315 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
315 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
From: Tagi@cup.portal.com (Thyagi Morgoth NagaSiva)
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Date: 17 Dec 92 02:11:33 GMT
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Newsgroups: alt.religion.computers
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Subject: MUDs and Reality (Mysticism/Computers - LONG THEORY)
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9212.16 e.v.
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It has come to my attention that some people hold rather
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tightly to the notion of a 'real world' or 'real life' (RL),
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and that this is often distinguished from places known as MUDs
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or things known as 'virtual worlds'.
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When I first encountered this (in cyberMUDs) something struck me as
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strange and ill-conceived about it. How could people be sure what
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was 'real' and what was 'virtual', especially the better educated
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of the lot, when philosophers had argued the point for ages and
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countless mystics had suggested that what we take for 'reality' is a
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mere reflection, a fragment of the real.
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I took to challenging people regarding these notions and eventually,
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through socratic dialogue with a few MUD philosophers, came to develop
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a theory which uses the model of the MUD for modern psychology/mysticism.
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Below is the present form of this theory, and I'd appreciate any feedback
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that might be offered. Review, comments and disputation are
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enthusiastically requested.
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-------------------------------
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The MUD as a Basis for Western Mysticism
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Contents:
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1. Realms and Worlds
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2. Multi-User Dimensions (MUDs)
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3. The CyberMUD or Cyber Realm, and the NONcyber Realm
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4. Reality, Virtual Reality, and Real Life (RL)
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5. The Real World and RL
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6. RL and MUDs
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7. InterMUD Studies
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8. Entrenchment and Abstraction
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9. The Science of Artistry
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------------------------------------
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The MUD as a Basis for Western Mysticism
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by Thyagi NagaSiva
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1. Realms and Worlds
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'Realm', 'world' and 'MUD' (Multi-User Dimension, to be defined below),
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are here synonyms. They describe a bounded sphere of perception.
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A 'virtual world' is a realm which is apparent to some senses but
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not to others (whether or not they appear within all dimensions of
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sensation).
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2. Multi-User Dimensions (MUD),
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More specifically then, by MUD we refer to a realm of measurement
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(dimension) which makes possible or allows more than one (multi)
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locus of change (user). Where 'realm' and 'world' are fairly ambiguous,
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MUD is a technical term with specific meaning and synonomous
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application.
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3. The CyberMUD or Cyber Realm, and the NONcyber Realm
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A cybermMUD or 'cyber realm' is one which is reached via
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a computer (by whatever definition). It may be contrasted with
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a NONcyber realm in two major ways:
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A) The cyber realm seems to depend upon the NONcyber realm for
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its existence (but this cannot be proven), and
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B) The cyber realm is dependent upon some computer for its
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ultimate form (whether or not this computer is NONcyber-based).
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4. Reality, Virtual Reality, and Real Life (RL)
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The term 'reality' is commonly used as a substitute for 'realm',
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yet we reserve it for a specific meaning. Here the phrase
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'virtual reality' is an oxymoron, and this will become apparent
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below.
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The common assumption is that cyber realms are MUDs and NONcyber
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realms are NOT (i.e. that NONcyber realms are 'reality').
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However, given the definitions above we can posit that what most
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people call 'real life' (RL) is actually an experience within a
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NONcyber realm of subjective or objective dimensions.
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We have multiple selves, arising from the combined complex of our
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social roles, that vie for supremacy within the dimension of our
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personal mindspace. This is the subject dimension, the 'me-MUD'.
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It includes feelings, thoughts and the entire range of subjective
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experience.
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There appears to be a world of shapes and objects around us. We
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maneuver, physically, through the familiar subrealms of 'height',
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'width' and 'depth' and manipulate or interact with entities and
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objects within them. This is the object dimension, the 'space-MUD'.
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It is the one which people assume to be more 'real' based upon their
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perception that it contains cyberMUDs and gives rise to the me-MUD.
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Taking one (NONcyber, space-MUD) as pre-eminent based
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solely on the grounds of origin (cyber realms seem to originate
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from NONcyber technologies) is quite commom. For example,
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many people assume that NONcyber personalities are somehow
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more 'real' than their cyber counterpart, even if these personae
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(socially imagined constructs deriving from communication
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styles and appearance) are comparable in all respects save origin.
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That they distinguish one as 'real' and the other as 'virtual' or
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'imaginary' displays the bias toward the default dimension
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(quite reasonably), but tells us nothing about what 'real' means
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aside from 'preferred' or 'longer-lasting'.
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5. The Real World and RL
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We shall here take for our definition of the 'real world' that
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realm which is a superset of all MUDs. That superset upon which
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all other dimensions depend is logically the 'real'. Plato
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claimed that the real world is the world of Forms or Ideas, and
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many other philosophers offer their own speculation as to what
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constitutes the 'Source Code of Existence' as we know it.
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'The superset of all MUDs' is not an easy concept to understand.
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It transcends both the MUD of our subjective experience and
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the MUD of 'space' (I leave 'time', which connects and/or
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interweaves these two, for future speculation). It is easy to see
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why any aspect of RL in THIS context must be beyond words to some
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extent, especially when attempting to ascertain information about
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'you' or 'me', or indeed any isolated object/subject.
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To say 'I went shopping in RL' would seem not only fallacious,
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but completely dishonest. No separate 'individual' can ever
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'do' anything in 'RL', not when we take it to be this superset,
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this Unity which includes all dimensions of subject and object.
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A note about Unity seems necessary. When speaking of 'Unity', it
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is not meaningful to compare this with 'Diversity'. The reason for this
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is that the unity here implied transcends all lingual expressions.
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For the same reason that 'Spirit' cannot be compared with 'Matter'
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because in the nondual realm Spirit and Matter are One, so also is
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Diversity identical to Unity and vice versa. The term is only a useful
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indicator of the realm or dimension (that superset) to which we refer.
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Given this, the real world is a subject/object Unity, toward which
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many religious paths point and about which we shall never
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obtain a completely accurate lingual expression (due to the
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disunitive nature of language).
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Comments about RL, therefore, are of a MYSTICAL nature, within
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this context, rather than a 'practical' one. They apply, perhaps
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abstractly, to that superset which some Christians call 'Heaven'
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and some Buddhists might call 'Nirvana'.
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6. RL and MUDs
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RL is mystical experience, since it occurs in the dimension of
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Unified nonduality and it would seem to depend upon the QUALITY of
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its manifestation rather than on the location of particular objects
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or subjects. We may thus find RL in any MUD, since all MUDs are
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contained by the real world and may include Unitive experiences.
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A MUD is a world of flux, where the real is in some ways beyond change,
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enveloping a 'becoming beingness' that is not usually perceived in
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ordinary states of consciousness. To encounter RL, therefore, is to
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become unified with the divine, the God of Platonic and Hermetic
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Christians, who is both beyond and within the MUD experience, at once
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transcending and subsuming it.
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A MUD is the equivalent of Carse's 'finite game', in which we assume
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for the purposes of the game that certain rules are unbreakable
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(i.e. the subject/object division) and that our goal is to somehow 'win'.
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Carse speculates that the goal of the infinite game (the real world)
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is to continue playing, and no foolish notions about 'death' or
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'morality' or 'identity' get in the way of an infinite player.
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7. InterMUD Studies
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The 'real' would seem to be approachable by examining all experiences
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and coming to some determination as to their source. Modern
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Science's objective examination of the nature of matter is one aspect
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of this search. Mystical exploration and experimentation in the world
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of the subject is another.
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Searches of these types are limited by the techniques used within the
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particular MUD. We shall not determine a purely physical source
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for experience because experience is not entirely objective. Likewise,
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we shall not discover a purely mental source because experience
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is not entirely subjective.
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InterMUD studies such as those by Fritjof Capra and Gary Zukav,
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popular scientific explanations of the comparisons between objective
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and subjective explorations, are quite important. They point out the
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boundaries and connections between MUDs (not only the subject/object
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MUDs but also those of academic and popular cultures).
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They indicate the paradoxes, the eddies and vortices that arise
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as a result of entering one particular finite game and looking at
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another. They show us the similarities between worlds, how one
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can be used to understand another, and how the real world surpasses
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our ability to explain.
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8. Entrenchment and Abstraction
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Of course those who entrench themselves within one particular MUD
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(such as those who argue vehemently for the 'reality' of the object
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MUD, for example) will not understand such interMUD studies, nor will
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they acknowledge the meaning and accuracy of terms which apply to
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realms outside their entrenchment. This is to be expected.
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When my 'reality' is comprised solely of objects, of surface tension
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and physical principles, I cannot then see the veracity of descriptions
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regarding subjective referents. 'Soul', 'spirit', 'emotion' and even
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'mind' are to be described in physical terms if they are to have any
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meaning for me.
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Those who speak of objects in 'abstract' terminology as if they
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were in any sense 'real' are either mistaken or confusing to me due to
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their 'abstractness'. 'Abstraction' is indeed a relative qualifier which
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describes one's position and one's relationship to the qualified noun.
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If I say that 'mind' is an abstraction, then the MUD of my entrenchment
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does not contain direct associations with what is being called 'mind'.
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If I say, on the other hand that 'brain' is an abstraction due to the
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relativity of subjective experience, then I find my position identical
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yet I am inhabiting a different MUD (the subject-MUD).
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Neither position can be said to be in the real world as we have defined
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it here. Both MUDs are subsets of that superset, identified as such by
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the PRESENCE of abstraction within them. 'Abstraction', or that quality
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which admits of disUnity, is an indication of incompleteness, of a MUD
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which is not the real world.
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9. The Science of Artistry
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The challenge, therefore, is to find our way into a 'Concreteness' which
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admits of the Concrete not because of arbitrary definition (as we may
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obtain by denying the existence of 'mind' by virtue of its abstraction),
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but because there is no other alternative. RL is that experience which
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penetrates all known MUDs, that concentration of indescribable
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perfection which is implied but never described by language.
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InterMUD studies are therefore the study of ALL MUDs and their origins,
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differences and similarities. While they may begin in cyber realms, of
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necessity they shall permeate noncyber worlds as well, linking the video
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MUDs of the picture, movie, television and arcade/pc games; the lingual
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realms of the letter, telephone, cb, short-wave and internet; the sporting
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gameworlds of dice, boards, words, role-playing, and 'MU*'; the realms
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of personal expression such as lecture, conversation, music, concert,
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dance, sports, war, romance and sexuality.
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Moreover, interMUD studies may be considered interdisciplinary studies
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of Art in general. The realms in which we 'do' things each have their own
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specializations and techniques. Over time they develop into what are
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called 'spiritual disciplines' (those which we may use to reach the real).
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In very old and rich spiritual traditions we can see this manifested quite
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readily.
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The japanese 'tea ceremony' is an artform which has been developed into
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spiritual practice. So are Chinese and Arabian calligraphy. Martial arts
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in the East and West have grown along similar lines, and, while the martial
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arts of the East have seen greater popularity (being of the body), those of
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the West (called 'ceremonial magick') have integrated both Western
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and Eastern esoteric concepts as elements of their foundation.
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These particulars are less important than what they imply in general:
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Art is a process of coming to the real and Science in its most
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relevant form is the study of Art and that Source toward which we may
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return. The science of Artistry, in its broadest sense, is what such
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interMUD studies comprise.
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The real world that such a science seeks to reveal is beyond its
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capacity to describe in language, yet well within its power to make
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available by direct experience. The metaphor of the MUD and its
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application to the disciplines of philosophy, psychology, religion
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and mysticism are monumental and breath-taking in scope.
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Drawing on the concepts of the 'worldview' and 'paradigm', the MUD
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both exemplifies (in its cyber forms) and symbolizes (within the
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mystical model herein portrayed) ordinary experience and its relation
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to the real. May we each use it to move closer to our source and
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begin to live what can truly be called Real Lives.
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-----------------------------------------
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Books proving inspirational to this essay included:
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Games Theory
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_Finite and Infinite Games_, by James P. Carse, Ballantine, 1986
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Platonism
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_A History of Philosophy: Vol. 1, Part 1, Greece and Rome_,
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by F. Copleston, S. J., Image Books, 1962
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Modern Scientific Views of Mysticism
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_The Tao of Physics_, by Fritjof Capra, Bantam, 1980
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_The Dancing Wu Li Masters_, by Gary Zukav, Bantam, 1980.
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-----------------------------------------------------------
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9212.16 e.v.
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Thyagi Morgoth NagaSiva
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Tagi@Cup.Portal.Com
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871 Ironwood Dr.
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San Jose, CA 95125-2815
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