Pipe Bombs - A Shrapnel Probe

[LHX]

i will propose the notion here that the shrapnel being discussed lately has a identifiable source

it is the result of people under pressure


i will propose also that
pressure is the result of confronting fear or desire


fear is generally associated with death (the unknown - the potential for physical pain) or a injury to the ego that would have social repercussions (which could also be potentially indirectly related to death)


desire is generally associated with avoiding that which causes fear
but
also social achievement (striving to rule the kingdom of physical objects)

also stimulation



these elements set people in motion




when coming face-to-face with a fear or the possibility of not obtaining a desire - we find explosions

people cannot handle the pressure and there is a resulting action


in its raw form - this action is generally not premeditated

- you scare the shit out of somebody - and it is understandable that the gut instinct is to yell

but

we live in a situation now where people can be elaborate when they explode


people "take it out on" other people


being overwhelmed in one facet of life - you take it out in another facet of life


a fear of death results in a fundamentalist tunnel-vision

getting cock-blocked in early adolescence spawns a generation of computer programmers looking for social comeuppance while subsequently pushing humanity to its technological demise

the slums of New York results in the greatest Hip Hop in 25,000 years



and this here what youre reading - this is my shrapnel

this is my outlet




ive read a lot of RAW shit and some other alternative approaches to psychology
but
something struck me when i was forced to take a 'intro to psychology' course in my first semester of college a few months ago

one segment of the course dealt with 'defense mechanisms'

apparently - there is a term which describes what is known as basically the one productive defense mechanism

it is called sublimation

i just looked it up at m-w.com:
"to divert the expression of (an instinctual desire or impulse) from its unacceptable form to one that is considered more socially or culturally acceptable"

when we took a look at sublimation in class - there was another aspect to it -

the expression of the 'impulse' was not necessarily 'acceptable' - but it was productive

it was not a defense mechanism that focused on covering things up or hiding things


it was the defense mechanism that sought to transform

turn that negative stimulus causing you pressure into something that can be benefited from

the whole 'lemon -----> lemonade' approach to things



its a bit too trite of a metaphor to use when discussing some of the foul shit life doles out on the mammals running around the surface of this place

its hard to say that hurricane katrina was like 'life handing you lemons'


but to stick with that metaphor for a second - these days when life hands people lemons - most of the time people just pick them up and fire them at other people

and the main reason why is because this approach to things is part of the tradition that gets passed on from generation to generation

maybe not consciously - but passed on nonetheless


when you live in a society where it is the norm for people to take their shit out on other people - odds are you wont find it hard to justify taking your shit out on other people yourself


in reference to RWHN's original shrapnel post - im gonna also propose that the 'positive' shrapnel is NOT ALWAYS accidental

i know some people that when they go thru foul shit - they reach for the pen

and the bomb they assemble is MEANT to turn that negative situation into something that people can touch / feel / use



at the very least - for me personally - when the difficulty of situations gets amped up - when im catching too much of the bullshit shrapnel - i seek to re-affirm the alliances i have made in the past (many of which are in this forum) and touch base with my foundation

in the process i benefit and look to approach the situation in ways that others can benefit as well


you can only build a brick shit house if you shit your hate properly

[Forteetu]

First ....

reminds me of a story I heard on stage where a guy is talking about driving down the highway and someone cuts him off. He gets angry and decides to cut someone else off, thereby passing the negative energy on to them. This continues to happen, spreading the anger and hatred from one person to another .... until it all ends up in the Middle East.


Secondly ...

be back later with something more substantial

[Darth Cupcake]

This is chunky.

A delicious beef stew of good stuff.

I'm not entirely sure how I feel on the last line. It seems to return to negativity, after I was feeling some pretty powerful feelings of good stuff up until then. That might just be my reading. I think it's the "shitting your hate." I dunno. That just sounds unpleasant, I guess.

However, I really like what you've got here.

I think psychological defense mechanisms are incredibly interesting, particularly sublimation and "taking things out" on someone else. I interned for a semester in college with the Men's Resource Center in town by my school. We were updating and revising their program for helping men overcome domestic violence. I sat in on a couple meetings, did a fuckton of reading on domestic violence, and pored over that curriculum. It is absolutely fascinating, in a sick, depressing kind of way. It ties a lot into this sublimation and taking things out idea.

...I think that turned into a tangent, sorry. But I'm pretty certain that there were things going on there with some significance that I can bring back to here.

I like the "people under pressure = pipe bombs" idea. Someone else in another thread also referred to some people as landmines. I think these are fun ideas that we should be expanding on--there is something inherently explosive and volatile about people. Some are just under pressure and will eventually explode, then there are others that are just waiting for that triggering event/moment.

That said, I really like this post, and I award you and a tray of cupcakes. Do not wear the mittens while eating the cupcakes; you might get the mittens dirty.



P.S. Congrats on first semester of college

[Payne]

Shitting your hate is unpleasant only to the people that get in your way, if you're doing it right.

Also: LHX, RAH!

[AFK]

I liked the last line.  I'm sure some will find it harsh, but it really does make a strong point about channeling the negative things that come at you into something solid and substantial.  Whether it be through poetry, music, writing, whatever.  At least, that's my interpretation.  

And it's a really good point.  Because I think it is a central aspect of this whole idea.  You have these things coming at you and as I've said before, not everyone is going to react the same.  

I think I can cull a good example from my recent past.  I was laid off from my former job last Summer.  I think most people would consider that a negative bit of shrapnel.  Of course many people experience this.  But not all react the same.  Some may get really depressed and kind of go into a state of actionless shock.  Some may hit the bottle, the bong, the needle.  Others will take the lemons and make lemonade as LHX mentions.  I will be honest, initially I was very depressed.  All of a sudden I went from bread winner to collecting unemployment.  That was definitely a strike to the ego.  

But I gathered my wits, networked, and found the amazing job I have now.  But it helped that I had a support network too.  I had my family, I had friends.  These things make it easier.  Not having those things probably makes it harder, depending on the person.  

Anyway those are my musings for the moment.  I'm sure I'll have more to say later.  

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

I like it, but I'm not sure if I completely agree with your summation of sublimation. That is, while some forms of sublimation may be turning lemons into lemonade, some forms of sublimation may involve decorating lemons so that everyone thinks you have apples (trying to fit the socially acceptable mold while really just lying to yourself and everyone else about who you are). Perhaps this fork between lemonade and pseudo-apples may depend on the memes you already have attached to you?

Perhaps some memes act as 'psychic body armor', where other memes may slow you down and keep you from dodging a nasty bit of shrapnel.

[Darth Cupcake]

Rat--you are spot on about lemons made to  look like apples. That's a lot of what sublimation is.

The impression I got is that LHX is talking more about an alternative approach to sublimation, sort of situation.

Like since you see that you can alter your lemons, instead of just denying that they're lemons, why not do something productive with them.

[Cramulus]

I may be a few iterations behind, as I only recently started getting caught up on Shrapnel



Sharpnel is starting to sound like something broader than memes

like all that media dross is shrapnel - clearly memes
but the first time you were spanked as a kid - shrapnel too, but not technically a meme, right?

[Darth Cupcake]

Precisely.



Or at least that's how I see it, too.

Even, say, things I say to you at lunch, etc. That's shrapnel. Things we send out, signals, noise, and everything in between.

[Cramulus]

yeah, I think I got it

some hits you, some doesn't
some exhilarates, some cripples

[Payne]

For me, Shrapnel is the left over bits and pieces of communication.

No form of communication is 100% effective, and the little bits and pieces that get "lost in translation" are the shrapnel.

Effectively, I suppose, this makes it like the broken springs and cogs of metaphors hitting you inna face, which we are now trying to find a metaphor for.

[Triple Zero]

but the first time you were spanked as a kid - shrapnel too, but not technically a meme, right?

actually, as far as i understand, this is also a meme:

"i was spanked as a kid"

RAW called it "imprints" in the prometheus rising book.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

but the first time you were spanked as a kid - shrapnel too, but not technically a meme, right?

actually, as far as i understand, this is also a meme:

"i was spanked as a kid"

RAW called it "imprints" in the prometheus rising book.

I would say that imprints act more like shrapnel "scars" if you will. Let's say that a baby imprints First Circuit negatively because they cry and don't get fed. Their environment threw shrapnel at them and left behind a somewhat permanent effect (the imprint).

The imprint will likely effect which memes they are or are not attracted to, but in itself (at least if you buy off on Leary/Wilson's theories) the imprint isn't simply "How you identify yourself", but rather a hardwired program (unless their views on metaprogramming are correct).

You may act Top Dog, even if you don't identify as top dog.

[Forteetu]

There's lots of bits in this OP and it covers a lot of ground, from motivations to imprinted reactions and then the issue of sublimation. Taken in the defintition of the OP, I can relate to the act of sublimation in my pratice in ritual. The majoity of my work revolves around identifying un-useful perception tunnels, imprints, behaviors, etc ... and then devoting ritual practice to achieve altered states and implanting the new imprint. As I read it, thats how I relate.

The part of the post that has been in my mind is the issue of hurling our "negative" shit at others and the pressure build up that leads to that. In the analogy of the pipe bomb, I was thinking of IRL how the actual pipe rips open on a lengthwise seam, usually not at the end cap.

To follow on from Rat and D-Cup, the idea of masking your lemons as apples has a limit. That illusion can only hold up to so much pressure. The energy enaged in holding up the psuedo-apples is like the end cap, some times it gives way and leads to an explosion directly related to the lemons at hand. More often, something else gives way and the explosion comes from another direction. Stressed about a health condition? It leads to an arguement over which breakfast cereal to have. Feel powerless in a family situation? It leads to being controlling and manipulative over friends. Not allowed to have an adult sexual life? It leads to diddling kids in the back room of the church.

But when "pipe bombs" explode, they don't do the same damage to everyone near-by. Some people are emotionally crippled by some events while others can walk through the hail of shrapnel without a scratch? When shapnel hits and leaves a scar, this creates a meme? Do I understand your terms correctly? Why do some people scar so much they become dangerous pipe bombs themselves? What techniques can be used to heal the wounds of shrapnel to a more beneficial meme?

[LHX]

riding the metaphor

after a wound heals - perhaps it becomes better able to deal with further injury


let it be said here that there is a difference between becoming desensitized and being able to tolerate injury

when people fling bullshit in your direction - or when you catch shrapnel - i dont think the goal is to not notice it
but rather to deal with it

that being said - we have all (for whatever reason) developed different sensitivities
--this seems to be all a result of up-bringing and experience--

but
the fact of the matter is that these sensitivities need to be addressed

im sure anybody here who is familiar with me knows that the closest i come to getting vexed is when i get the vibe that something i said got misunderstood or twisted

in that circumstance - i am liable to exercise poor judgment and lash out when it is not necessary

but in all honesty - ive already come to terms with this enough that i should not be surprised when it happens

and every time it does happen - i adjust to it more and more



the foundation of this tho - is obviously a flaw in my own reasoning

a expectation of a situation that does not jive with what actually occurs


so when i get hit by that - it still stings

and accordingly - it seems that the only way to overcome this sensitivity is to be exposed to these situations


that doesnt mean i shouldnt lament being misunderstood or taken out of context
it just suggests that it should be handled differently



in some situations - repeated injury doesnt necessarily make somebody more LIKELY to go off
but possibly
as they adapt - they become LESS likely to go off


different situations seem to call for different responses for people with different sensitivities

from all this variety tho - there does seem to be some general trends applicable to the whole