Ghosts, Gods and Archons

Form is the Illusion is a book about Relationship Theory, an unusual system of metaphysics developed by the late David Douglas Thompson. Relationship Theory addresses questions of ontology and epistemology in a way that is likely to be of interest to pagans and occultists.

Ƶ1 Ƶ A

 

If a particular relationship is made up of the relationship between two objects, then it is possible for that relationship to also be in relationship with a third object. (Notes on Relationships; David Douglas Thompson)

 

This formula has some interesting implications for pagan theology. A relationship between two zed objects can also be treated as a zed object. In Romeo and Juliet, the Capulets have a vendetta with the Montagues. A vendetta is a type of relationship, but the existence of the vendetta has a tremendous impact on every member of both families. Romeo is a member of the Capulet family, so whether he likes it or not he has to deal with the vendetta. Therefore, the existence of the vendetta between Capulet and Montague implies that there is also a zed between Romeo and the vendetta.

 

If the vendetta can function as a zed object in its own right, then so can other relationships. The simplest way to think of this is to imagine a ghost. You can think of a ghost as the relationship between a living person and a dead person, between a place and some traumatic event that occurred in that place, or between a person and a place perceived as haunted. In each of these cases, the haunted or numinous relationship is in itself the ghost. A zed can be a zed object, so a relationship can be an entity.

 

Here’s another example. At some unimaginably ancient point in the distant past, a human being first saw a waterfall or stood in a grove of trees or on top of a hill and felt a numinous presence, a “weird awe and shuddering dread before the mysteries of the transcendent” as described by Rudolf Otto.

 

The relationship between this person and that place was numinous, haunted, spiritual – and the numen or spirit was that relationship. Over countless centuries, the behavior of human beings in relationship with the numinous power in the landscape became a body of lore and behavior – in other words, religion.

 

Because “interactions are the reality; form is the illusion,” no distinction is drawn between different types of entity. Information space includes everything, both mind and matter. The relationship between a person and an idea is not fundamentally different than the relationship between two physical objects. Both interactions are simply A Ƶ B, “an interaction between A and B.”

 

Imagine an ancient Gaul by the name of Brennos. Brennos, as an individual human being, is a zed object. Thunder is also a zed object. Brennos hears a crash of thunder nearby and touches his hand to the wagon-wheel amulet he wears around his neck, reciting a prayer to the Gaulish thunder god Taranis.

 

The Gauls (a set of zed objects of which Brennos is a part) have a particular relationship with thunder. In Gaulish mythology, thunder is the sound of Taranis rolling his thunder wheel across the heavens. Thunder is obviously a natural phenomenon, but a Roman would relate to it as a manifestation of Jupiter while a Gaul would relate to it as a manifestation of Taranis. You could say that Taranis is the relationship the Gauls have with thunder.

 

Now, if the Gauls as a whole have a relationship with thunder and that relationship can be spoken of as Taranis, then Taranis can also be in relationship with any specific Gaul. So Brennos, as an individual Gaul, can be in relationship with Taranis.

 

This relationship is not strictly identical to the relationship between Brennos and thunder considered purely as a natural phenomenon. As a natural phenomenon, thunder indicates the presence of lightning and possibly of rain, both of which can have various practical implications for Brennos such as healthy crops, the risk of fire and so on. However, when Brennos touches the wagon-wheel amulet and recites his prayer, he isn’t just thinking about rain and fire. He’s acknowledging the divine presence of the numen and holding it in religious regard. The numen, in other words, is a particular way of relating to the natural phenomenon – yet the numen itself is also a real entity. Why? Because it is something that Brennos interacts with, and “interactions are the reality; form is the illusion.”

 

Now, if the relationship between thunder and the Gauls is itself a zed object, then the relationship between Brennos and that zed object must also be a zed object. Therefore, the relationship between Brennos and Taranis is a zed object in its own right. Therefore, there is a version of Taranis that is unique to Brennos, and it is a really existing entity while also remaining a part of the larger information set that is Taranis as a whole.

 

If Brennos has a dream vision in which Taranis tells him certain things, while his neighbor has a dream vision in which Taranis tells him other things, neither is wrong and both are right. They are each relating to a different entity, yet also to the same entity from another perspective. The Taranis of any one worshiper is more specific and more individual yet very much smaller, less complex and less powerful than the full information set of Taranis. This further implies that Taranis as a whole is part of a larger yet still real zed object – the information set containing all thunder gods, which is less individualized and specific yet larger and more complex than Taranis.

 

Thus, every deity is all of the following things simultaneously:

 

1- a zed (the relationship between a people and some phenomenon or set of phenomena).

 

2- a zed object (that relationship considered as an entity in its own right).

 

3- a member of an information set (a larger and less specific deity).

 

4- an information set containing many zed objects (all of the zeds between the deity and specific individuals, recognized aspects of the deity, specific local manifestations of the deity and so on).

 

It gets still more complicated. The ancient Carthaginians worshiped a goddess known as Tanit, Tanit, like most deities, is not just one specific thing. While the name “Taranis” actually means “Thunder” in the Gaulish language, Tanit seems like a more complex entity and cannot be reduced down to one phenomenon such as the sky – although she was definitely a sky goddess. There is a large and complex information set of associations important to the Carthaginians, of which the sky and celestial objects such as the sun and moon are only a part. Tanit is the relationship between the Carthaginians and this entire set.

 

When the Romans conquered Carthage, they encouraged the people of the area to continue to worship Tanit as the Roman goddess Juno. The synthesis of Juno and Tanit was called Caelestis. Caelestis is the relationship between Juno and Tanit, and like any other relationship Caelestis is also a zed object. Thus, Caelestis is a goddess in her own right – separate from both Juno and Tanit yet not distinct from them.

 

The cult of Caelestis spread to Roman Britain, where it merged with the worship of the local Celtic goddess Brigantia. The goddess Caelestis Brigantia is the relationship between Caelestis and Brigantia, yet is also a unique and really-existing zed object – a separate goddess, simultaneously Celtic, Roman and Carthaginian.

 

Based on this analysis, the hardest of hard polytheisms is accurate from one perspective – and the softest of soft polytheisms from another perspective. This would definitely be an occasion for “ringing the changes.”

 

In polytheist religion, we normally seek to interact with more specific and localized forms of deity. What if we tried to relate to the entire universe as a single information set? Now we’re talking about monotheism, because the religious relationship between a single worshiper and the entire universe is a zed object too, and this zed object could be described as “God.” As a religious category, monotheism is that branch of religion that favors relationship with the whole, and devalues relationships with parts of the whole. Yet there is more than one monotheism, because the relationship between a Christian and the whole is different from the relationship between a Muslim and the whole.

 

What if we do not acknowledge or experience any spiritual relationship with any entity? Now we’re talking about atheism. The relationship between a person and the whole is valid for some people and the relationship between a person and some part of the whole is valid for other people, yet there will always be some people who experience no such relationship. Thus, Relationship Theory is in some sense naturally polytheistic (because it predicts the existence of an infinite number of relationships and treats them all as entities) yet it also accounts for the existence of monotheism (the preference for relating spiritually to all of reality as a single set) and atheism (the experience of reality without numinous relationships).

 

If Relationship Theory treats a spirit as a pattern in information space, does it therefore deny the agency of the gods? No, not at all. In Relationship Theory, the direct perception of any zed object is sufficient proof of its existence, since “interactions are the reality; form is the illusion.” Some patterns in information space display the signs of agency – through mystical visions and natural processes, through the actions of human beings in relationship with them, through our dreams and our deeds. Since they display the signs of agency, they do have agency as far as Relationship Theory is concerned.

 

“Information space” refers to all contexts in which information can operate, and therefore includes everything from the physical universe to the unconscious to subtle levels of reality currently unknown to science (assuming such levels exist). A pattern in information space may play out across any or all of these.

 

Thus, ghosts are patterns in information space initiated by people who were once alive, demons are patterns with malicious intent, gods are especially powerful patterns, and archons are patterns of information that distort our perception of reality and function in such a way as to prevent humanity from fulfilling its potential.

 

A single entity can fall into more than one of these categories at the same time. For instance, the information pattern of a freshwater spring could be a nature spirit, nymph or fairy – but if that pattern began as a person who drowned in that spot, it is also a ghost. A posthumously deified hero is both a ghost and a god. A dead spirit possessing a human being for harmful purposes is both a ghost and a demon. A powerful spirit seeking to manipulate and control humanity could be seen as both a god and an archon at the same time.

 

This brings us back to the strangest passage in Thompson’s notebook:

 

“We are not, as some think, the pawns in some cosmic war but the battleground itself.”

 

Our minds and our bodies are part of information space, and the patterns in information space interact within us. We are their battleground, and the prize in this war is control of reality.

 

My father drew no distinction between the archons and the gods. I don’t agree with this view, because I see no reason to assume that every numinous presence or power would want to control or abuse human beings. Some of them, however, certainly do. By introducing new information energy into looped patterns we can break the cycle, freeing people from possession by the archons – the information patterns that hold us back from our potential as a species.

 

From this perspective, Relationship Theory is a philosophy of revolutionary exorcism.

 

Image by Henry Fuseli

The Powers of the First Darkness

The Book of Onei is an antinomian dream grimoire, providing deceptive yet true information about the art of Oneiromancy or dream magic in the form of poetry, fantasy, and intentionally ambiguous instructions.

Alone at night, I hear the doorknob turn,

The hinges creak- and standing in the light

Are cold and silent men. I stand in fright,

 

And one by one they float in through the door.

Their suits are charcoal gray, their ties are thin.

On every mouth, a Mona Lisa grin.

 

Their eyes could just as well be balls of glass,

Their faces stuffed and mounted. Waves of dread

Pass over me and through me. Like the dead

 

There’s nothing there at all- an absent space

Just papered over by a face as clean

And free of comment as a pure machine.

 

“We’ve found him,” says the first one

And I turn, to try to get away. The power comes

And lifts me off my feet, completely numb

 

From crown to sole. Cold, drunken currents flow

And hold me in a field of fearful awe.

They know the truth. I disobeyed the Law

 

And now the consequence has found me out.

“You should have kept your mouth shut,” says a voice,

“Or joined the Legion while you had the choice,

 

“But chronicling our secrets…” As I scream,

Their faces start to glow. They circle in

Like feeding sharks. But, though I may have sinned

 

I still remain defiant. Down below,

In Death’s primeval waters, there is lore

Of hidden things that none have known before,

 

And I can steal it if I slip the trap.

The horror closes in. My fingers make

A sign of power, and I bolt awake.

 

My wife’s asleep beside me in our bed.

The kitchen light is flickering. Outside,

The city sleeps. And I am still alive.

 

– from The Book of Onei, Part 1: The Art of Night Wandering

Image by Valere Bernard

Zed Cycles

Form is the Illusion is a book about Relationship Theory, an unusual system of metaphysics developed by the late David Douglas Thompson. Relationship Theory addresses questions of ontology and epistemology in a way that is likely to be of interest to pagans and occultists.

“All paths are eventually cyclical.” (The Six Axioms; David Douglas Thompson)

 

“Time is a catalogue of cyclical zeds.” (Notes on Relationships; David Douglas Thompson)

 

Some of the most important aspects of Relationship Theory were never fully explained by my father, only hinted at in cryptic notes and conversations. One section near the end of “Notes on Relationships” shows a diagram of a spiral with two dots at the center, and another diagram showing that a quarter of a wave slope could be interpreted as a radius. The two dots at the center of the spiral are linked by a curved line and seem to indicate the same quarter-wave, but the underlying logic is not explained. There is only the statement that “A quarter wave contains all the info of a full wave,” although this statement takes on added interest when paired with another statement in the notes: “Time is a catalogue of cyclical zeds.”

 

This may remind some readers of True Detective’s “time is a flat circle,” and it actually means something very similar. A zed cycle or cyclical zed is a repeating pattern of interactions. This relates to one of the six axiom or corollaries to the Ten Laws: “All paths are eventually cyclical.”

 

The “paths” in question are opposing tendencies in a relationship pattern. As previously discussed, the process of differentiation and opposition is necessary for perception to be possible. When opposites are differentiated, the interaction of those opposing forces will reverse and then repeat itself in an infinite number of iterations. This is essentially the same concept as Yin and Yang in Chinese classical philosophy. When either Yin or Yang becomes too dominant it begins to transform into its own opposite. (This concept was developed at some length by Jason Thompson as the “Zed Tree,” a diagram based on the same idea as the 64 hexagrams of Yin-Yang interactions. The Zed Tree is a very complex topic in its own right but is a separate concept from the original version of Relationship Theory.)

 

The important point for our current discussion is that relationship patterns loop and repeat themselves in an endless cycle, so “time is a catalogue of cyclical zeds.” Nobody trapped in one of these information loops could ever escape it on their own, because a third party would have to intervene to create any change in the system. Of course, this happens all the time – although most likely as part of an even larger repeating cycle.

 

At this point in the discussion, David Thompson’s ideas become much stranger, no longer grounded in the theoretical side of the theory although still connected to it. There is a short passage elsewhere in the notebook, separate from the “Notes on Relationships”:

 

“The way things are is the way they’ve always been. We, the race we call human, are being used, misused, and often abused. By the cold blooded manipulation of our spiritual and emotional lives our 3-D existence is shaped and our minds are programmed toward ends not our own. We are not, as some think, the pawns in some cosmic war but the battleground itself. As battlegrounds are seldom improved by having wars fought on them, it is time to consider whether choosing sides is wise”

 

As bizarre and paranoid as this may seem, what he’s talking about here is a form of Gnosticism. The passage suggests that our reality is controlled by Archons, entities capable of manipulating us into perceiving what they wish – shaping our reality against our will and without our knowledge. These beings don’t come to us from outside but from within, using our minds as battlegrounds in their secret wars.

 

“The way things are is the way they’ve always been,” because “time is a catalogue of cyclical zeds” – relationship cycles that repeat and repeat forever without ever really changing. We are effectively trapped into a particular experience of reality by these repeating loops or cycles. Two objects in a relationship with each other can never change that relationship on their own, because cause and effect requires a third party to introduce new information energy into what would otherwise be a static situation. This implies an infinite regress, but not to the benign First Mover of Thomas Aquinas. Instead the cycle of cause and effect goes back to some undefined yet far from benevolent group of entities manipulating our perception and thus our whole reality.

 

We’re obviously no longer in the realm of rational argumentation here. No arguments are given to support these assertions, only a dark mysticism based on a frightening personal experience.

 

When David Douglas Thompson first came up with Relationship Theory it was in a dream or a visionary experience. In the same experience he perceived the presence of these entities, Archons as the Gnostics would have called them although my father always referred to them as “the gods.” His interpretation of the vision is one particular worldview, and Relationship Theory tells us to ring the changes on different worldviews. There is no reason to adopt his Gnosticism as a dogma or fixed belief-system, although it is necessary to understand it and ring the changes on it.

 

My father was a composer as well as an armchair philosopher. While much of his music was light-hearted or even whimsical, some of his most interesting work was heavy to the point of morbidity, including a classical piece called “Jacob at the Pond.” The piano in “Jacob at the Pond” tells a story of tragedy, of some heartbreaking wrong that will never be made right, and of hopeless anger. When asked, he would invariably claim it was about a cat named Jacob playing at a pond. It was actually inspired by a scene in the BBC documentary series The Ascent of Man where Jacob Bronowski visits the pond at Auschwitz and speaks the following words:

 

“Look for yourself. This is the concentration camp and crematorium at Auschwitz, this is where people were turned into numbers. Into this pond were flushed the ashes of four million people. And that was not done by gas. It was done by arrogance. It was done by dogma. It was done by ignorance. When people believe that they have absolute knowledge, with no test in reality, this is how they behave. This is what men do when they aspire to the knowledge of gods.”

 

Relationship Theory was all about the death of absolute knowledge, the necessity of playing with multiple perspectives at the same time in order to approximate a larger truth. He would always say that mankind must somehow overthrow the gods, achieving a new freedom and an apotheosis.

 

In the final year of his life he composed an album of dark ambient electronic music, Whom the Gods Would Destroy, for which he chose a painting of Prometheus as the intended cover. “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.” The music in Whom the Gods Would Destroy sounds discordant and alien, unsettling and anxious. On October 3, 2006 he passed away while competing in the Sunfish World Championships in Charleston, South Carolina.

 

Although he always referred to the entities he saw in his vision as “the gods” and spoke of overthrowing them, I do not see them as being equivalent to the pagan deities. Pagan deities in general are numinous powers associated with aspects of nature or human culture. They are part of our world, not aliens manipulating it. The entities he was talking about are more like the Gnostic Archons, holding humanity back from its full potential and manipulating the human experience of reality. Thompson seems to have thought of these Archons as supremely powerful (and thus needing to be “overthrown”), but it isn’t necessary to take this position to make use of the concept. The important point here is simply that we can become trapped in repeating patterns and that some entities in information space actively use these patterns to control human consciousness.

 

If these entities are responsible for keeping us trapped in a looping cycle of relationship patterns that can never really change, there is only one way to overthrow them and achieve the apotheosis my father always spoke of. We must learn how to do what they do. We must become magicians.

 

By resisting the Archons, we also resist their servants on Earth – the leaders of men. These people seek to manipulate our consciousness to maintain their own wealth and power, just as the Archons do. To resist one is to resist the other.

 

Image by Theodoor Rombouts

The Three Types of Dreamer

The Book of Onei is an antinomian dream grimoire, providing deceptive yet true information about the art of Oneiromancy or dream magic in the form of poetry, fantasy, and intentionally ambiguous instructions.

Lightseers- night wanderers who most easily or frequently contact celestial and benevolent entities.

 

Earthseers- dreamers who dream true things, but of Earth and not of Onei.

 

Darkseers- night wanderers who most easily or frequently contact cthonic and horrifying entities.

 

It’s not that the blue-green mountains don’t appeal.

I can feel their majesty,

Their sense of distance.

It’s just that there’s also something else-

For instance,

The something wicked that this way comes

In the witching hour,

The drunken trembling of branch and stem

And the formless Power.

And if I should sometimes prefer

To attach myself

To some beautiful chaos-

I can pay what it costs.

 

– from The Book of Onei, Part 1: The Art of Night Wandering

Image by Albert Pinkham Ryder

Notes on Relationships

Form is the Illusion is a book about Relationship Theory, an unusual system of metaphysics developed by the late David Douglas Thompson. Relationship Theory addresses questions of ontology and epistemology in a way that is likely to be of interest to pagans and occultists.

David Douglas Thompson, the creator of Relationship Theory, passed away suddenly in 2006. Most of his ideas about Relationship Theory and information physics are now lost forever, because he died without ever completely explaining them. Until 2014, the only remnant of his theory was a single sheet of notebook paper with the Ten Laws written on it, and variations developed by people he had discussed the theory with. (He always encouraged others to develop their own variations on the concept, while hinting that his original idea was somewhat different.)

 

Against all expectation, a long-forgotten notebook came to light in 2014, containing extensive if obscure notes on Relationship Theory as its creator David Douglas Thompson conceived it in 1984. This document was titled “Notes on Relationships” and had the subtitle “Omnology,” meaning “a science of everything.”

 

The original notes were not written in any logical order, and one note often refers back to an idea expressed several pages earlier rather than to the note immediately preceding it. I have rearranged the notes into a rough structure, and added explanatory text and illustrative examples. I have not included notes that involved random speculation on scientific or paranormal topics rather than Relationship Theory as such. The original text is in italics.

 

Proposition: We (humans) know only the various relationships an object has with ourselves and the rest of the universe as seen from our point of view. We cannot know the thing in and of itself, only observe its interactions with other objects.

 

The symbol Ƶ shall mean an interaction(s) between two or more objects.

 

Commentary: Relationship theory is an omnology, a method for understanding anything that exists. In relationship theory, any relationship of any kind is referred to as a “zed” (Ƶ).

 

A zed object or “object” for short, expressed as A, B, C, etc, is an ontological entity of any kind, capable of being in relationship with other such entities. An information unit. A zed object could be a living thing, inorganic matter, a concept, an energy, a meme or anything else. A zed object can also be a set of other zed objects, just as a human being is made up of many cells. Relationship Theory treats all zed objects the same way and assumes them to operate in the same relationship patterns according to the same underlying principles.

 

Kant says that the only thing we can know is the phenomenon, the thing as mediated by our senses, brain structure and so on. Relationship theory agrees that we cannot know the noumenon or “thing in itself,” but asserts that we can know the observed relationship or “zed” between two noumena. These relationships follow patterns we can analyze, understand and predict.

 

“Interactions are the reality, form is the illusion.” To understand an object, you need to understand the underlying relationship patterns, not the superficial external form. Relationship theory is concerned with how relationships change, under what circumstances and in what patterns. A change in relationship is referred to as “delta zed” (ΔƵ) or “dynamic zed.”

 

Ƶ + Δ Ɛ = Ƶ¹

 

i.e. if there is any change of energy in a system the relationships will change.

 

Commentary: This formula can be read as “A relationship plus a change in energy equals a new relationship.” Epsilon (Ɛ) represents energy, specifically “information energy,” which includes all physical forms of energy but also all conceptual analogues of physical energy. For instance, if you give someone a crucial piece of information about some situation, you have introduced new information energy into that situation. If you come into a room full of gloomy people and break the tension with a joke, you have introduced new information energy into that situation. Whenever you do anything that adds new energy to a situation you change all the relevant relationships, whether that means hitting a log with an ax to chop some firewood or constructing an amulet to protect a friend from negative spiritual forces. In the terminology of Relationship Theory, information energy that changes a relationship is known as “delta epsilon” or “change energy.”

 

Ϲ ≠ Ε, Ϲ Ƶ Ε

 

Cause does not lead effect, but the conjunction of a cause and an effect imply a relationship.

 

Commentary: the use of the words “cause and effect” is a bit misleading here, because the statement effectively denies causality as that is generally understood. It might be better phrased as “Cause does not produce effect, but the conjunction of two events implies a relationship.” Unfortunately, the statement is not fully explained or justified in the notes.

 

Cause and effect imply delta Ƶ which implies that all cause and effect situations require 3 or more participants.

 

Ε (event) = Δ ε total

 

Which implies the introduction of a “third party” to the system. 

 

Two objects can form (excepting entropy) a static relationship only. (Ƶ) Delta Ƶ implies a third object or party “in motion” (Δ Ƶ), which of course implies a 4th object to relate to the 3rd to set it in motion and so on and so on ad infinitum. 

 

Commentary: Ε (event) = Δ ε total means “any event is a total energy change.” A changing relationship between two objects implies a third object in motion. Two zed objects in relationship cannot change on their own, they can only change with the introduction of new energy to the set by a third object, which implies an infinite regress. For example, the relationship between the billiard ball and the billiard table cannot change without the introduction of new energy by the pool cue. The relationship between the pool cue and the billiard ball cannot change without the introduction of new energy by the billiard player. This implies that all cause and effect situations require three or more participants.

 

Potential energy = matter 

 

Kinetic energy = Ƶ

 

Therefore Δ Κ = Δ Ƶ

 

Kinetic energy in a static system = entropy?

 

Commentary: This formula can be read as “Kinetic energy equals relationship, therefore a change in the kinetic energy equals a change in the relationship.” A zed object (such as matter) is equivalent to potential energy; relationship is equivalent to kinetic energy. Because kinetic energy equals relationship, a change in the kinetic energy equals a change in the relationship.

 

An object, to all our intents and purposes, is totally defined by the “vector” sum of all its relationships. Thus, in any given system if even one Ƶ changes then all the objects are changed, i.e. become new.

 

Commentary: A vector is any quantity with both direction and magnitude, and a vector sum is what you get when you add up vectors. So how can a non-physical relationship have a vector?

 

If “information space” is analogous to physical space, then an “object” in information space can have both direction and magnitude. For example, when the Buddha rejected the Brahmanic concept of the atman or eternal Self in favor of anatman or “non-self,” all of the relationships in that information set had to change accordingly, and a new religion was born.

 

The concepts and beliefs that constitute Buddhism were moving away from Brahmanism (a direction) to a greater or lesser extent depending on the Buddhist sect in question (a magnitude). So if Buddhism, as a metaphysical object, is “defined by the vector sum of all its relationships” what this means is that Buddhism is definable by the sum of its differences with other belief systems, in terms of which ideas move in different directions and to what extent. According to Relationship Theory, all relationships work this way and all zed objects can be defined this way.

 

A Ƶ can be seen as an exchange of information. 

 

Ex: Energy cannot be released unless there is someplace for it to go. The receiver “learns” that the sender has energy and is changed by it, however minutely. The sender “learns” that the receiver has energy and will spend itself until a balance (static Ƶ) exists.

 

Every Ƶ is a mutation of all parties concerned.

 

Commentary: For example, the teacher learns that the student lacks knowledge, or the lover learns that the beloved lacks love. When the student knows what the teacher knows, a state of balance is attained. When the lover and the beloved are in love with each other, a state of balance is attained.

 

Every zed is a mutation of all parties concerned. The teacher transfers knowledge to the student and both are transformed; the lover kisses the beloved and both are transformed. Relationship is an exchange of information and energy that transforms both parties.

 

Α (Ø, 1,2, …) Ƶ Β (Ø, 1,2, …)

 

Α Ƶ Β (Ø, 1,2, …)

 

A Ƶ Β

 

Any set of objects will have all possible individual Ƶs with another set of objects as well as set to individual Ƶs and a hierarchical Ƶ to Ƶ set.

 

Commentary: Any set of zed objects will have three types of relationship with any other set it interacts with:

 

1- “The set of all objects that make up A exists in relationship with the set of all objects that make up B.” (All possible individual zeds.)

 

2- “Object A exists in relationship with the set of all objects that make up B.” (Set-to-individual zeds.)

 

3- “Object A exists in relationship with Object B.” (A hierarchical set-to-set zed.)

 

The third relationship is “hierarchical” in the sense that one object set gives some form of energy to the other object set.

 

Since the vector sum of an object’s Ƶs defines it, the sum of sums defines a set (i.e. molecules →  matter: cells → human body). 

 

Ƶ1 Ƶ A is possible.

 

Commentary: “If a particular relationship is made up of the relationship between two objects, then it is possible for that relationship to also be in relationship with a third object.” In effect, this means that a relationship can function as a zed object and form relationships with other zed objects.

 

An “Experience” perceived, is a dynamic Ƶ (Δ Ƶ).  

 

Δ Ƶ = Δ X / Δ Y

 

An “absolute” reference point cannot be defined therefore all references are relative and all measurements are relative. Sensory perception is a form of measurement. But what are we measuring? What is our reference no matter how arbitrary? Our eyes have millions of rods and cones sensitive to light. What does that mean? 

 

All dynamic Ƶs = Δ X / Δ Y

 

In other words, “information” about a Ƶ can only be had by noting a change in something per a change in something else. To us, 99% of the time, that second something is either time or space. Our eyes respond to the periodic changes in amplitude defined by a light wave (or quanta). The reference used to compare is the light energy of just a millibleep before. We are co-relating a rate of change to a rate of change to a rate of change. Inertia creates a time lag in the “resonation” so that in effect our eyes have memorized the last level of energy.   

 

Δ Ƶ = Δ X / Δ Y describes a slope, i.e. acceleration.

 

Since any Ƶ is a mutation of all concerned parties and information is exchanged (a form of Δ X / Δ Y) a truly static Ƶ is impossible because if no information is available an “object” cannot exist.

 

Commentary: “A relationship change equals a change in something per a change in something else.”

 

Example:

 

“It’s getting dark” = a change in light relative to the amount of light available a moment ago. Therefore, an “experience” perceived is simply a dynamic zed.

 

I = Δ Ƶ 

 

Ƶ = Δ (Δ X / Δ Y) / Δ Ƶ 

 

?

 

Information = a rate of change of a rate of change of a rate of change.?

 

Commentary: all information is some form of delta zed. The question marks seem to indicate uncertainty about the specific formulae used to express this concept.

 

If all info is described as angular velocity then all “objects” may be viewed as a series of vector quantity pairs (90 degrees apart or perpendicular) relative to the other “hypothetical” objects. 

 

Ƶ = √ (Ƶ1² + Ƶ2² + Ƶ3²… Ƶ ∞²)

 

The Serendipity Factor = X Ƶ the usually insignificant X Ƶs with the rest of the universe. However, if the vector sum comes out mostly one sign or the other… watch out! Strange things may happen.

 

Commentary: the specific formula should not be taken too literally in this case. The idea here is that any existing relationship, no matter how seemingly insignificant, is the product of all relationships in the entire universe and therefore a reflection of vast underlying relationship patterns. Incidents of serendipity reflect the presence of such a pattern.

 

A quarter wave implies all the info of a full wave. 

 

The precise alignment and position of any wave slope must be determined by the universe as a whole since there are no “insignificant” factors. Therefore any given ¼ wave implies the whole universe and all information could be extrapolated from that one slope.

 

Commentary: ΔƵ = ΔX/ΔY describes a slope, i.e. an acceleration in information speed. If you think of the slope as being a portion of wave, then you can predict the rest of the wave pattern by measuring the slope. “A quarter wave contains all the information of a full wave” implies that all the information in the universe could be extrapolated from any given delta zed.

 

“Notes on Relationships” is a short document, and was never intended as a complete or systematic statement. Relationship Theory was only preserved in fragments. Some aspects of it were never completely explained and others were never developed as originally intended. Although my father often spoke of using physics calculations to model the interactions between information-units, he never developed this “information physics” into a working system. Rather than attempting to complete this work – which I am not qualified to do – I have decided to simply present the fragments and invite any interested reader to develop the concepts further.

 

From this point on, I’ll be branching out in various directions and using Relationship Theory only as a starting point. The metaphysics of Relationship Theory has some intriguing implications for the philosophy of religion – implications that tend toward polytheism and occult philosophy.

 

Image by William Blake

Offering Prayer

The Book of Onei is an antinomian dream grimoire, providing deceptive yet true information about the art of Oneiromancy or dream magic in the form of poetry, fantasy, and intentionally ambiguous instructions.

Burn the appropriate candle and recite this prayer when you leave an offering to the powers:

 

This hungry pit shall open wide

And gorge on meat and wine.

These flames will burn as night-clouds turn

To watch this work of mine.

 

This shaft will gape so none escapes

Its toothless maw tonight.

While blue-white stars look down in awe

To see the flames so bright.

 

Oh gods of endless space and sky,

Oh gods of underneath,

Oh gods who live and gods who die

And gods who wait beneath,

 

Accept these morsels from my hand,

Drink deep, and eat your fill.

I seek no benefits tonight

Unless you share my will.

 

– from The Book of Onei, Part 1: The Art of Night Wandering

Image by Henry Fuseli

The Six Axioms

Form is the Illusion is a book about Relationship Theory, an unusual system of metaphysics developed by the late David Douglas Thompson. Relationship Theory addresses questions of ontology and epistemology in a way that is likely to be of interest to pagans and occultists.

The Ten Laws were accompanied by six axioms, which re-state the same ideas in a different form:

 

1- Perception requires contrast.

 

2- Contrast occurs through interaction.

 

3- Interaction necessitates change.

 

4- Change is bound by balance.

 

5- All paths are eventually cyclical.

 

6- Equivalent explanations must be considered simultaneously and equally valid or equivalent.

 

In Relationship Theory, explanations or models are considered equivalent if they make the same predictions. For example, science predicts that the sun will set in the evening and rise at dawn because of a particular set of physical facts about the universe. Greek mythology predicts the same thing, but uses the story of Helios driving his sun-chariot across the heavens.

 

Any number of other mythologies have their own sun-deities, but they all predict that the sun will set in the evening and rise in the morning. As all of these worldviews make the same predictions, Relationship Theory treats them all as being simultaneously true and equivalent.

 

Image by Dugald Walker

To the Keeper of the Gate

The Book of Onei is an antinomian dream grimoire, providing deceptive yet true information about the art of Oneiromancy or dream magic in the form of poetry, fantasy, and intentionally ambiguous instructions.

A prayer with offerings to gain entrance to the Borderlands:

 

Phantoms of the forest gather

In the shadows of the trees.

Hidden voices whisper, whisper.

I have come for all of these.

 

Praises to the guardian spirit,

Keeper of the in-between.

There are ways that I must wander,

And you know what ways I mean.

 

Here beneath the bone-white birches

And the blue-green spruce and pine

I have brought you bowls of chicken,

Goblets filled with rich red wine.

 

Spirit of the borders, hear me.

Throw the doors of twilight wide.

Tell the skulls that guard the pillars,

Grant me leave to pass inside.

 

– from The Book of Onei, Part 1: The Art of Night Wandering

Image by Arnold Böcklin