Of Names and Identity

A theme which runs through numerous lines of fiction, folklore and magical tradition is the power of names. Consider the tale of Rumpelstiltskin, running perhaps in parallel to any number of grimoires that would instruct would-be sorcerers to seek out the true names of any demon that they would bargain with; consider the importance in Judaism and Islam (both exoteric and esoteric) of the names of God; and consider, perhaps, the "legalese sorcery" of the Legal Name Fraud movement. Names have power; names define, and thus shape reality.

To quote an excellent article by Sjaak van der Geest;

Without names there is nothing. If the mountain has no name, I did not climb it. I have not seen the painting without a name, not read the book without a title. Only the gymnastic skills with a name can be performed: cartwheel, straddle jump, cross split, Suzuki.

All names applied to humans (and, arguably, all names whatsoever) are in a sense adjectival. Many are literally so in an etymological sense - Adam (by one reading, "red") and Eve ("living"), for example. Others may not necessarily be derived from adjectives, but are nonetheless descriptive - consider Douglas ("dark water"), Theodore ("Gift of God"), or Johannes ("YHVH has been gracious").

To name a being is therefore to assign certain attributes to it; one might consider this an inherently magickal act, imparting a layer of meaning upon a subtle, linguistic plane. It is worth noting that to name a thing is a speech act - that is to say, that by saying "I declare my name to be...", the action is performed. The linguistic action, in other words, redefines reality.

To take on a new name is thus also an act of magick. In European societies this tend to be associated with the adoption of a certain social role or position that has certain obligations that come with it - a monarch takes a new name along with the oaths of accession; a member of a religious community may take a new name to symbolise their passage into a new form of spiritual life; a writer may adopt a pen name that reflects the nature of their work, and so on.

Consider also the traditionally expected role and vows of a wife, symbolised by the taking of her husband's name, whilst traditionally he changes not his name, for traditional matrimony does not require any change to his essential nature. As a counterpoint, note the symbolism inherent in more modern and egalitarian practices of both parties retaining their family names, and thus declaring their essential natures unaltered, versus choosing to amalgamate names or create a new family name from whole cloth, the inference being that the partnership alchemically alters both parties toward a certain result.

Likewise, the adoption of a new name during gender transition can be seen as a magickal act, avowing the reality of the change. By this logic, one might consider "dead naming" to be an act of spiritual aggression - an attempt on a linguistic level to override the will of the one who would redefine themselves.

One might consider names as masks for the ego, personas that we put on and take off in certain situations - consider how a Dr. John Smith might be Dr. Smith to his patients, John to his coworkers, Jack to his friends, and Johnny to his mother, each differing name reflecting a differing set of relational parameters and putting a specific part of his psyche to the forefront. A similar example of this effect could be found in the selection and use of pseudonyms on the internet; blogging under the name of "antichthonian" could serve me two purposes - as a mask it both places a discretionary wall between different parts of my identity, and serves to highlight the general nature of that which I am writing. Exactly what I am trying to portray with this username is left as an exercise for the reader.

To state the esoteric point here more explicitly - adopting a name is a form of invocation.

And, as a final thought, consider this: it is no small matter that, in the A.'.A.'. system of mysticism, the proper name of the Master of the Temple who has crossed the Abyss and cast off all but the truest sparks of their existence, is Nemo. No-One.

Overly Honest Book Reviews: Sepher Sathanas

O:.:H:.:O:.: Reviews
"Sepher Sathanas"
by the Voltigeurs of the Other Side

Deathwave Nexion, 2017

A guest post by Fr. Antoninus Minor

There seems to be an unwritten law that texts by self-described Left Hand Path occultists, at least those in the West, must at some point descend into the literary Abyss of incomprehensibility, all full of transmundanities and suprasubjectivities, and other such painful portmanteaus and nonsensical neologisms. In this regard, Sepher Sathanas escapes relatively unscathed, for all its talk of "preëval entities of formless non-being", being in the most part a reasonably accessible - by the standards of the genre - text on Traditional Satanism.

Presented as the praxis of the Temple of Night, the book mixes some rather lurid fiction and poetry with essays on Qlippothic magick that owe a lot to the Order of Nine Angles. As with the O9A, figuring out which parts are blinds to weed out the uninitiated, and which parts are genuine insights into the deeper esotericism of the LHP is not a simple task - though at least we are saved Myatt's interminable rantings about the Judaeo-Christian "corruption" of Aryan paganism. Which is not to say that the dubious racial overtones are absent, more that they take a back seat to other concerns (threats to murder those who accuse them of being Neo-Nazis notwithstanding).

Ah, and there it is, the explicit mention of human sacrifice and magickal assassination as a vital part of the sinister working that makes the O9A such an target for the aspiring occult polemicist and/or writer of Lovecraftian fiction. Say what you will about their practices, they do at least commit to the Aesthetic of Eeeevil more than your typical "Softcore Satanists".

The book opens with two pieces of short fiction, "Upon the Eve and Hour of the Plutonian King", and "Hermethterith: A River of Blood". The first depicts the magickal assassination of a "mundane" politician through the power of the Dark Gods, and is the usual blood-and-ichor-splattered horrorshow that wouldn't seem out of place in a DVD bargain bin. The second is by far more interesting, describing an initiatory ordeal of the Temple of Night.

This section gives an interesting insight into the praxis of the Temple of Night which immediately distinguishes them from orthodox O9A, as the magick is explicitly qlippothic, and hence anti-qabalistic, whereas the O9A tend towards expunging all Abrahamic content from their practices. Indeed, the direct quotation from Crowley's Vision and the Voice (specifically around the 10th Aethyr and Choronzon) shows a fairly clear split here - whilst the ethos of the work described within is quite radically different to that of Thelema, it's somewhat refreshing to see an author showing their working, rather than regurgitating half-baked Typhonianism with the serial numbers filed off, and claiming it as their own.

Next comes another piece of fiction, presented mostly as a dialogue between an aspirant and an initiate, in which the basis of the book's philosophy is outlined, along with the internal magickal goal of transcending mundane causality, entering a state of formless subjective potential, the chaotic Void. The external goal is here also stated - "disruptions, chaos, and the bedlam that precedes the manner in which change can occur" - which is admitted to be "corrosive to most individuals", who will see it as "horrific, terrible, oppressive, and perhaps altogether evil". This is then followed by the "Codex Nigrum", eleven poetic elaborations of the qlippoth, which go some way to making the matter a little clearer; and a further essay on self which states the nature of the work about as plainly as it can be: "evolution can only exist in states of duality".

Following this explication of the philosophy of the Temple, and interspersed with a brief polemic against V.K. Jehannum (which, one assumes, has somehow become a contractual obligation of sorts among certain LHP publishers), come several rather more technical chapters. The first outlines a thesis on the Phoenician origin of the Qabalah; then comes a section on the methods of entering a "state of absolute concentration on the Abyss", roughly comparable to ideas of inhibitory gnosis, which will be familiar to anyone with a reasonable understanding of meditative techniques. So far, nothing to write home about.

But then comes a rather fascinating observation, emerging from a slightly puzzling reference to Stalin and Marxist dialectical materialism:

"Individual operations are absolutely erroneous, for if you think you are 'commanding' something, you are wrong. We are all working towards and [sic] natural and necessary evolution: ourselves and the dark forces, who through meditation are revealed as having the very same source: the Noumenon."

One might easily consider this assertion to be a "dark mirror" to various right-hand-path themes of working in concert with God, the Holy Guardian Angel, or Reality in general. By this system, it is less that one is doing one's own Will, but the Anti-Will of Unreality.

A few more general methodological tips are given, with the usual expectation of basing one's practices on one's own experience rather than dogmatically sticking to some codified set of rituals. The chaote practice of "paradigm piracy" crops up, with the authors acknowledging and recommending the adoption of certain elements of other systems for temporary use on a pragmatic basis.

More meaty stuff is served up in the next chapter, which deals with the eleven-stage system of initiatory levels. As with many similar LHP groups, one begins at Nehemoth, the qlippoth corresponding to Malkuth, and moves along the lightning-flash pathway to Thaumiel, before finally jumping into the abyssal void. Various required workings are given for the individual grades, following the usual schema of "variations on a theme of pathworking", "occult pyramid schemes", "writing that shit down" and "uncomfortable ordeals". The (5)=[6] equivalent refer explicitly to the O9A concept of the Stargame, the only occult board game more inexplicable than Enochian Chess; other concepts are generally in keeping with anti-qabalistic themes.

And, of course, it wouldn't be an O9A-inspired system without a spot of magickal assassination. Six, to be precise, plus those accrued by one's own initiates. A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that for a person to reach (7)=[4] requires at least fifteen murders; one wonders how one is supposed to have time for anything else, or how much the Temple must spend on lawyers. It is probably for the best that most prosecutors would struggle to proceed on a charge of "murder via acausal demonic entity", but I digress.

The most interesting concepts from this chapter are those of "insight roles", which are again adapted from the O9A, but deserve some exploration. These are split into "alchemical" and "aeonic" insight roles, and in general involve a subsuming of one's self into some social role or subculture for a period of time. The preliminary, alchemical insight role, involves an immersive involution of one's normal means of approaching the world, a concept that has cropped up in numerous occult traditions since at least Crowley (implicitly in Liber Jugorum, and rather more explicitly in Thien Tao). An example given, which is also rather typical of the satanic-revolutionary positioning of the Temple as a whole, is of a conservative person joining a socialist or communist group for a period of time.

The second, Aeonic insight roles, are a longer-term venture which cover the majority of the aspirant's future workings. Again, this is pure O9A in conception, though thankfully with somewhat less of the swivel-eyed antisemitism.

After some more Legends-of-the-Overfiend-esque magickal murderfic, most notable for the wonderful phrase "the Martian valor flowed through her Fleshgate", and a spot of rather turgid science fiction, comes a brief description of "Traditional Satanism", seemingly aimed at anyone who hasn't been paying attention and thinks that this has anything to do with Anton LaVey.  Thereafter follows another piece of short fiction on psychic vampirism, which one might as well subtitle "I've seen enough hentai to know where this is going". The book then closes with some elementary instructions in using planetary hours, some slightly difficult-to-read tables of correspondence clearly printed from Excel screenshots, and two extremely blurry diagrams of the Tree of Daath that made me briefly worry that my mother was right about the OTO making you go blind.

In summary, (6)=[4]/(10)=[1]. Hardly groundbreaking, but certainly more lucid than Kenneth Grant's Mauve Period. As with all such texts, it should probably come with a "Danger: Memetic Hazard!" sticker, or at least a disclaimer that all acts of magick displayed within are performed by trained professionals on a closed reality-tunnel, and that one should probably not try this at home.

The book can be found for purchase on Amazon here.

[Editor's note - Fr. AM has not been assassinated by the O9A at the time of publishing, likely due to his decision to declare himself magickally and legally dead for tax purposes]

Love, Law and Will: Thelema for the Confused

In the category of "wildly misinterpreted aphorisms", there are a few sources who could be considered masters of the craft ambiguous. Wittgenstein, Nietzsche, Hassan i-Sabbah; the list goes on. But today, I would like to discuss Aleister Crowley's most-quoted maxim:

"Do as Thou Wilt shall be all of the Law... Love is the Law, Love under Will"

These words, taken as the foundational principle of the religion/ethical system/weird sex cult of Thelema, are taken from Crowley's Liber AL vel Legis, better known as "The Book of the Law". Supposedly dictated to him over the course of the days in April 1904 by a discarnate being of uncertain nature named Aiwass, this provides the underpinnings of Crowley's entire system of thought.

This phrase is often misinterpreted by detractors as meaning "do whatever you want", which is ironically just about the polar opposite of its generally-accepted meaning. To quote Crowley, in a rare moment of (relatively) plain speaking: "It
is the apotheosis of Freedom; but it is also the strictest possible bond."

There is a certain extent to which a definitive answer to the meaning of this aphorism is going to be impossible. Thelema is a religion of contradictions and paradoxes, in which there are frequently no right answers - the position that it requires one to take is that of the mystic, accepting that the most profound truths are impossible to articulate. To misuse Lao Tze and Wittgenstein: "the Tao that can be spoken of is not the true Tao"; "On that of which we cannot speak, we must remain silent".

There's also the matter that, within Thelema, there has historically been something of a taboo around discussing interpretations of the Book of the Law; indeed, the "Tunis Comment" can be read as an injunction against any attempt to analyse it. This being said, I tend to interpret the Tunis Comment as being more of a warning not to force one's own interpretation onto others in a dogmatic fashion - everyone should, ultimately, be free to read the text and come to their own conclusions. These, therefore, are my current thoughts on the matter - they are not authoritative, and will likely change and evolve as my philosophical paradigm does.

So, what is the Law? It is, at once, an ethical guide and a metaphysical statement. In the former aspect, it is positioned as being the sole authority by which any action may be judged; actions are neither a priori moral or immoral based on their intent or consequences, but are ethically contingent on the Will of the actor.

As a metaphysical statement, the Law is harder to define. Whether it is a fundamental of absolute reality, or merely an abstraction of that is in practice of little consequence, though it is worth noting that Thelema essentially advocates a form of "Qabalistic Realism" in this matter.

The Thelemic concept of Will must be understood not in the sense of "what one wishes to do", but as something far more fundamental. Often the phrase "True Will" is used to attempt to elucidate this fact, though attempts to explain exactly what this means frequently get lost in a mire of confusion.

It is not a simple case of there being a binary between doing one's Will and not; indeed, the idea that Will can be boiled down to a single action or drive is deeply flawed. Rather, it is perhaps better to think of Will as being an expansive term, which indicates a kind of authenticity to one's self. It is not, however, simply a matter of the ego, unrestrained by the chains of morality and the animal desires of the id - though this is undoubtedly part of it.

In some cases, True Will is compared to the Divine Will, and - without getting too far down the rabbit hole of the Thelemic attitude towards gods and divinity in general - this has a great deal going for it. One might consider all individuals as having a certain unique place in the great tapestry of the cosmos, a certain role in which they will naturally fall towards, and ultimately excel within. The achievement of such a state of harmony with the universe can be considered the ultimate manifestation of True Will, and of the Authentic Self.

It should perhaps be obvious that the majority of people do not have an intuitive grasp of their True Will. Even those who do are unlikely to be able to express it in words - for it is a fundamental orientation towards the universe that stretches deeper than the conscious mind. To understand this is a core part of the "Great Work" of Thelema, and is the basis of much of the ritual and mysticism associated with it.

In the context of Thelema, "Love" specifically refers to the Greek word "agape"; numerologically this word is equivalent to the number 93, which is also the value of "Thelema", meaning "will". As per the Greek, this can be interpreted as a "universal" form of love; in its Christian usage it generally describes the love of God for His creation. This places it as a self-sacrificing, selfless love that transcends the human condition. In another way, it can be compared to the concept of "chesed" in Judaism - a form of compassionate "loving-kindness".

More specifically Thelemic is the second meaning of "Love" in this context, which shares the transcendental basis of the former; it can be thought of as the uniting of the particular with the universal, the microcosm with the macrocosm. In general it is the union and subsequent synthesis of opposites that is indicated here, rather than any sentimental concept.

Putting it all Together:
Will = manifest destiny, purpose
Law = ethical source, metaphysical law
Love = transcendant love, union

Thus:
The only ethical source is the striving for one's manifest destiny; in all things this is to be taken with an ultimately selfless stance, but this selflessness being subservient to the aforementioned will.

And:
The most fundamental metaphysical truth is that all things have their purpose; otherwise and aside from this fundamental purpose, things tend to union.

Skippy's Larp

This being a list of things that the author has been banned from doing when writing or running larps.

1. May not entirely fill a room with giant inflatable eyeballs
2. May not nail PCs in coffins and conduct mock burials
3. May not include anything that involves the phrases "bathtub literally full of fake blood" and "near-naked crew member with a snorkle"
4. May not require players to throw darts at a board as a central character generation mechanic.
5. Not to make PCs literally sign contacts in their own actual blood
6. Not to call TIME OUT, then have plot continuing to roll out for a further ten minutes.
7. May not include roleplay effects of "you believe that you are turning into a giant bee"
8. "COVERED IN BEES" is not to be a valid system call
9. May not write plot purely as an excuse to reference Wolf Drop
10. Not to approve the "Redneck Toreador" bloodline
11. "Stamford Prison Experiment: The LARP" is not to be run
12. Not to write NPCs purely to make bad psychoanalysis jokes
13. No sneaky references to Oglaf
14. It is unreasonable to have a crew member hide in a cupboard for an entire event, dressed as a skeleton, just on the off chance that the players open it.
15. May not require PCs to literally burn their actual clothes.
16. May not institute thinly disguised system of ref bribes for bonus XP
17. May not run a mega-game that is literally a pyramid scheme.
18. May not include a "reading your bullshit novella of a background" surcharge in booking.
19. Pay2Win is not a good model for LARP.
20. May not name system "Interminable Arguments"
21. Or "Historically Accurate LARP Productions"
22. May not ban hard-skill social skills.
23. The existence of the "MAN DOWN" call to indicate OOC injuries does not require there to also be a "MAN UP" call to indicate those injuries are considered trivial enough to continue play.
24. Not to deliberately schedule events to clash with those run by people I don't like
25. May not name a deity "He-who-is-Longer-than-He-is-Wide"
26. Book-mutilation is not to be a central mechanic of any system
27. May not base game mechanics around Pacman.
28. May not chase players with a remote control tarantula
29. May not advocate tobacco smoke enemas as an IC healing method, no matter how historically accurate it may be
30. "Murder Circus LRP" is not to be run.

I Kant Believe it's Not Büchner: A Codex Vitae

Rejected Titles:

• A Crapulous Creed
• Wrongful Convictions
• Meditations on Second-Hand Philosophy
• Tractatus Illogico-Philosophicus
• Thus Spoke Nastananda

Inspired by https://github.com/busterbenson/public/blob/master/Codex.md and http://terrie.me/codex/

How To Use This Document

If you are Anthichthonian:

• Develop a habit of using the Codex as a repository for beliefs that develop throughout the year.
• Consider doing a monthly review of whether my life is in alignment with values and beliefs. If not, should my behavior change or have my understanding and values changed?
• Do a yearly review in January of the entire document, editing places where beliefs have changed. Expect beliefs and tactics to change — don’t hold on to them too rigidly.

If you are not:

• Read this with the understanding that you are different than me — the way I live my life is not the way you should live yours.
• Consider creating your own Codex Vitae. Feel free to copy anything here that is helpful.

Meta-Beliefs

1. This purpose of this document is to capture my beliefs about the universe.
1. It is, and they are, always incomplete and out of date.
2. It is, and they are, always subject to revision.
2. There are different categories of belief, which may or may not overlap.
1. There are beliefs that I agree with on an intellectual level.
2. There are beliefs that I accept on an emotional level.
3. There are beliefs that I accept insomuch as I act on the assumption that they are true.
3. The degree to which any of my beliefs are an accurate reflection of the universe is an unanswered question
1. Most statements should be interpreted as a "best guess"
4. Some of my beliefs are best expressed through rationality and logic. Others are better expressed as subjective opinions.
5. Whilst I have certain beliefs and biases that exist on a subconscious level, I assert that it is possible to change any and all of my beliefs - at least to some degree - through conscious effort.
1. This process of becoming conscious of my beliefs and modifying them is a fundamentally useful one, even in the absence of a particular end-goal.

My General Principles

1. "Do what thou Wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Love is the Law, Love under Will".
1. As an essential prerequisite, one must understand one's Will in the fullest sense, and that it is not equivalent to "what one wants to do".
1. This concept can, in its simplest form, be expressed as "above all, to thine own self be true".
2. As a corollary, one should allow others to do their Will.
2. All authority and certainty is to be questioned.
1. Especially my own.
2. "All truth begins as heresy".
3. It is better to be open to new experiences than to be closed to them.
1. I will regret the things that I did not do more than I will regret the things that I did do.
4. The answer to any question is, ultimately, "it's more complicated than that".
5. The ability to act on my wishes is contingent on first accepting any situation that I encounter on it's own terms.
6. The pursuit of knowledge for its own sake is inherently rewarding.
7. Even if all morality is subjective, it is better not to be a dick to people.
8. Logic and rationality are extremely helpful tools, though like any tool they have their limitations.
1. Logical fallacies can generally be considered to be heuristics - they are often useful rules of thumb, despite being not strictly true in all senses.
9. If it's stupid but it works, then it's not stupid.
10. One should aim to become antifragile
1. This is best achieved through striving to increase one's options for action
11. One should attempt to practice doxastic commitment, living one's life in accordance with one's expressed opinions and principles.
1. The failure of a source to practice doxastic commitment is a useful hereustic by which to discard ethical arguements and the like, even if it is not strictly logical.

Beliefs on the Nature of Reality

1. The Map is not the Territory
1. Our comprehension of the world within and without emerges from our perceptions.
1. Our perceptions are subject to any number of flaws and biases.
2. We can never be certain how well our perceptions match up to an external reality.
3. Reality is, thus, essentially unknowable. The best we can do is to form an image of reality.
2. All attempts to comprehend the image of reality that our perceptions give us are also subject to numerous flaws and biases.
1. In particular, the limitations of language impact upon our ability to comprehend the image of reality.
1. A substantial number of metaphysical problems (e.g. the sorites paradox, the Ship of Theseus, just about everything to do with counterfactuals, etc.) are artefacts of the limitations of linguistics.
3. These attempts to comprehend the image of reality produce models, which simply and codify the image in order to aid the understanding of a part of it.
1. No one model can fully explain the totality of the image of reality. "There are more things in Heaven and Earth..."
2. To have complete faith in a single model, or set of models, of reality is to limit one's conception of reality to things that can be described by that model.
4. All models are incorrect; some models are useful.
1. Seemingly incompatible statements within different models can be simultaneously considered true if doing so is useful to our understanding of the universe.
2. This is all to say: we may not be able to prove the existence of a world outside ourselves, or any particular thing about that reality
1. In practice it is useful to assume reality to be - more or less - what we experience, as the alternative does not lend itself to any useful action or further train of thought.
2. Insomuch as it is essentially impossible to falsify, the Brain in a Vat / Simulated Universe problem cannot be answered; furthermore, given the previous assumptions, it doesn't really make much of a difference.
3. At least in principle, we have free will; even if this is not true, it is useful to accept this as being true.
4. Strictly speaking, induction is impossible, though in practice it is useful to assume its validity.

Beliefs on Morality and Ethics

1. Morality is essentially an aesthetic choice
1. This being the case, morality does not necessarily need to be strictly justifiable in its rationale, as it is an essentially subjective construct
2. Deontology is essentially flawed
1. Divine Command Theory and moral absolutism in general are not so much philosophies as positions of intellectual surrender.
2. Kant's Categorical Imperative can best be treated as an ethical heuristic.
3. Consequentialism - and utilitarianism specifically - is inherently flawed, as it relies upon perfect knowledge of the outcome of any action, and on assumptions about the universal nature of any true benefit.
1. Equally, there is value in consequentialism as an ethical heuristic.
4. Many moral systems can be considered flawed due to a lack of doxastic commitment among their adherents.
5. All else being equal, one should pull the lever
1.  Pushing the fat man is morally equivalent to pulling the lever.
6. We do not have a moral obligation to pander to Utility Monsters.

Beliefs on Science

1. The Weak Anthropic Principle is as good an explaination for the fundamental properties of the universe as we are likely to be able to understand.
2. The universe is not fully deterministic when viewed in its entirety
3. Black Swan Events have a disproportionate effect on complex systems, thus it is almost certainly useless to attempt to predict the future behaviour of such a system
4. Anthropogenic climate change is occurring and observable
5. Micro- and macro-evolution occur in nature.
6. Homeopathy is unlikely to be anything more than a placebo.
7. Vaccinations do not cause autism
1. Even if they did, the balance of harm and benefit would favour continuing to use them.
8. Nuclear power is, in the balance of things, better than fossil fuels, though inferior to renewable energy.
9. The Ecological Fallacy is the most insiduous assumption that exists within the sciences, and is responsible for a great deal of bad science and bad policy.
10. Human enhancement technologies, such as nootropics, cybernetics, longevity therapies, etc. should be considered ethically acceptable, if not praiseworthy.
11. Assuming practical concerns around safety were resolved, there are no substantive issues with germline engineering, human cloning, etc. provided that the quality of life of the offspring is not adversely affected, and that such offspring are granted the same rights as any other human.

Beliefs on Mind

1. A collective unconscious exists on a biological level, insomuch as the nature of our neurology predisposes us to certain forms of thought and behaviour.
1. This affects, and is affected by, cultural factors.
2. Consciousness is an emergent property of a complex system.
1. Consciousness and intelligence are most likely a property of the complexity of a system, not the specific structural 
2. A China Brain would have a form of consciousness.
3. Our presuppositions on the nature of consciousness are fundamentally anchored in our understanding of our own consciousness, and are not axiomatic.
1. This is to say - a thing does not have to think like a human in order to think
3. Mental illness is best understood as a cultural construct
1. There is no sharp dividing line between neurotypicallity and neuroatypicallity
4. Altered states of consciousness provide potential insights into the human mind which should not be underestimated.
5. Animals and other beings that can be conclusively proven to have a comparable level of consciousness to humans should be candidates for comparable rights to humans.

Beliefs on Meaning and the Spiritual

1. There is no inherent meaning to life, other than the meaning that we give it. This is, essentially, subjective.
2. If there is a single "God" or divine presence of some kind, it is best considered to be more or less synonymous with the entirety of the universe, internal and external.
3. Gods, spirits, angels, demons, etc. can be said to exist, insomuch as they could be considered emergent consciousnesses that arise from complex systems, including those which reside within the collective unconscious, which we personify with anthropomorphic features.
1. In another sense, they exist insomuch as we experience them to exist.
4. Magic(k) is possible, insomuch as that it is the deliberate modification of one's internal sense of reality in accordance with one's will.
1. In this sense, it is not dissimilar to a kind of applied psychology, albeit practiced more as an art than a science.
5. The persistence of some form of life after the death of the body is an unanswered, and probably unanswerable question; 

Beliefs on Society

1. "Every Man and Woman is a Star" - each individual is a unique and whole unit, occupying a unique place within their social cosmos
1. Equality in opportunity is desirable; equality in outcome is impossible, and even if it were possible, it would likely be undesirable.
2. The dividing line between children and adults is fundamentally an arbitrary one.
1. Minors who are Gillick Competent - in other words, have sufficient understanding and intelligence to fully comprehend a matter - should, broadly, have the same rights as adults.
2. As much as possible, all age-associated rights should be tied to this concept
1. There should be no statutory minimum age at which one can gain a driving license
2. There should be no statutory minimum age at which one can vote
3. There should be no statutory minimum age at which one can stand for parliament
3. In general, the concept of "parental rights" should exist only insofar as the actions of the parent safeguard the best interests of a minor who does not have the capacity to make decisions of their own.
3. Society should be constructed only on the basis of voluntary association.
1. There is no substantive difference between the legitimacy of a nation-state and of any other voluntary association of people.
2. Most territorial claims are dubious at best; the chief arbitration of such claims should be the will of the people who dwell in any given area.
4. Our notions of "race" and "ethnicity" are entirely arbitrary
1. They are useful ways of analyzing power differentials between groups
2. The truly egalitarian society would have no meaningful concept of race or ethnicity.
5. Our notions of "gender" and "biological sex" are entirely arbitrary
1. They are useful ways of analyzing power differentials between groups
2. The truly egalitarian society would have no meaningful concept of gender
6. Individual success is usually more to do with luck and privilege than it is with skill, natural aptitude, or effort.
7. The individual right to morphological freedom should be upheld as a cornerstone of personal autonomy.

Beliefs Regarding Politics

1. Our current political systems are unsustainable
1. Representative democracy is not essentially superior to any other system; most of our attachments to it are an artefact of a bias towards the status quo.
2. In many senses, a delegative democracy would be superior to a representative one.
3. Direct democracy does not work on large scales, and has numerous flaws.
4. There is ultimately no one political system that is perfect for everyone.
5. The best solution may be to encourage a proliferation of different social and governmental structures
2. Freedom of speech and expression should be considered a foundation of civil society.
1. Speech should only be restricted by the government if it is maliciously libelous or constitutes incitement to violence.
3. The role of government should be to uphold individual and collective liberty, whilst advancing human flourishing generally.
1. As a general principle, any action taken on a voluntary basis between consenting persons, that does not directly harm a third party, should be considered permissible.

Beliefs Regarding Law

1. The role of law should be to protect and uphold individual and collective liberty.
2. The circumstances in which a competent individual should be deprived of their liberty are limited, and in general should be restricted to the prevention of severe harm to themselves or others.
3. Justice should be less concerned with punishment than with rehabilitation.
4. Imprisonment is ineffective as a deterrent, and should only be used when there is an urgent need to protect the public at large.
5. Torture could be ethically justifiable in some cases; however, on a pragmatic basis it is of extremely limited value in gathering truthful information, and the social sanctioning of torture causes more harm than good.
6. The death penalty is neither an effective nor justifiable punishment for crime.

Beliefs Regarding Sexuallity

1. Sexuality is morally neutral.
1. Sexual orientation is morally neutral
2. Sexual acts that occur between consenting individuals are morally neutral.
2. The debate around whether sexuality is inherent or somehow chosen is irrelevant to its moral status.
3. The concept of an age of sexual consent is flawed on a fundamental level, but should probably be kept for practical purposes, albeit with the understanding that consensual sexual activity between individuals who are competent to consent to such, regardless of the age of the individuals, should not be criminalized.
4. Prostitution, pornography, and other aspects of the sex industry are morally neutral. They should be legalized and regulated like any other area of business
5. Most people's sexual orientation does not fit into any clearly defined binary.

Beliefs Regarding Health

1. One's state of health is one's own business.
2. Weight is a morally neutral issue.
1. On the individual level, BMI is effectively a useless measure.
2. Most diets do not help one to lose weight.
3. The healthiest lifestyles are likely to be antifragile ones.
4. The use of compulsory treatment of mental illness is justifiable in certain circumstances, but these should be very carefully considered.
5. Abortion should be available on request before the point of viability, and after this point at minimum on the grounds of preventing harm to the mother's physical or mental health, or in cases of catastrophic congenital defect.
1. This said, much of the discourse around abortion is deeply ableist in its language and assumptions.
6. Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, embryo selection, and so on should be supported, as should stem-cell research and hybrid embryo research.
7. Suicide should generally be seen as an act that is the product of severe mental distress and not of a rational actor. However, this does not preclude the possibility of an individual making the rational choice to end their life.
1. Assisted suicide should be allowed, with appropriate safeguards.
8. The harm associated with tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs is best addressed through a combination of legalization, regulation, education, and support in quitting.
9. In general, only medicines which risk having a substantial public health impact beyond the individual taking them (such as antibiotics) should be legally restricted by prescription.
10. Free at-point-of-access health care should be available to everyone who needs it.

Beliefs Regarding Education

1. Free university-level education should be available to anyone who wants it.
2. Beyond the point of that a child has reached a level of civic competence, there should be no obligation to remain in full-time education.
1. One might, at least in theory, posit a "high-school exit exam" of some sort to certify that one has reached this point.

Beliefs Regarding Human Relationships

1. Radical Honesty is, at least in principle, a good thing
2. Everyone is ultimately responsible for their own feelings
3. It is generally better to assume good faith in others
4. Love is not a finite resource
5. Monogamy, polyamory, and other relationship structures are all valid
1. Though one structure may be a better fit for any given individual, no structure is categorically better than any other

Super-Advanced LARP Glossary

A good friend of mine recently wrote up a couple of guides to larp terminology. Whilst extensive, I think that it there are a few more definitions for some of the less common phrases that might be useful...

Horribly Indescribable IV: Terror Incognita

Returning from the brief hiatus of the past few days, which can mostly be put down to a case of the Man Flu (Manthrax/Hebola/Manengitis/etc), today I will continue my series of articles on the techniques of the horror genre as applied to larp.

Next up is terror, which I initially described as "perceived vulnerability in the presence of uncertain fears". This is clearly related to dread in that both fundamentally rest on ambiguity and fear of the unknown; where they differ is in the sense of threat, and in the powerlessness of the subject in the face of that threat.

The difference can be difficult to fully tease out, but I think that it is worth trying to differentiate the two, as they have slightly different roles to play within what one might refer to as the methodology of fear. Where dread might be considered the unsettling backdrop, a kind of emotional ambiance, terror provides a more acute emotional effect - the !!! to the ??? of dread.

As with dread, less is frequently more. The exact nature of the threat need not be specified in order for it to be effective, so long as there is a clear sense of threat. The monster that is only glimpsed as a silhouette against the window is often more effective that the one that can be seen in the light - and, on a pragmatic level, this kind of obfuscation hides a multitude of sins when it comes to physrepping.

There are various that increase vulnerability, and thus susceptibility to terror; as with dread, feelings of disorientation serve to be a useful driver of this effect. Disorientation inherently messes with threat perception by putting one on edge; when you cannot trust your perceptions or knowledge of your surroundings, then vulnerability is an entirely predictable feeling.

In considering discontinuity as a driver of terror, it is worth mentioning the use of "bait and switch" techniques. An effective method is to provide a source of dread which leads players towards certain assumptions, followed by a countervailing shock - the signalling of a high-threat event that is in conflict with those assumptions. Consider, for example, following a mysterious trail of blood down a twisting, poorly lit corridor (dread), then reaching a dead end only to suddenly hear a the noise of a slamming door far behind you (shock).

More potent even that this disorientation is the effect of isolation. By forcing a small number of characters, or a lone individual, to face the terror alone, the feeling of vulnerability is heightened. This ties into something quite deep and ingrained in the human psyche, the childhood fear of abandonment which never fully goes away even in adulthood - even in the absence of other sources of fear, it is something that people tend to find profoundly unnerving. Whilst isolation need not be physical, this is often the easiest kind to achieve; in general, the feeling that should be aimed for is that others are either unaware, unable, or unwilling to provide aid in some manner.

As final point on the subject of terror, it is worth mentioning that, unlike dread, terror is a difficult emotion to keep up for an extended period of time. This is where the tension-release cycle comes back into play - periods of fearfulness should be interspersed with calmer periods, if only to prevent players from burning out. In this schema, terror should come at the climax of several tension-release cycles, across which there is a slow but steady ratcheting up of the perceived threat. One could consider it to be something like this: