An ideal for living

sarah franklin

You should view the world as a conspiracy run by a very closely-knit group of people, and you should think of those people as yourself and your friends.

Robert Anton Wilson

Pronoia: the suspicion the Universe is a conspiracy on your behalf.

Related post: Shadowplay

Shadowplay

almost taiwan

Tired, but riding home and memories from an Ann Shulgin talk [Psychedelic Psychotherapy and the Shadow] that loop back to Leary's Interpersonal Grid / Eight Circuit Brain....essentially this: The Shadow Self is the repressed self, and growing to make a conscious choice to accept the darker self as an ally when necessary. Not getting too attached the idea of a steady state self.

Sasha & Ann

Robert Anton Wilson simplifies / clarifies Leary and puts it into four quadrants: friendly strength, hostile strength, friendly weakness, hostile weakness. You can find more in chapter four of Prometheus Rising [earlier post includes a link to the pdf file], but I have to collapse into other things.

Monkey in a man suit

Benny had actually read Darwin once, in college a long time ago, and had heard of sciences like ethology and ecology, but the facts of evolution had never really registered on him. He never thought of himself as a primate. He never realized his friends and associates were primates. Above all, he never understood that the alpha males of Unistat were typical leaders of primate bands. As a result of this inability to see the obvious, Benny was constantly alarmed and terrified by the behavior of himself, his friends and associates and especially the alpha males of the pack. Since he didn't know it was ordinary primate behavior, it seemed just awful to him.

Robert Anton Wilson, Schrödinger's Cat, quoted on p63 of his own Prometheus Rising, available in pdf form at the link

Being a teacher I generally get away with the illusion of being the boss primate, at least in my own head, which is the reality that counts, psychosomatically. This leads to good spirits and good health. But lately this system has broken down slightly, and for the last two or three months I've had two classes a week, out of 20+, in which I come off the worst in the monkey dominance trip. The stress hormones kick in and linger in the system. Chemically, it's an interesting experience, like when I test my system by eating only carbs and getting manic and grumpy, or mix Xanax and alcohol and pass out too soon. Interesting experiences, but personally they suck.

I need to find a workaround for such occasions.