Book Club: Angel Tech

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

CP is when your Reality Filter shatters.

YES! It goes from a window that you can look through to a kaleidoscope view from the force of the impact...

?

UNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNnGGGGGGg

MA; It's not Model Agnosticism, its Model ABUSE!

[Bu🤠ns]

Chapel Perilous is like the Hole of the BIP.   You know, "THROW EM IN THE HOLE!"  The problem is, you're your own jailer as well as prisoner so the question is when do you let yourself out?

or

Chapel Perilous is when your Cosmic Schmuckery goes bananas.

[Bu🤠ns]

My experience with 5C was sort of like the point where understood that the 'feeling' of self and other being separate was also the 'feeling' of connection.  I guess in Buddhistic terms this is called Samadhi or the 'merging of self and other'.   

The problem, I'd say, is actually remembering this state when shit goes down.

This was also the problem with Tim Leary's trip.  You can get high but can't stay high. And if you *could* stay high, you're probably gonna get shot.

[Triple Zero]

CP is what gets you banned from 4Chan.

[Cain]

Who knew that Club Penguin was so contentious, yet influential?

[nurbldoff]

I bought this book maybe a year ago but then I quickly borrowed it to someone before I actually got to reading it.

[LMNO]

It's been a while.  Sorry.


So, what does Fifth Gear really entail?  Basically, selfish pleasure.  Rapturous hedonism, unbound by space, time, and social conventions.  Since 5C is connected to 1C, then we revert back to the beginning.  Our pleasure is entirely internal, and focused inward.  "Sensory Intelligence is internally dependent in a similar way that First Grade Physical Intelligence is externally dependent." 

However, in order to become Internally Dependent, you really, really need to be comfortable with yourself. "Internal dependence is in direct opposition to our conditioned, social needs for approval, acceptance and permission to be ourselves. From a sensory perspective, our need for outer confirmation occasionally poses as The Last Obstacle to self-empowerment."  Whether you call it "giving yourself permission", or "casting aside social objections", or whatever, you really need to be comfortable with who you are.  If you don't feel Safe (C1), you're never going to surrender to the Oceanic Bliss (or whatever language you want – remember, we're beyond words, here).

"When you cease to need social approval for the act of being yourself in public, you are potentially a "social threat." This is because you are no longer under anybody's control socially speaking. There are two basic types of social threat: 1) Negative Threats & 2) Positive Threats. The former include psychopaths and those whose social attitude is of the "fuck you" variety. The latter include those charismatic personalities catalyzing Sensory Intelligence in the people they make contact with, directly and/or indirectly."  Now, I wouldn't say that holding two fingers up to the social order is necessarily "Negative"; in fact, a large chunk of the social order deserves it, especially when it comes to the opinion of 5C FUN.  But I'd agree that someone who abandons all social mores simply for hedonistic pleasure would tend to be a dick; and I'd say that the Positive Threat of the Guru has a greater potential for damage.

"The preliminary, baby-phase of Sensory Intelligence is bound to cultivate a certain arrogance in u s... not the kind that makes us feel morally superior to others but the sense of being privileged or "chosen" to be included among The Living."  This is one thing I like about A.A., in that he makes it clear you can't just hit 5C and then stop.  "...During the advent of the 1960's, it was The Hippies who re-stabilized Sensory Intelligence. It didn't last, however, because there was nowhere to go with it. It was as if we were all dressed up with no place to go... The nature of Sensory Intelligence is very "zen" in that there really is NoWhere To Go because everything is Here and Now. This is kind of like getting "stuck in the present." There's nothing particularly "wrong" with this and everybody ought to try it at least once. For those of us wishing to graduate, it is imperative that we learn how to absorb, organize and communicate Sensory Intelligence... If we don't, we run the risk of remaining in the self-absorption phase of Rapture and must resign ourselves to the perpetual indulgence of our Hippy Ancestors."

He concludes with the observation that when we understand what 5C is, we look and strive for two things: Leisure Time, and Sex For Fun.  Usually, both at the same time.  If we don't have knowledge of 5C, we are concerned with Survival, and Rules.  5C occurs when we have no more survival worries, and we forget about the Rules.  Of course, if you spend too long there, you'll either risk your survival, or get eaten up by the Machine™.  So, like every other level, you need to integrate it into the whole.  And once you do that, you can some increased control over yourself.  "It is possible to, at will, disconnect our attachment to the conditioned, robotic response to things and shift into the direct sense perception and response of somatic contact."  That is, you can relax your physical body, and you can recognize the Rules that you operate by. We can detect the tension in ourselves, and learn to let it go.

We appear to be heading straight for another Ritual, so I'll stop here for now.

[Bu🤠ns]

lol nice ending.

5C Thus Slack.

[LMNO]

So, he speaks of Ritual in a way that can make sense in a pragmatic way.  "This approach to ritual is distinctly Asocial in that it serves to bypass personal interaction to delve deeper into the underlying forces governing personality in general. This technique will be referred to later on as setting up a Rare Area. . .one untouched by social obligation, personal judgements and intellectual discourse. A network of similar techniques have congealed into a cohesive ritual technology functioning to open external/internal senses for accessing energetic sources in  the body. The backbone of this technology combines elements of Zen, Dance and Theatre in a  nonperformance setting for the purpose of releasing the pressure to perform."

In the sense of 5C, this makes sense.  5C is related to 1C, which is intensely personal, and is connected with the physical body. Any ritual that it's associated with should be, above all, physical, and private.  This would be a great time for a masturbation joke.

So, the first thing to do is set up a so-called "Rare Area" (the opportunity for gutter humor abounds). Basically, this means creating a place and a state of mind that is Safe, in the 1C meaning of the word.  It's a place where you cannot be judged, where no ego games are being played, and where critical meta-analysis is not performed.  Save all that for later.  For now, you are trying to find a place where you can be yourself, no questions asked.  You can learn without feeling stupid, you can act without shame.

Because this ritual is a physical one, it helps to move around, and declare your space.  So, leave your rational mind out of this, and choose some spot in your Area that feels "best".  There is no "doing it right" here, you're just looking to get comfortable.  Don't bother trying to figure out why it's the best spot.  You could even just pick a random spot and declare it to be "right"; if you feel there's a better one later on, go ahead and move.  Hell, the spot doesn't even have to be the same every time.  The whole point is for you to be comfortable with where you are.

Ok, now that you've gotten that out of the way, you need to define your personal space.  In traditional terms, this is Making a Circle, and calling out the Cardinal Points.  You don't have to go all Wiccan on this one, but at least make some sort of physical movement that defines your space, even if it's doing the Cabbage Patch and "raising the roof".  Once you've defined where your space is, fucking own it.  Spend some time convincing yourself that the space you've just carved out is yours, physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, in whatever way you define those terms.  This might take some effort, but that's good.  Do that.  Make that effort.  Tire yourself out a little bit.

So, now that you have your space, and you own it, be still.  Be quiet. Try to calm your brain down.  If you've worked hard to make the space your own, that should help you now.  You are safe in this place.  Just chill out for a bit.  Now, you need to warm up.  Do some deep breathing exercises (the "grounding meditation" mentioned earlier might work for you here).  Stretch your limbs.  Basically, don't ignore the body, get the blood pumping and feel it.  With any luck, you should now have a quiet mind, and an alert body.

Ok, things are gonna get a bit silly at this point, but what it boils down to is giving yourself permission.  You've got your space, you've made it personal, and you've made it safe.  Now you've got to allow yourself to do anything.  After you've done that and are in a sort of null-space, visualize the aspect you want to explore, and try to experience it without criticism or judgment.  Experience it physically.  Give yourself permission to do this and look silly doing it.  When you've gotten to a place where it feels most intense, and you're really losing yourself in the experience, mark it with a movement, or a phrase, or some kind of signal.  This will become something like an affirmation, in the way I've talked about affirmations in TFYS.  Finally, let it go, and get back to that null-space feeling.  Then, do what ever it is you need to do to get back into a so-called "normal" state.  There it is: ritual, with as little mumbo-jumbo as possible.  From here, A.A. gets more specific to his particular style, which involves groups, and polarizations, and different aspects to shape your ritual around.  If you care, that starts around page 153.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Very well stated.



I am enjoying your review of this book immensely LMNO.

[Kai]

Really enjoyed that, LMNO. It was spot on.

[Bu🤠ns]

Thanks again, LMNO...in what thread was the affirmations topic?

[LMNO]

I think it was a thread I started... I'll go look.


Here: http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=22919.msg778034#msg778034

Enki killed the thread by page 2, but the OP still stands strong.

[Rococo Modem Basilisk]

Enki killed the thread by page 2, but the OP still stands strong.

Don't blame me, man. I don't like to read six page discussions over whether or not a single post was counterproductive any more than you do. I've stayed off the thread in hope that someone would revive it.

[Telarus]

Bump for a good video of Antero briefly discussing the Chapel Perilous metaphor, and explaining the symbolism behind his book title:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1378237544377&ref=nf