Interstate Studs

Interstate Studs

Three of us there, in our early twenties, during the late nineties. Standing outside the roadhouse restaurant, shooting the shit by the doorway. Tanned and tired from our long weekend in the woods.

Then that good looking girl came; a stranger in our midst. And she says: "Hi!"

We three respond as one: "Well hello."

She smiles radiantly before going inside.

"Do you know her?" Michael asks.

"No," Rami replies.

"Oh. Guess we're just a bunch of interstate studs then," Michael muses.

We break out in loud laughter!

This is all the heaven anyone ought to need...

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Conative Causation

Conative Causation


Let's rewind to primary times
Returning and rooting out rhymes —

Chaotic patterns such as ours
Are sensitive to initial conditions.
Conclusions always allude
To their own origin story.

Anyway, as Aldous asked:
Where are we off to in a big hurry?
We're progressing toward what, exactly?
These questions bear repeating.

So quit your sanctimonious bleating.
Holier than thou? You wish bro!
Seriously though, you're mistaken;
Taken in by the miscellany of modernity.

This pagan priest will now hear your confession.
Consider yourself free from imaginary salvation
(An Ankh isn't an unwarranted concession),
But back to the basics poor pilgrim...

The Material Causes here may be many
While any Formal Cause = quite antithetical.
This piece's Efficient Cause is redefining language
But its Final Cause advances stanzas ¡[parenthetical]!

Image: Illustration of the Four Aristotelian Causes.

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Aliquid Stat Pro Aliquo

Aliquid Stat Pro Aliquo


Literal ontology is not what it used to be.
Why, there isn't even a text on this page
(at least not until an ideal or implied reader perks up)!

Indeed, postcolonial discourse is no more.
Constricted within these passages
This premature reading comes too close.

Forget any affective or intentional fallacy...
Such old criticisms may have applied to the Western Canon
But we're way past that now.

Insofar as The Sign is concerned
One must needs muster
The mastery of metonymy.

Ecce Signum
Arbitrary equivalence doesn't add up.
There's more than meets the eye to our inference.

Something stands for another?
Maybe so; yet what are 'things' in themselves?
You can't write about perception without referring to its percept!

Images: Two basic models of Semiosis according to A) Ferdinand de Saussure, and B) Charles Sanders Peirce.

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Ant-Ology

"Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise."  

~ Proverbs 6:6

Ant-Ology


Dali and Escher both depicted thee true.

Thy red brethren bore away the last of the Buendias.

Vedic scriptures equate ye with former Indras.

Thou art also mentioned in the canon of Buddha Dharma.

Aesop contrasted thine industriousness to the grasshopper's frivolousness.


Aldous' big brother Julian Huxley wrote the book on these.

Leiningen was hardly an even match for them.

H.G. Wells knew their empire all too well.

Every Emmet, is one, but doesn't know it.

They do go marching ten by ten—then the little one stops to announce: "The End!"

Images: Ant by M.C. Escher [1943] (top) & The Ants by Salvador Dali [1929] (bottom). Both tinted blue only herein.

---

For more on Ants, see: Formidable Formicidae.

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Keep It Occult

Occult (adj):
1. of or relating to magic, astrology, or any system claiming use or knowledge of secret or supernatural powers or agencies.
2. beyond the range of ordinary knowledge or understanding; mysterious.
3. secret; disclosed or communicated only to the initiated.
4. hidden from view.
5. not apparent on mere inspection but discoverable by experimentation.
of a nature not understood, as physical qualities or dealing with such qualities; experimental: occult science.

---

Keep It Occult


'twas first hidden for good reason:
the crude can ne'er comprehend
since they're too mean to achieve a higher end.

Secret societies and mystery schools
came about to escape persecution
from dogmatic decrees dealing execution.

—NOT FOR SALE—
Store-bought crystals won't provide insight;
they've been tainted by greed of neopagan parasite.

The religion of too many isn't worth a pretty penny.
Spirituality is a private affair with infinity
(don't dilute Deus with terrene toxicity).

Theurgy predates institutional clergy
millennia before any written memory.
Whittle away false ceremony like emery.

Let's take it back down underground.
Yes 'twas lost but now 'tis _____.
Hear here, comes high time to expound...

≋ Exclusivity ≈ be our righteous proclivity ~

Images: Angelic & Human Sigils.

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Fence Jumper

Fence Jumper


Refused to take a side.

But grass is always greener

Over there — and besides

Have sat too long at centre

Of the twister.


Snuck back and forth

Between both camps

To explore either extreme;

Biparty scout unwelcome

Wherever logic is lean.


Neither coterie can claim

To be totally correct:

They must agree to disagree

Out of begrudged respect.

Skip, skip, skip to our Lou all the same!

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Spectre of The Spectacle

"Understood in its totality, the spectacle is both the result and the project of the dominant mode of production. It is not a mere decoration added to the real world. It is the very heart of this real society’s unreality. In all of its particular manifestations — news, propaganda, advertising, entertainment — the spectacle represents the dominant model of life. It is the omnipresent affirmation of the choices that have already been made in the sphere of production and in the consumption implied by that production. In both form and content the spectacle serves as a total justification of the conditions and goals of the existing system. The spectacle also represents the constant presence of this justification since it monopolizes the majority of the time spent outside the production process."  

~ Guy Debord; The Society of The Spectacle (1.6)

---

Spectre of The Spectacle


It's a whale of a tale

And it swallows us whole:

Spewing up our worst parts

During low tide onto a shoal.


Lies give rise to a paradox

Lying patient in wait.

Eyes spy news from FOX

Gravitas loses weight.


Yet you follow like a flunky

Lackluster as any lackey.

Roll over boy, play dead;

Butter up our daily cred.


They just cut into your jam —

Protests now won't seal the dam.

So sick and tired of this gore ...

Not going to take it anymore!


Paraphrasing (for dummies):

In every time and place throughout human history, people have been beguiled by outward appearances. Despite how often our wise ones stress that "things aren't always as they seem", the point rarely sinks in under the surface.

Never has this been truer than at present (although this is also ever the case). There is an implicit assumption that if an authority figure says something on television or via Twitter then it can be taken at face value. A subconscious supposition held tacit by the ignorant but articulated by Debord: "What is good appears. What appears is good."

Such willful ignorance of academia, historical causes, science, statistics, etc. are at an all time high because the species is held in thrall by its own fanciful projections. Entire generations have been and continue being born into this mire of deception and delusion.

Few and far between are the earnest seekers who cross-reference and research multiple sources; not merely what they like or wish to hear. Fewer still are those who recognize that our memetic machinery requires nothing short of a thoroughgoing overhaul.

May tomorrow's youth succeed in overthrowing Mammon once and for all!

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Chaotic Neutrality

Chaotic Neutrality
 
Am within the world
But ain't of it . . .

So hey, whaddaya say
We let the chips fall
Wherever they may?

Roll the Icosahedron
Consistently
Inconsistent.

What Heidegger called
The "Thrownness of Dasein"
And Wittgenstein suggested
To "pass over in silence".

You can bet Plato's pharmacy
Along with its uppers and downers
That King Thamus is rolling in his crypt.

In this script, pretense at truth is indescript.
Slip through the chutes but climb the ladders.
Shuffle your deck; dealing out only what matters.

Few conjugations are gaudier
Than cellar door — painted azure!

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Pronounced Machiavellianism

Pronounced Machiavellianism

Swoons the pointy tip of dark triad;
Fell shadow side that alters one's arrow.

Amoral machinations might madden the mighty
Like an upstart principality that shirks legality.

For a Prince should rather be feared than revered.
Thus bend falsified truths, with unflinching impunity.

Dominance writes itself a blank cheque
From morally bankrupt foundations.

An invisible hand moves over the face
Of those whose eyes are always veiled.

Everything comes down to meaning nothing
Within such a bizarro scenario ...

REWIND & REWORD

Suggested Settings:

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Vulcan Vectors

Vulcan Vectors


There are those among us
Who argue logically while
Suppressing strong feelings.

Yet our choices in wording
Reflect underlying emotions;
Biases and prejudices seep out ...

Spilling between coded lines.
And everyone except the speaker
Catches on to that dishonest drift.

A speech is much more than the mere sum
Of its constituent clauses. True though
They may sound when professing one's point.

Anyone who takes all that's said at face value
Clearly lacks analytical skills and faculties
For critical thinking (what's unsaid matters too).

These are some reasons why Kolinahr makes sense;
Being rather similar to terrestrial Buddhist meditation —
Mindfulness is the key to temper one's temperament.

Otherwise the logical Vulcan mindset breaks down
Degenerating into "Romulan Ruling Passion".
The results of each approach are predictable:

Indulging in notions of an ego-driven honor system
Often leads to conflict with competing egoists
And cyclical violence has a tendency to set in.

Whereas logicians learn to adopt
Even measures of empathy
Vis-a-vis "Mind-Melds"!

Image: Evil Spock reads Bones McCoy's mind in the classic Star Trek episode 'Mirror Mirror'.

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Gematria

noun [guh-mey-tree-uh]: 

• a cabbalistic system of interpretation of the Scriptures by substituting for a particular word another word whose letters give the same numerical sum.

---

Gematria


Hard as one may try
The letters and numbers
Cannot always match up.

Even friends mark mistakes
Expecting perfection itself —
Yet lacunae are left to fill.

They'll forget your prose
But recall rhyming cons;
Experimental camera obscured!

There's a broad disconnect
Between what's meant
And what's mentioned.

Much as one may like
Misinterpreted intention
Precludes them catching up ...


Translations:

 i. Numerology and prosody may mix, but isn't it nice to wing it once in a while?

ii. Everybody's a critic. Since we can't please most readers to begin with, why worry?

iii. In general, people fixate on a single facet of any artist's career. Many have neither the time nor mental capacity to slog through some no-name's portfolio!

iv. Self-explanatory (don't play dumb now).

v. There will forever be delays in communication between messenger and recipient. This distance distinguishes an erudite forward scout from a tongue-tied rearguard ...

Image: Master Mandala of Solomon, The King.

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Grazie Giordano Bruno!

Grazie Giordano Bruno!

A billion thanks unto you

Saint of cosmic pluralists.

Here's to us heretics

Perceiving more than meets

The shameful naked eye.

We are those whom disbelieve

In the uniqueness of HERE

And say: "Away with thee

Telluric solipsism!"

Malaprop Mythos was

Used to wipe slates clean as

Any impressionable canvas.

Anthropocentric obsession

Became a dreary drag ...

Preconditioned Responses = Precalculated Reactions

Such blasé indignities
Will no longer be tolerated —

Arise from ancient ash
Invoked for our cause
This globe is awash.

We should get going
Somewhere else awaits
Let's sing: "Toward dawn
May this treader be drawn!"

Climb up Contemplation Rock
Peer through the thin veneer
Find our actual selves floating free
Among a multiverse of possibilities
Liberated from any worldly want!

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The Myth of Truth

The Myth of Truth

Read this writing off the wall:

Who knows the world after all?

Mirror-mirror, don't be false;

Who is fairest and sans faults?

We only presume to understand

What has been given second hand.

Doubt as an antidote against death.

In the flesh, thought defers to breath.

Pay attention please — 

Truth is, there is none!

{ Relative bypass configuration enabled.
System reset available upon passing.
Transcendence subsequence parsing.
Faith rendered obsolete by the Fabled. }

[ Inadequate designations — drop labels!

 Pandora's urn receives refill at our table.

Drain away idle deities with eager ease.

 Names without count amount to ONE! ]

  

Image: Epimetheus uncaps Pandora's Urn.

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Of Hearsay & Heresy

Of Hearsay & Heresy

- I -

Yeah, they'll say that he believed in this or that. Ah yes, his main influences were so and so — dropping names disrespectfully. No actual comprehension between their ears; in toto bookish learning. Scholars readily reject the sages and seers as shamanic tricksters, since those in academia rarely practice anything preached. Trained only to compartmentalize disassembled parts, Telos gets lost in translation. Deep distrust begets deeper misunderstandings; far below any original thought. But beyond such roman walls, we wild ones roam . . .


~ ≈ ~

Well you see, the thing is that not all the 'smarties' fit into corridors crammed with conditions. Nor is everyone driven by monetary ambitions. Some hear a clarion call or view amazing visions. They may fail at standard tests, yet surpass their Earthly missions. Nobody remembers our remarkable elisions. Paltry critics give no credit on omissions!

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IconoclasM

i·con·o·clasm — noun (contemporary meaning):

the action of attacking or assertively rejecting cherished beliefs and institutions or established values and practices.

---

IconoclasM

The Mold of Man is flawed

Tear it down, break it up

Ground to fine powder

Mixed in for new mortar

Remix it; reorder

Babble heard beyond border —

Spoiled child spares not rod

But refines style like a mod

Let's redefine what ain't broad

And bravely tread where we've not trod

Persevere, drain Grail cup

Raise our palaver LOUDER

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Time To Go META!

Time To Go META!

History is no mystery:
One day as if out of the blue
An unknown underdog
Ends up becoming Top Cat.

Decaying systems are overruled.
What once was thought essential
Surprisingly turns to drivel
And its reverse is christened Truth.

Plebs will believe what they're told
To believe by any ruling authority.
Although all rules have exceptions;
Autonomous rogues who fight uphill battles.

Whoa there massive ass mama,
Don't you know that it's time to go META?
No civilized institution is unaffected
If letters of policy are writ by a meddler.

Ruthless, a Stalker requires zero proof
Thus like an airborne ship he sails aloof.
Recapitulate lest you miss a cunning step;
Some tomes unread beyond campus roof.

A Magus in mastery will not show mercy.
When matter meets antimatter
They cancel one another out.
So be it (such clashes remain immaterial).

Speed bumps on the road to Authentic City —
Where only the coolest of Calicos frolic.
There we'll meet again fully splendored
And if providence permits, unbend each folded fender!

Image: Major Arcana, The Mage / Magician. See HERE for more.

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