syād-asti-nāsti-avaktavya, "In some way, it is true, and false, and indescribable."
“ 'Do as
thou wilt' shall be the whole of the law. Every man and woman is a
star. Love is the law; love under will” the three statements of
thelema
“God
is dead.” Friedrich Nietzsche.
Nothing
means anything. Nothing can mean anything. Nothing is meaningful.
God
is dead. The universe has no meaning and no purpose. Stars flare
and die, planets spin. Random fluctuations of quantum phenomena.
Nothing becomes, exists, and dissolves to nothing again. One day,
the Death of Universes will claim us all. “The Sun was born and so
shall die, so only shadows comfort me”i.
Nothing
means anything. Nothing can mean anything. Nothing is meaningful.
By
some fluke, some random chemical changes on a rock spinning around an
insignificant yellow star, life emerges. An ordering of chemical
bits. An organization of a small corner of chaos. Green fuzz on
rocks. Animals live their brief lives in light, then return to
darkness with a squeak and a bloody smear.
Nothing
means anything. Nothing can mean anything. Nothing is meaningful.
In
an eddy of evolution, mind emerges. A species that can solve
problems has an evolutionary advantage. Observation of its
surroundings, inductive reasoning, memory. Life sees, observes and
remembers. Derives information from data. Forges perception from
observation, cognition from behavior. An ordering of
electro-chemical bits.
Nothing
means anything. Nothing can mean anything. Nothing is meaningful.
Some
especially bright monkeys evolve an ability to solve more complicated
problems, evolve more complex modes of thought. Abstraction. Modal
operators. Subjectives. Counterfactuals. Symbols, signs and
signifiers. Language. A fire is lit. From the evolutionary
advantage of our forebears, we inherit the ability to see meaning in
meaninglessness. From s*** we extract pure Shinola™. We begin to
see meaning everywhere. We ascribe meaning to everything. We decode
meaning.
We create meaning.
Nothing
means anything. Nothing can mean anything. Nothing is meaningful.
I
meet a lady. Mating and the evolutionary imperative: form a pair
bond, co-operation as a survival strategy, reproduce the species.
But from it, I decode 'love'.
I
create love.
In
a universe with no love, I decode love. In a universe with no
meaning, I decode meaning. I create meaning. I separate “the
sparrows from the nightingales”ii,
“the warships from the ferry boats”.
Nothing
means anything. Nothing can mean anything. Nothing is meaningful.
I
decode love. I decide what 'love' means. I decide how best to
exemplify it. From a random ordering of biochemical bits, I decode
love.
I
see some pebbles in the road. I count them. I decide there are
'four', not 'three' or 'five'. I decode 'four'. Later, I find more.
I put them also into my hand. I decode 'addition'. I hurl them
from me, I decode 'removal'. I decode 'permanence', I decode
'change'. Ultimately, I decode 'something', I decode 'nothing'. I
decode 'from nothing comes something'.
I
see a fuzzy object. I say, “You're a kitty!”iii
I don't decode cats, but in deciding that this is a cat and not a
dog, I decode 'cat'. On seeing my old friend Professor Von Meeces, I
make friends anew. I decode 'Professor von Meeces' from a fuzzy
object.
I
decode 'number', I decode 'color', I decode 'form'. I decode
'goodness'. I decode 'justice'. I decode 'truth'. I decode
'greatness'. I decode 'honor'. I decode 'virtue'. I decode 'hate'.
When I observe a phenomenon, I decide, “That's justice.” Et in
Arcadia ego.
I
decide what these things are. I decide how to best exemplify them.
I can shoot my own arrow of longing beyond myself and decide how to
model what I have decoded. What I have created. What I decode, I
create; what I create, I can show; what I show, I can be. What I
create, I can be, just as hard as I can. What we
create, we can be.
“I
believe that we'll conceive to make in Hell for us a Heaven [...]
Until I see this kingdom's mine, I'll turn the darkness into light,
I'll guide the blind, my will be done, until I say our kingdom has
been won.”iv
The
universe has no purpose. We have no purpose. But we can make our
own purpose. The universe has no God. But “we are on our way to
being gods”v.
Et in Arcadia nos. “Let there be, let there always be,
never-ending light.”vi
Nothing
means anything. Nothing can mean anything. Nothing is meaningless.
ii Wolfsheim,
“The Sparrows and the Nightingales”
1 comment:
To the internet searcher:
"Love is the law; love under will," is not Nietzsche, it's Aleister Crowley.
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