More on the Zampakuto Rebellion as it is unfolding.

Find out for yourself what should go in the blank.
Study up on your katakana da ze!

It’s a deeper level of introspection
that is needed
for to know oneself, is to know all others
and to know oneself completely
is to know all others completely too.

This space
inside
is full of willpower and life
and it directs your soul-power and influence
your soul-power
known by many other names, truth
belongs to you
but you have to claim it
first
you have to claim it
and then never force it
to do your bidding.

Why because when it’s *your* bidding
it is not ours
but when it’s us
and ours
then it *means* something
and in an absurd kind of way
after that, the meaning
the answer, eludes me.

In my view one of the most freeing and individual human-centered takes on the development and potential of the mind was this dialogue from the movie Waking Life:

The main character is what you might call “the mind”.
It’s mastery, it’s capacity to represent.
Throughout history, attempts have been made…
to contain those experiences which happen at the edge of the limit…
where the mind is vulnerable.

But I think we are in a very significant moment in history.
Those moments, those what you might call liminal,
Limit, frontier, edge zone experiences…
are actually now becoming the norm.
These multiplicities and distinctions and differences…
that have given great difficulty to the old mind…
are actually through entering into their very essence,
tasting and feeling their uniqueness.

One might make a breakthrough to that common something…
that holds them together.
And so the main character is, to this new mind,
greater, greater mind.
A mind that yet is to be.
And when we are obviously entered into that mode,
you can see a radical subjectivity,
radical attunement to individuality, uniqueness to that which the mind is,
opens itself to a vast objectivity.
So the story is the story of the cosmos now.

The moment is not just a passing, empty nothing yet.
And this is in the way in which these secret passages happen.
Yes, it’s empty with such fullness…
that the great moment, the great life of the universe…
is pulsating in it.
And each one, each object, each place, each act…
Leaves a mark.
And that story is singular.
But, in fact, it’s story after story.

My Summation
| What does he mean to say? |
Can I say it less nebulously?
| Unlikely, but worth a shot… |
Here we go:

In the modern period our minds are freer, the sphere of mental activity much wider, while before the nail that stuck out got hammered down hard. We find we have more opportunities, more cognitive liberty nowadays; still we can get lost as individual exporers, but… Diversification is an effective strategy overall for humanity to break down previously invisible, previously unconsidered barriers.

So while individuals dig deep into an inner space, humanity as a whole proceeds to thin out the slabs of ignorance that have compressed and contained our minds for so long, like frenzied ants carving out new tunnels in an ever expanding hill.

In coming to know ourselves, digging our own tunnels, we are coming to know the cosmos all the better, that thing that connects us all. And despite the grandeur of our gradual enlightenment, the cosmos we know is but one, with a singular story, amongst many others — each with their own tales to tell. So unification is also a vital part of the story here…

Yes, I believe it means something very close to that…

“In spite of or in defiance of the whole of existence he wills to be himself with it, to take it along, almost defying his torment. For to hope in the possibility of help, not to speak of help by virtue of the absurd, that for God all things are possible — no, that he will not do. And as for seeking help from any other — no, that he will not do for all the world; rather than seek help he would prefer to be himself — with all the tortures of hell, if so it must be.”

—Søren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death

In absurdist philosophy, the Absurd arises out of the fundamental disharmony between man’s search for meaning and the apparent meaninglessness of the universe. As beings looking for meaning in a meaningless world, humans have three ways of resolving the dilemma. Kierkegaard and Camus describe the solutions in their works, The Sickness Unto Death and The Myth of Sisyphus:

• Suicide or Escaping Existence: The first solution to the dilemma is simply to end one’s life.
• Religious belief in a transcendent world: Such a belief would posit the existence of a realm that is beyond the Absurd, and, as such, has meaning.
• Acceptance of the Absurd: The absurdist solution is to accept and even embrace the absurdity of life and to continue living in spite of it.

Absurdism is a philosophy stating that the efforts of humanity to find meaning in the universe ultimately fail (and hence are absurd), because no such meaning exists, at least in relation to the individual. The word “absurd” in this context does not mean “logically impossible,” but rather “humanly impossible.”

Absurdism is related to existentialism and nihilism and has its roots in the 19th century Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard. Absurdism as a belief system was born of the existentialist movement, when the French Algerian philosopher and writer Albert Camus broke from that philosophical line of thought and published his manuscript The Myth of Sisyphus. The aftermath of World War II provided the social environment that stimulated absurdist views and allowed for their popular development, especially in the devastated country of France.

Learn more here about Camus and Kierkegaard.

1. Which idea is more toxic?
A. We should inoculate ourselves against the most toxic ideas.
B. It’s all subjective; we cannot objectively classify ideas.

2. Which belief would be most convenient were you to believe in it?
A. Chaos and physical laws rule my life.
B. God and fate rule my life.

3. Which idea is more useful?
A. There are a few brown eggs in the fridge.
B. Suffering is inevitable.

4. Which of these most tickles your fancy?
A. Believers get an afterlife.
B. Only non-believers get an afterlife, just to confuse them.

5. Circle the most viral concept.
A. Zeus is the king of heaven.
B. Allah is the king of heaven.

6. Eliminate the most intolerable concept.
A. Islam is a harmful belief system.
B. Astrology is a harmful belief system.

The inspiration for today’s dilemmas: Dan Dennett on dangerous memes (with great comments).

Herein lie future-wise explanations
for why even though nothing I type here is reflected back into my eyes,
my fingers still move letters on up to the blanketed electrical opulent sky.

And I don’t have a clue why this has to be written
except that it helps me to fill in the space
between me and my greatest most creative pace.

But it will come through the years of hard work I believe in.
Something like this very piece I believe in.
Something like this that others will enjoy as peace within.

Because passion, when true, is a trustworthy guide.
And the passion is true and is turning the tide
And so, it says, to you, alongside,
“Will you please come with and join us my friend?”

And so you wonder if it is
so that together we can be as one in fact.
But no, it’s a bit more recent, with a little bit more tact,
that in the quoted lyrics of the splendid flaming lips
my passion grabs the mic of unison and shouts out just this:

Do you realize that you have the most beautiful face?
Do you realize that we’re floating in space?
Do you realize that happiness makes you cry?
Do you realize that everyone you know someday will die?

And instead of saying all of your goodbyes
let them know you realize that life goes fast.
It’s hard to make the good things last.
You realize the sun doesn’t go down,
it’s just an illusion caused by the world spinning round…

This too comes from the flaming lips. Enjoy the ever prescient glimpse.

I think I just flowd.