Living With Madness

Yes, give me madness–crisp, beautiful, sparkling, living madness!

As the Universe spews out of the great Abyss, I stand eternal, watching all things arise from nothing.

What is this that we are all poised to do, but know not what it is that we do? What is this that we can witness outside of the world of sanity which sleeps, outside of the sanity which covers the minds of those who sleep with a cold blanket of deception.

Why would I choose to suffer when I can dance with Life Itself? Why would I desire to put myself in a box covered with labels and tags and resumés of my accomplishments, fixing what is unfixable and condemning  my soul to the frozen wastelands of normalcy? Why would I cripple myself?

Why would I not just be and not just create as I am created in each and every moment, unfettered by the restrictions caused by what I think of myself, what others think of me, or yes, even what god thinks of me–for I am this god.

The Aton-ement

I Am That, and in that madness I remain. I remain on the edge of my rapidly collapsing world, on the edge of this Abyss which is filled with the 10,000 things that continually dissolve into nothing only to be recreated. I stand on the edge of this empty place as the Lord God of Knowledge, while It awaits my command that the Kingdom fill its appointment, taking its place back upon the Tree of Life, shining above me like a blue star.

I Am that– Tat vam asi.

Dreams of the Magus Awarded 5 Stars

Pete Madstone Receives Another Shining Review for “Dreams of the Magus.”

Raven Digitalis, published Llewellyn author has awarded Pete Madstone’s book “Dreams of the Magus” Five Stars. Raven says it “is an especially relevant text for those wishing to gain new perspective in their magick or spiritual path.”

Raven’s review as follows –

“One word: Paradox. I have only read a handful of books in my life that explore the often-overlooked ‘divine dichotemy’ of spiritual Paradox. The force of Paradox is the one thing that upholds and maintains all of reality. Nothing is ‘this’ and nothing is ‘that.’ At the same time, magicians, Witches, and innumerable other spiritual path-walkers so often quarrel over details. In my eyes, one must step back from the smaller bits in order to see the bigger picture. Magus Madstone’s text addresses the so-called ‘bigger picture’ of magick, spirituality, and (most importantly) the nature of reality itself. Undertaking the daring task of putting these reflections to form, this book can be considered a collection of multidimensional observations funneled into a single-dimensional reality for the sake of communication.

“This book is clearly part of the author’s Great Work, or spiritual calling. The author touches on spiritual truths and questions that permeate numerous religions and belief systems around the world, yet never tells someone that they must believe–or observe reality–exactly how the author himself does. As a messenger of higher truths (as well as even higher questions), Dreams of the Magus is an especially relevant text for those wishing to gain new perspective in their magick or spiritual path. Those who are wishing to put aside their ultra-analytical (and often academically-overloaded) occult minds will find solace in the intuitive-yet-profound nature of this text. Those who feel a natural inclination to the intuitive, meditative, or reflective aspects of esoteric spirituality will feel a particular connection to the text. This book is simultaneously written in a mystical, challenging style reminiscent of Robert Anton Wilson, while at the same time structured in a contemplative, altruistic style reminiscent of Thich Nhat Hanh. Regardless of what ‘type’ of magician or spiritual seeker you are, there is extreme benefit in reading this mind-expanding, reality-questioning, self-analytical text.”

–Raven Digitalis, author of Shadow Magick Compendium & Planetary Spells and Rituals

You can find Raven’s website at – http://www.ravendigitalis.com/
and his books at – http://www.amazon.com/Raven-Digitalis/e/B001JS9TBI/

Contradict Yourself One Last Time

How do you see yourself?

Nothing in or about this world can limit us or lessen us in our greatness (not capacity for) or our ability to exist simultaneously in multiple dimensions, for, as I have said before, we do consistently and always exist in a much larger and complex reality whether we realize it, acknowledge it or care for it. Ignorance can feign bliss.

It is our folly to think ourselves small.

It is our response to being in this world that can be a yoke restraining certain understanding, for we become fascinated with it — we are mesmerized and hypnotized by the glamours that surround us in this matrix that we ourselves design and perceive.

We fall for the limited information that is provided by our physical senses in this physical world as if there is no other source of information. We limit ourselves by believing the picture we see is the whole of reality. We don’t believe the images and stories shown in movies are the whole of reality, but the movie that continues in our own lives has got to be it.

The END…

We have become lazy and apathetic because what our five senses provide us with is so easy to grasp — it is all so accessible.

Our subtler senses, however, are elusive in comparison, so we generally can’t be bothered with them or with interpreting the information they provide. We thrill ourselves with the occasional peripheral activity caught by our eye, or the synchronicity of a phone call from someone we just thought of. Well — welcome to nursery school.

Meanwhile, our subtler and more refined senses continue to function without our attention, and they continue to provide us with valuable information that we could not survive without. Behind the scenes are forces and players conducting things with our participation in our higher states, while we go stumbling along in our condensed realities. All this we choose to ignore, and essentially now take completely for granted. Our hearts continue to beat without any effort on our part, but when it stops, we do pay attention.

We shortchange ourselves and then wonder why such feelings of incompleteness and sorrow continue to creep into our lives.

We could have it another way….

We could be more spontaneous and playful with ourselves, and less reflexive and reactive to others and the events that life presents us.

We could be more innocent and childlike and respond to things more simply and honestly.

We could be a little more graceful, and less selfish.

We could contradict ourselves one last time.

The Universe as a Sub Sandwich

I would like  to begin with an apology to all vegetarians out in the world, for while it is possible to make a sandwich without meat, the Sub Sandwich does include fleshy ingredients. Since the universe contains so many ingredients, I thought the Sub would fit nicely. Also, because of the variety of ways that we experience things within our collective consciousness, and because at least a small part of our universe currently does include carnivorous ways, it was a simple choice for me to call our universe a Sub Sandwich. There are, however, a few vegetables in this sandwich, so if you are a vegetarian, you are represented here. Of course, it might be an inconvenience, but you can remove the meat if you wish, or even make your own sandwich. In my model, I choose to let the meat remain so as not to exclude any one person or reality.

Also, while I don’t believe it is of great import at this point or for this demonstration, I will mention that (if I am not mistaken or not up to date) within the scientific community, the currently accepted number of dimensions in our universe is 10 (plus 1). If this is so, we do have a good number of ingredients in this universe called a sandwich, which pretty much requires that i make it a Sub Sandwich. I would be hard-pressed to make a Veggie Sub, but i am sure it could be done with suitable expertise.

For my purposes, I will refer here to dimensions as ingredients, and it matters not that the sandwich and its ingredients may be somewhat flat realities. Some dimensions may in reality be flat, and certainly many are not, but the later would not fit into a functional sandwich. It is much easier if our ingredients are flat, which is why we slice our tomatoes.

So what is a sandwich? A sandwich is multiple layers of varying independent ingredients (read ‘dimensions’), each with their own textures and flavors (read ‘realities’), laid one upon the other to combine great variety into a cohesive, tangible product (read ‘reality’ again). In this finished product, we have a mixture of different realities that combine to make a whole that seems to be singular in itself.

Let’s get to work now —

First we have the bread. This is the base of our sandwich which everything else will rest upon. It is our foundation — everything is supported by this reality. Then comes the garnish. Mayonnaise, mustard, and who knows what else? These near liquid ingredients (for the last time — read ‘dimensions’), while independent in and of themselves, quickly penetrate the surface of the bread, bonding to it while intermixing with each other and being changed by this alchemical process. The bread is also changed by this penetration and interaction, illustrating that any one dimension can and will always be influenced by another.

Next, we place a variety of sliced meats one atop the other. These ingredients, as all are, are also obviously complete as themselves, but once involved with a greater reality, such as a sandwich, each will become a part of this whole — our sandwich. Each new ingredient will begin to exert its own influence upon what will be our sandwich, and our sandwich would be incomplete without them. All are connected, assimilated, synthesized.

Okay — so now we add some cheese, or cheeses. More and differing flavors are now already intermingling with the others, and are now influencing and being influenced by one another. Each reality is always changed by the other.

Now we must add some lettuce and a good amount of tomato slices. This becomes a very fluid and unpredictable dimension, slipping and sliding around mostly within the sandwich, but tomatoes as a dimension are so unstable with all their soft flesh, seeds and juices.

A few pickle slices are added to this layer of tomatoes, and with their structure and rippled sides, they help to stabilize  what is becoming potentially extremely precarious. These are a somewhat bizarre and interesting addition to our sandwich, in that there are so few and that they are far between, but they do serve as a glue, of sorts, in our sandwich.

At this point, we need only to apply some more garnish of our choice to the top and final ingredient — another piece of bread. This garnish will, of course, destabilize anything functional the pickles might be doing with our creation. We place this piece of bread on top of the whole thing and we are done. We have a nice little package full of surprises just before us. A new universe has been born as a singular and whole reality. Now all we need to do is jump in and participate with our creation.

Bread on top and bread on the bottom, each perfect reflections of each other, each one and the same. As above, so below — as below, so above. Keter is in Malkhut and Malkhut is in Keter, both with different purposes, and both with the same, for again, they are the same. 

The universe as a Sub Sandwich.

I will skip over the plate of fries as a universe, for as interesting as it may be, it is constantly changing in its easily disturbed way, and a universe of fries might seem a bit mundane. If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.

There is another universe that cannot be overlooked here, for this one is extremely important. This is the universe as dessert. Some would say this is the best universe of all. Without going into detail, we could consider this universe to be a heavenly one — we could consider it as Heaven Itself.

Consider the following — I would speculate that for those of us on a spiritual path, the attainment of what I will loosely call heaven (read dessert) may not be a matter of elevation to a higher plane of existence in our own universe, but may actually be a simple choice, a simple shift to the side, a shift to another universe altogether. It may be that we don’t have to climb tediously and exhaustively up and up into higher “dimensions” at all to reach our goal, but just have to put down our sandwich, slide the plate over a bit, and make room in front of us for another plate  — that plate with the dessert on it. Just by changing what we put our attention on will change our reality.

We can finish our sandwiches and fries before moving onto desert if we like, but we don’t have to. We can chow down on dessert anytime, or we can eat a little of our Sub, then a bite of dessert, then some fries, and so on. There are no rules. We can jump from dimension to dimension, and from universe to universe anytime we choose, in any order we choose, but just remember, when moving on to dessert, don’t forget to bring your fork or spoon.

Honesty – the Better Part of Valor?

I must be totally honest with you and say one thing to begin — This world bores me, but, an explanation is in order.

I receive no satisfaction from the excessive hype of conspicuous consumerism, profit-margins or portfolios in Bull Markets, but please read on. Product propaganda and branding, branding, branding is designed to convince me that I am lacking, and it tells me that it will  alleviate  my emptiness  and anxiety  if I go shopping — this confuses me. Television has no purpose in my life, for it is a tool of fear-mongering fools using incessant drivel and subtle thought-manipulation that would guide me in my life and the choices I would make. This insipid message that would be continually pumped into my brain would tell me how to think, feel and live my life.

I have divorced myself from this world and have no time for its continued conditioning. With the little I have given up, the little that there was to release was no real sacrifice for me to make, and I have been filled with a substance that is much more than even the word love could describe.

It can be said:

Before enlightenment — chop wood, haul water.

After enlightenment — chop water, haul wood.

I hope you have decided to follow me this far, because today I have reached out for something more. I see beauty all around me. I see this beauty in nature, in people, and now, yes, even in shopping malls, bulls and bears. I devote myself to joy and all that is in my life. I take joy in my hammer, compass and square (no, I am not a Free-mason, I am a Free-carpenter). I go shopping without knowing what to buy, for no one has told me what to buy. I acquire things as they come to me without the need to acquire. Things fill no empty spaces within me, for things cannot do this. These spaces are filled with purpose of existence and experience now.

I seek no thrill in any rhetoric, be it other’s or my own. I am content with creation in all its expressions and variation. All things are equally beautiful, and it is from these things that I choose. The world is still a place of excess, but it is now a place of excessive beauty since I have turned my back on things that seem contrary.

I now smile at those I see and smiles shine back at me. I know no one around me, and yet they know me. Stories about me surround me and yet I hear them not. Wonder never ceases to amaze me, and I allow myself to know nothing so that I can continue to wonder.

All this I aspire to.

So… , I must now be totally honest with myself and say one thing to finish — This world no longer bores me, for I have reached into a place (and continue to do so) that is different than what I have known before. I have reached into this place, and each time I bring a little bit of it back into our ordinary world. By doing so, this ordinary world changes for me. There is no explanation for this strange conversion and it is not a matter of enlightenment, satori or nirvana. It is simply that there is a key in all I see, and a secret always waiting to be revealed. It is a peeling away of the layers of an onion.

I will say it again — This world no longer bores me.