Rock of Ages
Category: Writing and Poetry

Currently reading : Woman Who Glows in the Dark: A Curandera Reveals Traditional Aztec Secrets of Physical and Spiritual Health By Elena Avila Release date: 2000-05-18

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The Emerald Tablet of Hermes
Category: Religion and Philosophy

A new Friend got me reflecting upon the gifts of alchemy and the Quest for the Stone. I quickly thought about Father Hermes and the long historical development of Alchemy. The following was one of the great secrets, great prizes of alchemy for centuries. It was revealed as a mystery from teacher to pupil on a one to one basis as a secret teaching that only the "Wise" (i.e. the Alchemist or Philosopher) would understand -- and they did have a point because even today, or perhaps especially today in our preferences for Concretistic Myths, its symbolic glee and circular language still suggest an unknown mystery, or at best a partially understandable reality.

In dark moments, Hermes' Emerald Tablet shines upon me like a hidden sun, warming me, shining the way forward down the dark path of mundane existence.

The Emerald Tablet of Hermes

1.   Truly, without deception, certain and most true.

2.   What is below is like that which is above, and what is above is like that which is below, to accomplish the miracles of the one thing.

3.   And as all things proceeded from one, through meditation of the one, so all things came from this one thing through adaptation.

4.   Its father is the sun; its mother the moon; the wind has carried it in its belly; its nurse is the earth.

5.   This is the father of all, the completion of the whole world.

6.   Its strength is complete if it be turned into (or toward) earth.

7.   Separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the dense, gently with great ingenuity.

8.    It ascends from the earth to the heaven, and descends again to the earth, and receives the power of the above and the below. Thus you will have the glory of the whole world. Therefore all darkness will flee from you.

9.    Here is the strong power of the whole strength; for it overcomes every subtle thing and penetrates every solid.

10.  Thus the world has been created.

11.  From here will come the marvelous adaptations, whose manner this is.

12.  So I am called HERMES TRISMEGISTUS, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world.

13.  What I have said about the operation of the sun is finished.

Currently reading : Golden Ass of Apuleius: The Liberation of the Feminine in Man (C. G. Jung Foundation Books) By Marie-Louise von Franz Release date: 01 May, 2001

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The Memory of That Flame
Current mood: thankful
Category: Writing and Poetry

In the naked morning,

I turn to the stars, now fading,

and seek meaning.

a tear comes:

my life, my passion falls with that tear.

The dream of his touch –

last night the fires burned once more.

Insatiable flames.

The screaming cry

of orgasm – life reborn.

It seems a small thing to see

his eyes staring into my soul,

and yet I felt, I still feel his eyes

drilling into my heart.

The slow sinews of my muscles

jumped to his touch – they already

knew his touch. The kisses

on my belly made me sweat. The delay

those kisses promised make me

still shiver when I sit, alone,

feeling the first moment of his

flesh entering into mine. Souls

dream of entrance and joint knowledge,

the eternal feeling of ecstatic remembrance.

His red, fleshy tongue sought

out my nipples, erect, one by one—

that gentle suck drives me into frenzy,

and reminds me of adolescent dreams:

the eternal dream of touch, of closeness.

The fire he born deep within the narrow

strait of my gentle lips, the waterfall

radiating out into the crackling fire – mirroring

my long loving of life.

This passion, this quest.

My haunting pursuit of his magic—

Him who continually whets me with desire

in these cold empty mornings, him

whom I burn for when all is cold. The slow

drip of eternity stares at me in these nameless mornings,

questions me through the chill of the air –

can I stand his passion, his fierceness within me,

each night (– can I stand to be without it)?

Can I survive that explosion?

Can I feel his heart beating next to mine

and not melt? A decent beat, a two step of existence.

You are my all, he said, slowly, kissing me

firmly, slowly, on the lips, his tongue

searchingly danced with mine.

His two central fingers entered me –

He is always inside me – he explored

my wetness, my eternal wetness.

I cried with delight: I am full!

He came to me last night,

came within me last night,

and this winter morning, I sit alone.

I sit feeling him still inside me.

I sit searching into an empty glass

for reflection.

I sit longing to feel again

that thrust of ecstasy,

that thrust of meaning,

exploding within me.

Currently reading : The incest taboo and the virgin archetype By J Layard Release date: 1945

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How Evil is George Bush?
Category: Religion and Philosophy

Reflections on Evil – Part I

I watched "The Sopranos" on dvd last night and woke up this morning thinking about evil – go figure.

A working psychological definition of Evil:

"A one-sided, dissociated, unrelated Will to Power that is supported by the threat of violence or the actuality of violence with the threat of further violence." An evil person has mastered the charismatic ability to control and manipulate the Collective Shadow of a group and use it for his own purposes. An evil act (much more likely than an evil person) is an act displaying the above characteristics in which no relatedness to any human community is evident in the act. For example, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were evil acts, in my estimation, because they did not have any impact on the war, were terrifically counterproductive to the needs of the American Republic and Americans knew nothing about them before hand (thus making them completely unrelated to the community). There was not American community present at the bombing, or the planning of the bombing, in any way, shape or form; furthermore Japan was prepared to surrender before the bombings under the same conditions that they surrendered after the bombing, so the bombings were unnecessary to the collective needs of successfully concluding the war. The bombings were the expression of a deep archetypal force (i.e. Evil) that had seized the psyches of those promoting, and those making the final decisions about, the bombings. On the other hand, the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese was not, under this definition, an exhibition of evil because it was a violent act of war that had specific communal aims and was conducted by a people serving (not controlling) their community. Being the victims of this act naturally clouds American's judgment.

It is necessary here to differentiate between Evil, which I believe is a real, independent, archetypal energy (and not just a word used to classify some human behavior or human persons) from the Collective Shadow. In the above example, the bombing of Pearl Harbor is a violent expression of the Collective Japanese Shadow, of that time. The reasons why individuals act out the Collective Shadow are many, but among the most important reason is that psychological contents are repressed widely by people in a specific culture or group, as well as the intensity with which these contents are repressed. One example here is the tremendous repression of the archetypal, youthful and innocent Feminine in American culture (by both men and women). As this repression remains largely unconscious for most people (i.e. it is a Collective Shadow element), the need to connect with it bursts into the conscious of the psyche of certain appropriate individuals, and forces them to act out behaviors or acts compensatory to the collective repression. The deeper the repression the more unconscious the compensatory behavior is likely to be. A painful recent example of just this dynamic is the behavior of an assistant federal prosecutor for Florida (a job – and a state! – where a correspondingly weak inner feminine is widespread) who was arrested after trying to solicit a mother to offer up her 5 year old child for sex with the man. A 5 year old is the epitome, the very symbolic image, of feminine innocence. Sex by a grown man with a 5-year-old girl is a prurient and ugly act on many levels, but it is not an evil act. It is rather a classic expression of the Collective Cultural Shadow, expressed via a man whose psyche was apparently at the right level of inner tension to break open to collective contents and be seized by them. He then mistook the appearance of the energy of the Collective Shadow in his life for a means of relieving the inner tension. Suicide proved his only final relief.

There are important psychological and cultural reasons to discriminate well between actual evil, and the Collective Shadow being expressed by an individual or group. Prominently among these reasons is that a too vigorous or sustained projection of evil generally leads to a personal or cultural regression by those doing the projection. We are suffering through such a regression right now.

What about evil people? Truly evil people are few, and it's rare that one will have direct experience of such people. It is good for the psychic economy to remember that fact. The classic and easy example of the evil person is Adolph Hitler. Exemplifying my comments above, Hitler had the charismatic ability to manipulate the German shadow at will. He used it like a master musician plays his beloved instrument. Other famous examples would be Josef Stalin and Pol Pot . . . there are undoubtedly others from recent memory but they slip my mind. The rare evil person has to have an unusual access to this dark archetype, which generally gives him a magical or god-like air and power. He is seductive and hard to resist, particularly for the less sophisticated, or the sophisticated with a large Will to Power, unmet by the culture or unknown to the individual ego.

On to Bush. He is a mish-mash of individual and collective energies, complexes and neuroses. He's mostly collective. He seems to be a mouthpiece for a banal Collective Shadow, and he doesn't actually express much of an individual point of view. He does not seem to be able to manipulate much of anything successfully, at least without the help of, and guidance by, powerful friends. You might remember that Hitler famously rejected the advice of his most powerful advisors, preferring to listen to the dark angelic voice that suggested actions to him. Also remember Hitler's unorthodox choices were often famously successful, at least for a time. Using religious language for a moment, he was blessed by the Devil. Bush has seemingly rather blundered his way through his life. That he is where he is says much more about this country and its psychological problems than it does about Bush. I'll admit that there are certain dark strokes of luck that have come his way that makes one wonder if there is a devil nearby, but i think rather that Bush is a strong expression of our Collective Shadow, in some of its ugliest and most undeveloped aspects. Dick Cheney, on the other hand, could be evil. We don't know enough about his actions, their efficacy, or how much he is actually manipulating Bush to suit his (Cheney's) desires and power needs. Speculation is rampant but facts are, as yet, few.

Hannah Arendt famously coined the phrase "the banality of evil" after studying the mid-level soldiers and government officials of Nazi Germany directly and indirectly responsible for much of the torture and murder of innocent people. But she was wrong: evil is hot, electric, consuming and possessive. And it tends to be short-lived, like a violently burning fire. It burns on the dark energies of life and the psyche. It is only those whose individual lives have been hallowed out by the collective energies of the shadow, or at most, the echo of archetypal evil, who express a bloodless banality, a psychological blandness, even while casually ordering the murders of their enemies or the needless invasion of a sovereign nation because one's confused thinking can't allow one to look behind oneself and face the dark shadow seeking some relatedness to consciousness and the daylight world.

Currently reading : Pollen Path: A Collection of Navajo Myths Retold By Margaret Schevill Link Release date: July, 1998

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Conceptual Fire
Category: Writing and Poetry

The blood dims as the mind closes.

Passion breathes with the taste of thought.

The dream, each night, of meaning

rests on the slow, worded step:

stringing letters together in a fit

of uncontrolled desire.

--> -->

Grasp the sound

of significance. I scream into that silent

night. The answers that come: thoughts

from remote deities, so entwined in my heart:

I want to scream more, I want to think more.

Baggage of closed minds, the inevitable

draining down of those unable to withstand

the tension required for creative thought.

Howl . . . lost words, lost thoughts, lost worlds.

--> -->

Sing with the thoughts you create.

Sing into your soul, alive with its fire.

Forgive the simple, so reliant on clichés,

their wrecked language, parched souls

thirsty for escape.

They hope for a rescue from tension.

Their hope for a new oblivion

strikes forth deep from their wounded

human soul.

Grab the word,

hold the concept tight –

a flashlight in the darkness.

Walking, movement forward,

dreams and desire breed its progeny:

the creative moments that fill life

with its stature, its irresistible movements

of challenge and risk.

Had I not thought deeply,

I could not have breathed.

Had not these concepts that rage

through life with such sturm und drang,

so enthralled me in the passionate embrace

of life's sought for nature,

I would not have wanted this life.

Currently reading : Navaho Indian Myths By Aileen O’Bryan Release date: 14 June, 1993

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Concepts concepts throwaway all concepts
Category: Religion and Philosophy

There's a lot of confusion about the word "concept" and the thinking related to it. Oftentimes, there's also a certain animus, even a noticeable prejudice, against people who are so brazen to take pleasure in straightforwardly thinking conceptually. For a certain group of people, they attack what they consider the evil of concepts or conceptual thinking with a certain delight and a defining sense of moral superiority, whether they are conscious of this or not. (Images of Dana Carvey doing a Superior Dance as the church lady jump suddenly into my mind – admittedly, there is something Luciferian about inspired conceptual thinking).

The truth is that for a certain level of conscious sophistication, concepts are indispensable. Conceptual thinking is the currency on which modern civilized life depends. The more facile people are with moving between concepts the more flexible their approach to life can be. It is the fundamentalists that must focus on a very limited set of concepts and hold on to them for dear life in order to combat the complexity of the world around us. It is often due to poor conceptual thinking, or a knee-jerk tendency to throw the baby out with the bath water, that people often attack poor conceptual thinking as representative of conceptual thinking in its entirety. Outworn ideas do not prove anything negative about the weakness of thought, but are rather an invitation to further thought. And we are currently surrounded by ideas and concepts whose time has passed (such as Health care for profit, reducing education to test-taking, and the Newtonian causality principle). Refusing to face the problems in thought that currently face our culture is an exhibition of a weakness in conceptual skill or an unconscious fear of them.

The Achilles Heel of the anti-conceptual crowd is that the concepts they attack, for whatever reason, are always replaced, usually by them, with other concepts. For example "nature" is a concept. "Direct experience" is a concept. These are different from the concepts of, say, molecular biology or behavioral psychology, but all deal in concepts, ideas, articulated thoughts. The opposite of articulated thought is not "nature" or "body" but unconsciousness. Language and thought are inherently conceptual, but so is talking about non-mental or bodily-oriented practices. Civilized humans are conceptual creatures. We have to be. Contemporary life demands an attitude towards it. An attitude demands conceptual thinking (the alternative is unconscious possession). If we try to escape this modern demand, we usually get possessed from behind by the Unconscious. Such a result robs the ego of its ability to choose.

I am sympathetic to the desire for non-ego oriented somatic experiences (that too is a concept), and people wanting a deeper connection to the body. I share in this desire and actively seek it. But even here conceptual thinking helps because that desire is also descriptive of a specific attitude to life. Ultimately, the conceptual distinction necessary for us to move beyond the existential dilemmas we face is not that of pro-conceptual thinking vs. anti-concept, it is deciding what concepts are friendly to life, to the earth, to civil rights for all, to the equitable distribution of goods and services, so that we don't live with a permanent underclass of untouchables. To blame thinking for our contemporary problems is itself a product of thought and misses the point as well as pushing even the possibility of positive change several steps back.  We can develop and live with concepts that are related in a generative and feeling way to our everyday contemporary life, but only if we can think conceptually. The more self-consciously we do this, the more likely a more balanced way of life can be achieved. The right concept can be a healing medicine for a distressed soul.

Excuse my heady diatribe, but I'm reading Living in the Borderland by Jerome Bernstein. It is overall a very good book, but he just went on a rant of how the Collective Unconscious is too conceptual to be useful (which anyone who has had a depth experience of it can tell you it is anything but too conceptual) while seeking to replace it with the concept of the Borderland which he somehow thinks is less conceptual (I'm sure it too has a depth aspect of it). His lack of irony in such an assertion was rather disquieting for such a conceptual thinker. He should know better.

Perhaps tomorrow I will try to address this subject poetically (though that too will be an articulation of the mind).

Currently reading : Living in the Borderland:The Evolution of Consciousness and the Challenge of Healing Trauma By Jerome Bernstein Release date: 29 September, 2005

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briefly from boston
Category: Travel and Places

A few words before I head off to bed . . .

Boston is a beautiful city. Could very well enjoy spending more time here.

Had one of the city's best margaritas (according to one magazine) tonight in the Cactus Cafe. I tried one in honor of Kelly -- don't worry K, Maria's was better. Crowded, horny, mostly college crowd. Watched the Red Sox sadly lose their baseball game. The crowd was bummed.

Inspired by Trinity Church at night. I might get up early and go to the morning service. Why?? BeKoz I M A KrezyMan. :>

Clean, smart city -- and fit, not so use to so many people running down city blocks (at least not in a long time).

Visited the North End and had great Italian food last night. Also saw a lovely, young blond woman faint out of the blue right in front of me while we were waiting in line for the Restaurant. She was out for at least 30 seconds, maybe a minute. That was a bit unnerving. She recovered and by the time they called her party in to eat, she was fine and joined in like nothing had ever happened.

It's great to be in a lively city again.

Tomorrow,

Trinity, Conference Meeting, Body work and then off to New York. If I can find somewhere to stow my bags, I will probably stay here for part of the afternoon. Would stay longer . . . but New York beckons.

9:43 PM - 3 Comments - 10 Kudos - Add Comment

24 hours in Boston
Category: Travel and Places

I'm now in splashy new digs. Last night I stayed at a youth hostel. It was alright -- cheap and good location. I shared the room with two other guys, much better than some previous hostel living arrangements I've had. One guy was from Japan, interning with a financial company and the other was from Vietnam getting a PhD in Computer Science. The Vietnamese guy did nearly all the talking. It was quite hilarious. I heard him badger the Japanese guy over girlfirends, first sexual experience, number of times he has had sex, how often does he and his girlfriend have sex, do Japanese women put out (of course Vietnamese women don't as they are waiting to be virgins for their future husbands :>). Sounded like a typical college guy conversation -- okay, maybe freshman year. The most amusing aspect was that they both are still learning English and so they (meaning mostly the Vietnamese guy) had to struggle to make himself be understood. I suspect that the Japanese guy was half-pulling his leg.

I got here just as the Fireworks had ended and was met by a river of humanity going in the opposite direction that I was. Stories of the day-long celebration sounded pretty spectacular -- free concerts from John Mellencamp and the Boston Pops were part of the festivities. Regret missing that . . .

Today, after several people enthusiastically recommended it, I went on the Duck tour -- a 90 minute tour, partly on street, partly on the river about Boston and its history. Expensive for its content, but a great way to learn some of the basics of Boston history and the geography of the city. Also a money making machine! Each bus had about 20 people and were leaving every 30 minutes. For each 30 minute spot, they must have had 12 buses, at least, parading through the streets and down the St. Charles river. Quack Quack! (that's part of the bus-riding tradtition).

Managed also to get out for an Art Walk in Jamaica Plain, which is near some pretty rough neighborhoods. As I was walking to it at about 6pm, I was a little nervous about traipsing through the same neighborhoods post-walk (and I'm a tough L.A. kid! -- but one recognizes the signs . . . definitely some gang activity). Fortunately, I was able to take a bus back to the subway station. Ate pretty well today -- Thai (my favorite) for lunch and Japanese for dinner -- a small place in Jamaica Plain, with tasty food, fresh ingredients and large portions (my favorite combination!). It's called the JP Seafood Cafe, would definitely recommend it.

I've also been told that the Italian food (another favorite) in their Italian neighborhoods is spectacular. Will definitely have to go there, as well as having an pint in the Irish neighborhood. Have already been told which pub to go to by the Head Quack (tour bus driver). One thing I really miss about not living in major urban area is the diversity and the quality of the cuisine!

Someday, I will post the picture of me commanding the tour boat.

Got to get back to Conference stuff (and soon sleep).

Thanks for the well wishes and the suggestions! (feel free to keep them coming).

Namaste . . .
      P.

7:47 PM - 4 Comments - 9 Kudos - Add Comment

Adventure in Boston and New York
Category: Travel and Places

So I'm off later this morning for a conference, in Boston. A few days in Boston and then a few days in the center of the Universe, New York for straightforward debauchery and cultural enlightenment.

Any suggestions of places to visit (beyond the ordinary), places to eat, places to be seen, places not to be seen, party invites, in New York or Boston are welcomed!

Favorite New York or Boston memories would also be welcomed!

Cheers and welcome to the Summer!

P.

ps: Mr. K-man really wants me to blog while I am out adventuring. If I can spare a few moments, and can find a good wireless spot, I will oblige and report back to this fine, thrill-seeking community.

2:07 AM - 7 Comments - 9 Kudos - Add Comment

Incandescent dawn
Category: Writing and Poetry

In the casual night, low and fierce

when black demons swim in and out of focus,

I reach out for you.

You.

Black enchantress still haunting my nights.

Creatress of the restless electricity that races through me,

burning me alive and ever awake,

amidst the charred light

deficit that surrounds me.

That sings to me.

That singes my soul.

I have not forgot your song.

You,

so far away

so close.

Your red electric body, so lithe, so wet, so wanting –

I can't stop touching in these haunted nights.

A few words, sighs, whispers

jerked gasps, and shivering screams of delight.

And you are gone

into the black cyclone that is memory.

Oh my memory.

Sweet dangerous Mnemosyne.

My girl of the incandescent dawn --

one that has left me, forever.

The dripping dew as the blackness

abates and the Redness dances its return

proclaims you still love me –

I can hear this much—

and your nights,

of crowded, debauched sleeplessness,

when your body still longs for my touch,

burn through you with the ceaselessly delicious pains

that only too-quickly forsaken love can bring.

My black Sophia,

you whose soul so sweetly sings its burning,

I am yours lying here

on this bed of broken glass.

With each new drop of blood comes

a sighing gasp of your electric memory

flowing into cold, translucent sheets.

The body of cascading blackness

that enwraps life with such power at such an hour

slinks away cold and alone

as the red birds return

with their optimistic morning chorus.

3:51 AM - 3 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment