corporate occultism

[paul]

daniel

you mentioned some where your only interest between corporat-ism and occult-ism...is how much it is a conscious relationship

i would be interested in hearing your opinions/position

best/~paul

[daniel]

i don't think it is conscious. Probably more like a willed unconsciousness. The Yes Men film, among other stuff, made this pretty clear to me - it is more like a total wiring-in to a low-level greed-based ideology that automatically shuts off all alternative possibilities. Why would you want to open your eyes when the system is working so well for you?

As I was saying on another thread, I now doubt that the Bush people even think ahead to consider the contradictions of their massive greed and the Apocalypse fundamentalism that underlies their success and that they subscribe to, to a certain (more or less cynical? or not at all cynical?) degree. On the one hand they are trying to dominate the world's resources, which suggests simple greed, on the other hand, they support the idea that this is the "End Times," and the fall of the last tree means the return of Christ.

I don't think in the history of humanity there has ever been such a debased and mindless ideology or paradigm than the one currently running the show... the mind boggles. I am sure Genghis Khan had a much more subtle and interesting way of looking at the world.

Patrick Harpur: "The only way to get rid of anima is to bore her. In this case she manifests herself as absence, as loss of soul in the dead mechanical language of theorists who are bent on defining and categorising what cannot be treated in this way."

[Thom]

"Why would you want to open your eyes when the system is working so well for you?"

Right. But the scary thing is how many people might have made an unconcious deal on the magic level...not just the corporate COE's...I mean most westerners, for a start.

What if it's only when the system stops working for you that you question the deal...? The system is working for most people - they are warm, fed and sheltered, and "Osama" is held at bay.

So the bargain stands at the moment.

What is the deal in the long run? I seem to recall Genghis Khan was a shaman, in contact with his ancestors. What's Bush in contact with? If he is unconcious, who is running the show? When is it too late to want your soul back?

I suppose what all these breathless questions are getting at is, where does the shadow end and the dark begin?

[Thom]

Also, picking up from another thread on whether violence is ever justified, if an individual is a vehicle for destructive "entities" how can you sanction violence against them?

Aren't you just feeding the demon? Swapping one vehicle for another?

[ January 20, 2005, 09:12 AM: Message edited by: Thom ]

[silentwolf]

I don't think violence is justified unless it's for preservation of self or kin, and only when there is no other possible alternative. It really doesn't matter if the aggressor is being utilized by malevolent entities, be they of flesh or not, when they threaten your life; you have the right, beyond moral implications, to preserve your material existence.

[Thom]

What if it's my "kin" threatening my spiritual existence..?

What if it is George W threatening my material existence..?

I don't mean to be flippant really, I agree with you more or less. Its just a tricky question when it comes to taking responsibility for your thoughts (if you do)... and the logical conclusion of those thoughts. Words without action are kind of pointless...ideas which don't manifest in matter become mind-junk.

[Lowlight]

if violence is present in the divine then it is present in all. if we drop child like conceptions of the divine (always there to carry you) then we can face life and death on its terms. That which goes against such things as, compassion, community, inclusivness and tolerance is what i would fight against, is what i do try to fight against.

[Thom]

We are all as violent as the universe we live in. But there are dgrees of violence. Think about Saul, murdered by God on the road to Damascus. Obviously in retrospect we can see that as a purifying violence. Paul stood up from the corpse of Saul, and set about founding the Christian church.

William Blake sang the praises of the revolutionary energy that wiped out the upper classes of France in the C18th. His poem Tyger, studied in schools around the world, can be seen as a direct result and celebration of that energy.

Entheogens could be said to do violence to me when they scatter my ego to the winds...

So we can say violence has been in the past a precondition, or at least an ingredient of change. Is that still the case? Can we apply violence as a response to the forces that seek to limit human evolution. Or has the situation changed?

What about the esoteric perspective on death? Karma etc. The Earth shrugs and nearly 200,000 people are wiped out. This is uncomfortable stuff for me, I can't figure it out.

[ January 20, 2005, 11:50 AM: Message edited by: Thom ]

[Lowlight]

It is very uncomfortable due to they way people in the West are brought up. i feel the same thing.

But i think violence and destruction have to be incorporated into life as they are part of it. to talk of a none destructive world is just not possible. destruction is everywhere and its involvement in cahnge is vital. It is hard to accept but the the more you think about it the more self evident it becomes. That is my experience of it, and i have been wrestling with creation and destuction philosphically for a few years now.

[daniel]

I would think the decision to commit violence, or to answer violence with violence, would have to be based, like all important decisions, on a careful discrimination and ethical understanding of the situation, as well as an attempt to take time, in its deepest as well as broadest dimensions, into account. For instance, anyone who would imagine that some kind of assassination of leaders would make a difference is not thinking clearly - such an act would only reinforce the dominant paradigm to create a new level of misery for all.

It should also be noted that our system, which we all participate in and are therefore complicit with, in some degree, is already commiting a systemic, abstracted violence against both the natural world and the lives of many millions caught in its grip. This abstracted dominance and violence includes the millions in prison for drug-related offences, the millions forced to work in sweatshop labor conditions to produce goods for our markets, the indigenous cultures threatened with imminent extinction, the street kids in Rio, the citizens of Iraq, and so on.

As the disastrous Weather Underground as well as the Unabomber demonstrated, the attempt to answer this systemic violence with some kind of symbolic or abstract violence designed to destabilize the structure of dominance does not work at all. As a response, it is both retrograde and pathetic.

The only form of violence that seems legitimate to me would be something like the collective struggle against Naziism in WW2.

The reality of our situation is much more suggestive of the kind of nonviolent forms of protest used by Gandhi and Martin Luther King - this also requires individual risk, and great courage, at times. Just as I felt the electronic voting machines were the singular issue that undermined all progressive hopes for the last election, I would propose that the use of depleted uranium, alone, provides all the justification needed for a mass, nationwide, even worldwide, movement against the current manias of the military-industrial complex. Use of DU in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Bosnia means that we are creating permanent irreversible wastelands of radioactivity in these countries, for no conceivable purpose. Just as with the failure to perceive the electronic voting machine issue until it was far too late, the failure of people either to notice or to care about the use of DU suggests how complete our current moral and psychic capitulation is, before the powers-that-be.

The point, for me, is not violence vs. nonviolence in a system saturated by systemic violence, but what are the actual levers and gears we can use to overturn this entire system and replace something far more human, humane, and compassionate in its place. In that, I feel we are being given a huge helping hand by the insanity of the system itself, that seems to be rushing towards its own suicidal destruction, as Baudrillard noted.

I see that the present need is not "fighting against" the current power structure, which is a pointless exercise, but readying the alternative paradigms and support-systems that can replace what cannot last for much longer - as it says in the Tao, "Non-Tao is short-lived."

[Lowlight]

hey Daniel

preparing the new structures are, to me anyway, a form of "fighting against", i think we need to narrow the definition to acts of violence against the state committed by individuals or small groups - these would find it very hard to impact as you said. I still think a kind of fight club thing would be a cool way to bring it down but thats just the movies, but thats just day dreaming. nice idea tho.

having said that, the revolution that toppled Batista in cuba was pure (to begin with anyway) and Castro and Che only had about 17 men at the start, so small groups can have an effect, but maybe not in a global consciousness shift way. They did play their part, Che's idea of the 'new man and woman' if spiritualised would be such a potent form of humanity.

i apologise for the stream of consciousness, i just got in from work and my brain is fried.

Peace

[ January 22, 2005, 11:55 PM: Message edited by: Lowlight ]

[Humming]

I've begun thinking about how to write an article about protesting and violence/non-violence, so this conversation is very useful to me! I went to Denver to protest Bush's inauguration and is was a very fun time and some worthwhile things were said by the speakers at the rally, but I'm not sure in what way it was "useful". I've been thinking about it....

Thom, "So we can say violence has been in the past a precondition, or at least an ingredient of change. Is that still the case? Can we apply violence as a response to the forces that seek to limit human evolution. Or has the situation changed?"

I have come to see "evil" (and, hand in hand, ignorance and violence) as the forces themselves which seek to limit human evolution.

But out of chaos comes order: the blockage of energy is necessary for us to build the momentum to catalyse a great change! So, in this sense, there can be no "evil" only destructive delusions which bind us to our current state, these delusions which Bush and people like him have made careers, lives, philosophies out of.

It's clear to anyone with an honest relationship to the facts that the capitalist system, our currently greed-based economy, is unsustainable and must therefore collapse. This was one of Marx's fundamental insights, although I don't believe that his idea of communism was exactly the right modality of society. I conceive a world of autonomous communes connected through telepathic technology, more akin to the anarchistic conception of what the world should be like: without governments, or contrived nation states.

Daniel, "I see that the present need is not "fighting against" the current power structure, which is a pointless exercise, but readying the alternative paradigms and support-systems that can replace what cannot last for much longer - as it says in the Tao, 'Non-Tao is short-lived.'"

Yes. What we need to conceieve is ideas of what needs to change and how we can create a peaceful and truly open and loving world, as we anticipate the collapse of these existing power structures.

I love John Lennon's song:

"Imagine"

Imagine there's no heaven;
it's easy if you try.
No hell below us,
above us only sky.
Imagine all the people
living for today.

Imagine there's no countries;
it isn’t hard to do.
Nothing to kill or die for.
No religion too.
Imagine all the people
living life in peace.

Imagine no possessions.
I wonder if you can…
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man.
Imagine all the people
sharing all the world!

You may say I’m a dreamer,
but I’m not the only one.
I hope some day you will join us,
and the world will live as one.

[Isaiah Mpski]

Does anyone know where I can get a big yellow(not mandatory) submarine cheap?

Mpski 2005

[Agent Smith]

i actually give alot of thought to both 'corporate occultism', and 'constructive' uses of violence.

as far as the corporations are concerned, how do they act differently from goetic 'demons', or enochian 'angels' that have been summoned into this plane by their shareholders? different from the evil djinn in 1001 Nights, who grants the shareholders wishes for wealth, in letter, but in violation of spirit? the occult underpinings of our current corporate feudal system are fairly self evident. as well as their useage of magic(k)al principles to achive their ends. if anyone here reads the 'success' literature aimed at todays business class it reads like a manual on hermetics... complete with visualization, mantras, and a whole host of other 'magick' techniques.

as far as violence goes... Genghis Khan was quite rational, and even reasonable. since he was alway victorious in battle, and conquored virtually the all of asia, it was 'the will of heaven' that the mongols conquer the world. they would have gotten europe too, if the Khan hadn't died, causing bloody civil war among his successors, and dooming the vastly unweildy empire they'd built (it would have collapsed soon after it had been established anyway, too large.) life under mongol rule wasn't so bad if you surrendered quickly. they were big on self rule for tributary states. (hey less hassles for them, right?)

as for assassination. it's really just a much more intelligent, and civilized way to do warfare. why kill thousands of troops when the deaths of a few key generals, bankers, kings, or politicians can avert whole 'wars'? of course it's got to be done intelligently, and selectivily. something i feel a 'superpower' really is ill suited to do.

i mean, yeah publicly machine gunning, bombing, and cruise missling leading figures (ala isreali style) is a bit bombastic, and apt to create resentment (the actual goal-takes two to fight, so gives them something to fight about) but who questions the quite passing of some innoccuous banker in his sleep, other than the warlords he was backing, who just might get the idea? it's a subtle thing.

i mean does the 'tyger' need to announce a press conference, and let the whole jungle know every time he manages to make some monkey his dinner?

the cycle of violence is a part of the natural order. to reject this is very 'non-tao', and consider ourselves as somehow above, and aloof from nature. hell even the 'taoists' of ancient china studied and mastered warfare. (taiji is not a relaxing, and pretty folk dance. Sun Tzu was obviously a scholar of taoist thought.)

in nature humans supposedly have no natural predators (except the delightful mosquito). i think that this is due to our ability to use, and adapt strategy. sure a bear, tiger, or viper can easily kill any given human being. but none of them makes human a regular part of their diet, because if they did we'd exterminate them. (look what happened to the 'dire wolf' of europe).

violence exists. master it so you have to experience it very inferquently.

not to say that i know anything about anything...

i would like to make a distinction between violence, and aggression. one can employ violence without aggression. 'cold blooded'. i have observed that when one reserves the option, and remains calm the decsion to fight/injure others is usually not used. unlike people who repress it, who eventually explode inapproprietly.

[ January 22, 2005, 04:51 AM: Message edited by: Agent Smith ]

[daniel]

i agree with agent smith that the sigils, rituals, swooshtikas, etc, of the corporate realm resemble occult practice - long ago didn't we post a great piece comparing the birth of the corporation with the practices of english alchemists in the 17th cent? - but i don't think this is conscious, rather it is unconscious.

Jean Gebser made excellent comparisons between what he calls the "magic structure" and the currently collapsing "mental-rational structure" of consciousness - suggesting also that the emergent "integral structure" will bear similarities to the "mythic structure." The underlying similarities create similar phenomena.

[nanouk]

do you know the story behind the "starbucks" logo?

[ January 28, 2005, 06:08 PM: Message edited by: nanouk ]

[Thom]

Actually killing another human being is something completely abhorrent for me. It would be deeply sad if I was ever in a situation where it was neccesary. Of course, people kill people every day - but as a response to a percieved social problem, I think its not justified. Like someone else said, its playing by "their" rules: if there seems to be a threat, bomb it.

I'm reading Electric Kool Aid Acid Test again. The prankster way of inventing your own game is something that probably hasn't been explored deeply enough, as far as I know.

[daniel]

I agree with you that the thought of killing anyone is utterly abhorrent. You live in Wales so perhaps feel less enmeshed in the gears of a system that is daily involved with the murder, imprisonment, wage-slavery, species-destruction, etc., as I might living in New York, however I would argue that the same processes are operative in Europe, and that Europe's perceived moral superiority over the US is pretty much groundless as their wealth and higher quality of life is a residue of colonialism and the post-colonial systems that still run the world.

I agree with the prankster idea up to a certain point - see my book sections on Burning Man. I believe this is valid as a way of being and shows a different attitude towards time and life and play. However, it is also ultimately adolescent as it is a kind of escape from the system rather than a complete dedication to transforming the system entirely so that that kind of freedom becomes generally available. As Herbert Marcuse wrote in One-Dimensional MAn, certainly by post-WW2 we should have created a post-scarcity and post-work global culture but instead "false needs"and anxieties (of nuclear war, terrorism, etc) were instituted so that people could not perceive their own real interests. The pranksters perceive the real interests- but they have to find a way to breakthrough with those ideas on a much deeper and broader transformational level. Otherwise their prank always has a kind of ultimately leaden quality.

[Agent Smith]

the idea of taking human (or ANY) life is something i take VERY seriously.

i have no desire to see a war.

i am well aware that wars are being fought that i am at the very least tangentially connected with.

you don't have to go to iraq to see a war zone. you know which neighborhood to go to if you want to see one. THAT war is ALSO being fought in your name.

i would rather think these things through before hand.
(some people haven't got the luxury of avoiding human aggression.)

[Humming]

I wrote this in a poem, in reference to depleted uranium. It's rather relevant to the disussion and I'm all excited about poetry because I just got back from a slam, so I'll post it:

"we teach the children from fetus to graduation to
want and want and want
and fight with pride for mine

strip-malls to strip-mine
integrity and intellectual potency
suck every last drop of poison from the well
they drill deep, right into our souls,
with a plaque commemorating the day that freedom was attacked
and later died

and lay decaying on the cross
the rotting fruit of revolution
toxified and sold as seeds of justice,
shot through phallic flamed chambers,
spewed and sown as depleted uranium fallout
for generations of innocents to harvest as physical and psychic deformities

carthage is burning, the salt has been thrown
time marches in shattered formation as cudgel fractures bone

a bloodstreamed mistake
running wild through the streets
into the gutters and out to the sea:
the final resting place of all tears shed in vain

a bloodstained promise
through clenched teeth

of vengeance, of madness"

[Thom]

Daniel: "You live in Wales so perhaps feel less enmeshed in the gears of a system that is daily involved with the murder, imprisonment, wage-slavery, species-destruction, etc., as I might living in New York, however I would argue that the same processes are operative in Europe, and that Europe's perceived moral superiority over the US is pretty much groundless as their wealth and higher quality of life is a residue of colonialism and the post-colonial systems that still run the world."

Agent Smith: "you don't have to go to iraq to see a war zone. you know which neighborhood to go to if you want to see one. THAT war is ALSO being fought in your name."

Yeah, I live there. We have the cheapest heroin in the uk, and a problem growing swiftly that has been described by govt. as an epidemic. One heroin death every week may not sound much, but when you consider that most of the towns and villages have populations of only a few thousand, it is deeply disturbing. Coupled with the prevailing alcoholism, unemployment, sense of cultural vascectomy and daily violent crime it can make my part of Europe seem a very bleak and desperate place. There's no post-colonial discourse here, because the Empire didn't leave. And there is certainly no sense of moral superiority, wealth, or high quality of life. The mountains may look beautiful to toursits, but they can seem a green desert to people who live there. Daniel, sorry to take you comments on Europe/Wales personally - I'm not sure if you intended them to be read that way - but it's very difficult not to. This is not to say there aren't positive things happening, it just seems like pissing in the wind sometimes.

Daniel: "The pranksters perceive the real interests- but they have to find a way to breakthrough with those ideas on a much deeper and broader transformational level."

Exactly.

[ January 24, 2005, 01:52 AM: Message edited by: Thom ]

[Thom]

Sorry, to be clear I am refering to the south Wales valleys - where I live - not Wales as a whole.

[nanouk]

not only that, we have bristol as a prime example of a uk major city living in the remnants of slave trade, since this was a transit port before these african and carribbean prisoners were sent to the united states.
high crime rates and gang violence is everyday stuff, and it is not valid to measure the size of the place, it is the figures 'per capita'.
as far as higher standard of living goes, i would have to disagree there too, rarely did i see an apartment let without heat included in chicago(i am sure the same applies to NYC). it is rare to find that luxury here, and cost of living is astronomical.
iaw, why compare europe and usa when one can see two neighboring tribes, like say, chicago's 'gold coast' and cabrini green live as if in separate worlds?
it is more about the 'masters and servants', upstairs, downstairs, issue.
hierarchy will always be present, because not all are suited or interested to govern themselves, autonomy is not for the weak hearted...

[ January 24, 2005, 06:17 AM: Message edited by: nanouk ]

[Thom]

Well, anyway…removing my Scoundrel Sun-Glasses TM, here is a very good essay on non-violent direct action from a Gebserian perspective, which I think fits in this thread:

EMBODIED DISCOURSE OF THE DISCONTENT:
NONVIOLENT DIRECT ACTION AS STRATEGY
FOR SOCIAL CHANGES
Nonviolence has become a more and more prominent approach to bring about socio-political restructuring. Recent events in Eastern Europe, China, South Africa have shown how grassroot mobilization on a mass scale for nonviolent direct action can challenge and uproot existing power structures within an amazingly short period of time This paper will discuss nonviolent direct action as originally formulated by Mahamata Gandhi in its lived context as social praxis. Within the framework of Jean Gebser's research on cultural transformations nonviolence is to be understood as a manifestation of integral consciousness. The change in the social organizations Gandhi sought to bring about represented a shift from a mental-rational cosmology to an integral one: Social institutions in the mental-rational cosmos are established on the principles of hierarchical divisions of functions and an unequal distribution of power. Bureaucracy as the omnipresent organizational scheme is thus characterized by a centralization of decision-making power and a functional division of labor. Mental-rational principles, furthermore, dictate that social changes be enforced within the established institutional channels. Changes proposed outside the system violate the mental-rational norms and are excluded from the range of possible options for re-forming the system. Nonviolent direct action is one such approach. Yet, as the following discussion will reveal, nonviolence is more than a means to an end; it reflects a cosmology which transcends the dualistic world view. From the perspective taken in this discussion nonviolence will be regarded as a strategy which derives its strength from the vital engagement of humans in which powerlessness is transformed into mutual empowering. The immediacy of this power of bodily action means a bridging of the dichotomies of I and other, active and passive, mind and body. The principles of nonviolence in their practical manifestation will be explored as neither rational nor irrational ways of inducing social change, which will require a reconceptualization of the relation between theory and praxis. The communicative patterns which arise in the process are to be regarded as a movement toward an arational domain which stands over and against the social system which is to be transformed. It is this emergence of an arational sphere which leads to a subversion of socio-political systems characterized by a centralization of power, a hierarchical institutional order and perpetuated through coercion.

SATYAGRAHA
The term "satyagraha" was coined in the Gandhian movement to denote the conviction it embraced--an "insistence on truth (Kytle, 1969, 90). However, it is important to note that the striving toward "truth" in this context is not to be understood in the Western metaphysical sense. Truth in Gandhi's philosophy is conceived as manifesting itself in human action, in social praxis. The notion of truth thus conveys not so much an internal process; rather it refers to a collective striving for a social arrangement suffused by truth (Dhawan, 1946, 53). The individual is seen as always correlated to the social context and it is within this matrix that the individual's identity arises. How, then, does this notion of truth manifest itself? To answer this question another basic concept in Gandhi's philosophy needs to be introduced, namely "ahimsa" or "non-injury" (Dhawan, 1946, 10-37). "Ahimsa" as the basis of interaction between human beings rejects all forms of violence, aggression, class distinction and concentration of power. Yet Gandhi's vision of a new social arrangement was not modeled after communist doctrines for he rejected the idea that the end justifies the means (Dhawan, 1946, 54). At the same time he was opposed to the utilitarian doctrine of the greatest good for the greatest number as the end to be attained, on the grounds that utilitarianism justified deprivation as long as the majority would be content (Dhawan, 1946, 53). The way Gandhi conceived the relation of means and ends will shed some light on the uniqueness of the social system he envisaged. First of all, Gandhi rejected the dichotomization of means and ends altogether--an indication of the revolutionary change that was sought. In Gandhian philosophy means and ends are inter- changeable terms. They are regarded as inseparable. In fact, Gandhi rejected any belief that an ideal state was attainable, that there could be an "end." He saw society as always striving toward specific goals and all political activities as revolving around these goals but contended that the striving would never cease. For this reason he placed emphasis on the means in the continuous transformation of society which could never come to an end (Dhawan, 1946, 53-56). The evolution was to be guided by the principles of satyagraha. Among the means which followed the principle of non-injury were dharna sitting down at the door of the oppressor with the resolve to die unless the wrong is redressed), prayopaveshana (fasting onto death), ajnabhanga (civil disobedience) and deshatyaga (Dhawan, 1946, 20). An analysis of the functions of these methods of nonviolence reveals their peculiar effect within the oppressive system: The methods of nonviolence are intended to obstruct business as usual within the dominant realm and thus to paralyze routine procedures. Such ways of obstructing the system can neither be regarded as active nor passive. They transcend these poles in an extraordinary way: The protesters in their willingness to receive violent attacks without striking back absorb the opposition, thus neutralizing the coercive means by which the status quo is to be maintained. Their direct bodily engagement--passive endurance of pain--is transformed into a powerful "weapon" against their attacker. The principle that arises in this process is neither active nor passive but provocative. The goal of the satyagrahi is to make the system cooperate in the struggle for change. Rather than proposing a rigid scheme for the transformation, however, the satyagrahi to change according to what the situation demands. As Erikson (1969, 435) observes, "[t]he mood of the Event was, above all, pervaded by a spirit of 'giving the opponent the courage to change' even as the challenger remained ready to change with the events." When Gandhi spoke of 'integrative power' he referred to power in which action and passion are totally intertwined. Nonviolence as a form of protest bridges the active-passive dichotomy. A further example of how this transformation of weakness into strength is achieved is fasting as a method of protest. The fast makes the protesters weak but at the same time strengthens them in their determination of enduring the time of deprivation. The power of nonviolence within a system that is established on the basis of rational principles arises because the rational system expects counter-attacks to the violence it exhibits. In the absence of aggression on the part of the protesters the system reveals its coercive character when it strikes out against them. In fact, the violence on the part of those who seek to restore "order" can be viewed as an irrational response when those who seek negotiation nonviolently are beaten and dragged away. By refusing to meet violence with violence, the protestors do not exhibit martyrdom, however. The protest is not a resignation in the face of injustice, but an acceptance of suffering while fighting for justice (Muller, 1981, 15). In the confrontation with the rational system nonviolent protesters seek to render the coercive rule impotent by defeating the system with its own measures. By filling jails, picketing or organizing strikes the protesters block the system's operations to a point where negotiation becomes imperative. What emerges in this process is, as indicated earlier, an arational domain which transcends the rational world view conventional systems are based on without resorting to an irrational response to the existing injustice. Social change is pursued not through destruction of the rulers nor by forcing them to resign; rather, nonviolent direct action is intended to empower those responsible for perpetuating injustice to make them cooperate to bring about change. This notion of empowering becomes central in the nonviolent struggle. It is a way of overcoming the powerful-powerless dichotomy in that every action is performed in the name of a collective goal, not for self-interest or profit for a few. The radically different society Gandhi envisaged was to be one in which all decisions on behalf of society were to be arrived at through a process of negotiation which was to serve all of society, not only a majority who agreed on specific policies. The process of negotiation was to be one of mutual empowering, not a confrontational mode of interaction. To take advantage of the opponent's weakness violated the principles of Satyagraha. So for example, Gandhi did not take advantage of the situation in Durban, South Africa, in 1914 when after having announced a large-scale protest the South African railways all went on strike. Gandhi cancelled the protest in face of the unforeseen weakened condition of the opponent. The willingness on the part of those who seek justice to cooperate with the opponent is central to the effectiveness of nonviolence as a strategy for social change. Nonviolence integrates rather than separates.

Theory and Praxis Satyagraha is not to be regarded as a theoretical framework which is merely applied in specific situations. To the contrary, nonviolence as a means for invoking change is action-based, thus the structure of the nonviolent maneuvers is volatile. This means that the theory ceases to be dogma. It is constantly questioned and readjusted depending on the circumstances. Theoretical guidelines for building strategies and defining goals become diluted in praxis, so to speak (Muller, 1981, 11). The theoretical guidelines provide a matrix which interconnects specific events without claiming that the connections that are identified are the only way of assessing the situation. Method and theory thus become transparent through each other. From a rational perspective such ways of bringing about social change are deemed irrational because they are spontaneous, in constant transformation (hence unpredictable), and in defiance of the law of identity. The emergence of the arational realm also means a new inscription of the notion of self: The individual ceases to be posited as an isolated, autonomous unit. Instead, as Gandhi clearly pointed out, the individual is necessarily correlated to the social context and self-realization can only be obtained by serving one's community. "Self" cannot stand independent from a context in which the individual is engaged in actions and is always entwined with others' actions. In the nonviolent engagements to evoke change the bridging of the dichotomy between "I" and "other" is particularly distinct: In the mass protests to redress intolerable social conditions the protestors lose their individuality, their vital engagement assumes its strength by virtue of the collective enduring of pain and abuse. The impact of nonviolent protests, in fact, cannot be explained without taking into account the vital dimension which becomes central in these events. More specifically, nonviolent direct action is embraced by a collective dimension of bodily engagement in which the boundaries between "I" and "other", weak and strong, active and passive are blurred.

NONVIOLENCE AS AN INTEGRAL WORLD VIEW
As the previous examples show, Gandhi's philosophy stands outside the logic of rational systems. The society Gandhi sought to build could not be realized through reform programs but demanded a complete restructuring of the existing systems in order to overcome the injustices which are inevitably given in hierarchically structured social systems. In this restructuration the development of a radically new way of life for each individual was imperative. Gandhi's personal struggle to attain the frugal, devoted way of life epitomized this quest. Fasting, for example, was not merely a strategy to put pressure on the government to act on behalf of a specific cause. Fasting was to be part of one's everyday life, a form of disciplining oneself to overcome the content and indulgent lifestyle the existing system offered as a reward for hard work (Gandhi, 1927, 240-242; Gandhi's Letters to a Disciple, 1950, 129). Frugality was not inspired by the same values as the Protestant ethic, however. Protestantism emphasizes frugality for the sake of securing individual gain and enhancing one's own profit and success. Gandhi's strife for disciplining oneself, on the other hand, was guided by communal values. It was to be the starting point for a redistribution of the resources to compensate those who had been deprived under the unjust conditions. Self-discipline was thus not an ideal the individual was to follow but a direct way of changing the economic and political situation at hand. As such it was a core indicator of one's commitment to the nonviolent endeavor to bring about change. Satyagraha as a way of life does not promise the cup of gold at the end of the struggle for alleviating intolerable conditions that other visions of an ideal society envision. The satyagrahi recognizes that continuous efforts have to be taken to perpetuate the nonviolent society once it has been established. The efforts demand each individual's contribution and devotion to the community. The underlying world view is not teleological as other social and political doctrines. Gandhian philosophy can be characterized as integral in the sense that it recognizes that
life is pleasure and pain at the same time, that society, while striving for permanence, is inevitably in flux, that the present envelops both past and future, that action and passion are totally intertwined in the nonviolent way of life. Its practice offers an all-embracing solution to the crisis the rational technocratic world view has been entangled in for a painfully long period of time.

References

Dhawan, Gopinath. The Political Philosophy of Mahamata Gandhi. Ahmedbad: Navajivan Publishing House, 1946.

Erikson, Erik. Gandhi's Truth. On the Origins of Militant Nonviolence. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1969.

Gandhi, Mahamata. The Story of My Experiments with Truth. Trans. Mahadev Desai, Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House, 1927.

Gandhi's Letters to a Disciple. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1950.

Gebser, Jean. Ursprung und Gegenwart. Novalis Verlag AG, Schaffhausen, 1978.

Kytle, Calvin. Gandhi, Soldier of Nonviolence. His Effect on India and the World Today. New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1969.

Muller, Jean-Marie. Strategie de l'Action Non-violente. Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1981.

***

(Apologies, I haven't been able to identify the author of this...anyone know??)

[nanouk]

thank you thom, very refreshing article to digest for breakfast, with my peppermint tea...(:
it is a beautiful and frosty day, i believe it is time for a walk... smile.gif

ps. it was a long time since i read Mahatma Gandhi's auto/biography, but his reasoning still rings true in my ears...

[ January 26, 2005, 12:31 AM: Message edited by: nanouk ]

[Isaiah Mpski]

Think I shall have a bit of tea this morning too Nanouk.

[lvx23]

Just got caught up on this thread. Agent Smith spoke of the occult aspect of corporations, and I agree that they can be regarded in such a way. Here's an article I wrote called The Corporate Egregore that explores this concept in some depth.

http://www.key23.net/occulture/archives/2004/08/02/the-corporate-egregore/

[primus23]

Another crack in the corporate armor:

Black Author wins The Matrix/Terminator Copyright Infringement Cases
Black Woman wrote* "The Matrix" & "The Terminator"
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 09:16:15 -0500*
This little known story has met a just conclusion, as Sophia Stewart, African American author of The Matrix will finally receive her just due from the copyright infringement of her original work!!! Monday, October 4th 2004 ended a six-year dispute involving Sophia Stewart, the Wachowski Brothers, Joel Silver and Warner Brothers. Stewart's allegations, involving copyright infringement and racketeering, were received and acknowledged by the Central District of California, Judge Margaret Morrow residing.
Stewart, a New Yorker who has resided in Salt Lake City for the past five years, will recover damages from the films, The Matrix I, II and III, as well as The Terminator and its sequels. She will soon receive one of the biggest payoffs in the history of Hollywood, as the gross receipts of both films and their sequels total over 2.5 billion dollars.
Stewart filed her case in 1999, after viewing the Matrix, which she felt had been based on her manuscript, "The Third Eye," copyrighted in 1981. In the mid-eighties Stewart had submitted her manuscript to an ad placed by the Wachowski Brothers, requesting new sci-fi works.
According to court documentation, an FBI investigation discovered that more than thirty minutes had been edited from the original film, in an attempt to avoid penalties for copyright infringement. The investigation also stated that "credible witnesses employed at Warner Brothers came forward, claiming that the executives and lawyers had full knowledge that the work in question did not belong to the Wachowski Brothers." These witnesses claimed to have seen Stewart's original work and that it had been "often used during preparation of the motion pictures." The defendants tried, on several occasions, to have Stewart's case dismissed, without success.
Stewart has confronted skepticism on all sides, much of which comes from Matrix fans, who are strangely loyal to the Wachowski Brothers. One on-line forum, entitled Matrix Explained has an entire section devoted to Stewart. Some who have researched her history and writings are open to her story. Others are suspicious and mocking. "It doesn't bother me," said Stewart in a phone interview last week, "I always knew what was true."
Some fans, are unaware of the case or they question its legitimacy, due to the fact that it has received little to no media coverage. Though the case was not made public until October of 2003, Stewart has her own explanation, as quoted at aghettotymz.com:
"The reason you have not seen any of this in the media is because Warner Brothers parent company is AOL-Time Warner... this GIANT owns 95 percent of the media... let me give you a clue as to what they own in the media business... New York Times papers/magazines, LA Times papers/magazines, People Magazine, CNN news, Extra, Celebrity Justice, Entertainment Tonight, HBO, New Line Cinema, Dreamworks, Newsweek, Village Roadshow... many, many more!... They are not going to report on themselves. They have been suppressing my case for years..."
Fans who have taken Stewart's allegations seriously, have found eerie mythological parallels, which seem significant in a case that revolves around the highly metaphorical and symbolic Matrix series. Sophia, the Greek goddess of wisdom has been referenced many times in speculation about Stewart. In one book about the Goddess Sophia, it reads, "The black goddess is the mistress of web creation spun in her divine matrix"

Although there have been outside implications as to racial injustice (Stewart is African American), she does not feel that this is the case. "This is all about the Benjamins," said Stewart. "It's not about money with me. It's about justice."
Stewart's future plans involve a record label, entitled Popsilk Records, and a motion picture production company, All Eyez On Me, in reference to God. "I wrote The Third Eye to wake people up, to remind them why God put them here. There's more to life than money," said Stewart. "My whole to the world is about God and good and about choice, about spirituality over 'technocracy'."
If Stewart represents spirituality, then she truly has prevailed over the "technocracy" represented in both the Terminator and the Matrix, and now, ironically, by their supposed creators.
Stewart is currently having discussions with CBS about a possible exclusive story and has several media engagements in the near future to nationally publicize her victory. June 13th 2004. Sophia Stewart's press release read: "The Matrix & Terminator movie franchises have made world history and have ultimately changed the way people view movies and how Hollywood does business, yet the real truth about the creator and creation of these films continue to elude the masses because the hidden secret of the matter is that these films were created and written by a Black woman... a Black woman named Sophia Stewart. But Hollywood does not want you to know this fact simply because it would change history. Also it would encourage our Black children to realize a dream and that is... nothing is impossible for them to achieve!"

[daniel]

this is totally fascinating! Thanks primus for posting.

It is true the mythological aspect is fascinating - Sophia the black writer as a return of Sophia the goddess of wisdom and the "black goddess," bringing a message of liberation that is transmuted into Hollywood spectacles that deny her contribution to continue the illusion of macho supremacy (Hollywood revealed as contemporary bastion of a Babylonian priestly patriarchy?)...

Life is not only better than fiction, life is fiction!

[dragonfly]

Primus, what's the source of that piece you posted?

[primus23]

If you do a google search for 'sophia stewart, matrix' you'll see it comes up on some ethnic sites and the Salt Lake City local rag. I just realized that the Matrix mega-dvd collection came out around the same time as the verdict. Coincedence that the mainstream media/distribution outlets didn't mention this tiny tidbit to us? Hmmmmm....

[forteanajones]

That is a truly amazing story!

However I have also heard that she has not won yet, and that the trial will begin (if they do not settle out-of-court) this July 2005.

Yet even still it's a very satisfying story.

[The Wind]

"The living world is dying; the natural economy is crumbling beneath our busy feet.We have been to self-absorbed to foresee the long-term consequences of our actions, and we will suffer a terrible loss unless we shake off our delusions and move quickly to a solution. Science and technology led us into this bottleneck. Now science and technology must help us find our way through and out." - Edward O. Wilson

No lie boys and girls. There are solutions, they are just not thought up yet, or at least acted upon. The answer is there, just find it. Don't wait, act. Ghandi, law, eternal reformation and/or destruction. Not destruction in a violent approach, but in a creative one.

"In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we create, but by what we refuse to destroy"

[daniel]

okay Wind, so how are you acting?

[The Wind]

WELLLLL really i'm not. It's a little hard to change the world when you're in high school, looking forward to 2 more years after this one.

[The Wind]

I guess im learning as much as i can before i act, i liked your book(i assume your pinchbeck but curious why your #3 on the site) so here i am, exploring what's known

[ March 03, 2005, 05:06 PM: Message edited by: The Wind ]

[willoweyes]

Wind, I like your style, but from the perspective of over half a century, it is never easy to challenge the global elite. The personal auto uses up on an average of 20 percent of your net resources--we are slaves to these beasts! Walking or riding a bike is a good place to seriously challenge the destructive paridigm. Check out where your food comes from--try to avoid that muskmelon flown in from Chile--that lettuce shipped from CA to NY. Start your own little garden--that will teach the bastards a lesson. Don't waste--don't buy the shwoostika.

There is a wonderful story about two pilgrims travelling to see a great guru. As the pilgrims are walking up the steep streamside path to his hut, one of the pilgrims spots a lettuce leaf floating downstream. "This man can have nothing to teach me!" he declares. "He is a wastrel!" Just then they spot the elderly guru, long grey beard flying, rushing down the path to rescue the lettuce leaf.

I think adoring your spot of earth is most important. There is a saying in the Bable: "The eye of the Master fatteneth the cattle." An adoring eye--a true love for the earth--can lead to health and beauty.

You are probably thinking about all these things already--I just mention a few steps I've taken to help me.

[The Wind]

Most of my friends and peers are ignorant to the effect of their lifestyles on the rest of the world. Friends laugh, even think im kidding when I tell them to pick up their wrappers that they dropped to the ground, eventually picking them up myself. I notice a slight change in their views a few months later though, showing me that these kids are succeptable to change. If there is a place to start, it's with the teenagers, who have not been cemented in the selfishness of this nation.They "want the world and they want it now". Howevor it is scary: a girl in my 1st period class sitting in front of me tells the curious listeners nearby of her incident when she made the hair stylist redew her hair because it was a shade lighter than she wanted it dyed. Instantly pictures of radiation affected babies and other atrocities plague my mind. It's bohtersome that the society i inhabit makes me sick. The power and attitude of this country cannot be changed externally. It needs to be reguided from the inside. The other night before i feel asleep i heard women's voices screaming and crying. Then i saw a group of Asians cheering as a rocket was launched in the center of a circular building. I swore i heard the whistle of it and imagined the impact. It's not too late and i won't wait until it is.

[ March 04, 2005, 05:37 PM: Message edited by: The Wind ]

[silentwolf]

You're not kidding, dude. A lot of us are really sick of it. I can't stand commercialism, but there's no place where I can go and just be...primal, primitive, living like the human animal I know I am.

Sure, AC is nice, but I prefer the way that hot florida sun just seems to try and push you into the ground...too bad you don't get that this time of year in NC.

A lot of people are stupid. Commercialism is the few riding on the backs of the many. The only way we can be king these days is by having lots of people spending money on something of ours...get them to feel like they need to pour their work into our pockets. What's the point? All we really need is fresh air, a shelter from the elements, good company, and land that can grow half-decent crops. The other things that are being thrown at you are tricks and traps.

[Isaiah Mpski]

You were a bit wrong about Paul.
Paul preached about imminent disaster.He preached that Jesus was coming back with the power of his Father God and punish everyone who didn't believe in him that is Christ.
I would add one caveat to your list.
Live in a place that can survive any natural disaster.
Don't be happy with just one home for in my Father's house are many mansions.

[ March 16, 2005, 02:34 PM: Message edited by: Isaiah Mpski ]

[The Wind]

silent i think there is a place that people can just go and live off the land. I'm sayin somewhere like california, arizona, where the sun is hott and there isnt much population. If we could get a group of people the same way and started a little eco community, it could be a cool start. Solar panels all day, wind mills and that type of energy sources. Im interested to try it out. Then possibly start a little magazine or something to share with the people not in, then maybe it could grow

[whitewave]

The Wind--
Check out The Occidental Arts & Ecology Center in California. Sonoma County, can't remember the specific town. It is a community like you describe in your above post. Also, you might be interested in the course I took on permaculture called Earth Activist Training. The next one is in September. They have grants if you can't afford to pay.

[Isaiah Mpski]

Actually Whitewave,I think you should sell out,or maybe take out a big mortage(LOL) and come to Oklahoma,at least part time.
I will sell you a nice acreage,all lakefront,near I-40 for less than 35,000$
In fact I will sell you a nice two brm house {Oral Robers occupied on occasion He may have talked with Jesus here},for 30,000$
There are all sorts of ways to make money here;gardening is great and living is cheap.
Fishing is great.I caught several hundred pounds of gamefish last year.The ducks come in here by the hundreds of thousands.The Lake-Eufaula- is 50 miles long.Six hundred miles of shoreline.

"To write a book,to make a movie...."

Mpski 2005

[ March 25, 2005, 05:46 AM: Message edited by: Isaiah Mpski ]

[whitewave]

Actually Isaiah,
I don't even have the option of selling out any more! I've got all sorts of debts chasing me around in cyberspace. I do have the option of dropping out I suppose....but I think I already did that a long time ago when I moved to this island. Dropping out, I've discovered is not what it seems. More like dropping in.

[Isaiah Mpski]

Life's a bitch isn't it wave.
And seems like you always miss the old times.
I've always wanted to go back to the Santa Fe-Taos area where I lived in the mid-seventies but now have shifted my focus to Mexico.
Maybe I'm Quetzoqatel(sic) too.
I really am concerned about your fear of a tsunami.I would be too.I am also concerned about the shifts I see in society.Violence and greed-particularily in the medical arena,and how it affects my child.
God let me get a good well or sell a part of the farm so I can buy a place in Mexico.

[ March 25, 2005, 07:46 AM: Message edited by: Isaiah Mpski ]

[Agent Smith]

Occidental Arts is in Occidental California...

...my personal favorite is the Central Rocky Mountian Permaculture Insitute in colorado...

[primus23]

Here's a good update resource on Sophia Stewart. Seems that there is some momentum building supporting her battle with the Machine.

http://www.daghettotymz.com/matrix/matrix.html

[nwowatcher]

http://www.hotghettomess.com/Not_Ghetto-Sophia_Stewart_Pic.jpg
http://www.hotghettomess.com/not.htm

[nwowatcher]

http://www.gemworld.com/Symbols/eagle.jpg http://www.gemworld.com/Symbols/illuminati.jpg

Many companies use the pyramid within their logos. James Walker, a 32є Mason, shares some facts about the above symbols:

13 leaves in the olive branch
13 bars and stripes in the shield
13 arrows in the right claw
13 letters in the "E Pluribus Unum" on the ribbon
13 stars in the green crest above
13 granite stones in the Pyramid. (The 13 layers represent the 13 Illuminati bloodlines)
13 letters in Annuit Coeptis

It should also be noted that the Eagle has 32 feathers right wing, but 33 in its left wing. The 32 feathers representing the number of ordinary degrees of the Scottish Rite, and the 33 feathers representing the 33є of Freemasonry. (32+33=65) The tail feathers number 9, the number of degrees in the York Rite. The eagle itself is a prominent icon of Masonry, being used extensively in the Scottish Rite.

Looking just above the eagles head you will see 13 pentagrams within a cloud. The pentagrams are arranged in the shape of a hexagram - or greater Seal of Solomon. The hexagram is a powerful tool used by pagans and sorcerers to invoke Satan. It is also the sign of Anti Christ with 6 points, 6 angles and 6 planes ( 666). ) The 5 pointed pentagrams multiplied by the 13 stars equals 65, the same cabalistic number as mentioned above. This makes one wonder with whom or what, we are to dwell in unity!

In Freemasonry, the Pentagram is found commonly in the inner chambers of the lodges. Its ancient origins are as a symbol for the star Sirius, inextricably linked through the Masonic lore to the Egyptian goddess Isis. As such, it has become the symbol for the Order of the Eastern Star, the female counterpart to the exclusively male brotherhood of Freemasonry.

The eagle replaced the Phoenix in 1841 as the national bird. The Phoenix has been a Brotherhood symbol since ancient Egypt. The Phoenix was adopted by the Founding Fathers (Freemasons) for use on the reverse of the first official seal of the United States after a design proposed by Charles Thompson, Secretary of the Continental Congress.
http://www.gemworld.com/US-Symbol-1dol.html

Both Herodotus and Pliny noted the general resemblance in shape between the phoenix and the eagle, it is reasonably certain that the modern Masonic eagle was originally a Phoenix.
http://www.winshop.com.au/annew/Phoenix.html

Much More on the Phoenix/Egyptian Benu Bird:
http://www.nwowatcher.com/forum.php/index.php?board=8;action=display;threadid=1196;sta rt=new;boardseen=1

Massive Amount of Corporate Symbolism-
10 Pages Worth!:
http://www.nwowatcher.com/forum.php/index.php?board=8;action=display;threadid=432

[nwowatcher]

Look like the Star of David to You?

=======================================

Shri Bagalamukhi Devi
She is the goddess of black magic, of poisons. She rules over the subtle perception which make us feel at a distance the death or misery of those we know. She incites men to torture one another. She revels in suffering - Hindu Polytheism, Alain Danielou

This is the first publication, in English, of The Hymn of Bagalamukhi. In the colophon of the work it is stated that it is from the Rudra Yamala, a large and authoritative Tantra considered to be of considerable antiquity, although the original seems to have disappeared.


Bagala or Bagalamukhi is the eighth Mahavidya in the famous series of the 10 Mahavidyas Kali, Tara, Shodashi, Bhuvaneshvari, Chinnamasta, Bhairavi, Dhumavati, Bagala, Matangi and Kamala. she is identified with the second night of courage, according to Alain Danielou in his Hindu Polytheism, and is the power or Shakti of cruelty.

http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/gthursby/tantra/bagala2.gif

Bagalamukhi means "The Crane-Headed One". This bird is thought of as the essence of deceit. As can be seen from the hymn, she rules magic for the suppression of an enemy's gossip. These enemies also have an inner meaning, and the peg she puts through the tongue may be construed as a peg or paralysis of our own prattling talk. She rules deceit which is at the heart of most speech. She can in this sense be considered as a terrible or Bhairavi form of Matrika Devi, the mother of all speech. According to Todala Tantra, her male consort is Maharudra.

MORE
http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/gthursby/tantra/bagala.htm

[nanouk]

this is the only way i can agree with daniel, that there are daemonic qualities in women, i know two or three women very well, who absolutely love to see other's suffer, rather than helping them out. i used to tolerate it, because i tried to see their good qualities rather than the bad(that unconditional love). now i have to open my mouth, and tell them how cruel they are, but it has gone too far...
it is like a contageous disease, it spreads to their offspring too. shame. jealousy is a serial killer.

[Girl]

I don't remember ever seeing anything about a hexagram being used to invoke satan in anything I've studied about paganism. I have, however, read plenty about it in my studies on Sacred Geometry. It is a two-dimensional representation of a star tetrahedron (two interlocking tetrahedrons), a basic sacred geometry shape.

According to Drunvalo Melchizedek, the "merkaba" vehicle of personal ascension is formed of counter-rotating star tetrahedron-shaped fields of energy.

And Richard C. Hoagland speaks of the "tetrahedral/hyperdimensional" model of physics he believes is encoded in the ruins on the plains of Cydonia on Mars. Hoagland also has several interesting analyses of the cermonial magick/Masonic symbology patterns found in NASA events. http://www.enterprisemission.com

I could go into more detail about these things, but I think it would be more appropriate under a different topic. I just wanted to present a slightly less ominous perspective on the shapes used on the dollar.

I don't think our Masonic forefathers had it in for us from the beginning when they started this little experiment in democracy and enlightenment called America. I do agree that their original intentions have been pre-empted by those with far less noble intentions. Representatives of the Archons as it were.

[Eagle Wing]

another source to check out on the significance of tetrahedra is Buckminster Fuller. His discussion of the "isotropal vector matrix" and the "6-vector equilibrium" is similar to the idea of the spirit body mentioned above.
Bucky, incidentally, was certainly no Mason or political powerbroker, but rather an eccentric new england outsider intellectual whose ideas were extremely important for humanity, yet largely ignored and forgotten...