Post by egodiabolus on May 27, 2010 11:56:28 GMT -6
If we accept the premise that things happen as a result of a logical chain of previous events which lead unerringly to a logical chain of proceeding events, then we must ask ourselves how do we "do" anything? A machine with a potential awareness that is "asleep at the wheel" cannot do anything other than what is dictated to it by the circumstances it finds itself in and the limits of its function. We dream that we are in control while we continue to follow the dictates of the chain of events that we fall under. We are influenced, and only imagine that we have control. Pre-destination isn't absolute, but is the relative norm and a more accurate way of describing our relation to the events in our lives for the majority of us than free-will.
Control is possible, at least to a limited extent. We each live under the influences in our lives, but we are not totally mechanical. With effort, we have the potential to develop our own internal influence. We are each unique, but only unique by a small fraction of difference. The events that lead to the "me" that is here, now, writing this are different than the events that lead to who you are here, now, reading this, but in order for us to have the same interests and to be making similar choices at the same time suggests that much about the chain of events that lead to me in my moment are akin to the events in your chain. If there is an aspect of your chain of events that is appealing to me, perhaps there is a way for me to merge into a chain of events similar to yours. In other words, by observing others we see situations that we may aspire to, but it requires a manipulation of ourselves in order for those changes to occur. Simple imitation will more often than not fail because we remain unique though closely related. Instead, we must seek that within our own circumstances that appears to be profitable in reaching toward the circumstances we desire through our observation of others.
Also, it it illustrates that our aspirations are more often than not developed through our observations and thus also a part of the chain of circumstance we are subject to. Even aspiration "happens", one cannot wish to be something they are not aware of.
These chains of events, these possibilities leading to possibilities, are not singularities. Flipping a coin is an event with two (okay... three if you want to nitpick) possible results; heads or tails. If we are that coin, being asleep, we are either heads or tails and have no way to influence what we will be from one moment to the next. If we became aware, we could influence the flipping of ourselves. We would still be limited to two possible results (not much choice), and still subject to gravity and momentum as well as other forces, but we could choose to influence the result as much as possible toward the best of those two limited options depending on our need in that moment.
The possibilities that face us from moment-to-moment are a little more complex than a coin-toss, but are still finite in there options and a direct result of the preceding events of the past. Only the dead are limited to one choice (and there are some of those people walking around), but most of us only actively recognize two choices, and in our sleeping state almost always default to one choice between the pair we might recognize... we are like a car that pulls to the left because of a bent-axle or some other mechanical issue caused by either trauma or simply repeatedly turning left. Once we have observed ourselves enough to recognize our chain of events and the parameters of possibility that this chain offers, we can begin pulling the wheel harder (relatively) to the right, or maybe even stopping the car and cleaning the windshield.
Influence rains down upon us with a limited number of possibilities within a parameter determined by past events. Think of it like a water-fall that you are standing in. Where you stand, the water is very cold and falls very hard, making you very slow. Perhaps the water is so cold that it makes movement painful, it even makes it difficult to look up and around. You have learned to stand and endure it because it is the one option that has been most immediate (or you have been taught by experience or authority figures that movement is too difficult to be worth the effort), but you are aware, perhaps just through your peripheral vision, that others in the waterfall with you seem to have a better time of it. They are subject to their influences as well, but their influences appear to have more desirable results; more freedom of movement and a more pleasant experience.
Now, you might be thinking that it would be a simple matter to move into the flow of the waterfall that was warmer and less harsh, but think again! Because of your long existence in the cold, harsh set of influences, you are acclimated to it. If you find the strength to reach through the flow into a warmer stream nearby, the difference in temperature will feel like being burned, even if the difference is only a handful of degrees. Instead, you must become familiar completely in a conscious manner with your portion of the stream of influences. This stream will offer a limited set of possibilities; warmer and colder in certain spots, stronger and weaker at different times. We can use what we know about our own stream of influence to re-acclimate ourselves more closely to the stream we desire to be under, acquiring a "new" stream of circumstances a degree or two at a time.
This effort is what it means to have an aim. No matter what, we are under the waterfall of influence, but there are certain streams of influence within the totality of the waterfall that may be more desirable for us... and what is desirable is relative (and arguably caused by the influences we find ourselves under). These streams of influence are intermingled, which means that if I wish to be in a warmer (having more potential options within its parameters) stream, I need to first find what is warm relative to my stream (and myself) and move into it, and then from that "new" stream seek the next tolerable level of warmth, and so on. To make the leap to a stream with greater potential (if it were possible) would cause us to be "burned" by the overload of possibilities until we became acclimated to it (with acclimation not being a matter of awareness but rather sleep).
This process also underlines why it is paramount to remain aware of yourself as you strive to achieve your potential. Change happens more often and more successfully by the slow but consistent increase of degrees than by sudden bursts. Without awareness of ourselves and how we are changing, we will not notice the relative improvement and are likely to slip back into our old, mechanical routines. Anyone who has experienced a truly dramatic shift in circumstances can attest to its bewildering affect, more often resulting in a lack of activity as we are overwhelmed by our new situation which typically only ends when we are able to adapt our old mechanical routines to our new circumstances instead of consciously adapting ourselves and our behaviors to the new potential.
Think long and hard about your aims. Say that your aim is something mundane, like to be a guitarist in a band. Certain aspects of your chain of influence are conducive to this possibility, otherwise you would not even consider it as an option. You have to seek out these influences within you local chain of events and maximize their potential benefit, seek the influences that are most profitable to your goal while avoiding those influences that inhibit it. If music is one of those influences, perhaps you only watch television programs about playing the guitar, only read books or magazine about being a guitar-player, and so on.
Maybe you even stop spending your money frivolously for a few months and buy a guitar with the savings.
The point is that you move toward your aim by degrees. If you tried to simply choose to be a guitarist immediately, maybe picking up a guitar one day in a store and giving it a strum, you would probably do nothing but embarrass yourself. You cannot choose, this instant, to be a guitar-player (unless you already are), but you can make choices within your limited parameter of influences that move you by relative degrees toward your goal.
More esoteric ends are no different. Wanting "freedom" means discovering what about your circumstances is conducive to being free, or is "more free" relative to some other state, and then maximizing those circumstances that lead to relatively more freedom. Wanting "power" means taking advantage of the circumstances you have now that appear to offer more power than others. The difference between a mundane goal and an esoteric goal is that the mundane goal is easier to define. If your aim is esoteric, you have to develop a firm idea of what your aim, like "freedom" or "power" means, and you will probably observe that this definition is (rightly) a result of your current circumstances. You not only seek out and maximize your external influences, you develop a "magnetic center" internally that draws you toward those influences.
Who we are, now, and the circumstances of the moment have already been defined and cannot be changed. You are a result of your past. What we can do is take ownership of that result and use the present to define our circumstances and ourselves in the future. Other influences will always be a part of this process no matter what our circumstances may be, but we have the option of choosing to influence ourselves while most people will go on being influenced. This is the beginning of power, a power that all of us have the potential to own. Observe yourself, strive to remember, take aim, and work toward whatever end you desire.
Ia Ia Cthulhu Fhtagn!
Ego Diabolus
Priest of R'lyeh
Cult of Cthulhu
Control is possible, at least to a limited extent. We each live under the influences in our lives, but we are not totally mechanical. With effort, we have the potential to develop our own internal influence. We are each unique, but only unique by a small fraction of difference. The events that lead to the "me" that is here, now, writing this are different than the events that lead to who you are here, now, reading this, but in order for us to have the same interests and to be making similar choices at the same time suggests that much about the chain of events that lead to me in my moment are akin to the events in your chain. If there is an aspect of your chain of events that is appealing to me, perhaps there is a way for me to merge into a chain of events similar to yours. In other words, by observing others we see situations that we may aspire to, but it requires a manipulation of ourselves in order for those changes to occur. Simple imitation will more often than not fail because we remain unique though closely related. Instead, we must seek that within our own circumstances that appears to be profitable in reaching toward the circumstances we desire through our observation of others.
Also, it it illustrates that our aspirations are more often than not developed through our observations and thus also a part of the chain of circumstance we are subject to. Even aspiration "happens", one cannot wish to be something they are not aware of.
These chains of events, these possibilities leading to possibilities, are not singularities. Flipping a coin is an event with two (okay... three if you want to nitpick) possible results; heads or tails. If we are that coin, being asleep, we are either heads or tails and have no way to influence what we will be from one moment to the next. If we became aware, we could influence the flipping of ourselves. We would still be limited to two possible results (not much choice), and still subject to gravity and momentum as well as other forces, but we could choose to influence the result as much as possible toward the best of those two limited options depending on our need in that moment.
The possibilities that face us from moment-to-moment are a little more complex than a coin-toss, but are still finite in there options and a direct result of the preceding events of the past. Only the dead are limited to one choice (and there are some of those people walking around), but most of us only actively recognize two choices, and in our sleeping state almost always default to one choice between the pair we might recognize... we are like a car that pulls to the left because of a bent-axle or some other mechanical issue caused by either trauma or simply repeatedly turning left. Once we have observed ourselves enough to recognize our chain of events and the parameters of possibility that this chain offers, we can begin pulling the wheel harder (relatively) to the right, or maybe even stopping the car and cleaning the windshield.
Influence rains down upon us with a limited number of possibilities within a parameter determined by past events. Think of it like a water-fall that you are standing in. Where you stand, the water is very cold and falls very hard, making you very slow. Perhaps the water is so cold that it makes movement painful, it even makes it difficult to look up and around. You have learned to stand and endure it because it is the one option that has been most immediate (or you have been taught by experience or authority figures that movement is too difficult to be worth the effort), but you are aware, perhaps just through your peripheral vision, that others in the waterfall with you seem to have a better time of it. They are subject to their influences as well, but their influences appear to have more desirable results; more freedom of movement and a more pleasant experience.
Now, you might be thinking that it would be a simple matter to move into the flow of the waterfall that was warmer and less harsh, but think again! Because of your long existence in the cold, harsh set of influences, you are acclimated to it. If you find the strength to reach through the flow into a warmer stream nearby, the difference in temperature will feel like being burned, even if the difference is only a handful of degrees. Instead, you must become familiar completely in a conscious manner with your portion of the stream of influences. This stream will offer a limited set of possibilities; warmer and colder in certain spots, stronger and weaker at different times. We can use what we know about our own stream of influence to re-acclimate ourselves more closely to the stream we desire to be under, acquiring a "new" stream of circumstances a degree or two at a time.
This effort is what it means to have an aim. No matter what, we are under the waterfall of influence, but there are certain streams of influence within the totality of the waterfall that may be more desirable for us... and what is desirable is relative (and arguably caused by the influences we find ourselves under). These streams of influence are intermingled, which means that if I wish to be in a warmer (having more potential options within its parameters) stream, I need to first find what is warm relative to my stream (and myself) and move into it, and then from that "new" stream seek the next tolerable level of warmth, and so on. To make the leap to a stream with greater potential (if it were possible) would cause us to be "burned" by the overload of possibilities until we became acclimated to it (with acclimation not being a matter of awareness but rather sleep).
This process also underlines why it is paramount to remain aware of yourself as you strive to achieve your potential. Change happens more often and more successfully by the slow but consistent increase of degrees than by sudden bursts. Without awareness of ourselves and how we are changing, we will not notice the relative improvement and are likely to slip back into our old, mechanical routines. Anyone who has experienced a truly dramatic shift in circumstances can attest to its bewildering affect, more often resulting in a lack of activity as we are overwhelmed by our new situation which typically only ends when we are able to adapt our old mechanical routines to our new circumstances instead of consciously adapting ourselves and our behaviors to the new potential.
Think long and hard about your aims. Say that your aim is something mundane, like to be a guitarist in a band. Certain aspects of your chain of influence are conducive to this possibility, otherwise you would not even consider it as an option. You have to seek out these influences within you local chain of events and maximize their potential benefit, seek the influences that are most profitable to your goal while avoiding those influences that inhibit it. If music is one of those influences, perhaps you only watch television programs about playing the guitar, only read books or magazine about being a guitar-player, and so on.
Maybe you even stop spending your money frivolously for a few months and buy a guitar with the savings.
The point is that you move toward your aim by degrees. If you tried to simply choose to be a guitarist immediately, maybe picking up a guitar one day in a store and giving it a strum, you would probably do nothing but embarrass yourself. You cannot choose, this instant, to be a guitar-player (unless you already are), but you can make choices within your limited parameter of influences that move you by relative degrees toward your goal.
More esoteric ends are no different. Wanting "freedom" means discovering what about your circumstances is conducive to being free, or is "more free" relative to some other state, and then maximizing those circumstances that lead to relatively more freedom. Wanting "power" means taking advantage of the circumstances you have now that appear to offer more power than others. The difference between a mundane goal and an esoteric goal is that the mundane goal is easier to define. If your aim is esoteric, you have to develop a firm idea of what your aim, like "freedom" or "power" means, and you will probably observe that this definition is (rightly) a result of your current circumstances. You not only seek out and maximize your external influences, you develop a "magnetic center" internally that draws you toward those influences.
Who we are, now, and the circumstances of the moment have already been defined and cannot be changed. You are a result of your past. What we can do is take ownership of that result and use the present to define our circumstances and ourselves in the future. Other influences will always be a part of this process no matter what our circumstances may be, but we have the option of choosing to influence ourselves while most people will go on being influenced. This is the beginning of power, a power that all of us have the potential to own. Observe yourself, strive to remember, take aim, and work toward whatever end you desire.
Ia Ia Cthulhu Fhtagn!
Ego Diabolus
Priest of R'lyeh
Cult of Cthulhu