Thanks for this. As an American western lady I am currently noticing the mistaking of the symbol for the substance nearly everywhere! Curious your thoughts, it seems language itself is even a barrier to ourselves and our bodies and one another, except when, perhaps, our word is in total alignment with our being… ? It seems language is what could create lying, and lying in a way is a sin because it denies or manipulates what is true. But all of language is kind of a lie just like all symbols are. The madness. Anyway, I love your work!
100% agree with you that language is a barrier. at this point, there's a strong consensus between neuroscience and mythology, which means it's definitely something worth keeping at the forefront of our minds. from the scientific perspective, we have Iain McGilchrist writing about the Left Brain's palace coup in 'The Master and His Emissary': analytical, isolating, logic- and language-based thinking usurping the "normal" Right hemispheric functioning, and subsequently remaking the world according to its prerogatives. from the mythic perspective, we have countless stories of language as a Promethean theft from a higher power, like Adam and Eve eating from the Tree of Knowledge, and Thoth teaching the skills of writing/magic to the Ancient Egyptians. lately, my favorite has been the myth of Odin sacrificing one of his eyes to learn the secrets of the Runes, because it so clearly connects the idea of a great power gained at the expense of complete, natural vision.
Many yesses to this essay! ('Reductive materialism ... is an epistemological tantrum' is acupuncturally precise). Your blade is very sharp and wielded with much discernment. Thank you.
As for language... all language is a kind of a lie just as much as all language is a kind of a truth.
Firstly, it feels really important to constantly question the limits of the kind of truth we've been told is 'the truth'. What do we mean by truth? What has been excluded from that definition, and who by? Are we expecting words to correspond to experiential phenomena as precisely as numbers do in a neatly balanced equation? And what does that do to our conception of those phenomena? My own answer is basically: that approach denies subjectivity, interiority, heart, soul, in myself and the cosmos. And on mundane, political levels, it denies authority and sovereignty.
Secondly: the word science shares roots with scissors, in- and ex-cision, and all the -cides: suicide, genocide etc. It's a cutting word, dividing. And it's really necessary, in the state we're in, to be able to use our wisdom to discern, backed up with the courage to come to our own conclusions, and see what's not been seen (and often been hidden with a lot of energy). We have to tear down the walls of the prisons we find ourselves in. We are destroyers. To be human is to have capacity to destroy. That power is deeply obscured - to reclaim it we have to face up to our own personal responsibility, our continuing contribution to the destruction of ecosystems and people's healthy relations. To the extent we are still dependent on a destructive system, we are each implicated in the horrors of the world, and deep down, we know this. Its not easy to face. We are awful. Has Kali got anything on what we've done?
The rage defends us from having to deal with the grief. Our tears are the words that will truly dissolve these pyramids of power squashing us flat. Perhaps analytical language can build steps down the well of grief, but at a certain point, to become whole, we must bathe in the darkest parts of ourself. And this is what helps the waters flow. Life flows. And with that liberated energy we can begin to create.
Once we've destroyed enough, we have to learn to create (probably simultaneously). And this takes a different form of language. There is a deep creative truth to poetry, prayer, mantra, magic spells, the formulas used to open and hold ceremonial space, heartfelt pillow talk, bardic utterances, oracular pronouncements, manifestos. Perhaps the truth is in the way they cam be self-fulfilling prophecies - to speak them makes them true. It is true that this is what I want, and that truth is worth more, and is more transformative, than any analytical truth.
Manifestos might be able to combine the 2 forms. I think of the vorticist manifesto ('Blast and Bless'), Breton's surrealist manifestos, and always remember this from Tzara's dada manifesto: 'I smash drawers, those of heaven and hell...'
yes yes yes, precisely. the real truth is an embodied, felt thing. in our capacity as destroyers, we've used the cutting language of Science to carve up the somatic experience of truth, and discard the parts that are inconvenient for the project of—at the risk of sounding reductive and conspiratorial—mind control. we can take hold of those same blades in a different way, now, and use them to cut apart the artificial divides that separate us from complete awareness, as long as our strokes are well-aimed.
capital-S Science, as a modern institution, only offers us the scalpel and the killing jar; we have other tools for salvaging, rebuilding, and replanting, once we get free.
Perhaps the difficulty is not in language itself, or even what's been done to language, so much as what's been done to us with language...
Do you know of Acephale, the group of Paris quasi-surrealist intellectuals associated with Georges Bataille who nearly (?) carried out a plan for a ritual beheading, as a symbolic act of the highest power to get rid of the 'head' (left brain/power at the top of the patriarchal pyramid/etc)?
hadn't heard of it before now, but having just read a quick summary—isn't it interesting how people imagine themselves to be in control of these things? every once in a while, we have these incidents—the miracles at Lourdes and Fatima come to mind as other cases—where it's not entirely clear whether the people are making use of archetypal forces, or the other way around. or maybe it's just a case of bad divination, where the languages and imagery we've adopted can't physically accommodate the meaning being conveyed to us from Elsewhere. like trying to do a Tarot reading with half the cards missing.
not sure if that has anything to do with your point... is there any indication that the Acephale group was directly inspired by Crowley's Headless Rite?
I have no idea if there was any link or inspiration from Crowley, I can't remember hearing of any association with those circles at all.
With hindsight we can see 2 quite different roughly contemporaneous approaches to something quite similar - liberation of the soul. I'm inclined towards the magical as being more effective than the artistic/intellectual, though perhaps it's more a matter of personality, Crowley just had slightly more courage or craziness.
I'm always reminded of Breton's "The simplest Surrealist act consists of dashing down the street, pistol in hand, and firing blindly, as fast as you can pull the trigger, into the crowd." But he never had the balls to actually do something like this, so the energy eventually just went into feeding the capitalist art market.
And maybe it's only with the benefit of hindsight we can see all the cards they have missing from their Tarot, and maybe even so we are still using incomplete decks, which only future generations will be able to fill...
thank you! i'm starting to work on a bigger project, very much in tune with this post, and i'd love to hear your thoughts about constructing sacred space. maybe you could DM me if you're interested, when you get a chance? i know you're super busy.
Hi R.G. - There are a few things in this article that I would like to quote for something I'm writing. Let me know what I need to do to avoid offending you.
As a side note, you happen to be my favorite writer on Substack. I will be subscribing as soon as I get out from under "muggle bills." - Thanks for a beautiful read today.
that's very kind, Roy, thank you. hearing that people are enjoying my work is worth as least as much as a paid subscription. that's what really keeps me going.
what's the topic of the piece you're working on, and where will it be published?
Actually, I'm writing a piece on the astrological/alchemical Mercury, and what struck me was your unambiguous portrayal of the limitations of the "rational" mind (in the sense of intellectual jealousy). The piece will be published on my website, stargazersjournal.com, and in the future on substack. I intend to give full credit to you from the paragraph I make an excerpt of, and I will not change any of your wording. It's the 7th paragraph down from the top of "Grandmother's House" - my website is still under construction - I'm coordinating the essays and such there now, and turning it into a "decentralized" collection of works during the remainder of the year.
fantastic! that sounds great. you can definitely use the excerpt, and please let me know when it's online. i'll read it with interest and do my best to help get the word out about your website. and thanks so much again for the kind words, your support means a lot.
Thanks for this. As an American western lady I am currently noticing the mistaking of the symbol for the substance nearly everywhere! Curious your thoughts, it seems language itself is even a barrier to ourselves and our bodies and one another, except when, perhaps, our word is in total alignment with our being… ? It seems language is what could create lying, and lying in a way is a sin because it denies or manipulates what is true. But all of language is kind of a lie just like all symbols are. The madness. Anyway, I love your work!
thank you so much!
100% agree with you that language is a barrier. at this point, there's a strong consensus between neuroscience and mythology, which means it's definitely something worth keeping at the forefront of our minds. from the scientific perspective, we have Iain McGilchrist writing about the Left Brain's palace coup in 'The Master and His Emissary': analytical, isolating, logic- and language-based thinking usurping the "normal" Right hemispheric functioning, and subsequently remaking the world according to its prerogatives. from the mythic perspective, we have countless stories of language as a Promethean theft from a higher power, like Adam and Eve eating from the Tree of Knowledge, and Thoth teaching the skills of writing/magic to the Ancient Egyptians. lately, my favorite has been the myth of Odin sacrificing one of his eyes to learn the secrets of the Runes, because it so clearly connects the idea of a great power gained at the expense of complete, natural vision.
thanks for reading and commenting!
Many yesses to this essay! ('Reductive materialism ... is an epistemological tantrum' is acupuncturally precise). Your blade is very sharp and wielded with much discernment. Thank you.
As for language... all language is a kind of a lie just as much as all language is a kind of a truth.
Firstly, it feels really important to constantly question the limits of the kind of truth we've been told is 'the truth'. What do we mean by truth? What has been excluded from that definition, and who by? Are we expecting words to correspond to experiential phenomena as precisely as numbers do in a neatly balanced equation? And what does that do to our conception of those phenomena? My own answer is basically: that approach denies subjectivity, interiority, heart, soul, in myself and the cosmos. And on mundane, political levels, it denies authority and sovereignty.
Secondly: the word science shares roots with scissors, in- and ex-cision, and all the -cides: suicide, genocide etc. It's a cutting word, dividing. And it's really necessary, in the state we're in, to be able to use our wisdom to discern, backed up with the courage to come to our own conclusions, and see what's not been seen (and often been hidden with a lot of energy). We have to tear down the walls of the prisons we find ourselves in. We are destroyers. To be human is to have capacity to destroy. That power is deeply obscured - to reclaim it we have to face up to our own personal responsibility, our continuing contribution to the destruction of ecosystems and people's healthy relations. To the extent we are still dependent on a destructive system, we are each implicated in the horrors of the world, and deep down, we know this. Its not easy to face. We are awful. Has Kali got anything on what we've done?
The rage defends us from having to deal with the grief. Our tears are the words that will truly dissolve these pyramids of power squashing us flat. Perhaps analytical language can build steps down the well of grief, but at a certain point, to become whole, we must bathe in the darkest parts of ourself. And this is what helps the waters flow. Life flows. And with that liberated energy we can begin to create.
Once we've destroyed enough, we have to learn to create (probably simultaneously). And this takes a different form of language. There is a deep creative truth to poetry, prayer, mantra, magic spells, the formulas used to open and hold ceremonial space, heartfelt pillow talk, bardic utterances, oracular pronouncements, manifestos. Perhaps the truth is in the way they cam be self-fulfilling prophecies - to speak them makes them true. It is true that this is what I want, and that truth is worth more, and is more transformative, than any analytical truth.
Manifestos might be able to combine the 2 forms. I think of the vorticist manifesto ('Blast and Bless'), Breton's surrealist manifestos, and always remember this from Tzara's dada manifesto: 'I smash drawers, those of heaven and hell...'
yes yes yes, precisely. the real truth is an embodied, felt thing. in our capacity as destroyers, we've used the cutting language of Science to carve up the somatic experience of truth, and discard the parts that are inconvenient for the project of—at the risk of sounding reductive and conspiratorial—mind control. we can take hold of those same blades in a different way, now, and use them to cut apart the artificial divides that separate us from complete awareness, as long as our strokes are well-aimed.
capital-S Science, as a modern institution, only offers us the scalpel and the killing jar; we have other tools for salvaging, rebuilding, and replanting, once we get free.
Perhaps the difficulty is not in language itself, or even what's been done to language, so much as what's been done to us with language...
Do you know of Acephale, the group of Paris quasi-surrealist intellectuals associated with Georges Bataille who nearly (?) carried out a plan for a ritual beheading, as a symbolic act of the highest power to get rid of the 'head' (left brain/power at the top of the patriarchal pyramid/etc)?
hadn't heard of it before now, but having just read a quick summary—isn't it interesting how people imagine themselves to be in control of these things? every once in a while, we have these incidents—the miracles at Lourdes and Fatima come to mind as other cases—where it's not entirely clear whether the people are making use of archetypal forces, or the other way around. or maybe it's just a case of bad divination, where the languages and imagery we've adopted can't physically accommodate the meaning being conveyed to us from Elsewhere. like trying to do a Tarot reading with half the cards missing.
not sure if that has anything to do with your point... is there any indication that the Acephale group was directly inspired by Crowley's Headless Rite?
I have no idea if there was any link or inspiration from Crowley, I can't remember hearing of any association with those circles at all.
With hindsight we can see 2 quite different roughly contemporaneous approaches to something quite similar - liberation of the soul. I'm inclined towards the magical as being more effective than the artistic/intellectual, though perhaps it's more a matter of personality, Crowley just had slightly more courage or craziness.
I'm always reminded of Breton's "The simplest Surrealist act consists of dashing down the street, pistol in hand, and firing blindly, as fast as you can pull the trigger, into the crowd." But he never had the balls to actually do something like this, so the energy eventually just went into feeding the capitalist art market.
And maybe it's only with the benefit of hindsight we can see all the cards they have missing from their Tarot, and maybe even so we are still using incomplete decks, which only future generations will be able to fill...
RG, this was a great piece. Much to reflect on. Many thanks.
thank you! i'm starting to work on a bigger project, very much in tune with this post, and i'd love to hear your thoughts about constructing sacred space. maybe you could DM me if you're interested, when you get a chance? i know you're super busy.
Hi R.G. - There are a few things in this article that I would like to quote for something I'm writing. Let me know what I need to do to avoid offending you.
As a side note, you happen to be my favorite writer on Substack. I will be subscribing as soon as I get out from under "muggle bills." - Thanks for a beautiful read today.
that's very kind, Roy, thank you. hearing that people are enjoying my work is worth as least as much as a paid subscription. that's what really keeps me going.
what's the topic of the piece you're working on, and where will it be published?
Actually, I'm writing a piece on the astrological/alchemical Mercury, and what struck me was your unambiguous portrayal of the limitations of the "rational" mind (in the sense of intellectual jealousy). The piece will be published on my website, stargazersjournal.com, and in the future on substack. I intend to give full credit to you from the paragraph I make an excerpt of, and I will not change any of your wording. It's the 7th paragraph down from the top of "Grandmother's House" - my website is still under construction - I'm coordinating the essays and such there now, and turning it into a "decentralized" collection of works during the remainder of the year.
fantastic! that sounds great. you can definitely use the excerpt, and please let me know when it's online. i'll read it with interest and do my best to help get the word out about your website. and thanks so much again for the kind words, your support means a lot.