During the 1984-85 school year, I had the opportunity to study the Coptic language and to read some of the Nag Hammadi texts. I first translated Thunder: Perfect Mind in 1985. It sat unpublished in my notebooks until I finally typed it up in 2003, making minor revisions as I entered it. I made a few more […]
to wound the autumnal city. So howled out for the world to give him a name. The in-dark answered with wind. All you know I know: careening astronauts and bank clerks glancing at the clock before lunch; actresses cowling at light-ringed mirrors and freight elevator operators grinding a thumbful of grease on a steel handle; […]
My Lady, the Amazement of the Land, the Lone Star, The Brave One who appears first in the heavens– All the lands fear her. In the pure places of the steppe, On the high roofs of the dwellings, On the platforms of the city, They make offerings to her: Piles of incense like sweet-smelling cedar, […]
The power that governs the destiny of all living beings is called the Eagle, not because it is an eagle or has anything to do with an eagle, but because it appears to the eye of the seer as an immeasurable jet-black eagle, standing erect as an eagle stands, its height reaching to infinity. The […]
There are few subjects that are more misunderstood in the Western Ceremonial systems of magick than that of the vibratory formula. What is this Vibratory Formula, and how does it work? When do you use this formula in ritual work? How do you know if you are doing it correctly? What is this thing called the […]
In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true is true or becomes true, within certain limits to be found experientially and experimentally. These limits are further beliefs to be transcended. In the mind, there are no limits. John C. Lilly, Programming and Metaprogramming in the Human Biocomputer, The Julian Press, Inc., […]
LISP has jokingly been called “the most intelligent way to misuse a computer.” I think that description is a great compliment because it transmits the full flavor of liberation: it has assisted a number of our most gifted fellow humans in thinking previously impossible thoughts. — Edsger Dijkstra. LISP was the world’s first elegant language, […]
Introduction: A Musico-Logical Offering. The book opens with the story of Bach’s Musical Offering. Bach made an impromptu visit to King Frederick the Great of Prussia, and was requested to improvise upon a theme presented by the King. His improvisations formed the basis of that great work. The Musical Offering and its story form a […]
The beginning. . . . If I am only a story now, I must have a beginning. Shall I begin by being born? Is that a beginning? I could begin with that silver glove you wear; that silver glove, and the ball . . . Yes, I will start with Little Belaire, and how I […]
The UNIX story begins with Ken Thompson’s work on a cast-off PDP-7 minicomputer in 1969. He and the others who soon joined him had one overriding objective: to create a computing environment where they themselves could comfortably and effectively pursue their own work-programming research. The result is an operating system of unusual simplicity, generality, and, […]