Absurdism

[LMNO]

"Book of Lies" is pretty funny, but you have to be kind of an occult nerd to get a lot of the jokes.

"Book of Thoth" is great for undertsanding tarot and kaballah, if that's your thing.

"Book of Four" is a pretty solid (if simplified) look into yoga, and some law-of-fives kabballah fun with nursery rhymes.

[Professor Mu-Chao]

I would say that Diary of A Drug Fiend is his most accessible and enjoyable on its surface, but if you are into poetry or like to search for hidden occult meaning, The Book of Lies is the best.

[fomenter]

eight lectures on yoga and Moonchild for fiction

[Honey]

Thanks for the reading suggestions & kindness re: my ramblings.     I wasn't able to re-read the last part before submitting the post what with the drama with Quincy & all.

& just now when I went back to it, I thought about just when I started to use the word 'uncertainty' to express this concept.  I was going out with this guy who was a concert ticket broker & so got to see quite a few good concerts.  This from Peter Gabriel:

It's only in uncertainty that we're naked & alive.
-That Voice Again

I had never seen Peter Gabriel perform & we were sitting first row center at the Bottom Line in NY.  At 1 point he walked out into the audience, simply stepping off the stage & out onto my armrest & then off into the crowd.  They held him aloft & passed him around the arena & then back again to the stage.   He is very interesting to watch & WoW - talk about trust!  I also love the drumming (Manu Katche?)

Anyway, that's where the word came from.  Maybe not the right word but there you go.  Sometimes I think in symbols.  Words work best tho when trying to express thoughts, ideas, concepts, etc. to others & I do so love words.  I have a great deal of respect for people who are able to express their thoughts or meaning thru words & images.  Like so very many of the people here.  Not wanting to sound like I'm gushing now but I do stand in wonder sometimes at the folk here & their ability, skills, talent & such.  Takes much courage too.  To reveal so much & to sometimes become vulnerable, exposed, fragile, raw in doing so.  Again, I stand in wonder, in awe even.   

In writing down thoughts (& most definitely in reading other peoples') I've learned more about what I think & also about Life, the Universe & Everything (love the Hitchhiker's Guides by Douglas Adams - miss him too).  Notebooks, scraps of paper, napkins, matchbooks & stuff saved on my computer, all over the place.  Coming across something I've written, years later even, either I don't even recognize my own writing or I can place it instantly & recall the moment vividly & immediately.  (I'm thinking about memory now & where is that thread where Cram wrote about memory?  I read it but forget what the thread was called?  It figures.)

Take fr'instance when I went back to read what I wrote here.  Reading it for the 2nd time maybe a day or 2 later & I recognize 1 of the friggin' themes of my life when it comes to the man/woman thing with me.  That ticket broker guy?  He, on the 1 hand, told me he would always think about me when he hears this or that song.  Ummm, & that's really nice & beautiful right?  Ok.  Same guy several weeks later says to me that when he first met me he thought of me as a beautiful but wild animal (like a horse or a pony?) that needs to be domesticated.  This would mean 1 thing if he's just bein' playful right?  It's another story tho if he's  ...   & aaarrgggghhhhhh!  How do y'think that relationship turned out?  Now then, why couldn't he just leave me the fuck alone?  Couldn't he just let me be?  & this is where the daily life stuff interferes with all the other waaay more interesting things.  Y'see when I'm off in my dreams, wandering, wondering or involved with some crazy ass notion or thought experiment or something else even, sometimes I find it very difficult to contain myself.  & that can be lots of fun, for me & for the other person too.  But ultimately that is what sometimes makes the daily life stuff a tad difficult to navigate or manage.  & bitw there are other ways of getting a handle on things without resorting to domestication?  & hearing something like that is when I want to bolt.  Just sayin'.

Ahaa Yes!  & another hour of psychotherapy here on PD!  Ahem, & uh who do I make this check out to?  & where do I send it again?  & can I make it out to the Roger/Enrico for Prez fund please?    

[Cain]

No-one cares about that cheap Nietzsche rip-off called Crowley.

Back to Absurdism plz.

[LMNO]

Sorry.

Is there a pdf of Syssyphus laying around?

I only ask because it would be quite unfortunate if someone left easy access to a copyrighted work.

[Cain]

http://mihd.net/twafco2

Its htm, use IE or whatever browser to open it.

[LMNO]

You think that might work on an e-reader?

[Cain]

No clue.  However you can use a pdf creator, such as that which comes with Open Office, if not.

[LMNO]

Hmmm.

It doesn't seem to want to give me a download ticket.

[Cain]

You can download it here via jpeg, and extract it using 7-zip if you know how

http://www.anonib.com/bookchan/images/217/Camus__Albert___The_Myth_of_Sisyphus_and_Other_Essays__htm__anonib.jpg

Also, Camus thread

http://www.anonib.com/bookchan/index.php?t=85

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

No-one cares about that cheap Nietzsche rip-off called Crowley.

Back to Absurdism plz.

Do you think Crowley was Nietzschen? (Dunno if that's the right conjugation)

[Cain]

I think he took and watered down plenty of his ideas.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Well, I think they had some similar ideas, but different perceptions of how those ideas worked. "Do As Thou Will" is similar to Nietzsche's view, but its also similar to other older memes as well.

Having read both, I find Nietzsche far more useful when talking with atheists that cringe at the word magic, no matter its meaning. But I find Crowley's view of reality more healthy, I think. Both of them realized the potential of freedom, both of them recognized the masks we all wear, and both of them figured out that they were free to change masks at will. However, Nietzsche had no safety net... no control plan... so once he began swapping masks around, it appears that he started losing himself.

Crowley, on the other hand, had a series of safety nets and harnesses to keep him from tumbling headfirst into Da'ath. Maybe its watered down, or maybe its a safer version of the same concept, or maybe its the same territory, as seen through two different sets of bars.

Though I did appreciate this Crowley essay that I had completely forgotten about until your post reminded me (and Google came Through!!!)

http://www.dreamlandgrid.com/occult/Aleister%20Crowley/The%20Vindication%20of%20Nietsche.pdf

[Chairman Risus]

Well, I think they had some similar ideas, but different perceptions of how those ideas worked. "Do As Thou Will" is similar to Nietzsche's view, but its also similar to other older memes as well.

Just out of curiosity, like what?