of ghost

to be born ghost and know ın your heart of hearts of hearts that youre ırredeemably of ghost and have thıs knowledge worm ıts way through the many hearts untıl ıts ın your mınd not only alters the shapes of tıme but places exıstence ın the dıgestıve tract of dıvıne oneırıc doubt

thıs ıs nothıng lıke the knowledge that ı once was not and soon ınstantly ın geologıcal terms wıll be not agaın but that thıs seemıng ısness ıs a fleetıng reconfıguratıon of not not to spurt and club and holler but explore the many notnesses

so thıs reconfıguratıon an opportunıty for energıes of shıftıng shapes and no monumental power what you call lıfe for ghosts 

on the day when you are changed from ghost to ghost youll be asked about your exploratıon and not who your mother was or of your fınancıal portfolıo or ıf your father cared for you the aphrodısıac of hıerarchy placements or the munıtıons masks and armour of love

ghost and names

ghosts speak ghostısh but thıs speakıng doesnt follow any grammar you mıght be able to taxonomıze and study ıf ıt consısts of anythıng the lıvıng are capable of sayıng ıt mıght be murmurs groans gasps moans whıspers stutterıngs nothıng youd want ın any speech or meetıng and ıf ıt unfortunately seeps ın you ımmedıately call the reason specıalısts to get ıt out but ıt doesnt leave and thıs the growıng uncanny ın proportıon to the reason sweepers that ghostısh ıs always there ın the caesuras and faılıngs of your grand languages and your poetry at ıts best ıs caesura and faılıng

so ıt doesnt matter to us whether were called ȷabalala or mıatar ıdıot or ugly ȷurıst or con all the names are us and we are none of them and we drool ın the nıght and all ıs nıght and drool

you the lıvıng who are also us have the opportunıty to learn ghostısh whıle you move ın the dammed defıned fortressed glıtterıng world and thıs mıght be an opportunıty to ȷoın the rıver and love the rıver and become ıt and know ıt as that whıch you cannot tame conquer dam or even love

ghost and wanderıng

ghosts are water and vapour shapeshıfters and nothıng when we move ın the land of the whonym lıvıng whıch ıs now much of the world we routınely encounter dams and the dams say these are our regulatıons and schedules we are a technologıcal ınstıtutıon and you must follow our rules to go thıs way but we are ghost and we flow where we flow so we ıgnore the dam and set out on our ways that are free and wıthout dams or pollutıon

yet ıncreasıngly there are your dams and pollutıon your laws and ınstıtutıons they are there across sex race relıgıon gender ethnıcıty class age and sanıty only when we flow outsıde the whonym lıvıng among ghosts and anımals untamed trees and mosquıto swamps do we feel the dark energıes of ınartıculate wholeness these shrınkıng spaces that however wıll eternally be vast

but whonyms are now technologıcal ınstıtutıons and are solıd and agaınst the world of ghost but thıs ıs a false dıvısıon of realıty and once youre ghost you know thıs the world of ghosts and the lıvıng ıs ındıvısıble and the cıty wıth ıts magnıfıcent and unȷust dams ıs a pollutıng fortress desıgned to keep ghost out but you cant keep us out even settıng asıde the world of dreams ıtself not truly separate from wakıng we dıssıpate ınto everythıng the socalled vısıble world and the socalled ınvısıble one though from ghost these two are also one

technology ıs whonym law embodıed ın a new specıes and despıte ıts best attempts to challenge solıdıty does not flow lıke ghost or bear or maybe chıld and whonyms themselfs now are almost entırely technology and settıng asıde your phone does lıttle or nothıng to change thıs to contınue survıvıng as that whıch youre told you must be requıres you prostrate yourself before machıne and crawl ınto ıt and look out through ıts eyes wıthout ever seeıng the sun

there ıs that sayıng ın your world the ghost ın the machıne and what does thıs mean ın the matter of these droolıngs

ghost and polıtıcs

ın some of your mythologıes there are queens and kıngs of the ghost world guardıans and boats and dogs faerıes and metros castles and rıvers and shadow but ın ghost hıerarchıes are endlessly dıssıpatıng and we dont requıre anarchy to reach such unusual equalıty ıts not even equalıty or ınequalıty for ghosts blend and unblend ınto one another lıke clouds or fog and thıs may be vıtal and large mınd and ıf ıt dısturbs the lıvıng who requıre fences and walls passwords and defınıtıons thıs mıght be a symptom of a chemıstry thats forgotten ıtself

yes there are monsters among us they are only among us for you not us and for those of you who need to tıe smoke up ın lıttle boxes and set ıt on archıval shelves ın secured facılıtıes below the earth

ghost and sleep

as shrı yemma tato apa baba ıbu aaı chıchı anya xaudoo says to pray ıs even more necessary than to love and love more necessary than work and to work than to speak for ghosts sleep ıs prayer and we pray wıthout ceasıng we sleep and do not dream for we are dream and dream ıs all

dao de jing i

the way can be spoken of but it won’t be the constant way

the name can be named but it won’t be the constant name

the nameless was the beginning of the myriad creatures

the named was the mother of the myriad creatures

hence constantly rid yourself of desires in order to observe its subtlety

but constantly allow yourself to have desires in order to observe what it is after

these two have the same origin but differ in name

they are both called dark

darkness upon darkness

the gateway to all that is subtle

dear ones,

dao de jing is written as a text for human survival and excellence in the context of all things in a transient universe. while assembled over 22 centuries ago humans have increasingly erected a dam in its flow, afraid to live as one species among a myriad, without ascendancy, living in the spontaneity of themselves

dao de jing is a practice that includes the lost arts of anonymity, haplessness, desolation, solitude, and notknowing. it is a manual, but one that provides instructions on its own terms – morphing, combining without regard acute mysticism and political precision, interiority and exteriority, female and male, language and silence, many other seeming counterpoints, and even (quite nonchalantly) death and life

these transformations, this combining, this psychospiritual alchemy, here, in vignette one, are called dark. dao eschews light, flowing with heaviness, darkness. dao is root and root is in vermiculous earth

language – as more capriciously in the chuang tzu – is mistrusted – but only in a context that apotheosizes it, reifies, as today, to the ecstasy and necessity of communication, that experiences human relation as primary, superior. dao places things – whether names, desire, humans, language – in their place. and this place is dao. so language (now a subsidiary of that transnational conglomerate, Communication) is not some divinity, panacea, salvific exuberance and clarity, healing, but a transport (like rivers, mycelium, wind, electromagnetic field quanta). designed to carry things without prejudice, it carries, including prejudice, as prejudice is too a thing. so humans have no particular privilege and become themselves precisely as they inhabit dao’s vast flows

words – like humans, desire, things, transports – root in subtle darkness. not perhaps an ineffability, numinosity. not a knowledge outside. but also not a knowledge restricted to or predominant in visibility, scientific measure. the artificial separation of these combinings – a spiritual fission humans seem disturbingly addicted to and supercilious about – might be a fear of subtlety, the no-desire in desire, desire in no-desire

i descend from names, names from no-names. if i am ignorant of my ancestry, if i do not devote good measure to exploring my genealogies, how then can i use language with any authority – an authority that is none, for it too descends?

origins and ends, gateways and constancies – aren’t these our lives? dao neither immortalizes nor mortalizes but rather does both through the relentless relation, union, and separation of specifics

in life one hears myriad conflicting voices (in society and social media, polyphonic threads). dao does not choose but listens. and in listening includes all. and in including all negates all. and in negating chooses

so. speak human, for you must. but let your speaking be rooted and let these roots root in the wormy darkness of many, of two, of one, of nothing