I enjoy applying the models of self-organization, emergence, autopoiesis, systems theory, dissipative & replicative structures to social organization. It seems that a sense of humor helps to interpret data at this scale! Perhaps this is for the same reason that I believe that mature societies have a forum for questioning their fundamental characteristics (such as the archetypal trickster figure, like a classic court jester... or a modern analogue, like Jon Stewart & The Daily Show)

There is a great irony in the way that traditionally/historically, most cultures have encouraged ethnocentrism to some degree (one might wonder how much this relates to the human organism's tendency to desire a "local vertical"); and yet, biodiversity is beneficial for us to survive & evolve... in fact, I would venture to say that as a general rule, questioning the orthodoxy makes for a more robust system!

I entered international when the last US Census asked me to state my ethnicity. I wonder what it will take for a majority of people to make a similar cosmopolitan choice?

Please bear with me while I contemplate at great length how such esoteric goals can be synthesized with exoteric processes...

( :::Mitakuye Oyasin::: )

There is an ancient parable about how people can achieve enlightenment all by themselves; but they can probably get there quicker (and possibly go even further) if they heed the wisdom of those who have traveled the path before them!

As I am often wont to say: if you truly believe that you can fly... please just start trying to fly from the ground first, before you go and jump off of a building (or into an abyss), ok?!!!

--

If you would like to learn to fly together with me... I would like to find a mutually convenient time & place that we can collaborate in the creation of worlds by taking turns with storytelling!

In fact, if you would like to assist in the creation of an Alternate Reality Game along these lines, I am extremely excited about using Austin Time Exchange to reciprocate for programming hours... time banking seems to me like an excellent step towards creating what Jacque Fresco refers to as a resource-based economy!

And in the meantime, if you &/or anyone you know has $550K that you're not sure what to do with, I would highly recommend investment in the purchase of this research center (where I would happily work as the property manager ;-), which was the incubation site for The Venus Project (which will now be moving to Ecuador to establish a "Museum of the Future"):

21+ acre park-like paradise, lush landscaping consisting of many ponds, lakes, hundreds of palm trees, various fruit and flowering trees, many large old, oak trees, two bridges and a large deck cantilevered over a lake.

Ten buildings; hurricane resistant, fire resistant, termite resistant, concrete and steel buildings, 5 are domes, 3 homes, 1 office, 2 equipped shops, very large spa, 4 wells, 3 septic tanks.

I love my friends...
We are an ecclectic bunch!
Even if not everyone agrees with everyone else.
I trust that we will still be able to agree to disagree & manage to find ways to enjoy one anothers' company, still?!!!
Many of my friends don't even know each other, but when they post in their journals...
( my brain takes this sometimes radically disparate data & attempts to compare & contrast all of the information in order to understand what's really happening! )

oh, and if you're in doubt as to whether or not you should click on the lj-cut, here's a brief list of some of the tags for this entry:
Declaration of Independence, irony, American Revolution, Keith Olbermann, Leviathan, journalism, Bush, Cheney, Rove, accountablility, John Wayne, Nixon, escape, prosecution, crime, Ford, vitriol, criticism, blame, lawyers, greed, finance capitalists, corporate stockholders, news, media, biting the hand that feeds them, paradigm shift, sovereignty, independence, Desovereignization, globalization, internet, communications, trade, supra-national corporations, Constantinople, Istanbul, Edward Gibbon, mercenary army, It cannot happen here, corporate armies, private security corporations, Transnational Gangs, Blackwater, cyberpunk, transhumanism, technology, singularity, ganesha, obstacle, individual, collective, short term, long term, goal, method, game theory, evolution, cooperation, win-win

many online sources, including ex Lilitu, refer to Saint Augustine's words about this passage as: "AMA ET FAC QUOD VIS"

although wikiquote' provides an unmodified citation, from the author Aurelius Augustine (St. Augustine of Hippo)'s Epistulam Ioannis ad Parthos, Tractatus VII, 8...
the original Latin is: "DILIGE ET QUOD VIS FAC"

and from the 1966 publication, Situation Ethics: The New Morality By Joseph F. Fletcher:
"Augustine was right again, as situationists see it, to reduce the whole Christian ethic to the single maxim, Dilige et quod vis fac (Love with care and then what you will, do). It was not by the way, Ama et fac quod vis (Love with desire and then do what you please)! It was not antinomianism."

not meaning to get distracted by quibbling about lingustic deatils,
i have always appreciated the simplicity of this message, which has also been translated as:
"Love, and do what thou wilt" or "Love, and do as ye will!"

St. Augustine originally penned it as part of a commentary on I John 4:4-12 ... but, I Corinthians 13 may also come to mind.

also q.v. my post concerning other versions of this sentiment by François Rabelais & other Antecedents of Thelema

( William James had some sobering words to say about this ideal... )

during the mojo meeting last night, i reflected upon the irony of how i was more involved with the infrastructure of flipside this year than i have been before, and yet i felt more isolated than ever: some of it was the vulgar isolation of being seperated from those i love, and at other times it was the profound isolation that comes from recognition of the autonomy of self-preservation.

apparently, my experiences @ flipside were just foreshadowing...

As usual, the DaFT crew has been @ the Warehouse all weekend long, swearing, sweating & bleeding to finish the Effigy. Thanks to all o' y'all who have showed up to offer us support, in any way! Many of us were there all day & all night... some of us have been rather ill, but we have been there anyway, 'cause we're committed (or perhaps we should be, anyway?)!

During Twilight on Saturday morning, sometime after finishing a stencil of the veve for Ayizan Velekete, a Loa with aspects of healing, commerce, & initiation:

inspiration came to me in my feverish dreams, concerning some of the archetypes that will be present at the Effigy, this year!

Out of these revelations, Eight Flash Mob scenarios have been added to the Effigy Art schedule... one for each of the Trigrams (BaGua) of the I Ching:

*PIRATES & CREATURES OF THE DEEP (BaGua: Open) Hosted by Jesus & The Kraken
*MIMES & MOUSTACHES (Bagua: Receptive/Field) Hosted by Salvador Dali & Mae West
*SHAMANS & FURRIES (Bagua: Radiance) Hosted by Florence Nightengale & The Sasquatch
*SUPERHEROES & CLOWNS (Bagua: Creative/Force) Hosted by Rosie The Riveter & Carmen Miranda
*ZOMBIES & CORPORATE EXECUTIVES (Bagua: Thunder) Hosted by Elvis & Cleopatra
*ALIENS & ROBOTS (BaGua: Wind) Hosted by Santa Claus & Valentine Michael Smith
*NINJAS vs. HIPPIES (BaGua: The Abysmal) Hosted by Guatama Buddha vs. Hassan I. Sabbah
*MARTINIS & LAB COATS (BaGua: Bound) Hosted by Hunter S. Thompson & W.S. Burroughs

If you would like to support any of these Flash Mob Scenarios with audio or video files, please bring your files to the Effigy itself directly during Flipside (If you would like to support any of these Flash Mob Scenarios with audio or video files (any format will work: .avi, .mpg, .mov, .mp3, .wav, .jpg, .gif, cd, dvd, vhs, etc.). It would be an appreciated devotion of your artistic talent, if you brought your files sorted into eight folders: each folder named after the eight Flash Mobs, which are in based on a seperate Trigram (BaGua) of the I Ching. You can bring them on portable flash memory, laptop, ipods, cds & dvds, or whatever! You can even email them to <aethyrflux -at- gmail -dot- com>... keep up The Great Work & we are eagerly looking forward to Playing With You @ the Effigy!


( These are meant as suggestions, not to limit the ways in which people explore interactive art @ the Effigy; but as arbitrary points from which to begin improvising upon familiar themes: )

Funny how synchronicity works, sometimes... the Full moon during the festival of Imbolc!
(I previously addressed Imbloc, and related harbingers of Spring in the post entitled: Hope for the flowers?)

In the interest of "exceeding by delicacy," I have been making an effort to communicate with people one-on-one more often, in the interest of understanding their language better. That way, I can at least conduct my part of our relationship with more consideration for their feelings. I have found that this is often difficult to do online, even though electronic text is such a temptingly efficient means of communicating with many people at one time. It's so difficult to explain the complexities of of our interpersonal relationships to each other in person, much less to the whole world through a digital interface.

May I take a moment to say that, although I trust the counsel of many of my close friends & esteemed colleagues, I do not think that there is anyone who cannot also benefit from consultation with unbiased professional counsel (physicians, lawyers, psychiatrists, stock brokers, teachers, therapists, engineers, religious officiants, accountants, private investigators, librarians, etc.). Obviously, I am not suggesting that anyone should depend solely upon professional counsel; but I do believe that you can get what you pay for, if you are careful. And of course, just b/c someone has a degree & experience in a field certainly does not make them flawless; but it does afford you with at least a slightly higher probability that their opinion is going to be more useful than the average schlub.

I have really appreciated my recent participation in counseling with Bob McGarey, M.A. @ The Human Potential Center. His Poly Communication Survival Kit focusses on five basic communication techniques which are generally useful in any realtionship (poly, or otherwise). I also really enjoyed the Intro to Communication Speech class I fianlly took @ ACC, recently. My professor, Dr. Lyn Colangelo, is totally awesome & she has great outlines of basic communication concepts on her webpage. Also, "The Usual Error" workshops are another inexhaustible local resource that I have enjoyed every single time i have participated! I'm sure that y'all have noticed by now that some people have really different ideas of how to love one another (even the xtians are starting to figure that out). Lack of direct communication was the inspiration behind the creation of areopagus; but more recently, I have been contemplating how to design a community that encourages Rogerian communication. The mojo_meeting was an excellent example of how awesome a gathering can be when people excercise the sort of basic communication skills that kids learn in kindegarten, like: taking turns, & how to share, in general. When people practice this kind of communication, they are often able to develop more understanding, sympathy & respect for each other. I look forward to exploring these, and other evolving & productive modes of communication out at Burning Flipside this year, facilitating the planning of events around the effigy, and developing Alternate Reality Games to play with The Crystal Ball.

This post is macrocosmic, in that it was cobbled together from various microcosms... some of which I have posted elsewhere recently; but all of these microcosms in some way reflect each other, as well as the whole macrocosm: As above, so below.

Walking along a beach, I encountered a girl picking up starfish stranded on the beach. She was throwing them, one by one, back into the ocean.
"There is a time and place for individual acts of kindness," I told her, "but this isn't it. There are thousands of starfish on this beach alone. Are you going to come back every day? What about all the other beaches? What difference can you possibly make?"

She replied, "It will make a difference to the hundreds of mussels each of these starfish will eat in its lifetime."

"So," I interrupted, "each starfish is just a Pisaster(1) waiting to happen?"

"You could think of it that way," she continued, "but according to this recent article in Science(2), 'Paine's classic experiments in Washington state demonstrated that without predation on mussels by Pisaster, a diverse assemblage of low intertidal algae and invertebrates shifted to a monoculture of the competitively dominant mussel M. californianus'."

"Isn't the role of biodiversity in ecosystem function still controversial?(3)" I asked.

"Yes," she agreed, "but I like biodiversity."

"So do I," I said.


(1) apparently... an attempted pun, substituting the starfish genus "Pisaster" for the word "disaster"
(2) E. Sanford (1999) "Regulation of keystone predation by small changes in ocean temperature" Science 283:2095.
(3) Huston et al. (2000) "No consistent effect of plant diversity on productivity" Science 289:1255a;
Grime (1997) "Biodiversity and ecosystem function: the debate deepens" Science 277:1260;
Goodman (1975) "The theory of diversity-stability relationships in ecology" Quarterly Review of Biology 50:237

(thanks to R. Ford Denison, Professor and Crop Ecologist, UC Davis for this enlightening piece of satire)

--

and for those of you who are unfamiliar with the original story by Loren Eiseley...

It's true that i often cater to the preferences and motivational needs of my audience. It's a chamaeleon-like nature, i suppose; but not intended to be manipulative. It's just that i simply want to make my communications more palatable to people's particular individual tastes, if possible. There are no upper-case letters in truth, fact, or reality... those tendencies people have to capitalize such things are probably left-overs from mono-theism, which we can usually do without. So, whatever facets that we happen to be discussing at any given time, i realize that the map is not the territory. trans_simian & i were talking about ethics last night, and i certainly don't want to have any hidden agendas -- i just don't want to waste anyone's time bothering them with information they're not interested in hearing.

Today, i see that many people are unsurprisingly talking about similar issues related to truth... m7superstar talks about closure in a manner that is dear to my heart... and hanzatsu talks about extreme honesty, & truth vs. facts

If i have used the bull in the china shop method of radical honesty method previously (q.v. my crude but effective radical honesty experiment, areopagus... or my post on how people are annoyed with my utilization of game theory), i am attempting to utilize more tact at this juncture (damn, those geek social fallacies of mine!)... Although i recognize that triangles are difficult structures for many people to manage, i'm not entirely certain that my current tactic utilizing one-on-one dialogue suits my nature, or the interests of my community; but my intention is to be considerate. Public silence has just always reminded me of Victorian/Puritan conventions that disgust me. But i suppose that hermetic communication is only strategic silence; so in its practice, the moral responsibility to the greater good can be honored. And although looking in the mirror is a powerful metaphor, i would like to stress that the important thing is that one's conscience must be educated, and the ideas of honesty, openness, and responsibility are a good start.

Jiminy Cricket needs all the help he can get...

As i'm sure by now, all of us here have encountered someone in our lives who justifies their whimsical transgression of another's boundaries by perverting the expression of "Do What Thou Wilt"

For levity, i am also reminded of an amusing Z-Cluster diatribe called, _Why Chaos Magicians Are Such Assholes,_ by Max K, the Little Sister of the Order. But on a serious note, there's even a webpage out there with some great resources for dealing with Pagan Bullies, which i only think mildly amusing that i found through a post by tim_maroney

i suppose it's probably somewhat ironic that i'm talking about this 'cause i'm such a "judgmental moralist" (although i've mentioned this sort of thing before in one context or another). But if people don't appreciate my ethics, then they don't have to play with me... i determine the rules i use within my own boundaries. And for further reference, please consult the gestalt prayer.

( Here are a couple of the more reliable musings on the Law of Life, Light, and Liberty that i have found... )

i am reposting this, since i don't think it appeared in anyone's journals, the last time i tried to post it -- and even if it did, it certainly bears repeating:

(re: fulguritus's public service announcement):

jealousy, envy, anger, sadness, fear & low self-esteem got you down?

compersion to the rescue!

or, perhaps you would prefer the term, "frubbly?"

...anyone care to share an experience of love conquering all?

i have this tendency to seek long-term relationships with people... i want to establish a sense of community, so that i can feel like my time and efforts will be reciprocated at some point. but i seem to have continually fallen into relationships with people who are apparently only willing to scam on me in the short term... lie to me, use me until i can take no more of the abuse. perhaps i will be able to see the red flags in the future, everyone else seems to see them, why haven't i? i have trusted people too easily. strange, i didn't think i was asking too much: openness, honesty, and responsibility. oh well: fool me once, shame on you... fool me twice, shame on me. i will not allow my experiences with unsafe risks to prevent my enjoyment of future relationships in safe, sane, and consensual ways. it's time for more banishings... the past is done, and i will move on to new beginnings with renewed vigor. and so, jiminy cricket inspired a response to this post.

i must send out congratulations to the new children in our midst... let us continue in our celebration of the aeon of horus, crowned and conquering child! thank you for improving our gene pool:

Victory Rose Fuselier, born through othiym and luxcannon.

Zoe Isabella Serafina, born through scorpionis and xephyr.

"On Children" by Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward not tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let our bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

ok, i'm a little on the fragile side with emotional issues, lately, but this made me cry tonight, and will probably do the same thing for me for some time to come. i can only hope my friends will forgive me and understand that i am learning how to be a better listener.

( Please_Listen )

I am glad that i have this space to work out my feelings -- i can focus on what i have to be grateful for, here.

Sometimes progress means two steps forward, one step back.

Friday... too depressed to go out.
It's just been torture for me to realize that even if someone i love asks for my help, they are liable to resent me for giving it to them.

Saturday night, i went to agapito's wake and celebrated his ubiquity.
Although we grieved for the loss of his individual manifestation, we will all appreciate what he helped to create and leave behind.

Afterwards, ananda and lonnie and i went to a firespinning / music party / birthday for Sam, who played a wicked violin solo...

Then, strangevibe joined us in a journey to Ruta Maya, where we met up with lionserpent, and Nigel, and Bon, and we all danced until the morning light with the groovepharm. DJ's Neptune (aka Curious George), Spivlicious, and Arjuna layed down a deep vibe that i tranced out to for a good six or seven hours straight -- dancing truly has been the best therapy for me.

Sunday night, Jennifer Ayers had a wine and cheese soiree, which was simply lovely. We had the most intimate gathering -- just the right amount of people. Shane, and Brian, and Autumn, and a fellow who's name i did not catch, and i played a little music, while ananda danced. Then, Ananda and i danced together (she had an image she wanted to choreograph, of spinnning, and rising up & down.. it was great!) and talked about what it is that causes lovers to act so differently from friends... (a conversation perhaps inspired, or at least fueled by this thread, posted by queenofhalves) ...is it the sex, is it feeling trapped, is it failed expectations that certain needs will be met? I think that my own experiences have a lot to do with trying to work out relationships with people who did not have similar enough _goals and processes_ to my own... perhaps expecting partners, or myself to change, but eventually growing apart.

I was also able to read tarot for Damon, Jen, and Miss Conduct. It has truly been too long since I was able to perform my shamanic duties for the community. It felt really good to be honored by my friends' trust in our divination together. By the end of the evening, we had all melted into a beautiful cuddle puddle of hugs and massages -- what more wonderful way could there be to spend an evening? The next morning, Jen and I went out to La Dolce Vita to break our fast, and then went on a quest to find Ambient Native American music, which we found in Spirit Nation. Jen encouraged me to go camping by myself, and she is so right... i have really been getting distracted with all of these crazy relationships for too long -- it's time to take care of myself.

Monday night, I screened Million Dollar Hotel at Cafe Mundi. I should really not watch tragic love stories without some company.

After the film, I went to catch the tail end of games night, and played a game of apples to apples. Then we played it again with the card colors reversed, so i put my shirt on backwards. By that time, it was the midnight curfew, so heretic, Barigoddess, and theatre_faerie, and we went to Mojo's, again. We played the UnGame with Colin and Chalumbwe, while we were waiting for heretic to finish eating. Our UnGame alternated between dark journeys through the underworld of depression and suicide, to happy stories of yummy desserts, and what we love about ourselves. When heretic finally got there, we played an intense game of Gnostica, which was won by theatre_faerie, who well deserved her victory -- what do you expect from someone who controls The Star and The Universe?

While i was at Mojo's, i talked with subverbal, who says that there is a fire show next weekend at Mojo's and that harliquinmayhem is going to spin with them. I am really sad that it looks like i will not be able to share in that experience. I wish that there were something that i could do, but the situation is completely out of my control -- i have to put it in the care of divine hands.

So, now it's time to get back to those banishings...

(And then do my work on optics, for physics -- woo hoo!)

I went to see DJ Neptune (aka Curious George) at Texture on Thursday night.
On Saturday @ 6:40 pm, lionserpent tells Thursday's story... It was good to dance, and to see many friends that I have been out of touch with for so long. Afterward, I spent a pleasant time with the Groovepharm.

Friday night I spent some time at a party with friends from Mojo's. It was good to laugh and share stories with people.

Today, harliquinmayhem and I were going to our friends' wedding out of town; but I have been neglecting my studies -- so, I must get back to Trigonometry and Physics homework.

I guess today's moral is "beware," right?

I have been asking myself lately, am I really following my dreams? I used to think that my dreams included a life partner; but now I realize that was an illusion created by mutual projective identification. Not that such things cannot be healthy, useful elements of people's lives; but I believe they can only be so when both parties are open, honest, and inclusive with each other, with their fantasies, and in reality.

So, focusing on my own immediate needs, I have been going out on the town to enjoy what life has to offer me. I have been able to have a blast for as long as I keep myself busy; but I seem to find myself right back where I started, as soon as I come home and I am alone again.

What happened to my fantasies? Have I really become that mired in 'reality' that I am unable to imagine a way out of this cycle? Oh yeah, I made a commitment to go back to school so that I could develop some useful skills, didn't I? It doesn't matter that I wanted to do that because I thought that I would be able to come home to the person I love -- that's just a crutch. But my motivation depended on that crutch, too; and now I have to do it all by my lonesome -- oh, pity the poor soul who has been shocked back into realization that each human is an individual. I thought humans were social animals? I guess that I have just been looking to form a tribe with people who are not willing to band together. Well, I may not be an island, but I certainly feel deserted. I just don't understand why people are so afraid to share in open, honest, inclusive relationships. It's like some kind of a conspiracy that takes advantage of people through pathological deception and separation/exclusion.

The SubGenii recognize this behavior as how the conspiracy wants to trick us into giving up our original slack by enslaving us to the idea that we have to steal slack from the next guy before he takes it from us! And Bucky Fuller talks about how "All economics textbooks have only one basic tenet -- the fundamental scarcity of life support ... it has to be you or me." Furthermore, in Critical Path, Bucky outlines how, "we are now able to do so much with so little that we can provide for the basic needs of 100% of humanity without disadvantaging anyone.''

I'm a utopian, I admit it, but why don't people realize the power of synergy? Sure, you run the short-term risk of having to weed out defectors; but if people just realized the payoff of reciprocal altruism... it's a win-win scenario for people who are willing to play for long-term goals!

As soon as I get rid of this demon of attachment to desire, then I'll be able to again differentiate between people who operate by the strategies of cooperation from people who utilize the methods of defection. In order to further the Great Work, I must certainly continue the discovery of my own True Will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result (and definitely without dependence upon another person). And I must also not be so naive-- when looking into an abyss, the abyss also looks into me. Maintaining Knowledge and Conversation with my Holy Guardian Angel will assist me in this endeavor.

OK, I've got to go work on some banishing rituals now...