Saavik: Admiral, may I ask you a question?
Kirk: What's on your mind, Lieutenant?
Saavik: The Kobayashi Maru, sir.
Kirk: Are you asking me if we're playing out that scenario now?
Saavik: On the test, sir... will you tell me what you did? I would really like to know.
McCoy: Lieutenant, you are looking at the only Starfleet cadet who ever beat the no-win scenario.
Saavik: How?
Kirk: I reprogrammed the simulation so it was possible to rescue the ship.
Saavik: What?
David Marcus: He cheated.
Kirk: I changed the conditions of the test; got a commendation for original thinking. I don't like to lose.
Saavik: Then you never faced that situation... faced death.
Kirk: I don't believe in the no-win scenario.
We do what we want to with what we've got to work with, and sometimes all that makes a difference is your attitude. Your character. To a large degree, we have the ability to redefine who that character is. Larger than we often believe, at any rate. We can be heroes, or we can be losers. We can be doctors, lawyers, bums, or magicians, and there's no blame. No suffering besides that which you cause, and that which you experience. If you can think of a story that logically and rationally leads from your current state of being to another, you can act it out and experience the results.
Even if it takes cheating.
Skip, witches! Hop, toads! Take your pleasure! --
for the play of the Universe is the pleasure of
[Your Name Here]
Head for the Red: The ongoing adventures and insights of a magician's attempts to accomplish the Great Work.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Tuesday, February 05, 2013
Raging Success Machine
There is only one thing you need to learn to get whatever you may want in life, and it's a really simple thing to get. It's free, even. It's the key to the universe in a way that magical symbols and occult practices will never be, because without this Key, you'll never learn magic at all.
I'm not talking about a piece of information here, either. It's a process that you need to have to be a successful magician. Over time it becomes an ability, a skill that you can develop and hone into a skeleton key that will open every lock, tear down the walls between you and your desires, make straight the way and short the path.
I figured it out the way I figure all this shit out: I took a look at myself. My lover was telling me I was awesome, and while I'm the first to tell OTHER people how awesome I am, I'm mostly kidding. On the inside I had to wonder wtf she was talking about, because I don't really think of myself as being all that special.
It's not my good looks. Although I am rather handsome, I'm not much better looking than the average geek who takes care of themselves. It's not my intelligence, because even though I'm smarter than the average bear, most of my friends are smarter than I am. I thought it was my adaptability for a while, because no matter what situation I find myself in, I find a way to excel. I rise to the top. I figure out the process, and go through the steps, and then the next thing you know, I'm at the top of my field, hobnobbing with the elite.
In conversation with my lover last night and this morning, I realized what it is for real though. It's a skill, an ability. It's a skill my mother developed in me, and raised me to believe in. It's a thing I've used naturally and consciously to get ahead, to achieve great things in the occult realms, to win awesome friends and influence beautiful people, to make six figures a year and to be the kind of man who attracts the most amazing women.
It's something that other people don't have. The Bud Light Brigade, the food stamp using, potato chip eating, coca cola drinking, gas station working, Wal Mart shopping hu-manatees don't strive for anything better because they don't have this Key to the Universe.
Wait, that's not true. They do have it, but no one ever told them, no one ever encouraged them to develop the skill. No one pointed out to them that they were doing it, or showed them they could apply it to every aspect of their lives to make things better for themselves, their kids, their spouses, their parents, their friends, their co-workers, everyone on the planet.
I'm talking about the ability to learn.
Everyone has the ability to learn. We learn things all the time. The stoner at Burger King making Whoppers had to learn the process. He watched videos about the broiler/toaster machine, learned the order of bun-meat-cheese-pickle on half the bun, mayo, lettuce, onion, tomato on the other, the pinch of bun and tomato to keep it from falling apart as he deftly flips the top on the bottom, wraps it in a fluid motion and tosses it into the window for pickup. Dude can make a Whopper in less than 15 seconds during the rush. And he had to learn to do that for half a dozen sandwiches, the fry station, and the single station. And how to do the prep work necessary for him to be able to make a Whopper in less than 15 seconds. And how to break down the broiler and clean it at close, and how to reassemble it at open. And the rhythm of the lunch and dinner rushes, to know how many burgers to put through so he doesn't run out.
He had to learn a lot to do that job. The process he went through is the same process on a small scale that an Engineer goes through to learn to design and build microprocessor based ROM circuit boards for kiosk machines or nuclear armature circuitry. It's the same stuff you go through to get a professional certification in project management, or the same stuff you go through in a university to get a PhD. It's the same stuff you go through to learn a new magical technique.
You gather information, you see how it fits together in predictable ways, and how to apply that knowledge get specific results. That's learning. We do it all the time. All of us.
But there's more to it than that to become a raging success machine. There's an attitude that separates the hu-manatees from the entrepreneurs who rage their way to the top. I believe I can learn. I believe there is nothing anyone else can do that I can't do too. I might not be able to do it better, but I don't have to. I believe there is a process, a series of steps that I can perform that will lead me to a place I want to be, and that if I perform them to the best of my abilities, I will end up where I want to be.
I said my mom taught me to do this. She was 36 when she had me. I was a high risk pregnancy in the '70s. I was not planned, if you haven't figured it out. I was a surprise. My mom had done moved on from the baby-raising days, and diapers and shit were not her preferred past time in her late thirties. She wanted her career back, and her time was precious. She didn't have time to teach me all the shit that you have to teach little kids, so she fucking cheated like a boss. She taught me I could figure stuff out on my own by watching, by asking questions, by trying, and seeing how shit worked out for myself. She encouraged that because she didn't want to have to teach me all that shit herself.
And I am so thankful.
Most of my really awesome successful friends are the types who have had, for one reason or another, to figure shit out on their own. By circumstance or design, they ended up learning that they could learn anything and put it into practice for themselves.
Assess yourself: has there been anything in your life that you'd like to do, and you think, "I don't even know where to start," and then you stopped there?
Here's some stuff that you should use instead of giving up on things you really want:
Google.com
Yale Open and Free Education
MIT Open and Free Education
JSTOR
And ... Magic. Magic helps you put the information together, to learn, to absorb the processes, to put it together into a useful set of reality-manipulation tools. Do the magic of the spheres while you're studying, while you're learning. It gives you the edge to lead a charmed life. Blessed. Holy. Awe-inspiring.
I'm not talking about a piece of information here, either. It's a process that you need to have to be a successful magician. Over time it becomes an ability, a skill that you can develop and hone into a skeleton key that will open every lock, tear down the walls between you and your desires, make straight the way and short the path.
I figured it out the way I figure all this shit out: I took a look at myself. My lover was telling me I was awesome, and while I'm the first to tell OTHER people how awesome I am, I'm mostly kidding. On the inside I had to wonder wtf she was talking about, because I don't really think of myself as being all that special.
It's not my good looks. Although I am rather handsome, I'm not much better looking than the average geek who takes care of themselves. It's not my intelligence, because even though I'm smarter than the average bear, most of my friends are smarter than I am. I thought it was my adaptability for a while, because no matter what situation I find myself in, I find a way to excel. I rise to the top. I figure out the process, and go through the steps, and then the next thing you know, I'm at the top of my field, hobnobbing with the elite.
In conversation with my lover last night and this morning, I realized what it is for real though. It's a skill, an ability. It's a skill my mother developed in me, and raised me to believe in. It's a thing I've used naturally and consciously to get ahead, to achieve great things in the occult realms, to win awesome friends and influence beautiful people, to make six figures a year and to be the kind of man who attracts the most amazing women.
It's something that other people don't have. The Bud Light Brigade, the food stamp using, potato chip eating, coca cola drinking, gas station working, Wal Mart shopping hu-manatees don't strive for anything better because they don't have this Key to the Universe.
Wait, that's not true. They do have it, but no one ever told them, no one ever encouraged them to develop the skill. No one pointed out to them that they were doing it, or showed them they could apply it to every aspect of their lives to make things better for themselves, their kids, their spouses, their parents, their friends, their co-workers, everyone on the planet.
I'm talking about the ability to learn.
Everyone has the ability to learn. We learn things all the time. The stoner at Burger King making Whoppers had to learn the process. He watched videos about the broiler/toaster machine, learned the order of bun-meat-cheese-pickle on half the bun, mayo, lettuce, onion, tomato on the other, the pinch of bun and tomato to keep it from falling apart as he deftly flips the top on the bottom, wraps it in a fluid motion and tosses it into the window for pickup. Dude can make a Whopper in less than 15 seconds during the rush. And he had to learn to do that for half a dozen sandwiches, the fry station, and the single station. And how to do the prep work necessary for him to be able to make a Whopper in less than 15 seconds. And how to break down the broiler and clean it at close, and how to reassemble it at open. And the rhythm of the lunch and dinner rushes, to know how many burgers to put through so he doesn't run out.
He had to learn a lot to do that job. The process he went through is the same process on a small scale that an Engineer goes through to learn to design and build microprocessor based ROM circuit boards for kiosk machines or nuclear armature circuitry. It's the same stuff you go through to get a professional certification in project management, or the same stuff you go through in a university to get a PhD. It's the same stuff you go through to learn a new magical technique.
You gather information, you see how it fits together in predictable ways, and how to apply that knowledge get specific results. That's learning. We do it all the time. All of us.
But there's more to it than that to become a raging success machine. There's an attitude that separates the hu-manatees from the entrepreneurs who rage their way to the top. I believe I can learn. I believe there is nothing anyone else can do that I can't do too. I might not be able to do it better, but I don't have to. I believe there is a process, a series of steps that I can perform that will lead me to a place I want to be, and that if I perform them to the best of my abilities, I will end up where I want to be.
I said my mom taught me to do this. She was 36 when she had me. I was a high risk pregnancy in the '70s. I was not planned, if you haven't figured it out. I was a surprise. My mom had done moved on from the baby-raising days, and diapers and shit were not her preferred past time in her late thirties. She wanted her career back, and her time was precious. She didn't have time to teach me all the shit that you have to teach little kids, so she fucking cheated like a boss. She taught me I could figure stuff out on my own by watching, by asking questions, by trying, and seeing how shit worked out for myself. She encouraged that because she didn't want to have to teach me all that shit herself.
And I am so thankful.
Most of my really awesome successful friends are the types who have had, for one reason or another, to figure shit out on their own. By circumstance or design, they ended up learning that they could learn anything and put it into practice for themselves.
Assess yourself: has there been anything in your life that you'd like to do, and you think, "I don't even know where to start," and then you stopped there?
Here's some stuff that you should use instead of giving up on things you really want:
Google.com
Yale Open and Free Education
MIT Open and Free Education
JSTOR
And ... Magic. Magic helps you put the information together, to learn, to absorb the processes, to put it together into a useful set of reality-manipulation tools. Do the magic of the spheres while you're studying, while you're learning. It gives you the edge to lead a charmed life. Blessed. Holy. Awe-inspiring.
Friday, February 01, 2013
Wet Cat's Paws
Art thou afeard
To be the same in thine own act and valour
As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that
Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thine own esteem,
Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,'
Like the poor cat i' the adage?
- Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7
Like the cat, fain fish wad ye eat,
but ye are laith to weet your feet
-Scotch Proverb
Are you afraid to be the person you want to be? Are you afraid to go after what you really desire? Are you a cat wanting fish, but you don't want to get your feet wet?
I have been, often in my life. Obesity, bad relationships, terrible jobs... I put up with all kinds of shit that I didn't like instead of trying to get something I wanted because it seemed too hard, too painful, or too uncomfortable to endure for the time it would take. There are things even now that I want, but do not try to achieve because I am not willing to go through the perceived discomfort involved in getting my desire.
But here's a thing I've noticed... Time passes whether or not you are doing what it takes to get what you want. It might take months to get to a target weight and physique, or it might take a year to go through divorce proceedings, or it might take years to get a degree, or months to get a certification, or 10 years to get the experience in a career field that makes you happy.
But that time is going to pass regardless. At the end of that time, you will be somewhere, experiencing something. What you do between now and then will determine what you're dealing with when the time comes.
In August, will you have lost weight and be enjoying your awesome body, having become an inspiration to some and the envy of others? Next February, will you be celebrating being out of a miserable relationship on Valentines' Day? In 2015, will you be getting your Associates degree?
Or ... not?
There's no promise that the cat will get the fish, but they will definitely have wet paws. There's no guarantee that things will work out in your favor, even if you do the work that should lead to your desired success. There's a risk that you will suffer, and still not have what you want. There is definitely a chance that we shall fail in our attainment, but if we fail? We fail! And what of it?
We could be in a worse place, or we might be further away from our goals, or a million other possibilities. These are chances, real chances we take when we risk going after what we want. But there's an absolute guarantee that you will still be obese, in a miserable relationship, or in a dead end job if you do nothing to change your life.
And you know what? Fuck that.
I have been, often in my life. Obesity, bad relationships, terrible jobs... I put up with all kinds of shit that I didn't like instead of trying to get something I wanted because it seemed too hard, too painful, or too uncomfortable to endure for the time it would take. There are things even now that I want, but do not try to achieve because I am not willing to go through the perceived discomfort involved in getting my desire.
But here's a thing I've noticed... Time passes whether or not you are doing what it takes to get what you want. It might take months to get to a target weight and physique, or it might take a year to go through divorce proceedings, or it might take years to get a degree, or months to get a certification, or 10 years to get the experience in a career field that makes you happy.
But that time is going to pass regardless. At the end of that time, you will be somewhere, experiencing something. What you do between now and then will determine what you're dealing with when the time comes.
In August, will you have lost weight and be enjoying your awesome body, having become an inspiration to some and the envy of others? Next February, will you be celebrating being out of a miserable relationship on Valentines' Day? In 2015, will you be getting your Associates degree?
Or ... not?
There's no promise that the cat will get the fish, but they will definitely have wet paws. There's no guarantee that things will work out in your favor, even if you do the work that should lead to your desired success. There's a risk that you will suffer, and still not have what you want. There is definitely a chance that we shall fail in our attainment, but if we fail? We fail! And what of it?
We could be in a worse place, or we might be further away from our goals, or a million other possibilities. These are chances, real chances we take when we risk going after what we want. But there's an absolute guarantee that you will still be obese, in a miserable relationship, or in a dead end job if you do nothing to change your life.
And you know what? Fuck that.
