Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Soul-Surfing On the Agitated Waves of the Day (11.17.11)


Now, on to Letter XII, Le Pendu, The Hanged Man. This, along with the Hermit, is a key archetype for Raccoons, as it speaks to the nonlocal habitat in which the Raccoon dwells, which is suspended roughly halfway between God and matter, give or take, i.e., the celestial and terrestrial planes.

UF says that this card "plunges us into the heart of the problem of the relationship between man and gravitation, and the conflicts that this relationship entails." Something analogous to gravity operates at all levels of the cosmos, both interior and exterior, from the solar system, to culture, to personal relationships, to the self, and even to mind parasites. In each case, there is an "attractive force" that draws subject and objects toward other subjects or objects, and also toward their own "center of gravity."

We are not so much interested in the attraction of objects as of subjects, for this is where the real mystery lies. For example, once you "locate" your true self, it will begin to attract the kinds of relationships and experiences it requires to grow. If you fail to live out of this "interior center," then no matter what happens to you in your life, it will be an incoherent stream of experiences with no possibility of synthesis into a higher unity.

Here again, this is why liberty is so critical to the articulation and development of the self. The self is something that pre-exists in the form of potential, but can only be known through experience. This implicit self must be free to choose the objects, relationships, and experiences it requires in order to "be." This is why one man's paradise can be another man's prison -- even a living death. This is why there can be no real spirituality in the absence of freedom, and in turn why leftism is intrinsically retrograde.

Vertically speaking, you might say that we live in the phase space between two great attractors, which I symbolize in the book as O and Ø. As such, there are two "final causes" that operate on us; you could even call them eros and thanatos, or love and death. The death-stream draws us down to the terminal moraine of our lower nature, which ultimately ends in death and dissolution. The life-stream pulls us in, up, and out, toward our nonlocal source above. Even the most cynical atheist cannot live -- not even for a moment -- without this life-stream, for it is what pulls him toward truth, or love, or meaning -- even toward his hatred of God! (since this hatred is rooted in a misguided love of truth).

UF agrees that "the domain of our freedom... shows the real and active presence of gravitation of a spiritual order." This is why people are attracted to God and religion to begin with, "for what is the phenomenon of religion if not the manifestation of spiritual gravitation towards God -- i.e., towards the centre of spiritual gravitation of the world?"

We cannot "see" gravity, any more than we can see the wind. However, we can obviously feel the effects of gravity and wind. On the interior plane, these effects are "subtle" but nevertheless clear, especially as one learns to "amplify" them and to live within this attractor space. It's as clear as "falling in love." No one had to teach me how to do that. I just went with the cosmic flow, straight into a brick wall... or was it an abyss? I suppose it was both.

But that was terrestrial love. Furthermore, it was a terrestrial love completely severed from its actual source, and fully located in the object of my affliction. Plus, it was thoroughly entangled with formidable mind parasites which also love in their fashion. Yes, as with everything else they use, they have to appropriate the love from elsewhere, but it feels real at the time.

Anyway, speaking of falling, UF situates mankind's fall within this space. I'm always trying to trancelight religious ideas into terms I can better grasp, and in this case, "there is nothing against the conception of the Fall of Adam as the passage from a spiritual gravitation system, whose centre is God, to a terrestrial gravitational system, whose centre is the serpent."

That's certainly how it feels to me. Don't you feel those twin pulls? And don't you remember as a child, the first awareness of the pull into darkness? I remember it distinctly. I think it repeats itself in different forms at different stages of life -- assuming you actually grow through different developmental stages beyond ego. Each stage has a central "temptation" that is an image of the first. In each case, we must choose the Light.

The Gospel designates the two attractors as "heaven" and "this world," or "the kingdom of God" and "the kingdom of the prince of this world." Or, we could again just call them O and Ø; or "slack" and "the conspiracy."

Likewise, this can be thought of as a sword that cuts mankind right down the middle, between the "children of this world" and "the children (or the sons) of light." Here again, standard issue cOOnvision allows us to know in an instant when we are in the presence of one or the other. It could not be more obvious, could it?

UF notes that there are actually three main categories, and I see that these correspond to the three gunas of Vedanta, which we won't get into. But there is the "carnal" (or vital) man who "lives in the grip of gravitation of 'this world' at the expense of the gravitation of 'heaven'; then there is the "psychic man" who "lives in equilibrium between the two fields"; then there is the spiritual or pneumatic man "who lives under the sway of the gravitation of 'heaven.'" One reason I no longer do psychotherapy is that I just can't deal with type #1. I don't even know where to begin. I have no interest in helping people better adapt to unreality -- which is what most people want.

Now, the Hanged Man "represents the condition of one in the life of whom gravitation from above has replaced that of below." In Raccoon terms, it is someone who has discovered his proper orientation, and sees the cosmos "inside out" and "upside down" relative to "the normals." In reality, we have merely reverted things to their proper place. And we are irresistibly attracted to the top.

There are numerous references to this in the Cosmobliteration section of the Coonifesto: no body crosses the phoenix line lest it be repossessed and amortized; reverse worldward descent and cross the bridge of darkness to the father shore; floating upstream along the ancient celestial trail, out from under the toilsome tablets of time; returning to the Oneself, borne again to the mysterious mamamatrix of our birthdeath; etc.

Well, I'm just about out of time. Lots of work to do. I'll leave you with this to ponder:

Now the words 'I am; do not be afraid' spoken by the one walking on the water amount to the statement: 'I am gravitation, and he who holds to me will never sink or be engulfed.... Thus there is another field of gravitation than that of death, and who unites himself with it can walk on water, i.e, transcend the agitated element of 'this world,' the electrical gravitational field of the serpent. --Meditations on the Tarot

44 comments:

Anonymous said...

walks in, looks around- What a mess!
Van, Skully, are these your bottles? jwm- there's ashes and bong water stains all over the place- Julie, is that you sleeping under the table? Pro Bush Canuck has a black eye, and Van's blaming himself, and even Nomo looks a little green around the gills. And hey, what's with the dog poop on the floor?

JWM

robinstarfish said...

Now, the Hanged Man "represents the condition of one in the life of whom gravitation from above has replaced that of below." In Raccoon terms, it is someone who has discovered his proper orientation, and sees the cosmos "inside out" and "upside down" relative to "the normals." In reality, we have merely reverted things to their proper place. And we are irresistibly attracted to the top.

Heh.

Anonymous said...

"The agitated waves of the day" are certainly a be-yotch. Backpaininfrontofthemonitormymateisbehavingsuspicouslyagainandthere'snothingtoeatintherefrigerator... Peace! My kingdom for peace!

How to shuffle off the mortal coil without forfeiting the game? AAAAARGGGGGGGHHHHHH.

NoMo said...

No Man

islands in the air
defy wind and gravity
topsy turvy world

So, what's new?

julie said...

Huh? Whuh??
No, no, I wasn't sleeping, really! I was, erm, meditating. Under the table. With a blanket over my head. You know, trying to improve my awareness. F'rinstance, right now I'm aware that the light is really, really bright. And it's making my brain hurt. But that's not the light's fault, it's mine, cuz I've been sitting here, under the table. And the blanket. With a pillow over my head.

So, yaknow, the nong is just an adaptive tool until my eyes get used to the brightness.

I'll try to keep the moaning to a minimum.

Anonymous said...

The gap between how I think things should be and what is---

There's the problem. It never stops.

Anonymous said...

robin starfish:
Master of tranquility.
Great video.
(no, that wasn't an attempt at a haiku)

JWM

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

I can't help notice the quality of many of the reactions to the election: They sound like people who have fallen in love.

With someone they don't even know? Therefore behold: The power of identity politics.

Van Harvey said...

JWM said "And hey, what's with the dog poop on the floor?"

Sorry, parties over and I'll help clea...
Bluto: Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
Otter: Germans?
Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.

Be of good cheer folks, now we get to chuck the baggage and start afresh!
(right after we clean up the dog poop, that is)

Anonymous said...

Coonifesto? I'm sure god loves it when you put down black people. You don't honestly believe Jesus was white do you?

Van Harvey said...

aninnymouse, thanks for reminding us that somethings never change.

Those stuck on stupid are just stuck on stupid.

robinstarfish said...

We lost a good one today. He knew which side was up.

julie said...

RIS, Michael.

Anonymous said...

"I can't help notice the quality of many of the reactions to the election: They sound like people who have fallen in love."

River, it's right there in the text of today's Bobservation:

"...a terrestrial love completely severed from its actual source, and fully located in the object of (their) affliction. Plus, it (is) thoroughly entangled with formidable mind parasites which also love in their fashion. Yes, as with everything else they use, they have to appropriate the love from elsewhere, but it feels real at the time."

Anybody else notice how the adoring Obots listening to The One giving his coronation speech last night got completely quiet when He pronounced they were going to have to sacrifice?

Whaaaat? No no, not us Master, peacebeuponyou, those others are to be your target.

Heh, one hour in & already a tinge of buyer's remorse kiddies?

Van Harvey said...

"The Gospel designates the two attractors as "heaven" and "this world," or "the kingdom of God" and "the kingdom of the prince of this world." Or, we could again just call them O and Ø; or "slack" and "the conspiracy."

Or Quality and Quantity. If you are drawn primarily towards quantities, then facts and things are what your life will contain. If you are primarily drawn towards Qualities, then Truth and Quality are what your life will be contained by.

"Likewise, this can be thought of as a sword that cuts mankind right down the middle, between the "children of this world" and "the children (or the sons) of light." "

Anonymous said...

Would Van like to elaborate or just use childish dribble?

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

How many trees in a forest?

Van Harvey said...

aninnymouse said "Would Van like to elaborate or just use childish dribble?"

Sure: "Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

Anonymous said...

http://www.christianworldviewnetwork.com/article.php?ArticleID=4140

Now, what does this actually mean?

Van Harvey said...

President Dmitri Medvedev orders missiles deployed in Europe as world hails Obama:
"President Dmitri Medvedev took advantage of the euphoria in America today to order the deployment of missiles inside Europe as a response to US plans for a missile defence shield. Speaking within hours of Barack Obama's election as the new US President, Mr Medvedev announced that Russia would base Iskander missiles in its Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad next to the border with Poland... An Iskander missile system will be deployed in the Kaliningrad region to neutralise if necessary the anti-ballistic missile system in Europe," Mr Medvedev said in his first state-of-the-nation address."

I could be wrong on this, but I get the feeling that not only the ruskies, but Pelosi, Reid the gliteratti and the rest of the world has the idea that Obama is a lefty lib in the tradition of other 'take my blood and ease my guilt' milque toasts like Kerry, Dukakis and Adlai Stevenson. I don't think they realize yet that he is more in the mold of the 'Get power at any cost and use it' mold of Saul Alinsky & Lenin.

It's gonna be quite a ride.

julie said...

11:50 anonymous,

Why don't you ask the author?

Anonymous said...

julie,

I was interested in analysis of it, particularly from the coons. She's made her particular feelings clear, but she's one person. Is she right? If she is right, is it wrong to shout it out to the world?

Van Harvey said...

aninnymouse said "I was interested in analysis of it..."

Then why don't you get your own blog and go analies it?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous,
Cynthia Dunbar doesn't even get her facts straight in that story. Neither McCain nor Obama were born in the continental 48 but both still qualify to become president as they are natural born US citizens. Its really more of a hissy fit at losing than anything to take seriously. Look at the source.

Anonymous said...

Van,
"particularly from the coons"

That's why.

Oh, I see -- I'm not the 11:33 Anonymous, Van. I'm just asking for opinion, I won't argue with you (or anyone else) in any way on it, and I won't quote-mine it elsewhere.

Van Harvey said...

Anonymous said “Oh, I see -- I'm not the 11:33 Anonymous”
In that case, I'd say that nobody, truck driver, programmer, politician, is above the law, and if someone breaks the law, they should be held accountable as provided for in the law.

That said, at first glance, it didn't really seem worth a second glance.

He has been elected our 44th President. I will oppose him on probably every issue and idea he proposes, because from what I can see economically and constitutionally, he is fundamentally opposed to the ideas America was founded upon, and the Constitution our Gov't is derived from, but I'll do that based upon those ideas, not thin technicalities.

(Psst... please use a nic so we don't get you confused with the ninnies)

walt said...

Bob,

You described Letter XII as "a key archetype for Raccoons, as it speaks to the nonlocal habitat in which the Raccoon dwells..."

Oh ... big time!

The image of the hanging man shows how I "feel" within myself as I move amidst my fellowmen. If I was a different sort, it would trouble me, and I would wonder if perhaps I need psychotherapy.

Lucky me: the Doctor is in, almost daily!

A Commenter here recently mentioned The Hanged Man, and I re-viewed the whole chapter. But your comments opened up lots that I had overlooked by myself. Specifically, the movement between poles, of ascent and descent, above<---->below, is beginning to feel very alive, very organic, i.e. beyond theory. And I'm spotting it in many, many forms and places.

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

"(Psst... please use a nic so we don't get you confused with the ninnies)"

How to use a nic:
1) click Name/URL below comment box
2) type nic in name box

mushroom said...

I have no interest in helping people better adapt to unreality -- which is what most people want.

Doc: Did you know you have a big, filthy monkey on your back? -- Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Patient: He does get a little out of control at times, and he's getting lots heavier, but he's my monkey. I just want you to help me train him to keep quiet at social gatherings.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Ugh. Who spiked my grog with scotch? Actually, I think it was grain alcohol, which isn't too bad after the fifth one.

You know, in a sense, it is kinda liberating to be part of the rebel faction.
Sure, the empire is big and top heavy, but they really aren't very bright.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

RIP, Dr. Crichton.
I'm sure gonna miss him.

Anonymous said...

When do I get a blaster?

Anonymous said...

To the other anonymous’s: Give it up. Van’s primary reason for living (besides the obvious self-reinforcing mental masturbation) is to defend this blog from the anonymous commenter. Viva la Van! Anyways:

4. Jews will no longer run the world.

Wrong! One Jew, (Rahm Emanuel) will assist in ruling the world.

Anonymous said...

Isn't cleaning up the dog-poop part of chucking out the baggage, or does this crowd consider the cleaning part of the joyous meditation on the wonders of P-Dog?

You're right, they act as if fallen in love. But not the kind of love written about by trubadors and poets. No, it's a love that as Boyd Rice wrote "a love that says relinquishes judgement, a love that encourages acceptance at the expense of discernment".

I especially love how for the past year everything conservative has been associated with Nazism and fascism, yet these same people screaming those words have failed to see the cult of personality they have fallen for.

So, where can I get my doctorate in cult de-programming?

Aloysius said...

Well mercifully the military isn't under the control of the Left but expect them to try soon enough.

I think it is time to get an account on Kos and HuffPo so I can say Hope and Change every time they complain about Obama's non-delivery.

Van Harvey said...

aninnymouse said "Van’s primary reason for living (besides the obvious self-reinforcing mental masturbation) is to defend this blog from the anonymous commenter"

Oh, no need to try to make yourself seem more important that you are... though it might be kinda cool if you were that useful... but no, more like an idle amusement, like kicking a rusty can off the sidewalk. Kinda cool to see if you can get a good spin on it... but that's about it. Anymore thought than that, and I'd have to start considering what it's like to have a mind that would actually think of such things, and that's just too depressing.

Yech.

(Kick... spinnnn!) cool.

Anonymous said...

Just looking out for ya, my man.

Better you’re here every night, than some miswired Van bomb takes out a trailer park the day before the incoherent overly-lengthy “Obama’s A Traitor” screed arrives at the federal building, eh?

Now how about that Chief of Staff selection, anyone? Is Obama just being a shrewd politician or is he serious about this guy? Or am I disrupting the dog-poop soul-surfing?

Van Harvey said...

aninnymouse said "...ow about that Chief of Staff selection, anyone? Is Obama just being a shre..."

Out of morbid curiosity... why would you want the thoughts you think, in your head, and why would you think anyone here would be interested in them?

Sad. Fascinating... but sad.

Anonymous said...

You made it clear long ago, Dale Carnegie: yours are the only thoughts that count around here, so those are the ones I want.

Viva la Van!

Anonymous said...

Once again, I re-iterate:
RESISTANCE IS FUTILE

but also remember:
"In defeat, defiance"
Winston Churchill

Anonymous said...

As if on cue for this post, the Lizard mask drops entirely....
"This argument makes sense to us, and we’ve been holding forth in our comments on this very topic. If the GOP decides to go in the Bobby Jindal direction (fundamental Christianity, creationism, hard-line anti-abortionism, aggressively anti-gay rights), it will be committing political suicide. As much as anything else, this election was a referendum on the social conservative agenda, and the social conservatives did not win."
LGF - Should GOP Double Down on Social Conservatism

What is with the plural "This makes sense to us"?

Is he referring to his mind parasites?

Niggardly Phil said...

Him and the driver?

"The royal we, man, the editorial..."

Anonymous said...

What's funny is this Van guy probably actually thinks the words he is typing mean something. Incoherent over-lengthy screed is right. Now here for the (un)witty comeback:

julie said...

Phil, I was thinking the exact same thing :)

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