Category: Quotations

Encounters With the Nagual – Armando Torres

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

Three-Pronged Naguals

“The Rule is final, but its design and configuration are in constant evolution. But unlike evolutionists, who view the adaptations of life as a haphazard accumulation of genetic mutations, seers know there is nothing random about the Rule. They see how a command of the Eagle, in the form of a wave of energy, shakes the lineages of power from time to time, producing new stages in sorcery.

“A more exact way of describing it, is to assume that all possible variations of the Rule are contained in a womb of potential, and what changes over time is the degree of knowledge the sorcerers have of that totality, and what emphasis they put on particular portions of it. Such periods of change are recurrent, and they are represented by the number three.”

“Why three?”

“Because the old Toltecs associated the number three with dynamics and renewal. They discovered that ternary formations – formations based on the number three – announce unexpected changes.

“The Rule dictates that, from time to time, a special kind of nagual will appear in the lineages; a nagual whose energy is not divided into four parts, but instead has only three compartments. Seers call them ‘three-pronged naguals.”

I asked him how they were different from the others. He answered:

“Their energy is volatile, they are always moving, and because of that they find it difficult to accumulate power. From the point of view of the lineage, their composition is faulty; they will never be true naguals. In compensation, they lack the timidity and reservation that characterize the classic naguals, and they possess an unusual capacity to improvise and communicate.

“We can say that three-pronged naguals are like the cuckoo birds incubated in other birds’ nests. They are opportunists, but they are necessary. Unlike the naguals of four points, whose freedom it is to pass unnoticed, those of three points are public personalities. They disclose secrets and cause fragmentation of the teachings, but without them, the lineages of power would have been extinguished a long time ago.

“Among the new seers, the Rule is that a nagual leaves a new party as a descendant. Some, due to their enormous energy surpluses, are able to help organizing a second or third generation of seers. For example, the nagual Elias Ulloa lived long enough to create his successor’s party and to have an influence on the following one. But this does not mean a fork in the lineage; all those groups were part of the same transmission line.

“On the other hand, the three-pronged nagual is authorized to transmit his knowledge radially, which does lead to a diversification of lineages. His luminous cocoon has a disintegrating effect on the group, which breaks the lineal structure of transmission and foments a desire for change and action in warriors, and an active disposition to be involved with their fellow men.”

“Was that what happened to you?”

“That’s what happened. Due to my luminous disposition, I don’t have any qualms about leaving kernels of knowledge behind, wherever I go. I know that I need an enormous quantity of energy to fulfill my task, and that I can only obtain it from masses. For that reason I am willing to broadcast the knowledge far and wide, and transform and redefine its paradigms.”

The Portion of the Rule for the Three-Pronged Nagual

The Three-Pronged Nagual

“As you know, my teacher became aware of the Rule for the three-pronged nagual when he tried to analyze certain anomalies in the new group. Apparently, I could not get in tune with the rest of the apprentices. Then he paid me sufficient attention to see that I masked my energy configuration.”

“Do you mean that Don Juan’s seeing had been mistaken?”

“Of course not! What was mistaken was his looking. To see is the final form of perception; there are no appearances, so it is not possible to be deceived. However, due to the pressure that he had exerted on me for years, my energy struggled to mold itself to his. That is common among apprentices. Since he was divided into four compartments, I also began to manifest a similar energetic weight in my actions.

“Once I was able to shake off his influence (it took me almost ten years of arduous work), we discovered something astonishing: My luminosity only had three compartments; it didn’t correspond to an ordinary, modern person, who only has two, nor to a nagual. This discovery caused a great commotion in the group of seers, since they all saw it as a portent of profound change for the lineage.

“Then Don Juan went back to the tradition of his predecessors, and dusted off a forgotten aspect of the Rule. He told me that the election of a nagual cannot in any way be considered as a personal whim, since it is the spirit who chooses the successor of a lineage at all times. Therefore, my energetic anomaly was part of a command. Faced with my urgent questioning, he assured me that a messenger would appear in due time and explain to me the function of my presence as a three-pronged nagual.

“Years later, during a visit to one of the rooms in the National Museum of Anthropology and History, I observed a native dressed in the old-fashioned Tarahumara costume, who seemed to have the most absorbing interest in one of the exhibition pieces. He examined it from all sides and demonstrated such a total concentration that it made me curious, and I went closer to look.

“When he saw me, the man spoke to me and began to explain the meaning of a group of excellent, painstaking drawings sculpted into the stone. Then, while I meditated on what he had told me, I remembered Don Juan’s promise, and realized that this man had been an envoy from the spirit, who had passed on to me the portion of the Rule concerning the three-pronged nagual.”

“And what does that portion say?”

“It affirms that, just as the party has an energy matrix of the number seventeen (two naguals, four female dreamers, four female stalkers, four male warriors, and three scouts), a lineage, which is formed by a succession of parties, also has a structure of power, of the number fifty-two. The Eagle’s command is that every fifty-two generations of four-pointed naguals, there will appear a three- pronged nagual who serves as a cathartic action for the propagation of new four-point lineages.

“The Rule also says that the three-pronged naguals are destructive to the established order, because their nature is neither creative nor nurturing, and they have the tendency to enslave all those who surround them. It adds that, to achieve freedom, these naguals should do it alone, because their energy is not tuned to guide groups of warriors.

“Like everything in the world of energy, the block of fifty-two generations is divided into two parts; the first twenty-six concerning themselves with expansion and the creation of new lines, the rest oriented towards conservation and isolation. This pattern of behavior has been repeating itself millennium after millennium, so sorcerers know that it is part of the Rule. “As a result of the activities of a three-pronged nagual, the knowledge becomes widely known, and new cells of four-point naguals are formed. From that starting point, lineages recapture the tradition of transmitting the teachings in a lineal form.”

“How often do three-point naguals appear?”

“Approximately once per millennium. That is the age of my lineage.”

The Task Of The Seers Of Today

“Upon verifying the Rule of the three-pronged nagual, Don Juan deduced that, inevitably, the time of a new breed of warriors was at hand; I have called them the modern seers.”

“Are there any peculiarities in the luminous composition of those warriors?”

“No. In every era, man’s energy pattern has been very homogeneous, so the organization of the party is the same. However, the warriors of today are experiencing a slide towards green in their luminosity, which means that they are recovering characteristics of the old seers. This is something unforeseen, although it is for sure covered by the Rule.

“The true difference between seers of the past and those of today is in their behavior. At the moment, we are not subjected to the same repressions as in previous eras, and therefore sorcerers have fewer restrictions. Clearly, this has a purpose: Popularization of the teaching.

“I have lived a moment of renewal. My task is to close the lineage of Don Juan with a golden key, and to open up possibilities for those who come later. That is why I have said that I am the last nagual of my lineage, not in an absolute sense, but in the sense of radical change.”

At this point, Carlos took a break in his presentation and reminded me of a conversation we had when we first met.

At that time, I had asked him to tell me tales of power. He replied that he could not refuse what I was asking, but to hand over those stories without any directions would have been to trivialize them.

“I hope what you have seen during these years fulfills your expectations. I did what I could, considering your limitations as well as mine. I know you have already begun to train your dreaming double, and that guarantees that you can continue by yourself; your double won’t leave you alone until you arrive at your totality. The theoretical part is finished, and it is time to give you a last gift.”

Excommunication

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

These below excerpted from Wikipedia

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History

The Catholic Church claims that the penalty of excommunication is biblical and that both Paul of Tarsus and John the Apostle make reference to the practice of cutting people off from the community, in order to hasten their repentance. The Catholic Encyclopedia states that from the earliest days of Christianity, excommunication was the chief (if not the only) ecclesiastical penalty for laymen; for guilty clerics the first punishment was deposition from their office, i.e. reduction to the ranks of the laity. The Catholic Encyclopedia adds that during the first centuries of Christianity, excommunication was not regarded as a simple external measure, but also as one which touched the soul and the conscience. It was not merely the severing of the outward bond which holds individual to their place in the Church; it severed also the internal bond, and the sentence pronounced on earth was understood to be ratified in heaven.

During the Middle Ages, excommunication was analogous to the secular imperial ban or “outlawry” under common law. The individual was separated to some degree from the communion of the faithful. Formal acts of public excommunication were sometimes accompanied by a ceremony wherein a bell was tolled (as for the dead), the Book of the Gospels was closed, and a candle snuffed out—hence the idiom “to condemn with bell, book, and candle.”

Those under excommunication were to be shunned. Pope Gregory VII was the first to mitigate the proscription against communicating with an excommunicated person. At a council in Rome in 1079, he made exceptions for members of the immediate family, servants, and occasions of necessity or utility. In the mid-12th century, Pope Eugene III held a synod in order to deal with the large number of heretical groups. Mass excommunication was used as a convenient tool to squelch heretics who belonged to groups which professed beliefs radically different than those taught by the Catholic Church.

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Types of excommunication

The terminology used to qualify the modalities of excommunication may vary depending on the author.

The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia distinguishes excommunication from the refusal of ecclesiastical communion, in which one bishop refuses to worship in common with another.

Anathema is a sort of aggravated excommunication, from which, however, it does not differ essentially, but simply in the matter of special solemnities and outward display.

A jure and ab homine

Excommunication is either a jure (by law) or ab homine (by judicial act of man, i.e. by a judge). The first is provided by the law itself, which declares that whosoever shall have been guilty of a definite crime will incur the penalty of excommunication. The second is inflicted by an ecclesiastical prelate, either when he issues a serious order under pain of excommunication or imposes this penalty by judicial sentence and after a criminal trial.

Latæ sententiæ and ferendæ sententiæ

Excommunication is either latæ sententiæ or ferendæ sententiæ.

Latae sententiae excommunication is incurred as soon as the offence is committed and by reason of the offence itself (eo ipso) without intervention of any ecclesiastical judge; it is recognized in the terms used by the legislator, for instance: “the culprit will be excommunicated at once, by the fact itself [statim, ipso facto]”.

Ferendae sententiae excommunication is considered by the law as a penalty and is inflicted on the culprit only by a judicial sentence; in other words, the delinquent is rather threatened than visited with the penalty, and incurs it only when the judge has summoned him before his tribunal, declared him guilty, and punished him according to the terms of the law. It is recognized when the law contains these or similar words: “under pain of excommunication”; “the culprit will be excommunicated”.

Public and occult

Excommunication ferendæ sententiæ can be public only, as it must be the object of a declaratory sentence pronounced by a judge; but excommunication latæ sententiæ may be either public or occult.

    An excommunication is public through the publicity of the law when it is imposed and published by ecclesiastical authority; it is public through notoriety of fact when the offence that has incurred it is known to the majority in the locality, as in the case of those who have publicly done violence to clerics, or of the purchasers of church property. This excommunication is valid in the forum externum and consequently in the forum internum.

    Excommunication is occult when the offence entailing it is known to no one or almost no one. This excommunication is valid in the forum internum only.

The practical difference of validities in the forums is very important:

    He who has incurred occult excommunication should treat himself as excommunicated and be absolved as soon as possible, submitting to whatever conditions will be imposed upon him, but this only in the tribunal of conscience; he is not obliged to denounce himself to a judge nor to abstain from external acts connected with the exercise of jurisdiction, and he may ask absolution without making himself known either in confession or to the Sacred Penitentiaria. According to the teaching of Benedict XIV, “a sentence declaratory of the offence is always necessary in the forum externum, since in this tribunal no one is presumed to be excommunicated unless convicted of a crime that entails such a penalty”.

    Public excommunication, on the other hand, is removed only by a public absolution; when it is question of simple publicity of fact (see above), the absolution, while not judicial, is nevertheless public, inasmuch as it is given to a known person and appears as an act of the forum externum.

In a case of occult excommunication the culprit has the right to judge himself and to be judged by his confessor according to the exact truth, whereas, in the forum externum the judge decides according to presumptions and proofs. Consequently, in the tribunal of conscience he who is reasonably persuaded of his innocence cannot be compelled to treat himself as excommunicated and to seek absolution; this conviction, however, must be prudently established.

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Latae sententiae

The 1983 Code of Canon Law attaches the penalty of latae sententiae (automatic) excommunication to the following actions:

  1. Apostates, heretics, and schismatics (can. 1364)
  2. Desecration of the Eucharist (can. 1367)
  3. A person who physically attacks the pope (can. 1370)
  4. A priest who in confession absolves a partner with whom they have violated the sixth commandment [offenses against chastity] (can. 977, can. 1384)
  5. A person who attempts to confer a holy order on a woman, and the woman who attempts to receive it (can. 1379)
  6. A bishop who consecrates another bishop without papal mandate (can. 1382)
  7. A priest who violates the seal of the confessional (can. 1388)
  8. A person who procures an abortion (can. 1398)
  9. Accomplices who were needed to commit an action that has an automatic excommunication penalty (can. 1329)

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Those who can excommunicate

Excommunication is either a jure (by law) or ab homine (by judicial act of man, i.e. by a judge). The first is provided by the law itself, which declares that whosoever shall have been guilty of a definite crime will incur the penalty of excommunication. The second is inflicted by an ecclesiastical prelate, either when he issues a serious order under pain of excommunication or imposes this penalty by judicial sentence and after a trial.

Excommunication is an act of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, the rules of which it follows. Hence the general principle: whoever has proper jurisdiction can excommunicate, but only his own subjects. Therefore, whether excommunications be a jure (by the law) or ab homine (under form of sentence or precept), they may come from the pope, from the bishop for his diocese; and from regular prelates for religious orders. But a parish priest cannot inflict this penalty. The subjects of these various authorities are those who come under their jurisdiction chiefly on account of domicile or quasi-domicile in their territory; then by reason of the offense committed while on such territory; and finally by reason of personal right, as in the case of regulars. As to excommunications ab homine, absolution from them is reserved by law to the ordinary who has imposed them.

Those who can be excommunicated

No one can be subject to ecclesiastical censure unless they be baptized, delinquent, and contumacious. Baptism confers initial jurisdiction, delinquency refers to having committed a wrong, and contumacious indicates the person’s willfull persistence in such conduct.  Since excommunication is the forfeiture of the spiritual privileges of ecclesiastical society, all those, but those only, can be excommunicated who, by any right whatsoever, belong to this society. Consequently, excommunication can be inflicted only on baptized and living Catholics. It does not pertain to pagans, Muslims, Jews, and other non-Catholics.

No one is automatically excommunicated for any offense if, without any fault of his own, he was unaware that he was violating a law (1983 CIC 1323 n. 2) or that a penalty was attached to the law (1983 CIC 1324 §1 n. 9). The same applies if one was a minor, had the imperfect use of reason, was forced through grave or relatively grave fear, was forced through serious inconvenience, or in certain other circumstances (1983 CIC 1324).

Ego Trips and Imposter Syndrome

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

Is there such a thing as an inverted ego-trip?

Doing a brief search on this today I came upon the notion for reverse impostor syndrome. Which does not seem to be greatly overestimating your abilities and bullshitting rather it is having a realistic high assessment which is not yet matched by the perceptions of others. There is bias against the lack of overt pushy presentation and showing off. The book must be shiny and well branded. The highly strategic global vision introvert may not be so highly rated as the “gobshite” blagger snake oil salesman. There is apparently an issue in VC circles where surface performance is funded more readily than in depth potential. It is not the best investment on occasion. Founders can have reverse impostor syndrome; they know their ideas are good but everybody else has yet to catch up.

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  • Imposter syndrome is other people thinking you’re good, but you still don’t believe it for yourself on the inside.
  • Reverse imposter syndrome is knowing you are good, but others don’t believe it (as much as you know it to be true).

Wes Kao

VC-backed founder turned coach. Writing for 80,000+ operators on executive communication and influence at {newsletter.weskao.com}

It raises a philosophical idea.

If you think you know what you are talking about and this has significance are you on an attention seeking ego trip or is your assessment simply premature?

If the world at large is not interested or does not notice, who is mistaken them or you?

Who is kidding who?

If you don’t appreciate someone who know things well because they differ with your own views, exactly who is on an ego trip?

Can people use telekinesis to stop the penny from dropping, if so, for how long?

It is very easy when one is on an ego trip to point the finger at someone else and assert that it is they in fact who are on an ego trip…

Who defines, who is the expert, on what is and what is not an ego trip?

Expressions fall easily into the vernacular..

Far out….

Will Trumpflation Increase the Price of Black Market Kidneys?

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“What is different about Iran? It is the only state that has legalised the sale of kidneys.”

Since the bombardment of Iran by Israel and the USA has begun it seems likely that the international trade in spare part human kidneys will be impacted. In a supply and demand world removal of a major supplier is likely to have knock on impacts on the global price of a transplant kidney.

When the first bombs started falling I doubt they considered the impact on the price of an accelerated bespoke kidney transplant for the discerning and well-heeled consumer. There will be an embargo on Iran sponsored kidney transplants for the short term. Air space will be closed. Given large scale destruction by ordnance the kidney transplant industry may be set back many years.

“We do not want Iran to have a kidney transplant industry..” said an Israeli with knowledge of the matter and on strict grounds of anonymity.

This means that I might be able to get more for one of my kidneys…

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Kidney International Volume 69, Issue 6 , p960-962 March 02, 2006

Continuous growth of the end stage renal disease population treated by dialysis, outpaces deceased donor kidneys available, lengthens the waiting time for a deceased donor transplant. As estimated by the United States Department of Health & Human Services: ‘17 people die each day waiting for transplants that can’t take place because of the shortage of donated organs.’ Strategies to expand the donor pool – public relations campaigns and Drivers’ license designation – have been mainly unsuccessful. Although illegal in most nations, and viewed as unethical by professional medical organizations, the voluntary sale of purchased donor kidneys now accounts for thousands of black market transplants. The case for legalizing kidney purchase hinges on the key premise that individuals are entitled to control of their body parts even to the point of inducing risk of life. One approach to expanding the pool of kidney donors is to legalize payment of a fair market price of about $40 000 to donors. Establishing a federal agency to manage marketing and purchase of donor kidneys in collaboration with the United Network for Organ Sharing might be financially self-sustaining as reduction in costs of dialysis balances the expense of payment to donors.

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Should we sell our kidneys? The Guardian

Right now, about 7,000 people are awaiting a kidney transplant in the UK. According to NHS figures, in 2024/25 only 3,302 adult kidney transplants were performed. The charity Kidney Research UK states that “just 32% of patients receive a transplant within a year of joining the waiting list and six people die every week while waiting.”

People who experience kidney failure need either lifelong dialysis or a transplant to survive. Yet even for those lucky enough to get a transplant, that is by no means the end of the story. Kidneys from deceased donors last an average of 10 to 15 years, those from a living person 20 to 25. If (or rather, when) a transplant fails, the affected patient once again needs dialysis or a donated organ.

The UK is not unusual in having far more people who need kidneys than there are kidneys available. Every country in the world has this problem. With one exception: Iran.

What is different about Iran? It is the only state that has legalised the sale of kidneys. This began in 1988, and means the country has no waiting lists. You can expect to pay about $5,000 for a new kidney, subject to a price cap adjusted for inflation and enforced by the government. (By contrast, a kidney bought on the black market elsewhere can cost up to $120,000.) The proceeds go to the donor, who can be a friend or family relative, or just somebody who needs the money and happens to be a biological match. Indeed, in Iran most people who donate kidneys have no direct relation to the person receiving the organ. They are just doing it for the cash.

{https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/jan/25/should-we-sell-our-kidneys}

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Nature Reviews Nephrology volume 5, page 605 (2009)

The price of a kidney

Two high-profile stories in US newspapers this year have prompted the media to ask whether the illegal sale of human organs in the US is more common than previously thought. In the first case, a New York City resident was arrested for trying to orchestrate the sale of a human kidney to an undercover FBI agent for US$160,000. The second story was of an Israeli man who flew to New York to donate his kidney in exchange for $20,000. These stories underscore the desperation of patients in need of a donor organ and the need to reduce the number of patients on transplant waiting lists. The methods to achieve this goal are severalfold and include increasing the number of live kidney donors, increasing deceased donation, and preventing the development of renal failure in the first instance.

Each day in the US, 17 people die waiting for a transplant. Although in the majority of countries, the selling of an organ is illegal, according to the WHO, 5–10% of all transplanted kidneys are purchased. The shortage of transplantable organs undoubtedly fuels the demand for illegally sourced organs. Critics of legislation in the US and most other countries argue that the legalization of kidney sales could increase donation and survival rates for patients on waiting lists. Several models of such regulation have been proposed—typically they involve the payment of a fixed sum to the donor, long-term follow-up and life insurance benefits. However, although a regulated system of organ sales could, in theory, enable follow-up and provision of adequate health care for kidney donors, this notion is at odds with the social and medical capabilities of many developing countries.

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Black Market Kidneys, $160,000 a Pop

By Edecio Martinez  CBS News

July 27, 2009 / 8:15 AM EDT / CBS News

NEWARK, New Jersey (AP)

Levy Izhak Rosenbaum of Brooklyn called himself a “matchmaker,” but his business wasn’t romance.

Instead, authorities say, he brokered the sale of black-market kidneys, buying organs from vulnerable people from Israel for $10,000 and selling them to desperate patients in the United States for as much as $160,000.

The alleged decade-long scheme, exposed last week by an FBI sting, rocked the nation’s transplant industry. If true, it would be the first documented case of organ trafficking in the U.S., transplant experts said Friday.

“There’s certainly cross-national activity, but it hasn’t touched the United States or we haven’t known about it until now,” said University of Pennsylvania medical ethicist Arthur Caplan, who is co-directing a U.N. task force on international organ trafficking.

Rosenbaum was arrested Thursday, 10 days after meeting in his basement with a government informant and an FBI agent posing as the informant’s secretary. The agent claimed to be searching for a kidney for a sick uncle on dialysis who was on a transplant list at a Philadelphia hospital.

“I am what you call a matchmaker,” Rosenbaum said in a secretly recorded conversation. “I bring a guy what I believe, he’s suitable for your uncle.” Asked how many organs he had brokered, he said: “Quite a lot,” the most recent two weeks earlier.

As part of the scheme, the organ donors were brought from Israel to this country, where they underwent surgery to remove the kidneys, authorities said. Prosecutors did not identify which hospitals in the U.S. received the donors and their kidneys.

“The allegations about an organ trafficking ring in the United States are appalling,” said John Davis, CEO of the National Kidney Foundation.

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Australian transplant waiting list contributes to human organ black market, committee says

By political reporter Stephanie Dalzell

Mon 3 Dec 2018 ABC News

The criminal masterminds behind the illegal trade of human body parts raked in $2.3 billion around the globe last year.

About 12,000 organs were sold on the black market, and while the majority of those exchanges involved kidneys, 654 hearts and 2,615 livers were sold for up to $394,000 each.

That illegal trade will continue to grow if the Australian Government does not do more to deter human organ trafficking, according to a unanimous report handed down by a parliamentary committee.

About 1,400 Australians are currently waiting for an organ transplant, while a further 11,000 are on kidney dialysis, and the committee found if the government failed to address the gap between the number of people requiring organ transplants and the limited supply of freely donated organs, the black market would keep flourishing.

Commercial organ market

OrganGlobal illicit transplants (per annum)Price range (AUD)
Kidney7,995$68,000 – $163,000
Liver2,615$134,000 – $197,000
Heart654$176,000 – $394,000
Lung469$203,000 – $394,000
Pancreas233$149,000 – $190,000

The chairman of the Human Rights Sub-Committee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, Liberal MP Kevin Andrews, told Parliament the average waiting time for a kidney in Australia was three years.

“Desperate people often facing certain death without a transplant may travel far from their own countries to places such as Egypt, the Philippines or Pakistan, paying tens of thousands of dollars or more, for an organ transplant, where the donor is most likely in dire financial straits, possibly exploited, and unable to give free and informed consent to donation,” Mr Andrews said.

Cutting down demand

The committee’s report recommended the Australian Government pursue a range of measures to strengthen its involvement in international efforts to combat human organ trafficking, collect data on Australians involved in illegal organ trafficking overseas and also tighten criminal laws around organ harvesting.

It also concluded the Government should seek to improve organ-donation rates through ongoing funding of programs, education awareness campaigns, and the investigation of other international programs — such as opt-out organ donation.

Mr Andrews said the committee heard from many people who argued protections against the practice needed to be strengthened.

“Their evidence was consistent, organ trafficking is a violation of the rights and dignity of people and Australia must do more to stop people in our community traveling overseas to support it,”

he said.

The Government is yet to respond to the report.

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Kudos Clout and Fame

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

—

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve;
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

Tempest (IV.i.148–158)

Attr. William Shakespeare

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Many are enamoured by the notion of being important, having kudos and clout. They seek recognition and the power that might come with it. They want to have power by association to/with those deemed to have high kudos. To claim that one studied at Cambridge University or Harvard is to have a form of academic clout. Were one able to name drop Steven Hawkins as a mentor one gains brownie points while also ticking the disabled box. If one knows Taylor Swift or Barron Trump one has power by name dropping. Were one in the inner circles all sorts or doors would open for you. If you are famous you can get an audience with the Dalai Lama.

The other night we watched the Louis Theroux documentary on the  “manosphere”. He managed to get interviews with a right bunch of bellends. It was interesting to see how so many people put up with being humiliated in order to claim kudos by association with these intellectual giants. Fame whores and kudos junkies are easily found. There is often a price.

It demonstrated a truth that those “on the make” will associate with very unsavoury characters like Jimmy Savile, Bonny Blue and Epstein. The urge to self-promote can make for weird bed fellows which many claim later to regret. People will exercise poor judgment if they think they can get kudos or clout, thereby. The lust for attention, for recognition and “kudos” is addictive for some.

Discernment is rare.

I remember an interview with Edwina Currie in which she was absolutely mortified about her association with Savile and her prior trust in him. If she had not seen political worth in so associating it would never have happened. Many make a pact with Mephisto in order to self advance. Temptation is hard to resist.

We do not all know Savile but many do exercise poor judgment in hanging on to the coat tails of others many of whom are unsavoury. Corruption is the thin end of the wedge and many are way more susceptible than they might think. At best they will turn a blind eye rather than calling people out. Moral fibre is not a common breakfast cereal. Most have a price either explicit or implicit.

People will do a lot in order to associate with an impermanent illusion…

People try to measure the esteem in which others hold you…

People are given jobs on the basis of the kudos of institutions or corporations they worked for. Judgment is biased by this peculiar socio-political construct of kudos.

People can make TV shows and movies about this pursuit of kudos, clout and fame…

It takes all sorts…

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Fame
I’m gonna make it to heaven
Light up the sky like a flame
Fame
I’m gonna live forever
Baby, remember my name

Dean Pitchford, Michael Gore

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Ynys Mon – in Tacitus – Druids

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A week ago I bought a book “Révélations sur la magie et la sagesse des druides” from a hippie shop in St Brieuc.

In it, translated into French, was a piece of text which I recognised from around forty five years ago. That text was a piece of Latin by Tacitus which I had been given to keep me busy and quiet during lessons and which also appeared  in my Latin “O” level translation paper.

Apparently it is now “A” level…

The Romans were not kind to Boudicca and her daughters….

I may be posting more about the druid vibe over the next few weeks as I read the book…

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Tacitus: Annals Book 14

Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( c. AD 56 – c. 120), was a Roman historian and politician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars.

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…sed tum Paulinus Suetonius obtinebat Britannos, scientia militiae et rumore populi, qui neminem sine aemulo sinit, Corbulonis concertator, receptaeque Armeniae decus aequare domitis perduellibus cupiens. igitur Monam insulam, incolis validam et receptaculum perfugarum, adgredi parat, navesque fabricatur plano alveo adversus breve et incertum. sic pedes; equites vado secuti aut altiores inter undas adnantes equis tramisere.

30. Stabat pro litore diversa acies, densa armis virisque, intercursantibus feminis, [quae] in modum Furiarum veste ferali, crinibus disiectis faces praeferebant; Druidaeque circum, preces diras sublatis ad caelum manibus fundentes, novitate adspectus perculere militem, ut quasi haerentibus membris immobile corpus vulneribus praeberent. dein cohortationibus ducis et se ipsi stimulantes, ne muliebre et fanaticum agmen pavescerent, inferunt signa sternuntque obvios et igni suo involvunt. praesidium posthac impositum victis excisique luci saevis superstitionibus sacri: nam cruore captivo adolere aras et hominum fibris consulere deos fas habebant. haec agenti Suetonio repentina defectio provinciae nuntiatur.

31. Rex Icenorum Prasutagus, longa opulentia clarus, Caesarem heredem duasque filias scripserat, tali obsequio ratus regnumque et domum suam procul iniuria fore. quod contra vertit, adeo ut regnum per centuriones, domus per servos velut capta vastarentur. iam primum uxor eius Boudicca verberibus adfecta et filiae stupro violatae sunt; praecipui quique Icenorum, quasi cunctam regionem muneri accepissent, avitis bonis exuuntur, et propinqui regis inter mancipia habebantur. qua contumelia et metu graviorum, quando in formam provinciae cesserant, rapiunt arma, commotis ad rebellationem Trinovantibus et qui alii nondum servitio fracti resumere libertatem occultis coniurationibus pepigerant, acerrimo in veteranos odio. quippe in coloniam Camulodunum recens deducti pellebant domibus, exturbabant agris, captivos, servos appellando, foventibus impotentiam veteranorum militibus similitudine vitae et spe eiusdem licentiae. ad hoc templum divo Claudio constitutum quasi arx aeternae dominationibus adspiciebatur, delectique sacerdotes specie religionis omnes fortunas effundebant. nec arduum videbatur exscindere coloniam nullis munimentis saeptam; quod ducibus nostris parum provisum erat, dum amoenitati prius quam usui consulitur.

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De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae – Tacitus

XIV

Consularium primus Aulus Plautius praepositus ac subinde Ostorius Scapula, uterque bello egregius: redactaque paulatim in formam provinciae proxima pars Britanniae, addita insuper veteranorum colonia. Quaedam civitates Cogidumno regi donatae (is ad nostram usque memoriam fidissimus mansit), vetere ac iam pridem recepta populi Romani consuetudine, ut haberet instrumenta servitutis et reges. Mox Didius Gallus parta a prioribus continuit, paucis admodum castellis in ulteriora promotis, per quae fama aucti officii quaereretur. Didium Veranius excepit, isque intra annum extinctus est. Suetonius hinc Paulinus biennio prosperas res habuit, subactis nationibus firmatisque praesidiis; quorum fiducia Monam insulam ut vires rebellibus ministrantem adgressus terga occasioni patefecit.

XVIII

Hunc Britanniae statum, has bellorum vices media iam aestate transgressus Agricola invenit, cum et milites velut omissa expeditione ad securitatem et hostes ad occasionem verterentur. Ordovicum civitas haud multo ante adventum eius alam in finibus suis agentem prope universam obtriverat, eoque initio erecta provincia. Et quibus bellum volentibus erat, probare exemplum ac recentis legati animum opperiri, cum Agricola, quamquam transvecta aestas, sparsi per provinciam numeri, praesumpta apud militem illius anni quies, tarda et contraria bellum incohaturo, et plerisque custodiri suspecta potius videbatur, ire obviam discrimini statuit; contractisque legionum vexillis et modica auxiliorum manu, quia in aequum degredi Ordovices non audebant, ipse ante agmen, quo ceteris par animus simili periculo esset, erexit aciem. Caesaque prope universa gente, non ignarus instandum famae ac, prout prima cessissent, terrorem ceteris fore, Monam insulam, cuius possessione revocatum Paulinum rebellione totius Britanniae supra memoravi, redigere in potestatem animo intendit. Sed, ut in subitis consiliis, naves deerant: ratio et constantia ducis transvexit. Depositis omnibus sarcinis lectissimos auxiliarium, quibus nota vada et patrius nandi usus, quo simul seque et arma et equos regunt, ita repente inmisit, ut obstupefacti hostes, qui classem, qui navis, qui mare expectabant, nihil arduum aut invictum crediderint sic ad bellum venientibus. Ita petita pace ac dedita insula clarus ac magnus haberi Agricola, quippe cui ingredienti provinciam, quod tempus alii per ostentationem et officiorum ambitum transigunt, labor et periculum placuisset. Nec Agricola prosperitate rerum in vanitatem usus, expeditionem aut victoriam vocabat victos continuisse; ne laureatis quidem gesta prosecutus est, sed ipsa dissimulatione famae famam auxit, aestimantibus quanta futuri spe tam magna tacuisset.