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Metaphysics Pub Quiz

  
 
Boy in a Suitcase
23:29 / 19.11.04
Found this on Momus' livejournal and thought it might be a nice curveball to throw into the Temple, wanted to see how people might respond:

1. Do you think that 'Reality is elsewhere'?

2. Do you think that 'If my life as I live it were all there is, I'd top myself right now!'?

3. Do you notice yourself downgrading your environment because it's not really where your concerns are?

4. Is your body going to seed because you're off in some other world, for instance a computer world or a TV world?

5. Do you subscribe to the core beliefs of Marxism, Christianity, or Platonism?

6. When was the Golden Age, and when will utopia come?

7. Do you accept personal authorship of your own parallel worlds, or know the names of the people who designed them? Or do you call them 'objective'?

8. Do you find yourself using the word 'timeless' when you praise things?

9. What would a world in which people wholly accepted the present as 'all there is' be like? Better, or worse?

10. How will these questions change if physicists discover the Higgs Boson or 'god particle'? (Beware, trick que-whoooooooooooosh OMG, where am I?
 
 
Alex's Grandma
00:02 / 20.11.04
Erm... Yes, yes, no, no, no, what sort of a question is that, no, no, much the same, I used to like Momus more when he was on Creation.
 
 
Boy in a Suitcase
00:10 / 20.11.04
And by the way, here's the permalink to his journal entry with his answers. And here are mine:

1. Do you think that 'Reality is elsewhere'?

This would seem to be a fundamental belief of those so romantic/naive as to call themselves magicians, right? Of course I'm tempted to go all Wei Wu Wei or Vanilla Sky on this shit but I know I'll fuck it up. Of course we all know that nothing can ever exist outside of the isolate self (all being only sense perception) "under de Abyss" (isn't that when the Enterprise hits the end of the universe and everything turns all flashy orange dayglo?) or whatever. Of course the idea that "reality is elsewhere" is a part of my daily mental chatter in a few different ways:

a - existential/Marxist/anti-globalist: "Reality is elsewhere" because this Malkuth-level thing I see (Brooklyn NY) is kind of a sham mockery of human potential (Adler). "Humans shouldn't live this way" and theoretically if we were all given the right stimulus we would be more King Arthur and less Al Bundy - life would be "more meaningful" and heroic. This leads into:

b - Thelemic/TOPY/New-Age: "Reality is elsewhere" because one is disconnected from one's "true self" and hence is unable to interpret one's surroundings correctly and channel them into "Self-evolving" inner content. (The kingdom of heaven is now.) Which leads into:

c - Spiritist: "Reality is elsewhere" because this world is just a kind of (to paraphrase Dave Lee I think) "froth on a massive transhuman process." Of course this gets Lovecraftian quick. Which leads quick to:

d - There is no reality elsewhere because there is no reality.

2. Do you think that 'If my life as I live it were all there is, I'd top myself right now!'?

I dunno, I often feel a kind of "burn" effect in my consciousness, kind of like when deckers hit the black ice in William Gibson books, related to initiatory overload within the last year. I no longer feel like my potential is untapped but I'm just starting to get a grasp on it and FUCK YEAH I'd top myself.

3. Do you notice yourself downgrading your environment because it's not really where your concerns are?

Yes, and this worries me, since environment is the first prerequisite of consciousness on every level. I am slowly awakening / educating myself to environmental issues. Sure, abusive corporations are part of nature's process, but so are anti-corporate protestors.

4. Is your body going to seed because you're off in some other world, for instance a computer world or a TV world?

Yep. I spend almost all of my waking time either on subways or in front of a computer since I was conditioned early on to see it as an empowering tool. Not so easy to believe in 2004 (and did anybody see the news yesterday that computers officially make you blind?) I finally joined a gym a couple of months ago but stopped going as much after I dropped a free bench press on my neck and fucked up my voice! Luckily I can't bench shit cause I'm a skinny twerp, so I didn't die!!

5. Do you subscribe to the core beliefs of Marxism, Christianity, or Platonism?

All of the above but only because they make up so much of the fundament (almost all of the fundament, really) of Western culture. I think Marxism is as short-sighted and still tends to see human beings as defined solely by their labor, which as anybody posting here would agree, I imagine, is a tad, uh, wrong? I still adhere to the idea of a "consciousness shift," of a "coming to consciousness" and the idea that we can just STOP this game of civilization one day, though, and the idea that people should have complete power over their lives and should seize the mode of production wherever and whenever possible. And the political left that I have found myself on is of course grown from the topsoil of Marxist analysis.

I wasn't raised religious and only went to church once or twice; the one time I did go in which I was impressionable was to a Unitarian Christmas service. Recently I took an online "what religious beliefs do you hold" quiz and came up with a 100% match for Unitarianism. Kinda makes you wonder. I utterly rejected the idea of religion early on, thinking it oppositional to science and therefore intelligence, but currently find myself totally agreeing with the idea that there does seem to be a universal Christ essence, a force of salvation, and find nothing to disagree with in the "non-literal" meaning of the texts of the world's monotheistic religions, especially Christianity - where I differ is I think that they were talking about an ACCESS POINT to something much bigger.

Platonism is probably the closest to me heart - my intellectual curiosity is almost wholly founded on discovering the hidden essences of things - the lust for SECRET meanings which might be one interpretation of a bit of Plato, and all that Qabalah don't help.

6. When was the Golden Age, and when will utopia come?

The Golden Age is childhood. Utopia is coextant with this time frame and accessable at any moment that you stop preventing yourself from doing so.

7. Do you accept personal authorship of your own parallel worlds, or know the names of the people who designed them? Or do you call them 'objective'?

The acceptance of personal authorship, and moving away from pre-fab realities, is the name of the game but is an arduous and ongoing process - at least until you remember to do it by playing and not working! I only call them objective when I'm arguing with other people and trying to prove that I'M RIGHT!

8. Do you find yourself using the word 'timeless' when you praise things?

Yes, that's the ultimate praise I think, but it's not often I give it.

9. What would a world in which people wholly accepted the present as 'all there is' be like? Better, or worse?

The zen fascists say yes dammit!!! I'm from California. I don't have to answer this question on principle.

10. How will these questions change if physicists discover the Higgs Boson or 'god particle'? (Beware, trick que-whoooooooooooosh OMG, where am I?

I don't fucking know! What am I, good at math?!?
 
 
madhatter
17:51 / 23.11.04
BiaS, you wrote:

" I think Marxism is as short-sighted and still tends to see human beings as defined solely by their labor, which as anybody posting here would agree, I imagine, is a tad, uh, wrong? "

i post here & i dont agree. the way people work to survive - from paleolithic hunter/gatherer to 21st century computerslave - to me seems to be the most important single factor for the constitution of what i would call "a sense of being a subject" - the "self".

ideas of a better world tend to develop around unfulfilled basic needs in a given (working) environment. thus, images of "gods", of a "purified human", or of the "totally different" develop out of unsolved social problems.

this does not mean that it happens over night or in a linear way: more sophisticated ways of putting the whole thing are to be found in bloch's, gramski's and adorno's works (i dont know the english titles though).

i do not mean to tell you "labor's all there is" - which would be stupid. i just feel that what we can feel, think, dream, even talk of, is determinied by the social (aka reproductional aka economic) context.

errr - if you should want to explore the "magical side of marxism" further, i propose an own thread.

cool quiz!
 
 
LVX23
19:00 / 23.11.04
1. Do you think that 'Reality is elsewhere'?

No. By definition "reality" is everywhere. It's the collective experience of creation.

2. Do you think that 'If my life as I live it were all there is, I'd top myself right now!'?

Not sure of the slang... assuming top myself = kill myself. Answer: No, of course not! Life can be tough certainly but it's the only one I've got. Any shortcomings are ultimately my own fault. All in all, it's a bloody brilliant adventure!

3. Do you notice yourself downgrading your environment because it's not really where your concerns are?

No. I find that my environment is usually my top priority. There's definitely a trap in any spiritual path that can remove the seeker from the material plane. Personally, my path has always been about bringing spirit into matter to redeem the world. Kingdom of heaven on earth, and all. My path is one of balance. I'm wary of people who place all of their faith in only half the picture.

4. Is your body going to seed because you're off in some other world, for instance a computer world or a TV world?

No. I am the Horus Hawk, motherfucker. Certainly not a strong or as healthy as I'd like to be but I do what I can as often as I can. I have a low-level addiction to a handful of drugs, one of which seems to be excercise. Besides, I live in a town that is radically outdoorsy. I think it's a lot harder to be body-oriented in a large city.

5. Do you subscribe to the core beliefs of Marxism, Christianity, or Platonism?

Yeah, sure. If by subscribe you mean occasionally read the magazines. I think Marx, Christ and Plato were all great beings with very profound insights. But I wouldn't place any of them in my top-ten list of persons who influenced my path.

6. When was the Golden Age, and when will utopia come?

NOW.

7. Do you accept personal authorship of your own parallel worlds, or know the names of the people who designed them? Or do you call them 'objective'?

As BiaS said, I try to acknowledge personal authorship. I mean, that's really the modern path of magick, right? Storming the reality studio, etc etc. I also try to be aware of the other reality wizards out there and understand their affects on me and others. Street memes versus corporate media.

8. Do you find yourself using the word 'timeless' when you praise things?

Absolutely. The most profound experiences reside or lift one outside of time. There is a presence that seems eternal underlying everything. Life simply ebbs and flows on top of this timelessness. I learned this first-hand about 10 years ago. Take politics (please!): I try to be as aware and active as possible but, ultimatley, I see politics as an ephemeral game played on a very superficial level of existence. beneath it all runs a vast, timeless current of life and love equally at play creating and destroying. We're just witnesses still caught up in our ape instincts.

9. What would a world in which people wholly accepted the present as 'all there is' be like? Better, or worse?

Well, if it happened today, things would probably be pretty messy. Why keep the power plant running when you're god incarnate? I'd like to see a level of vibration that is equally comfortable in both the timeless and the temporal.

10. How will these questions change if physicists discover the Higgs Boson or 'god particle'? (Beware, trick que-whoooooooooooosh OMG, where am I?)

They questions won't change and the physicists will never discover the God particle. They may find a Higgs Boson but that won't be the end of the story. There is no God particle because because that would imply that God (or creation) is wholly reducible to a set of component parts. Creation, God, the Absolute - it's all the emergent totality of an infinite dynamic process. To suggest that the discovery of a single particle would be the key to unlocking it all is like saying that the discovery of carbon explains human thought.
 
 
Boy in a Suitcase
19:46 / 23.11.04
Oh yes why did I not understand the slang myself? Sorry for some reason I was reading topping self as doing one's self one better, not doing the Hemingway floss. I'm with LVX on his answer, mang.
 
  
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