Hanging Around the Center of the Cosmos (11.18.11)

There is a key point on page 314 of MOTT, where UF discusses the difference between terrestrial and celestial gravitation: the former is centripetal and enfolds, while the latter is centrifugal and radiates. Perhaps a better way of saying it is that terrestrial gravitation hardens, compacts, and and deadens, while celestial gravitation liquifies, disperses, and sows.

Think of all the forms of gravitation that "hold people together." This is not metaphorical language, but literal, both individually and collectively. In fact, the word "religion" comes from the latin religare, "to bind." Religion in its lower sense becomes quite terrestrial, most notably in the Islamic world, where people are bound and compacted together in a common prison. Conversely, ideology can mimic religion in its higher sense, so that people can be bound together by a spirit of faux radiation -- the veneration of our moonbat messiah being a fine example. After all, he's only president of the government, not the nation; the nation is where we actually live, not the government (unless you're waiting in line at the post office or DMV).

On an individual basis, it's always a good idea to explore one's center of gravity. When we talk about "values," about the culture war, about political parties, we're really talking about very different centers of gravity. For example, for the leftist, the center of gravity is the compacted collective, or state; for the conservative liberal, it is the radiant individual. In fact, for the leftist -- since he is fully terrestrial -- his center of gravity is often politics, period.

This is why the left can always muster more raw political energy than the opposition, since it is their life. They're just going with the flow, whereas for the rest of us, politics is a distasteful distraction that we mainly engage in to prevent the left from destroying the country. To paraphrase Eliot, we have no hope of actually prevailing, only of perhaps recapturing and holding a little ground and then passing it on to the next generation.

Another danger of politics is that it tends to organize people around their hates. As a result, their center of gravity becomes that which they hate. Yesterday I was checking out some of the prominent left wing sites, and sure enough, they cannot let go of their hatred and bitterness. Most of the conservative sites were gracious and conciliatory in their reaction to the election, while the left just "can't let it go," so to speak. How could they? That astonishing level of irrational hatred is not going to just vanish into thin air. That's not how the mind works.

Again, this hatred -- or death instinct -- is their center of gravity. I caught a few moments of Bill Maher on Larry King last night. He was as bitter and snarling as ever. Does anyone imagine that a mere election could ever shift Maher's psychic poles, so that he is not a hardened homunculus of hatred? Truly, if he were to give up his resentment, he would no longer exist. It's what makes him feel alive -- not to mention superior to others (for infantile hatred partakes of omnipotence).

Yes, moonbat, I know what you're thinking. How is this any different from how Bob treats the left? One difference is that you are here. Why are you here, anyway? To help change your center of gravity toward O? Or simply to use me as a focus for your hatred and stupidity?

When evaluating a patient, it really comes down to identifying their center of gravity. Most any mental illness results from a false or relative center of gravity. What is a fetish? An obsession? A compulsion? A fixation? A phobia? A depression? Paranoia? Each of these serves to organize the mind around a false center, which limits intelligence and falsifies being. They cannot "radiate," only focus. Or, if they do radiate, it is in a diffuse and chaotic manner, certainly not toward the nonlocal attractor, O. Their psychic content just spills all over the place, like a toxic dump.

Why is a great artist great? Because his words, images, or music come from a deeper or higher center of gravity that helps reveal and deepen yours. The great mystery is how this center can be communicated with very simple language or just a few notes. A great jazz musician will communicate more with just his tone than a mediocre musician with thousands of notes.

My center of gravity is O, which in turn radiates to my family, friends and readers. In turn, I do not wish to be anyone's center of gravity, but rather, help them locate and amplify theirs. You shouldn't be looking at me, but through me.

In reality, what binds you and I is the mysterious third which we are looking at together. Even if perhaps I see it a little more clearly than some neocoons, you nevertheless don't stare at my finger, now do you? No, you try to focus upon what I am pointing at. Eventually it comes into view. You already sense it, or you wouldn't be here. It's just a matter of perfecting your senses.

Conversely, I can only assume that our scientistic jester keeps coming back because he wants us to see what he sees, and to share his center of gravity, which is dense matter. Don't worry, we see it. But again, we look through and beyond it, to what it is pointing at. In short, for us, matter is legible, like the page of a book. When we read we do not stare at the letters, but look through them to the meaning. I suppose one could argue that the "center" of MOTT is page 335, being that the book contains 670 pages. But in reality, its center is O, which is present on every page.

The Hanged Man "lives under the state of celestial gravitation," which is why he is both suspended and upside down. As UF writes, "the soul is suspended between heaven and earth." It is outside the world because it is inside O. This is "the zero point between the fields of terrestrial and celestial gravitation."

And to say that we are "upside down" means that for us, the "solid ground" is located above, while the realm below is an airy abstraction -- this is the abstract world of the scientistic atheist. Perhaps this is the reason why so many infertile eggheads are materialists, since materialism is purely "head knowledge," and just a shadowy caricature of the real thing.

In contrast, in our upside down state, knowledge follows will, which is to say faith. I'm starting to run out of time here, but I once knew a man who "fell in love with O." As his love deepened, so too did his faith. And as his faith in the unseen deepened, so too did his Obedience. Soon his feet "walked in O." And as his Obedience deepened, his head and heart followed his feet. Now he walks in a cloud of radiant unknowing, calmly placing one foot in front of the other.