Saturday, November 26, 2011

Ahriman and Lucifer

If this Black Friday was not a fine example of the orgy of enthusiasm with which we have embraced the decline of Western Civilization, then it is surely programming gone awry. If you were pepper-sprayed, in a crowd striving to take hold of an Xbox, I can say that I don't have much sympathy. I'm not ready to condemn her, the woman who did it. If rumor is true and she walked out unidentified, maybe even paying for the item, I almost feel like applauding her, insofar as she showed us the power of the school effect.

The easiest answer is, she's a sociopath. But if so, what are the people who were so oblivious in such number, that she got away with it? If the TV commercials are any indication, these Black Friday shoppers are supposed to be aggressive. They are more like feeder fish, in all the consciousness that behavior displays. It's sad, and appalling, that we have come to this place, choosing this path of continued abuse and destruction of the Earth, this absurd place we have come to, that we have to shop like mad to save the economy. As if that can save us from this out of control tilt toward apocalyptic devastation, wild-eyed in this strange faith in the prevailing paradigm. As if we hold on long enough some technological messianic something or other, is going to allow us to consume so obliviously, forever and always.

Sean Hannity interviewed Dick Cheney Saturday night. If there is a more smug Christian than Hannity, I am not aware of it. And Cheney? It is perfectly apropos that he is a man without a working heart. There is your cyborg, an aging imperialist on a book tour to tell us again that it was right and good that we started two wars while accepting tax cuts, our reward for ridding the world of terror, bankrupting the country. How have we rid the world? It remains a nationwide conspiracy, our collective unwillingness to accept responsibility. As if the two halves of ourselves are willing us toward oblivion. Better epic collapse, apparently, than a thoughtful readdressing of our place in the world, as a nation, as a people, as a species.

Ahriman and Lucifer. According to the mystic Rudolf Steiner, there is a twin-demonic energy loose in the world, which he called Lucifer and Ahriman, diametrically opposed to the archangel Michael. While I find this an imbalanced trinity, and I can't vouch for anything like an archangel, I can say I have sensed something like Ahriman and Lucifer. Ahriman representing a kind of material sacrifice of the spirit, Lucifer like a spiritual sacrifice of the material. Ahriman, as the idea that the world is only matter, raw material to exploit without concern for consequences except as they benefit me. Lucifer, as spiritual inflation, the idea that the existence of spirit, or any other plane or dimension, is the true reality, as if this reality has none, or none that is good. Both conspiring to separate us from the world we inhabit, leading us to our destruction.

It seems as apt a description of what is going on, as any. Doesn't this too, seem to speak of Capitalism and Socialism, twin social paradigms primary in this Age? Capitalists revere competition and the rule of law, esp. as it benefits Capitalists. Socialism, based in a fear of powerful men, seeks to restrain, but in the end only serving to elevate elites, at the expense of individual freedom, and often, sense. And let's not kid ourselves, all the Western nations and China are excellent examples of a blend of Capitalist and Socialist; in fact, the laissez-fair competition so dreamed of by Western Capitalists is more a reality in China than anywhere in the West, where also, in China, true socialism is most extreme. In China, you don't get to vote yourself benefits, or even communicate freely about them. America has been the Empire it is precisely because it has been such a balanced blend of Capitalist and Socialist tendencies.

If things go south economically speaking (speaking of financial markets, and the rise of China), and the European Union dissolves, life in Europe is likely to feel a bit more shadow socialistic. Here in America, any drift toward a more aggressive authoritarianism, is likely to have the flavor of the Right. Here's for a long, slow decline, so we can keep the house in balance. With all the bluster about Iran, and our disintegrating relationship with Pakistan, I'm not optimistic. I almost want the people of the world to ratchet up their consumption of fossil fuels, to drain the engine of that particular nightmare, sooner rather than later. Clearly, I don't have to worry much about that.

So where is this archangel Michael, in all of this? He certainly isn't behind Religion, which is as much influenced by Luciferic energy as anything. I'm pretty sure I saw something like Ahriman in a dream the other night. I would probably face down a glowing golden winged creature, as I did that thing with those nasty black horns and all that rage, if I were to see one. I am not in service to any tyrant. If he's there, he better have a miracle ready, if he hopes to dissuade Humanity from heading blindly into epic collapse. Perhaps he will assist us, if he is there, to help open our hearts? To crack open our heads, to let a little reality in, reminding us that the answer is in the body. Inside, where the workings of Ahriman and Lucifer are so evident, if we only care to look, to dispel them.

Me, I place my faith in the Goddess. Ahriman and Lucifer can blow, the freaks. Archangel Michael can earn some respect by showing us something. I'm not waiting. I'm looking to my core, to ground myself firmly in the Earth, to clear myself of all that prevents me from knowing what I am, why I am here, and what it is I am to do. I interpret signs, and take things thoughtfully, moderately, choosing my own path. Calling out my service to the Goddess daily, not with hope of any return, but to remind myself what it is I am doing, and why.

Those signs I spoke of are leading me to Dallas next week, as Creative Director of HD Masks, at the Professional Baseball Trade Show, at the Professional Baseball Winter Meetings. I played baseball a long time ago, but I quit following the professional game when my dreams of playing professionally ended. I can't name enough professional players to fill a team roster. I've been dreaming about bringing the green paint, animal pants and deer horns. I could wear the dragon mask, dancing down the isles between booths. We have a pirate costume and a mask. I think I'll bring the pine swords. I intend to sell a lot of masks, with the idea of the gift. If I sell an abundance of masks, I can take this house off the grid - actually walk my talk. Which is the point, if I intend on bringing healing to the Earth.

Blessings be.

6 comments:

Luciddreams said...

Good luck with the masks, I hope you sell a boat load. It seems you deserve a little material power by way of dollar bills to get your house off the grid. If you haven't seen this guest post on Dimitri Orlov's page, do take the time to read it:

http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2011/11/million-gardens.html

I think it will resonate with you, certainly did me.

I lay my spiritual covenant in the dirt where it belongs. Nature is the only thing I feel comfortable serving and worshiping. It's clearly bigger than I and yet I am it. The thing that animates life is so easily seen in the trees. I was in the dentist office yesterday waiting on the dentist to look at my teeth. It took a while, and after a few minutes I noticed several large pine trees dancing in the wind through the window of boxed suburbia. I had a feeling of peace descend and a knowledge that life will endure. Our drama is just a passing show on the stage of Gaia.

Justin said...

Two thoughts.

You already are walking your talk. Achieving some steady state of being off the grid is probably not possible, and it is also not the end goal of walking your talk.

A second thought, perhaps there is no decline of civilization. Civilization just is what we do every day by existing together. The rise or fall of it is a subjective take on its overall trajectory, a subjective take comes from a perspective, and a perspective is informed by world views and value systems. What perspective must one have to say that the end of an age of mass production, intentional waste, and consumption that is poisoning the world, our minds, our bodies, so that a tiny few can be extremely comfortable and pampered while the many choke on dust is a fall?

William Hunter Duncan said...

Luciddreams,

There is a tree on my boulevard, a non-native Norway maple, that seriously compromises my ability to grow food in my yard. I would take it down, but it technically belongs to the city. I was looking at that tree about the same time you wrote this comment, marveling at what an astounding thing a tree is, not least that it can survive the long northern winter. I told it that if I ever do take it down, I will give the trunk an honored place in my house, and I will use ever part above ground.

I read the piece from Club Orlov. I've been dreaming of renegade gardens in Minneapolis since I returned to the city. Minneapolis does not allow any community gardens on city property. I esp. liked his take on the inherent corruptibility of institutions.

I also poked through Kunstler's blog. He seems less vibrant these days, like he's contemplating collapse too much. And that piece on the Penn State scandal, I can say this - I am in no need of punishment, thank you. As JMG says, we become like the thing we contemplate.

And I read some of Bageant's essays. Fun and admirable.

Justin,
Looking at it that way, I have faith that civilization beyond the end of fossil fuels will be considerably more advanced in any number of ways, vastly more healthy for the Earth and people. I also suspect that the only thing standing in the way of another thousand year descent into darkness, is us.

WHD

Justin said...

I also suspect that the only thing standing in the way of another thousand year descent into darkness, is us.

I am not sure I agree with that, but I see the general feeling behind it. Granting it for argument's sake, it makes you wonder what the heck people are talking about when they say that our futures are going to be worse than our parents. I couldn't imagine a more exciting time to exist, much more fulfilling than the bleak, autonomization and commodification of the individual that was essential to the last phase.

Luciddreams said...

Justin, I agree with you. I've just recently (as in last night) started to think in a similar way. I had a friend over and she sampled some of my various fermentation's, different krauts, pickles and kimchi. She was extremely impressed with all of the flavors. They seem to burst with newness and intensity because they are living foods, local, enlivened by the lactobacilli bacteria floating around in my kitchen.

It gave me hope because we bonded around my table while participating in the genesis of culture, no doubt where that word comes from "to culture a food." The point is that she is just awakening you might say, just took the red pill, and then there is this presentation of real cultured food. Something magic happened. Now we are scheduling a "kimchi party" for the winter solstice. We're going to have a small group over and make a large batch of kimchi. I lay in bed last night thinking about how the world could be such things everyday. We could live that way, cultured. The "collapse" will surely nurture culture. So there is room for optimism.

WHD, glad you read that material and enjoyed it. I love Bageant. Both of his books are worth every penny. I have two oak trees over 100 years old each on my property. One is on the east end and the other on the west. I have thought many times that I would love the sun, but I could never take either of them down. They are simply too majestic. The irony is that due to the limited space I have adapted by various hybrid "technology" in my garden by combining hugelkulture with double dug raised beds. Still a work in progress, last year was my first go at it.

William Hunter Duncan said...

Justin,

By us, I mean humans, as opposed to messianic technology, aliens, gods etc. And yes, I agree, this is an exciting time to be alive. Who can imagine a life not privy to the biological, astrophysical, quantum and historical understanding? If we retain that and continue to expand on it, in the Age after fossil fuels, then I suspect this world will be that much more a beautiful place to be. There are of course, plenty of forces in the world that want none of that understanding for themselves, or anyone else. That is why I write, to remind people what is at stake.

Luciddreams,

Skills, Skills, Skills. Yes! Continue the good work. I wish I could be there for that kimchi solstice. And I imagine those beautiful Oak trees help keep the house cool in the summer, unless they don't shade the house at the hottest part of the day.