If
electromagnetism represents reflection in a hall of mirrors (HB20), the mirrors
represent facts that exist outside of the illusory aspect of time.
Time – or the
primeval rhythms seen in spiral motifs at New Grange – is illogical in that it
just is, rather than having a rational, classical mechanical explanation. If it
wasn’t that things “just are”, then they would be logical and amenable to
fact-exploitation, coding and algorithms.
If that is the
case, then this entire world of factual accuracy, coding and algorithms is a
modern fairy tale existing outside of reality, which is primal rhythm. The
rhythm is obviously visible in classical mechanics since particles spin, but it
doesn’t mean all rhythm is classically mechanical. Primal rhythms are sinuous,
swaying, womanly, proportionate (womb, moon).
The fairy tale
exists in resolved space, the sterile and tidy land of straight lines and
perspective (electromagnetism, sun). I know this can sound pretty weird so, to
take an example, here’s a diagram of the latest Mars Rover.
As you can see
from the captions, every instrument is electromagnetic, and the same applies to
almost all detection systems. Space is the sterile area of electromagnetism,
while Earth is the cyclical area of the Midgard Serpent.
The physical
reality is that the undulating lines of life have a serpentine origin that
gives shape to their symmetrical nature.
The undulating
lines - which artists explore through cartooning () – are expressions of time
and space. They are balanced and proportionate. The factual world tends to replace
the fertile areas with sterile space, represented by straight lines (paving.)
Straight line
perspective attracts the ego with illusions of progress that are more like a
process of repetition in sterile space – reflections, mirror. If progress is
possible, it cannot be at the expense of decadence, which is the cycle of life
and death, followed by revival (fertility).
A place of
power, of revival, is replete with detritus. One good example is the activity
of beavers, which cut down trees, place obstacles in water and generally
rough-up a riverbank hooliganishly. The photo tells its own story (here).
From detritus
and the hunt and the deep, dark wood come stories and legends that feed the
imagination of children and carry on a cycle of psyche that has strength and
reality.
The irony is
that the insubstantiality of time has to be there for the substantial world to
develop.
“All the
elements are in place, but they are form without substance” - line from “The Fall of the Mutants”,
probably by Forge, on the need for spirit to reenergise the world (Storm).
Claremont’s tale
reads like a fantastical fairy tale, whereas the modern fairy tale reads like
reality – the fantastic element is missing. That fantastic element is what you
find in the deep, dark wood where the snake glides and the stag runs. The
rhythms that carry manner and style of the shape of things. These fantastic
elements of physical substance are what are absent in a world of fact and the
explanations of classical mechanics (ie the whole of modern physics.)
“That
beautiful cloud.. I have never seen anything so magnificent in my life.” (Hiroshima survivor)
The atom bomb
represents the ultra-convincing nothingness of calculation, the Black Sun or
sterilization of fertility. The eye can’t fail to be attracted by the sight,
just as it can’t fail to be attracted to the perspective reality of an iphone.
A logical order
has its attractions, but it is a type of visual illusion that fades like the
mushroom cloud. What is left is the decadence that revives. Beirut, before its
explosive calamity, had French-colonial rundown elegance representing crumbling
revival of the long and interesting polyglot history prior to the Hezbollah
/Iran nexus.
If an atom bomb
is convincing calculation, much the same applies to contemporary political reality
– monetary and numerical – without the physical reality of rustic decay and
elegance, but convincing to the eye.
You notice that
Einstein’s continuum tends to convince people (ego), and it is again
nothingness in terms of decay and revival. Lawrence Durrell wrote The
Alexandrian Quartet on this exact topic, set in Egypt, being presumably
intellectually convinced by the relativity principle!
All this you
could probably call the vanishing point of technique; relativity, continuum,
iphones. The logical perspective is attractive to the ego, much in the same
sense numbers and monetary systems are.
It doesn’t
change the fact that they are approaching zero in terms of physical reality;
the serpentine decay and revival of living systems on planet Earth (currently
stationed between Mars and Venus).
The mainstream
politicians – be it Biden, Trump – are depressingly similar, and it takes an
outsider like Kanye West to add a dash of poetry to the proceedings (P127). Poetry is not logical; it’s not number. It’s essentially rhythmical
and inhabits the same moral reality as the Old West. People and animals in
motion with poise and grace.
Poetry takes one out of the area that convinces the ego with facts. Even
if it’s true to say an atom bomb has a certain poetry – according to the
survivor – it just shows how convincing hot air can be. It doesn’t last and what’s left is the decadence that survives and thrives.