Recently

Had a shitty start to the day. Got a lot better, as it went on. People came to visit me, at work, and there was an hours-long conversation ranging across everything from Goethe, to the nature and process of relationships, to John Dee, to the methodology of studying mysticism, to the fact that I had a pony when I was little, to a lot of other crap. Awesome conversations, and just what I needed to fix the crapsplosion that has been my past few days at work.

Still waiting on FTD to refund me the money they owe me, from when I tried to get my mother flowers for Mother's Day, and they added a $30 "service charge," for Saturday delivery. "Rush Delivery" you say? "The fee was $14, for Friday," I respond. Anyway, canceled the order, the same day, and the refund should have processed, by now, but hasn't. Called them, today, and now we wait. Again.

Currently re-reading: Seth Lloyd's Programming the Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes on the Cosmos, taking another stab at Michael Schneider's A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe, and reading Madhu Khanna's Yantra. I'm thinking thinky thougths about embodied, intentional quantum interfacing. We'll see how it goes.

Hey, is there anyone reading this who does Not have a LiveJournal account? Speak up, now.

Cheers.

Creating the Universe, Alchemy, Yog-Sothoth

I decided that this needed its own entry, as it was getting a bit long. Today, as I was re-reading my notes on A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe, i realised something about the Dyad-- or the embodiment of dualist nature-- as Schneider references it: In the study of sacred gemoteric symbolism, The Dyad is the awakening to Self and Otherness, in that, with the number Two (1+1) we have a counterpoint against which to define what we are not. The existential question being essentially reduced to "I am I, but what the hell is THAT thing?!" It is often represented by this image: the Vesica Piscis. In this, we begin, to count, and so Duality is also called "The Gate." It is the point at which we are made aware not just of otherness, but of the potentiality of Several Others.

But Duality is also known as "illusion," the mirage of separateness, in the face of wholeness. By enumerating the parts, we become ignorant of or blinded to the fact that they are all still components of a whole, existing within the universe. Though the Recognition and reassimilation of this fact-- that of Unity within and through diversity and/or multiplicity-- we come to the key to understanding and using all other forms and combination of number, or information. When we fully understand how the pieces interact and correspond to the whole, then we can recombine and manipulate those pieces, however we see fit.

What I realised, today, was that in the anime and manga Fullmetal Alchemist, the representation of what is refered to as "The Truth" is a set of rectangular doors, covered in the Kabbalistic Sephiroth ("Numbers"), which open up into a Gate, in which we find this: An Eye, in the shape of the Vesica Piscis. When in this gate, you are disolved into the all of reality, and you are shown the connections between everything that exists. This is the dissolution of illusion, through the gate of separation, the doors to which are designed and Numbered. When you enter the Gate, you Understand the Truth.

I made the following points in my last Dragon*Con presentation, but I would love to sit down with the creator of FMA, and just... talk. The amount of detail, the proper use of alchemical symbolism (Mustang's glove anyone? [12.27pm: The overlapping triangles signify the unity of the elements, but the upward-pointing or "Fire" point is paramount, with another upward pointing triangle on top of it; this then rests on the foundation of a Slamander. All of this is then encircled and crowned with a flame. This slchemical circle says "I Make Fire."]), the layering and interweaving of several different occult systems, it all speaks to a vast amount of research and study into thee fields, and a concerted effort to find their areas of intersection, and not only present them, but expound upon them.

And I respect the hell out of that.

Good night.

An Open Book

First a few Fiats ("fiat" is philosopher "Let it Be." I'm asking you to give me a few things, for the sake of argument): 1) That we have all read books, multiple times, finding something enw, relating to it in a new way, each time.

2) (This one may be tough) That the universe is, in many ways, deterministic. No matter how many times this universe were to play out, many things would be exactly the same.

3) There is a multiversal network of universes.

4) (This is the biggie) There are Creator Beings. Call them gods, or whatever.

Okay, we good? So, think about this: What if this universe is a book that other gods keep reading? What if we everything we do, every event in the universe, is a moment of narrative structure being observed and searched by someone or something, outside of the Network of our multiverse, outside of its context, and from which they learn, or derive entertainment? This would mean that, no matter how many times the universe ran-- however many times you read the book-- they might see the same things, but they might mean something entirely different to the observer. And so, other observer/creators make new universes, and they spin out structure and story, and other observer-creators (or other universes) watch and experience, and learn, over and over again, but each time they do, by the time the do again, they've experienced new things, so the universes mean something new, again... The overall theme is the same, but how it resonates, how we interpret it, changes.

So, today, I overcame my monetarily-based crankiness, and my urge to lay around and do nothing, and i wrote down this thought that came to me when i was getting into the shower. Also, I got my hair cut, today, and i exercised as soon as I woke up, this morning. So, all told, I think today'll be a really inspiring one, the next time someone reads this universe.