5 March 2004: Other Conversations

Still waiting on Lila for the next installment of The Inanna Dialogue. Those of you who were following the Dialogue avidly (all two of you) can console yourselves with the thought that Lila is no doubt being properly punished.

Meanwhile, there are other conversations in my life, other dialogues. Below are scraps from a few of them. Perhaps, properly assembled, they might even constitute evidence as to what's been happening in my brain as the Winter's initiatic experiences integrate.

Or perhaps not.

Scrap 1: From the Moot Jungle

Old Cutter John: I don't have the patience to look for written traces in cyberspace, but I remember numerous bits of discussion in which we've mentioned the idea of incarnation as being the creation of an RPG character by the one at the next level up (or by Whomever). Most people don't seem to experience their lives that way, but in most cases they'd have to be unwitting to fulfill their missions, and in the remaining cases they understand that their missions require the maintenance of cover. Some people do see themsleves as RPG characters, and say so, but of course this poplulation includes a significant number of kooks and braggarts, as well as a number of people who are close to enlightenment.

Me: I think that what distinguishes the latter group from the former is that the kooks and braggarts are thinking of themselves as, and/or trying to be, and/or trying to present themselves as, the type of character that they themselves would want to play in an RPG - in other words, as a figment of juvenile wish-fulfillment fantasies on the order of, "If I had superpowers, I'd show them all." Those close to enlightenment, on the other hand, tend to have the attitude, "I am what I am, leading the life I'm leading, because that's what my Player at the Next Level Up needed to play this time." The "near enlightenment" version serves to foster the state of self-honesty, humility, compassion, non-attachment, and serene acceptance of existing conditions that is the hallmark of the enlightened and near-enlightened. The "kook and braggart" version serves to pull its victims further and further from that state.

Geminica: [...] What you describe isn't too far from my own philosophy of life. [...] The idea is: creature consciousness is God's way of experiencing itself. Without an illusion of fragmentation, there can be none of the joy of reunion. So, we are God, role-playing tiny fractured parts of Itself... as George Clinton would say, "gettin' down, just for the funk of it."

Lexicat: uh… is it just me, or does this look like nicky (presumably identifying as "near enlightened") is grabbing a bunch of self-serving labels that also happen to serve well for braggadaccio?

Me: It's just you.

Scrap 2: From personal correspondence

Doctor Jones: I sense that the dynamics and rituals of your group [of friends] have gone up a few notches.

Me: Well, the work I'm doing has gone up a few notches. Partly as a result of that, I don't know that I have a "group" anymore.

 

Scrap 3: More from the Moot Jungle

Old Cutter John: My recent experience with the issue of perseverence in other people's lives leads me to a greater awareness of the fact that there are a variety of dualities that are major issues to others, of which I may scarce be conscious as even possible issues.

Me: This has been an increasingly major focus of my awareness for a few years now, because the work I do in Paratheatrical Research involves exploring those "dualities" (or "polarities," as they're generally referred to in that work). The more of this work I've done, the more I've come to understand human psyches in terms of "charged polarities." That is, in seeking to understand a person, I seek to identify which polarities are "charged" for them. Thus, in trying to figure out what's up with a person (including myself) in a given struggle, I ask myself, "what's the charged polarity here?

Old Cutter John: It seems to me that a soul is a cluster of interacting dualities. I've stated elsewhere that nirvana occurs when God is no longer focused on a particular cluster. This leads to questions of chronology, because God isn't bound by our linear view of time. It's possible that nirvana might not be a permanent state, but a series of long rests. Then again, nirvana might not happen at all, our dream of enlightenment notwithstanding, because there's no time at which God loses interest in any given cluster of dualities. The strongest argument for the conventional Buddhist view is the fact of historical context: A cluster of interacting dualities makes sense in its historical context, and the historical context that gives meaning to a cluster of dualities tends to last for a period of time that is both long and unbroken.

Me: Nirvana is a state of being absorbed into the consciousness of God. The charges between the various polarities that make up a given cluster provide the tension that prevents this absorption. The less charge a cluster has among its various polarities, the closer to Nirvana it gets. When there are no charged polarities left, there's no more cluster, at which point Nirvana occurs - the spark of divine consciousness around which the cluster had accreted is reabsorbed into God. One's karma is defined by the set of polarities that are charged for one. The Great Work consists of exploring and working through one's charged polarities in such a way as to eliminate their charges.

Old Cutter John: On the other hand, a character who's needed again in the story will be back to fill his assigned role. The context that requires his return later, keeps his polarities charged now. The difference between the two views is the difference between free will and predestination. Both explain God's art in terms that humans can understand, but neither is a full description of ultimate reality.

Scrap 4: From the Moot email list

Argus: Let us not forget: There are people in this country, who make important decisions that affect lots of other people, who claim to believe the following (for example) is literal fact: "And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months."

Me: It's nice to know I'm not the only one who sees the damn things.

Argus: But those people are completely insane! The sting only lasts a week and a half! Two weeks, tops.

 

Scrap 5: From personal correspondence

Sherpa: Crisis for me is a natural & essential stage of any truly creative process. It reflects a rupture, of some sort, calling out for change. Generally speaking, I look at crisis not as a problem but as an opportunity to align closer to what actually works: how to best serve what is alive & vitalizing. To be more clear, creative process without crisis is cause for worry.

Me: So if there were no crisis, that would be a crisis?

Sherpa: Uh huh.