Trappings

The nature of the antinomian character is eclectic and diverse; however the real meaning behind such diversity - relative to Left Hand Path philosophy - is simple. Many people say the same things in different ways. They say them differently because they, as individuals, have their own affinities, likes and dislikes, disposition and cultural/genetic heritage. Thus, some are drawn towards the LHP Egyptian perspective, others the Graeco-Roman-Egyptian, the mesoamerican, or the Northern European. Other individuals - through acts of creation and synthesis - develop their own more personalized systems. All of these "backdrops" represent unique ways of expressing the same principles, dreams and ideas. Understand then, that within the LHP this is a perfectly acceptable state of affairs. This is because an emphasis is placed upon the actual principles themselves - not the particular way and form in which they are expressed. If you understand a principle you will recognize its essential idea. Whether cloaked in the mythology of the Norse gods, the platitudes of a Pythagoras, or the Enneads of Plotinus - it is the essential extension of the idea into human consciousness that stands. The gloss it is covered within is a question of time, psychological disposition, genetics, culture, religious indoctrination and heritage.

Understanding is an art as much as it is a process.

As long as culture, its myths, history can be understood to contain a means to transmit and inscribe vital principles, it can aid in the process of Xeper. Once the culture, religion, myths, or social constructs become more idealized than the principles of transformation they may be housing, the efficacy of the principles will be subverted. A word to the aware should be sufficient in this regard. It is easy to spot those who have hit this wall where tools build only more of the same kind of tools and are never used to create something new. It is a major component in the decline of a social institution.

-- from The Technician's Guide to The Left Hand Path

Good morning.

An Answer To A Question On Facebook

Somebody just asked the inevitable question "Isn't it time we banned guns?"

Here's my reply.

We can't. Thousands of legitimate users need them. Landowners, Olympians, vets ... Hells, you could even argue for the need for them in pest control.

The thing is, these are the most responsible people in the world. The Home Office profile out these kinds of people, looking for signs of mental instability or a past record of violence. Those who are granted the license to carry arms are the most sane, solid, sober, normal, responsible people in Britain, with a huge responsibility on their hands.

Nice, quiet, normal people, not like strange, occult-minded mutant mutts like me. Men who keep themselves to themselves, do their jobs, wouldn't say boo to a goose.

Just like Derrick Bird was nice, sane, solid, average, mainstream. One of the norms.

You could try and ban guns completely, and you still won't stop people from getting their hands on them and going spree killing. And the worst thing? If you're looking at freaks like me as the future potential spree killers ... you're all looking in the wrong place.

I am really eating my words. 48 hours ago, in my Tony the Electrician rant, I said that civilised people don't up and start killing people on a whim. Fucking Hell, was I wrong.

Some Failage

Kung Fu Bear

If you think the bear's tough, you ought to see his sensei! :)

The Era Of Thoughtful Science Fiction - 1970s

Amid some of the stuff that came out between the late Sixties and 1977, last century, a handful of movies emerged whose existence gave rise to much thought.

I will list these milestone movies.

2001 - A Space Odyssey (1968, Stanley Kubrick dir.).

The Andromeda Strain (1971, Robert Wise dir., Michael Crichton writer).

THX-1138 (1971, George Lucas dir.).

Silent Running (1972, Douglas Trumbull dir.).

Soylent Green (1973, Richard Fleischer dir.).

Westworld (which introduced the concept of computer viruses!) (1973, Michael Crichton dir.).

Phase IV (1974, Saul Bass dir.).

Dark Star (1974, John Carpenter dir.).

Logan's Run (1976, Michael Anderson dir.).

Close Encounters of The Third Kind (1977, Steven Spielberg dir.).

Generally, the only movies shown on British TV these days come either from the Eighties or 1977 at the earliest (Close Encounters bloody rarely, Star Wars Episode IV digitally updated with added 21st century CGI bells and whistles all the bloody time, never the original).

Essentially, from around 1977 when Star Wars came out that was it. Everything was all upbeat. Nobody had time for movies like Fantastic Voyage (1966, Richard Fleischer Dir.) any more.

I mean, they had crappy effects by our standards, and most of them had crappy endings (such as the ending of The Stepford Wives, the denouement of Soylent Green, the ending of Silent Running which will reduce you to tears every time (I still can't listen to Joan Baez' "Rejoice In The Sun" without melting into a lachrymose puddle) and of course Westworld and Phase IV's ending (Phase IV's the one with the ants and the seriously WTF ending).

Yet I find myself thinking about these movies, and occasionally wishing they were available on DVD or Blu Ray or something.

They shaped my young mind. Without horror movies such as The Wicker Man and The Monster Club (Okay, it's 1980 but it's a horror film not SF), I'd never have been inured to the rigours of writing the stuff I ended up writing for White Wolf: without exposure to Logan's Run and Phase IV, I'd never have become such a fan of Traveller.

And if it hadn't been for these old films I might have grown up an accountant or a filing clerk in an insurance office or something.