The Golden Sphere of Possibility

[LMNO]

For shits and giggles:




Hello, friend.  Welcome to the Golden Sphere of Possibility.

You think you just woke up here one day, right?  Think again.  It was your whole life that brought you to this.  Fact is, you were born to be here.  Go ahead, look around.  I,Äôll be here when you get back.

Looks smaller than it is, don,Äôt it?  It doesn,Äôt even feel all that bad.  But sometimes, you look through the shimmering concave arc, and you see all that you,Äôre missing.  Abandoned ambitions.  Best-left-forgotten dreams.  Things that could-have-been.  Here, put your palms up to the Sphere, touch the surface, let me show you something.

Feel that?  That,Äôs all the books you,Äôve read.  And that parabola over there is your adolescence.  Look up:  It,Äôs your CD collection.  The pallet you woke up on?  Your parents.  Like I said, you were born to be here.  It,Äôs your life, it,Äôs the golden encapsulation of your own existence.  You painted yourself into this vessel.

So, now you,Äôre wondering why you feel that anything inside your sphere is possible, in your own life.  Why now, why today, can you see the sloping sides of a Golden Sphere of Possibility, that you made for yourself?  Because you stopped reacting inside of it, and took a couple of steps forward.  You thought you could do the impossible, you tried to be self reliant, and bang.  You smacked your head against the sphere.

What,Äôs that?  Yeah.  That,Äôs when the knowledge of the end of the Possible sets in.  When you didn,Äôt know you were inside, everything was fine.  But now that you know, you can see your entire, tired, call-and-response life stretch out before you, enclosed in this curved wall, this round capsule.  Breathe, kid.  It,Äôs just abject panic that you,Äôre feeling right now.  Some even say that this is what death feels like:  An unchanging life, immune and unfeeling to what you really want.

Look around you.  Look at these golden, curved walls.  The glimmering ceiling.  The hard ground.  That,Äôs your universe.  That,Äôs the world you,Äôre going to be living in for the rest of your life here in the Sphere.  You,Äôre going to live out your life only being able to do what,Äôs limited to what you have created.  Or, not so quiet if you decide to take the rifle/bell tower route.  Either way, long or short, it,Äôll feel the same.  Static, unchanging. 

So, if you,Äôre interested, I,Äôd like to invite you pop the bubble,Ķ

Just turn around.

[AFK]

You do realise what you've just done don't you?

I wonder how Laz would take to this one.....

[LMNO]

Same metephor, different words.


There is a limit to what you know, shaped by how you see it, physically, mentally, and emotionally.

See it as a prison, preventing you from what's outside your knowledge, see it as a sphere, containing all you know within it.


What's the difference?

[Triple Zero]

nice..!

i like the way it starts all golden and shiny and suddenly you bump your head and it feels claustrophic.

just a few questions:
- why is adolescence a parabola?
- why did the reader wake up on a pallet (that's the wooden thing right?), shouldn't it be a warm floor or a matress maybe?
- when you say "put your palms on the sphere" i was imagining touching a bright ball (from the outside) only to realize later in the piece that it was infact describing a sphere from the inside. maybe that should be made a bit clearer from the start?

[AFK]

I know, ultimately, it's the same idea but I can see the Possibility vs. Prison being seized upon.  They could seem to be different ideas. 

[LMNO]

I pretty much just altered it from this:

Hey, kid.  Welcome to Prison.

You think you just woke up here one day, right? ¬†Think again. ¬†It was your whole life that brought you to this. ¬†Fact is, you were born to be here. ¬†Go ahead, look around. ¬†I,Äôll be here when you get back.

Looks smaller than it is, don,Äôt it? ¬†Sometimes, it doesn,Äôt even feel all that bad. ¬†But still,Ķ You look through those bars, and you see all that you,Äôre missing. ¬†Hopes. ¬†Dreams. ¬†What could-have-been. ¬†Here, put your palms up to the Black Iron, grab the bars, let me show you something.

Feel that? ¬†That,Äôs all the books you,Äôve read. ¬†And that entire wall over there is your adolescence. ¬†Look up: ¬†It,Äôs your CD collection. ¬†The floor you woke up on? ¬†Your parents. ¬†Like I said, you were born to be here. ¬†It,Äôs your life, it,Äôs the cold trap of your own existence. ¬†You painted yourself into a corner.

So, now you,Äôre wondering why you feel trapped here, in your own life. ¬†Why now, why today, can you see the bars of a Black Iron Prison that you made for yourself? ¬†Because you stopped reacting, and took a couple of steps forward. ¬†You thought you could do what you wanted, you tried to be self reliant, and bang. ¬†You smacked your head against the wall.

What,Äôs that? ¬†Yeah. ¬†That,Äôs when the claustrophobia sets in. ¬†When you didn,Äôt know you were trapped, everything was fine. ¬†But now that you know, you can see your entire, tired, monotonous life stretch out before you, trapped in these 4 walls, these 6 sides. ¬†Breathe, kid. ¬†It,Äôs just abject panic that you,Äôre feeling right now. ¬†Some even say that this is what death feels like: ¬†An unchanging life, immune and unfeeling to what you really want.

Look around you. ¬†Look at these cold, black bars. ¬†The colorless ceiling. ¬†The hard ground. ¬†That,Äôs your universe. ¬†That,Äôs the world you,Äôre going to be living in for the rest of your life here in Prison. ¬†You,Äôre going to live out your life in quiet desperation. ¬†Or, not so quiet if you decide to take the rifle/bell tower route. ¬†Either way, long or short, it,Äôll feel the same. ¬†Dead, unchanging. ¬†

So, if you,Äôre interested, I,Äôd like to invite you to a jailbreak,Ķ

Just turn around.

So, "parabola" was just another word for "curved wall", "Pallet" could be a bed of some kind, like in a monastary.  I see what you mean about being on the inside, though.

[LMNO]

I know, ultimately, it's the same idea but I can see the Possibility vs. Prison being seized upon.  They could seem to be different ideas. 

Well, that's an interesting side digression, in an optimist/pessimist way.

Angle:  The BIP implies we are held back from knowledge, and we desire a way out.

The Sphere implies that we are comfortable in our ignorance.

[LHX]

in case there is any confusion, Black Iron Prison was never really intended to be the name of anything aside from that particular collection of writing


The Discordian Network was the name that was agreed upon on the last forum
but it never seemed to catch on

[AFK]

Yeah, well that's because the daffy running that forum sucked at picking out names. 

[AFK]

in case there is any confusion, Black Iron Prison was never really intended to be the name of anything aside from that particular collection of writing


The Discordian Network was the name that was agreed upon on the last forum
but it never seemed to catch on

And this is a good reminder too.  Perhaps some of us, I'm including myself, cling to the BIP metaphor too much, maybe?  Do we need a new name?  Do we need a name? 

[LMNO]

We need new metaphors.

[LHX]

fuck yeah there needs to be a new name

either a new name or no name


because it is a gold sphere just as much as it is a black iron prison


maybe there needs to be a breakdown on what the name should represent, and then select from a list of potentials

and have this section re-named when its done


The Discordian Network worked for me
maybe it was too general


black iron prison was a great name for that pamphlet, but i see why people are getting the first impression they are getting

[Triple Zero]

ah i thought it was one of these wooden things:

about the optimist pessimist way .. yes, at first i thought "but what if people will say, but i LIKE it in here, and i am not getting out either way" ?

prison makes people wish for a way out, a comfortable golden womb of existence just makes people want to snuggle in and make sure they've got enough for their comfort.

isn't the basic premise of what we are looking for in the BIP that it isn't comfortable? at least, not just right now but if i work just a little longer and harder i might get upgraded to the cell which doesn't leak from the ceiling?

about the name .. well i think LMNO has demonstrated here that some names work better than others ..
and the discordian network .. well .. it's not really catchy enough to catch on i think.

ah you're posting too fast!

ok new name ..

both a gold sphere and black iron prison ..

how about the Abstract Container ?

[LMNO]

No emotional resonance

[LMNO]

Basically, we should work with the BIP, Machine,Ñ¢, System¬Æ, CoN, et al until someone has a breakthrough that changes our perceptions.  We can try to rephrase, re-parcel the concept & see what becomes of it, such as:

The Property Line

The End of our Fingertips

The Goldfish Bowl

The Frying Pan and the Fire


etc.  Each of these new imaginings will lead to new ways of looking at the metaphor.