TiamatsVision, Author at Technoccult

AuthorTiamatsVision

Zen Anarchy

“Zen anarchy? What could that be ? Some new variations on the koans, those classic proto-Dadaist Zen ‘riddles’? What is the Sound of One Hand making a Clenched Fist? If you see a Black Flag waving on the Flagpole, what moves? Does the flag move? Does the wind move? Does the revolutionary movement move? What is your original nature-before May ?68, before the Spanish Revolution, before the Paris Commune?

Somehow this doesn’t seem quite right. And in fact, it’s unnecessary. From the beginning, Zen was more anarchic than anarchism. We can take it on its own terms. Just so you don’t think I’m making it all up, I’ll cite some of the greatest and most highly-respected (and respectfully ridiculed) figures in the history of Zen, including Hui-Neng (638-713), the Sixth Patriarch, Lin-Chi (d. 867), the founder of the Rinzai school, Mumon (1183-1260), the Rinzai master who assembled one of the most famous collections of koans, Dogen (1200-1253), the founder of Soto, the second major school, and Hakuin (1685-1768), the great Zen master, poet and artist who revitalized Zen practice.

I. Smashing States of Consciousness

This is what all the great teachers show: Zen is the practice of anarchy (an-archy) in the strictest and most super-orthodox sense. It rejects all ‘archys’ or principles-supposedly transcendent sources of truth and reality, which are really no more than fixed ideas, mental habits and prejudices that help create the illusion of dominating reality. These ‘principles’ are not mere innocuous ideas. They are Imperialistic Principalities that intrude their sovereign power into our very minds and spirits. As anti-statist as we may try to be, our efforts will come to little if our state of mind is a mind of state. Zen helps us dispose of the clutter of authoritarian ideological garbage that automatically collects in our normal, well-adjusted mind, so that we become free to experience and appreciate the world, nature, and the ‘Ten Thousand Things,’ the myriad beings around us, rather than just using them as fuel for our ill-fated egoistic cravings.”

(via Precious Metal. Also: Zen Anarchy-pt 2 “Killing The Buddha: Zen’s Assault on Authority”, Pt 3 “The Koan: Entering The Jetstream”)

The Heretic

August 26, 2008 / TiamatsVision

“The bronze figure of Giordano Bruno that stands at the center of Rome’s Campo de’ Fiori may be the most successful commemorative monument in the world. The average statue in a park or square usually rates no more than a glance: Either you already know who the guy is, or you don’t care. But the hooded and manacled effigy of Bruno, with its haunted stare, immediately catches the eye, and the gruesome story attached to it — Bruno was burned at the stake in that very spot, for the crime of heresy — cements him in memory. Practically every tourist who comes to Rome tromps through the Campo and hears that story, even if they’ve never heard of Bruno before. The students who commissioned the statue in the 1880s, as an emblem for freedom of thought and the division of church from state, really got their money’s worth.

But who was Giordano Bruno, and why was he executed in the Campo de’ Fiori in 1600? A common misperception mixes him up with Galileo, who ran into trouble with the church 16 years later for embracing the Copernican model of the solar system instead of endorsing the Aristotelian belief that the sun revolves around the Earth. (In fact, the two men shared an Inquisitor, the implacable Cardinal Robert Bellarmine, canonized by the Catholic Church in 1930.) Bruno, too, thought that the Earth circled the sun, and subscribed to many other than heterodox ideas as well: that the universe is infinite and that everything in it is made up of tiny particles (i.e., atoms), and that it is immeasurably old. But as Ingrid Rowland demonstrates in her new biography of the renegade thinker, “Giordano Bruno: Philosopher/Heretic,” Bruno was no martyr for science. What got him killed was a murky mixture of spiritual transgression and personal foibles, combined with a large dose of bad luck.”

(via Salon. h/t:Professor Hex)

Red Star Over Shambhala

August 22, 2008 / TiamatsVision

“On his way across the wastes of Mongolia in 1921, Polish writer and refugee Ferdinand Ossendowski witnessed some strange behaviour on the part of his Mongol guides. Stopping their camels in the middle of nowhere, they began to pray in great earnestness while a strange hush fell over the animals and everything around. The Mongols later explained that this ritual happened whenever ‘the King of the World in his subterranean palace prays and searches out the destiny of all people on Earth.’

From assorted lamas, Ossendowski learned that this King of the World was ruler of a mysterious, but supposedly very real, kingdom, ‘Agharti.’ In Agharti, he was told, ‘the learned Panditas [masters of Buddhist arts and sciences] write on tablets of stone all the science of our planet and of the other worlds.’ Whoever gained access to the underground realm would have access to incredible knowledge – and power. Ossendowski was not exactly a casual listener. As noted in a previous article [The ‘Bloody’ Baron von Ungern-Sternberg: Madman or Mystic?, New Dawn No. 108 (May-June 2008)], during 1921 he would become a key adviser to ‘Mad Baron’ Roman von Ungern-Sternberg who established a short-lived regime in the Outer Mongolian capital of Urga. A self-proclaimed warrior Buddhist who dreamed of leading a holy war in Asia, the Baron allegedly tried to contact the ‘King of the World’ in hopes of furthering his scheme.

Ossendowski’s credibility later was assailed by the likes of Swedish explorer Sven Hedin. Among other things, Hedin accused the Pole of plagiarising the story of Agarthi from an earlier work by French esotericist Joseph Alexandre St.-Yves d’Alveydre. To one extent or another, that probably was true, but Hedin, a veteran seeker after lost cities, did not dismiss the possibility of a hidden Kingdom; indeed, he likely harboured the aim of finding it himself. In any event, Ossendowski did not invent the story of a fabulous land secreted somewhere in – or under – the vastness of Central Asia, be it called Agharti, Agarttha, Shangri-la, or, most commonly, Shambhala. Some believed it to be a physical, subterranean realm inhabited by an ancient, advanced race, while to others it was a spiritual dimension accessible only to the enlightened.”

(via New Dawn Magazine)

Man Stole Pal’s Identity to Pay for Bypass Surgery, Police Say

August 22, 2008 / TiamatsVision

“If your heart was failing, how far would you go to fix it? Authorities say John Parsons, 57, of Oak Park stole the identity of a mentally disabled friend to pay for heart bypass surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago in 2007. Parsons allegedly racked up about $350,000 in medical expenses billed to the friend’s Medicaid account.

It was not until copies of the bills started arriving at the Joliet home of Phillip Johnson that police said his live-in caregiver discovered the alleged scam. Parsons admitted stealing Johnson’s identity after his arrest, police said. He is due in court Sept. 15 on two counts of aggravated financial identity theft, the culmination of an eight-month investigation by Joliet police and the Will County state’s attorney’s office. Bail was set at $2.5 million.

“Unlike credit-card fraud where you can go back and seize that toaster or LCD television they bought, how do you go back in there and get somebody’s heart?” said Joliet Deputy Police Chief Patrick Kerr. “This is the first time in my 12 years I’ve seen anything like this.”

(via The Chicago Tribune)

A Website Dedicated to the Study of the Esoteric Sciences

August 22, 2008 / TiamatsVision

“Occultscience.tv immediately greets the visitor with a hieroglyphic at the top of the page known as The Great Ennead, which symbolizes Creation (Atum-Ra to Auset). With this powerful symbol comes the words that every beginner in the study of the occult sciences first encounters on their glorious journey, “Know Thy Self”. Words of wisdom that lets the viewer know that they are about to enter a world of knowledge and information that they may not be familiar with, but a fascinating one nevertheless.

[..] Ancient Khemet is the site’s theme, a plethora of links, videos and blogs takes the viewer through a variety of occult/esoteric information. The content presented is intended to guide the viewer far away from conventional religious thought and study to a path of self knowledge and empowerment. As one progresses through the site, one is lead to ask “why”?, why has this knowledge been hidden? for what purpose? and why has this sacred knowledge not been taught in our educational institutions? To find the answers to such probing questions, one must be willing to challenge one’s current paradigm, to question all that one has been taught to think and believe.”

(via PR.com. Thanks DJ!)

(Occultscience.tv)

Russell Crowe to Play Bill Hicks

August 21, 2008 / TiamatsVision

“Bill Hicks, the anarchic comedian who shocked enough people in the late 80s and early 90s to be dubbed ‘Goat-boy’, is to be played by Russell Crowe in a new biopic. His tale has enough laughs, drink, drugs and general chaos to be bog-standard comedian biopic material, and the film is likely to raise more laughs than similar material such as the very intense 1975 Lenny Bruce biopic Lenny. I guess we’ll find out if Mr. Hicks was quite as sex-starved as he was always complaining of…”

(via Den of Geek. See also “10 Ways the Casting of the Bill Hicks Movie Could Be Worse” via Den of Geek)

With Luck, a Rocky Landing

August 19, 2008 / TiamatsVision

“Exactly a decade has passed since a man called Oxygen first hurled himself across Amerika. Known for his jumping ability, Oxygen, a lanky Czech, catapulted to legend status by leaping a nearly 10-foot-wide abyss separating two 100-foot sandstone spires. Today, Petr Kops, 21, is wearing Oxygen’s hand-me-down pants. ‘I did not know Oxygen personally, but my sister did,’ Kops said. ‘I wear his trousers for good luck.’

Minutes later, Kops was standing at the edge of a 70-foot chasm called Broken Bones. He announced that he was about to damage his ankle. Then he jumped. While it may seem suicidal, leaping across a gaping crevasse is actually an extreme sport that is gaining in popularity. Called rock jumping, or simply jumping by the locals, this adrenaline-charged activity is taking place in the Adrspach-Teplice Rocks, a remote nature preserve in the northeast part of the Czech Republic.”

(via The New York Times)

(Related: “BareFOOT in Bohemia (final cut)-pt 2”. And for those who find the Olympics dull be sure to check out the “Extreme Tower Relay”. And finally, please do NOT kite surf in the winds of a tropical storm. “Kite Surfer vs. Mother Nature” via The Adventure Blog)

Decoding The Emotional Brain

August 19, 2008 / TiamatsVision

“Being a neurologist in the era of fMRI scanners must feel like being a kid in a candy shop. What’s going in there while we’re, say, shopping? How about reading? Watching campaign ads? Now that we have a way to take real-time images of the brain at work, the scientific possibilities are endless.

On the surface, the experiment at the heart of this story might seem pretty narrow. It focuses on a rare disorder called pseudobulbar affect, which afflicts only people with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease – a far cry from the universal rites of shopping or reading. But what’s fascinating about pseudobulbar is the light it might shed on all of us, and one of the most primal and mysterious human experiences of all: emotion.

People with pseudobulbar get happy and sad, just like the rest of us. They laugh and cry like the rest of us too. But then sometimes, something else happens: They keep going. And going. In this video, you can see how what looks like a laughing fit morphs into something else entirely. It’s as if the laughing and crying mechanisms have become detached from whatever part of the brain triggered the emotion in the first place. Maybe – and this is the hope of scientists Howard Rosen and Robert Levenson – by seeing that disconnect take place in real time through the fMRI, we’ll understand, for the first time, how emotion plays out in people without pseudobulbar affect.”

(via Quest)

Mars Hoax

August 19, 2008 / TiamatsVision

Someone sent me this email which seemed very familiar:

“The Red Planet is about to be spectacular! This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter’s gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the Last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.

The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.

By the end of August when the two planets are closest , Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30a.m.That’s pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month. Share this with your children and grandchildren. NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN!”

The reason it seemed familiar was because someone else sent me this last year. It’s a hoax folks. So all you astronomy buffs…fogettaboutit.

(Mars hoax via Snopes. Thanks CP!)