Yes: “our destiny is written in the stars!” Only, the closer the union between the mortal reflection MAN and his celestial PROTOTYPE, the less dangerous the external conditions and subsequent reincarnations—which neither Buddhas nor Christs can escape. This is not superstition, least of all is it Fatalism. The latter implies a blind course of some still blinder power, and man is a free agent during his stay on earth. He cannot escape his ruling Destiny, but he has the choice of two paths that lead him in that direction, and he can reach the goal of misery—if such is decreed to him, either in the snowy white robes of the martyr, or in the soiled garments of a volunteer in the iniquitous course; for, there are external and internal conditions which affect the determination of our will upon our actions, and it is in our power to follow either of the two. Those who believe in Karma have to believe in Destiny, which, from birth to death, every man is weaving thread by thread around himself, as a spider does his cobweb; and this Destiny is guided either by the heavenly voice of the invisible prototype outside of us, or by our more intimate astral, or inner man, who is but too often the evil genius of the embodied entity called man. Both these lead on the outward man, but one of them must prevail; and from the very beginning of the invisible affray the stern and implacable Law of Compensation steps in and takes its course, faithfully following the fluctuations. When the last strand is woven, and man is seemingly enwrapped in the net-work of his own doing, he finds himself completely under the empire of this self-made Destiny. It then either fixes him like the inert shell against the immovable rock, or carries him away like a feather in the whirlwind raised by his own actions, and this is—KARMA.
The Secret Doctrine, H.P. Blavatsky
Month: September 2022
“a mystery is not a problem to be solved”
when everything’s up in the air it’s difficult to find solid ground to work from. the 15th we got keys (well, technically the 13th) to our new house, which is up on the hill and has a breathtaking view of the city and ocean. but I’m mostly out of breath from schlepping boxes up and down stairs and driving them the two blocks between my old and new places. it doesn’t look like I will have finished the story I wanted to submit during September submission periods, but publication is merely an ordeal to be borne once the actual activity of art is completed, so now merely is not the time. once life is settled into routine I can resume the work of derangement via writing.
listening to a lot of recordings of Terence McKenna talks while packing. I’m someone who before this rather enjoyed McKenna’s thought as a kind of curio, but the more I listen to him talk, the more I’m impressed with his rigor, range, and gumption. the way he explains how the world corporate state/neoliberalism works not only disavowed me of the idea that he isn’t a totally serious thinker, at least politically, but it basically summarized it all better than I’ve ever heard anyone put it, including explicitly leftist intellectuals like Michael Parenti. despite the more harebrained of his ideas generally serving as his calling cards (stoned ape theory, Timewave Zero, etc.), McKenna is an exceptionally lucid and critical thinker who is among a group of maybe four public intellectuals in recent memory whom I still hold in high esteem: David Graeber, Mike Davis, and I guess Charles Bowden, but Bowden is more journalist/writer than intellectual. once I have more time I want to devote it to writing about literally whatever the fuck I find interesting here the way McKenna seems able to discuss basically any topic that comes his way. enough of these little update posts, I want to write multiple-thousand-word essays about quantum theory, alchemy, shamanism, Buddhism, Gnosticism, literary history, drugs, paranoia, apocalypse, aesthetic theory, technology, whatever. I also want to do the s*****s and a**d that are in my fridge, and, ideally, track down some D*T to sm*ke.
currently I’m rereading Dubliners for the first time in years, so maybe Joyce is a decent place to start wrt longer-form blogging. I need practice using way more words than are strictly speaking necessary: my tendency towards concision is a good one, but it should serve to temper a predilection for babbling, which I tamp down for fear of being obnoxious. from now on I want to risk being obnoxious.
alright that’s enough earnestness from me today.
The Bodhisattva Hani Hanjour, Blessed Pilot of Impossible Flight Paths
this past Thursday I was summoned for jury duty. in my experience, jury duty is an opportunity to do a lot of reading. so with this in mind I brought along my copy of the Lotus Sutra to study while being held in the jury services waiting area.
the Lotus Sutra is one of the many books to survive the radical culling of my personal library I must do in preparation of moving this week. the new lease starts on Thursday, but moments ago I received word that we can pick up the keys tomorrow. my current apartment no longer is capable of housing all my books, so for that reason alone I’m overjoyed to be relocating. add the fact that I will be cohabiting a delightful house overlooking downtown and the ocean with a woman I love dearly, all for a reduction in rent, and I couldn’t be more excited. it is a privilege to have books to pass along to someone else, so there are presently three bags full of titles I will be sending off to some friends, plus I’ve donated at least four bags worth to the library that employs me, plus I traded in two more bags worth for $70 in trade credit. I had to restrain myself from immediately using all of that credit to purchase an unabridged two volume Isis Unveiled by H.P. Blavatsky and a copy of Albert Pike’s Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. Instead I picked up a textbook on electromagnetism, a book of stories by Malcolm Lowry, The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot, and The Epic of Gilgamesh. if it is in my fate to own the books I passed up, they will be there next time I visit the used bookstore.
back at jury duty, the Lotus Sutra seemed to be protecting me. I made it through the first round without my name being called, and the morning was moving along nicely. I thought that so long as I maintained the right view, the right intention, the right speech, the right action, the right livelihood, the right effort, the right mindfulness, and the right samadhi, then the selection of jurors would pass over me and allow me to escape the bureaucratic hell karma had determined would be my lot for the day. since this desire is obviously a vulgar, profane goal arising out of my ego, and not out of my buddha-nature, with 30 minutes left in the morning session my name was included among those prospective jurors who would be required to return to the courthouse that afternoon for potential placement on a jury panel that had begun selection the day prior.
the case needed one more alternate juror to begin proceedings. were I being questioned for an official spot on the jury, and not as a potential back up, I might have kept my mouth shut and participated, but, not wanting to sit through the entire trial on the off-chance I’ll be needed to fill a vacant spot come deliberation time, I told the judge I harbor deep resentment towards my ex-FBI father, and this resentment has led me to a principled, political opposition to the police as such, and the judge dismissed me. the use of expedient means by buddhas and bodhisattvas is one of the prime lessons of the Lotus Sutra. the next day, the day I traded in books, Mercury retrograde started.
yesterday was 9/11, never forget.
EMERGENCY ALERT: VAMPIRES REPORTED
reactionaries have utilized any and all means to register smug contempt for Gavin Newsom these past few days, with a record-breaking heat wave leading to California’s energy companies warning of the possibility of blackouts as a result of added strain on the electrical grid. Newsom issued a directive that urges Californians to reduce power usage during peak times, generally 5 – 9pm. the rejoinder from those eager to castigate the pretty boy/petty tyrant asks, sarcastically, how outlawing the sale of gas-powered vehicles will lead to reduced power usage, since in that eventuality everyone will need to charge their electric vehicles. far be it from me to criticize someone for criticizing Gavin Newsom, for whom I reserve a special disdain, but electric cars are generally charged overnight, when energy consumption is at its lowest. this is not to disagree with those who bemoan how mismanaged California’s energy is, which is manifestly obvious to anyone paying attention to it.
speaking of draining energy, this past weekend was a reminder to me of the importance of taking preventative measures against vampires. vampires are adept at finding ways to harness energy for their own gratification with a minimum of effort. indications someone you are dealing with is a vampire include: negligible interest being paid to whomever they seek validation from; disregard for the time and energy required to maintain cordial relations; actions directly contradicting any illusory evidence of their ostensible care; willful ignorance of any efforts to communicate hurt feelings. if vanquishing via the traditional wooden stake in the heart is not an option, I recommend, once their true nature has been revealed to you, that you deny at every opportunity their attempts to reconcile. vampires must be invited into one’s life, after all, and while difficult, it is not impossible to retract an already opened invitation.
there are no major astrological events worth commenting on at present, which reflects, personally, the doldrums of being a week away from moving into a new place. my apartment is very small, so I can’t really begin dissembling the living space I’ve inhabited for the past seven years until there’s somewhere to move things to. the moon moved into Aquarius last night at 8:40PM PDT, almost exactly when I got off the phone with Erikk, who, like everyone else I know, it seems, is also moving in the near future. I wanted to start yesterday on these near-daily, astrologically-tinted posts, but the site I purchase hosting space from was down all afternoon, which prevented me from accessing my blog.
Mercury in Libra is trine Mars in Gemini, air signs concerned with the manner in which ideas constitute the social relations between people and others. this aspect will hover there for a few days as Mercury turns retrograde on the 9th. I expect an atmosphere conducive to harmonious and logical, if somewhat strenuous, reflection on the myriad ways people interact with each other: both practically/physically, due to Mars’s influence, and intellectually/linguistically, Mercury’s domain. this as Saturn in Aquarius squares Uranus in Taurus, a chance to actualize any sensuous illusions presently impeding one’s ability to articulate and structure desire. Virgo season being in full swing, it is time to reinforce what works and sacrifice what doesn’t, in an effort to purify one’s sphere, taking special care to exorcise all vampiric influences.