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Hollow Face woke up, because someone called his name. After many, many years. He was free. 

He wasn't young, or old, ugly or handsome; he had no shape. He didn't have a face. He was locked away in a hole, in the dark, where the sun doesn't shine. He remembered a boy that had a face that looks like him. Hollow Face had to find the boy. He had to find his face. 

 Until one night, Hollow Face finally found a face to steal. It was a little boy, staring out of a window. Hollow Face wanted the boy’s face more than anything else in the world. Without a face, he had nothing. So he devised a plan. First, he would separate the boy from his parents. Then he would take him back to his lair and rip off his face and wear it himself. That way, everybody would love him. 

The next night Hollow Face dressed up as a man and went back to the boy’s house. He found the place that the boy with his face was hiding. He didn't know what to do. He saw his mother kissing him, and he was angry with envy because he wanted to be enough. So he devised a plan. First he would separate the boy from his mother. Then bring him to his lair and rip off his face and wear it himself. 

 He ran up the wall quickly. He slipped through an open window. He found the boy’s room and slipped inside. Hollow face moved closer, closer and closer… Hollow Face couldn't find the boy. The boy ran out the window to the scaffolding outside. Hollow Face ran after him, but couldn't steal his face. What Hollow Face didn't realize was that the boy’s Mother would never let him have the boy without putting up a fight. 

Hollow Face fell from the scaffolding to his death, because parents are willing to do anything to protect their children. As the rain came down and the thunder rolled in the distance, the boy’s mother covered his eyes as Hollow Face sunk out of sight into the wet cement below. She whispered into his ear that it was just a bad dream. Sleep now, sleep. 

Hollow Face and his fate were set when he set out to steal the face he could never have. The cement hardened and filled in the hollow of his face. The boy told his mother the story each night before bed. He wrote it down, folded it up and placed it in a wooden box. He placed the box into the hole of the tree outside his bedroom window. 

Until one day, the boy became a man and had a child of his own. On her 12th birthday she climbed that old tree and found the box. She opened it up and found The Tale of Hollow Face. She spoke his name aloud, and he would awake again to claim his face. 

Night after night he hid in the shadows of her room. Watching…Waiting… He devised a plan. He would separate the girl from her parents, then take her to his lair and rip off her face and wear it as his own. That way everybody would love him. And like before, her parents put up a fight and wouldn't allow Hollow Face to steal the girl’s face. 

 The girl didn't know the end of the story, but the boy who became a man did. He whispered in her ear that Hollow Face didn't steal the boy’s face. That his mother fought him off and he fell to his death. That parents will do anything for their children. Just then, the girl opened her eyes and gasped for air. She jumped from her nightmare into her father’s arms. 

 Hollow Face fell back into the dark place, the place where the sun does not shine. Until the next time his name is called. 

 Hollow Face is not young nor old, handsome nor ugly…He has no shape. He doesn't have a face. Without a face, he has nothing. 

 Beware of Hollow Face

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I was just listening to Venger's Blog Talk discussion with my wife (which can be found at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/lunarwisdom/2011/06/25/the-fourth-way--a-path-to-enlightenment) and thinking about the topic of intentional suffering.

I do agree that "suffering" isn't necessarily the perfect, all-encompassing word, and I think it could be safely called "Intentional Discomfort". Since a mechanical sleep is strengthened by an increasing desire toward comfort, waking back up would be strengthened by increasing acts of discomfort. And true, if you take discomfort far enough it becomes suffering.

I believe that it depends on how asleep you are as to how far down the comfort scale your efforts need to be to work toward awakening. Many people are very, very far down the scale to the point where the slightest thought or action is wrapped up entirely in making the body and mind comfortable and avoiding any amount of discomfort. This would be people who have severe addictions that they give in to without thought, deep emotional complexes that control them, or rigid mindsets that leave no room for any contradiction. At that level, any small discomfort would be completely ignored and useless toward any sort of awakening. Only the shock of a severe amount of discomfort, i.e. suffering, would get them on anything like an awakening path.

Although at the same time someone who is closing toward awakening could also move quicker toward it by upping their discomfort to the level of suffering to get greater gains, sooner. Though I do think that the average person these days, compared to the people in Gurdjieff's and Ouspensky's time, are more primed for awakening and may need less suffering and more discomfort to have reasonable gains. I think that society and humanity itself has been going through quite a bit of suffering and purging since the late 1800s/early 1900s, making an easier way for each individual to awaken if they so desire.

Or perhaps I'm just speaking out a need to be comforted and a fear of too much discomfort!

This is a quote from Robert M. Price in the foreword to a collected Cthulhu Mythos works of Robert Howard (the creator of Conan):

"True enough[...]each major series character represented a dawning stage of personal maturation for Howard himself. He would first portray an advancement in maturity in a fictional counterpart, then begin to approximate that maturity in his own life."

This theme has also been discussed by Grant Morrison, though he refers to it as a sigil, using the Chaos Magic paradigm. Which is about where my knowledge of Chaos Magic ends.

But this is the idea: You create a work of art, and through it, transform yourself into what you desire. I am a strong believer of this as a great tool, though I've never used it myself to any effect. I also think this can - and has been - used in multiple forms of media such as painting and music. In fact, though most musical artists don't realize it (except for perhaps David Bowie) the characters they create in their music they truly become. So when Sean Combs says: "It's easy to be Puff, but it's harder to be Sean", what he doesn't realize is that he IS Puff Daddy now. Sean is a memory of a mask he wore years before.

Obviously, as this is an indicator, people use art and inadvertently create all sorts of things that they probably wouldn't choose if they had thought of it. So the key is, for those of us that desire consciousness, to use art (if so inclined) in a way that weaves a story of your own awaken.

I would also suggest that Lovecraft sculpted his own dissolution into an uncaring world of hidden monsters. So that, even though a chunk of people know of him and praise him, his creations are what is known above all else, with his own person almost completely swallowed up. Which is turn created something greater than him, and why we're all here.

So, anyone have any ideas on how to utilize this tool for themselves or others?

The Nameless City

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Archive: December 17, 2009



What does it mean to awaken? To be alive? How can “I” awaken?



Will my collective “I’s” awaken with me, or will I stand alone at the onyx altar, before the dreaming priest, beckoning to them in the dark? Come with me. What monsters follow me, biting at my ankles, whispering Eldritch things, pulling me back in the sludge to pass the days?



In my grasp are the dark tomes, I know the words, I’ve seen through shadow and yet? I stand at the event horizon, and free-fall into slumber. Falling, falling, falling… into myself. When I dream, I see the cyclopian cities of old, I hear the droning of tribal drums, the chanting…over and over in my head. Transcendental songs that keep, until I see the green embers once more.



In twillight I walk, amidst the waking dead and I’m fooling myself. Again. I know this, I understand. So again, I climb the cliff once more, in cold darkness, towards the stars. Looking down at the shadowed figures, walking around in a haze. Unknown creatures hanging on my every limb, they want me to stay but I must awaken. I hear the beacon sound, it pulls me from within. Strange voices, counter-chanting against the tribal drums.



“Ia, I“Ia, Ia Cthulhu Fthaghn! Ia, Ia Cthulhu Fthaghn! Ia, Ia Cthulhu Fthaghn!”them in the distance, dark robes and glaring emerald eyes. They stand at the edge of the cliff, calling down to me…pulling me towards them. There are so many of them, who are they? What do they want of me? I climb in desperation towards them. An army of dark figures with gleaming eyes. Some reaching to the stars, others contorting like beasts and waiving their swords in a frenzy, a battle dance but to whom or what I do not know. I climb, pausing only for a moment to watch the madness before me. My heart is pounding, I’m short of breath, my muscles begin to feel stronger and I crawl up the side of the cliff as if I have invoked some strange animal. Fast, and furiously I climb towards the strangers who call to me. I can feel no pain, no exhaustion from the climb, and my breath is a slow and steady pace.



The chanting is getting louder, I can’t even hear myself think. My mind is whirling, I can no longer hear the voices calling to me to go back. The creatures fall down into the endless pit of darkness and we are alone. Silence. We hear nothing, no more drumming, the chanting has stopped, not even the wind howling as it had been during our climb upward. We are at the top, standing in the radiant light of emerald green, before an onyx mirror holding our Kort’thsalis box.











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Archived Link

"When Dread Cthulhu Rises

What is most important in our lives? I think it’s time to get right down to the center, to the core…yes, to the heart of the matter. What do we currently value the most and how does that answer differ from what we consciously know is utterly essential? In other words, what do we really want and how do we get it?

If you are like most people, then you are preoccupied by money, your job, your social network, your love life, and having a comfortable living. These things are certainly worth paying attention to; they have value. However, beyond these mundane needs there is a greater need. Some may call it spiritual, but it isn’t necessarily tied to any kind of religion. Spiritual is sometimes a euphemism for ‘intangible’. The struggle and eventual reward that I’m discussing now is intangible. You can’t see it, hear it, smell it, taste it, or feel it. Yet, it still exists. It is real…and perhaps the only thing in this world that truly is real.

Escape from our prison!

Cthulhu is a being from another time and place. He is quite alien to our dimension and His race gave mankind a chance to grow outside the normal confines of Mother Nature. Some acknowledge Dread Cthulhu as a metaphor or symbol while others see Him as a real entity or force trying to push awake and rise from the depths. Both theories are valid, but the important thing is that Cthulhu’s condition is similar to ours. He is not dead, only dreaming… waiting for when circumstances allow Him to Awake, and from there all manner of changes will occur.

The Sleeping God represents such qualities as power, endurance, determination, will, creativity, alienage, and hedonism. When Dread Cthulhu wakens, He shall teach His chosen people new ways to kill and revel. Cthulhu’s element is fire. This is also why Lovecraft described Him trapped beneath the ocean in the corpse city of R’leyh. The element of water is a perfect prison for our Drowned Lord.

The idea of a prison is also something that Cthulhu and man have in common. We are both prisoners. Our generally accepted reality is only one kind of prison. It’s easy to see how man cannot easily break free from the society and culture which surrounds him. However, an even more insidious prison contains us! Man is not Awake, not conscious, he cannot do, he can only react. He has no self-awareness and is more or less in a sleeping state. This is not so easy for people to understand, so I will elaborate.

Take yourself, for example. You are made up of a long list of drives, desires, and needs. And as you are still an animal, these drives take precedence over your individuality. Your drives, desires, and needs create masks for you to wear in order to satisfy them. Everything you want in life is your mask or false front; and the frightening thing is that it wears you rather than the other way around. You as an individual do not exist; all that exists is your various disguises. So, your lust creates a lustful persona for you to adopt, your fear of heights creates an acrophobic persona for you to adopt, and your hunger for positive recognition creates a wanting-to-be-liked persona that you eventually become. And in the end, there is no more “you”…merely your masks.

If there is no “you”, then where exactly are “you”? It is buried, asleep. Chances are you haven’t been the real “you” in a long, long time. Your collection of masks merely carries out mechanical reactions to what your drives, desires, and needs are.

Is this any way to live? Hell no! Why would anyone choose to accept a life in prison once they knew it existed? They wouldn’t, simple as that. So now that you know you are in prison, there’s only one option open: escape. To escape our prison, we need to remember ourselves. That means we have to put away our masks and remember the essential part of ourselves that almost never finds its way to the surface.

So how do we remember ourselves? Start by observing. Watch the self as if we were looking at our self from a distance. We must observe our outer self, as well as, our inner self. Our outer self is what we do physically, the way we rest our hand, the position of our feet, the words we speak, etc. Our inner self is everything that we are thinking and feeling. Both of these worlds must be watched closely. At first, we must avoid the temptation to judge because then it’s easy to overcompensate and start deceiving ourselves; we focus on the wrong things. For now, just observe and take notes.

The first thing we notice is the struggle to begin this work. We make all kinds of excuses, or rather, our masks create excuses for us to use…for they are our current masters, not ourselves. We think that we are already Awake, that we don’t need to put forth the effort. Once these various roadblocks are removed, we can initiate a tremendous change.

The second thing we notice is that prolonged self observation is difficult. It is easy to become distracted. Our masks get in the way, a particular mask reminds us to fulfill its need and then another mask requires us to do the same. Self observation is the time to take off our masks.

The third thing we notice is how strange this new state feels. It is like peering into the void and when one looks long enough, one becomes the void. There is a feeling of calm, of control which we never experience in “real life”. Self-Remembering makes us more conscious, it wakes us up a bit. Now that we are Awake, we can act for ourselves without the masks. This is a pure state above reality. When we Awake, so does Dread Cthulhu! Transcendence starts at home with our selves. The stars will not be right for Him until they are right for us. After months of struggle, we have a basic idea of the situation’s gravity, then the importance of escaping from our prison is foremost in our minds. Now that we have a taste of freedom, we can assist our Dark Father with His battle to Awaken. There are three paths for us to change reality and thereby stir the Great Old Ones…

artistic endeavor
ritual ceremonies of black magic
spreading the word

The act of creation is powerful tool. Artists not only express their deepest thoughts and feelings, they also play with reality itself. Art changes the world by influencing others. The canvas, the written word, the stage, the song…all these are tiny mirrors reflecting reality. When our personal mirrors change, the giant reality that it is reflecting actually changes.

Another way of altering reality is through sorcery. Black magicians enter into a state of gnosis, not unlike the Self-Remembering state of Awakening. This gnosis or personal revelation has a way of transforming reality. It affects the magician’s subjective reality to the point where objective reality (to a certain degree) is altered. Again, we can think of the magician himself as a small mirror. The personal mirror can change the great mirror of reality.

These ideas are not new. They are, in fact, ancient. Every esoteric school has the same goal, but alternate ways of reaching it. This teaching cannot exist in a vacuum. It must be experienced and shared. Changing one person’s reality is an amazing success, but it’s not enough to change the entire world. Spread the word! Tell others about your personal work, struggles, breakthroughs, and the Cult of Cthulhu. Contact me about forming a local chapter or Grotto in your locality. A single cultist working alone can do little, even if Awake, which is why this forbidden lore must grow and bear terrifyingly potent fruit."

_End

Read it 3 times.

Read that last line aloud.

Is any of this, for humanity? Or, is it for ourselves? How many? A few? One or two? Can all people desire to awaken? Should they?

When I live my life, all of it, is for me. If I happen to infect others by proxy, it's a matter of happenstance. I don't presume to think that a single word I speak, or I write, lingers on the mind of a single person beyond the momentary contact of mind-to-mind intelligence.

Each day, is a new day, but it is very much like the day before, and the day before that, and it will most likely be tomorrow. This is the immediate reality, the reality of routine, the reality of the grind of the machine. If I seek to break away from this routine, to abandon the shell of my automation, what we are really talking about here, is an escape. An escape from the immediate reality, and building a new reality to exist in, even if only temporarily. I create these new realities, through artistic expression, through the exploration of my own mind, but when I am finished with this momentary escapism, the immediate reality sets in once more. This is not enough, there should be more, and in acquiring more there is work. Even the work can become routine, automated, and replaces one grind with another, and then another, and another.

In building a new world, the old world must be destroyed. It's not enough to escape it, to create portals within it....NO. The world must be annihilated. The system of organization, brought down into chaos, to be organized once more into something entirely new. I can move from state to state, and build a new machine, but to escape the machine all together means to transcend this existence into the next. So what's next? Death? Nothingness? Some new fantasy to explore?

Fantasy serves a need, for a time. Then the material reality sets in to remind us of our self-applied delusions. I can believe what I like, create a new imagined reality for myself, but unless it serves a material purpose - what good is it?

Cthulhu lays trapped under a watery prison, much like I am trapped by this material reality. In order to create a new world, I must see myself in it, for if belief is reality, then I must believe in my ability to create it, and make it manifest.

I see myself in this immediate reality, striving towards the new. This can not happen over night, for this material reality is very much attachment by my choices.

I choose to live as I am, based on the choices of my past. The path ahead rolls out before me with each step I take towards that fantasy I seek to make real. If I forget my fantasy, get caught up in the grind of the machine, that path may roll out behind me and keep me back-stepping.

Artistic expression is a way of remembering. Sorcery, is a method by which I may see the fantasy more vividly, and sharing my words are nothing more than an exercise in reminding. Shared perspective is a tool, one that we might all benefit from using. I may not always see the distractions, especially when I'm indulging in them, and you may not see yourself distracted until another is there to remind you.

Enjoyment of life is the first and foremost of my fantasy, and I make every effort to find enjoyment in it. The remainder of the time, is Work. There have been many moments in my life where I could sit back and say "I'm living the dream", but then that dream is no longer satisfying, and so I see new dreams ahead. Acquisition can become akin to collecting. Collecting dreams, can also become routine. "What's next?" speaks the little voice in my head. Re-invent yourself, says one 'I', "find a new hobby" , says another, "what's left on your bucket list?" questions another, and the master 'I' says..."all in good time".

What the hell you want, can change as easily as the hands on the clock. What I want today, may not be what I want tomorrow, and so I keep the long term goals in my sights always, and focus rather on the little things which often change with the seasons.

I long for the inspiration, to know what I want today.

Human-centered philosophies, absent of a religious authority (i.e. The Catholic Church). It attempts to explore human reasoning, without the use of myth, superstition, or religious traditions. There was a time, when human concern, was not separate from religious faith. In fact, there was Christian Humanism in the Renaissance Era. http://www.mb-soft.com/believe/txn/chrishum.htm>SEE: Christian Humanism

Today, Humanism deals more with human needs, recognizing that religion and religious life satisifes a human desire.

I chose http://www.spiritualhumanism.net/>SPIRITUAL HUMANISM for my own ordination, as its pretty flexible, and useful. I generally just exercise my ordination to peform marriage ceremonies or serve as a mediator.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_humanism">Secular Humanism, has been more prominent from the mid-20th century on, to counter religious fundamentalism. Essentially, it rejects superstition, religious dogma, and pseudoscience as a way of formulating moral creeds for making decisions for individuals or groups.

So how do we, reconcile Humanism & Religion, within the COC paradigm? If people really start studying, this question will arise at some point. I know it did for me. I was trying to determine, first, what type of Humanism made its way into the paradigm. I concluded that it took on a more generalized Humanism view, in that the 'religion' aspect served a human need, and a means to an end. In terms of reconciling that, with other portions of the paradigm such as Satanism, Buddhism, Fourth Way Teachings, Mythos and Chaos Magic - well, obviously Secular Humanism is out the window.

The COC is both a religion and a philosophy. Both, serve a human need, and are concerned with human affairs. Satan, is a symbol this can be expressed as well as exercised, the premise of conscious suffering and achieving godhood, can be extended through Buddhism, The Fourth Way is conscious work on oneself, so as not to get swept away by religious zeal without purpose, the Mythos & Magic work hand and hand as methodology. A little dab of Venger Glue and I think it all holds together rather well. Syncretism, at its finest, I could even argue a symbiosis of RHP/LHP, and that center line where they are nullified if there is too equal a balance. This is where the forumulas of the Madman Venger Satanis come in, the mad alchemist, who determines it's 3 parts Left, and 1 part Right. It gives the seeker something symbolic to refer to, to address his nagging I's from questioing the rationale out of use.

I see it as a useful tool, while others may see it as their life's religious devotion. Provided the end result is Autonomy, Power, and Self-Deification? Why people concern themselves with what others are doing with their own lives, fascinates me. If cultist A. spends every day worshipping at his handmade idol, as a religious devotion to his daily tasks, it is a focus tool to keep his eye on the prize. And let us all remember the prize shall we? AUTONOMY>POWER>SELF-DEIFICATION. I know it's difficult for some people to wrap their heads around, well, because they are not Occultists, they are pretenders. They pretend to know the power of magic, but they only pretend it in the company of sorcerers. In the company of their own I's, they don't know what it is they believe, they are often programmed what to believe, to include believing who they really are under all those masks.

Answer that question daily: Who am I?


Work at remembering yourself, and then, and only then, will you also remember what it is you are working towards.

We could say: Well, none of this stuff is real, it's all human psychology! What fun is that? Some self delusions are useful, for when we believe them to be true, they have a funny way of manifesting themselves into something tangible.

I could say, I believe myself to be free. What makes me free? The belief, or slaving to the harsh reality that we are not as free as we believe ourselves to be? Not free from influence, not free of control over our lives, and certainly not free to run off and live as G(g)od.

We have to work at being free, its not just going to be handed to us. How do we work, when we are so easily distracted? So easily comforted? I say provoke the system with all things weird, and make yourself a little uncomfortable. You don't believe in gods? Why not try it on for a while, as a means to an end? Think magic is hoakie, and for the feeble minded? How feeble can your mind become? Break down all those confortable walls that protect you from ever delving into the fantasy, imagining the impossible and then making it possible. Well, unless of course, its too uncomfortable for you, and sleeping in your machine is conforting.










Awaken, belief is reality.

Obsession

Faith of consciousness is freedom

Faith of feeling is weakness

Faith of body is stupidity.



Love of consciousness evokes the same in response

Love of feeling evokes the opposite

Love of body depends only on type and polarity.



Hope of consciousness is strength

Hope of feeling is slavery

Hope of body is disease.



-G.I. Gurdjieff

In the beginning of The Work, we are taught to observe ourselves. This, in and of itself, is not easy because we live automatically. Without thinking about it, we endure or enjoy our day from start to finish. If we are lucky, some small part of our daily automated program will be new and fresh. Yes, every once in awhile we experience something which is out of the ordinary. Perhaps it confuses us or allows us to revel in the richness of life or maybe we despise this thing which doesn't belong... ... more

This blog post has been modified from a response to a topic located in the Meme group: http://cultofcthulhu.wall.fm/forum/topic/91

But first some definitions taken from Wikipedia and elsewhere on the net:

Memes are units of social information. Meme is a relatively newly coined term and identifies ideas or beliefs that are transmitted from one person or group of people to another. The concept comes from an analogy: as genes transmit biological information, memes can be said to transmit idea and belief information.... more