Thursday, February 1, 2007

why this, why now?

In a dog-eared notebook on the far end of my bookshelf, I recently came upon the following passage:

"In order to create miniature ruptures towards a perpetual self-overcoming I must create and sustain a liminal mind; a mind that has functional notions of self yet recognizes such notions as useful conventions and not inherent qualities. A liminal mind is eager to dissolve these notions of self in order to construct more highly evolved ones."

Some people strive towards getting a raise or losing weight. I, on the other hand, appear to be stricken by an unshakable penchant for grandiosity. I suppose that is why I have created this space.

I am always curious as to why people start blogs. For many, I suppose, it is an opportunity to reinvent oneself. Disheartened by the difficulties and complexities that inhibit improvement of their actual selves, they turn towards cultivation of a virtual self. A completely malleable and controlled facade. That would, in any case, go a long way towards explaining the MySpace phenomenon. Well, that is not why I created this space. I have created this space because I am interested in willful evolution. Not just the idea, but the process. And not just of a virtual self, but of the actual self.

So that is what this space is for. To try and get at what willful evolution looks like and entails, and the tragedy and comedy that come out of attempting such an arrogant venture. I cannot say that I have any wisdom to dispense, though I may be able to provoke and challenge you on occasion if I remember to sit and write in between the second and third cups of coffee.

Whether it evokes "shock and awe" or just mild amusement, it is my sincere hope that, between my convoluted rambling and your waggish replies, this space will become something of value and not just another bathroom wall along the information superhighway. I have dubbed the space 'limina' which is the plural form of the word 'limen'. A limen is a threshold or boundary, a space that is no longer this but not yet that. It is the fuzziness of the demarcating line, the grey between black and white. When you dig deep enough, you'll find that the liminal space is the repository of truth. But I'm getting ahead of myself. And I've just finished my third cup of coffee.



Upcoming topics: monogamy, alcohol, pornography, wellness, habit, virtual reality, exercise, eating meat, meditation, discipline, and more!


10 comments:

piiopah said...

Stool, I think you're on to something here - a blog dedicated to coming over yourself instead of self overcoming... nah, too much competition.

even if you are only here for the hors d'oeuvres the timeless wisdom of Buckaroo Bonzai still applies: "no matter where you go, there you are"

amanda d said...

if i can't find the repository of truth, can i get it as a suppository instead?

zoo said...

I'm here, in virtual form, facade and all. As I look on with suspicion at a cheese bagel on a catering tray next to me in the webcast studio, I ponder the Limina minna lime tequilla yum tacos cheap food and my co-worker curiously reading my high school year book while a product manager waxes about the benefits and features of another God like software accomplishment. Regarding blogging and the wildly pervasive identity construction that digital communities, expression, and advertising provide, it's a tremendous leap in potential self awareness. I would also argue that this includes the potential cultivation of self. If part of our cultivation has to do with researching and reading the concepts and ideas of sociologists, philosophers, and artists, we are already in the domain of the textual mind. I know there has been a great discrediting of the "virtual" experience. I believe this is more due to how we see people using it in a fraudulent fictitious frivolous manipulative escapists desperate "fashion". So, of course, we are not here for those reasons, hence why I think this "virtual" nexus you're wanting to create has much merit. Of course it's always amusing to experience the fluff that bleeds and squirts out the internet's anus. So three wags of the genitalia to our virtual experience impacting our actual self. Now, back to thoughts of tacos. Mmmmm Tacos.

amanda d said...

or, as tom waits and william s. burroughs say . . .

"when you hear sweet syncopation
and the music softly moans
t'ain't no sin to take off your skin
and dance around in your bones

when it gets too hot for comfot
and you can't get an ice cream cone
t'ain't no sin to take off your skin
and dance around your bones"

piiopah said...

zoo, those fleshy tips that you peridoically press to plastic produce some savory sentiments sometimes. fo sneezy. I think you put your finger in it when you pointed out the prevalence of sided speculations on the significance of virtual erections emulating the self, idealized or other. i think that it is worthy of its own post. would you care to elaborate? (Lee is working on a website where we can all author posts, comment, and comment on comments. in the meantime post it, if you'd like, wherever you may and send me the link.)

we should think a bit more about this notion of the "ideal" self versus the "real" self. perhaps, as Carl Jung suggested, the parts of our "real" self that don't fit the mold of our "ideal" self get repressed and form a "shadow" self. (I feel a Tool song coming on.) This idea is also probably worthy of a post.

piiopah said...

Amanda, didn't the doctor tell you to refrain from any and all suppositories for at least a year? Something about structural integrity? Ah well, I suppose that if it is a 'truth suppository' it can't hurt... can it?

cath said...

limina is an exciting space to be in..i just hope that the fuzziness transforms into clarity..i guess it would no longer be limina...the more aware i become of the actions of my body, speech and mind the more often i find myself in this fuzzy zone...the path toward truth may not be smoth but i reckon the ignorantly blissful path might just be a time bomb waiting to explode..infact i think many mini bombs explode in our lives everyday..may we have 'faith'..forgive me but i cant remember the latin word..anyway it means 'to have confidence in'..or so someone told me..may we have confidence in our own potentiall to evolve..

cath said...

i cant spell by the way...smooth...potential....

piiopah said...

Cath, I agree. I think that having a firm conviction that evolving is not only possible but worth the trouble is a necessary precursor. The fuzziness resolves itself into clarity everyday in those 'mini-explosions' you spoke of. Unfortunately, I believe that the reification process takes place without our knowledge and more importantly without our consent. I want to be the pyrotechnician of my own explosions instead of MTV or ClearChannel or just the dumb lumbering of history.

cath said...

if clarity is found within the mini explosions..you can rejoice..awareness might lead to control..it is a development on thinking ..this is life...