Notes on “The Sacrificial Code” – by Kali Malone

Spotify doesn’t tell me about the music – only about the musician. The internet is lacking in information. The internet is a lot of garbage nowdays. How can I find what I want? Sounds paradoxical, but I have questions that I can’t find answers to. I can barely find some basic info on the music I’m consuming. Where are the old fashioned CDs with the sleeves that tell you all the gold?

So I gotta do my own digging:

https://kalimalone.bandcamp.com/album/the-sacrificial-code

” . . . The recordings here involved careful close miking of the pipe organ in such a way as to eliminate environmental identifiers as far as possible – essentially removing the large hall reverb so inextricably linked to the instrument. The pieces were then further compositionally stripped of gestural adornments and spontaneous expressive impulse – an approach that flows against the grain of the prevailing musical hegemony, where sound is so often manipulated, and composition often steeped in self indulgence. It echoes Steve Reich’s sentiment “..by voluntarily giving up the freedom to do whatever momentarily comes to mind, we are, as a result, free of all that momentarily comes to mind.”

With its slow, purified and seemingly austere qualities ‘The Sacrificial Code’ guides us through an almost trance-inducing process where we become vulnerable receptors for every slight movement, where every miniature shift in sound becomes magnified through stillness. . . It has a perception-altering quality that encourages self exploration free of signposts and without a preordained endpoint – the antithesis to the language of colourless musical platitudes we’ve become so accustomed to.“

It’s a poetic twist that her name is Kali.

First Impression: Yes please. I love the slow and quiet introduction of electronic elements that manipulate the sound file.

I used to play on a tracker organ in Brooklyn. An 1890s Jardine organ. I enjoyed bending the notes of the instrument. Here’s me playing with my organ: https://soundcloud.com/the-troubled-alchemist/ghosts-and-vacuums

What tuning system is she using? What is her compositional method? Is there a formula she’s following? It’s okay if she’s not – I’d just like to know her process. What organ is she using? How did she set up her microphones?

The Root of Preciousness

Precious abundance abounds! This weekend I went foraging and harvested elderberry, blackberry, sumac, ragweed, and mugwort. Below are the tart berries of the sumac. Soak them in cold water for a lemonade-like pink tea.

 

It’s a bit of a wonder how much food we walk by every day. Dandelion, wild grapes (are invading everything), milkweed, thistle, plantain, garlic mustard, sunflower, cattail – if you live in the south, Kudzu vine is a hearty vegetable. You probably wouldn’t have guessed it but clover is very high in protein. We walk amid abundance, and yet our eyes can’t see it – culturally, we are fixated on scarcity. To the world, that which is scarce is precious. No one gives a crap about eating clover; we walk on it.

When I forage, I think of Jesus preaching; “Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. “

God presents us with a feast, but we are blind to it. The United States has one of the most plant-blind cultures in the world. Whereas most cultures will have a modicum of local plant knowledge, the average U.S. citizen can’t point out virginia creeper or wild grape. As much as we talk about poison ivy, most folks can’t successfully identify it. Yesterday, while I was foraging from a bramble, a woman jogged up and said, “aren’t these poisonous? What are these?” I told her that they were blackberries. Of course, she thrilled that such a delicious (and expensive) fruit grew along her favorite running trail where she could pluck them for free.

But plant-blindness is no individual’s fault. Our society doesn’t value Nature as much as it values its own technologies – Advertisements don’t teach us how to identify blackberry bushes – they teach us how to identify the iPhone 11. Instead, the beginnings of our plant learning comes from our loved ones. When we were young, it was our grandmothers who showed us how to pick berries from the vine. I think of my grandmother showing me the soft orange salmonberries that grew around her trailer-home.

***

My friend, Joshua, loves mugwort (Artemisia Vulgaris); he picks it when he can and brews it into a tea. It grows like a weed in most places. He tells me, while reflecting on the abundance of mugwort, that the words of the anchorite, Julian of Norwich, came to mind:

“Behold and see! The precious plenty of His dearworthy blood overfloweth all Earth.”

Like Jesus’ blood, mugwort overfloweth all earth. Jesus blood is precious because it is plentiful and abundant! It is not scarce – it is freely given, awashing all with eucharistic blessing. Analogously, mugwort is precious because of its abundance. All these wonderful plants we pass over every day, they have capacities to nourish us and heal us. It’s hard for us to see the feast because it is so abundant, it is almost unbelievable that such Goodness and Plenty is freely given.

We walk amidst a feast, but it is our responsibility to learn it and trust it. Learn what Nature grows – It is a form of autonomy as well as a communion with Creation.

photo of mugwort by Colin Cuthbert

The Venereal Christian

I’ve published this zine in an effort to expand the theological imagination because, right now, the popular conception of “God” is rather shallow, boring, and authoritarian. I’m tired of racist Imperialists having a monopoly on the imaginings of the Divine – “God” is only a jealous totalitarian because Fundamentalists crave a jealous totalitarian regime.

I say, Fuck that! The Great Mystery is so much more nuanced and expansive than a predicate for war and greed.

So here is a zine for the mystical renegade, the anarchic queer, the trouble-making feminist, the sex-positive, anti-consumerist, dissenting Christian (and non-Christian folk alike).

It is called the “The Venereal Christian”. If you enjoy it and would like to contribute for the second issue, please let me know. All topics welcome, from esoterica to witchcraft to radical theologies to Jesus to Venus and Beyond.

The Venereal Christian 1

 

Poetry Unfurled into Swathes of Sequins

You are a stool pidgeon and
A slanderer, a pimp and
A cheat, a pederast and
A troublemaker. I can’t
Understand, Vacerra, why
You don’t have more money.
_

That poem was written in the first century A.D. by Latin poet, Marcus Valerius Martialis (translated by Kenneth Rexroth)

And here is another poem, sexy and eloquent, found in the collection of King Hala of the Indian continent also of the first century (translated by David Ray);

The newly wed girl, pregnant already,
asked what she liked about the honeymoon,
cast a glance at her husband,
but not at his face.
_

The beauty of poetry dawned upon me just two weeks ago. With an anthology of world poetry in my lap I sifted through the cultures and ages of brilliant thoughts and songs. Each piece had a poignant twist or turn –  It seemed the poets in the anthology were master riddlemakers, mixing old words into new contexts, creating invisible music boxes to be unlocked. Aha!

_
INSOMNIA

When the bird of sleep
thought to nest
in my eye

It saw the eyelashes
and flew away
for fear of nets

-Abu Amir ibn al-Hammarah of the 12th century, from Arabic translated by Cola Franzen

Here is Su Tung-p’o of 11th century China, contemplating the birth of his son:

Families, when a child is born
Want it to be intelligent
I, through intelligence,
Having wrecked my whole life,
Only hope the baby will prove
Ignorant and stupid.
Then he will crown a tranquil life
By becoming a Cabinet Minister.
_

Sometimes the riddle doesn’t surprise with a quick turn of metaphor; sometimes the riddle unfurls slowly and lush – a gentle dawning of an affirmation, such as this short gloss of an anonymous Celt of the 9th century:

A wall of woodland overlooks me.
A blackbird sings me a song (no lie!).
Above my book, with its lines laid out;
the birds in their music sing to me.

The cuckoo sings clear in a lovely voice
in his grey cloak from a bushy fort.
I swear it now, God is good!
It is lovely writing out in the wood.

__

I hope one day to write poems as beautiful as these~

Here is a poem I translated from Nahuatl, from a 13th century Aztec king, Cuacuauhtzin of Tepechpan:

My dear, sweet mother
when I die bury me under your oven
so when you go there to make bread,
there, you will cry for me.

And if someone were to ask you;
“My dear, sweet mother, why do you cry?”
You will tell them that the firewood is still green
and the smoke makes you cry.

In this poem of lament, the mother is instructed to hide her grief by blaming the fresh, smokey firewood. However, we know that she is crying because lost her son. In this instance, the poet has woven the son into the symbol of fresh green firewood – he is the heat that bakes the bread which nourishes his mother.

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Where exactly is “Heaven”?

“The Kingdom of Heaven is upon you”
-Gospel of Luke 11:20

 

“His disciples said to him, ‘When will the rest for the dead take place, and when will the new world come?’ Jesus said to them, ‘What you look for has come, but you do not know it’.”
-Gospel of Thomas 51

 

“Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.”
-Gospel of Luke 17:20-21

 

“His disciples said to him, ‘When will the kingdom come?’. He answered, ‘It will not be said ‘Look, here it is,’ or ‘Look, there it is.’ Rather, the Father’s kingdom is spread out upon the earth and people do not see it’.”
-Gospel of Thomas 113

 

“Jesus said, ‘If your leaders say to you, ‘Look, the Kingdom is in the sky,’ then the birds will precede you. If they say to you, ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fish will precede you. Rather, the Kingdom is inside you and it is outside you”
-Gospel of Thomas 3

 

“And then if any person shall say to you, ‘Lo, here is Christ’; or, ‘lo, he is there’; believe him not.”
– Gospel of Mark 13:21

 

“Be on your guard so that no one deceives you by saying, ‘Look over here!’ or ‘Look over there!’ For the Child of True Humanity exists within you. Follow it! Those who search for it will find it.”
-Gospel of Mary 4:3-7

The Mystical Body of Christ

Christianity is not about worshipping and deifying Jesus – this is idolatry. Christianity is not about sacraments nor rituals – these are fun to do, but are unnecessary. Christianity is not about guilt, consolidating power, nor converting “heathens” – sadly, the history of the institutional church is.

Christianity is the practice of denying the self in favor of helping another.

 

But I say to you that listen; Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.   -Luke 6: 27-31

It does not require that someone converts to Christianity. It does not require that they attend church. It does not require that anyone worship Jesus. It does not require any reciprocity whatsoever. The very essence of its practice is unconditional giving.

When we give, we shall give more than what we are comfortable giving. If someone steals from us, we shall let them have what they’ve stolen – for, in God’s eyes, they need it more than us (and we actually never needed it in the first place). If someone speaks ill of us, we let them speak ill because we know it is what they need to say (and we, having grace, know it means nothing of our spirit). If a law prevents us from being compassionate, then we break that law.

For the story of Jesus is about unconditional giving. He healed people, gave compassion to the outcasts, and did not struggle when the government and religious circles condemned and executed him. The crucifix was a form of execution the Roman Empire reserved specifically for the crime of treason. Yes, the religious symbol of Christianity is associated with treason against the state. It is unconditional self-sacrifice for others despite corrupt institutional powers.

—

But Christianity is also a faith. We believe in an ineffable, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent divinity. This divine presence is the same as the Tao, the same as Brahman, it does not matter what name we give it or in what manners we celebrate it. This all encompassing thing is fundamentally Good. Pseudo Dionysius the Areopagite, a 5th century Christian philosopher, described it as thus:

“It [God] is the Life of living, the Being of beings, it is the Source and Cause of all life and all being, for out of its goodness it commands all things to be and it keeps them going.”

The concept of “God”, by most rational human, can be seen as an arbitrary, morally ambiguous presence. It causes both pleasure and suffering, anxiety and bliss, blindness and lucidity, birth and murder. Having faith in a presence which is essentially the woes and joys of life is a moot faith – why believe at all?

However, for those who practice unconditional giving and self-denial will witness that the All Encompassing Divine Spirit is one of Great Goodness. It is a mystical experience that everyone can access – You will see that when you disregard your well-being for the sake of another person, especially a stranger, that God will care for you. Your environment will change, your perceptions will change, the horrible outcome you thought was going to happen ended up being to be the most wonderful and unexpected result. It is beyond rationality and science.

The only way to access this mystical experience is to step into the “lion’s den” for the good of someone else. When Jesus asks us to have faith, he is referring that we must trust that God will guide us as we take the plunge into our fear. Only then do we access the Mystical Body of Christ.

—-

Giving selflessly needs practice and patience. We live in a society which demands that we care only for our individual selves. Advertisements bombard us with offers of things we think we need. Vacations, food delivery, entertainment – all these things cost money, so we work in excess to receive in excess. We believe we need a nice apartment or a fancy neighborhood, lots of trinkets and expensive dining. We are searching for a lover, not so we may love them, but so we may be loved (and with whom we argue and manipulate when the relationship becomes no longer satisfying). We complain when things do not go our way, or when things break down on us. Social pressures ensure that we follow the status quo of the typical, bureaucratic, capitalistic state.

But, once one breaks away from mundane pursuits and focuses on God, they will awaken and see the absurd struggle of human affairs. They will be liberated and find peace within themselves. They will easily see through arbitrary rules and arbitrary social modes. They will realize that life is more abundant than they had ever imagined and that God is more giving and more powerful and more abstract and more mysterious than they could ever understand. They would have crossed the threshold into the realm of heaven, which exists now and is upon us. This is the “Kingdom of God”, and I dare say that only a few are courageous enough to enter it.

Like I said, giving selflessly needs practice and patience. Start with small efforts; when someone makes you angry or insults you, give them a dollar. Give to every beggar you pass in the street exactly what they ask for – if they want loose change, give them that – if they want a slice of pizza, buy them a slice of pizza – if they are collecting money to buy a bus ticket, give them what they need for their bus ticket. Do not question what they do with the money. Do not ask for any favor from them. And we should act with love. And what do I mean by love? Thomas Merton, a trappist monk, said it the best;

“Love, of course, means something much more than sentiment, much more than token favors and perfunctory almsdeeds. Love means an interior and spiritual identification with one’s brother, so that he is not regarded as an ‘object’ to ‘which’ one ‘does good.’ . . . Love takes one’s neighbor as one’s other self, and loves him with all the immense humility and discretion and reserve and reverence. . . From such love all authoritarian brutality, all exploitation, domineering and condescension must necessarily be absent.”

These small practices do not solve systemic problems – what these practices do is train you to let go of your possessions and perceptions. In giving away what you think you need, in showing compassion to the poor, in denying the self for the sake of a stranger, you will discover yourself.

***

“One of the monks, called Serapion, sold his book of the Gospels and gave the money to those who were hungry, saying: I have sold the book which told me to sell all that I had and give to the poor.”   –Verba Seniorum

Ascete

Mendicant: a beggar

From the latin root “Mendus” –> Fault

Amend –> without fault

Amend   –> Truth, certainty (From Greek “Amen” from Hebrew “Aman”)

The english “D” descends from Greek “Δ” (Delta), which came from Hebrew “ד” (Dalet –> Door*)

…i (the self) Sing (chant –> Chanter [French] –> Cantare [Latin])!

Mendicant: one who is without yet has everything.

 

_____________
*opened or closed?

 

 

 

 

 

Alphbts ≈ Hrglyphs

As these years pass and digital technology further implants itself into our skin (we are moving from smartphones to smartwatches : computers in our pockets to computers attached to our bodies), English writing is evolving away from phonetic spelling and assuming more logographic spelling.

The casual observer already notices and experiences this with various textisms (omg, ttyl, lol, brb), emoticons, and the l33tsp33k of several internet subcultures. I would like to demonstrate this orthographic evolution with formal linguistic examples. Additionally, I argue that the English spelling system is already heavily logographic. What is written below are just some musings and beginnings of potential explorations.

**

There are four main types of writing: Asemic, Semasiographic, Logographic, and Phonographic.

Asemic writing is wordless writing without semantic content. Not specific to any language, asemic writing is free abstraction that suggests the possibility of semantic content. Styles range from scrawl to calligraphy and beyond.

(more examples of Asemic writing can be found here: http://thenewpostliterate.blogspot.com/)

Semasiographic writing uses glyphs to signify general ideas. These symbols are not dependent to any specific language. Road signs, emojis, and hobo signs are a few examples of semasiographic writing.

Catalog of Hobo Signs

from a flight safety card

Glottographic writing uses glyphs to represent specific language structures. There are two branches of writing under the glottographic umbrella: logographic writing and phonographic writing.

Logographic writing uses glyphs to represent specific ideas (such as “love”) and grammar morphemes (like the subfix –ing in “loving”). Cuniform and Chinese writing are examples of logographic writing. The ampersand (&) is a formal logographic example in English writing.

Babylonian Cuniform

Phonographic writing uses glyphs to represent the sounds of a language. Germanic languages, Romance languages, Semitic languages, languages of India, etc. use phonetic systems. Phonographic writing has further classifications (Syllabic, Segmental, and Featural, but we won’t get into those specifics).

Sample of Lepcha writing from Northern India. Used by Buddhist Missionaries

Sample of Coptic writing of Egypt. A close relative of the Greek Alphabet.

A sample of traditional Mongolian script. A phonetic alphabet written from top to bottom.

Egyptian hieroglyphs, Maya script and the Japanese writing system are examples that mix logographic and phonographic writing. Sometimes the glyphs are specific ideas and sometimes the glyphs represent sounds to utter.

Sample of Maya script from the “Madrid Codex”

**

English writing is not as phonetic as we pretend it is. It seems to be moving towards something akin to hieroglyphs.

Example: The word “Right” is a homophone to “Rite”. But, a few centuries ago, “Right” wasn’t a homophone to anything. It was pronounced ReeHt (hard “h” [or rixt in IPA]). Yet we keep the Middle English spelling despite no longer being phonetically similar. A fascination with classical Greek and Roman culture in the 15^th and 16^th centuries altered the spelling of words to better reflect their etymological roots. “Debt” used to be spelled as “Det”, but a silent “b” was added to reflect that it came from the latin “debitum”.

The centuries that have passed produced a rich vocabulary with countless peculiar quirks in spelling (I before E except after C unless it’s “Weird Science” lol), but this isn’t to say that our spelling system is ridiculous and without reason. English orthography is unique because it showcases etymological elaborations and language cross-pollination (The long E in “Thief” “Pier” and “Achieve” reveal French roots, while “Deer”, “Keep”, and “Tree” reveal Germanic roots). Other European languages, such as Spanish, use strict phonetic writing; a Spanish word is pronounced as it is written, thus it is hard to sink into that words developmental history.

“What irregular spellings tend to do is increase the general visual distinctiveness of words, whether they are homophones or not,” writes Geoffrey Sampson, a scholar in writing systems. A general visual distinctiveness, Sampson argues, renders words quickly and easily recognizable. In terms of reading, we become less dependent on sounding out words in order to understand them and more savvy on recognizing how the words look to determine what it is.

Thus, English writing’s irregular spelling and wide array of possible letter sequences points towards a logographic script. If I spelled a series of words without any vowels after the first letter, you will still be able to read (or, at least, correctly determine) what was written: Ardvrk, Brght, Wtrmln, Flxbl, Knf, Nght. The visual distinctiveness of these words helps us determine what they signify. Of course, there are still many words that depend on the phonographs of vowels: Dp = deep, dip, dope, dupe? Frg = frog, forge?

There have been only a handful of studies examining the relationship between reading and writing cognitive development. English speaking children are more likely to read visually distinct words successfully (such as school, night, brain) but are more likely to misspell them. Likewise, words which are phonologically regular but offer less visual distinction (mat, bat, pin, dip) are more likely to be spelled correctly but read incorrectly. Uta Frith, a psychololinguist, has argued that, for writing systems in general, “the ideal orthography is incompatible with the ideal for reading”.

**

I have barely looked at the implications and functions of English writing in the context of digital technology. There, a harder push towards logographic script is being made with emails, texting, emojis, and hashtags. I was recommended a book regarding the development of writing in the English digital world called “Digital Shift” by Jeff Scheible, so I’m gonna be looking into that next.

These are merely preliminary observations on what I’ve noticed in English writing. I plan on experimenting more with English as a logographic script and play with its possibilities via poetry, (in)formal research, and cataloging anarchist and exploratory abecedariums of children.

There are other perspectives to ponder in the world of writing systems, such as geopolitics and alphabets (The Development of Korean Hangul), the evolution of spiritual thought and alphabets (Hieroglyphs, Alchemy, and Kabbalah), social conditioning and alphabets (spelling bees?), among other weird entry points.

Floating Among Object Oriented Ontology and Moral Relativism is Nihilistic Biology

 

 

The ouroboros, a snake engulfing its own tale, is symbol of the universe and of the universal manner: We are the cause, the process, and the end. The image itself is circular, cyclical, like a mandala, evoking the infinite ratio of Pi. The shape is akin to the zero, the arabic numeral for nothing – it is a hole / it is whole. As the old hermetic idiom goes, “What is above is below”.  It is the ultimate symbol of the spiritual path in the Western mystical tradition.

 

But how does my inner pessimist see the ouroboros?

 

The snake depends on itself for its own nurturance. It is a self-legitimating, self-causal loop unable to free itself from its own solipsistic paradigm.

***

When you interact with an object, a person, a space, et cetera, you are viewing it through the window of your ego, your memories, your expectations. You cannot separate your self as you interact with an object.

 

Yes, you can try to look at whatever thing as objectively as possible (Photosynthesis, the process of evolution, the chemical composition of wood), but all things we observe are still held through the eyes and minds of humans. Meaning and purpose is given to all objects. Even things which are considered “meaningless” are relegated the categories of “useless”, “insignificant”, “absurd”, and are approached as such. It is impossible to see objects as they are, free from all personal projections. Throughout our lifespan, we nurture feedback loops of meaning, purpose, and function. Aesthetics, morals, toasters, tables, democrats, music, spirituality and the rest are all pretty arbitrary in a world of pure biology.

 

I’m not saying it’s bad – I’m just noting what I see 😛