JamesLindenschmidt.com

The court cases around arrests at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York have begun. And, well, let’s just say the cops don’t look so good:

Officer Wohl made several interesting assertions during his testimony suggesting to some that the falsification of arrest documents and police testimony may have been part of some sort of concerted effort by people involved in security planning for the RNC.

At one point, Wohl testified that his captain told him to arrest everyone within a certain area. Later, he stated that he could not really tell the difference between protestors, bystanders, and people merely coming and going from the library. The combination of an officer unable to discern between supposed suspects and innocent pedestrians, and an order from superior officers to make mass arrests based on geographic location rather than specific incidents, would seem to suggest there is a very real potential that large numbers of detainees were wrongly arrested and incarcerated.

This evidence indicates nothing less than state-sponsored repression of political dissent. Let no one doubt this.

Or at the very least, a solution to my audio computer woes. This machine would allow me to take the offending hard drive out of my studio computer, install it into this enclosure, and connect it easily and quickly to *any* computer, including the new laptop. Hmmmmm……

There is an article in Wired this month called “The Shadow Internet.” It provides an interesting look at the seedy underbelly of vicious sea robbers in the Internet age. The article is a very interesting and entertaining (if a bit reactionary and melodramatic) read, describing the origin of much of the “pirated” material available online, in p2p networks and such. This sharing consists of “topsites,” which are highly secret, highly secure sites that host these files:

Anathema is a so-called topsite, one of 30 or so underground, highly secretive servers where nearly all of the unlicensed music, movies, and videogames available on the Internet originate. Outside of a pirate elite and the Feds who track them, few know that topsites exist. Even fewer can log in.

The article touches upon the motives of these “pirates” (arrr, matey…):

It’s all a big game and, to hear Frank and others talk about “the scene,” fantastic fun. Whoever transfers the most files to the most sites in the least amount of time wins. There are elaborate rules, with prizes in the offing and reputations at stake. Topsites like Anathema are at the apex. Once a file is posted to a topsite, it starts a rapid descent through wider and wider levels of an invisible network, multiplying exponentially along the way. At each step, more and more pirates pitch in to keep the avalanche tumbling downward. Finally, thousands, perhaps millions, of copies – all the progeny of that original file – spill into the public peer-to-peer networks: Kazaa, LimeWire, Morpheus. Without this duplication and distribution structure providing content, the P2P networks would run dry. (BitTorrent, a faster and more efficient type of P2P file-sharing, is an exception. But at present there are far fewer BitTorrent users.)

Interesting stuff. It seems to me that these people share something similar to the old hacker ethos; the practice of modifying machines (either hardware or software) and being clever about it. Bottom line, it’s fun and the challenge of sharing with this technology that drives them, not some malicious desire to steal. When the Intellectual Property intelligentsia realize this, they’ll see that it’s less of a problem than they’re making it out to be.

I’ve been thinking more — and talking with friends about — my East vs. West entry from the other day. And it occurred to me that, whenever I deal with metaphysical puzzles such as this, it’s nearly always useful to consider how Alfred North Whitehead would have approached it.

Whitehead was an advocate for process philosophy — indeed, he is responsible for the revival of this idea in the 20th century. Though I’ve always thought there were better terms for it; Whitehead himself used the term “philosophy of organism,” which I’ve occasionally abbreviated to “organic philosophy.”

The basic idea here is that process, as opposed to substance, is the primary building block of existence. Put another way, existence is a verb and not a noun. Whitehead’s masterpiece, Process and Reality, is one of the densest books ever written (and right up there with Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason and Heidegger’s Being and Time as the most difficult books I’ve ever read). Whitehead was a mathematician, so his theories are complex and as complete as he could make them. His goal with this book was to generate a “categoreal scheme,” or what I might call a metaphysical map, “in terms of which every aspect of our experience can be explained.” A pretty noble — and perhaps impossible — goal, though I will say that Whitehead comes closer than anyone else I’ve seen. And the reason he comes so close is because he thinks in terms of process. This opens up an entirely new way of thinking metaphysically, which allows for everything from common experience, psychology, magick, quantum physics, relativity, and everything else I’ve tried to throw at it.

So to bring this system to bear on the problem I articulated in the previous entry, I think that Whitehead would say that we can only be aware of the moment; but each moment is pregnant with context (past) and possibility (future). So by fully focusing our awareness on the richness of every moment, we are by definition also focusing our attention on where we have been and on what we are trying to create.

Another way to say this is that the clear-cut distinction I’ve been drawing between past, present, and future is not so cut and dry. After all, without a past to provide context, there can be no present moment. And without a future towards which the present is aimed, there is no meaningful present either.

I think the Buddhist emphasis on the present is really an emphasis on experience; our consciousness can only directly experience the present moment. Past and Future can only be experienced abstractly, through memory or imagination. So when a Buddhist urges us to Be Mindful of the Present, I think she is really saying to Be Mindful of our Experience. And some of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had were suffused with energy, as I was fully mindful of the present moment, but also acutely aware of the reality I was cultivating for myself. This is, at its core, nothing less than magick.

Slashdot pointed me to a very interesting article, Life Interrupted. The basic idea of the article:

We’re shooting through technological rapids that have opened doors and changed the dynamic of work, how we communicate and live, and sometimes even think. All these tools have made our lives easier in many ways. But they’re also stirring deep unease. Some are concerned that the need for speed is shrinking our attention spans, prompting our search for answers to take the mile-wide-but-inch-deep route and settling us into a rhythm of constant interruption in which deadlines are relentless and tasks are never quite finished.

Scientists call this phenomenon “cognitive overload,” and say it encompasses the modern-day angst of stress, multitasking, distraction and data flurries.

Makes sense to me. As our minds become more fragmented, the need for activities such as meditation, which are technologies to quieten the mind, become more important. It seems to me that at least some time daily must be spent calming the mind, creating a sort of tabula rasa that can then be written upon by our daily activities.

It certainly makes me want to spend more time in quiet meditation….

About 2 weeks ago, Matt and I wrote a song. As is usual with us, I wrote the music/chord progressions/parts, Matt wrote the lyrics and the vocal melody, and we collaborated on the arrangement. This is our usual mode of writing; I come up with some sort of groove/chord progression, and we jam on it while Matt improvises lyrics. Hopefully I’ll have a part A, part B, and a part C, ie, several different progressions that together, once arranged, will make up a song.

One of the songs we wrote 2 weeks ago is called “Trouble on the Island.” The island metaphor was particularly striking to me, since Marillion’s song Fantastic Place uses the island as a metaphor for intimacy, escape, and relationships.

But one of the lines in our song has to do with an incoming tidal wave (I can’t remember the exact line). Which of course, given recent news from Asia seems a bit jarring, to say the least. I’ve certainly felt the human repercussions of this gigantic sneeze from Mother Nature. A great disturbance in the force, perhaps?

Perhaps with Matthew’s help I can post some lyrics here soon, or better yet on Freakwitch.net.

I’ve observed over the years one thus far unresolvable tension between two of my most fundamental life principles. On one hand, I have a deep appreciation for the Eastern/Buddhist notion of non-attachment, of staying in the moment to savor a deep appreciation for the full flowering of every moment. This is an essential component of happiness; staying in the moment cultivates a sense of appreciation for what one actually has, not a sense of loss or lack for what one does not have.

On the other hand, I am also a believer in the Western/Neopagan notion of magick; of creation of one’s reality. Any sort of responsible, grounded magickal work of this sort requires a deep sense not only of where one is, but also of where one wants to go. So by looking forward in order to make an informed choice about which possible reality one wants to cultivate, one must by definition not focus one’s attention on the present moment.

So how do you resolve them? How do you look forward and make responsible choices, while at the same time cultivating awareness of the present? Once possible answer is that looking ahead requires a firm sense of where one is, a sense that is served by Buddhist present awareness. So we’re back to the classic sense of moderation; one shouldn’t spend too much time in either place, but must, in the words of Nietzsche, “lie in ambush, observing oneself from behind”; while one is in one state, one must be prepared to leap into the other. Opportunities will present themselves; one must have courage to make the most of these opportunities.

And there are signs that one is spending too much time in either place. If one is unhappy, and spends energy lamenting what one does not have, then it is a sure sign that too much focus is on the future. On the other hand, if one remains passive and fails to move anywhere, fails to create realities, then one may need to spend more time cultivating one’s reality.

Lastly, one must keep these two modes in perspective in terms of time. The present is the here and now, it is what we have; all of our past experience culminates in the facticity of the present moment. The past and the future are both shadowy; they don’t exist in terms of consciousness except in memory or imagination. There are futures that are more probable than others, but this just indicates the amount of work necessary to alter one’s present trajectory. So in that sense it is impossible to do good magick without a deep awareness of what one actually has; indeed this awareness is necessary because we must have something solid, something definite against which to imagine alternatives. You have to know where you are in order to know where you are going.

But overall, I think the lesson here is that while it can be healthy to imagine “what ifs,” in order for them to be healthy they must be grounded in the here and now. Part if this means that if your “what ifs” involve other people (as they nearly always do), one must take into account the choices of these other people. Hopefully, we are in a position when we do our magickal work, that we can do them together with those around us. But then, such alignment of one will amongst many is itself a tremendous amount of work.

I’m thinking of converting this site over to a new software infrastructure called WordPress. The advantages would be non-reliance on an outside website (everything would be hosted locally on Freakwitch.net). Also, WordPress is Free Software, which is A Good Thing.

Though the last thing I need is more technical stuff to do. It is possible, though nontrivial, to import my old blogger entries to WordPress, however.

Perhaps someday when I have nothing to do I can try this….

A friend of mine calls snow/sleet/freezing rain “sleeze,” and it seems to be appropriate to my reality at the moment. We had a winter storm come through last night, when I was working. We had calls in queue pretty much all day; it was by far the busiest day I’ve seen since I started working there almost a year ago. Driving home after my 12-hour shift was fun.

My holidays were good. We had another amazing Yule fire/circle/vigil. I made it all the way through, tending the bonfire from sunset until sunrise the next morning; my daughter even managed to stay awake until about 4am. What a trooper. Gifts were great this year. I got my daughter some games that we can play; I was tired of telling her “daddy’s not a game person” so I picked out some games that I actually do like, so we could play together. So far, the most-played game with us has been Stratego, LotR edition. Pretty cool. She also has expressed interest in role playing games; “yes, honey, daddy can help you with that.” Heh. I also picked up a Nietzsche anthology for a friend of mine, a fellow Fritzophile. Santa brought me a digital camera as well, which is quite cool. I’ve wanted one for quite some time, and this one is a nice one; simple for the non-professional, yet powerful and flexible. And it works great with Linux.

Since Yule, I’ve been focusing on the nature of my current spiritual work with a friend of mine. It’s difficult, personal work, and our focus is creating safe space between us that is grounded on all levels, so that we can relate to one another authentically. but it’s good work, and I think the rewards for all the work will be well worth it.

I also made the mistake of dipping my toe into long-stagnant waters this week. Gee, what do you know. It stank, and I got slime on my toe. I suppose it was too much to ask that the water would have cleared up on its own. Ah well, luckily toes are easily scrubbed with no ill-effects in the longterm. Live and learn. Again. *rolls eyes*

I’m also growing used to my laptop. The conveniences of it are wonderful. Very cool.

The Google Zeitgeist for 2004 is up. It’s an interesting cultural snapshot, as it outlines the most popular Internet searches for the year. Google has become a verb; if you need to learn about something, Google it. Etc.

Some of the results were surprising; of course the top 4 entries are robotic babes; britney spears, paris hilton, christina aguilera, pamela anderson.

In Tech Stuff, linux was #5, behind wallpaper at #1 and filesharing topics (kazaa and mp3). The top company query was interesting, as sco, the company suing that they actually own the Linux source code and that everyone running Linux is violating the law, was #1. It’s good to see that people are paying attention to this most important case.