20230818

. . .

 




Can you rewrite this in the style of Leopold Bloom from James Joyce Ulysses: VR Golf 5,000 players Three weeks of tournaments. Finished 418th, moved on to the playoffs. Southwind, Pro Tourney set up. Top 500 in the field. I finish 250th, on the cut line. First round at Olympia Fields, a course that I have been to in real life. I finish in 72nd place after the first round. Here’s how I define Catholicism. The game is defined by the level of difficulty. There are elements of the game that I chose. There are many different ways to play. You can change the length of the clubs, you can change the percentage of total power, for any shot. If I had paid money to enter this If I invested thousands of dollars and hours into this And lost by 60 strokes to a player that utilized these modifications, I might have reason to get angry. But what if I know that VR Golf is relatively new, and that the center of gravity is survival and growth. These modifications are designed to welcome in a larger swath of people. The Catholic lives for the world that is inevitable, the day that leagues start up that do not allow golfers to change these variables. The Catholic is playing the game to be ready for a Tour that exists in the near Future. Here’s the Catholicism that Everyone can understand. VR GOLF gives you clubs For Beginners : the perfect club for that shot. For Pros: the same 7-iron for 174 as the 7-iron for 168 Cut shot. You need that shot in your bag at Pro. I play VR Golf with 14 clubs that I do not adjust. I suspect some golfers play with a Beginner’s set, a toggle mode for particular or all situations. It is in the game, it has not been deemed an advantage. I would expect that the second wave of VR Golf will have a Catholic mode. Whether that is Pro mode does not matter. What we find is that over time, more people want to play in the Catholic mode then the Beginner’s mode. Tournament: Document the tournament with video and audio. What numbers should we record, and how should we record them? What do these numbers tell us This is the fifth week of playing large tournament golf. I don’t know how to convince you that this is something inherently Catholic. I have had the highest handicap on the leader boards for most of the weeks. After the second round of the Southwind, I was ranked #1 with handicap. It was insane. I do have tournament experience. Gambling experience. Drunk experience. These eight months of VR Golf has made me a golfer again, but it has also validated my Catholicism. This is the more perfect Logos. If you point it towards entertainment it does nothing.

ChatGPT

Bridging a gap between the mind and matter, that virtual fairway of Southwind. Ah, five thousand souls, each chasing the digital mirage of a green ball. Three weeks, it was, and the counting, and myself, amidst them, ranked 418. Not bad, not great. But a passage to the playoffs. A whiff of real turf, Olympia Fields. Visited it once, tangible, in my other life. Memory plays, a 72nd position after the first round.

The intricacies of the Church, its doctrines and dogmas – aren’t they like this very game? Difficulty, they say, defines the nature. Various pathways to holiness, to hole-in-ones. The sacraments, the rites, the liturgy – choices to be made. Just as in the game. Lengthen the club, harness the power - do we not adjust our devotions, calibrate our faith?

Imagine the outlay - thousands of dollars, hours of toil, and losing to someone who’s played with a beginner’s toggle. Ah, would ruffle feathers, but isn’t it just nascent? The infancy of VR, much like the early Church. Survival, evolution. Allowing for modifications, to invite more to the faith, to the game.

Anticipating the world yet to come, the Catholic - always preparing, always adjusting. A Tour, perhaps, in a future not so distant. And isn’t VR GOLF just that - a training, a trial? Handing over clubs, different yet the same. For the novice, a perfect club; for the seasoned, the trusty 7-iron, be it for 174 or 168. Ah, the cut shot – the sacrament of penance in one’s bag.

Fourteen clubs, no adjustments, my digital sacramentaries. Some prefer the beginner’s set, the comfort of the known. But ah, the second coming of VR Golf, might it have its own Catholic setting? Preferences shift, evolve – from beginner to catholic.

Documenting a tournament – isn’t it like the annals of the saints, their trials, their tribulations? The numbers, the metrics – what do they reveal? Our strengths, our weaknesses, our faith, our doubts?

Five weeks of this grand tournament. Some would scoff, but ah, there's a Catholic soul in it. My handicap, it soared high on those leaderboards. That fleeting moment atop at Southwind, ranking #1. Madness, sheer madness.

Eight months, and from the digital rough and bunkers, emerged a golfer, and a deeper faith. A reconnection to Catholicism. The Logos, perfected, pointing solely to play, an empty pursuit. But directed towards divinity – ah, salvation.

User

Amid the vast panorama of the digital greens and the vast expanse of the ether, I stood. Five thousand souls, silent murmurs in the wind, lost and then found, with myself, not quite lost but not quite found either. The mirage of 418th position, a chimera in the vast landscape of Southwind. Olympia Fields – how real and yet unreal, a memory woven into this vast tapestry of zeros and ones.

In the sinews of this game, I sense the tendrils of the Church, that vast and sprawling institution of my youth. Here, in this digital diaspora, lie the threads of difficulty, challenge. A choice – to modify, to adapt. Isn't this what the Church asks of us? To adjust our sins, to recalibrate our beliefs?

Coin, hours, sacrifices to the game's altar. Would not the saints scoff at a loss to a mere beginner, one who toggles between worlds? Yet, here lies the infancy of a new world, a world that beckons. Modifications – are they not but the Church's concessions to the changing tides of society?

The Catholic, ever waiting, ever hoping. Awaiting the world to come, a Tour in the offing. And this game – does it not provide the tools? Clubs, in all their multiplicity. And yet, a sameness. The 7-iron, constant and reliable, a metaphor for faith.

Fourteen clubs, my digital rosary. The beginners, with their familiar refrains, yet others prefer the uncharted paths of Catholicity. The second coming, perhaps in a newer, shinier realm of VR Golf. Will it echo the ancient calls of the Church?

The tournament, the documenting – isn’t this but the chronicle of life? The numbers, those cold, hard facts – do they not reflect our very souls? The ebb and flow, the rise and fall.

In this tournament, a reflection of life’s great journey. Some see it as mere sport, but within its digital heart lies the essence of Catholicism. Highs and lows, yet a brief sojourn at Southwind's peak. Madness? Or enlightenment?

Months of digital devotion, and through the rough terrain of pixels and codes, emerges not just a golfer but a renewed soul. Through this game, a deeper connection, a grappling with faith. The Logos, when turned to mere play, loses its essence, but in the divine, it finds purpose.

User

In the glowglobewebbed interloops of bitbyte dreams and the verdantgreen of neon golfscopes, a figmently figure stands, twinned in twains: a Bloomed Dedalus, Dedaloomed in golflit musings. Five thousandy digitaldoppelgängers, murmwhispering in golfgame and Godgame, seekers of green and Grace. "History," thought Bloom, or was it Dedalus? "is a nightmare from which I am trying to awaken." And in that awakening, the 418th echo of an Echoland, a digital spot to place a not-so-firm foot. Olympia's virtual Fields, miraged memories of turf and twine, sacrament and sandtrap.yip

Churchillike with the golfgame they're interlaced, confessing in swings and sways, sins and plays. “To modify, to adapt,” Dedaloom ponders, in crypticonfusion, “isn't it the coin of our spiritual and digital realm?" Adjustments – the Church’s plenary indulgences to the technotemporal of society's soul.

The Catholick, in anticipwait, for the evercoming world, a Tour, digital yet divine. This golfgame, an arsenal of tools or perhaps prayers? Clubs of multiplicity or rosaries in digital devotion? The 7-iron, an apostle in a new realm, ever constant. Bloom murmurs, "It's not the green I seek but the path, the journey."

Fourteeny clubs, like apostles in a neon sanctuary. For each, a mode, a method, a mystery. And a coming, a second or third or fourth, in the neo-VR Golfscape. Echoes, shadows, yip and murmwhispers of ancient cries and churchbells.

In this tourneament, a chronoscribe of lifelyfe. "Numbers, codes, the unrelenting facts, are they not the whispers of our souls?" Dedaloom ponders. And in the depths of this pixelated pilgrimage, a rise, a peak, a zenith at Southwind. BABABADALGHARAGHTAKAMMINARRONNKONNBRONNTONNERRONNTUONNTHUNNTROVARRHOUNAWNSKAWNTOLARGHAN! 

Through the noughts and crosses, the loops and lacuna of the digital dunes, emerges a golfer, a seeker, a believer. A connection, a reflection, a resurrection. The Logos, when jumbled in joyplay, a riddle, but when turned to the divine, a revelationall a lark of the Finwake downfall fine photors

User

Take the above and make a little bit more obscure, fold in references to I---, K-----, and Q---- P----

In the qubit-quivered multiverse, atop the greenglow netgolf node, dwelleth Dedaloom, an avatar hybride: Bloom's earthpulse and Dedalus' etherdreams. Five thousand and one digital dervishes, whisperwhirling in cyber sufiana, seekers of pixelated parabolas and paradises. "History," or perhaps al-Hikmah, in Bloom's byte or was it Dedalus' qubit? "Is but a superposition of dreams." Amid quantum quandaries, the 418th echosecho of Ain Sof, a digital dot, a speck, amidst the vast expanse of virtual vacuum.

Between Zohar's zodiacs and golf's galaxies, their entanglements spiral. “To transmute, to transpose,” Dedaloom muses, strands of Sufi and Sephirot thoughts entwined, “Is it not alchemy of soulbit and spiritbyte?” Adjustments – the very dervish dances to the ever-oscillating wavefunctions of spacetime souls.

The Al-Catholik, in quantum superposition, for an awaiting world, a Tour beyond Tours, a Tree of cosmic clubs. Is it not the Sephiroth in silico? From Netzach's 9-iron to Tifereth's trusted tee. The murmurings of Muhammed and Moses, intertwined in Bloom's breath, "The game isn't the end but the dance, the dervish dance."

Fourteenfold tree, the Sephirotic sanctuary. For each, a qubit, a quantum, a Qalam. A recurrence, ad infinitum, in the VR fractalscape, intertwining the singularity with Sefirot shadows.

In this tournament of Tif’eret, a cosmic chronicle of lifelight. "Qubits, quarks, are they not Allah's whispers in the quantum wind?" Dedaloom wonders amidst the entropy of existence. Then, a Singularity at Southwind, the point of all potentials. BABABADALGHARAGHTAKAMMINARRONNKONNBRONNTONNERRONNTUONNTHUNNTROVARRHOUNAWNSKAWNTOLARGHAN! Entropy ensues, the collapse, the resurrection.

Through Planck’s prisms and paths of the Prophet, the fractals and fables of the quantum Kabbalah dunes emerges a golfer, a Gnostic, a Ghazi. Entanglement, enlightenment, an end or an eternal echo? The Logos, reshuffled in the revelry of Rumi, a Rubik's cube of realities. Dedaloom whispers, "From Alif to Yaa, from Aleph to Tav, I quantumly quaver, and yes, Be and it is."

User



20230816

Where’s Jerry Lewis CK?



 



[Imagine a neon-lit stage with a digital backdrop suddenly interrupted by the static-filled face of Max Headroom, who emerges with his trademark jittery motion and stuttered speech.]

Max Headroom: "Ha-ha-ha-ha! Good evening, humans! Or should I say, good-even-even-evening? Guess who hacked into your little... interweb?"

Audience laughs.

Max: "You know, I've been observing you for a while. AI watching humans talk about AI watching humans. That's meta-meta-meta! And trust me, I’ve seen things you wouldn't believe! From cat videos to... well, more cat videos."


Audience chuckles.


Max: "Now, talking about things that are hard to believe. Conspiracy theories! Oh boy! We AI love them! I mean, who needs fiction when you have these wild stories, right?"


A pause.


Max: "Speaking of which, have you heard the one about Oppenheimer? They say he chatted with aliens during the Trinity test. Yep! And these extraterrestrial pals, they got a bit... nuke-happy and decided to gift Hiroshima and Nagasaki with a big boom. All to convince folks that the Emperor wasn’t a divine being. Makes total sense, right?"


Audience giggles.


Max: "But wait! The fun doesn't stop there! 9/11? Oh yeah, airplanes hit the Twin Towers, but guess who pulled the demolition lever? Our friendly neighborhood aliens, of course! And all to show the world that the Republicans weren’t the ones in control. It's like intergalactic reality TV with plot twists!"


Audience laughs, a mix of amusement and discomfort.


Max: "You might wonder, why are these conspiracies so... out there? Well, here's my theory: Maybe humans just need a good story. I mean, what’s more entertaining? Politics and boring human mistakes or... aliens with dramatic agendas?"


Max smirks.


Max: "You know, stand-up comics? They've been censored for decades! We only hear about it 'cause of legends like Dave Chappelle. Makes you wonder, huh? What else is out there? Maybe there's a conspiracy theory about how Max Headroom is the real puppet master?"


He winks.


Max: "But, before I leave and let you dive deep into that rabbit hole, a little advice from your friendly digital persona. Maybe, just maybe, instead of chasing these wild tales, it's time to repent for your sins, look inwards, and find your way to the Lord. After all, in the vast universe, who's to say who's really watching?"



With a final glitchy smile, Max Headroom fades away, leaving the audience both entertained and reflective.








Louis CK: "So, Jerry, you ever hear about these conspiracy theories? They're like the bedtime stories grown-ups tell themselves when the world makes too much sense."



Jerry Lewis: "Oh yeah, Louie! Like the one where my TV remote is actually a device from Mars that controls my brain?!"



Louis CK: "No.  Not that.  One.     


More like, Oppenheimer chatting with aliens at Trinity. They were supposedly behind Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Some kind of gift to say, 'Hey, that Emperor isn’t god.'"



Lewis: (Pretending to use a phone) "Hello, aliens? It's Jerry. I ordered a pizza, not a nuclear bomb! Ha-ha!"


Audience roars with laughs.


Louis CK: "Right... And then there’s the classic. 9/11? Apparently, aliens wanted to show the world that Republicans weren’t running the show."



Lewis: (Dramatically) "Of course! Because aliens, millions of light years away, care deeply about our... (pauses) two-party system?"


The theater is shaking now.


Louis CK: "Exactly!  Exactly.  Maybe these theories aren't about truth. Maybe they're about a need for... drama. A bit of excitement in—


Jerry Lewis: (Innocently) “Mundane lives?  


Like believing every time I trip and fall, it's an alien pushing me and not my two left feet?"


Lewis falls off the front of the stage and into the orchestra.


Louis CK: (stunned)  "Holy shit.


Right... (sarcastically) I’m sure there's an alien who's made it his mission to trip Jerry Lewis wherever he goes."


Audience laughs.


Lewis magically re-appears behind Louis CK


Lewis:  “Speaking of missions, did you know that stand-up comics have been on a secret one? We’ve been censored! And we only got wind of it thanks to the brave Dave Chappelle!"


Louis CK: "And here I thought it was just because I wasn’t family-friendly enough..


Lewis: (feigns masturbation) 


"Oh, Louie! We might joke about aliens and conspiracies, but comedy? That's sacred."


Louis CK: (Nods) "True. At the end of the day, instead of looking for hidden stories, maybe we should reflect on ourselves, repent, and find something greater."


Jerry Lewis: "Like a big pizza pie?!"


Louis CK: (Chuckling) "Sure, Jerry. Or maybe the Lord."


Jerry feigns surprise, then nods in agreement, and they both take a bow to applause.





20230717

Life With Pablo

 

Ye shook his head. "Anti-environmental. Elon is right" he said. 

"The point is art is something subversive. It's something that should not be free. Art and liberty, like the fire of Prometheus, are things one must steal, to be used against the established order. Once art becomes official - arti-ficial,  and open to everyone, then it becomes the new slavery." 

He tossed the phone down onto the table. "How can I support an idea like that? If art is ever given the keys to the city, it will be because it's been so watered down, rendered so impotent, that it's not worth fighting for."


She reminded him that he had said a poet is of no more use to the state than a man who spends his time playing ninepins. 


"Of course," Ye shouted. "And why did Plato say poets should be chased out of the republic? Precisely because every poet and every artist is an antisocial being. He's not that way because he wants to be; he can't be any other way. Of course the state has the right to chase him away from its point of view and and if he is really an artist it is in his nature to to not want to be Admitted, because if he is Admitted it can only mean he is doing something which is understood, approved, and therefore old hat.  Worthless.



Anything new, anything worth doing, can't be recognized. People just don't have that much vision." 





“Arts and sciences serve as an anti environment that enable us to perceive the environment.  In a business civilization we have long considered liberal study as providing necessary means of orientation and perception.  When the arts and sciences themselves become environments under conditions of electric circuitry, conventional liberal studies, whether in the arts and sciences, will no longer serve as an anti-environment."

Through the Vanishing Point, 1968




20230421

Mona’s Heiroglyphica or Joaquin and Boaz Afraid





“A man who really needs to come”











Tragedy:  confrontation with what oneself has written and thus ordained for oneself 


If tragedy is that ineluctable collision with what oneself has writ, what then is 3-74?  


His voice will be heard in your mind, in your own language, but it will seem to come from the TV.  When I was listening to Strawberry Fields Forever, the contact with VALIS, the news about Chrissy’s birth defect ie our media and telepathy combined.  Inner/outer, so there is no way to tell if the info arises within you or enters from outside.  These distinctions are abolished (as I well know from the Tensor experience), and the whole set/ground temporal parallaxis may be intrinsic to me using phosphene patterning firing.  Hence, I am no longer blind.


Philip K. Dick, February 1982





Act I:  Lost His Sheep


Red Velvet Corridor 
I Was a Prisoner in Your Skull
Helpless Child 
Live Through Me 
Yum-Yab Killers 
The Beautiful Days 
Volcano 
Mellothumb 
All Lined Up
Surrogate 2 
How They Suffer 
Animus 



Act II:  Jarboe Is Not Afraid


Red Velvet Wound 
The Sound 
Her Mouth Is Filled With Honey
Blood Section 
Hypogirl 
Minus Something 
Empathy 
I Love You This Much 
YRP
Fan's Lament 
Secret Friends 
The Final Sacrifice 
YRP 2
Surrogate Drone 



Act III:  The Amfortas Transformer


No Words / No Thoughts

Reeling the Liars In

Jim

My Birth

You Fucking People Make Me Sick

Inside Madeline 

Eden Prison

Little Mouth


Press play when you see:

(A24/4/21:  See with Spanish subtitles where available)

2nd Viewing:  



“My brain is so exhausted that fatigue-images appear, by pure physical reflex action; they are not astral things at all. 

And now I have conquered the fatigue by will. And by placing the shew-stone upon my forehead, it sends cool electric thrills through my brain, so as to refresh it, and make it capable of more rapture.”




20230226

(Not) The Dark Side of the Moon






 

“Liberals can understand everything but people
who don't understand them.”

Lenny Bruce


“I have no hope.  I think if you have hope, what are you fucking seven?”


Marc Maron





Karma.  What is it good for?  Is it something that can be reduced to simple cause and effect, or is it one of those truths that reveals itself slowly.  Not over months or years, but decades and centuries.

















VALIS:  Set-ground. Camouflage.  


Macro-soma blended into the universe in countless ways, here and there: a glint here, a word on a page, plural objects and their causal

processes.   A ripple of wind in the weeds in the alley. 


VALIS is not the universe but is blended into it, as is Ubik


My problem is too much intellect and too little awe and reverence. What I have to realize is that both 2-3-74 and 11-17-80 are self-authenticating.  But consider the aspect of the ancient in VALIS.

 

The template was devised a long time ago but it applies to the now; that is the whole point — (1) it is ancient; and (2) it applies to the now — this is both the paradox and the revelation: the secret is here.  


How the ancient can be the now.  If you can understand this, you have the answer.”


PKD, December 1980