Celyn

 

Artist Site: Celyn

The Search for Authenticity Begins Within

With recent events in Haiti, there is a tendency to see the collective behavior of its residents as a robust example of human nature. Here is one person's feeling on the matter:

It's during the worst trials and tribulations you see how human-beings REALLY are. That's when they reveal their REAL disgusting behavior. In times of good it's easy for everyone to be a good person. It's in times of hardship you find out the truth about humans.

I would like to address this sentiment.

First off, if my "real" self were present only during dire circumstances, I think I would prefer a shitty life because it would at least be true. Perhaps I would crave suffering for the sake of authenticity. Fortunately, I do not agree that the one who suffers most is any more real than the one in a comfortable lifestyle.

To play devil's subtle advocate, I do think the common truism to which I refer does have some merit, that its error lies only in it being poorly expressed. When people say that disaster brings out the real image of another, perhaps they wish to express the knowledge that a person can't be limited to present circumstance lest we dampen our ability to adapt to changes in others', or our own, behavior.

It is an awareness of the endless possibilities of behavior, recognizing that in the dynamic nature of personality, a shift in circumstance will result in a shift in behavior. Despite how the truism may sound when taken at face value, because it is indeed not the most semantically sound way of stating things, it does, however, also confirm that there is no fixed self. Or so it seems to me.

Also, there is a feeling directed within that detects a more basic self that exists beyond mere reactions. It is the source of creation rather than the reflection of the created, yet it is not the "doer" in consciousness at all. This, I think, can't be denied if you've actually experienced it.

This isn't to say that it actually is more authentic, or that it must be the singular method of self-definition, but various spiritual practices can make it apparent that it is entirely possible to enter the state of the observer, which can feel far more real than everyday tendencies to be fully engaged in a continuum of knee-jerk reactions.

Ultimately, however, this self is not separate and by its very nature it does include all other states as a mode of itself. It is always present, even if not the star of the show, so we are never any less or any more real than any other time.

But I want to acknowledge that sometimes we do feel more authentic, that sometimes we do feel as if we are going with or against the grain of what we intuit to be a healthy coexistence with our environment. The trick is to do what feels real without punishing yourself and alienating yourself from any manifestation of your being.

I enjoy meditating, through the observer, on all possible selves, including them all in the loving folds of self-identity. This means the good, the bad, and the fugly. I try to always show compassion, but I also know that I am capable of terrible things given the proper circumstance. And that would be real too. Like Sartre said, "existence precedes essence." Or as someone else said, "real is as real does."

Slug Sex, Make It Hurt

Skontog - VHShaman

Ohhhhhhhhhh yeaaaaahhhhhh, time to lay down some mo' funk. In today's struggling economy, how can you afford NOT to groove on the celestial howl?

Some more psychedelic mash-up stuff I've been doing:

http://phalaris.bluesphereweb.com/skontog/Skontog_-_VHShaman.rar

(This is the new link.)

I used only Cool Edit Pro 2 this time. Feels good. Call it an audiobiography of a schizophrenetic.

Hang On To Your Ego

Holy Mountain Low

Every Fool Thing

every hang-nail holy
every butt pimple holy
every wolf in the tea house
scratching at back door mind
scratching at black hole velvet intelligence within
every fool thing holy
every rainbow-hued ghost in blue moon trance
every black-nosed buddha of translucent breath
everything falling through cosmic gutters of night
behind pastoral screens beaming
droning freak enchantments
yep it's holy
every stoned reflection
every heart lulled
every sweet graceful shadow rhythm
everything in a ragged old universe holy
everything an open eye
everything harvesting zen from seeds of fire
every star banging bright tonight
holy holy holy
until the chao comes home
until the tao comes home
until ET phones home
until a monkey AUMs
like I said
it's all holy
every serpent string
in the ever-holy musick of the spheres
every clear mist of this fur-spotted body
every blossomed jewel on death's wilderness mask
every liquid invocation anchoring time
every beatific grind in blood and bone holy
every fool thing holy
because it is also wise
everyone I love you
because you are holy

.

there is a cat
lit up a cigarette
thought to himself
i'm not dead yet
there is a prayer
from which love returns
here i am now
a flower burned

Lost in the Sauce, Found in the Sound

i knew a man bojangles
he did the dance of creation for you
he smelled like hanuman
a vagabond beneath an arch of flames
mr. tambourine man
with his ever-changing rainbow
of weather-beaten mudras
brought the house down
like psychic children
we set fire to a straw hut
at the end of the universe
i find my way home

Shiva Shart Art

i was dripping muttering
doing pranayama naked
in a public shower
and i saw her there
a hare krishna in glitter jeans
"slut" was written on her shirt
a midday pagan heart
eclipsing the sun
luring young stars out to play
we humped under the table
at the feast of dreams
a senseless act
of ahimsa


she said she knew
why i was nude
a beggar
a butterfly
a chaos poet who
acts like he knows
while blue-skinned natives
writhe among the weird
i know you feed me visions
so i can stay awake
shedding snakeskin veils
of bewilderment
we humped under the table
at the feast of dreams
a senseless act
of ahimsa

Chakramon!

George Lucas a disciple of Crowley?

Author unknown.


Thelemic references in the Star Wars trilogy:

- Crowley was OHO of the Order of Oriental Templars (OTO) and Lucas'
original name for the Jedi Knights was the Jedi Templars.

- Crowley's secret name in the OTO was supposed to have been 'Phoenix'
and the symbol of the Rebel Alliance is a stylised phoenix.

- The windows in the Emperor's chambers at the climax of Return of the
Jedi spell 'OTO'.

- from the Book of the Law, dictated to Crowley: 'the obeah and the
wanga, the work of the wand and the work of the sword, these he shall
learn and teach.' Obeah = Obi. Wanga = Wan. Thus, Obi-Wan. And what
device is a wand one moment and a sword the next? A lightsaber, of
course; and the relevance of 'learn and teach' is obvious, since Obi-Wan
is the teacher.

- Vader's sabre is red, the colour of the sphere of Geburah, or
Severity: Obi-Wan's is blue, the colour of its opposing sphere, Chesed
or Mercy.

- Crowley makes references to 'the dwarf insane yet crafty' who is the
source of true Wisdom, obviously a reference to Yoda.

- The greatest ordeal in Crowley's A.'.A.'. system is the 'crossing of
the abyss'. One reaches the brink of a great gulf and must either
surrender everything one is and jump, or remain behind to become a
'black brother' or 'brother of the left hand path'. The 'crossing of the
abyss' is foreshadowed in A New Hope, at the point at which Luke and
Leia swing over the chasm, but is actually achieved in full in Empire
Strikes Back, at the climax of the film.

In the climax of Empire, Luke's right hand is severed at the wrist,
implying that he must take the left hand path and turn to the Dark Side,
i.e. become a 'black brother'. Faced with the choice of crossing the
Abyss or turning to the 'Left Hand Path', Luke chooses to jump, which is
the act that redeems him from a future of corruption.

- Luke is also the Horus figure, the avenger (as in Revenge of the Jedi,
the original title). In the climax of Empire, Vader (previously
identified with Set, the murderer of the father) is revealed to _be_ the
father, the dark Osiris - this being the same secret that was revealed
in the Egyptian Mysteries, namely that 'Osiris is a Black God!'

- The 'Black Brethren' are those who have 'shut themselves up', become
encased and closed off from the Universe, exactly as Vader is encased in
black armour. Their sphere on the Tree of Life is the false sphere
'da'ath', obviously the source for 'Darth'.

- Vader out of his armour proves to be a bald guy with an English
accent, uncannily reminiscent of Crowley.

Not convinced yet? Try this quote from one of Crowley's Holy Books, in
which a part of the Star Wars universe is mentioned BY NAME:

'... Thy messenger was more terrible than the Death-star.'

The messenger of the Emperor is of course Vader, who possesses (and
represents) a power far more terrible than the Death Star - the dark
side of the Force itself. As Vader himself reminds his fellow Imperials,
'The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of
the Force.'

You might recognise this scene, too...

'the chamber was corrupt; the air stank... He enveloped me with his
demon tentacles; yea, the eight fears took hold upon me.'

Garbage compactors, anyone? However, we all know what happened next:

'I slipped from the embrace as a stone from the sling of a boy of the
woodlands. I was smooth and hard as ivory; the horror gat no hold.'

Smooth and hard as ivory indeed, for Luke is wearing stormtrooper armour
in that scene.

Well, George? Been having a bit of the old do-what-thou-wilt, have we?

Was Elvis a Transhumanist?

Written By: R.U. Sirius

Date Published: January 11, 2010

On "Three Quarks Daily," Richard Eskow makes a semi-serious case that Elvis Presley was a proto-transhumanist.

"He shot televisions, too, when he didn't like what he saw. That makes him a pioneer in the world of media interactivity, if a slightly more violent one than those that would follow....

"Another trivia item: 'What career was Elvis planning to pursue before he made it big? Electrician.'

"Elvis Presley was a man so convinced of his own powers that late in his life, fueled to excess by pills and ambition, he insisted to his companions that he could move clouds with his mind. And what song was always played over the loudspeakers as late-period Elvis took the stage? 'Also sprach Zarathustra.'"

This deserves repeating: "He shot televisions, too, when he didn't like what he saw. That makes him a pioneer in the world of media interactivity..."

That pretty much covers it, right?

Sloganic

Lysergic acid hits the spot,
Forty billion neurons, that's a lot!

-Marshall McLuhan

A Ritual to Read to Each Other

By William Stafford. If you don't know the kind of person I am and I don't know the kind of person you are a pattern that others made may prevail in the world and following the wrong god home we may miss our star. For there is many a small betrayal in the mind, a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break sending with shouts the horrible errors of childhood storming out to play through the broken dyke. And as elephants parade holding each elephant's tail, but if one wanders the circus won't find the park, I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty to know what occurs but not recognize the fact. And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy, a remote important region in all who talk: though we could fool each other, we should consider— lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark. For it is important that awake people be awake, or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep; the signals we give—yes or no, or maybe— should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.

monk sees monkeys

we can not live with the monks
for our harps keep them up at night
our gift is fire from a dying ember
a flash between broken lines
feathering the trance
of 1,000 suns
we bemoan Saturn as it approaches
no shame whatsoever!
we are that planet spinning in ecstasy
we are furry hedonic priests
dancing in lush bulbous attention
in primordial soup kitchens nightly
we are so many ancestral visions
pressed to the lips of emptiness
we also fade away
no shame at all!
we are sincere as animals
even in the robes of monks
but we are not monks
for our harps keep us up at night
and our gift is a dying ember
given lovingly by fire

Pregaming 2012

Dichotomy's Lobotomy

1) Mutate
or
2) Migrate

Choose wisely.