Tag Archives: OBEs

Material: Seven Souls

from The Western Lands (1988) by William S. Burroughs

Governments fall from sheer indifference.

Authority figures, deprived of the vampiric energy they suck off their constituents, are seen for what they are: dead empty masks manipulated by computers. And what is behind the computers? Remote control. Of course. Look at the prison you are in, we are all in. This is a penal colony that is now a Death Camp. Place of the Second and Final Death. Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape. Don’t intend to be there when this shithouse goes up. Nothing here now but the recordings. Shut them off, they are as radioactive as an old joke…

The ancient Egyptians postulated seven souls.

Top soul, and the first to leave at the moment of death,
is Ren, the Secret Name.
This corresponds to my Director.
He directs the film of your life from conception to death.
The Secret Name is the title of your film.
When you die, that’s where Ren came in.
Second soul, and second one off the sinking ship, is Sekem: Energy, Power, Light.
The Director gives the orders, Sekem presses the right buttons.
Number three is Khu, the Guardian Angel. He, she, or it is third man out …
depicted as flying away across a full moon,
a bird with luminous wings and head of light.
Sort of thing you might see on a screen in an Indian restaurant in Panama.
The Khu is responsible for the subject and can be injured in his defense-
but not permanently, since the first three souls are eternal.
They go back to Heaven for another vessel.
The four remaining souls must take their chances with the subject
in the Land of the Dead.
Number four is Ba, the Heart, often treacherous.
This is a hawk’s body with your face on it, shrunk down to the size of a fist.
Many a hero has been brought down, like Samson, by a perfidious Ba.
Number five is Ka, the Double, most closely associated with the subject.
The Ka, which usually reaches adolescence at the time of bodily death,
is the only reliable guide through the Land of the Dead to the Western Lands.
Number six is Khaibit, the Shadow, Memory,
your whole past conditioning from this and other lives.

Number seven is Sekhu, the Remains.

More Material HERE

A Deuce of O.B.E.s

OK  – I realize that I am addicted to working on this blog, primitive as it is. Compared to other addictive tendencies I possess, this one is positive and therapeutic – so I better go with it.    Come with me.

This is a decentralized poetry blog. For me, poetry should be finely wrought, highly structured, rhythmic, rhyming mystery.  I also prefer a clear, enduring message in poetry rather than ephemeral observations or frivolous meanderings. Mystery conveying clear messages…hmmmm.  Poetic preferences  get harder to pin down as we try to define them.

I also  don’t want to go where Pablo Saborio goes. As an ex-Nihilist (yes, I am a Christian who still reads Nietzsche) I can say that I really like the graphic style of his blog, but there is too much word-collage and dark verborrhea there  for my taste. My island of intensity is situated in other seas and uncharted archipelagos.

What you are likely to find on my island of intensity: disjunctures, 17th/18th century poetry, musings on the lost civilization of Atlantis, semi-coherent superficial references to the Rhizomatic philosophy of Deleuze & Guattari , death-trips and resurrection epiphanies, highbrow, lowbrow, pop, surreal and psycho-art, rock’n’roll, Rastafari, delusions of grandeur with undercurrents of self-loathing,  smatterings of Romance language, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, etc.

Therefore, in the name of Poetry, today I bring you two Out of Body Experiences [OBEs].  (Isn’t that what good poetry should do – take us out of our bodies?)  Those of you who dismiss such things TURN BACK NOW.  You are not meant to be here. Go check out that cooking blog, or  scan the sports pages, OK?

The first is Howard Storm. Have you ever read a book that spoke so insightfully to you that you felt like buying a case from the publisher to distribute to all your friends? My Descent Into Death is one of those. Storm was an art history professor,  artist, and a declared atheist  – until a perforated ulcer in the City of Light took him down to hell, then up to Heaven, with the result that he became a  pastor. You can find many interviews with him on YouTube. They are highly recommended. Anne Rice [of vampire fame]wrote the foreword. You can read a lot of excerpts here. I return to this book over and over when overwhelmed with despair. Please read it.

The second is that of Ian McCormack. He was a New Zealander, and a surf bum, riding the wave of an Endless Summer existence – until he got stung five times by  Box Jellyfish.            One sting can be lethal to a grown adult. Here is a link to his testimony. It is an amazing read.   People – if  this stuff is true, if  these two men really lived these experiences, then a great reevaluation of the very foundations of our lives is called for. You can try to ignore these things but they are out there – these are only two OBEs. There are endless testimonies of this type.

Are you living your life today in light of Eternity – the absolute reality of eternity? Are you hoping it’s all just chemical dissociation due to physical stress? Do you immediately mock those who bring us these reports?

Yes – I AM preaching. Preaching is also a valuable form of poetry.

Preaching is a highly  esteemed art on my island of intensity.          Have a nice eternity.