Monday, January 3, 2011

The Conclusion: The Return of the Occult and the Myth of Star Wars

The occult, much like the Jedi, never left us. It was beaten back by monotheism and technology, but it merely remained on the fringes of our consciousness, in the dark. Humanity, being afraid of the dark, has tried to forget the occult, and out of fear, labeled it evil, much like Christianity labels that which it cannot understand as the workings of the Devil. The occult lived on, through the remnants of the Occidental (“black” or natural magic) and the survival of the East, the Orient. Likewise, the Jedi lived on in Obi-Wan and Yoda. It lived on in our mythical and legendary lore. It lived on, buried within our souls, buried within the collective unconsciousness, the collective soul. Myths are so similar because our souls are connected. We are holograms, microcosms, of a massive macrocosm, an infinite SELF. Myths, much like Art and Music, is an attempt by the soul to reach out and perceive that which it knows not, that which our minds are ignorant to. In this light, Science Fiction gives the occult a realm to operate, a timeless area. In Science Fiction, the rules can be twisted because society doesn’t have to be the same. Society doesn’t have to live in a monotheistic world, and the stars don’t have to be lifeless masses of matter and energy. Within the realms of science fiction, the Hero is reborn. We see this with Star Trek and the Matrix. We see this indefinitely in Star Wars.

Whether George Lucas had intended the many intricate connections I have made with Star Wars that is not relevant. I do know that Lucas created the story from combining many myths. These myths are different sides to the same truth, the same feeling within humanity. Imagine twelve or more people sitting down in chairs, all sitting around a circular table. These people are forced to stare at an object, a very non-symmetrical object, which sits in the middle. They cannot move, for they are trapped within their slice of the circle. They cannot talk due to the separation. They can only draw an image of what they see, an imperfect image. When these images are combined together, like Lucas has done, it becomes a more comprehensive picture. All I have done is label the parts of the object, even the ones that Lucas could not label himself. The films are made in a way that strikes an emotional chord, a string, within us. The story is enthralling, yet familiar; the visuals are new and stunning, yet based upon a reality within us; and the music is appropriate and thrilling, yet speaks to the soul. The mind of Star Wars is the story, the body of Star Wars is the visuals, and the soul of Star Wars is the music. This balance creates an epic. Star Wars as a film series speaks to the volume of our situation. The prequel trilogy is much like a microcosm, a myth, of our past. The original trilogy, the hero’s quest, the emotional soul that resonates within almost every viewer, is a myth of our future, or perhaps a myth describing how to take back our future. It is in this understanding that the occult stands beyond the reach of time, with technology beyond our dreams, but “a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away”. This is why Star Wars is the phenomenon that it is because it is our souls crying out, crying out to be a hero, crying out to tell us that everything is not all right. It is our soul crying out to tell us that we have the power, within the realms of our mind (science and technology), within the realms of our body (attunement with our natural world), and within the realms of our soul (the occult, ALL of it), to make this world better, to take down the veiled Empire of Duality which rules our reality, to save the soul of Darth Vader, to take down the Emperor, to EVOLVE.

The rest is up to you.


http://www.mrheadlee.com
http://www.vimeo.com/mrheadlee

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Microcosm-Macrocosm Relationship in Return of the Jedi

Duality of the world has created a duality of the individual. Likewise, the duality created by Darth Sidious has created an underground world of duality, a world of gangsters and smugglers, bounty hunters and Ewoks, a duality of the body. This duality is blurred by shadows and twilight (perhaps why Han’s vision is blurred on Tatooine and why Luke confronts Leia about their true heritage in the twilight of Endor). This is the natural realm. The natural realm is ruled by the gangsters and warlords, and on Tatooine, Jabba the Hutt. These two dualities, the duality of the Empire (the mind) and the duality of the underworld, or the real galaxy (the body) need each other to exist, which is why we see Darth Vader resort to bounty hunters in order to hunt down Han and Leia. The body is more powerful than the mind, but the mind divides the body. Just like the body of a group is powerful than its leaders, but they are sometimes blinded by the ambitions of those leaders.

Han is eventually captured by the efforts of Boba Fett and transferred to Jabba as his “favorite decoration”. The efforts of another within this realm, Lando, fail to save Han. Likewise, the efforts of Han’s natural connection, Chewbacca, and his feminine connection, Leia, fail as well. Neither can the efforts of the mind, the droids C-3PO and R2-D2, save Han. They are just tools. It is up to Luke, the soul of the group, the near-Jedi Knight, to rescue them all. In the same respect, it is a co-dependency that saves them, for Luke can’t save them himself. It is a TEAM effort that saves them all, the combined selves saving the SELF. This is the conquering of the dark of the Body, but then there are still the shadows, the twilight of the Body.

They then travel to Endor. There, they face the reaches of the mind, of the Empire, on the planet. It is this short skirmish that separates them, that polarizes them. Leia is “lost” during the small conflict, and rescued by an Ewok, Wicket. The Ewoks represent the good side of the “animalistic” or “primitive” Body. The female element works well with the animal element, for she is connected in a way to it. Thus, Leia works well with Wicket and becomes a Mother-Goddess figure. Without the female element, Luke, Han, Chewbacca, and the droids, fail to recognize a simple trap set by these same Ewoks (Luke gets a sense, from his occult-like connections, but it is too late). After releasing themselves, the Ewoks are hostile to the out-of-balance crew, and begin worshipping C-3PO because he is an ember of the fire, a piece of shimmering technology. The ensuing entanglement leads to everyone except C-3PO (and Leia) being prepared for sacrifice. Luke must resort to the occult, the Force, to reconcile this conflict, to balance the mind with the body, to balance technology with nature. Once these elements are reconciled, and brought back into balance, the Rebel team then becomes “a part of the tribe”, and this team effort is what helps win the Battle on the moon of Endor.
Then, in the real battle, the Rebels rush in, perhaps blinded by arrogance that they are greater than the Ewoks, and thus only need them as “guides”. It is the combination of technology (the droids) and nature (all of the Ewoks) that frees the Rebels from another capture by the Empire. One last combined effort is needed to win the battle. We see this when Chewbacca, the natural element of the “hero group” joins forces with two Ewoks and captures an AT-ST, a “chicken walker”. It is this final “wearing the enemy’s skin”, nature combining with technology, that turns the tide for good, and wins the battle on Endor, which subsequently results in the destruction of the second Death Star. We see the true internal nature of everyone as Han concocts a plan of trickery in order to draw the Imperials out. While trickery is usually considered wrong, in this case, it is the correct mode of action, and the one that is most “natural” for Han. Using a triangular understanding of paradoxes, it is this “superposition” of options, a meeting between “morality” and “immorality” that allows Han to make a good decision. Sometimes the ends are justification to the means, especially if no life is harmed (the Imperials were captured, not hurt). This is a good example of Kohlberg’s 3rd stage of moral development.

Meanwhile, Luke fights his father, both to beat him and to save him. Luke refuses to accept the truth of Darth Vader’s reality and tells the Emperor, “You will not convert me as you did my father”, and instead believes that there is still good within him. This is the final showdown between the occult and Christianity, with the Demi-urge watching. Luke eventually resorts to a plan of non-action, a Taoist philosophy, but when Vader threatens Luke’s sister, Leia, Luke cannot hold himself back, his love is greater than his control, much like Anakin’s love for his female element, Padme. Luke fights viciously, beating back Vader, and then cutting off his hand, only to discover that it was just technology. Anakin Skywalker had become trapped within the hell that is technology. Likewise, Christ has become trapped within the hell that is monotheism. Luke, realizing that destroying Vader, destroying Anakin, destroying his father, would only perpetuate the endless circle of imbalance, refuses to fight anymore, throwing his lightsaber to the ground. The Emperor decides that “if [he] will not be turned, then [he] will die”. The Demi-urge then attacks Luke, filling him with lightning, burning him with the fire. Vader, realizing that he must save Luke, turns on the Emperor, and casts him down into the core of the Death Star. This is the redemption of Christianity. This is a microcosm of what I believe to be the “Apocalypse”. It will not be God fighting against the Devil, it will not be Christianity saved in a Rapture by Christ. It will be the Return of Christ, the true essence of Jesus Christ, within the minds of humanity. With this return, it will be up to Humanity to fight and defeat the Demi-urge. It will be up to Humanity to evolve into a state of peace, much like that which is described when John talks about the New Jerusalem (the New Republic of Star Wars?).

In the end of Return of the Jedi, everything is in balance. The heroes are back together, the Alliance is in cooperation with nature (the Ewoks), and all four elements are back within balance. They are celebrating in treetop villages (Air and Earth), with Fire (a symbol for Technology?) being used as a tool to light the celebration. The final element, the water element, lies in the fluid, almost water-like, nature of the Jedi “ghosts”. These ghosts are also a symbol of occult balance, as the three levels of the occult are in balance. Yoda represents the Orient, and is much like the real-life Buddha. Obi-Wan represents the Occident, and he is much like the legendary Merlin figure (“That wizard’s just a crazy, old man”). Anakin is the final element, the Levantine, and he has finally become balanced (unlike in reality); he represents Christ. And finally, we are Luke; we must balance these three presences, these three spiritual influences, with the influences of technology (Luke's technologically-rebuilt right hand and lightsaber), as well as the influence of nature.



http://www.mrheadlee.com
http://www.vimeo.com/mrheadlee

Saturday, January 1, 2011

A Different Cave

For Plato, the exit out of the cave was located behind the fire. For Plato, one had to see the fire, behold the fire, and then move on, out of the cave. I see it differently. I believe the exit to the outside world lies not behind the cave, but somewhere in the wall of the shadows. One of the cave dwellers, one of the archons, if you will, is perched on the walkway between the fire and the hole in the wall, thus blocking the exit with a veil of shadow. Despite this, we must not ignore the fire, and blindly search the cave wall. Instead, we must use the fire. Take a piece, a log, from the fire, and use it to illuminate the wall of the cave. Illuminate all the crevices, all the markings, and especially, the exit. The question then becomes, what will the archon(s) do? Honestly, I cannot say, for I do not know. It is possible that the archon is merely a pawn, or even an immobile statue, designed and manipulated by the fire. If that is the case, then perhaps nothing is preventing us from escaping, except ignorance. It is also possible that the archon(s) is casting a shadow over the exit because it despises humanity and wants to keep us in the dark, keep us ignorant. If this the case, then after grabbing a piece of the fire, there might be a final conflict as humanity struggles with the archon to escape the cave, a true apocalyptic battle, a battle much like the one at the end of the Return of the Jedi, except, unlike Monotheistic tradition suggests, there will be no supernatural God fighting on our behalf, just humanity against the Demi-urge and the Archons, the Rebel Alliance and the Jedi against the Emperor and his Empire.

This condition thus illuminates why we are stuck in this state of duality. We have turned our backs on the shadows, on the occult, and we have become enthralled by science (and thus reason and technology), as well as monotheism and culture. The occult has become “primitive”, “uncivilized”, and perhaps even, “evil”. This creates our state of dualistic conflict, right vs. wrong, light vs. dark. The light seems to be the right, and the dark seems to be the wrong, but they are neither. Parts of the dark are wrong, just blank pieces of the wall. Likewise, parts of the light are right, but it is merely a tool. Unfortunately, the occult is where humanity must journey if we are to make the next evolutionary step. However, we cannot do this alone; we must take the fire, take our science, take our technology, take the best of our monotheism and culture, and explore the occult, explore the hidden! We must take the light and illuminate the dark. We must face our fears of the dark, the unknown, the hidden, and we must attempt to understand that which we are afraid of. Not until we utilize our reason and intellect to understand the shadows, to understand the occult, will we have even the slimmest chance of evolution.

Going, once again, back to my number theory, this version of the cave is easily understood. I said earlier that 7 was the number of God and also perfection, perhaps it is “God-like” perfection (4, the number of the sun or the source) plus humanity (3). The mind is the first digit place-holder, and thus the weakest. The stage of the mind is represented by the stage of the fire. The body is the second digit place-holder, and is represented by the shadow wall. Finally, the soul is the last place-holder, and the strongest of all. This also gives new understanding to meditation. If one’s purpose during meditation is to quiet the mind, usually with the body (breathing), to perceive the soul, then one is merely trying to dim the fire in order to see the light that lies beyond the cave. This “light at the end of the tunnel”, however, is not the whole light, it is not the whole spectrum. It is just a fraction of the truth. In order to fully see the truth, to fully experience the outside world, and fully evolve into our potential, we must take the fire to help us through the tunnel, the journey. This journey is represented by the Hero’s Journey, for we are the heroes of our world, we are our own myths.



http://www.mrheadlee.com
http://www.vimeo.com/mrheadlee

Friday, December 31, 2010

Cell Theory of the Universe - The Microcosm-Macrocosm Relationship

Imagine if you will, that humans are equal to molecules. I know this may be hard because humanity views itself as the rulers of all it sees, and molecules seem so insignificant, but that is of no consequence. Each human is a molecule, a human molecule, and thus they must interact with other molecules, whether they be human or something else (plant, beast, nature itself, and perhaps even technology or non-nature things), in order to survive. Likewise, these different molecules interact to form cohesive cells, which are held together by mutual respect and a belief in the group or the cell. If you are feeling insignificant, good, because we are, but to make some of you feel a little at ease, imagine humanity as the nucleus or the control center of the cell, perhaps even the DNA. So each cell could be viewed as either a belief system or a particular area of planetary interaction, which gives new meaning to thought of “church cells” or “cell groups” or even “terrorist cells”. Thus, as a whole, these cells form tissues, and this particular tissue is Earth. Tissues make up organs, and this can be seen in solar systems. Likewise, organs make up body systems and functions, and this can be seen as galaxies, and lastly, body systems comprise the entire body, and this can be seen as the universe. If there are multiple universes as some suggest, then there are merely just multiple beings, each with their own complex systems. While that may seem mind-boggling to some, it makes sense in terms of the microcosm-macrocosm relationships found everywhere.

If we follow this thinking, then the “brain of this being” or the godhead as represented in many religions (Brahma is the godhead of Hinduism, and the rest of the gods follow a hierarchy similar to the body makeup described above), thinks for the whole, but the body is so vast and beyond the physical senses of the molecule, that it is indescribable. Thus, we have the concept of the incomprehensible Self. As represented in Star Wars, the Force, part of which is the indescribable godhead, commands its will to us through neurons which transmit through energy transfers, like bio-electricity, and if we are in tune with the Force, if we are in tune with this energy, we can heed its call and follow its wishes. If you want an example of this in human reality, think of biofeedback or meditation. If you focus your mind onto something, then your energy will transmit your wants and wishes down to the very basic levels of your existence, and changes will occur. Likewise, in Star Wars, the Jedi’s relationship with the Force has been clouded by the “Dark Side”, and their ability to perceive its wishes, as well as its warnings, is severely weakened. Thus Palpantine or Darth Sidious, whichever you prefer, casts a shadow over the minds of the Jedi, the protectors of galaxy, the white blood cells of the Force’s being, while he grows in power, almost like a cancer cell grows, surrounds, and eventually destroys (or swallows) the cells of a tissue.

Keeping with this thought, many of you might be becoming angry with me and might be putting this paper down (or worse, burning it), for if you make the logical connections, that Palpantine is an illustration of monotheism and a cancer at the same time, then monotheism, and more specifically, Christianity, the religion of many within the U.S., might be a cancer as well. To answer your growing questions, yes, it is a cancer. It perpetuates itself through the weakness of humanity, duality, and separates everyone in the process. Monotheism, by its nature, is a dividing belief system. It believes in nothing else but itself (essentially harming or killing the SELF), and all conflicting beliefs are evil or wrong, while they believe themselves to be good and right. According to novels within the lengthy series based on events twenty-five plus years after Return of the Jedi (The New Jedi Order series), Luke learns that there is no “Dark Side” in the Force, the Force is not evil, nor is it good, it merely exists. The “Dark Side” resides within the person. Likewise, Palpantine, and Monotheism, utilizes the dualistic conflict within humanity to control them. He generates his power through fear, fear of evil, fear of conflict, fear of “the ultimate power [the Death Star] in the universe”, for as Grand Moff Tarkin says, “Fear will keep them in line”. And yes, fear truly does keep us in line. Fears hell, evil, Satan, Terrorists, Communism, and eternal retribution keep humanity in line.

These fears are perpetuated by all parts of Monotheism, including Christianity. Hell is the place of eternal retribution, eternal damnation by God, and it is ruled by the ultimate terror, Satan. Terrorists, so aptly connected to Islam, the monotheistic nemesis of Christianity, are fueled by a fire of hate towards Democracy and “freedom”, but it is Christianity and Democracy that force themselves into the vast reaches of our tissue, our Earth, like a cancer, and add more logs to the fire of hate that burns with the terrorists. Communism, the mortal enemy of Democracy, is also the enemy of monotheism because of its atheistic demands. True Communism is probably the best form of government; however, true Communism will probably never exist due to the duality and lack of connection within humanity. Likewise, the Jedi Order can be seen as Communistic Theocracy, where the Force is their guide, and the only distinction between members is the level of knowledge/connection with the Force that individual has. The Jedi are not supposed to have material possessions, except for their robes and lightsaber, and are not focused on the good of their individual selves, but rather, the good of the group, the order, the Republic. Following these connections, perhaps Palpantine and Monotheism are not cancers, but rather, a twisted strain of HIV, a virus that takes over a tissue, an organ, a body, and then replaces all the white blood cells (Jedi or occult) with its own twisted versions that allow it to control the body, control the world, control the universe, yet at the same time, maintaining an imperfect sense of order because it recognizes that without some semblance of order, the body would die. Many recognize that the Demi-urge, if there is one, that plagues and controls society, would never let the world end, it would never allow the world to fall into complete chaos. If such an event happened, it would lose power because there would be nothing to control. Likewise, Palpantine would never kill everyone off, just those who are a threat to him, like the Jedi.



http://www.mrheadlee.com
http://www.vimeo.com/mrheadlee

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Star Wars and Christianity

Despite the claims of many, including Dick Staub (“Christian Wisdom of the Jedi Masters”), the Jedi are not a symbol of Christian saints, they can’t be because Lucas created the idea of the Force (and subsequently the Jedi) from Eastern philosophies and beliefs. On the back of “Christian Wisdom…”, Rand Miller, the CEO of Cyan Worlds and co-creator of Myst, Riven, and URU, says “Star Wars seems to have stolen our message, wrapped it in science fiction, and changed entertainment. Dick Staub challenges us to take it back, wrap it around everyday reality, and change people’s lives.” This selfish understanding of everything that the soul deems to be true is one of the most perverse qualities of Christianity; the Force is not Allah, YHWH, or the nameless “God” of Christianity, it is the SELF. It creates all living things, and as Yoda says, “It is an energy field created by all living things”. This may seem just as paradoxical as the eternal question, “What came first, the chicken or the egg?”, but in the end, Eastern philosophy makes this quite simple with the concept of the splitting Self. In this light, the egg was probably created from a part of something, the egg of another related animal if you are an evolutionist, or the egg of a metaphysical kind if you are a creationist. Ignoring the difference of opinion on physical creation or procreation, the Force splits itself off to create “living things”, and because all living things possess that spark of the Force, any new creation of a “living thing”, creates again in the Force. Think about the hologram and how splitting it apart, and then recombining it, it is still the same image, the same random lines. Thus Jedi are not Christian saints, but perhaps, Samurai, Ninjas, or warrior Shamans (or magicians – think Merlin with a sword); they are the warrior-philosophers of the occult. The Jedi are the antithesis of Christian saints; they are the embodiment of the “diabolic occult” that Campbell describes as being the polar opposite of Christianity.

Following this line, the saints of Christianity, and all of the religion (as well as all of Monotheism) itself, would be in line with the Sith, the enemies of the Jedi, the followers of the “dark side of the Force”. How can this be? How can those who claim to be in the light, actually be the embodiment of mythical evil? Well, a common cliché offers one answer, “Everyman believes himself to be right, and thus justified in his actions”. Gnosticism offers another explanation, ignorance. This ignorance can be taken many ways. The ignorance is just a failure by those in power to recognize their ignorance, for admitting such would result in a loss in power to some degree. This ignorance could be seen, from a Gnostic viewpoint, as humanity’s ignorance being perpetuated by an evil, or, at the very least, soulless being, a Demi-urge, an anti-god(s), the Archons, or what have you. This soulless being sets itself up as a god, and rules humanity, spreading lies and half-truths to keep humanity ignorant, for it realizes that humanity has the potential to be more powerful than it because humanity has a soul, a spark of God, a part of the Self.

Thus, the monotheistic, tribal god of the Levantine belief systems is not the Force, not the “Light Side”, but actually, the “Dark Side” of the Force, represented in Star Wars as the ultimate villain, not Darth Vader, but Emperor Palpantine. This man begins the story as a kind, caring politician, a people’s politician, an embodiment of all that is good, but in actuality, he is in fact the evil Sith Lord, Darth Sidious (ironically synonymous with hideous) who has been casting “a shadow of darkness” over the Republic and the Jedi themselves. Palpantine utilizes conflict and fear to spread his shadow and hide his true intentions, to eliminate the Jedi (the only ones remotely powerful enough to stop him) and rule the galaxy. In The Phantom Menace, he utilizes the Trade Federation to create conflict with a single, helpless planet, Naboo, ironically, his homeworld. He also utilizes his apprentice, Darth Maul, to assist with the conflict, and draw out the Jedi. Darth Maul is just a pawn, but his unused words (found only on the soundtrack), give us insight into the Sith (and monotheism), “Fear attracts the fearful, the strong, the weak, the innocent. Fear is my ally”. (Lucas) Maul’s words echo Palpantine, for Sidious uses fear to create conflicts, conflicts within the Senate, conflicts on Naboo, conflicts among the Jedi, and lastly, conflicts between the entire galaxy. Likewise, Christianity and monotheism utilize fear to keep to control and gain power. The witch trials and heresy purges (similar to “The Great Purge” in Jedi lore) that plagued Europe and the Americas during the Church’s rise to power is evidence enough. Palpantine soon rises up through the political ranks and becomes the Chancellor of the Republic, the leader and the face of democracy. With his new power, Palpantine sets out to gain the loving trust and respect of everyone within the Republic, and once he has done that, he sets his final conflict into motion. This final conflict results in the Clone Wars, a war that is outwardly initiated by Count Dooku, Darth Tyrannus, who is Palpantine’s next apprentice (Darth Maul was killed by Obi-Wan at the end of The Phantom Menace), but is actually coordinated from both sides by Sidious. Tyrannus fulfills the dualistic Satan role. Someone who outwardly opposes the Republic and its face, Palpantine, but internally, he is in line with Palpantine, and the entire conflict is in fact just a lethal drama, a proxy war, a mask, with only one purpose: power. The senate, in love with the face of their own democracy (Narcissism at its tragic and ironic worst), gives Palpantine more and more executive powers until he is an emperor in every way except by name.

While in his lust for power, Palpantine comes across the Jedi prophecy of “the chosen one” (even the Sith were able access to Jedi records, secretly, thus the reason for the mysterious disappearance of the planet Kamino from the Jedi Archives during Attack of the Clones). When it is revealed, or guessed, that little Anakin Skywalker is “the chosen one”, he immediately becomes the focus of Palpantine. Palpantine, a man without a soul, a man of deception who uses his mind to control his body (thus the deceptive face that is eventually lost and permanently revealed during Revenge of the Sith), targets the chosen one, and his Force-powered emotions, his soul. This is why we see Anakin as a teen with raging, illogical, emotions, full of emotional outbursts, in Attack of the Clones. Anakin can feel, he can truly feel, with his soul, and Palpantine uses deception, duality, and “logic” to cloud his mind and fuel his emotions. Anakin, against the laws of the Jedi Order, is in love, in love with Padme, former Queen of Naboo and now a respected senator. He loves her with all his heart, and will do anything to save her, even if it means leaving the Jedi, and “turning to the dark side”. During Revenge of the Sith, Anakin is haunted by nightmares, nightmares of Padme’s death during childbirth. These nightmares are reminiscent of the ones that foretold his mother’s death, and he feels guilty for not acting on them sooner, for not being able to save his mother. These nightmares are his shadow, and Palpantine is his supposed light to supply Padme’s redemption. Palpantine weaves a web of lies and half-truths that turns Anakin against the Jedi, against his friends; he offers a chance to save Padme, a power of immortality that only the ways of the Sith can bring. Anakin, absorbed by his FEAR, turns against the Jedi, becomes a Sith, and becomes an apprentice of the “fire”, a worshipper of Sidious, his “true master”. In the end, as Anakin turns to the fire for help, he stands between the fire and his “shadow wall”, his dreams. Thus, when it is he who kills Padme, out of a blind-rage, fueled by deception, his prophesizing dreams are completed, completed by the one tormented by them. This is the self-fulfilling lesson of fear, if fear is your only reality, your only focus, then your fears will become reality.

This fear is eventually ended when Darth Vader is finally redeemed by his son, Luke Skywalker, in the final scenes of Return of the Jedi. Vader, convinced by the suffering of his son, the suffering of his lifeblood, the suffering of part of his SELF (not himself, but his part in the Force, his creation, his son; the son that was born out of the suffering of Padme, a suffering created by Anakin), turns back to the “good”, back to the “light”, and fulfills his destiny, fulfills his purpose, and destroys the Emperor. Thus, it is the hero quest that saves Anakin Skywalker, the fallen hero; it is the return of the occult, the Return of the Jedi that saves the galaxy.

This is the story of Christ. Not the person, not the kind being that so many of us adore and “worship”, but the embodiment of Christ. Monotheism took the prophecies of this “savior”, and twisted it for its own purpose. Anakin was supposed to be the “chosen one”, much like Christ was the supposed savior. Anakin was supposed to “bring balance to the Force” (much like the triangular balance), and Christ, from the Gnostic point of view, came down to save us from ignorance, to save us from the Demi-urge, and to save us from our duality.

Anakin, from the beginning, was different. He was emotional, he was powerful, he was CONNECTED to the Force. The Jedi were so afraid of the “Dark Side” that they refrained from emotion, for fear that it would consume a person into the “Dark”. The Jedi instead focused on controlling the mind and the body, balance. Their balance, however, was not a balance held by three points, but a balance, a compromise, between two points, between duality; trying to balance between two points, much like trying to balance on a tightrope, is very difficult for some, impossible for most. Anakin and his emotions were the key to restoring “balance to the Force”, adding the necessary third point. The Jedi, blinded by Duality, refused to see this, creating further conflict, conflict within Anakin and within the Jedi Order. Palpantine, seizes the opportunity afforded him by the Jedi’s fears, and utilizes Anakin for his own plans. Palpantine twists the essence of Anakin, the emotions of Anakin, into a monster, a monster with no compassion, no fear. Anakin becomes Darth Vader, and purges the Jedi Temple, leading an attack that kills everyone within the Temple, even the children. Following his epic fight with Obi-Wan, Darth Vader is left for dead, but with the help of the newly crowned Emperor Palpantine, he survives through technology, but is forever trapped within it.

Christ, likewise, came to save us from duality, to save us from the Demi-urge. The key to this is the soul, and emotions are the basic essence of the soul. To feel emotion is an attempt to understand the connections we share. Christ’s teachings of the Holy Spirit and the many parables, are an attempt to free us from our bind and allow us to see the light of the truth, and to feel the true nature of the source, the Sun, the Self. Monotheism (whether it is controlled by an evil Demi-urge, like Palpantine, or perhaps by man’s own ignorance) took the story of Christ and twisted it; it twisted the essence of it into a religion predicated upon fear. Much like Anakin feared the death of Padme, Christianity fears falling prey to “the Devil”. They fear death and eternal damnation. Those with a feeling for the SELF, a semblance of a soul, feel for the “doom” of humanity, the apocalypse, and try to “save” the rest of the world. In the end, though, these fears create themselves. Blinded by “moral justice”, monotheism, especially Christianity (and later Islam) force themselves onto the world. Many innocent people have died in the name of “purification”, in the attempts to “free” the world from “the Devil”. Like Anakin eventually killed Padme, the one he was trying to save all along, Christianity, under the control of Monotheism, is killing the world while supposedly trying to save it.


http://www.mrheadlee.com
http://www.vimeo.com/mrheadlee

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

More 432, Yin-Yang, and Some Color Theory

According to an essay by Roger Gould-King, plants generate a humming noise, similar to the “AUM” of Hindu and Buddhist meditation mantras. This humming noise, according to the documentary he was watching, was generated by the plants to attract bees to pollinate them. Finding this curious, he recorded the hum from the broadcast and found it to be operating at 432 Hertz, the natural frequency setting for the “A” note. He then placed sound generators in his flower bed to simulate the hum he learned about through the documentary. Not surprisingly, this man-made hum stimulated the synergy of his garden, boosting the relationships (both in quality and quantity) of his flowers and the local bees. (online) This synergy, or equilibrium, is generated through a harmony in nature. This harmony is regulated by a common string in nature, the “A” note, 432. If the universe is one, massive body, one indescribable Self, then the number 432 is its DNA or its heartbeat. Joseph Campbell called it the “432,000 reflections of our world of time and space”. (219) Thus to understand what this mystical number means would most likely change the way we understand the universe.

In Taoism, the Yin-Yang symbol is supposed to be a microcosm of the entire nature of the Tao, the SELF. It is a circle split by two opposing forces, the dark, feminine Yin, and the light, masculine Yang. While one may use the Yin-Yang as an argument that duality is present in nature, and thus, justifiable, the Yin and Yang are not absolutes, like good and evil. Good and evil exist on a line, with two sides in strict opposition, while the Yin and Yang exist in a circle, within a flow, the flow of life. This is why the symbol is often used as a representation for the seasons (with Yin as winter and Yang as summer), as well as the elements, Earth, Air, Water, and Fire. This quadrant understanding of the circular Yin-Yang is the essence of 4. The circle, much like absolute truth, is infinite in nature, for it has an infinite number of points. This is why the constant, pi, perplexes and obsesses scientists and mathematics; it is irrational infinity, and the rational world of science and math cannot handle that. So using four to represent the circle, just like four represents the forth stage of knowledge, we can find the other numbers of 432. Two is easy; it is the Yin and the Yang. It is the opposites of black and white. These opposites are not absolutes, for a small piece of Yang resides in Yin, and vice-versa. This is why the Yin-Yang cannot be compared to the duality of, say, good and evil. Good cannot exist in evil, and evil cannot exist in good, for that is an unexplainable paradox. Three, the final number of 432, is a little harder to find in the Yin-Yang, but it is there. There are three lines of separation between the Yin and the Yang (the large separation, and the two smaller circles). Thus, humanity is the lines between the opposites, between four and two. In this light, it is easy to understand why we feel trapped within duality, for we are stuck on one line between black and white, and we cannot recognize the other two lines, the other two points of humanity.

Sometimes we can take the microcosm duality of our apparent situation and imagine an opposite, thus creating the illusion of a dualistic macrocosm. In reality, we cannot see the line that runs between us, just like we cannot see the third point of the triangle. It is not until we step outside of ourselves, outside our microcosm, and peer into the macrocosm, that we understand the fourth truth of the Yin-Yang, like stepping outside our triangle and viewing the triangular pyramid as the truth.

We can apply the concepts of the Yin-Yang and triangles to colors. There are three Primary colors: red, blue, and yellow. There are also three Secondary colors: orange, green, and purple. Thus we have six colors, two interlocking triangles, and the basic color wheel. The Yin is female and the Yang is masculine, and their interaction creates six points, the six basic colors. At the heart of this circle is another circle, a circle of pure white. The white, the soul, the presence of every color, forms the seventh point. Taking a 3-D view of the color wheel, the primary colors could be seen to form the base triangle of the pyramid, and the secondary colors, the combinations of the primary colors, form the three rising sides, with the pure point of white at the top. Perhaps the reason art speaks to the soul is because its colors use the language of the soul, the frequency of the soul, 432.



http://www.mrheadlee.com
http://www.vimeo.com/mrheadlee

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

The Age of Reason and the Final Nail in the Coffin, Technology, and Scientific Theories

The occult was not just attacked by the totalitarianism of monotheism, but it was also attacked by that which it spawned, its child, if you will. The child of the occult is science, and they have been forever linked in humanity’s history, from the mystical tribal witchdoctor to the ancient philosophers of Greece, Rome, Egypt, and beyond to the Alchemist of the Middle Ages. The search for the unknown spawned a comprehensive study of the unknown, which led to the logic-based science seen in ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt. From this light, it is not hard to understand why early mathematicians and scientists, like Pythagoras, created math and science-based belief systems, like numerology and sacred geometry. Thus when science turned its back on the occult during the Age of Reason, the occult was truly dead.

The Age of Reason spawned from man’s desire to utilize his intellect and understand, and then explain, everything. Despite all the knowledge they gained, these intellectuals of the Age of Reason were no more than everyday fools. Every teenager, at one point in their life, discovers enough of the world, that they claim to know everything, or enough to no longer need any more, but as every aged adult knows, they do not, and the quest for knowledge is a LIFE-long process. As Socrates said, according to Plato, “I am wise because I know that I do not know.” Despite all of his “knowledge”, Socrates realized that there were many things he did not know; Socrates recognized the occult, the hidden. This was the case of many philosophers of the ancient world. They were scientists and occultists at the same time, which isn’t hard to believe because they are different sides of the same spectrum of light. They recognized that the occult, science, and truth formed the triangular relationship of knowledge, and that through the occult and science, they could discover the truth. With two points, it is far easier to construct a triangle, than it is with just one point. With just one point, “the odds of successfully navigating an asteroid field [approximately 3720 to 1, according to C-3PO]” are far less than the odds of finding the other two points and successfully constructing a triangle even close to the real triangle in question. Despite this, science still pressed on without the occult.

The main goal of early scientists was to understand everything they saw, such as the stars. The stars were always a big part of the occult because they were unknown to humans before the telescope allowed us a closer, more detailed look. Galileo’s telescope, one of the many inventions during the Age of Reason, killed the occult. The mythic, human hero had been killed by the singularity that is monotheism, and only the gods of the heavens had remained. When science began to uncover the solar system and subsequently, the entire universe, there was no where left for the old occult to hide. Monotheism had killed the beloved hero, and science had slaughtered the gods. There ceased to be a mystical and metaphysical nature to the universe, and we were left with just the natural realm, as defined by science, and the supernatural realm, as defined by monotheistic religion. Without the occult to balance society, to provide the third link in the triangle, the link between natural and supernatural, monotheism and science fought on in the minds of humanity.

The fight between Monotheism and Science picked up considerable steam with Darwin, creating the debate which still carries considerable weight today: Creation vs. Evolution, the Big Bang vs. God, Old Earth vs. Young Earth, etc. Without the occult as a medium, just like the Star Wars galaxy without the Jedi, the state of duality pervades and rules society. The power between these two powers shifted back and forth over the course of the past, all the while, the occult, which was seemingly dead, waited for its to chance to spring back. As Campbell daftly points out, “With the end…of the mythological age… [it] did not actually end. It retired…behind the screen of time and space”. (206) This mythological age is actually the distant past of the ancient world, where man and gods lived together, in harmony, before time itself. This is why Star Wars begins with, “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”, for the stories of Star Wars speak of the timeless myths, the never-ending occult. This occult continues on, behind the veil of our perceptions, behind the veil of its apparent death at the hands of science and monotheism; it carries on in the hearts of man in the form of romanticism, art, music, and love itself. For love, true love, is selfish, and rightly so because it is two parts of the same Self, joining together to form bonds and break barriers, to create life itself. Thus the Age of Reason moved onto the Age of Romanticism, and then on to the Age of Realism and then Modernism, and now, Post-modernism, all the while, the occult waited, it waited for the breath of life to be thrust into it by the expanding minds, hearts, and lungs of humanity. This is not so unlike the only two remaining Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, presumed to be dead, “their fire [having] gone out of the universe”, just waiting and watching, waiting for the right time, for the open mind of an another generation, the generation of “a new hope”, of spirited rebellion, of “the return of the Jedi”.

Thus, time moved on, without the outward presence of the occult, and science moved on as well. From Newton’s apple, came gravity, a mysterious force of attraction that, much like the divine spark (the Holy Spirit) in Christianity, is never fully explained. We know that it is an energy field, based on the attraction between two objects. Einstein and others of the early 20th century told us that it distorts the fabric of space-time, much like a ball resting on a blanket that is not completely taut. These distortions create ripples, and anything within these ripples, like say, the moon and all the inhabitants on Earth, are kept inside the boundaries created by this massive object, unless an object were to reach a speed fast enough to overcome the gravitational pull, the boundary of the ripple. Science tells us that mass and spin, or centripetal force, create gravity. Science also tells us, through Einstein’s famous formula, E = mc2, that energy equals mass times the speed of light squared (the speed of light, interestingly enough, is roughly 432 squared, just keep that in mind). Since the speed of light is a constant, about 186,000 miles per second, then essentially, energy equals mass, mass is energy. So perhaps gravity isn’t defined by the mass of an object, but instead the energy of an object. This energy is probably related to electro-magnetism, and one could perhaps picture the orbit between any two objects in terms of magnets. The larger, stronger magnet attracts the smaller one, through their opposite poles or energies, but their like poles or energies repel. Thus, the smaller magnet is held in an orbit around the point where the fields of the two magnets interact. If gravity can be reduced down to energy, then perhaps everything can. Perhaps there is an all-pervasive energy field that binds us, and controlling or using that field, that energy, will yield powers and abilities that cannot be fathomed at this point in human evolution.

Now, I will admit, this is a very elementary understanding of gravity and energy, but sometimes, we must KISS that which we are looking for, or in other words, “Keep it simple, stupid”. Yes, the string theory is a complex theory that attempts to explain every deficiency within quantum mechanics, thus providing us with a fundamental theory for everything; unfortunately, that theory has not been completely formulated, yet. I will go into the string theory later in the paper, and then I will tie it back into the energy theory I just formulated above.

Technology is the offspring of science, a tool created by the minds of humanity. To reject it, like those who reject progress in favor of nature, is to reject the mind. Without one of our points, we become relegated to duality and conflict. So technology is needed, but like the mind, it must be controlled by discipline, by understanding and wisdom. Technology itself may change the way humanity views itself and the world around us. Take computers for example. They are created by man, function much like the human brain, and are ruled by binary code, a duality of one’s and zero’s, yes’s and no’s. A computer can only do what it has been programmed to do. Yes, there are those working on algorithms that could simulate artificial intelligence, but those are just algorithms. The basic design of the computer is incapable of intelligence for simple reason, duality. It is within this binary code, that computers are trapped. This is changing. Quantum mechanics have given us insight into the workings of the atom. Using the spin of the atom as a code, the atom’s spin has a triune nature, with two opposite spins (which can be viewed as a one and a zero), but it also has the key to unlocking intelligence, the third point, the ‘superposition’. This superposition is the point where the one and the zero come together and form, ten, if you will. It is the third point that creates the necessary triangle, the triangle of life, and thus when this is applied to computers (in the form of quantum computers), the computer’s speed increases exponentially. But speed is not the only purpose, for I believe that with a triangular system of understanding, computers would have the necessary capacity to learn, to have an artificial intelligence. This condition of computers also points out man’s tragic flaw. By existing in a dualistic plane, we are no more than computers, capable of only that which we are programmed to do. In reality, we are capable of more, but by rejecting the third point of our own triangle, the Soul in the Mind, Body, Soul relationship, we relegate ourselves to be nothing better than a computer, a binary existence, and the limits therein.

There are also two emerging scientific and philosophical theories that are beginning to shape how we view reality, the Holographic Universe and the String theory. The Holographic Universe theory originates, as Michael Talbot explains in “The Holographic Universe”, from an experiment conducted in 1982. In this experiment, scientists were controlling the spin of electrons through electromagnetism. They found that when they changed the spin of one electron, the spin of another electron, 10 feet away, changed on its own to match the other electron. Continuing with this experiment, the scientists found that, under the proper conditions, distance didn’t affect the time of the change at all, the change occurred SIMULTANEOUSLY. For some, this revelation was impossible, for it broke the speed barrier of light, and thus it broke Einstein’s theory of relativity, and it shattered quantum mechanics. In order to keep the world of quantum mechanics, and our sanity, one of two things must be accepted, and thus the two tenants of the Holographic Universe.

Before talking about the two options, I’d like to briefly explain holograms themselves. Holograms are 3-D photographs created with the help of a laser. First, the object that one wants to capture is engrossed in the light from one laser; a second laser beam is then bounced off the light that is reflected (the light that does not go through or past the object). The resulting intersection of the two lasers is then recorded onto film. This can be one frame for a single image, or multiple frames for a moving image, or a movie. When developed, the film looks indiscernible, a collage of light and dark lines; however, when a 3rd laser is beamed directly through the film, a 3-D image is created. Holograms also carry an interesting, the part is equal to, but smaller than the whole (or “whole in every part”), phenomenon. Thus, if one were to cut the film into two different pieces, and then illuminate with a laser again, you would have two, smaller, yet identical, images, not two halves. So, every tiny piece of the film contains the information of the whole.

The first option is that this world is a hologram, a fake, a phony. It is an illusion, much like Maya of Hinduism or the Matrix, and it is controlled by something, a world of computers, the Archons, whatever. Thus, quantum mechanics still exists, but this world is a hologram. This essentially means that the cave and the outside world are not of the same existence, but in fact, the cave is just an illusion or a hologram of the outside world. While this is a perfectly good explanation, I just don’t believe it, for the same reasons that I doubt that the Archons created this world. I believe in the second option.

The second option is that this world is real, the hologram is real, and that the connection between everyone, everything, the connection that transcends the laws of quantum mechanics is actually the Self. This is a perfect representation of Tao; we are smaller wholes of the same Self. This also fits directly with Carl Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious. We share a bond, a connection that we are ignorant to. We think similarly and feel similarly because we are the same parts to the whole. The hero myth exists in every culture and belief system because it is part of the Self, it is apart of every piece of the puzzle. One could even say that the hero myth is our destiny.

Now that we’ve discussed the Holographic Universe, let’s analyze the String theory. The String Theory, in all of its quarks is too discombobulated and unorganized (and as of right now, not even complete) to write down extensively. The basics behind this theory are simple. Everything we see is made up of particles, like the elementary electrons and protons that fill science textbooks. There are, according to theorists and mathematicians dedicated to complex models, many, many different particles, fulfilling many different roles and balancing out many complex and intense equations, equations that would probably require a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics or Theoretical Calculus. The string theory states, in its simplest form, that everything is made up of strings, perhaps the same, identical string, and that these strings (or just one string) vibrate at different frequencies, thus producing the different particles we see. Just like the guitar produces similar notes from different strings, as well as different notes from the same string, so too these strings (or singular string) create the particles of our universe, the particles that shape our reality. This view of the universe has an interesting impact. It may give us an understanding to what the number 432 really is, and why the frequency setting of 432 is referred to as the natural or universal frequency setting.


http://www.mrheadlee.com
http://www.vimeo.com/mrheadlee