What is above…
At the beginning of the creation of the world, there was the Void. It wasn’t void because of a lack of existence, nor because it existed. Rather, there were things that were, but did not possess all of the properties of something that exists. This hyle is matter without properties, or sometimes properties without matter. It is ding an sich, both in it’s observable effects, and it’s unknowable whole. As humanity propagates the spheres (or arils as I refer to them elsewhere, referencing the pomegranate metaphor) the Void is consumed. However, it is meaningless to speak of the Void having volume or as parts, because it alternates between states of formlessness and unobservability. Kaplan talks about these states, tohu and bohu, (as described in the biblical narrative) as being “pure substance that does not contain information” (tohu) and “pure information that does not relate to any substance” (bohu). Kaplan also states that they are undifferentiated – like a blank canvas, containing all elements in potential. This level of reality defies manifestation, because manifestation is limitation. From the perspective of this level, our world is a great evil. It corresponds roughly to the concept of Atzilut, and is in one sense at war with our patchwork Cluster, in that it seeks to bring out the potential of fixed things. It alternatingly unravels, empowers, rapes, and destroys that which is safe. It is the encounter with this terrible and awesome force that creates the potential for magic and mystic encounters with God. Only when we have been tried by the Abyss can we possibly have the capacity for understanding the mysteries of the world. Note also that Kaplan states that the tohu and bohu aspects of reality did not come before the material world (Malkhut), but rather represents a later development of the physical that allowed it to be inscribed with information (pgs. 73-77 of his commentary on SY, v. 1:11). The objects within it, as they move in relation to each other form a relational message, and each object is a word to be read in the context of the other objects and ideas around it, as Philip K. Dick posited in his Exegesis:
“Tractate 31: We hypostatize information into objects. Rearrangement
of objects is change in the content of the information; the message
has changed. This is a language which we have lost the ability to
read. We ourselves are a part of this language; changes in us are
changes in the content of the information. We ourselves are
information-rich; information enters us, is processed and is then
projected outward once more, now in an altered form. We are not aware
that we are doing this, that in fact this is all we are doing.”“Tractate 36: In summary; thoughts of the brain are experienced by us
as arrangements and rearrangements – change – in a physical universe;
but in fact it is really information and information-processing which
we substantialize. We do not merely see its thoughts as objects, but
rather as the movement, or, more precisely, the placement of objects:
how they become linked to one another. But we cannot read the patterns
of arrangement; we cannot extract the information in it – i.e. it as
information, which is what it is. The linking and relinking of objects
by the Brain is actually a language but not a language like ours
(since it is addressing itself and not someone or something outside
itself).”
Project Miodendre, while essentially seeking to map out these ‘words’ or worlds (they can be called spheres, sefirot, or arils as well), is also designed to capture the sense of that divine language.
A beginning
It all starts with a net. It’s certainly appropriate, so I think I will start there, too.
I once had a pretty tight group of friends. In one capacity or another, we all practiced magic. Some were drawn to divination, others evocation, and some to astral projection. It was an adventure for us, and despite various squabbles, we all got along fairly well. At it’s peak, we thought we could pluck the stars from the heavens, if we so desired. We were wrong and we paid for it. One of the things I did learn during that time was an exercise based on Indra’s Net. In it, one must imagine an infinite number of spheres, with mirror surfaces, each reflecting the others, strung outwards for eternity. These spheres are places, ideologies, people or groups (groupthink), and even timeframes (zeitgeist). Their interaction and the exchange of information between them is what creates reality as we know it.
Meditating on the fact that our universe is simply the byproduct of all of these transmissions and reflections is one of the things that lead me to Project Miodendre. Project Miodendre is an attempt to understand our universe at that basic level, referred to by the Mekubalim as the worlds of the Kings of Edom. These pre-s’firotic worlds had unstable boundaries and wildly divergent laws. In each of these pearls, as we experience it now, there are mostly the same physical laws, and similar spiritual environments. Our portion of reality is less like a net of jewels, and more like many of these mirrorballs each inter-penetrating each other – all clustered together. We have created homogeneity from wild and untamed places. We are the normalization factor within reality. But our Cluster is not all that there is. There are untamed spheres still, on the edges of where we have staked our claims of Reality. These spheres do not necessarily follow all the same rules. And because they border the Cluster, that strangeness bleeds into the fabric of those outlying spheres.
My friends and I were outcasts, living just outside what everyone else thought of as real. We lived on the borders, and we reveled in the freedom we found there. I miss those times, if only because I miss seeing people who were free. There is still mystery and wonder in the world. It is, as it has always been, on the edges and in the interstitials – just outside the reach of those who would wish it away.
Waiting
Right now I’m in limbo (not the decommissioned one) and I’m not all that happy about it. It’s not awful. The bills can be paid, and things aren’t really all that tight yet. I’m pushing forward as much as I can, and nothing seems to be happening, but I’m sure that results are forthcoming. I’m actually enjoying some of my time because of the save game hack that lets me play my old PS1 save games on the PSP. I feel dissatisfied because I’m not working, and I’m not sure if it’s because I’m supposed to feel that way or if it’s because of the actual lack of income. Something to ponder, I’m sure.
Visual DNA
Save Games
Just documenting a process for myself. To move a save game from the PS1 memory card, first I imported it to the PS3, then exported it to a memory stick. This leaves us with a PSV file on the memory stick, which you should then take to your computer. I then used the PSV Exporter to move that file to a MCS file. The MCS file can be turned into an MCR file with the help of the PSX GameEdit program. This leaves us with a MCR file that needs to be renamed. Every PSX game has a game code that looks like this one: SCUS94163 (the code for FF7). So the MCR file has to be named SCUS underscore 94163 dash 0 dot mcr (zero is the first memory card slot, and for some reason 3 is the second one). Then you run the CWCheat plugin on top of the POPStation game you wish to import your save into, go to “Manage memory cards,” then pick the third option: “load memory card 1 from memory stick.” If all is well, it’ll say OK, and you’ll be able to load your PS1 save game on your PSP. The great thing about this method is that it doesn’t require a hacked PS2 as an intermediary to move the save games.
Whatta week!
It’s been hectic between interviewing and K’s job. She worked the holiday, so that other people could be with their families and whatnot, seeing as we don’t celebrate it. Of course, that meant only one day off, so it feels like 2 weeks straight, even though it’s really only 10 work days with 1 off in between.
Counting the omer has been fun. I think that for us, it’s a time of fixing up the places where we’ve compromised our virtues, or allowed ourselves to become mediocre. At Pesach we free the body and the soul, but during the counting of the omer, we rid ourselves of the habits learned in captivity. By methodically going through each aspect of our life in a sort of 7×7 matrix, we’re also duplicating the hunting action that we perform before Pesach regarding chametz as well. Here we are searching for the habits of slavery, the behavioral patterns that we’ve inherited, or maybe learned from example. These “orders” of behavior work as an inverse to the Seder (order) and act as entropic forces upon the extropic, freedom-seeking Seder that we perform during Pesach as well. So Pesach is the beginning of freedom, the counting of the omer is the process of making ourselves ready, and Shavuot is the culmination of that freedom.
Anyway, gotta go.
