Rant 35: Kick the Habit

[Irreverend Hugh, KSC]

Rant 35
Kick The Habit

,ÄúIt,Äôs all a matter of time.,Äù
--Genesis P-Orridge

,ÄúEmbrace reality by imagination.,Äù
-Austin Osman Spare

,ÄúBelief is another word for slavery. The worst fundamentalists are the consumerists.,Äù
-Tequilarius Malignatus

Crack the eggshell of your ego and take a glimpse of what lies outside. Or are you afraid that once cracked, the shell will shatter completely, leaving who-knows-what-damned-things? Your addiction to social conventions can become worse than a junky,Äôs addiction to heroin. In this case, is it not better to just break open your head? Those authorities who run things in society will tell you that these ego-habits and social conventions are for your own good, that they have been developed by humanity over thousands of years in interests of survival. But why take their word for it? Do you like the solace of slavery? Those authorities and their lackeys have convinced you that today,Äôs society of compliance to mass consumption is the highest advancement yet attained. They have convinced you to deny that magic exists while they use magic to keep your minds set into predetermined grooves. You have been blinded to the sigils, the spells, the mantras, the imagery, and the rituals by which they mass market their control over your desires. They use the terror, the very real terror, of the shattering of your ego into the unknown, to keep you from doing so while they pull your ego,Äôs heartstrings in adept manipulation. The authorities are at an advantage because they have studied well. Enthralling minds within predetermined systems of possibilities is a lot easier than physical imprisonment. So we walk around as mental cripples ridiculing those minds who will to be free.

Only you can become your new aeon. Only you can become aware of the pulls and pressures that pervade everything in society, barely hidden in plain view. From advertisement to religion to social custom to schedule to work to validation to morality to politics. If something is repeated often enough, people will accept it as true. How many of our finest social ideals are based only in that principle? How many other commonly held assumptions are like that? How many of your own ,Äòtruths,Äô are like that? So, I may as well say that you are free. You are free. You are free.

It is up to each person to create their own system of magic. Their own alchemy. Their own entheogenics. Their own eschatology. Their own divination. Their own horizon. Their own culture. Their own vision. Their own schema. Their own summa. Their own principia. And to change these inventions as readily as one changes clothes. Only you can do this for yourself. Even if I pull the rug of your assumed reality out from under you, you still have to decide whether or not you really care about just what the hell is going on. You have assumed a self, but there is no self. Only a collection of fragmented impressions spliced together to fit a preconceived image. Repeated over and over since your childhood, you began to accept that image as truth. You are free to change any part of that image, no matter what you believe. Is it not your birthright to do so? Why continue to assert that that is some inherent you? Why continue to adhere to the belief in an unchanging personal/cultural DNA or soul? Play cut-up with the things that make up your ,Äòself,Äô and you will discover what magicians have been learning for centuries.

Kick the habit to the curb. Stop agreeing with the endlessly repeated latest editions of stories you tell yourself about how your world is supposed to operate. You exist in the creating of a collage of artistry and calling it a ,Äòself,Äô. If you can,Äôt stand the thought of being limited by someone else,Äôs beliefs and ideas, why be confined to your own ideas and beliefs? You are addicted to a fixed ,Äòself,Äô like a crack-head to her crack. Your motivation in life is to find ways to maintain that fixation against all odds and against that nagging reminder of the death that will dispel the fiction. Anything that counters your addiction is discounted and everything that supports it is clung to and used as a pathetic stand in for evidence that your ideas are correct. But it,Äôs all a figment, a creation. There is no fixated ,Äòself,Äô no matter how hard you try. You live and you die. You change throughout life. Your whims are controlled by those who created the energy managing thought systems of the society you live in.

Is it not time to start cracking apart that fiction. Not to boldly proclaim some higher truth, but to get free of the trap. To make yourself the primary creator of your ,Äòself,Äô. To own your ,Äòself,Äô. To realize that you are free and then to act upon that. To find out that you are in fact not bound to agree with the limitations others place on you. If you don,Äôt like the way your story is going, start re-editing it.

(Chaos 55th, 3170)

[Guido Finucci]

... I come to tell you that you are free ...

[Bella]

It is up to each person to create their own system of magic. Their own alchemy. Their own entheogenics. Their own eschatology. Their own divination. Their own horizon. Their own culture. Their own vision. Their own schema. Their own summa. Their own principia. And to change these inventions as readily as one changes clothes. Only you can do this for yourself. Even if I pull the rug of your assumed reality out from under you, you still have to decide whether or not you really care about just what the hell is going on. You have assumed a self, but there is no self. Only a collection of fragmented impressions spliced together to fit a preconceived image. Repeated over and over since your childhood, you began to accept that image as truth. You are free to change any part of that image, no matter what you believe. Is it not your birthright to do so? Why continue to assert that that is some inherent you? Why continue to adhere to the belief in an unchanging personal/cultural DNA or soul? Play cut-up with the things that make up your ,Äòself,Äô and you will discover what magicians have been learning for centuries.

I read this rant a while ago and it was kind of painful, so I didn't comment on it. Read it again the other day and it's been on my mind ever since. I'm sitting right now in the house that was my home for 15 1/2 years, sorting through what's left of my old life for one last time. I have five days here alone to sift through this "collection of fragmented impressions" that I once accepted as the truth of who I am.

I'm shredding old papers, looking through photo albums, digging through the closets, putting aside momentos I want to keep and thinking that I don't even know the woman who used to live here anymore. It feels like she died and I'm cleaning up the mess she made when she was walking in her sleep all those years. Hell, I'm pretty sure I got sick yesterday to avoid having to do do this today.

This is hard work and it's making me hungry, but I keep thinking about the story of Persephone and don't want to eat or drink anything until I get home to my own place again. Silly, isnt' it? The mantra that runs through my head as I work is "You are free. You are free."

I guess the point of all this is that Hugh's right. We tend to base our sense of self on imformation given to us by other people, the media, religion, culture, etc. I know I did for many years. But you better get ready, because sooner or later the sledgehammer of Eris is going to come crashing down on your head in a mighty wake-up call. She knows it's the only way to really get your attention and force you to play cut-up with your "self". She knows it's the only way to make you sit still and be quiet long enough to hear this message: "So, I may as well say that you are free. You are free. You are free."

[Malaul]

I like that word


free

[namu]

I wish everyone was free. I'd go settle on Mars or around Mars with whoever would like to, or journey through the galaxy looking for great scenery and cheap real estate. And leave everyone in charge of themselves.

[Guido Finucci]

I wish everyone was free. I'd go settle on Mars or around Mars with whoever would like to, or journey through the galaxy looking for great scenery and cheap real estate. And leave everyone in charge of themselves.

Everyone is free. Don't forget to pack your towel.

[Rupert Giles]

I wish everyone was free. I'd go settle on Mars or around Mars with whoever would like to, or journey through the galaxy looking for great scenery and cheap real estate. And leave everyone in charge of themselves.

Everyone is free. Don't forget to pack your towel.

And remember:  [BigFriendlyLetters]Don't Panic[/BigFriendlyLetters]

[Irreverend Hugh, KSC]

Everyone is free, though sometimes we just think they're on sale for a limited time only.