I've noticed lately that there is a rather disturbing trend going on in the world, a trend that I would like to put the brakes to, post haste.
Keith Boyle recently manifested a point of this hideous iceberg that is set to sink our collective battleships. Some members of an esoteric study group expressed concern about having me host a lecture because they worry about materialism being evil, and my stance on materializing the Work didn't jibe well with their interpretations. And Sun Trust Bank is showing commercials like this:
So there it is. Do you get it? Materialism is now bad. Greedy people are to blame for the recession and depression.
It's time for a little reminder. It's time, my friends, that we get our noses rubbed in something we've forgotten. It's time, goddamnit, that we all take a look around at the shit we're in and remember, yes, remember the truth we've forgotten. The truth that sets us free from this bullshit lie we're being sold, the truth that gets us what we want in life, the truth that isn't as easy to eat as the semi-digested pablum corporations are polishing and spoon feeding us to make us feel comfortable about how it ain't our fault that we're in this shit.
The truth is simple. The truth is eloquent. The truth is this:
Yeah, that's right. Greed is GOOD.
Meditate on the light all you want, pursue oneness with God, spitting in his eye for manifesting as the many manifestations we see every day the whole way up on your way towards that empty goal of escapism. It won't bring you any release from this world. You're still going to be ruled by your desire for escape. You'll never get it. The spirit didn't want to be One with you, any less than it could be. It didn't want to be One, it wanted to be many, and that's why we are what we are. And why did it want this? It was Greedy.
Greedy for love, greedy for experience, greedy for pain and bliss and agony and joy. It was greedy for ignorance, it was greedy for the AHA! of learning, it was greedy for beauty, raw pure aesthetics in all their manifestations. It wanted, it desired, it craved, and it made us what we are.
If your "Great Work" is a means to escape the pain of life, you're fucked up. If your Great Work is a pretty veil over the ugly truth that you don't want to deal with real life anymore, you're fucked up. If your "Great Work" is a self-righteous judgment of God's creation, decrying it as evil and worthy of hate and your despite, then you're seriously, majorly fucked up.
Keep up with the Joneses. Use magic to get what you want. Build a comfortable nice life. You can be spiritually enlightened in opulence as easily as a mud cave in Tibet. (Yeah, I don't know shit about Tibet, but I said it.) It takes discipline, yeah, it takes focus, true, but why the fuck can't you do that and have a home gym to work out on too?
The economy's in the shitter. People are going to be facing the hard truth that there aren't as many jobs available as there were. I've got two jobs, one that pays me without assigning much work, and I just got a promotion at the other. There's no excuse for you to be living in fear or in hardship if you're a magician. If you've convinced yourself that the material world is evil and magic is some holy Work that somehow removes you from the daily responsibilities and should never be used for anything that might resemble greed, you're doin' it all wrong.
And if you throw your money in a savings account, if you don't take loans because you don't know where your next check is coming from, if you don't use that credit card, you're personally ensuring the recession-depression will last as long as possible. You're also demonstratig your lack of ability as a magician.
Get a job using your magic. Do magic to prosper. Fix your local economy. This should probably be an Invisible College post. It will likely at least inspire one.
Head for the Red: The ongoing adventures and insights of a magician's attempts to accomplish the Great Work.
Y'know, I agreed with Gekko as well. Did for quite some time, as a matter of fact. In some ways, I still do... {but that gets into being a spoiler, and maybe some of your readers haven't seen the movie all the way through... yet.}
ReplyDeleteThen I realized that it was a sales pitch. And he uses the classic NeoCon methodology: identify, objectify, demonize, invoke nostalgia for myth and polarize. In the case of the "Greed is Good" speech, it's board & management against the shareholders - with Gecko forcing the choice of selling out to him or staying with people who have "no interest" in the company.
For what? Do the math of what he claims as results... around $5 a person as "profit."
I'm tired of math like that being pitched to me. I'm just wanting time with the girls and some comfort as defined via the standing Epicurean experiment. Which is what CoP is documenting...
Screw spoiler breaks, here's some dialogue:
Gordon Gekko: [meeting alone together in Central Park] Hiya, Buddy.
Bud Fox: [nods as the both walk up to face one another] Gordon.
Gordon Gekko: [with a smirk on his face] Sand bagged me on Bluestar huh? I guess you think you taught the teacher a lesson that the tail can wag the dog huh? Well let me clue you in, pal. The ice is melting right underneath your feet.
[punches Bud and grabs him by the coattails]
Gordon Gekko: Did you think you could've gotten this far this fast with anyone else, huh? That you'd be out there dicking someone like Darien? No. You'd still be cold calling widows and dentists tryin' to sell 'em 20 shares of some dog shit stock. I took you in.
[hits him again]
Gordon Gekko: A NOBODY!
[and again]
Gordon Gekko: I opened the doors for you! Showed you how the system works! The value of information! How to get it! Fulham oil! Brant resources! Geodynamics! And this is how you fucking pay me back you COCKROACH?
[hits him once again and Bud falls to the ground]
Gordon Gekko: I GAVE you Darien. I GAVE you your manhood. I gave you EVERYTHING!
[calms down, then takes out his handkerchief and throws it to Bud to clean off the blood]
Gordon Gekko: You could've been one of the great ones Buddy. I looked at you and saw myself. Why?
Bud Fox: [getting up] I don't know. I guess I realized that I'm just Bud Fox.
[firmly]
Bud Fox: As much as I wanted to be Gordon Gekko, I'll always be Bud Fox.
[tosses back the handkerchief and walks away]
Whatever, Keith, it's people like you with your twisted anti-materialism that are tanking the planet. You're personally murdering children in China who won't have the sweat shop jobs to keep themselves fed. And why, so you can claim some kind of moral superiority?
ReplyDeleteFirst, it's $5 additional profit per person. Second, it's an example of where money was being wasted. Third, it's good math, much better than nothing per person. Especially when all they had to do for it was front a bit of cash. Everybody can't be an entrepreneur. Everyone can't be a genius engineer. Most people can't even market for shit.
But everyone can buy stock in a good idea that's nicely designed and appropriately marketed, and reap some rewards. Maybe not huge, but more than they'd get without it.
Bud Fox is a putz.
So does that mean that you are finished with the "dishonor the material" crap?
ReplyDeleteI'm not commenting on the Gordon Gekko quote because I haven't seen the movie, but I do see a difference between greed, and accepting the fact that here and now we are material beings-why not make the best of it?
Bravo! The only way to accomplish one's Great Work is to experience ALL Spirit has to offer; be greedy about it. Experience all the joy, the pain, the AHA of learning, and not just from books, but from the experiences, the wonderful and the ugly alike. Be greedy with taking in the experiences, learning from them, for this is the only way one can ever expect to come close to understanding and growing, then using this knowledge and growth as additional magical tools to obtain the jobs, the finances, the extra goodies Spirit has to offer in this life.
ReplyDeleteAre we here just to chug away at a job we dislike, making the minimum to get by, never able to achieve our dreams? Not in my opinion. You've said what I've been thinking, only much better than I ever could.
Lavanah,
ReplyDeleteI'm not done with dishonoring the material crap, I'm just pro-balance. That dishonoring the material thing isn't about thinking the material is bad. Check out this post for a better understanding of what I meant by "dishonoring" the material realm. It's more in line with what you said, "accepting the fact that here and now we are material beings-why not make the best of it."
And Greed, like everything, can be evil in gross application. Rose's comment reflects the kind of Greed I'm talking about. Mostly. Greed for stuff is part of it, but it shouldn't overwhelm Greed for God.
But yeah, a speed boat in every boat slip, a Magical Tower in every back yard, an inground pool and superfast computers and the latest gaming systems in every family room... These things are IMPORTANT! That's what I call making thebest of it. :-)
Oh, and Keith, I still love you man. I was writing pre-caffienation and left out the gentle brotherly tone the jabs were intended to be delivered with.
ReplyDeleteThere is a mistake in terminology.
ReplyDelete'Greed' is a sin. It is desire that does not seek satisfaction, rather it seeks possession. It is obsession with obtaining and keeping. It is not obtaining with a goal of growth, it is simply obtaining for it's own sake.
Desire is not a sin. Longing is not a sin. It is made in us to long for things, to desire them. When it crosses to obsession, to greed, it is no longer part of the Great Work. It is a disharmonious note in the music of the spheres.
What you're talking about isn't greed. It's longing, or desire. Greed is destructive, for in attempting to acquire and preserve what is yours, you will destroy those who stand in your way.
Creation is not greedy, it desires. It desires to be fulfilled, and you can't do that if you're greedy. If you're greedy, you always want more.
Scott, totally a-greed. :D
ReplyDeleteThere is a subtle redefining of "greed" going on here; I specifically chose the word to counter the denigration of materialism that I'm seeing. It's hyperbolic on purpose, but I totally agree with you.
Eventually, I'll get around to posting something that takes the edge off, a bit, and focuses things back on materialization of the Work as opposed to Materialism for its own sake, but this is a counter-argument and requires a bit of ham-handery.
"I am divided for love's sake ; for the chance of union"
ReplyDelete- D
Nice I really agree, I thinl Poverty consciuness is a BAD thing, the, nay Universe, is an abundant place, and our self made world has many *material* and non materialexperience and comfrts to offer. So I say grab a spoon and start chomping! its all about Passion, Joie de vivre, Carpe Diem, Individually they are great philosophies but they can be so much when you learn to live in their *flow*.
ReplyDeleteI was going to ask from a christian perspective why you chose one of the seven deadly sins to express this concept, and if the other sins hide equally important lessons, but I can probably work that out for myself (as in each sin has delights to offer that can be constructive to one's experience, but its up to the magi to ride them without losing self control) but you already seem to have answered, and are intending a post "to take the edge of". You seem to be saying: enjoyment to the Zenith of experience, but moderation before you lose your focus/self?
either way very interesting stuff, and while it matches my own thinking its nice to hear.
About time someone had the cajones to say the truth.
ReplyDeleteAwesome.
ReplyDeleteI also was reading this, and thinking "Hmmm... sounds more like what I call Divine Desire to me than Greed."
I think this culture is seriously screwed up with "poverty mindfulness." This leads to an unhealthy desire for Big Daddy (Gov't) to fix everything, and then we wind up under the control of a large, long arm. No thank you.
I like to keep my destiny in my own magical hands.
I'd like to add you to my blogroll, you rock!
K. Sequoia