0=2, aka "ain't nothin but a thang"

[saintbryan]

I've noticed a recurring idea cropping up in my life. “Idea” might not be the most complete way to describe it- I certainly have lots of ideas about it- but it could just be a universal law, or a pragmatic way-of-living or a philosophical imperative or some such. But I've started noticing a bunch of different ways in which it can be

Comments

"Lose yourself." Amen.

[rainer_rilke]

So Bryan, you say that you are nothing, but would you consider what Jesus says about you before drawing your final conclusion?

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven." -Matthew 10:29-33

If we put ourselves before Jesus, then its true, we are nothing. By ourselves, we are nothing. Only in Christ are we something, yes, something very dearly treasured. His bride. His coheir. His Beloved.

Re: "Lose yourself." Amen.

[saintbryan]

I guess I'll say this again, but in this public setting. The "nothing" I am referring to is not worthless. It is the source of worth. It is not loveless, it is the source of love.

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father."
What we consider to have value or no value does not matter, because all things have their true value rooted in the Invaluable Source.
"And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."
What we are, intrinsically, is Invaluable. Regardless of the fact that these patterns we express (as lives and bodies and minds) are impermanent. This is because what you think you are is in fact just an expression of the Invaluable Source.
"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven" Restriction (sin) is generated by a lack of genuine acknowledgement and

[rainer_rilke]

Its true, we must lose ourselves. If we lose ourselves to ourselves, we are nothing, but if we lose ourselves to Jesus, we gain everything, namely, Jesus Christ Himself.

A little math:
1-1=0 if we lose ourselves to ourselves, but ∞-1=∞ if we lose ourselves to Christ. But we cant truly lose ourselves to ourselves. Since Christ is always in the equation, we actually lose Christ for ourselves. Therefore
1-∞=-∞. It is then a matter of who we put first.

[saintbryan]

Let us get lost in the words of doctrine. They're not reality. Let's get lost in life and love.

"Inside this new love, die. Your way begins on the other side. Become the sky. Take an axe to the prison wall. Escape. Your old life was a frantic running from silence." - Rumi

[yaqerule]

Excellent post I must say.. Simple but yet interesting and engaging.. Keep up the awesome work!

[ext_506041]

Ham-fisted huh?

[saintbryan]

Yep. At least it behaved to me like a big hammy fist. I have a strong attraction to fantasy and fear, and your book filled that criteria well. I picked it up because an ex-roommate left it behind and I kept reading it because a part of me wanted to dive deeper into the paranoid "oh shit here comes a scary future" mood that I'd been feeling for the past year. I had to stop smoking weed for a little bit after reading it.

In particular what I found hammy about it were the prescribed descriptions of what a "matrix warrior" should act like and what one should experience. Had I read the book at an earlier time in my occult career I probably would have tried harder to ape those descriptions in the hope that it would make me more like a matrix warrior.

[ext_506041]

did you miss the satire perhaps?

[saintbryan]

I guess you could say that. While I was finding the book fantastic and scary I was also finding it funny, but I never did make up my mind as to whether the author intended it to be funny. Cynical, and making fun of life in the matrix, yes. But I could never actually tell if the book as a whole was serious or not.

Immediately after finishing the book, my primary criticism (arming myself against believing it to be true) was, "ok, so he tells a bunch of stories, but he never actually describes any concrete practices by which one may empirically confirm or deny his claims, leaving the reader floating about with only some ideas and their emotional biases (the ingredients of a faith)."
So yeah, it's quite possible that I missed something.

I liked the hell out of your "Being the One" doc. Did you write "Matrix Warrior" during the phase that your film describes? I'm curious as to where you were coming from when it was written.

[ext_506041]

I think i discouraged JM, I was a bit worried he was a secret agent and I'd wind up in over my head! Also, the whole notion of revisiting The One wasn't very appealing to me.

I'd def. be curious to see what you came up with.