ANDERS MAGE PAGE 2.0

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is just a dream

What is Reality? Everybody seems to think it is important, so perhaps we should talk about it. Actually, nobody I have ever talked to really knew, although some thought they did. I don't know either. But I know one thing; what most people think is real isn't. They are just walking around inside their imagination or perhaps a cosmic hallucination. Most of the time it is quite hard to notice, I must admit. But sometimes the illusions slip a bit, especially when you're drunk, tired, happy or just in a weird mood. Things happen, which most people just shrug off and think "I must have drunk too much!". They haven't drunk enough!

Actually, most of what we call "reality" is just a big, consensual hallucination. Most people just think time and space and everything else is real and don't realize it's just their minds which makes it up as they go along. That's why most people become so confused and irritated when they see something that doesn't fit, like an optical illusion. They want to remain asleep, in their comfortable, boring illusions. But it's our job to wake them up! We must show them that lots of the things they see when they are drunk or dreaming are more real than the things they call "real". We must show them that life is one great party, if you want to enjoy it!

Correspondence

Space, the final frontier!

Well, space doesn't exist, it's just that we humans love ordering things. So we order all places into a neat pattern from left to right, up and down and say "this is space". But the order is really unimportant and you can shuffle the deck, draw one card (don't show it to me). Take a look at the smoke from your incense and try to tell me which tendril is most to the left. That one... no that other one! Actually, you cannot do it, because they are always moving, changing place, dissolving into air and reforming. Just like space does, if you look carefully at it (through the corner of your eye) or perhaps don't look at it, smell it! Smell has no shape, no size and yet it exists.

Entropy

Entropy isn't what it used to be...

It's a confusing sphere. That makes perfect sense because it is about confusion. When the illusions break down people call it entropy and think it is chaotic, unordered and bad. But if they looked a bit closer, they would notice small holes in reality among the decaying illusions. Maybe that's why most people instinctively dislike decay and randomness. The Ring is a fitting symbol for entropy: its just a hole.

Forces

There are a lot of forces around. In a way they are like different wines, different exciting tastes and strengths but deep down they are all fermented grape juice. After all, they are illusions too. But they cause changes, weave new patterns of illusions or unweave old. That's why we use music to control them. When you listen to music, you hear change, how different forces interplay and create something new and bigger. But its also non-verbal, primal, the music talks directly to your subconscious and bypasses those silly illusions which otherwise would have barred our use of forces.

Matter

What is Matter?
Never Mind.
What is Mind?
It doesn't Matter.

Matter is the greatest illusion of all. It seems solid and practically nobody questions it. That's why it's so solid. But deep inside it's hollow anyway, like everything else. It's the gold in the ring surrounding the hole. If you can see the hollowness inside, you can make the matter disappear, or appear as you structure its illusions. Actually changing it is harder, but one type of hole is similar to any hole.

Mind

Mind is that elusive thing that some humans seems to possess, that gives them the power to think, to feel and to do things. It can create new illusions, see through old illusions or change the way illusions look. Music talks directly to it, at a most fundamental level. It can make you sad or happy, make you think or just drive you nuts. And that's just ordinary music! Have you ever played a song for your mind?

Life

Life is wonderful!

Of all illusions it's probably the nicest. It is the source of the primal joy of existence, the only thing that makes living worthwhile. Just living is an exquisite pleasure if you ever take the time to feel it. Pleasure in all its forms is what really makes it tick, and the way we change it. Feel pleasure yourself, satiate the desires of your own life and make the other life feel it! How can you ever change something if it doesn't want to be changed? So make the change as pleasurable as possible, for both yourself and whatever you are changing!

Prime

This is the stuff dreams are made of! Literally.

Prime is what gives the illusions and dreams more or less substance. It's a bit like the universe had some kind of attention, looking closer at certain things, thus making them more real and defined. Behind its back, the illusions just get tangled and confused. But remember, you're a part of the universe too (no kidding!), so what you decide to pay attention to is important. If you can distract yourself from what you think you are seeing, you can change what you pay attention to and make new things clear and what passes for real around here. Imagine a beautiful butterfly, pay real attention to it, give it a toast and there it is! As always, pleasure is a good way of distracting yourself or make your subconscious more interested in certain things.

Spirit

Ah, these spirits! And I don't mean the alcoholic kind!

You know how characters in your dreams seems to have ideas and do things on their own? And a lot of authors I have talked to tell me how the characters in their books do things the author didn't expect. Perhaps spirits are just dream characters in the cosmic dream. Unlike us, who are real of course! They don't seem to be as fixed as us, perhaps because they pay less attention to such things as shape and matter or because they live in the Umbra. But they are really good at understanding what really matters, like emotions and illusions. Their Umbra is a strange and wonderful place. Since so few people know about it, and don't try to force it into a neat shape, its filled with all the dreams, illusions and weirdness that doesn't fit down here. It really shows how reality really looks in its "natural" state. It's as transient and ephemeral as the smoke from the incense. Have you ever really looked at it and seen the spirits dancing in the strands of smoke?

Time

Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.

Human minds love to order things, so we say "this happened before that". Actually, things happen but not necessarily in order or at the same speed. We have all noticed how time sometimes seems to fly or crawl. That's because when we are thinking of something else, we don't keep track of time and it just dissolves. If you stop thinking about it, even subconsciously, it will not exist at all. The best way of just ignoring it is to do something else, the more pleasurable the better. When you are overwhelmed by pleasure, time will dissolve and become whatever you want.