4/02/01

What if an ant were suddenly made aware of the limitations of its existance, as known from a higher more advanced level, such as that of a human? What if it were aware that its life was very small, insignifigant. Its work and toil, a mountain of food and sand, but a small mound casually ground under the heel of a careless walking god. Its body, able to lift many times its weight in pebbles, but a small frail thing to perish in mere weeks time. Its origin but an extension of the queen's body, not even really a lifeform of its own at all but an external tool of the one who started the colony, working only for her survival. It purpose, even as a part of the queen, merely to continue the existance of others like itself. To live, to work, and to die, and to not have been but a speck to others it shares this planet with.

What if an ant were made aware of all of this? How horrible to discover how ultimately insignifigant one is, how powerless. In not knowing, the ant only knew its work, and found pleasure and pride in accomplishing it. Its life was small, but complete. Now, its life is so small that its tasks are no longer of any joy to it. What a curse this awareness is, the unbearable knowlege of one's ultimate limitations. One might choose to not even bother continuing at all. What is the point? It matters not, in the larger scope made suddenly clear. Death is not so far at all. Might as well just sit down and waith for it to catch up to you.

But then again it might decide, why not? Sure, the only life possible is one of pushing pebbles around. But why waste it? This is what I am, this is what I do. I know of more, but I am but this. I may weep for the endless possibilities made aware that I cannot have, but I must not forget that one of these possibilities is my own humble body pushing pebbles up a hill. I at least have that. If I cannot have what is beyond me, I will make the most of what I can have. I will push as many pebbles as I can, until satisfied that I have done well, better then my brothers. I will drink the necter of aphids, savor the sweet taste others will never know. I will enjoy the view from atop the mound I helped to create. I will avoid the shadow of careless feet, that my short life is not taken before I am finished with it.

This is mine, and I have it. I will enjoy as much of it as I can. Its all I can do, really. It would be a waste of my existance, low that it may be, to do any less. An affront to creation itself, only all the more in being aware of this. I accept this gift of being, and of knowing that there is more. I know that I will never run out of new things to see in this world, and take joy in knowing I am a part of something so much larger. This world, so frighteningly hugy, is an endless playground in which I must work and struggle to continue to survive so as to enjoy that survival. I enjoy my struggle. It is me, it is a part of the glorious gift of my existance. I would not part with a moment of it.

4/03/01

Magic, the discipline of applying will to cause change of self, is fueled run and governed by self awareness. As one becomes more aware of ones self and ones thoughts, one gains understanding of said thoughts and gains the ability to control them. Perhaps through ritual, invocation, or sigil concentration. Perhaps more directly with meditation or simply will to be different or act in a different way. One must first become aware of ones thoughts and systems before one can change them. Psychology attempts to find the reason for a neurosis through careful questioning, as when the patient becomes aware of the reason for their neurosis, they can apply will to change it and thus their behavior.

Self awareness is knowlege of self. Knowlege is power. Power is control.

Society practices the same formula. As society is aware of itself, it is able to change and control itself. Uderstanding of the ways in which people behave in groups allows for control of people in groups. Individualy, we may not notice. On the social level, we follow trends like water pooling over uneven ground. Any time more than one of us acts in a given way, we act on the social level. Any time we interact and react to each other, we participate in group consciousness. Trancendent entities already exist. They are Walmart, Colca Cola, and the United States of America. Those aware of their movements can control the thoughts of these entities just as a magician controls his own behavior though guided meditation.

Advertisers know this, they use techniques to control society in order to desire products. They are an immediate selfish application of self awareness on the society level. They gather data, demographics. Awareness of society. when society is aware of itself, it has self awareness and the same rules apply. We see that people like red cars, so we'll use red cars in our commercials to encourage people to buy our product.

Govenrment knows this, and writes and enforces laws to maintain the state of society in a certain way which perpetuates itself. Government is a conscious entity. It makes us a part of it. We vote, affect the course of the larger body, which in turn governs and controls us with laws. We are a part of a larger machine, though we know it or not. Laws direct us, control us, cause us to behave in certain ways. Government is able to write them because they are aware of the ways in which society acts. People is government is self aware is practicing magic on the social level.

Schools take advantage of this on a more nefarious level. Children are given pre-chosed sets of programs. They are conditioned to believe things in a certain way. Socitey is not only aware of itself, it applys what it knows to make itself a certain way, to grow into what it chosoes to be. It feeds itself. It follows all the rules of a consciousness: recursive self awareness in a formula which includes itself as a variable.

Society evolves its own consciousness. Its magicians are the Board of Education, Universities, Law makers, Policy makers, Advertising companies, the Senate. What we can do to ourselves, we as a collective do to ourselves as a collective. As below, so above.

The age of information hastens the process. Information is available more freely. We can know more of ourselves at ever increasing rates. Privacy is being invaded in the thirst for more social self awareness. The more we know about ourselves, the more we will control ourselves, the more we will be a part of a machine. Whoever uses that information controls the course of social consciousness.

We've already trancended. We just don't know it yet.

4/09/01

A religion is a social structure set in place to protect, enforce, and perpetuate a set of ideals and instructions that one is to live by. For example, the Torah is the set of primary books of Jewish law and culture. Everything else surrounds this one set of texts which outline the basis of behavior and spirituality for the peoples. Similarly, the gospiles and assorted texts combined in the New Testiment define those teachings and ideas which serve the same role for Christians, and specificly the Catholic Church as an organization to enforce and perpetuate these. Islam has the Koran, which preforms the same function.

Bibles are important to a religion, as the religion exists primarially to keep and enforce the bible. True, the point of the bible in question may be to teach a form of spirituality. One achieves this spirituality through their own study and lifestyle, which may be independent of the practicing religion itself. One does not need religion to find spirituality, although the primary purpose of the religion is to cause one to find that spirituality.

Spirituality, and even the books that teach it, may or may not exist on their own or survive. The religion happens when people say, "hey, this is important", and form traditions to protect, teach, and enhance the teachings of their spirituality. They create laws to define their behavior and morality. Mainly, religions create laws. Quaballa when translated from Hebrew means "Law". Or if viewed a different way, religions define what is "sacred", be it actions, days, tradiditions, objects or people. When sacredness is a applied to behavior, the effect is law.

The Constitution of the United States of America is a document written to define a set of ideals and laws to allow a certain set of ideals to flourish, and to be lived by. There are primary principles of what is important in life, what man has a "right" to hold, what is held "sacred." It is the core document, out of which and around which was written a complex and enormous social institution to protect, enhance, and especially enforce the ideals contained within.

So how does the Constitution differ from say, the 10 commandments? Well, the biggest difference is really only that the 10 Commandments were given to Moses by God, as the stories go, and the Constitution was written by the Founding Fathers of our country, as history goes. Laws written by God, or laws written by man. Still laws, still ideals. Still, the center of a religion, and traditions.

We think that one is inherently better than another, because God is involved. But in effect, both religion and government affect our lives in the same ways. The only difference is the lack of a specific God in government to worship. Or do we?

On Sundays, Christians ritually remember a man named Jesus and his teachings. On Saturdays, Jews similarly ritually remember the teachings of their prophets, and praise God. Pagans have lots of regular traditions for different gods they practice all the time. Holy icons heep the image of Jesus, saints, or pagan gods.

On certain days of the year, Americans stop working to remember notable figures in history such as Martin Luther King Jr., Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington. Banks close, commerce stops, there are parades, traditions, and specials on PBS. How are these men then not deitified in the same way as say, Woden by Wodensday, or "Wednesday", as we have come to know it now?

Are not the Founding Fathers worshiped as demigods? They have holy icons. Benjimin Franklin watches us from the $20 bill. Lincon, reviered martered leader, watches over us from his mighty stone throne in Washington DC, while the sky scraping monument of our first president, general, prophet and demigod for whom our capitol city is named towers across the fairway.

Our tradidions, holidays, and icons will not let us forget these men. They are the gods of the pantheon of America. Men have throughout history dies for their God. And still, they will die for a flag, a cause, and an idea called America.

We can take the God out of religion, but we can't take religion out of man. If we don't have a God, we'll only make our own all over again, even if it is only ourselves.

4/27/01

The dream of fantasy and magic is ultimately that the world behaves in the same manner as our own dreams and imagination. When one muses of "magic returning to the world", what one wants is the ability to will something, take some action in order to being it into being that is more tailored towards describing the exact nature of the will than in constructing and following the natural laws required in order to bring it into being. We want for the world to be as conrollable as our imaginations, that the world becomes an extension of our imagination.

Isn't this then the final goal of our technology? With each advance, another function of the natural world comes under our command in the form of an abstracted command rather than the following of all steps required to manifest it. We throw a switch, the room fills with light. We think no further than that. More and more actions and abilities become abstracted as a simple set of commands as technology expands.

As technology improves and refines, it is the user interface that becomes more a part of us. When the interface has progressed to where we no longer think of it, it is a part of us. Do you think about every keystroke when you type, or do you only think of the words being sent? Through abstraction, action becomes a part of our own innate abilities through technology.

The natural progression of user interface is to eliminate it. The less interface requrired, the more the ability is a part of you. Throwing a switch, turning a wheel. The obvious end is to remove the interface entirely, leaving no physical separation between will and action. I desire, command, and am fulfilled. Action is no longer necessary, only will.

When our machines can read our thoughts, this will happen. One walks in to a room that is dark, and desires light. Lights come up. One no longer throws a switch. The final step is taken, and we have trancended to the mental world. I wish to be somewhere else. I am there. Teleportation, with mental command. Distance is conquered, and is now a part of us.

The trick then is to include everything to this level, so that all things, all actions, all functions are within our command. Technology expands laterally as well as virtically. When our power is such that we are able to do all things, then the world will indeed be as our fantasy. We shall live in enviroments dictated by our imagination, our only limits being eachother.

Hopefully, we will have learned to appriciate the games of conflict and challenge by then, that we are entertained and not destroyed by them.