Walpurgis Night with Thomas Sheridan

Thomas Sheridan returned to the radio recently, in part to promote a new book, but also because he's got something to say that's worth hearing. Yes, there are audio problems; don't freak out when that happens. I put the link to his Lulu page for the book below, after the videos. Enjoy.





The Lulu link for his new book: http://www.lulu.com/shop/thomas-sheridan/walpurgis-night-volume-one-1919-1933/paperback/product-21604657.html

How to Deal With a Non-Standard Claim of Knowledge

Good morning!

Today we're going to weave some threads together, as an example of how to arrive at a non-standard claim of knowledge and why these things are so damned difficult.

By now you should have finished Mark Passio's presentation, posted two days ago. If you haven't, go catch up now; you need to grok what he's talking about for this post to do you a damn bit of good. You also should have read my post about non-standard knowledge claims; back up and read that if you haven't. This post will be here when you're done.

The key problem with non-standard claims of knowledge is that the source for the claim is internal to the claimant, so the audience cannot readily seek out that source and verify independently that the claimant's statement is correct. That does not mean that the audience cannot investigate the claim, but rather that the claimant must understand what the nature of the process for his claim of knowledge actually is and how this process works before relying upon such things when making an argument. Using a recent example, I shall illustrate what's going on.

Why am I insisting upon your familiarity with Passio's presentation? Because the points that he makes in his presentation are going to be thrust before you in the video embedded below, and they're going to come at you hard and fast because the video is less than five minutes long from start to finish, so you need to pay close attention when you watch it- and you will watch it.

Now, the meat of this matter:

• Non-Linear Expressions of Ideas: The use of the Fine Arts, as extensions of the Liberal Arts, allows competent users to efficiently communicate very complex ideas with very little effort. We acknowledge this as true through the saying "A picture is worth a thousand words." Each medium of Fine Art has particular and unique qualities--strengths and weaknesses--that favor some forms of expression over others, such that the same subject matter can communicate significantly different complex ideas merely by changing the medium wherein that subject matter is used. When used in concert, the synergy between them is so powerful that ideas that otherwise take years to communicate by way of standard academic practices can be had in minutes. The mechanics for this phenomenon stems in the ability to think in non-linear ways, taking otherwise disconnected thoughts and thought patterns and weave them together into a cohesive and coherent whole. This is what "great art", of any kind, is meant--and intended--to do.
  
• Emotionally-Powered Cognition: The mechanics of non-linear cognition comes from intuition, and intuition roots itself in emotion. It is the melding of Thinking and Feeling, each informing and guiding the other, covering each other's gaps and reinforcing each other's strengths. Non-standard knowledge claims, therefore, have a root in the emotions of the claimant at the time of discovery and are therefore specific to the individual that has such a claim. This does not make the claim false, or disallow transmission. What it does do is require that the recepient experience the same emotional state that the claimant had, or--in other words--the former individual must replicate the experience wherein that non-linear expression event occurred. This is, by the way, is what an Initiation Rite--properly comprehended and executed--is and does; by extension, we are talking about claims of knowledge that stem from an individual's ecstatic encounters with the vast portion of the universe that is beyond Mankind's sense-perception.
  
• Symbolism as Shortcut: The mechanics of this method for claiming knowledge rely greatly on symbolism for its efficiency. This is not just the visual symbol, but also the symbolism found in sound--music especially--as well as in the means of their use by the transmitter. For example, the video embedded below uses clips from a variety of recent major motion pictures over which one tune from one soundtrack plays. The transmitter--in this example, the individual that arranged the clips and matched them to the music--chosen with great care and deliberation what clips to use, when to use them in the sequence and how to match them to the time of the music employed. That not only transforms the components--symbols themselves, all of them--into something with different (sometimes very different) symbolic representations than originally presented, but also allows the creation of an entirely new symbol in the aggregate.
  
• Culture as Language: It is no accident that a vast array of Man's literature rests upon the narratives of individuals (themselves symbols) who undergo initiatory rites in pursuit of some goal, however great or small, and are transformed into what they must become to achieve those objectives. This is the basis for the formation and transference of culture across generations, of the assimilation of cultures when encountered, and adjustment of cultures as they adapt to pressures put upon them by other forces. It is also no accident that the decline of a culture coincides with the abandonment or usurpation of initiatory rites and the disdain of their power for discovery and transmission of knowledge by those now unfamiliar with them. Whatever else may be said of Joseph Campbell, this element--the power of myth as a means of initiation--and his recognition of its power as an element of Natural Law (for it is not created by Man; Man merely discovered it, and it is both universal and immutable) is sufficient to put him up as a great hero for generations to come- and he got from here to there through experiencing that initiation himself via his studies.
  
  The effect of this method for non-standard knowledge claims increases as the culture connecting transmitter to recipient strengthens. Even a period of short-term preparation, as I have ask of you above, can greatly increase the efficiency of the process. By using multiple media, and multiple events, a transmitter can prepare the recipient for the ecstatic experience that the transmitter encountered previously; the recipient already comprehends the component symbols in the experience, becomes familiar with the circumstances wherein the encounter occurs (vital to achieving the emotional state that is necessary for successful transmission), and therefore has the vocabulary necessary to properly comprehend the experience. This is why preservation of a nation's--a people's culture--is something worth fighting for, literally so, and if necessary worth killing and dying for.
  
• And This Relates How?: Long before the academic world arose and imposed the now-standard criteria for claims of knowledge, this is the way it was done. Your elders, your teachers, etc. guided you through a process of preparation leading to a culmination that was an initiatory rite, past which you were expected to take on a new role and become a wholly different individual within the community. We still have remnants in the Western of this in our marriage traditions, but other elements that together comprised a very efficient system that guided newborns through the process that would create young adults have steadily been snatched out of our hands or cut away altogether- and we've suffered for it. This is Empire in action, abusing lawful systems where it can and cutting off access (but not destroying them; Empire cannot circumvent Natural Law anymore than Mankind can) where it can't; we see this in a more comprehensible manner through religious and political cults of all sorts, through the practices of culture-shaping seen in totalitarian regimes of all sorts, and in the influence of centralized media over the population.
  
  We need to make use of this method once more, and if we don't know how to deal with it then we can't--and won't--benefit from sources of knowledge that don't come from centralized institutions that are easily corralled by powerful interests (Thralls of Empire) and suborned to their will. Part of what we have to do to save ourselves is to learn how to directly discover knowledge by way of encountering it directly, and then transmitting it through the means we once took as standard practice. This is not to discount critical thought; that way lies cults and all the madness therein. Rather, what I'm saying is that we must reclaim this as a valid basis for knowledge to be used as a full and equal partner to the externally-focused standards of academia- and that includes full and equal subjectivity to interrogation by means of the Trivium and Quadrivium. Logic and Intuition are partners, not enemies, and should be treated as such.

So, now that you've spent 15-20 minutes reading all of that, take another five to watch this music video. Can you see how it efficiently communicates all of Passio's points in a fraction of the time, but only if you already have the language to comprehend what's been said here? If so, then you grok what non-standard knowledge claims are, how they work, and why they are not inherently invalid- but instead fully and equally valid ways to knowing the universe. With this dimension restored, making Empire fall will come much faster.

And You Can Do What With This?

This is a question that we don't talk about enough, not as I'm about to.

We're not dealing with a problem that can be solved in a way that fits with instant gratification. It's going to take more time than we're conditioned to tolerate, and it's going to take more effort than that either. We're doing what Empire did, which is culture shaping. That's a slow process, and if you can't change your perspective to a long-term one where you may not even see the benefits accrue to yourself--e.g. planting a tree that won't mature until well after you're dead and gone--then you're going to fail. If you're here for the destination, you're doing it wrong.

That's because the destination IS the journey; the process IS the result. A life without Empire is a life of continuous change, and therefore of regular development, in accord to the rhythm of the real--natural--world. It is a life where the changes you make in yourself are developments in reaction to the changes in the natural world, ensuring that Man's development is part of the natural world and thus Nature benefits from Man's actions; the natural world improves, becoming stronger and more resilient as a direct result of Man and Nature's equal and mutually beneficial partnership of co-creation. To live in this manner is not to abandon science, or technology, but instead to see how to use what we learn and create to benefit reality and ensure that all of us enjoy the new state of reality that our journey--and thus our process--inspired and generated.

So, what does this mean? We must act, and we must act on multiple levels of scale and scope--time, space, etc.--so that we can stave off threats arrayed by Empire and its Thralls in the short-term long enough for medium-term and long-term efforts to begin to manifest in the real world and shape emergent creations to our benefit. We must take what we know, and use our skills and knowledges to communicate this to others so that our knowledge spreads.

Yeah, that means that I'm already on this by operating this 'blog, both in writing my own posts as well as linking to the work of others. This sort of thing is typical in the course of action, but that is NOT the only way to go. Here's some others, rarely discussed but very powerful and should be ideas that we take up:

• Fiction Writing: I write fiction, specifically genre fiction. At this time I'm just an amateur story-teller who writes genre fiction as a hobby, but I have one friend and a few acquaintances who write genre fiction professionally (and I plan on joining them, taking steps to this end). I have no problem with doing as generations of authors did before me, which is to use literature to communicate values to audiences present and future, for one good reason- IT WORKS VERY FUCKING WELL! This does not mean that you get to skimp on the development of one's craft as a fiction writer, a novelist, a short-story writer, a film/TV/comic scriptwriter and so on; you still have to deliver the goods or you won't get read, and that's where I'm at now- putting in the time to develop my craft.
  
• Poetry & Music: I have a lot of respect for musicians and poets who embrace the Bardic tradition and use their talents, and I do attempt to write verse now and again. I live in a place where outfits like Rhymesaysers Entertainment base themselves, so getting exposed to musicians such as Brother Ali is not that hard, and Amanda Palmer--regardless of what you think of her--is a woman whose talents are used in this manner (which makes sense, as her husband uses his talents as a fiction writer in the same way). Again, you have to know your shit and master your craft, but if you do you can tap into something very powerful; there's a reason that Empire always wants control over such things, and that's due to its awareness of the threat it presents to it.
  
• Scholars & Journalists: We need a surge of independent investigators in both the academic and the journalism worlds. We're seeing now a new vanguard of independent operators such as Ben Swann, and this is an encouraging sign because by breaking the chains that commonly keep people from any useful action we can create our own communication channels and circumvent gatekeepers whose gainsaying is not about sound scholarship and instead all about maintaining Empire's Matrix via orthodoxy. We need our own academic journals, our own media outlets, and we need to network amongst them so that we can create wholesale replacements for corrupt institutions that no longer serve Mankind.

There's more, and I may return to this topic another day when I can find or invent other ways that aren't often considered to get the word out and then to organize--in the holarchic manner that we are meant for--to cut off Empire and instead handle our affairs ourselves. Empire must fall.

Laughter is Poison to Empire

Did you ever notice just how laughter--the pure, healthy and joyful stuff--seemed to make a villain in the story recoil as if burned? It's not used as often now and it was a generation or so ago, but the presence of a comedic character--in addition to relieving the tension of the audience--often means that mockery is one of the ways that the villain's true nature becomes known to one and all. It's as if laughter itself was poison to the character.

Sure, there's cruelty in comedy--far more than there used to be, making it not funny for a lot of us--but that doesn't make the legacy of the Bard any less a tool against Empire. The way to use comedy to bring down the illusion of importance for a wrong-doer is for the performer to see the wrong-doer as a fool, as but a man and not something more than that, and use his own follies to disenchant the glamor of authority and legitimacy that shrouds such an offender. Once that illusion is shattered, then the fear that often grips the people and prevents them from doing away with the villain fades away; all that's left is to take out Empire's Thrall and the hard step is done. What remains is just a bothersome clean-up job.

As I allude to above, Empire has its fraud of comedy. It promotes cruelty and predation by making the audience see itself as predators, and the objects of those crap comedians' routines--ordinary people much like the audience, doing the same things that the audience does--are the ones viciously mocked as one would see a lion kill a gazelle, in a way that is uncomfortably akin to the psychology of bullying. The lawful comedy targets those whom are claimed to be powerful, elite, superior and then exposed for what they are: just like everyone else, but deluded through malice or incompetence into thinking otherwise. It is, in effect, a check against unwarranted influence; the corruption of this ancient art is a warning sign of Empire's influence waxing in a community or culture.

Because the Bard's art is such a powerful thing, as it uses charisma to sway the opinion of the nation, it is often attacked when it cannot be corrupted and made to serve Empire's interests. Be it in song, in literature, in drama and comedy or any other of the fine arts of the Bard the use of laughter to bring down the screen of awe and render vulnerable Empire and its Thralls cannot be dismissed. (Just look at wartime cartoons from World War II.) Once we see how necessary the arts are, we can see a clear motivation in denying the use of these arts for lawful ends by way of seizing control over passing on this acumen via centralized school and then using the commercial systems to softly sell Empire's knock-off and suppress the real deal. (Notice, for example, how George Carlin and Bill Hicks all but disappeared from the mainstream media world after their deaths? Not accidental, and neither Hicks nor Carlin was by no means lacking in a paying audience, so pure commercial gain is not the deciding factor.) In a world where maintaining passive awareness is vital to maintaining popular relevance--to be "above the fold" in newspaper parlance, or "on the front page" for those used to search results--it is so very easy to bury unwanted elements, and you can't deal with anything of which you are unaware.

So, bring on the bardic revival, and make the people remember who and what they are--as well as who and what the predators are--by making them laugh as the would-be colossi striding forth like beasts out of time, because in a very real sense they are just that (and thus overdue to go extinct). Before the man, make the ego fall.