evolving, and yet we rely on a small set of these perceptions to experience life through. Such is the nature of the inner bloodsucking perceptikon, the inner voice which tells us "that's not true, that's not valid, unacceptable", the scientist, the atheist, the christian, the culture morbidly obese on its own bovine waste. Everything is at once indeterminate, meaningless, false and true. In some sense. (thank you RAW)

I accept the presence of this entity, but it must accept that it depends upon me, and its own death is inevitable as is "mine". It dies with the death of my thoughts, and I know that I am more than my thoughts and my body. I perceive this fold, I am transcendent of their interactions. Enmeshed, I evolve through their interactions, I enact this simulation to untie knots. I am hunting in a fashion in which I become mock prey to attract the predators which I then destroy. (note: in what way do my actions in this sense differ from the above "perceptikon"? They are a similar program, but toward a different end. The goal of the perceptikon is to load viral programs into my hardware and turn me into a "zombie" feeding its creator, while my goal in this particular interaction is to act as a sort of hyperdimensional anti-virus software. Where its goal is strictly offensive, mine is defensive. It struck first, etc. It's a form of spiritual aikido.)

In other news, I have decided to post here the "temporary keys" which I receive during meditation, in order to stitch together a sort of pattern between them. They are usually one sentence only.

Yesterday's key was this: "Don't force anything". This key lasted me until today. Tomorrow its time-release cyanide pill will disperse and kill it entirely, its function having been used on its respective lock and its usefulness purged.