a play on theory and practice

in which the fool archetype is invoked, and a funhouse mirror is held up to a surprisingly contraversial issue.

Reality "is" chaos. Reality is unfathomable and we are drowning in its depths. Reality can not be explained, only lived, as best as we can. It doesn’t matter how we try to describe it, because as soon as we do it is just another theory attempting to explain away the essential confoundedness of the issue. What does it matter that all of human history has been an attempt to explain just what the fuck we are and what this is and what we are doing here? We are no closer to understanding, Science is proving Mystery, and all those metaphysical tracts might as well be burned to stave off the dark night that still surrounds us, as it did at the dawn of time when our ancestors sat in fear of what might lie hungry in the dark. Is-ism died of overuse, theory as "explanation" is only a maggot feeding off its rotting corpse. Reality is no longer a debatable issue, if it ever was, we are here living it no matter what we choose to believe. And that brings us to the question, how to live it? Which is precisely the point where theory as practice comes in, theory not as explanation but as technique in action.

If reality is a sea of chaos, theory is a net woven in hopes of catching the fish of understanding in that sea. Practice is the act of fishing itself. Without theory, the fish are too slippery to grab by hand, it helps to have some sort of precise tool for the task. Without practice, the nets goes empty, or just hang on the wall to be admired while our guests go hungry. To live in a chaotic world we need some framework for understanding it in order to practically act in it. There’s no quibbling about that. Everything we think and do is a frame for our experiences that (often subconsciously) allow us to make use of our experiences in some practical way. Eating is a theory that if we feel hunger we should satisfy that or die. It doesn’t help to say "Oh, I’m hungry, I should eat," and then go on to theorize about all the implications eating has, and it has many if you want to go there, but not actually eat. It helps even less to feel a gnawing in the stomach and have no clue what that might mean. Hitting yourself doesn’t really do the trick, but luckily most of us are raised with the idea that eating does. As well as with other various theories which allow us at least a little bit of control in our actions and the world: theories of language for communicating, the use of tools to accomplish simple tasks, various social, ethical, and cultural theories for interacting with others, etc, etc… And of course the models for interpreting the chaos of signals we are bombarded with into a workable picture of reality. But the models don’t come into play until they are being used, or perhaps they are always in play, a dynamic part of the process of acting. The medium becomes the message, the theory becomes the practice, everything we do follows as an extension of our intent at living. All that’s left is the approach to what attracts us. I am hungry, so I eat; I want to talk, so I write a letter; I want to rummage in and rearrange the very depths of the collective subconscious, so I meditate and cast a few spells.

When we start looking at the deeper interpretations, the more mystical sublevels of reality, all the muggle theories start to wear thin. How can we act in a world full of synchronicities, non-linear time, and fractal mappings that transcend normalized belief-systems without a cohesive technique of how to do so? If everything we do has effects on everything else to the level we choose to interpret it, if Above is indeed Below and the whole universe is an extension of the will, how can we apply that (not to mention to what ends) or even just make enough sense out of it to stay sane and alive? Magic(k) offers such an approach, and it certainly seems to work (most of the time), but no one seems to know exactly how; even when causing such a simple change in accordance with your will as finding your next meal. There are as many theories as there are practicing sorcerers, or people, if not more. Everyone is a star and every star wants to shine. The world is full of ideas, suggestions and heuristics for doing one thing or another, all bouncing around and conflicting and claiming to be the best, most True theory for that thing. And we each receive (and transmit) just a handful of them, so it’s hard to know just what to do or how to frame our intents and realities, so that they will really work. Maybe it doesn’t matter what we call the working parts of the theory, as long as it works and we know we’re referring to the same thing. With all the historic obfuscations in this field, for whatever reason, and the recent emergence of access to the multitude of theories via the Net, which deconstructs all previous temporality and context, it’s no wonder no one can agree on just what to believe or do.

Everything is true, everything is permitted, ideology crumbles in on itself and the magician as the juggler picks up the pieces of whatever reality-tunnel works from this post-post-modern mess and tries keeping them in the air for a while. Or until out of curiosity we pick up something else, or try something all together different, perhaps more suited to the task or to our sensibilities. Any good theorist knows that the game can change, and we have to keep our practices open enough to adapt to whatever is needed at the time. But beyond that it’s just up to taste. Between theory and praxis is an aesthetic dimension of the approach, the manner in which we choose to enact our intentions, certain words and images and feelings that evoke for us (and for others) the particular fulfillment of our own individual interpretation of living. Personalized rituals, designer godforms, magick with style; whether classical pagan or neomancer, whatever floats your cybernetic boat across the abyss of space-time. Maybe will cross trade-routes and swap a few fun sigils sometime. And if it’s your thing to cause waves to capsize the rest of us, then that’s your thing too. I won’t go into the whole ethical component here, but watch you’re back, cause it’ll get soaked once your wavefront crashes. [This comment directed at ideas not people, especially those whoring for that beast western corporatism, or any paradigm promoting conflict and control: Life wants to have fun, stop fucking it up for the rest of us!] It’s not my reality if we can’t all enjoy it together.

(inspired by Eris, Hakim Bey, and the fine folkses at Key23)