The Sacred Chao Te Ching

[Cramulus]

nice blend!

If I recall correctly, the final couplet

Therefore take advantage of what exists,
and use what does not exist.

is directly from the TTC

though I can't think of a way to reconceptualize it for the Chao. It might not need anything.


maybe I'm still not entirely clear on the difference between the ineffable Tao and the ineffable Chao. Are they effable enough to elucidate?

[Cramulus]

Here's another one for the mixer:


Chapter 23

The Machine is the wheel of Karma
it is the expectations we create through our expectations
the action we create through our actions
the jobs we create with our jobs.
a traffic jam does not last all morning
nor does a bad day last a lifetime.
What causes them? The Machine.

If the illusions of the Machine do not last long,
how much less should human beings?

Those who follow the Chao are one with the Chao.
Those who follow power are one with power.
Those who follow laughter are one with laughter.
Those who are bored are boring.

Those who are one with the Chao create the Chao.
Those who are one with power create power.
Those who are one with laughter create laughter.
Those who are one with boredom bore the hell out of me, man.
Those who lack humor? The joke's on them.

OR

Sssshh, remain focused,
lurk linger listen.
Be like a kite;
blown by wind
& drenched by rain;
there is no escape.

If you remain open to Chaos,
knowing not where it ends,
the maelstrom may find you,
you're never the same.
If you find yourself wondering
why me? why again? & (for Pan's sake) why now?
If you really wanna know?
leap into the fray
don't look back.

Remain open to Chaos,
trust your heart & your gut;
all is flux.

[LMNO]

nice blend!

If I recall correctly, the final couplet

Therefore take advantage of what exists,
and use what does not exist.

is directly from the TTC

though I can't think of a way to reconceptualize it for the Chao. It might not need anything.

It works pretty well, IMO.  I like how in the CTC, "take advantage" has different implications.

maybe I'm still not entirely clear on the difference between the ineffable Tao and the ineffable Chao. Are they effable enough to elucidate?

More like EFF-U-able, AMIRITE?

[LMNO]

Ok then,

Chapter 11
The Mandlebrot grows in infinite complexity
but it depends on the empty space at the center.
Knowledge is built of facts:
a scaffolding to support ignorance.

The lines in a coloring book give the page form
but crayons give it life,
not staying constrained inside the lines,
nor reducing the pattern into scribbles.

We stick apart & stay baffled,
yet keep coming back
to the very same thing

The lens of the first microscope revealed fractillian ignorance.

Shaped words, unraveled meanings,
interpret, corrupt, adapt or construe,
we knew all along
words don't count.

take advantage of what exists,
and use what does not exist.




Do we like?

I'll edit the wiki.

[Cramulus]

I like!


we took two meh chapters and made them SOLID



I did some tinkering on Chapter 24 to reflect our discussion about it back on page 11.

[LMNO]

RE: CH 24.

I'm not sure i'm getting a good grasp on either translation.  I see the first as how defining something shapes the observer.

I disagree that The Machine™ is Karma, though I like "expectations of our expectations."

The second one... I dunno.  Perhaps it's too mystical for my understanding.

[Cramulus]

re: chapter 23
I disagree that The Machine™ is Karma, though I like "expectations of our expectations."

If it's confusing, it clearly doesn't stand on its own then... 
When I wrote that, I had just finished reading Cosmic Trigger, in which Wilson was talking about his daughter getting mugged by a bunch of black teenagers, who he saw as just paying forward the karma dealt to their ancestors. Luna forgave them and held no ill will towards them, thereby "stopping the wheel of Karma" (wilson's words)

maybe there's a better way to express that in relation to the Machine.

The Machine is what makes us get up to go to work in the morning, it's what makes us follow traffic laws, it's what makes worry when the economy gets tight... but it's also the theater for our love and laughter. So I don't want to depict it as a flatly evil thing, I do see it as perpetuating some of the good will of humanity too, even if the gears tend to diminish these things. "Both sides of the Chao" and all that.

so maybe that's different from Karma
but the idea is that we create our reality
and the reality we create creates the next reality in turn

The second one... I dunno.  Perhaps it's too mystical for my understanding.

I also prefer the first version (of the two), but didn't want to push for it because it's mine. 

[LMNO]

Maybe this is a good chapter to stake out what The Machine™ "is", then.  I added a few phrases.  Thoughts?



The Machine™ is built by our behaviors;
Our unconscious desires,
our conscious schemes.
It is the expectations we create through our expectations,
the action we create through our actions,
the jobs we create with our jobs.

But a traffic jam does not last all morning,
nor does a bad day last a lifetime.
Likewise, a good mood is often fleeting,
and fortune does not always smile.
All of this is found in The Machine™.

Those who follow the Chao think they are one with the Chao.
Those who follow power think they are one with power.
Those who follow laughter think they are one with laughter.
Those who are bored we think are boring.

Those who are one with the Chao create the Chao.
Those who are one with power create power.
Those who are one with laughter create laughter.
Those who are one with boredom bore the hell out of me, man.
Those who lack humor? The joke's on them.

[Cramulus]

oh I like that quite a bit!

After the line
"the jobs we create with our jobs."
I would clarify:
"the world we create with our world."


One thing it's still missing (or something that belongs elsewhere in the book):

this sentiment from the BIP pamphlet:

You CANNOT bring the MACHINE™ down. You can't even slow it down. What you can do is very slowly and unobtrusively begin to rearrange the basic components.

[LMNO]

Are you trying to reflect the second half of that chapter to the first? That's where we might be able to adjust in order to get the BIP message in.

[Cramulus]

Yeah, a little bit... But looking forward, I think that "rearrange the machine" sentiment belongs in Chapter 27, where we talk about the Machine in a bit more depth

I've removed the "Hot Topic" reference and modified thusly:

chapter: http://principiadiscordia.com/cramulus/index.php?title=Chapters_21-30#Chapter_27
history: http://principiadiscordia.com/cramulus/index.php?title=Chapters_21-30&diff=840&oldid=837

(minor edits)

[LMNO]

I like what you did to CH 27, but do you think 'following the rebels' would be better than "identiying with the rebels"?

Ok, here's the second draft of CH 23 (OMGPINEAL!).  I'm gonna throw it on the Wiki.

The Machine™ is built by our behaviors;
Our unconscious desires,
our conscious schemes.
It is the expectations we create through our expectations,
the action we create through our actions,
the jobs we create with our jobs,
the world we create with our world.

But a traffic jam does not last all morning,
nor does a bad day last a lifetime.
Likewise, a good mood is often fleeting,
and fortune does not always smile.
All of this is found in The Machine™.

Those who follow the Chao think they are one with the Chao.
Those who follow power think they are one with power.
Those who follow laughter think they are one with laughter.
Those who are bored we think are boring.

Those who are one with the Chao create the Chao.
Those who are one with power create power.
Those who are one with laughter create laughter.
Those who are one with boredom bore the hell out of me, man.
Those who lack humor? The joke's on them.

[Cramulus]

[LMNO]

In case it got overlooked:

I like what you did to CH 27, but do you think 'following the rebels' would be better than "identiying with the rebels"?

[Cramulus]

Oops, did miss that.

I'm 50/50 on the following/identifying verbiage. If you think Following works better, I'm happy to use that.

*updated on the wiki*