Welcome to the Future!

By Dr. Adventure!

As you all know, we are now living in the Future. Jet-packs, Aliens, gun-toting robots, giant remote-controlled insects, global disasters, World War III, open insurrection, Skynet, digital drugs and Super-Heroes. The Future.

Feels like Ive been here all along but its nice seeing the rest of the planet start to catch up. The entirety of human history and civilization has led right here. So, if you haven't already, get the fuck up off your ass and do something about it.

Staring down the barrel of Armageddon, we are facing the greatest threats and most profound opportunities ever presented to the human race. From open Tantric enlightenment available at your local Underground to planet-wide mind-control, from mass surveillance to every 10 year old being able to post pictures of himself blowing shit up to everyone on the planet, from trapping antimatter to....well, trapping ANTIMATTER; Humanity is thoroughly kicking reality's nards and realizing that it hurts them just as bad.

But then again, we live in a time when some folks pay good money to get a swift kick in the jewels.
What I want to know is what are You doing about it?! And I do mean YOU! Maybe you're reading this for cheap sci-fi thrills or as philosophical masturbation or, more likely, the Matrix has you. Searching the global Hive-mind in the dead of night trying to find a glimmer of the Divine Mystery revealed to you through a story, looking for the Door to the Real world, waiting and searching to be invited into something truly Great and Unique and Free. It is my Pleasure and Honor to Welcome you all to the Future!

Myth as a Weapon: PsychoDrama

Dr.Adventure!

What would you do if you walked outside one day and saw something you KNEW, with absolute certainty, was imaginary, something impossible? Would you cry with sadness or delight? Would you scream or run or fight? Would you make friends?

Every-day the world is getting stranger. The rules we have been taught govern reality and life and circumstance have long fallen, useless and wheezing, to the ground. Fuck knows if I’ve been alive before but


I’m here NOW and this place is WEIRD! I wouldn’t have it any other way really.

As the yarn begins to unravel (“as the sheep is sheared" may be more appropriate), the various social, economic, political, educational, emotional, psychological, physical and spiritual frameworks that have up till now defined our existence will begin to dissolve. Due to an odd quirk of the human cognitive apparatus (wink wink), this phenomenon also has certain quantum level repercussions that actually destabilize various elements of local reality. FUCK!
(If you don’t believe me ask a physicist that isn't a chicken-shit)







And here we stand, on the edge of this wild future, with the Towers crumbling, the robots taking up arms, aliens visiting several major cities in broad daylight, prehistoric toxic ooze poisoning the ocean (not to mention garbage CONTINENTS!) and Godzilla rising from slumber.







Can you look me in the eye and tell me these things can be handled using "Conventional" means? No. Not without me calling you a goddamn liar. Humanity has used the subterfuge of conventionality, as well as forced ignorance to disguise the fact that most of the people in charge haven’t a fucking clue what should actually be done to make the world a better place. Which is fine, they’ve been consumed by their own machine which has defined their limitations. The machine however, lives in the real world, the one carved in stone and blood. They, often, do not.

If the drive to be legendary is innate, then the mass hysteria caused by the pressure of denying it makes a lot of the turmoil in the world makes sense. As usual, humanity has been playing in gods tool shed without reading any of the instructions. (Like giving a shotgun to a pissed-off blindfolded 6 year old on WAAAAY to much soda and adderall. Bad news all around.)
Still, the fruits of these bumbling attempts to make the world better have resulted in entities and mechanisms of titanic and horrific scale. They ate their creators long ago.

But, what about those that have always peeked behind the curtain? Throughout human history, and I mean right back to day-fuckin-one, there have been stories about people that were MORE than people. Some stories say they’re on their way, others that they left long ago, and some very popular ones about their return. These stories emerge in times of struggle.
Forged like diamonds under the stress. From these myriad and tremendous pressures are heroes and legends distilled. Like I said before though, this place is WEIRD! The tools we have to reshape our perceptions are powerful, prevalent and cheap. The tools we have to reshape the world around us are staggering in their scope and precision. What happens when you
throw THAT into the mix? All of a sudden you’ve got real live mythic super-people running amok on a planet where most folks are living in a goddamn video game and shitting themselves in terror at every other thing.

I’m talking the whole nine yards by the way; trip-headed telekinetic bodhisattvas, Super-Heroes and Villains, trans-dimensional hyper intelligences, cyborg call girls, mutants, ancient monsters and the undead. Scary as it is, they’re humanity's only hope at not completely and utterly fucking themselves into oblivion. Also, far as I can tell, they're US.

We stand poised and ready to strike at the heart of the beast with weapons forged from Science and Art, ancient magic, Hardcore hyper-space drugs and the Heat from the heart of the sun.
But, are we starting a fight or playing a game?

If you haven’t noticed, I’m not talking about protest or war. I’m talking about solving the problems that need to be dealt with, setting an example on a grand scale and providing working alternatives. The hard part of course is how the hell do you figure these things out?
Play.


The inherent biological mechanism for discovery and expression is PLAY. As serious as Life and Death, made of dreams, and the closest to reality that most come, Play teaches us what we are, what we could be and how the fuck to get there. Making a game that everyone can take part in is the trick, and always remember that the rules are just there to make things more interesting. And that we make them.

We are the players; the cast and crew. We set the stage, prepare our roles, build the props, paint the sets and become the Story. Go do something impossible.

Welcome to the Future!

Pre-order a copy of The Immanence of Myth, published by Weaponized in July 2011.

Myth as a Weapon: Masks and Monsters

By Dr.Adventure!

The use of costume and persona is a part of almost every culture IN THE WORLD, and has been since the get-go. They have been used for storytelling, healing, ritual, celebration, and war. The ability to create and embody Characters, and make something imaginary into something tangible, is as integral to the human condition as thumbs, making tools and playing with fire.We create Myths to help us cope with the world around us and then develop personas to Navigate these myths. These personae are the tools we use to sculpt the metaphysical, and to become something new, something extraordinary.

Ancient (and contemporary) shamans channel spirits and gods using costume, ritual, dance, drugs and stories. They leave behind their human form and allow themselves to become the embodiment of something apparently non-human. They use these rituals to gain power and knowledge to heal, to curse, to protect, to implore, to summon and to teach.

The act of taking on a mythical persona becomes tangible, a process of actual physical change where the human aspect is overcome and its limits surpassed. This process, the theater of it and the ritual state of expanded awareness restructure the metaphysical self as the body is transformed.

Samurai used a similar process to make themselves appear as demons to their enemies. They used masks and elaborate ornaments and bright colors to frighten their enemies. These things also put the samurai in a mind-state where he was more than a man, he was a monster, terrifying and unstoppable. They would play the role while fighting for their lives and cutting people’s heads off, which as far as I’m concerned is about as "Real" as it can get. The goal of this practice was to achieve supremacy in warfare through distraction and intimidation. The skills required to perform these roles were just as disciplined as a soldier’s swordplay and strategy. By combining finely honed talents and outward expressions of otherworldly selves they effectively became something more, and in doing so turned battles into legends, men into Heroes and history into Myth.

The modern practice of method acting, or inhabiting a role, comes close to these ancient ritual practices. With notable exceptions. When an actor is preparing for a role, researching, practicing and putting him/herself in the position of their character, they are essentially reprogramming themselves to become that persona. The difference between this practice and the others previously mentioned is that conventional theater and media is often (but not always) approached with a sense of "playing pretend". This can be dangerous if a person believes that the thing they are "playing" at is not real and can do them no harm. Which is, of course, bullshit.

Method acting at its best is definitely approached with incredible discipline and also the awareness that one needs to be able to, in some way, anchor themselves so as not to be overwhelmed. When done poorly, this practice can be massively psychologically devastating. Interestingly, there comes a point where the method may over take the actor and actually turn him or her into a stronger person.

At that point, would they, or you, want to return to your "true self" or continue on as something new and powerful? And if so, how the fuck do you bear the weight?

Myth as a Weapon: God-Craft

By Dr.Adventure!

Via DC Comics

We live in a culture that often grasps desperately at self creation and improvement. The notion that a person needs to become "better" than they already are is ubiquitous.

Motivated by fear, self consciousness, low self esteem, peer pressure or psychological trauma, people start looking for ways to not suck so hard. This is a double edged sword and in missing the point many are cut by it.

If someone comes to a moment in their life where they are unequivocally fucked by their own actions, it makes sense that they want to change. This comes from an honest assessment of circumstance. If, however, a person is motivated to "improve"
themselves without first understanding their weaknesses, strengths and situation, then they run the risk of weakening themselves by becoming a slave to "Self-Improvement".
How then do we become more than what we are without undermining that change through our insecurities? It starts simple enough, by acting and making decisions from a place of strength.

Guide your actions towards through intimate self knowledge, practical assessment of personal circumstance and courage in the face of the unknown. Please understand that the paths of basic self improvement and Living Mythic are different, but they are paved with the same stones.
I'm not talking about hitting the gym or quitting smoking or not being a lush or not jacking off in public as often; I'm talking about pushing the boundaries of human achievement and Reality itself.
All of these things have something in common: Discipline. Now I know that’s a dirty word to many self styled anarchists and neo-libertines but honestly, how in the fuck do you expect to not be governed without controlling yourself?