The Garden of Forking Paths

[version]

Mallarmé had a thing about THE book too.

I am the author of a statement to which there have been varying reactions, including praise and blame, and which I shall make again in the present article. Briefly, it is this: all earthly existence must ultimately be contained in a book. It terrifies me to think of the qualities (among them genius, certainly) which the author of such a work will have to possess. I am one of the unpossessed. We will let that pass and imagine that it bears no author’s name. What, then, will the work itself be? I answer: a hymn, all harmony and joy; an immaculate grouping of universal relationships come together for some miraculous and glittering occasion. Man’s duty is to observe with the eyes of the divinity; for if his connection with that divinity is to be made clear, it can be expressed only by the pages of the open book in front of him.

 

[luka]

the book of orpheus in which all things are contained

 

[luka]

i think i might have mentioned it in the wreck it ralph thread. the way in which all books are part of the same book. the wake works on this basis. or alan moores immateria.

 

[version]

I've seen The Wake referred to as the source code of the novel a few times.

 

[constant escape]

What does he say about individuation? Is it at all like Bourdeausean distinction?

Not familiar with bourdeau (who is that?), but from Simondon ("The Position of the Problem of Ontogenesis")

Individuation has not been able to be adequately thought and described because previously only one form of equilibrium was known--stable equilibrium. Metastable equilibrium was not known; being was implicitly supposed to be in a state of stable equilibrium. However, stable equilibrium excludes becoming, because it corresponds to the lowest possible level of potential energy.

"Corresponds to the lowest possible level", as in, seeks a kind of rest? Holds a fixed position? As opposed to spending more energy developing?

This division of being into phases is becoming.

So perhaps we can say that individuation is the realization of a particular character of a thing, over the course of its becoming. Whereas "becoming" describes the development across beings, more generally.

Anyone have anything to say about Jung's individuation? Haven't read him, but it seems like its about the realizations of one's singular character (paradoxically by way of integrating universal or cosmic archetypes?). Seems to be individuation in the psychological sphere, whereas SImondon's individuation is more general?

 

[luka]

i dont know if the self is singular character exactly. its not the personality.

 

[version]

The other thing with having a huge range of options is it can freeze you in place. You're so overwhelmed by choice that you struggle to commit to anything. I once spent almost two hours going through Netflix trying to decide what to watch. I could have watched a film in that time, but I kept feeling I'd find the perfect one at any moment.

 

[constant escape]

Then do you think the process (Jung's individuation?) is more of a singular character becoming universal? Or integrating something universal?

And yeah I think of personality as the coin, where persona is the outward side and self-image is the inward side? Not sure.

 

[version]

The other thing with having a huge range of options is it can freeze you in place. You're so overwhelmed by choice that you struggle to commit to anything. I once spent almost two hours going through Netflix trying to decide what to watch. I could have watched a film in that time, but I kept feeling I'd find the perfect one at any moment.

“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”

 

[luka]

The other thing with having a huge range of options is it can freeze you in place. You're so overwhelmed by choice that you struggle to commit to anything. I once spent almost two hours going through Netflix trying to decide what to watch. I could have watched a film in that time, but I kept feeling I'd find the perfect one at any moment.

corpsey says most of his wanking time is actually comprised of looking for the perfect video

 

[luka]

Then do you think the process (Jung's individuation?) is more of a singular character becoming universal? Or integrating something universal?

And yeah I think of personality as the coin, where persona is the outward side and self-image is the inward side? Not sure.

best thing to do, in all honesty, is become indivuduated yourself and find out.

 

[constant escape]

Relatable.

 

[constant escape]

best thing to do, in all honesty, is become indivuduated yourself and find out.

Well if I speak from what experience I have - it feels like the psychic transformation to undergo is a microcosm of the collective, transhistoric psychic transformation (of the human? Or of the cosmos?)

 

[luka]

go with that then.

 

[constant escape]

The self-assembly of matter (each moment/iteration having a being of its own) is the individuation of the cosmos toward dematerialization, the Omega Point.

 

[constant escape]

Calling it algorithmic is ultimately iffy, because it presupposes a set of instructions, whereas cosmic self-assembly could effectively be improvising its own instructions, moment by moment.

 

[luka]

The self-assembly of matter (each moment/iteration having a being of its own) is the individuation of the cosmos toward dematerialization, the Omega Point.

matter selects from an array of options

G-O-D constructs own self from clay compounds upwards
bootstrap to higher complexity and coherence

enter key options

 

[constant escape]

bootstrap to higher complexity and coherence

Precisely.

 

[constant escape]

And the process is expedited by its own attempts (that is, our attempts) to predict where it is heading. Someone here just mentioned intelligence as, essentially, predictive ability.

 

[luka]

Precisely.

it's a quote from a famous poem called prediction tablet.