I suppose fans
of Howard don’t necessarily like the idea of relating his fantasy stories to
the state of contemporary reality we find ourselves in? Nevertheless, if a link
is there it should inevitably be found so I’ll carry on regardless.
From HB101 and
HB103 it seems clear that The Skull of Silence and The Mirrors
of Tuzun Thune are related. The wizard says,
“What matters men’s forgetfulness of you when you have forgotten
yourself in the silent worlds of death? Gaze into my mirrors and be wise.” (page 174)
The mirrors have no harmonic sound (silence of the cosmos) because they
are images with no sequence of events, representing the ego. A world of mirrors
would therefore effectively be a cosmic silence of straight-line
(electromagnetic) management and planning, run by acolytes.
So, the question to ask is: is electromagnetism mirrors? That question
is difficult to answer; perhaps the best is to go forward on that assumption
and see where it lands. A camera – as I think was mentioned previously – is the
same as a mirror except that the image isn’t inverted. A self-drive car would
operate with cameras analogously to a driver using mirrors.
Basically, all these apparatuses bend light, and light is composed of
straight lines. Hence you’re in a perspective universe that could be an illusion,
but it is managed, planned and run by acolytes.
The reason it’s not an illusion is that it is managed, planned and run
by acolytes. IE the more straight line things get the easier they are to run
that way. For example, self-drive cars will probably only ever operate in
straight line areas because the illusion of reality is so much greater. The
question is: is that futuristic world just a convincing illusion (of the ego)?
It looks real (like The 5th Element) but it is really
composed of light. What’s missing is the moon and the blood-cycle of decay and
regeneration in twilight landscapes where Diana roams, hunting-bow over her
shoulder, deer in her sights and hounds ready for the kill.
One universe is appearance (order, Apollo); the other is reality (blood,
Artemis). One is the haed (ego); the other is the body (lithe huntress). Clearly,
the latter is very close to Howard’s so it must have a fantasy element which
the other doesn’t.
Yes, but an illusion is not the same as reality; it only has the
appearance (Apollo) of reality. It is a universe of cosmic silence and the ego.
That universe I think can be related to stories like The Skull of Silence and
The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune. In other words, Howard’s world exists in a
moonlit landscape where the wizards are somewhat like our solar scientists who
operate with illusions.
To Howard moonlight, as at the battle scene in Swords of the Purple
Kingdom, symbolises and actually is reality. Blood and decay and the lithe
body in action. This world is also harmonic and is exposed to the sounds and
sights of the cosmos of tumbling stars. It is not run by the ego (of wizards)
but by the sword and battle-axe of heroic figures.
To a world of illusion that world is fantasy; but in another sense it is
the cosmic reality we’ve lost through illusion. The reality of cosmic sound (silence.)
In a world of electromagnetic illusion, the straight line is reality.
So, for example, in the US election all the candidates appear to be managers.
They want spending (infrastructure) and Biden was asking Sanders to cost his
proposals.
Where are the candidates who want less government and more
self-organization by communities? They don’t exist because that is not their
reality (illusion). Where is the America of Lil Abner that is not so
much political as mythical?
That is not the America that “they” care about. A world of
electromagnetic illusions also faces “the riddle of steel” (prev.) since it is
aimed at the head. Words feed the ego through “the mirror of nothingness
(electromagnetism). The assumption is that one should trust one’s head rather
than assume the head may be deceived – as in “the riddle of steel”.
So, the idea of a universe of the ego, managed by acolytes, one could
easily think of as a fantastic illusion. I remember as a kid the only TV
program I remember watching was the 60s Batman, since we had no TV and
went to watch at a friend’s home. The program has always been a mythic memory.
Marvel Comics also had a mythic impact.
The age of myth is probably something like 7 or 8 when the power of
perception is quite great (Harlan Ellison used to say he “was still that kid”).
What you notice nowadays is that the age factor is much less defined in that
people watch social media/youtube from about 4 and you almost might suppose
that the risk is that they miss “the age of myth” entirely, which is really
apprehending something that has a lifelong impact in shaping values and tastes.
These memories, for good or ill, inform my mature mythology. What are
they but pure fantasy? Memories should not be the product of ego, but of a
vague apprehension of cosmic harmony, in sound, sight, action.
This is what I get from the 60s films of Jean-Luc Godard; at this point
there are a couple on order and are due in about a week. Meanwhile, at
