On Being Pulled (Gravity and Intention)
notes from the digger’s manual 2 –20 –05
All beings have weight. If you throw them in the water they will cause waves. All beings have gravity, but this doesn’t just mean they fall down a lot. They each exert a field of attraction on every being, a subtle pull that influences and is influenced by the pull of every other thing. The earth pulls us to it, the moon pulls the tides and our blood, the stars pull each other and hold it all together. We are stars too, centers of our own web of attractions, and what strange attractors indeed. We are attracted through us the influence of all that crosses our attention, consciously or not, and change our relationship to the entire world in every moment. Imagine a cluster of spheres attached to each other by strings; move one and it readjusts the tension between all the rest. Our muscular system works the same way, in tensile integrity that continually keeps the system in balance (tensegrity, made known by Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic domes). The whole universe is balanced in this tension, a great nexus of affect and reciprocation. Nothing is not involved, nothing is not affected, even our atoms "know" when another moves on the other side of the world, because they all move. They are all one medium, waves in the sea of particles that make us up, and it is only our attention to the particular waves of influence that separates them into distinct beings. Attention is etymologically to be stretched away from something, to be made more tensed, to be apart from what we attract and are attracted to. Knowing is being affected, interpreting the tensions into separate things in whatever degree one can be aware of their distinct level of detail. In this sense a rock knows something about falling into Earth’s pull, if not much else. Earth itself knows what it’s like to attract countless beings to its surface and about circling the sun. We exist as nodes in this web of mutual attraction, interfaces in Indra’s network, not reflecting all the other reflections but influencing all the other influences, or interpreting all the other interpretations.
Though it is all one flow of pull, it appears to us local attractors as two separate movements. We receive the pull on us, interpreting the incoming tensions, and create a pull on the universe, extending our influence outwards. The yin and yang states of intention and extension, everything stretching into us and back out into the universe; like breathing, but on a cosmic level and with all your senses. In passing through us this flow of tensions changes us, and we change the flow, readjusting the tensegrity of all the other centers of attraction. And like breathing, we can exercise some amount of control over how we let that flow pass through us. Like Kybernos, we cybernetically steer ourselves on the waves of this chaotic sea of influence. Any object, event, or idea can be treated as an external center of attraction, a star around which we spin like planets or particles, and the tensions we channel are limited to their particular sphere of attraction, and influence. We are always doing this as particular things are always passing through our attention, and we are always reinterpreting ourselves in relation to each one, even if it’s so subtle we do not know it consciously. A loud aggressive man enters the room, your stance (and the stance of everyone else present) changes in relation to their particular gravity.
Once something has attracted our attention we react to it, either by being attracted closer, or being repelled away, which in itself is a kind of attraction. In being influenced we are moved in relation; this is intention, not some desire towards an abstract goal state, but the process which is the action itself. As Castaneda put it, "There is no technique for intending, one intends through usage." we let ourselves become involved and fall into the things which attract us. Heidegger uses the example of intending to open a door by using the doorknob. In order to break from the subject/ object dichotomy he states that our intention is not towards "using" the doorknob itself, but in being drawn through the door. The doorknob itself is only an extension, a part of the world taken as part of ourselves to stretch out our reach of what we can most directly influence.
Though we do effect everything, it has a more localized limit in which the effects are strongest, like Earth’s gravity well or a blackhole’s event horizon. It’s likely there is a massive blackhole in the center of each galaxy, keeping the stars in tight. This is the extent or domain to which we can reach, the bounds of our sphere of influence. If you stretch out your arms you can reach further, if you hold out a stick you can reach further still. If you whisper only those close by can hear you, if you use the internet people all over the world can. Technology has become a quest for more precise ways to extend our interactions with our environments. All mediums become an extension of our intent, moving us further towards our attractions, depending on what we use to move in what manner. Metachor and I were bowling, and I mused that if the bowling ball extends our intention to knock down the pins, then the pins themselves were part of that intent to bowl. They are not separate from us however, but become part of us as an extension of our intention towards playing, just as we become extensions of someone else’s intension to tell us something. Language is a tool after all. Intention stretches out of us as attraction on the universe, realigning tensions of everything in its reach. What happens then if we were to consider the wholes Universe as an extensions of ourselves, as we have attention and intention for? If we were to catch the right grooves, letting the influence of the stars move through us, could we not in turn influence their spin, or everything else for that matter? Are we not heavenly bodies too, with the whole weight of the cosmos coursing through our backs?
Magic works on the principle that we can cause change to happen in accordance with our will, that we have some element of skill over the attentions and extensions we work our intentions through. Magic is writing a letter, or casting a spell, whatever means work best to fill the specific intention, regardless of whether that means seems possible in terms of a normalized view of cause and affect. Sometimes, the more impossible, the better; the mage is also a juggler, and people go to the circus to be amazed. Magic often draws on influences so subtle and attractors so arcane as to be unbelievable, but it works because these things are all connected, intent flows through them all and moves them in accordance with each other. But whose intent? Certainly not that of a single person. Our movements are cast on the whole web of movements, and everything we do through the force of that power carries the whole weight of the universe around us. No intention is not part of the intention of all beings. We are an extension of the Universe just as much as it is an extension of us, in relation to where we set the limits of our intentions. Except that we are only distended from life when we are dead, its pull never really loses us. If we choose to be single beings acting with the intentions of single beings then our reach and power is only that which we can muster ourselves. But if we act within the intentions of others then the power has a much greater pull, and control is extended that much further. Unfortunately this force can be disastrous if not intended towards the greater good, as can be seen right now in humanity’s treatment of the planet and each other. In the spin of the universe, things sometimes die violently, and our case may not be such a tragic thing. But if we act with the intentions of the universe, with the intentions of all beings, then our reach and power and aim includes all of them. And we all get to dance together, and be content.
2.26.2005
2.25.2005
story of the seven sisters
technoccult jsut published a story I wrote, entitled The Story of the Seven Sisters as the first story in their friday fiction series. Which is the first thing I've had published, even if only digitaly. The story itself is a myth told within the novel I just wrote, and am currently looking for publishers for. I started looking at publishers the other day and decided my first choice will be the children's division of Harpercollins. I figure might as well submit to a big name publisher first. now to get it finished...
2.23.2005
miller on writing
"To write, I meditated, must be an act devoid of will. The word, like the deep ocean current, has to float to the surface of its own impulse...
No man ever puts down what he intends to say: the original creation, which is taking place all the time, whether one writes or doesn't write, belongs to the primal flux: it has no dimensions, no form, no time element. In this preliminary state, which is creation and not birth, what dissapears suffers no destruction; something which was already there, something imperishable, like memory, or matter, or God, is summoned and in it one flings himself like a twig in a torrent. Words, sentences, ideas, no matter how subtle or ingenious, the maddest flights of poetry, the most profound dreams, the most hallucinating visions, are but crude hieroglyphs chiseled in pain and sorrow to commemorate an event which is untransmissible. In an intellegently ordered world ther would be no need to make the unreasonable attempt of putting such miraculous happenings down. Indeed, it would make no sense, for if men only stopped to realize it, who would be content with the counterfeit when the real is at everyone's beck and call? Who would want to switch in and listen to Beethoven, for example, when he might himself experience the ecstatic harmonies which Beethoven strove to register? A great work of art, if anything, serves to remind us, or at let us say to set us dreaming, of all that is fluid and intangible. Which is to say, the universe. It canot be understood; it can only be accepted or rejected... Whatever it purports to be it is not: it is always something more for which the last word will never be said. It is all that we put into it out of hunger for that which we deny every day of our lives. If we accepted ourselves as completely, the work of art, in fact the whole world of art would die of malnutrition... The art of dreaming will be in the power of every man one day. Long before that books will cease to exist, for when men are wide awake anddreaming their powers of communication (with one another and with the spirit that moves all men) will be so enhanced as to make writing seem like the harsh and raucous sqwauwks of an idiot."
-Henry Miller, from Sexus
No man ever puts down what he intends to say: the original creation, which is taking place all the time, whether one writes or doesn't write, belongs to the primal flux: it has no dimensions, no form, no time element. In this preliminary state, which is creation and not birth, what dissapears suffers no destruction; something which was already there, something imperishable, like memory, or matter, or God, is summoned and in it one flings himself like a twig in a torrent. Words, sentences, ideas, no matter how subtle or ingenious, the maddest flights of poetry, the most profound dreams, the most hallucinating visions, are but crude hieroglyphs chiseled in pain and sorrow to commemorate an event which is untransmissible. In an intellegently ordered world ther would be no need to make the unreasonable attempt of putting such miraculous happenings down. Indeed, it would make no sense, for if men only stopped to realize it, who would be content with the counterfeit when the real is at everyone's beck and call? Who would want to switch in and listen to Beethoven, for example, when he might himself experience the ecstatic harmonies which Beethoven strove to register? A great work of art, if anything, serves to remind us, or at let us say to set us dreaming, of all that is fluid and intangible. Which is to say, the universe. It canot be understood; it can only be accepted or rejected... Whatever it purports to be it is not: it is always something more for which the last word will never be said. It is all that we put into it out of hunger for that which we deny every day of our lives. If we accepted ourselves as completely, the work of art, in fact the whole world of art would die of malnutrition... The art of dreaming will be in the power of every man one day. Long before that books will cease to exist, for when men are wide awake anddreaming their powers of communication (with one another and with the spirit that moves all men) will be so enhanced as to make writing seem like the harsh and raucous sqwauwks of an idiot."
-Henry Miller, from Sexus
a scanner darkly and other strange tales
Stumbled upon this preview for the movie version of Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly through the blogosphere. It looks fascinating, not only because Dick was one of the most brilliant scifi writiers of our time, but also because it is directed by Richard Linklater, who directed Waking Life, which is inarguably one of my favorite movies ever. It changed my life when I needed it in just the right way, and its visual style of animated film cutups is more appealing to me than any other film style. And A Scanner Darkly appears to be animated over in the same way. This leaves me tingling with excitement.
In other news, a star three times bigger than our sun decided to high tail it out of our galaxy, at a speed of something like a hundred and fifty million miles an hour. I read it in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette this morning but I couldn't find any good articles about it online, so I guess you'll just have to take my word for it.
We also got our copy of the latest issue of Adbusters, which is one of the best issues so far, because besides their regular denunciations of the corporate spectacle, including articles on brand logo tattoos and designer vaginas, a good bit of the issue was spent focused on issues of a more metaphysical and futurist bent, including an article they posted online about art and spirituality.
And a big old RIP for Hunter S. Thompson, a man who truly went over the edge.
In other news, a star three times bigger than our sun decided to high tail it out of our galaxy, at a speed of something like a hundred and fifty million miles an hour. I read it in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette this morning but I couldn't find any good articles about it online, so I guess you'll just have to take my word for it.
We also got our copy of the latest issue of Adbusters, which is one of the best issues so far, because besides their regular denunciations of the corporate spectacle, including articles on brand logo tattoos and designer vaginas, a good bit of the issue was spent focused on issues of a more metaphysical and futurist bent, including an article they posted online about art and spirituality.
And a big old RIP for Hunter S. Thompson, a man who truly went over the edge.
2.21.2005
On Lucid Living
On Lucid Living
Notes from the Digger's Manual... 1-16-04
Reality is whatever we make of it, our perceptions are shaped by the ways we approach the world and the filters we use to see the world through. Quantum physics points to innumerable different views on what the underlying reality could be, whether as shaped by our perceptions, an infinity of possible worlds, as a hologram, or colliding waves of energy. Any or all of these views could (or not) be correct in describing reality as we can know it, and may all just be different methods of interpreting the patterns we discover in the world. In this sense, anything we can imagine can be possible, as long as we develop the filters to perceive the world in a certain way. This means reforging the connections between our senses in order to perceive the subtle aspects of reality. We are raised and trained to perceive the world from certain points of view that fit together in the consensual reality, that is, our senses remain isolated from each other and we remain oblivious to patterns of energy and events that point to some higher-level structures in the organization and movements of the world.
However, we humans have the ability to imagine different realities and do so each time we create subjunctive worlds in order to prophecy our futures. These alternate realities can be simple or wild as our imaginations, and as possible as the amount of energy required to bridge the state differences. This ability to create our worlds can be turned inward to posit realities in which we can gather quite different information with our senses, These worlds are quite possible, to the extent that we can put energy into forming and maintaining perspectives which surpass those we typically use to interpret and perceive reality.
For instance we see the claims of mystics who throughout time have been able to perceive the subtle forces of energy which flow through (are) everything. Or being able to understand the synchronistic and dreamlike nonlinear causality of events and actions. In order to perceive these interpretations of reality one must create visual and mental representations through which to perceive these worlds, and constantly practice to perceive and maintain these views of the world. One has to be mindful of reality-shifting for it to occur. Luckily the resonant nature of the Universe plays in to this, for the more you look through one filter, the more the world will appear that way. But one has to look in the first place, and complacency and normalcy are just as resonant patterns if that is how one chooses to perceive the world.
Of course, It is often not enough just to practice visually representing alternate views of reality, for the bonds of our senses and connections are strong and must be cut through to truly view the world in new ways. Often severing and reforging tools are needed to restructure our minds in a way which allows the mental abstractions of alternate realities to become true perceptions rooted in the paths of our brains. Such tools would need to place the agent in vastly different positions in regards to the world so we can learn to bridge the gaps between the two in our everyday living. Usual tools for doing this include meditation and entheogenic (literally 'the birth of the divine within') drug experiences that allow us to actually 'see the light' behind the pure being of reality.
Such experiences can only work to reshape our perceptions if practiced regularly and approached with pure intentions. Thus these practices can act as gates or paths to reshape our worlds, but only if well-oiled/kept and approached with clear goals of states to move towards. One must remember that there is no absolute true reality behind the veils of Maya, but an infinity of interpretations which extend beyond our everyday sensations, so one must establish how one wishes to perceive the world before it can be perceived in that way (or in any other way than the 'normal' way). Gradually the gap between how one perceives the world and how one wants of perceive the world is closed until there is no difference between the two, and connections are formed to hold these views together.
Certainly, the human ability to forget, and the need to remember to remember play a large role in reshaping our world views. It is easy for us to forget what we strive to learn, and without constant maintenance the paths can become overgrown or lost, whether through intentional acts of suppression or pure slippage between our thoughts. We must be vigilant, or whatever we have put towards a connection will fade back into our everyday realities and perceptions. This is why such practices as meditation are important in keeping us on the right track.
The entheogenic experience is great for fast shifts in our connections, allowing us more immediate understanding of other realities, but the intensity of these experiences is counterbalanced by the speed with which they fade from our thoughts if we do not constantly practice in maintaining the visions we are shown. In this sense, drugs can break down walls and burn bridges, but without the continual mindfulness of meditation to build new paths we will just reconstruct our old ways of being again, as best we can. We must remember to remember the differences between the states in order not to fall back into our old patterns of living.
Though the practice of meditation allows us to build up new connections to how we perceive the world, we are always forgetting and therefore must constantly remember to remember in every moment. mindfulness of our being and becoming must be held in our every act and breath in order to not backslide into the sleep of the mundane. We must take care to always be waking up throughout everything we do and experience. We must truly be in each moment as it is and could be all the time. This is lucid living, the constant realization that life is a dream from which we can always be waking up. This practice keeps us on our way and completely transforms reality through how we approach it.
Of course, remembering to remember is the easiest thing to forget, as it requires complete focus of will and intention in each moment. However, the energy required to do so is in all of us naturally, making this approach an extreme possibility if it is constantly kept in mind. This is hard to do though, and requires a lifetime(s) of practice, patience, and perseverance to maintain and uphold. Nothing less than complete mindfulness will allow us to be in the world in this way. This is where the continuation of such practices as meditation and entheogenics becomes important in strengthening our will towards lucidity, either in our everyday lives or/and in short circuiting us towards higher levels of awareness to work from. It is a learning process that requires positive feedback to deviate us from normal living towards lucid living.
Certainly what makes meditation and entheogenics valuable for remembering to be lucid is that they are experiences that differ greatly from normal experience and therefore can be learned from in reminding us to approach the world anew. These are not the only experiences that carry this interstitial lesson though. Really any experience that carries differences can be used to realize being in the moment if we pay attention to the distinctions. Thus, music, dance, travel, etc... are also good experiences for remembering to live lucidly.
And beyond that, one can see that each moment is different from all others, and all experience of life is perceiving change in the differences between one moment and the next. And though these distinctions are often negligible and almost imperceptible, they can be paid attention to and allow us to remember in each moment, all the time, if we are mindful of being here and now. All living can teach us to be awake if we let it touch us this way, and all experience has the potential to completely reshape us in every moment. And allow us to reshape ourselves. We are always transforming, and always exactly who we are now.
There is no 'right' way to become, but we are always becoming. With constant practice and remembering to remember, we can be anything/everything we can imagine.
Notes from the Digger's Manual... 1-16-04
Reality is whatever we make of it, our perceptions are shaped by the ways we approach the world and the filters we use to see the world through. Quantum physics points to innumerable different views on what the underlying reality could be, whether as shaped by our perceptions, an infinity of possible worlds, as a hologram, or colliding waves of energy. Any or all of these views could (or not) be correct in describing reality as we can know it, and may all just be different methods of interpreting the patterns we discover in the world. In this sense, anything we can imagine can be possible, as long as we develop the filters to perceive the world in a certain way. This means reforging the connections between our senses in order to perceive the subtle aspects of reality. We are raised and trained to perceive the world from certain points of view that fit together in the consensual reality, that is, our senses remain isolated from each other and we remain oblivious to patterns of energy and events that point to some higher-level structures in the organization and movements of the world.
However, we humans have the ability to imagine different realities and do so each time we create subjunctive worlds in order to prophecy our futures. These alternate realities can be simple or wild as our imaginations, and as possible as the amount of energy required to bridge the state differences. This ability to create our worlds can be turned inward to posit realities in which we can gather quite different information with our senses, These worlds are quite possible, to the extent that we can put energy into forming and maintaining perspectives which surpass those we typically use to interpret and perceive reality.
For instance we see the claims of mystics who throughout time have been able to perceive the subtle forces of energy which flow through (are) everything. Or being able to understand the synchronistic and dreamlike nonlinear causality of events and actions. In order to perceive these interpretations of reality one must create visual and mental representations through which to perceive these worlds, and constantly practice to perceive and maintain these views of the world. One has to be mindful of reality-shifting for it to occur. Luckily the resonant nature of the Universe plays in to this, for the more you look through one filter, the more the world will appear that way. But one has to look in the first place, and complacency and normalcy are just as resonant patterns if that is how one chooses to perceive the world.
Of course, It is often not enough just to practice visually representing alternate views of reality, for the bonds of our senses and connections are strong and must be cut through to truly view the world in new ways. Often severing and reforging tools are needed to restructure our minds in a way which allows the mental abstractions of alternate realities to become true perceptions rooted in the paths of our brains. Such tools would need to place the agent in vastly different positions in regards to the world so we can learn to bridge the gaps between the two in our everyday living. Usual tools for doing this include meditation and entheogenic (literally 'the birth of the divine within') drug experiences that allow us to actually 'see the light' behind the pure being of reality.
Such experiences can only work to reshape our perceptions if practiced regularly and approached with pure intentions. Thus these practices can act as gates or paths to reshape our worlds, but only if well-oiled/kept and approached with clear goals of states to move towards. One must remember that there is no absolute true reality behind the veils of Maya, but an infinity of interpretations which extend beyond our everyday sensations, so one must establish how one wishes to perceive the world before it can be perceived in that way (or in any other way than the 'normal' way). Gradually the gap between how one perceives the world and how one wants of perceive the world is closed until there is no difference between the two, and connections are formed to hold these views together.
Certainly, the human ability to forget, and the need to remember to remember play a large role in reshaping our world views. It is easy for us to forget what we strive to learn, and without constant maintenance the paths can become overgrown or lost, whether through intentional acts of suppression or pure slippage between our thoughts. We must be vigilant, or whatever we have put towards a connection will fade back into our everyday realities and perceptions. This is why such practices as meditation are important in keeping us on the right track.
The entheogenic experience is great for fast shifts in our connections, allowing us more immediate understanding of other realities, but the intensity of these experiences is counterbalanced by the speed with which they fade from our thoughts if we do not constantly practice in maintaining the visions we are shown. In this sense, drugs can break down walls and burn bridges, but without the continual mindfulness of meditation to build new paths we will just reconstruct our old ways of being again, as best we can. We must remember to remember the differences between the states in order not to fall back into our old patterns of living.
Though the practice of meditation allows us to build up new connections to how we perceive the world, we are always forgetting and therefore must constantly remember to remember in every moment. mindfulness of our being and becoming must be held in our every act and breath in order to not backslide into the sleep of the mundane. We must take care to always be waking up throughout everything we do and experience. We must truly be in each moment as it is and could be all the time. This is lucid living, the constant realization that life is a dream from which we can always be waking up. This practice keeps us on our way and completely transforms reality through how we approach it.
Of course, remembering to remember is the easiest thing to forget, as it requires complete focus of will and intention in each moment. However, the energy required to do so is in all of us naturally, making this approach an extreme possibility if it is constantly kept in mind. This is hard to do though, and requires a lifetime(s) of practice, patience, and perseverance to maintain and uphold. Nothing less than complete mindfulness will allow us to be in the world in this way. This is where the continuation of such practices as meditation and entheogenics becomes important in strengthening our will towards lucidity, either in our everyday lives or/and in short circuiting us towards higher levels of awareness to work from. It is a learning process that requires positive feedback to deviate us from normal living towards lucid living.
Certainly what makes meditation and entheogenics valuable for remembering to be lucid is that they are experiences that differ greatly from normal experience and therefore can be learned from in reminding us to approach the world anew. These are not the only experiences that carry this interstitial lesson though. Really any experience that carries differences can be used to realize being in the moment if we pay attention to the distinctions. Thus, music, dance, travel, etc... are also good experiences for remembering to live lucidly.
And beyond that, one can see that each moment is different from all others, and all experience of life is perceiving change in the differences between one moment and the next. And though these distinctions are often negligible and almost imperceptible, they can be paid attention to and allow us to remember in each moment, all the time, if we are mindful of being here and now. All living can teach us to be awake if we let it touch us this way, and all experience has the potential to completely reshape us in every moment. And allow us to reshape ourselves. We are always transforming, and always exactly who we are now.
There is no 'right' way to become, but we are always becoming. With constant practice and remembering to remember, we can be anything/everything we can imagine.
2.20.2005
poetic prelude...
Every being is a star, the center
of their own spinning
spheres of existence;
falling through space
with the rest of the cosmos.
If one were to fall
in the ocean
the waves would not be
so big as a single smile
intended as if
everything else will smile
in return. A star's light
caresses many worlds,
but is only the sun
of its own system.
From here they are just stars,
light reflectes on the water.
Yet their spinning keeps us turning
and we are waves
to each other's gravity,
interlapping influence
as far as we can reach
until its impossible to tell
from which source
each ripple came;
and it all shimmers
together.
of their own spinning
spheres of existence;
falling through space
with the rest of the cosmos.
If one were to fall
in the ocean
the waves would not be
so big as a single smile
intended as if
everything else will smile
in return. A star's light
caresses many worlds,
but is only the sun
of its own system.
From here they are just stars,
light reflectes on the water.
Yet their spinning keeps us turning
and we are waves
to each other's gravity,
interlapping influence
as far as we can reach
until its impossible to tell
from which source
each ripple came;
and it all shimmers
together.
loose ends
I wanted to post a link to the articles on the black box that reads the future, and the global consciousness project (thanks lvx23 for sticking them in one place) not because they're "news" at this point, but because this may just be a very exciting time to be alive, and I don't want to misplace them in all the confusion.
It is possible - in theory - that time may not just move forwards but backwards, too. And if time ebbs and flows like the tides in the sea, it might just be possible to foretell major world events. We would, in effect, be 'remembering' things that had taken place in our future.
If you've been paying attention, it sure feels like we've been doing this all along, but subconsciouly at best; or perhaps we only thought we were telling ourselves stories. Either way, we're riding the ripples into the biggest stone of all, a confluence unparalleled in being so bloody obvious but utterly undefinable until it happens.
I wonder how apt Yeats's prediction will be: "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold..."
I've still got a couple tricks up my sleeve... just in case.
It is possible - in theory - that time may not just move forwards but backwards, too. And if time ebbs and flows like the tides in the sea, it might just be possible to foretell major world events. We would, in effect, be 'remembering' things that had taken place in our future.
If you've been paying attention, it sure feels like we've been doing this all along, but subconsciouly at best; or perhaps we only thought we were telling ourselves stories. Either way, we're riding the ripples into the biggest stone of all, a confluence unparalleled in being so bloody obvious but utterly undefinable until it happens.
I wonder how apt Yeats's prediction will be: "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold..."
I've still got a couple tricks up my sleeve... just in case.
2.18.2005
flungness and the primacy of spiritual experience
In his now infamous(ly incomprehensible) philosophical text Being and Time, Heidegger talks about the concept of flungness, the primal feeling of finding ourselves seemingly flung into the world and having to continually reinterpret what it means to find ourselves there as beings who are and have to be. Now, if you were to only read a definition of this concept, it may not seem so readily understandable, even translated out of Heideggerian into common English. But, if you were to find yourself flung into the middle of a street with a car bearing down at you at remarkable speeds, it becomes more apparent that yes, you are there, and have to do something about it. And quickly if you don’t want to be run over. Granted, most of our experiences do not seem to require such immediate interpretation, but that does not diminish the feeling of flungness that accompanies every moment of directly experiencing the world and having to interpret ourselves in it, even if that flungness is mostly subliminal. I wake up, and for a brief moment do not know who or where I am. I wait for the bus in the snow, it shows up late and I don’t have enough change, but then some stranger offers me a ride from out of nowhere. These are moments in between knowing the world in which we feel ourselves flung to the wolves, moments that bring into question everything we thought we knew enough of to get by on.
When I was in school I didn’t think I knew everything, though there were some moments when I felt pretty sure of myself. But everyone else seemed a lot surer, not because they actually were, but because they had read enough to back up their assumptions about reality. The teachers were particularly guilty of this, and seemed to suggest that this kind of book learning was enough to get by in the world. At the time I was a young punk, not at all satisfied with sitting in class all day listening to some old white dudes lecture while there was a whole world out there to explore. Even if that meant finding a new place to go get high during lunch. It wasn’t enough and I knew it, so I dropped out and moved out, hoping to fling myself into situations and experiences that might teach me in a more direct manner. Though I didn’t learn advanced calculus or how to write a master thesis out in the world, I did find myself confronted almost every day with questions of love and communication, politics and survival that seemed to reflect a much more basic understanding of human experience in the world. Small basic truths surprisingly not taught in schools that helped define my own flung place in this world better than anything I read in a book. Not that I didn’t read, but now it was less to learn something new than to find terms and arguments in which to express my own experiences in, which often would not have made any sense without the experience to back them up. When I found myself in philosophical discussions I couldn’t quote passages to those who had studied them extensively, but I tried to enlighten the conversations with personal anecdotes that portrayed the abstract points. It took a while to get to that point, and I often found myself having to rely on abstracts in order to fill in the gaps between my experiences and knowledge; but the more I was in the world the less I had to rely on the ontological maps of others. The understanding was fostered from my own interpretations.
But then I began to experience things that were far outside any interpretation I had found read about so far, synchronicities and acts of magic that did not seem to stem from any logical cause and effect. I was now flung not in front of a speeding car but a charging seven-headed beast that forced me to not only interpret how I would get out of the way but where it came from in the first place. Despite my wonder at this new spiritual dimension the world was rapidly taking on I also felt a terror comparable to Sartre’s idea of Nausea, like when the character in his novel looks at a single stone and feels himself flung beyond any possible interpretations. The Romantic poet Blake expressed this when he said "To see the world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wildflower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour." Except that such abstracts as infinity and eternity were utterly meaningless in face of this direct experience and only seemed to hide the experience itself. In the same way the texts I read on these type of magical world views only seemed to hide the experiences of it behind abstract mappings and symbols, and not say what it meant and felt like to perceive so intensely.
Poetry is one of the few literary forms enamored by direct experience and split second reinterpretations of being flung into the world. Images are called up to reflect the world in a single grain of sand and flung back into the face of the unknown. But even here there is the pull to use abstracts and well-worn expressions, even to describe the vastness of the spiritual experience. Blake and the other Romantic poets fell into this, relying on symbolic interpretations of old religious texts to augment feelings that seemed too ineffable to put into words. About a hundred years later Rilke tried his hand at spiritual poetry, but broke from the Romantic’s approach of grandiose iconography to show how the spiritual breaks through in the small details of our daily lived experience. This wasn’t a new approach, as Rilke was directly influenced by the 13th Century Sufi poet, Rumi, whose body of work is filled with the idea of finding god in wine, laughter and sorrow, in the face of a friend and the turning of stars. Here were images that spoke directly to my own experiences of the world’s mystery, and offered me a voice to describe what I also felt, a light sliding through the features of all things that was recognizable only in giving myself to it fully. The spiritual experience became a continual feeling of being flung beyond all interpretation, experience that never needs disclosing because we are always here in it.
Not that I still don’t try and ground myself in attempts at understanding, but the desire to pull myself out of the air no longer feels so necessary, or the precise words so important.
***
It is night and all around you
strange shadows dance beyond
the flickering streetlamps.
One approaches in the dark
and for a moment you think
it is your death, beautiful
and mysterious in the twilight.
As you watch, in fear
and more wonder than a single heart
can hold, it takes form;
a tree, a beggar, a lover,
any of the known things
that might stumble towards you
in the night.
Suddenly you laugh
for it is a face you recognize
from each night before;
your own, reflected in the dark
glass of an empty storefront.
Who says your death
will not look that way too,
flung so suddenly in your path;
and will not your relief
at finding yourself there
be like finding yourself
each time you look in a mirror?
Dying is only a metaphor
for each moment you realize
you are still alive.
But it only happens once.
Living is to die
over and over again,
the knife's edge
of finding yourself there
always pressed close
against your chest.
Will you flinch away
or fling yourself bodily
into its embrace?
Only the young and insane
want to die so readily,
the feeling of blood pushed
so close to the skin
draws them out of themselves
and into each other's arms.
They cut their hearts out
of the mirror's glass
and polish them in starlight
so they can find themselves
in the middle of the night
and quickly die again.
When I was in school I didn’t think I knew everything, though there were some moments when I felt pretty sure of myself. But everyone else seemed a lot surer, not because they actually were, but because they had read enough to back up their assumptions about reality. The teachers were particularly guilty of this, and seemed to suggest that this kind of book learning was enough to get by in the world. At the time I was a young punk, not at all satisfied with sitting in class all day listening to some old white dudes lecture while there was a whole world out there to explore. Even if that meant finding a new place to go get high during lunch. It wasn’t enough and I knew it, so I dropped out and moved out, hoping to fling myself into situations and experiences that might teach me in a more direct manner. Though I didn’t learn advanced calculus or how to write a master thesis out in the world, I did find myself confronted almost every day with questions of love and communication, politics and survival that seemed to reflect a much more basic understanding of human experience in the world. Small basic truths surprisingly not taught in schools that helped define my own flung place in this world better than anything I read in a book. Not that I didn’t read, but now it was less to learn something new than to find terms and arguments in which to express my own experiences in, which often would not have made any sense without the experience to back them up. When I found myself in philosophical discussions I couldn’t quote passages to those who had studied them extensively, but I tried to enlighten the conversations with personal anecdotes that portrayed the abstract points. It took a while to get to that point, and I often found myself having to rely on abstracts in order to fill in the gaps between my experiences and knowledge; but the more I was in the world the less I had to rely on the ontological maps of others. The understanding was fostered from my own interpretations.
But then I began to experience things that were far outside any interpretation I had found read about so far, synchronicities and acts of magic that did not seem to stem from any logical cause and effect. I was now flung not in front of a speeding car but a charging seven-headed beast that forced me to not only interpret how I would get out of the way but where it came from in the first place. Despite my wonder at this new spiritual dimension the world was rapidly taking on I also felt a terror comparable to Sartre’s idea of Nausea, like when the character in his novel looks at a single stone and feels himself flung beyond any possible interpretations. The Romantic poet Blake expressed this when he said "To see the world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wildflower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour." Except that such abstracts as infinity and eternity were utterly meaningless in face of this direct experience and only seemed to hide the experience itself. In the same way the texts I read on these type of magical world views only seemed to hide the experiences of it behind abstract mappings and symbols, and not say what it meant and felt like to perceive so intensely.
Poetry is one of the few literary forms enamored by direct experience and split second reinterpretations of being flung into the world. Images are called up to reflect the world in a single grain of sand and flung back into the face of the unknown. But even here there is the pull to use abstracts and well-worn expressions, even to describe the vastness of the spiritual experience. Blake and the other Romantic poets fell into this, relying on symbolic interpretations of old religious texts to augment feelings that seemed too ineffable to put into words. About a hundred years later Rilke tried his hand at spiritual poetry, but broke from the Romantic’s approach of grandiose iconography to show how the spiritual breaks through in the small details of our daily lived experience. This wasn’t a new approach, as Rilke was directly influenced by the 13th Century Sufi poet, Rumi, whose body of work is filled with the idea of finding god in wine, laughter and sorrow, in the face of a friend and the turning of stars. Here were images that spoke directly to my own experiences of the world’s mystery, and offered me a voice to describe what I also felt, a light sliding through the features of all things that was recognizable only in giving myself to it fully. The spiritual experience became a continual feeling of being flung beyond all interpretation, experience that never needs disclosing because we are always here in it.
Not that I still don’t try and ground myself in attempts at understanding, but the desire to pull myself out of the air no longer feels so necessary, or the precise words so important.
***
It is night and all around you
strange shadows dance beyond
the flickering streetlamps.
One approaches in the dark
and for a moment you think
it is your death, beautiful
and mysterious in the twilight.
As you watch, in fear
and more wonder than a single heart
can hold, it takes form;
a tree, a beggar, a lover,
any of the known things
that might stumble towards you
in the night.
Suddenly you laugh
for it is a face you recognize
from each night before;
your own, reflected in the dark
glass of an empty storefront.
Who says your death
will not look that way too,
flung so suddenly in your path;
and will not your relief
at finding yourself there
be like finding yourself
each time you look in a mirror?
Dying is only a metaphor
for each moment you realize
you are still alive.
But it only happens once.
Living is to die
over and over again,
the knife's edge
of finding yourself there
always pressed close
against your chest.
Will you flinch away
or fling yourself bodily
into its embrace?
Only the young and insane
want to die so readily,
the feeling of blood pushed
so close to the skin
draws them out of themselves
and into each other's arms.
They cut their hearts out
of the mirror's glass
and polish them in starlight
so they can find themselves
in the middle of the night
and quickly die again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
