| The following piece is FRActal MEtafiction (FRAME); a Futurist Arts & Culture paradigm which draws upon the concepts of Culture Mining and Gamification, and is inspired by artists such as William S. Burroughs, J.G. Ballard, Joseph Cornell, Andy Warhol, and Marcel Duchamp, in addition to Postmodern theorists such as Jean Baudrillard. |
[9 4389] Letters of Blood and Fire
[from “Capital (Volume I)” by Karl Marx]
The economic structure of capitalist society has grown out of the economic structure of feudal society. The dissolution of the latter set free the elements of the former … [T]he historical movement which changes the producers into wage-workers, appears, on the one hand, as their emancipation from serfdom and from the fetters of the guilds, and this side alone exists for our bourgeois historians. But, on the other hand, these new freedmen became sellers of themselves only after they had been robbed of all their own means of production, and of all the guarantees of existence afforded by the old feudal arrangements. And the history of this, their expropriation, is written in the annals of mankind in letters of blood and fire.
We all know that Marx’s criticisms of western, Capitalist society were doomed to end in tyrannical failure, having given rise to no ethical or practical solutions… but the problems which prompted him to write in the first place still exist, and continue to get worse. Inequality spirals out of control as we stand on the verge of a new era of radical technological change, so this time around the stakes for humanity are much, much higher…
[10 7580] The Ending of War
[from “The Zeitgeist Movement Defined” by the TZM Team]
The ending of war, the resolution of poverty, the creation of a material abundance unseen in history to meet human needs, the removal of most crime as we know it, the empowerment of true personal freedom through the removal of pointless and/or monotonous labor, and the resolution of many environmental threats, are but a few of the calculated possibilities we have when we take our technical reality into account. However, again, these possibilities are not only largely unrecognized, they are also literally restricted by the current social order, for the implementation of such problem solving efficiency and prosperity stands in direct opposition to the very mechanics of how our current social system is operating at the core level.
Again, accelerating technological change is now exploding into a societal milieu uncomfortably balanced between possibility and injustice. Those who control society now will not relinquish control graciously, and it is only a matter of time until technological disruption unleashes a tsunami of economic, political, and societal disruption at every possible level. In preparing for that level of change, it is best to make as few assumptions as possible.
[11 8041] The Death and Resurrection Show
[from “Fight Club” by Chuck Palahniuk]
Only after disaster can we be resurrected. It’s only after you’ve lost everything that you’re free to do anything. Nothing is static, everything is evolving, everything is falling apart.
We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War’s a spiritual war… our Great Depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.
You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You’re the same decaying organic matter as everything else.
The liberator who destroys my property is fighting to save my spirit. The Teacher who clears all possessions from my path will set me free.
Mainstream monotheistic religions encourage you to defer life to another time… or at least to imagine that it can and should be done. It’s easy to turn the other cheek when better things are waiting around the corner. Such is the stuff of children’s tales: Comforting stories designed to control. Transhumanists would do well to abandon all traditional philosophies and ask themselves: What would Tyler Durden do?
[12 7750] The Five Pointed Star
[from “Srimad Bhagavatha Maha Purana” (12:2:18)]
शम्भल ग्राम मुख्यस्य ब्राह्मणस्य महात्मनः।
भवने विष्णुयशसः कल्किः प्रादुर्भविष्यति॥
[from “Liber AL vel Legis (The Book of the Law)”]
I,60: My number is 11, as all their numbers who are of us. The Five Pointed Star, with a Circle in the Middle, & the circle is Red. My colour is black to the blind, but the blue & gold are seen of the seeing. Also I have a secret glory for them that love me.
II,22: I am the Snake that giveth Knowledge & Delight and bright glory, and stir the hearts of men with drunkenness. To worship me take wine and strange drugs whereof I will tell my prophet, & be drunk thereof! They shall not harm ye at all. It is a lie, this folly against self. The exposure of innocence is a lie. Be strong, o man! lust, enjoy all things of sense and rapture: fear not that any God shall deny thee for this.
III,46: I am the warrior Lord of the Forties: the Eighties cower before me, & are abased. I will bring you to victory & joy: I will be at your arms in battle & ye shall delight to slay. Success is your proof; courage is your armour; go on, go on, in my strength; & ye shall turn not back for any!
III,74: There is a splendour in my name hidden and glorious, as the sun of midnight is ever the son.
[from “Magick in Theory and Practice” by Aleister Crowley]
One last word on this subject. There is a Magical operation of maximum importance: the Initiation of a New Aeon. When it becomes necessary to utter a Word, the whole Planet must be bathed in blood. Before man is ready to accept the Law of Thelema, the Great War must be fought. This Bloody Sacrifice is the critical point of the World-Ceremony of the Proclamation of Horus, the Crowned and conquering Child, as Lord of the Aeon.
This whole matter is prophesied in the Book of the Law itself; let the student take note, and enter the ranks of the Host of the Sun.
Crowley’s style was certainly poetic, provocative, and a thing of the late 19th Century. As he noted explicitly elsewhere, literal readings of his work were dismissed in favour of individual development and understanding. His “gods” were not the infantile, over-literal fantasies of modern religion, but metaphors for radical change and renewal. What is the Transhumanist revolution if not the herald of a new Aeon?
| Thoughts to frame@zerostate.net or in comments below may be rewarded with ARG info. Conversations held elsewhere and linked back to that address or comments below will definitely win clues, hints, & info. |
3 Pingbacks