my mind begins to hum...

[the fire elf]

In psychology, displacement is an unconscious defense mechanism whereby the mind redirects affect from an object felt to be dangerous to an object felt to be safe.

Displacement operates unconsciously, in which emotions, ideas, or wishes are transferred from their original object to a more acceptable substitute. It is most often used to allay anxiety.

[the fire elf]

[the fire elf]

[the fire elf]

i flew to the top of the cliff

peering over i found a hostage situation, man holding younger woman

grabbed him

hovered for a moment

let him fall...

only to have him realize the potential of flight within himself

we fought

long...drawn out...nightmare

on the ground, pinned, felt his teeth working to connect between two layers of my skin

i called out to my body and awoke...

drank some water, relieved myself, and returned...

our emnity continued in an acedemical environ

but now i found love from woman and bird

stronger...faster...more cunning i became

over and over again i fought

when he was spent, i left him to the care of the teacher that had shown me love, and awoke

a fine morning i had... upon awakening, i lay and relish the experience of being in my own skin... set the tone for the day by achieving a mild trance state

the night was frought with dreams... battle... love... purer than any i'd dreamt before...

the enemy could have be none other than myself...

that love coursed through me like pure god-stuff...

the unsettlement i experienced upon waking from the first dream session, having left as a last resort, was a sure indication that there is more grounding and centering to be done in this body of mine

yet there are indications of development as well...

by tending to my physical body and returning to the dreamstate i gained the overwhelming advantage

no longer was i pinned

it was now a class setting in which i encountered the adversary

and i had manifested other beings which poured love to me

the first was the teacher...

second was while i was flying...

felt something careen and affix onto my shoulder

hard to distinguish at first, so tightly it clung to me

after i landed it became clear...

a bird

most loving creature in all creation that has presented itself thus far

[the fire elf]

[the fire elf]

most loving creature in all creation that has presented itself thus far

the snake bears mentioning...

from a dream when living with the maharishi's...

though in the dream there was a vehement little dog barking soo much; i felt it disrespectful to such a serpent... so i released it...

that was the only snake to kiss me frenchly

it's bold and bright colors of greens and blues glowed with their own refulgence...

perhaps they are the same...that bird and snake....

my dream flying seems to have come about after releasing the serpent under a tree...

those two forms are far and above the most loving dream bodies

i had released the one with a burning desire to be reunited

the greeting by the second is perplexing if not akin to the first...

[the fire elf]

[the fire elf]

William Shakespeare, Act 1, Prologue of Henry V:

Chorus: O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention,
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!

[the fire elf]

Staying in Nirvikalpa Samadhi is effortless but even from this condition one must eventually return to ego-consciousness.

Otherwise, this highest level of Samadhi leads to Nirvana, which means total Unity and the logical end of individual identity.

However, it is entirely possible to stay in Nirvikalpa Samadhi and yet be fully functional in this world.

This condition is known as Sahaja Nirvikalpa Samadhi or Sahaj Samadhi (sahaja means "spontaneous" in Sanskrit).

Only the truly Enlightened (Satguru) can be and remain spontaneously free.

[the fire elf]

During this process, breathing ceases

and the heart stops beating

. Aware and fully conscious oneness with soul is then achieved in a most loving way, and all cells of the physical body are flooded with the Ocean of Divine Love and Divine Bliss for any period of duration—hours, days, weeks, until the individual shifts his awareness from the soul back to the physical body. Being fully functional in this world, his awareness stays in connection with the Divine. But some "strange" conditions accompany this state—better health (the body is sustained by Divine Grace), better feelings (even for other people who may contact the body which the enlightened soul has reidentified with) and various miraculous happenings may occur in connection with the Enlightened one.

[the fire elf]

After the scene in the fertilizing Room, all upper-caste London was wild to see this delicious creature who had fallen on his knees before the Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning --- or rather the ex-Director, for the poor man had resigned immediately afterwards and never set foot inside the center again --- had flopped down and called him (the joke was almost too good to be true!) "my father."

Linda, on the contrary, cut no ice; nobody had the smallest desire to see Linda. To say one was a mother --- that was past a joke: it was an obscenity. Moreover, she wasn't a real savage, had been hatched out of a bottle and conditioned like any one else; so couldn't have really quaint ideas.

The return to civilization was for her the return to soma, was the possibility of lying in bed and taking holiday after holiday, without ever being made to feel as you always felt after peyotl, as though you'd done something so shamefully anti-social that you could never hold your head up again. Soma played none of these unpleasant tricks. The holiday it gave was perfect and, if the morning after was disagreeable, it was so, not intrinsically, but only by comparison with the joys of the holiday.

The remedy was to make the holiday continuous.

The doctor confided to Bernard, "One day the respiratory centre will be paralyzed. No more breathing. Finished. And a good thing too. If we could rejuvenate, of course it would be different."

Surprisingly, as everyone thought (for on soma-holiday Linda was most conveniently out of the way), John raised objections.

"But aren't you shortening her life by giving her so much?"

"In one sense, yes," Dr. Shaw admitted. "But in another we're actually lengthening it." The young man stared, uncomprehending. "Soma may make you lose a few years in time," the doctor went on. "But think of the enormous, immeasurable durations it can give you out of time. Every soma-holiday is a bit of what our ancestors used to call eternity."

John began to understand. "Eternity was in our lips and eyes," he murmured.

"Eh?"

"Nothing."

"Of course," Dr. Shaw went on, "you can't allow people to go popping off into eternity if they've got any serious work to do. But as she hasn't got any serious work..."

"All the same," John persisted, "I don't believe it's right."

The doctor shrugged his shoulders. "Well, of course, if you prefer to have her screaming mad all the time..."

In the end John was forced to give in. Linda got her soma. Thenceforward she remained in her little room on the thirtyseventh floor of Bernard's apartment house, in bed, with the radio and television always on, the the patchouli tap just dripping, and the soma tablets within reach of her hand --- there she remained; and yet wasn't there at all, was all the time away, infinately far away, on holiday; on holiday on some other world, where the music of the radio was a labyrinth of sonorous colors, a sliding, palpitating labyrinth, that led (by what beautifully inevitable windings) to a bright center of absolute conviction; where the dancing images of the television box were the performers in some indescribably delicious all-singing feely; where the dripping patchouli was more than scent --- was the sun, was a million sexophones, was Pope making love, only much more so, incomparably more, and without end.

"No, we can't rejuvenate. But I'm very glad," Dr. Shaw had concluded, "to have had this opportunity to see an example of senility in a human being. Thank you so much for calling me in." He shook Bernard warmly by the hand.

...

"The Savage," wrote Bernard in his report to Mustapha Mond, "shows surprisingly little astonishment at, or awe of, civilized inventions."

...

Dr. Gaffney, the Provost, and Miss Keate, the Head Mistress, received them as they stepped out of the plane.

"Do you have many twins here?" the Savage asked rather apprehensively, as they set out on their tour of inspection.

"Oh, no," the Provost answered. "Eton is reserved exclusively for upper-caste boys and girls. One egg, one adult. It makes education more difficult, of course. But as they'll be called upon to take reponsibilities and deal with unexpected emergencies, it can't be helped." He sighed.

...

"a savage reservation is a place which, owing to unfavorable climatic or geological conditions, or poverty of natural resources, has not been worth the expense of civilizing." A click; the room was darkened; and wailing as John had never heard them wail, confessing their sins before Jesus on the Cross, before the eagle image of Pookoong. The young Etonians fairly shouted with laughter. Still wailing, the Penitentes rose to their feet, stripped off their upper garmets and, with knotted whips, began to beat themselves, blow after blow. Redoubled, the laughter drowned even the amplified record of their groans.

...

"Do they read Shakespeare?" asked the Savage as they walked. on their way to the Bio-chemical Laboratories, past the School Library.

"Certainly not," said the Head Mistress, blushing.

"Our library," said Dr. Gaffney, "contains only books of reference. If our young people need distraction, they can get it at the feelies. We don't encourage them to indulge in any solitary amusements."

...

"What's in those" (remembering The Merchant of Venice) "those caskets?" the Savage enquired

...

- and to give it not by inventing what is not there but merely stressing selected features rather than others.

What for example, could be more blatant than the exposition: 'As I remember, Adam, it was upon this fashion bequeathed me by will, but poor a thousand crowns, and, as thou sayest, charged my brother on his blessing to breed me well'?

'Mr. Puff, as he knows all this, why does Sir Walter go on telling him?' - to which Puff replies ''Fore Gad, now, that is one of the most ungrateful observations I have ever heard - for the less inducement he has to tell all this, the more I think you ought to be oblig'd to him; for I am sure you'd know nothing of the matter without it'.

[the fire elf]

THE CHANCE I ENTER
THROUGH A DOOR
OF SKIN

SYMBOLIC SURREALISM

BY MAHARISHI MAYAVIN SATYAAUM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THIS IS A TROVE OF IDEAS

IF IT RESONATES REVELATION

I DEDICATE IT TO "YOU"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A DUALITY;
THIS MULTIPLEXITY OF FORMS ===

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THERE IS A JOY IN HAVING DISCOVERED
SO MANY NEW FORMS. IT BEARS FRUIT
IN ACCORDANCE WITH IT'S NATURE;
ANCHOR'D IN ARTISTIC COLLECTIONS

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CREATURES ABSCONDING UNDER PRETEXT
WROUGHT AMONG CONDITIONS PERCEIVED
WITH AN EMPHASIS ON EYE AND TONGUE;
WHERE DOTH THE INSPIRATION SPRING,
BETWIXT THE CRAGS OF THE CREATION?
OR FROM GREY MATTER IN BONE CRADLE?

[the fire elf]

I COULDA BEEN THE SORT OF INDIVIDUAL
TO PAN FOR GOLD OUT OF A CREEK.
WHY I WOULD DO THAT INSTEAD OF
SIFTING THROUGH SAND TO MEDICATE MY SPIRITS, I'LL
NEVER TELL.

I SEE MY CONTRIBUTIONS ALL
AROUND, EVEN AS I CATCH FLAK.

THE FLAK PROLIFERATORS MIGHT
BE LESS FAMILIAR WITH THAT THAN
WITH THE MANIFESTATIONS OF FLAKONIOUS
THOUGHT STREAMS.

[the fire elf]

*splash*...

*spash* *splash*

[pinemom]

hey...at least when you catch flak...you KNOW people are listening!
Better to be reply'd to then ignored!
**smooch**

[the fire elf]

"what about acting spontaneously into finite finite social constructs to take notice of the results?"

"i wonder about repeating that in my head till i finish walking to the computer so i will remember it..."

"that wouldn't be spontaneous, though"

"wow...imagine forgetting that you have the capability to pose a question in your mind to find a manifest answer"

not to mention trance web work

[the fire elf]

[the fire elf]

[the fire elf]

[the fire elf]

vox clamantis in deserto: "pluralis majestatis vincit qui se vincit; principia probant non probantur pro forma"

"the voice of one shouting in the desert" (or, traditionally, "the voice of one crying in the wilderness")

"plural of majesty"

"he conquers who conquers himself"

"principles prove; they are not proved"

"for form"

pollice verso? --- "with a turned thumb"?

[the fire elf]

"dollar voting is an analogy used to explain how the purchasing choices of consumers affect which products will continue to be produced and supplied to the market. Every dollar paid for a particular product may be considered a "dollar vote" for that product, such that the products with the largest number of dollar votes generate the most profit and will therefore continue to be produced."

is expressing "this is what we will allow you to continue to do"/"make more of these factories"

[the fire elf]

In demographics, foot voting describes the tendency of people to vote with their feet, that is to migrate when they perceive situations to be more beneficial elsewhere.

It is similar in nature to Dollar voting.

Just as dollar voting requires a degree of economic freedom to be effective, foot voting is effective only if people have the freedom to migrate.

they assume i'm voting?

weird

[helladee]

Very fascinating folks, but Im haveing a hard time figuring out what all this shit exactly means, I love you though, through it all......

[the fire elf]

consider it a contemplative musing by an unhinged mind

[the fire elf]

> Okay. Are we talking the Scourge of Skid Row sores here?

already had that one pretty decent... now i tend to stay away from general population showers and sleep on sand rather than concrete...and wear sandals/shoes

[the fire elf]

The Issue of Art
By Robert Gaffney


Art is a difficult word to define. It has been defined as “some notion of human agency, whether through manual skills (as in the art of sailing or painting or photography), intellectual manipulation (as in the art of politics), or public or personal expression (as in the art of conversation)â€Â

[the fire elf]

The Issue of Art

these are pre-burningman mindset papers

Business Morality

Robert Gaffney

A new business comes to town. It supplies goods and services to the surrounding community, not to mention jobs. Such is the American way. That is how our free enterprise system works. The business coming to town will have an impact on the town economically, socially, etc. Whether the overall effect is good or bad is dependent on your perspective. Did the company put you out of business, or did it provide much needed employment.

To bring the company that moved into new territory to fault for the consequences on the town seems a superficial accusation. It is the way of business in America for companies to grow. And to blame companies for their new business ventures seems to be a sad attempt at best to point the finger.

Wal-Mart is a well-known example of a company that has refined its way of doing business to merit a nation-wide chain of stores. It has had many successes in putting up stores in various communities across the states that before had relied on the 'mom and pop' variety of stores to supply their needs.

'Mom and pop' stores do have their charm, I’ll admit. But when it comes to a wide selection, lowest pricing, friendly service, the 'mom and pop' variety comes up short. And as for Wal-Mart and such stores that have nearly perfected a cookie-cutter technique of rolling out store after store to meet their standards, this keeps the customers flocking. In towns with little competition, the small stores tend to rely more on the fact that their customers have the choice of buying their merchandise, or finding the nearest town with better selection.

When a Wal-Mart comes to town, and local stores go out of business, there's a good reason for it. Customers who previously shopped the local stores took their business elsewhere. They were given an option, and they took it. I would think most people would be all for more freedom of choice when it comes to spending their money.

If there is a community which thinks a Wal-Mart springing up next to their homes would be a bad thing, I would encourage them to speak out, to rally together and try to do what they believe is best for their community. But they should have a majority opinion, and not consist of a small group of people speaking out against something the community, as a whole would benefit from.

Even with a case where a large corporation spreads into unwanted territory, the problem will soon remedy itself. People that do not want a Wal-Mart have little more to do than just not shop there before the store soon is out of business. Businesses are funny like that, thriving off of consumer demand.

I don't think the case at hand is a debate of whether stores should be springing up across the country, though. It's a bit deeper than that. I have personally seen many people joke about the fact that Starbucks are found all over the globe. The issue seems to be that when large corporations come to town, they put the local's out of business. This means everyday faces of a small town are no longer there everyday. Stores and shops that once seemed like an integral part of a small town are boarded up and shut down. This tends to pull at the heartstrings of the community. Suddenly the new store seems like a large imposing figure, taking away peoples jobs. In fact, however, it's every person that chooses to shop at this new store rather than small local shops that puts these people under. They buy at the new store for reasons like lower prices, larger selection, quality, and service. The consumer knows his dollar will get him more at this new store in town, and old businesses that were not competitive go under and are soon a fading memory.

In conclusion, a large company should not be held responsible for the consequences its business indirectly has upon the community. It is there to provide a service. If that service is not wanted in a community, the company will soon cut its losses and pack up its neon signs. It is ultimately the consumer who decides where to best spend their money that makes or breaks a new business.

[the fire elf]

ANIMAL RIGHTS
By Robert Gaffney

Medical procedures to save lives and alleviate suffering are in the best interests of society. We need some method to ensure the medical field is up to date with our constantly changing level of technology. Scientists are always theorizing about better, safer procedures to save lives. These theories must be tested. With today’s society, our options for testing include two categories, testing on animals and testing on humans. No one would agree that it would be better to test on humans, especially with today’s complex procedures. Finding volunteers for risky procedures that have the possibility to save thousands of lives in the future would be next to impossible.

This is a sound moral argument. Opposing views would argue that humans are just one of the many life forms inhabiting the earth. The animals being tested on have negative rights to not be killed, very similar to the right of humans to not be forced into a highly experimental procedure.

The opposition to animal testing often portrays animal testing in very negative lights. Awful things being done to cute little kittens would strike on most people’s sympathies. They never talk about the anesthetics used to ensure the animal is not in pain. Scientists acknowledge the fact that animals do have feeling, and take their comfort into account when performing the procedure. Besides, look at all the benefits that have come from animal testing. Without such testing, medicine might very well be stuck in the medieval practices of using leaches and bloodletting to cure what ails you. The medical field relies on testing of the ideas that keep coming as technology advances. This argument relies on Bentham’s moral theory, which does justify experimentation on animals.

The argument against animal testing as stated in argument #3 is missing the basic principle that animal testing is morally wrong or unnecessary. The only argument #3 is attempting to defend is the violence used against researchers and scientists. The argument would be more complete with some mention of animal rights. Simply because humans consider themselves higher beings, there is no justification that humans can kill numberless amounts of animal to further their own well being. On the metaphysical standpoint, many people consider animals to exist without immortal souls, while humans do have them. It seems morally amiss to end the one and only existence of one being to prolong the temporary existence of an immortal being.

Another argument against animal testing is that with today’s technology, we are nearing the time when we will be able to simulate medical testing with the use of computers. Scientific development in the field of medicine could be set aside until technology reaches the ability to do the testing without live subjects. Today have advanced enough to adequately care for the public. Any future procedures can be left on the drawing board until technology makes this next step.

Given the two arguments above, I would agree with the pro-testing view. The criterion I would use for assigning values for moral consideration would include Aquinas’ moral theory based on the ability to reason. The higher reasoning ability is in a species, the more moral consideration that species would merit. There would be some distinction in the species itself, but more reasoning ability would not give one member of a species more consideration than another member of the species. I would also incorporate a principle that higher species have control of lower species, to use them to maximize overall utility. However, the animals being used must be accounted for in figuring the utility. The use of animals for such things as cosmetic testing would not be justified. And ability to reason would be the factor on deciding what animals may be used. This includes beings, which have the capacity to become reasoning, such as disabled persons, fetuses, and the senile. They would merit moral consideration as long as they have the ability to become reasoning. A person in a coma, with any chance of coming out of the coma would merit all the rights of a fully functional human being.

Some non-humans with the ability to reason would merit moral consideration. It becomes difficult to draw the line in the animal kingdom to draw the line of who can reason. A comprehensive test to show reasoning ability is difficult to administer to non-human participants. However, the ability to reason within a species should be directly proportional to the amount of moral consideration granted.

It does go against many people’s judgement, but my criterion does not include into moral consideration people in comas that have absolutely no chance of recovering. I would defend this stand by stating that a person in this condition, with no chance of experiencing life, or doing anything at all except lie and wait to die, would not merit the same consideration as a function being. Their life, in almost all respects, is over. Their body may continue to circulate blood, and their organs continue to process whatever nutrients is pumped into them, but they are no longer anything more than a mass of tissue. Besides the respect people give them because what they once were, they should not merit the consideration of a fetus or a dolphin for that matter.

My criterion allows for the testing on animals in cases where there is much to be gained by the humans as a species. Considering humans as higher beings, able to use other animals in cases where utility would be maximized, allows for the use of animals for food. However the current practices of the produce market would not be condoned in the cases where animals are not given any consideration relative to their reasoning ability. Any ability to reason would merit a proportionate amount of moral consideration.

[the fire elf]

these three previous prespectives from a fall session at college in '99...

my mindset had yet to be directly influenced by the event...

thank you for the impetus

[the fire elf]

coalition of the inspired
pre-conditioned to be free
discovering they each desired
beyond what they could see

on a path set through time
tread upon by instinct
knowing souls ever climb
further from the extinct

behind skin, hair, nails & teeth
dwells the hunger & the feast
astral sword in a body-sheath
step right up, slay the beast

dropping names of divinity
means little these days
rampant psycho-spiritual identities
misconstrued in all ways

a name given to self
is convoluted at best
"step aside, wait your turn!"
says the namer, at rest

make a joke, tell a lie
play pretend, fantasy
you may find it hard
to fill shoes and be

wind, water, earth & fire
poised like molar and incisor
mutated babylon (auto 'tire')
inside which i inspire her

like a djinn devoid of wishes
no bonds on wrists like these
christ saw people as fishes
no wonder he hid the keys

which door holds you out?
which door holds you in?
they don't open with a shout
so what's up with the din?

once was a child
who saw shadow and light
tormented by passions
most suited for night

i once was a son
with aspirations untold
nutured by myths
to become strange and bold

i once was a student
learning body/spirit/mind
from crayons to altars
my footsteps do not bind

aum satyavin maya
shuffled sanskrit, no doubt
speaks of power & wisdom
generated inside to out

mayavin rules of magic
reconfigured to suit deeds
in modern twisted eden
choked with human weeds

anti-human, i am not
yet soo many choose
obstruction of my path
them, not i, shall lose

dream with deamon
i wake with success
my vision realm continues
to fulfil subtle purpose

each quest i grow
each trial i pass
allows me time off:
smokin' dope, chasing ass

"contrary" some might say
"contrary to the quest!"
to me it's the same
as beast-buddha jest

sure, i'll get ugly
i'll get pretty too
i shift so they love me
in this human petting zoo

all shapes and colors
like 'box-a-chocolates' sweet
preferring some over others
indicated by placement of feet

some make me smile
some make me laugh
sometimes there's that one
makes me wish for a bath

one dream i saw angst
living with quarrel and fear
in a disrepaired house
useless things to the ear

chaos reigned with junk
on levels and stair
people strangely familiar
wandered here and there

two dogs i once knew
the leash for a walk
was kept in un-findable space
grumpy keeper wouldn't talk

in my dreams i can fly
once upon a time it was tough
these days i don't try
it comes natural enough

people don't seem to notice
too busy to ask how or why
i've stopped trying to entice
them to jump into the sky

the ask of me things
to do what they cannot
making servants of kings
well, this one they ain't caught

some dreams i am quarry
of the wicked and mean
still, very little i worry
still, search out my queen

strong as i, none doubt
as this drama will unfold
will her and i bout?
it's yet to be told

strange overlap of environ
from my waking and sleep
does same sun shine on
both surface skin and deep?

one dream in a room
first place of my design
the mechanisms wouldn't function
one by one they resign

privacy is what's sought
by my first love and i
the house was my grandma's
we were wary of prying eye

as we strive for space
to touch and excite
there's peace on her face
when she said "i couldn't quite..."

she speaks of masturbation
"not quite" to full orgasm
i had stepped outta sight
seeking glimpse of her chasm

two doors tied with string
close one the other'd open
the left string i ripped
closed two doors; closed in

we move to embrace
under the cover she wore
then came a great noise
broken fan fell to the floor

i wake and interpret
my dreams into poetry
holding true to the spirit
helps to recall easily

with my visions as muse
and a style all my own
it feels like a lit fuse
my apathy to be blown

what i find is voice
in this world of self
now i've made the choice:
take mySelf off the shelf

one dream in an ashram
militant with 3rd grade feel
i was the odd one out
consistant refusal to heel

my troup was called out
to pompousness in the yard
on the way down the hall
stack of pots, slightly marred

i grabbed one i liked
stole it confident and quick
'cause in my earthly life
i had good use for it

(i hand-wash in trashbags
in tent on a mountain
dream pot seemed better
then risking dirty fountain)

outside we watched speech
where speaker was killed
the knifeman glanced and laughed
none disturbed by blood spilled

consensus was reached
by those rule-making souls
killer had followed some rules
he balanced out in the polls

back to the classroom
i carried my stolen pot
under the front of my hoody
so i wouldn't get caught

tv was playing with audience
had to walk between those
to deliver pot to my bed;
back to my seat for shows

i pulled off my top
to break a uniformity rule
marvelled at my shape:
stuck out my belly soo full

could you take salt from the ocean to mask the sweetness of breath upon my skin?

something really must be done, lest my detachable passions catch wind of the more formidable configurations they might assume, given adequate understanding of themselves.