In Defense of Chaos

[Irreverend Hugh, KSC]

In Defense of Chaos: Some Eristic Thoughts

Beliefs are strangleholds. The word belief is simply a pretty way of saying ?´prejudice??. Faith is for those who will not allow their heart-mind to function. Perception designs and is designed by your beliefs, thoughts, outlooks, and ideas. It is best to realize this and get rid of the pretentious bullshit of ?´objectivity??. In a polymorphous, polycentric, panentheistic, polychromatic, and fluid multiverse such as ours, even the very notion of ?´objectivity?? is a betrayal of underlying biases.

Folks, there is a new aeon dawning whether you like it or not. A magical paradigm is rising gradually to replace the collapsing materialist outlook, the failed transcendentalism of the great religions, and the narcissistic pseudo-spirituality of the New Age. For all practical purposes, I call the new aeon ?´the Aftermath???ñbut that is because I am Discordian. Hail Eris! Others have different names for it. The old monotheist transcendentalists call it the apocalypse or the end-times. The materialists call it the revolution, the information society, or the nightmare of environmental collapse. Some mages are calling it the Chaoist Age. Whatever you choose to call it, it is happening. Magical worldviews (more closely related to the scientific method, than to spirituality) are gaining in popularity. Even the occult world has experienced a shift from an emphasis on elaborate theories and speculations, towards the real practice of magic. The secret of the multiverse is out?ñthere is no secret.

Chaos has been revealed to be the underlying principle of creativity, as well as destruction, in our multiverse. Order has been exposed as the pretender to the throne of our hearts that it truly is. Disorder, the half-sister of Order has been shown to be a merely different style of order. Both of them, when used as frameworks for perception, exhibit anti-chaos biases. It is time to begin turning the tables on those thoughts and ideas that are anti-chaotic.

?¨The chaos magical view of self is that it is based on the same random capricious chaos which makes the universe exist and do what it does. The magical self has no center; it is not a unity but an assemblage of parts?ñ?Æ   -Peter Carroll

?¨?ñmagic should attempt to undermine the decaying remnants of monotheism without offering itself as a target in the process.?Æ

Materialism is on the way out! All Hail Discordia! The nihilism characterized by over-consumption of luxury goods in an ecology that can not support such behavior is the most flagrant symptom of that dying paradigm. People will demand more and more of what can not work, and to maintain this over-consumption, will be willing to see the deaths of millions of people?ñas the population rises. But, despite all measures that materialists take, they will fail due to the underlying greed that propels their supposed altruism. The transcendentalists may try to stir up an apocalypse in a last ditch attempt to restore the primacy of religion in the world. And like the materialists, the transcendentalists, whether fundamentalist Islamists, Christians, or New Agers, are willing to contemplate and allow the deaths of millions to maintain their failing theories. Hopefully those of us with a chaoist approach to life and a magical worldview can subvert the efforts, energies, and enthusiasms of those two dying paradigms so that any transition to the next aeon can be more peaceful and productive.

The rise of Neo-Paganism in the West is a reaction to the dominance of the failed monotheistic Christianity that had prevailed as the major tyranny for 1500 years. It is also a reaction to and a growth from the materialistic rationalism that gave Christianity that death blow. If Christianity survives at all it will be as one choice in a Neo-Pagan type society that offers many spiritual choices for everyone. But if Neo-Paganism is to survive it must stamp out the remaining traces of transcendentalism that it absorbed unconsciously from Christianity. Because transcendentalism has been dead, despite recent attempts at resuscitation, for some time now. If magical traditions are to survive, they must get past both the prevailing energy paradigm adopted in response to materialism, and the spiritual paradigm adopted in response to the old Paganism at the foundation of the Greco-Roman world.  

?¨Enough research tends to support one??s theories.?Æ -a Discordian saying

The chaos magical idea that whatever you believe about magic tends to be confirmed can be explained thusly: If you believe and accept the Hindu Chakra paradigm, then you will experience Chakras. You will begin to perceive body energies in terms of Chakras. Likewise, if you care little for the Chakras because you are a 4th century Druid, you would possibly accept the Gaelic ?´3 Kettle?? (kettle=cauldron) system of energy and will have experiences based on that paradigm. Personally, I see little merit in simply accepting such systems at face value. You could just as easily invent your own energy model paradigm and experience the energies through that. It is important not to confuse magic with energy. That would be like confusing a flame with the candle. In Vajrayana I learned how to shift Chakras and mix them about. This exercise was to show us the remarkable ability our mind has in manipulating energy to conform to our expectations.

The reason I think that many people absorb whole-heartedly the poorly researched and constructed theories of the so-called experts is because they have little magical experience. Or possibly all of their experience is within someone else??s paradigm and they have not taken that leap towards freedom that is the real incentive that drives all magical people towards practice. ?¨What??Æ you??re saying, ?¨You reject the truths of Chakras? Of karma? Of spirituality??Æ  My non-acceptance is not outright rejection. I see some use in karma, in chakras, and in aspects of spirituality. But its usefulness will not make a believer out of me. Especially when I have experienced other paradigms in just as vivid and ?´objective?? ways. It??s all up to the person.

Chaos magic is not about doing as you wish on the same level as a fluffbunny. It is about researching and practicing magical systems in concrete ways that produce results. Forget all the bullshit obfuscation that armchair occultists use to explain away their lack of experience in magical ability. The Chaos approach is investigative in everything, including the deeply held yet fabricated assumptions about the existence of a ?´self?? and the ?´energies?? that go into making the self up. On one hand, you are not what you think?ñyet on the other hand, you are. Because your perception will be based on how you think. None of this means that you are essentially anything?ñbut it??s obvious you are not nothing. Take care to avoid the dogmatic pitfalls of both nihilism and essentialism.

I recently told a friend that I had uncovered the reality that magic can be performed independent of any motion of energy?ñand she looked at me in shock. Well?ñyou??re non-theistic-deity-damned right! The game is up! Energy is matter, silly! And spirit, well that could debated to no end. If you think of spirit in terms of some gaseous type non-material substance that is a mere shadow of material things, you could be deluding yourself?ñthough you could be onto something there. But let me slap you with the Eris Bitchslap and say this: Matter and spirit are simply the shadows of magic. Blam! That??s my story. It??s about as realistic as any other. And it works for me surprisingly well at this stage in my life. My attitude is that magic things seem like a shadow because the prevailing thought consensus and energies we live among are focused on either matter or spirit?ñand that is why there is so much convolution and inability to explain magic easily. Seeing matter and spirit from this magical paradigm actually collapses the false difference between matter and spirit quite nicely?ñand in a way that doesn??t require the reading of an entire book to understand.  

Shit! I mean if one were to approach magic from an actual magical paradigm that is free of materialistic-energy explanations and transcendentalist-spirit dogmas, you would quantum leap your magical ability from a place in which enchantment occasionally works to a life of successful results magic in such a short time that you??d fall in danger of not accepting it. (How??s that for a run-on sentence?) But I have my own magical paradigm, which is like the sky in that it changes with life experiences. Please practice and experience magic for yourself and come up with your own.

Now, if you want to experience life from a Wiccan perspective, then you will have Wiccan experiences that will confirm that perspective. Likewise, if you want to do it from a Christian perspective, you will have Christian experiences. And so on?ñand so forth. Either it??s all true or none of it is. Or something else entirely. Don??t hate me for saying that, I didn??t design the multiverse. I wish I knew what the fuck was going on. Nope. I don??t. And Eris wouldn??t explain it coherently, if I asked Her. So, I am happy being alive and content that there is so much to learn and to try.

?¨Illumination is only a light switch away.?Æ  -The White Mouse (a Discordian trickster)

?¨Thus, rationalists, who are all puritans, have never considered the fact that disbelief in magick is found only in puritanical societies.?Æ  -Robert A. Wilson (a writer)

Anyone who would like to discuss this further can find out how to find me.

St. Hugh, KSC (Chaos 3rd, 3170)

[Trollax]

I remember a Koan Nephthys once plopped me in the middle of...
I was attempting to do a candle meditation I set up five candles around a circle and place one of my crystals in the center. Well this night, none of the candles would sit still. I tried to will them to settle down but nothing happened. Usually I would get at least a lessening of the overall irregularity of the flame, no dice.
She siad to me, "How can you work magic when the air conditioning is interfering with it?"
To which I said, "Should it even matter whether or not the AC is interfering?"
About a minute later I got tired or working on that stroke so I got up and turned the air conditioning, when I got back I sat down and she was sitting opposite me and she said.
"Now was that magic or science that made the candles stop?" I knew from the word go that the answer was not "both" not in the same way that cop-out is traditionally implied. The idea of a questiong being both yes and no answers at the same time is not the problem, but the idea of the answer being the happy middle between yes and no is fallacious, it is more complex than that.
I couldn't answer her question for many months, until when after getting off my train in newcastle west, I was mulling over the magical inclinations of someoneorother when I just described them out loud as "But that's just ignorance of what is around them."
If it is possible to hear a self-satisfied smile, I heard hers accross all of 40 billion dimensions and 3,000,000 miles. In that moment I realised that science could be considered as magic and magic as science with an important factor: Ignorance.
Science is the denial of the possible in favour of what actually happens, and magic is the denial of what actually happens in favour of the possible. Both extremeist ends of the same continuum.

[Slarti]

okay hugh. i'm really interested in learning chaos magick, i'm trying pretty hard (despite the wishes of my parents, which makes it all that much harder.... the occult is bad, hehe. I can't wait until i don't depend on adults for a ride to borders..) to learn chaos magick...

i'm starting to experiment with chaos magick. it's pretty great...

is there anything in liber null and psychonaut that i can't find with a quick google search for "chaos kaos magick magic"? Because the chaos magic stuff on the internet seems to be 20 or 30ish websites with exactly the same information on all of them........

[Z³]

Just go to a bookstore and look for Peter Carroll, he seems to be the root of the trend.

[Slarti]

and i quote


despite the wishes of my parents, which makes it all that much harder.... the occult is bad, hehe. I can't wait until i don't depend on adults for a ride to borders..) to learn chaos magick...


i would already own the peter carroll books, but my parents (my only means of transportation to the bookstore) say i can't buy any books on 'witchcraft or the occult'. too bad i'm anti social.. if i had friends then maybe i could catch a ride that way...

[Bella]

Try this site to begin with:  http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/chaos/
They provide free access to written materials on chaos magic, as well as many other subjects.
I just looked and they have some of Peter Carrols stuff on chaos magic available for you to read online.  

[Z³]

Try this site to begin with:  http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/chaos/
They provide free access to written materials on chaos magic, as well as many other subjects.
I just looked and they have some of Peter Carrols stuff on chaos magic available for you to read online.  

I cant believe I didnt think of that!
Yet again, SSS beats me to the punch.

[Slarti]

thanks much guys... those excerpts are a big help, i dunno why i missed that on google.


a question on Chaos.

is chaos a synonym for disorder? i mean, i know that's how people use it.. but i had thought that chaos was more a superposition of Order and Disorder... like

Order + Disorder = Chaos ???

Is that right?

[Bella]

Well, yeah....I would say you're right on track with "order + disorder = chaos."
I kind of look at chaos as everything all muddled together.....
which is massive disorder, but with just enough order imposed to keep things running.
Except that there are always exceptions and sometimes it means whatever we think it means.....or not.
Because everyone has their own perception of anything and everything, Slarti, and these perceptions give form and shape to our individual realities.

In chaos magic, the practitioners pick and choose elements of other schools of magic, combining them and/or creating their own elements to add to the mix.
It's all highly individual and intensely personal and creative. You're going to be great at it.

[riff]

The metaphor I use is: Chaos is a huge bag of Scrabble letters.  When you pull some letters out, sometimes they make a word (Order), and sometimes they don't (Disorder).  And then when you're done, you throw them all back in the bag again.

[B23.77]

Chaos is defined as utter disorder, which is more like non-order.  Chaos and order are actually like lovers sometimes.  They blend like lovers rather than fight like enemies (although they do that too).  Both of them make up this world of earth.  It's all chaos and it's all some kind of order.  People just fear and demonize the chaos because they've ordered up this grand high tech world, but we all turn to dust eventually, except for Alex Chiu of course.  The dust.  Earth.

[Irreverend Hugh, KSC]

okay hugh. i'm really interested in learning chaos magick, i'm trying pretty hard (despite the wishes of my parents, which makes it all that much harder.... the occult is bad, hehe. I can't wait until i don't depend on adults for a ride to borders..) to learn chaos magick...

i'm starting to experiment with chaos magick. it's pretty great...

is there anything in liber null and psychonaut that i can't find with a quick google search for "chaos kaos magick magic"? Because the chaos magic stuff on the internet seems to be 20 or 30ish websites with exactly the same information on all of them........

http://www.chaosmatrix.org/ for great archives about chaos magic, including several books...online and free. Many of the liber null books are there, as well as Peter Carroll's other work. And from that site, there are others like http://www.chaosmagic.com/ . That should be a good start. Don't worry about actually owning books. You won't need them, except as inspiration, possibly. Just pick a simple method, such as sigil magic, and go with that. You'll be surprised.

[Slarti]

thanks for the links hugh, those sites  are awesome.

?¨Illumination is only a light switch away.?Æ

well, either my arm isn't long enough to reach, or i don't know how to flick the switch....

[All_One_Mind (GO BUSH!)]

?¨Illumination is only a light switch away.?Æ

well, either my arm isn't long enough to reach, or i don't know how to flick the switch....

Or the light is already on.

[MaxwellsDemon]

nicely put all one mind.....

Thought Id share a quote I stumbled on, the candles/ AC thing brought it to mind

"All experience is occult, Wheras all unexperienced knowledge is scientific"
Herman Hesse