Pathways: An open-source study and exploration. (Paths and Shrapnel)

[Payne]

I'd say it's as militaristic as the BIP was penal. 

With the recent discussion on language as a tool and a powerful one in consideration of building the desired framework of delivering a message, doesn't "shrapnel" tend to start the piece off on a negative conotation that you then have to spend energy in re-defining someone's immediate response to the word shrapnel?

Or is the intent to use the response of the reader to the idea of being hit with shrapnel as part of the mechanism for opening up the mental crack and letting the truth seep in?

Shrapnel is not (as yet) a fully accepted metaphor or 'model' for what we are trying to express here.

See my post above, we still have to include in some way the concepts that both ripples and entanglement can offer us.

These are the early days, and we are still reaching around, to see what is useful to us, and what we can throw out.

[Darth Cupcake]

but apart from that, why are we discussing this at all? so we're looking for some sort of complicated metaphore for .. life, basically.

not necessarily.  Honestly, my first intention was to simply share things I've been thinking about and that I think do have some bearings on Discordianism and some of the stuff we've discussed in the past.  I'm not proposing that this should be the "next BIP", the next metaphor or anything.  I just simply wanted to discuss.  It seemed, and it had been commented by some, that this type of discussion had been lacking as of late.  So, this was my attempt at throwing something out to get it going again.  Whatever happens afterwards is whatever we want to have happen. 

And I think it's got some good discussion going. It is interesting, at least in my mind, to observe the way people interact with each other and what they send out, be they ripples, shrapnel, nuclear explosions, or something else. I never get tired of people-watching and people-studying. This thread is, for me, a way to see how other people observe the environment. It's fun. It's like getting a little bit into people's heads where I can't normally get.

what does this have to do with discordianism, still?

I think it gets at some of the central tenets of Discordianism.  Awareness and Being Yourself being a couple of primary ones I'm thinking of.  I think being aware of what impacts is useful, at least it is to me.  I think it's along the same ideas of the BIP.  If you are aware that you have the freedom of movement from cell to cell, you then will have that awareness and ability to do so.  In what I'm talking about, if you are aware of the level of impact the Shrapnel, or whatever you want to call it, has on you, then you can brace yourself, buffer yourself and have more control over how you navigate your path.  Or, if it is something worthwhile, like art, music, athletics, to fully embrace it and let it enrich your life, to kind of pave the path in gold or something. 

Bootleg bullet proof vests ITT

I think you put it nicely and there is no more I need add to this. It's about being cognizant of your surroundings--questioning, adapting, etc, instead of just letting the world bombard you without your conscious consent. Rape of every kind is a no-no.

at what point do we stop thinking "holy shit i'm being bombarded by all this shrapnel all the time and it's totally nailing my reality grid", and start taking control ?

Good question.  There is certainly an element of willingness on the part of the individual.  Again, however, I want to point out that as I'm visualizing it, Shrapnel isn't inherently a negative.  There are also good elements that should be embraced that can enrich a person. 

Again, I think this hit the nail on the head.

We don't necessarily have to become full-time shrapnel-dodgers. It's just about being aware of it and being able to respond accordingly. If you KNOW that you receive thousands of puncture wounds daily, you will do your best to make sure that they don't get infected and kill you. And so by knowing about the shrapnel bombarding us, we can cut our losses--tend to the worst of the punctures, and let the harmless ones go. I don't know how to make this metaphor include beneficial puncture wounds. Shit. But there exists beneficial shrapnel, so we just let that stuff chill, once we've processed and accepted that it is beneficial. It is about conscious control of our intake.

As has been said, this is stuff that a lot of us probably already are aware of and do on a regular basis. However, having a nice discussion about it never hurt--you know, getting other people's view points and the suchlike--plus it gets the mental juices pumping. With this crazy group, you never know where a thread will go once you get it started!

[AFK]

I'd say it's as militaristic as the BIP was penal. 

With the recent discussion on language as a tool and a powerful one in consideration of building the desired framework of delivering a message, doesn't "shrapnel" tend to start the piece off on a negative conotation that you then have to spend energy in re-defining someone's immediate response to the word shrapnel?

Or is the intent to use the response of the reader to the idea of being hit with shrapnel as part of the mechanism for opening up the mental crack and letting the truth seep in?

Perhaps, however, I think there is going to be a tendency to look more at problems anyway.  I think one idea is to demonstrate how these different bits affect one's life.  And as I've said from the beginning, it may be that "Shrapnel" is the wrong word to use.  At this point, I'm more interested in discussing the mechanisms than the label.  If we are going to have 3 pages of discussion on the label then I'm gonna put my hands up right now and move on to something else. 

Well, at this point there is nothing to read.  Right now, the idea is to discuss this stuff amongst ourselves, if it is desired to do so.  If we get to a point where we want to release something outside of our confines, then we can contemplate those issues.  In my mind that is putting the cart before the horse.  That is putting the cart in California and the horse in Maryland. 

[AFK]

I'd say it's as militaristic as the BIP was penal. 

With the recent discussion on language as a tool and a powerful one in consideration of building the desired framework of delivering a message, doesn't "shrapnel" tend to start the piece off on a negative conotation that you then have to spend energy in re-defining someone's immediate response to the word shrapnel?

Or is the intent to use the response of the reader to the idea of being hit with shrapnel as part of the mechanism for opening up the mental crack and letting the truth seep in?

Shrapnel is not (as yet) a fully accepted metaphor or 'model' for what we are trying to express here.

See my post above, we still have to include in some way the concepts that both ripples and entanglement can offer us.

These are the early days, and we are still reaching around, to see what is useful to us, and what we can throw out.

exactly.  it's just a discussion right now.  if it goes somewhere beyond that, great.  If not, no harm no foul. 

[Triple Zero]

not necessarily.  Honestly, my first intention was to simply share things I've been thinking about and that I think do have some bearings on Discordianism and some of the stuff we've discussed in the past.  I'm not proposing that this should be the "next BIP", the next metaphor or anything.  I just simply wanted to discuss.  It seemed, and it had been commented by some, that this type of discussion had been lacking as of late.  So, this was my attempt at throwing something out to get it going again.  Whatever happens afterwards is whatever we want to have happen. 

well yeah i jumped a bit on it, sorry

but otoh, criticism is good!

------

i should probably explain a bit on the atheism remark .. cause that single word seems to have drawn no less than two comments
i didn't mean "atheist" as "non-christian", i just meant it that someone who beliefs his life is controlled by a god (say, Allah), possibly has some problems with this Shrapnel business.

at least, we seem to be all saying "the shrapnel is caused by the things people do and interact with eachother and the environments they create", so in a sense, we're all shooting at eachother constantly. but a theistic person would probably want at least a significant portion of that Shrapnel to be caused by divine intervention. which, i think we would all agree, is kinda stupid, and pretty much against the "taking control" concepts that are so inherent in discordianism.

so that's why i said "atheist".

hope that's a bit cleared up now.

------

Shrapnel isn't inherently a negative

oh boy, here we go again   

[Cramulus]

"First there was chaos, the vast immeasurable abyss, outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, and wild."

[AFK]

well yeah i jumped a bit on it, sorry

but otoh, criticism is good!

It's cool.  I just want to be clear with my intentions, which as this point, is purely to engage in a discussion and exploration.  Personally, I am logging it and may do something with it, but for the purposes of this forum I just want to see where this goes.  

Shrapnel isn't inherently a negative

oh boy, here we go again   

yeah I know.  Hopefully a more "positive" label will emerge.  

[Triple Zero]

TV, Christianity, Batman, McDonalds, Hippies and Luv?

needs moar randoM!!

better place the boat in a sea of white noise and cabbages?

[Triple Zero]

Shrapnel isn't inherently a negative

oh boy, here we go again   

yeah I know.  Hopefully a more "positive" label will emerge.  

THE COSMIC PILLOWFIGHT!!

[LMNO]

"Discordia is a fluffy bunny, with rainbows and lollipops!"

[Darth Cupcake]

"Discordia is a fluffy bunny, with rainbows and lollipops!"

Don't forget the unicorn farts.

[Cramulus]

"First there was chaos, the vast immeasurable abyss, outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, and wild."

I've been thinking about this model/metaphor for a few days now and here's what's leaked out of my head.

• We are captains of small, single-person rafts, lost in the sea of primordial Chaos.
  Memes (all the shrapnel we've been talking about) float through the water.
• We move towards some and away from others. Sometimes we cast our nets and draw them up into the boat with us.
• The water is murky, and sometimes we think a meme is something but its actually something else. Like I'm looking for a meme called Truth but I keep pulling up mondos and in-jokes. Some other guy is looking for Spirituality and he casts out his net. He finds a bible and a Sunday service and it works out for him.
• We can see each other fishing, and the memes that guy's got in his boat might look tasty, so we go fish next to him.
• Sometimes even the memes we throw out end up floating around next to us for a while. Like charged particles, they repel or attract other fish. There's a whole memetic food chain - no, a whole conceptual ecosystem happening in the water involving big fish, small fish, chameleon-like squid, pollution, reefs, detritus, currents, flotsam, jetsam, and lots of shrapnel

[AFK]

"Discordia is a fluffy bunny, with rainbows and lollipops!"

"Discordia is a fluffy bunny, with rainbows and lollipops!"

Don't forget the unicorn farts.

to quote the great philosopher The Good Reverend Roger:

I WILL KILL A MOTHERFUCKER!!!

sorry.

RWHN,
in a bit of a mood today. 

[Forteetu]

Perhaps, however, I think there is going to be a tendency to look more at problems anyway.  I think one idea is to demonstrate how these different bits affect one's life.  And as I've said from the beginning, it may be that "Shrapnel" is the wrong word to use.  At this point, I'm more interested in discussing the mechanisms than the label.  If we are going to have 3 pages of discussion on the label then I'm gonna put my hands up right now and move on to something else. 

Well, at this point there is nothing to read.  Right now, the idea is to discuss this stuff amongst ourselves, if it is desired to do so.  If we get to a point where we want to release something outside of our confines, then we can contemplate those issues. 

I understand that this is all "early days" and a metaphor or premise that is just being kicked around. My only intent is to throw into the discussion, so I hope no is taking any of this personally.

I've got no intention on debating the use of a particular word. I am/was curious however if "shrapnel" was being used specifically becuase of the viceral reaction that could be induced in the reader.

In my mind that is putting the cart before the horse.  That is putting the cart in California and the horse in Maryland. 

Which direction you headed in?  ... its all a matter of circumstance

[AFK]

Perhaps, however, I think there is going to be a tendency to look more at problems anyway.  I think one idea is to demonstrate how these different bits affect one's life.  And as I've said from the beginning, it may be that "Shrapnel" is the wrong word to use.  At this point, I'm more interested in discussing the mechanisms than the label.  If we are going to have 3 pages of discussion on the label then I'm gonna put my hands up right now and move on to something else. 

Well, at this point there is nothing to read.  Right now, the idea is to discuss this stuff amongst ourselves, if it is desired to do so.  If we get to a point where we want to release something outside of our confines, then we can contemplate those issues. 

I understand that this is all "early days" and a metaphor or premise that is just being kicked around. My only intent is to throw into the discussion, so I hope no is taking any of this personally.

Not at all.  I just want to be clear on where things are at this point and not get too far ahead in the game.  Please, throw in.  The more voices the better imo.

I've got no intention on debating the use of a particular word. I am/was curious however if "shrapnel" was being used specifically becuase of the viceral reaction that could be induced in the reader.

Well, LHX used the word first so I'm not 100% sure where he was coming from with it.  In my mind, however, I see it being appropriate mostly in a visual sense.  Have you read the Shrapnel thread yet?  It contains a visual I made a few weeks ago based on this idea.  That's where I'm coming from. 

In my mind that is putting the cart before the horse.  That is putting the cart in California and the horse in Maryland. 

Which direction you headed in?  ... its all a matter of circumstance

Oops, owned by the compass rose once again.