The Decline of the West

Flash! ...this just in from the Neon Dystopia Pop-Media website...

It seems you can actually measure America’s decline. According to the Social Progress Imperative, a US-based nonprofit group, the United States of America is a second-tier nation. Based on rankings in 50 different categories, the USA is lacking in social unity, civic progress, tolerance and inclusion and health and wellness. According to SPI executive, Micheal Green, the USA “is failing to address basic human needs, equip citizens to improve their quality of life, protect the environment, and provide an opportunity for everyone to make personal choices and reach their full potential.”

The Perils of Time Travel

Throughout the Tek-Gnostics writings, the ramification of being born as a sentient earthling human into a dualistic, material universe is a core physiological and philosophic thread. It is most often considered from a somewhat Buddhist perspective of navigating the trials and tribulations of being human and the mitigation of suffering. The following is taken from the Applied Tek-Gnostics Tantra, within our member’s sector…

“To occupy a sentient body in 3-dimentional space-time necessitates that Universe be dual in nature: Light/Dark, Yin/Yang, Observer/Observed, etc. It would not be possible to bask in the warmth of light without the contrast of the shadow of darkness. For earthlings, the interface between us and universe is our senses.” 

This perceived duality is our human heritage as conscious beings in the material world. From the physiological perspective, typified by circuits one through four within the Eight Brain Model of Consciousness, we navigate the world of flesh and bone… or to use William Gibson’s terminology from his cyberpunk classic: Neuromancer… “Meatspace” …by relying on our five senses for navigational coordinates and early warning systems. This steerage, of course, includes societal interaction: the reading of social cues, appropriate response, and integration within the human collective.

The material world has often-times been referred to as: the real world. Again, from the Applied Tek-Gnostics Tantra, within our member’s sector…

“To collectively understand what we perceive, we co-create a shared framework or consciousness "matrix" to suspend universe in. We choose to share this matrix so we can talk about it to one another and cooperate in what we have invented.” 

From the intuitive perspective, typified by circuits five through eight within the Eight Brain Model of Consciousness, we learn to navigate the subtler, non-ordinary realities or realms of consciousness such as the psychedelic, the psychic and the synchronistic. In so doing, we begin to develop and normalize what has been labeled the sixth sense… we traverse the paranormal and beyond. This process can be typified in the Jungian sense as integration… a return to the source or a journey back to oneness.

Meanwhile, back in meatspace… as the curious, the adventurous, the initiate… begin to explore the higher circuit realms, we look for esoteric systems or “Tantras” to assist us in these explorations. Within these systems, we look for specific techniques, practices or “Yogas” to help achieve or activate our higher circuits, thereby accessing higher realms. The highest (or eighth circuit) realm, is widely and multi-culturally described as a return to the source or the attainment of oneness.

This is the “Bodhi” that the great Intelligence Engineer, the Buddha… sought beneath the sacred fig (Ficus religiosa) or Bodhi Tree.

One such ancient and time-honored tool or technique utilized in activating Bodhi, in the return voyage to oneness, is described as… meditation. The history of meditation can be traced back at least 5,000 years (likely much further back), to when the calming effects of staring into flickering flames of the primordial campfire was first discovered by ancient humans. This discovery became a form of practice as early man sought to repeat the experience.

Emerging from this "first practice" ...several meditation techniques were developed and began to spread throughout Earth's early (known) civilizations. It can be argued that these early practices were the foundation of spirituality, as well as its "evil twin" ...religion. It should be noted here, that the Tek-Gnostics system views religion as a political institution, thereby making it suspect. We prefer the unmediated Gnostic analogy of the commune between Self and Universe, but I digress…

These meditation technologies were designed to promote mindfulness, develop clarity and invigorate internal energy or life force (chi or prana). These various techniques entrain the mind and body to be familiar with specific, beneficial brain-state modalities such as concentration, compassion, correct understanding, patience, humility, perseverance, etc. Meditation’s most ambitious form seeks to effortlessly sustain single-pointed and enthused concentration. Rather than to seek oblivion, or to "turn off" the world, meditation allows its practitioner (Intelligence Engineer, in Tek-Gnostics’ parlance) to enjoy a sustainable sense of well-being while being fully engaged in day-to-day activities.

The experience of a state of single-pointed and enthused concentration… is none-other than the proverbial “oneness” sought by the curious, the adventurous… the initiate.  

Per the trials and tribulations, the analogy that Tek-Gnostics employs to describe mental barriers to the meditative achievement of oneness is: Time Travel. In our preoccupation with meatspace… the material world… most of us spend most of our day thinking about the past or the future. We dwell upon regrets (illuminations come too late) of our past… what we could have done differently. Conversely, when we are not thinking about the past, we dwell upon our anticipation of the future, or what we plan to do in the next hour, the next day, the next week.

Thoughts of the past or future are, in essence, time travel. The time each of us spend each day in thinking about the past or future, demonstrates the extent of our ability to travel through time… no time machine necessary! Spending too much of our consciousness on such time travel can be perilous to our higher well being. The art of meditation allows us the benefit of “letting go” of thoughts pertaining to the past or future, and dwelling within the eternal now.

Strategically, from a circuit one through four perspective, a certain amount of time travel can have beneficial results. Reflection on past endeavors allows for the creation of more accurate forecasting strategies.  This human reflective and predictive capability has served us well from a survival standpoint.

From the intuitively strategic, circuit five through eight perspective, the ability to time travel triggers the law of diminishing returns. Time travel becomes less beneficial once survival needs are met. Moreover, time travel can be detrimental to the pursuit of higher human activity, especially for those seeking a return to the source… seeking access to the eternal now.

The dichotomy between past and future is an essential expression of duality. Like the proverbial yin/yang… the future does not exist without the past. And smack-dab in the middle… in the calm center of this duality… resides the human. A conceptual map or analogy might look like this: 

The imagined plane of space/time proceeds forward like a vast realm of potentialities, into the future. Likewise, the space/time grid of previous experience recedes into the past, diminishing as human memory fails. Collectively, the very contemplation of this realm creates the 3 dimensionality of space/time… the illusion of space to move around in, and the time it takes to do the moving. This illusion (maya) is the fabric or “Matrix” of the material universe. Sitting at the nexus point, the pivot between past and future is the contemplative human. 

By turning off time, by relinquishing time travel and dwelling in the eternal now… the contemplative human… the tekgnostic… the Intelligence Engineer… can fold the realms of space/time back upon him/herself, until nothing but the nexus remains. Letting go of thoughts of past or future, returns the experience of 3-dimensionality to the source. This is the resolution of duality and the return to oneness.   

The realm of the eternal now is coincidentally the realm of synchronicity. As the discerning reader of this blog knows, synchronicity is a-causal. It is not governed by space/time, but by meaning. Sitting cross-legged, at the crossroads of reality, the practiced intelligence engineer can take a break from time travel and experience the synchronous nature of a universe unencumbered by space/time.

And that, my friends… is when things begin to get interesting… for the abatement of time travel summons synchronicity.

In the previous post, entitled: The Buddha is in the Park… I suggested that this expression, coined by Philip K Dick, represents the power of the individual and the meditative development of a personal metaphysics. This personal metaphysics’ highest ambition seeks to effortlessly sustain single-pointed and enthused concentration, while being fully engaged within the natural world. In this sense, our beautiful Mother Earth IS the Park.

Again, the Intelligence Engineer’s intent is not to seek oblivion, or to "turn off" the world, but to harmoniously co-create with Mother Earth… with Universe. The etymology of the words Mother, Matrix and Matter stem from the same source Latin: mater. Therefore the concepts of the great feminine (Mother Earth) and the material world (Matrix) share a common etymological origin. The meditative mind is a return to the natural mind. The natural mind is not separate from nature, but rather a component of, or an element of nature.

The natural mind, dispensing with past or future, conspiring with Mother Nature, transcends duality while retaining physicality. Taking a break from time travel returns us to the nexus of the synchronous. It allows us to avoid the pitfalls… the perils of time travel.

Strangely enough, turning off time, enhances our ability to navigate time and space. The calm mental state, devoid of the dualistic preoccupation with the past or future, taps the creative, synchronous nature of oneness. This meditative practice rejuvenates, recharges and provides access to the wellspring of inspiration. Being recharged, the Intelligence Engineer returns to meatspace, to once again dance the cosmic dance with the ramification of being born as a sentient earthling human into a dualistic, material universe.

The Buddha is in the Park

The prolific science fiction writer Philip K. Dick has become a legend since his death in 1982 as one of the most important and insightful authors of the genre. Throughout his career, PKD pursued psychologically intriguing metaphysical narratives, which drew heavily from his interest in Gnosticism, mysticism, and theology. Arguably the granddaddy of the Cyberpunk genre, his plots were populated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments, alternate universes, and last but certainly not least, altered states of consciousness.

In 1974, PKD had multiple encounters and/or visionary experiences with an entity he called VALIS. This is an acronym for Vast Active Living Intelligence System. Dick had described VALIS as one node of an artificial satellite network originating from the star Sirius in the Canis Major constellation. According to Dick, the Earth satellite used "pink laser beams" to transfer information and project holograms on Earth and to facilitate communication between an extraterrestrial species and humanity. 

Additionally, and more profoundly, Dick's fevered vision of VALIS was that of one (manifest) aspect of God. From the revelatory events of 1974, until his death, PKD chronicled and explored his religious and visionary experiences in a journal he titled his Exegesis. PKD's wealth of knowledge on the subjects of philosophy, religion, and science enlightened the work throughout.

Since his untimely death, PKD's body of work has been a pop cultural wellspring. His 1962 novel: The Man in the High Castle …was arguably foundational in establishing the ALT History genre. PKDs works have especially influenced the motion picture industry. Beginning with Ridley Scott’s classic Bladerunner, which was released in 1982 (the very year of his death), many of PKD's works have been adapted for the silver screen. Although a couple of PKD inspired films were produced in the twentieth century, use of PKD material dramatically proliferated with the dawning of the new millennium. 

Perhaps the epoch-changing 911 event in NYC in the fall of 2001 transformed the planet’s pop cultural paradigm. Perhaps the dystopian themes of PKD became more pertinent, after the horrific attack on the World Trade Center and the ensuing War on Terror. Perhaps these are the tales that must be told, in our globally surveilled, Brave Noö Future.

Even with the box office success of PKD's film adaptations, a more profound and lasting influence on the zeitgeist has been his memetic idiom contributions. Most, if not all of these phrases were a product of his visionary experiences with the VALIS entity, which were subsequently chronicled in Exegesis. A classic example of this is the widely adopted use of the phrase: THE EMPIRE NEVER ENDED.

This phrase’s significance crosses many cultural boundaries, beyond mere science fiction. The overt meaning of the phrase refers to the Roman Empire. It implies that although the polyform or structures of Empire may change over time, its dark essence remains. The phrase’s use informs modern politics and political resistance (both right and left) such as the various Alt Right ideologies, as well as the Anonymous Collective.  It influences esotericism, the occult, and modern spiritualism… especially the New Age movement.

In a recent article concerning this phrase, author CJ Stone wrote… “The Empire is a psychological as well as a military state. It exists as a mental construct, as a psychopathic state of mind, as a system of control. It exists in all of us. All of us are infected with this thought-form virus.” Within this context, THE EMPIRE NEVER ENDED alluded to a system of control that PKD labeled: The BLACK IRON PRISON.

These two now-famous catchphrases embody darker aspects of PKD's prophetic vision. There were also within the Exegesis, positive memetic phrases that embodied the light. These often took on a redemptive aspect, such as the HEAD APOLLO, or the phrase: KING FELIX which refers to the happy or rightful King. 

One such phrase… one that acts as a counterbalance to the Black Iron Prison is the enigmatic idiom: “The Buddha is in the Park.” If the Black Iron Prison embodies the dark powers of repression… The Buddha is in the Park embodies the means of Escape from the Black Iron Prison. 

       

The word Buddha means “awakened one” or “enlightened one.” According to the Chinese Buddhist tradition, the title is literally translated as: “The Knowing One.” Interestingly, Buddha is also used as a title for the first awakened being in any of the four Yugas or Hindi epochs or eras.

(Note: Within Tek-Gnostics mythology, the Buddha represents the epitome of the: Intelligence Engineer… the apex or pinnacle of Intelligence Engineering.)

A means by which one attains Buddha-nature is through meditation. Meditation often involves the quieting of the mind’s preoccupation with the past or future (ie: time travel), and focusing on the great, present and eternal now. Meditation is broadly considered to be a practice of liberation. In our modern world, the vision of Buddha equates to the practice of meditation. That is, meditative practices are often symbolized with the use of a Buddha icon.

Now there are two elements or subjects within PKD's “the Buddha is in the Park” line. It includes the Buddha... embodying liberation through meditation, and a second subject: the Park... representing a safe, natural environment. So PKD's term: The Buddha is in the Park, also suggests a natural environment wherein it is safe to pursue meditative practice. In this regard, the Buddha is in the Park could also be rephrased as: The Buddha is in the natural world… Liberation of the human in balance with Mother Nature. 

In this day and age, it is too easy to ignore the natural world… after all, our twitter feed is calling! However, in these times it has never been more important to pay attention… to get in tune with… our natural environment. The ability to tune out the electronic… the digital... the virtual… is essential in reconnecting with Gaia. For the coming of the new paradigm equates to the re-emergence of the feminine energies… the great mother.

It has also never been so important to develop a personal meditative practice… to develop the ability to turn off the time travel of thinking about the future or past, and just be… to practice the art of: intelligence engineering.

The means by which we escape PKD's Black Iron Prison, is the liberation of the mind, in tune with Gaia... or, to use the Gnostic allegory, in tune with Sophia... the great feminine aspect of Divine knowledge. The Black Iron Prison represents the last vestiges of the old, patriarchal paradigm. The prophecy foretold in PKDs Exegesis as: "St Sophia is going to be born again" represents the rise of the new paradigm, the rise of the feminine... the great mother.

In contrasting PKD's two famous quotes... the Buddha is in the Park represents the power of the individual and meditative development of a personal metaphysics… in tune with nature. Conversly, and simply put, the Black Iron Prison is of course “the machine” to use Pink Floyd’s terminology.

In concluding… the time has come for us all to play an active, creative role in developing our own personal metaphysics… our own understanding of the nature of reality. This understanding is a conspiracy between each of us and Universe. If we don't develop our own metaphysics, our own mythology... we will be forced... by default... to rely on someone else's inferior mythology. No one knows your power better than you. Become an Intelligence Engineer. Develop the natural mind in nature. Become the Buddha in the Park, and witness the chains of the Black Iron Prison melt away.

- J ♥

Anonymous Origins - Ontological Anarchism

CHAOS NEVER DIED. Primordial uncarved block, sole worshipful monster, inert & spontaneous, more ultraviolet than any mythology (like the shadows before Babylon), the original undifferentiated oneness-of-being still radiates serene as the black pennants of Assassins, random & perpetually intoxicated. Chaos comes before all principles of order & entropy, it's neither a god nor a maggot, its idiotic desires encompass & define every possible choreography, all meaningless aethers & phlogistons: its masks are crystallizations of its own facelessness, like clouds.

Everything in nature is perfectly real including consciousness, there's absolutely nothing to worry about. Not only have the chains of the Law been broken, they never existed; demons never guarded the stars, the Empire never got started, Eros never grew a beard.

No, listen, what happened was this: they lied to you, sold you ideas of good & evil, gave you distrust of your body & shame for your prophethood of chaos, invented words of disgust for your molecular love, mesmerized you with inattention, bored you with civilization & all its usurious emotions.

There is no becoming, no revolution, no struggle, no path; already you're the monarch of your own skin–your inviolable freedom waits to be completed only by the love of other monarchs: a politics of dream, urgent as the blueness of sky.

To shed all the illusory rights & hesitations of history demands the economy of some legendary Stone Age–shamans not priests, bards not lords, hunters not police, gatherers of paleolithic laziness, gentle as blood, going naked for a sign or painted as birds, poised on the wave of explicit presence, the clockless nowever.

Agents of chaos cast burning glances at anything or anyone capable of bearing witness to their condition, their fever of lux et voluptas. I am awake only in what I love & desire to the point of terror–everything else is just shrouded furniture, quotidian anaesthesia, shit-for-brains, sub-reptilian ennui of totalitarian regimes, banal censorship & useless pain.

Avatars of chaos act as spies, saboteurs, criminals of amour fou, neither selfless nor selfish, accessible as children, mannered as barbarians, chafed with obsessions, unemployed, sensually deranged, wolfangels, mirrors for contemplation, eyes like flowers, pirates of all signs & meanings.

Here we are crawling the cracks between walls of church state school & factory, all the paranoid monoliths. Cut off from the tribe by feral nostalgia we tunnel after lost words, imaginary bombs.

The last possible deed is that which defines perception itself, an invisible golden cord that connects us: illegal dancing in the courthouse corridors. If I were to kiss you here they'd call it an act of terrorism–so let's take our pistols to bed & wake up the city at midnight like drunken bandits celebrating with a fusillade, the message of the taste of chaos.

POETIC TERRORISM

WEIRD DANCING IN ALL-NIGHT computer-banking lobbies. Unauthorized pyrotechnic displays. Land-art, earth-works as bizarre alien artifacts strewn in State Parks. Burglarize houses but instead of stealing, leave Poetic-Terrorist objects. Kidnap someone & make them happy. Pick someone at random & convince them they're the heir to an enormous, useless & amazing fortune–say 5000 square miles of Antarctica, or an aging circus elephant, or an orphanage in Bombay, or a collection of alchemical mss. Later they will come to realize that for a few moments they believed in something extraordinary, & will perhaps be driven as a result to seek out some more intense mode of existence.

Bolt up brass commemorative plaques in places (public or private) where you have experienced a revelation or had a particularly fulfilling sexual experience, etc.

Go naked for a sign.

Organize a strike in your school or workplace on the grounds that it does not satisfy your need for indolence & spiritual beauty.

Grafitti-art loaned some grace to ugly subways & rigid public monuments–PT-art can also be created for public places: poems scrawled in courthouse lavatories, small fetishes abandoned in parks & restaurants, xerox-art under windshield-wipers of parked cars, Big Character Slogans pasted on playground walls, anonymous letters mailed to random or chosen recipients (mail fraud), pirate radio transmissions, wet cement…

The audience reaction or aesthetic-shock produced by PT ought to be at least as strong as the emotion of terror– powerful disgust, sexual arousal, superstitious awe, sudden intuitive breakthrough, dada-esque angst–no matter whether the PT is aimed at one person or many, no matter whether it is “signed” or anonymous, if it does not change someone's life (aside from the artist) it fails.

PT is an act in a Theater of Cruelty which has no stage, no rows of seats, no tickets & no walls. In order to work at all, PT must categorically be divorced from all conventional structures for art consumption (galleries, publications, media). Even the guerilla Situationist tactics of street theater are perhaps too well known & expected now.

An exquisite seduction carried out not only in the cause of mutual satisfaction but also as a conscious act in a deliberately beautiful life–may be the ultimate PT. The PTerrorist behaves like a confidence-trickster whose aim is not money but CHANGE.

Don't do PT for other artists, do it for people who will not realize (at least for a few moments) that what you have done is art. Avoid recognizable art-categories, avoid politics, don't stick around to argue, don't be sentimental; be ruthless, take risks, vandalize only what must be defaced, do something children will remember all their lives–but don't be spontaneous unless the PT Muse has possessed you.

Dress up. Leave a false name. Be legendary. The best PT is against the law, but don't get caught. Art as crime; crime as art.

- Hakim Bey

Memorial

Many of you may have seen the news over the Memorial Day weekend, where two men were brutally slain when they tried to intervene as another man yelled hateful racial slurs at two young Muslim women…

On Friday, May 26, 2017, in Portland, Oregon, two people were killed and one was injured after a stabbing on a local metro train. The victims of the deadly stabbing attack are being hailed as heroes for intervening on behalf of two young women who were the apparent targets of the suspect’s anti-Muslim epithets.

Friday marked the start of Ramadan, a month-long fast observed by most of the world's 1.6 billion Muslims.

On Saturday, police identified the two men killed as Ricky John Best, age 53, who died at the scene; and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai Meche, 23, who died at the hospital.  “They were attacked because they did the right thing,” Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said Saturday. “Their actions were brave and selfless and should serve as an example and inspiration to us all. They are heroes.”

This one cuts to the bone for me, as the young man who died on the way to the hospital was a close friend of my first-born son. Taliesin… or as we knew him… Tilly… was in my son’s circle of friends growing up in Ashland, Oregon. Tilly was a member of an amazing Southern Oregon family that I would lovingly typify as a Great American Hippy Clan. 

Tilly was one of eleven or twelve (I lost count a couple of decades ago) kids, who are all brilliant. Hell, the whole family is brilliant. I say Great American Hippie Clan, as all of the members of Tilly’s sprawling family are talented, intelligent and loving… all of them. The whole clan is blessed with entrepreneurial, Yankee ingenuity… brilliance and creativity… warm, loving hearts and a deep environmental love of nature and mother earth.   

Tilly was no exception. He lived his life with integrity and grace. I remember one episode when the boys were in high school. One Saturday night, they were out in the woods, outside of town, attending an un-chaperoned celebratory activity, not uncommon for high-schoolers. One of the boys had clearly and seriously over-celebrated. It soon became clear that Tilly’s friend was in an over-dose emergency. Many of the kids panicked and fled the scene. Taliesin calmly called 911 and stayed with his unconscious friend, nursing him until the paramedics arrived.

You see, Tilly really was that hero being portrayed in the news. His whole short life was lived with integrity and compassion that was instilled in him, by a wonderfully loving family.

Now Tilly’s siblings and friends, mostly millennials, are discovering the harsh reality of lack of privacy in a 24/7 social media world. Their sorrow and grieving is being somewhat co-opted by those who wish to attach a political message to Tilly’s passing. What should be a time of remembrance is being played out on facebook, for the whole world to see. The cruel world intervenes in a time of mourning.

With that said… Taliesin’s bravery is a beacon of light, to be emulated in these dark times. He is the epitome of all that is right and good in this world.

I have always had a deep respect and high regard for Tilly and his clan. Each of them has demonstrated compassion for all creeds… all walks of life… the two legged, the four legged, the winged and those who crawl or swim. They have always defended all flora and fauna of our mother. It was Tilly’s sense of compassion and justice that compelled him to come to the two young girl’s assistance on Friday. He gave his last full measure defending decency, civility and justice in a world gone crazy.

Tilly will live in our hearts as a hero and great American Bodhisattva. 

When my time comes ‘round and I give up the ghost, I expect to see Tilly’s smiling face, holding open the gates... patiently waiting for the rest of us. Go in peace young Taliesin… may your passing inspire us all to greater compassion...

There is a road, no simple highway

Between the dawn and the dark of night

And if you go, no one may follow 

That path is for your steps alone

Ripple in still water

When there is no pebble tossed

Nor wind to blow 

You who choose to lead must follow

But if you fall, you fall alone

If you should stand, then who's to guide you?

If I knew the way, I would take you home.

- the Grateful Dead