Spirit and the Virtual World

On the face of it, the spirit world and the Virtual Adept perspective couldn't be more at odds. What does shamans dancing around with sticks talking to disembodied ghosts have to do with computed reality?

Thankfully, not everything is as it seems. To a VA, the spirit world is just like any other world - the manifested array of data. In fact, many spirit realms hold and display data better than the "real" one. While the VA tools and the Dreamspeaker tools are quite different, the realities on the other side of the tools is quite amenable to both.

Consider. The material world is a concrete mirror of the spirit world. Changes in the material influence the spiritual, and vice versa. The spirit world it complicated, ambiguous, and messy, while things in the material world are a bit more concrete.

Ambiguous and messy on one side...
Apparently clear on the other...
Interacting representations of data...


Does anyone else get the sense that the material world is reality's graphic user interface (GUI)? The platform designed to make things appear simpler than they are so everyone can play with code?

Recognizing this multiple representation is required for advanced reality hacking. Some of my VA brothers call the Gauntlet a firewall. I say that's crap. Firewall between what? Set up by what purpose. For my part, the Gauntlet is nothing more than learning how to program in MS-DOS when you could just rely on the easier interface.

Now, I've argued elsewhere that there is no foundation on which all other reality is set, so I don't want to slip into that here. I don't want to claim that the spirit world is the real one and the material one is simply predicated on it. It isn't.

But I will boldly assert without hesitation that the coding possibilities are broader when working the the Umbra. In the material world, perfect circles are impossible. In the Umbra, plenty of ideals exist exactly as their paradoxical natures suggest. This opens up radical computing options, as there are so many more forms of data infrastructure. Just as many VAs prefer coding without GUIs, I prefer to code in the spirit world. There are more geometries, more codes, more recursion, more ciphers, more fractals, more sets...

Besides, the Digital Web is hella cool. In addition to hacking Technocratic databases using glowing motorcycles and light disks, the Digital Web is just a hop away from the Astral Plane, the Dreaming, and the Horizons themselves.

So dance around your fires, shaman dude. It turns out your hallucinogenic ayahuasca was just your way of crashing your GUI and booting up your command-line interface (CLI). I think I'll call them DOSpeakers from now on.

Save the Library

Some asshole is trying to destroy our library.

Let Alexandria rise!

[Post here if you have an action. We need all the power, luck, and umph you got!]

ERROR_INVALID_FUNCTION

ERROR_SUCCESS0 (0x0)

The operation completed successfully.ERROR_INVALID_FUNCTION1 (0x1)

Incorrect function.ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND2 (0x2)

The system cannot find the file specified.ERROR_PATH_NOT_FOUND3 (0x3)

The system cannot find the path specified.ERROR_TOO_MANY_OPEN_FILES4 (0x4)

The system cannot open the file.ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED5 (0x5)

Access is denied.ERROR_INVALID_HANDLE6 (0x6)

The handle is invalid.ERROR_ARENA_TRASHED7 (0x7)

The storage control blocks were destroyed.ERROR_NOT_ENOUGH_MEMORY8 (0x8)

Not enough storage is available to process this command.ERROR_INVALID_BLOCK9 (0x9)

The storage control block address is invalid.ERROR_BAD_ENVIRONMENT10 (0xA)

The environment is incorrect.ERROR_BAD_FORMAT11 (0xB)

An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format.ERROR_INVALID_ACCESS12 (0xC)

The access code is invalid.ERROR_INVALID_DATA13 (0xD)

The data is invalid.ERROR_OUTOFMEMORY14 (0xE)

Not enough storage is available to complete this operation.ERROR_INVALID_DRIVE15 (0xF)

The system cannot find the drive specified.ERROR_CURRENT_DIRECTORY16 (0x10)

The directory cannot be removed.ERROR_NOT_SAME_DEVICE17 (0x11)

The system cannot move the file to a different disk drive.ERROR_NO_MORE_FILES18 (0x12)

There are no more files.ERROR_WRITE_PROTECT19 (0x13)

The media is write protected.ERROR_BAD_UNIT20 (0x14)

The system cannot find the device specified.ERROR_NOT_READY21 (0x15)

The device is not ready.ERROR_BAD_COMMAND22 (0x16)

The device does not recognize the command.

The Living Library Project

Most people think of knowledge as a relationship between the knower and the known. Under this conception, to know is to know about.

This is not the only picture of knowledge. We can also conceive of knowledge as relationships between knowers. That is to say that knowledge is best shared between people. Under this conception, to know is to know with.

Virtual Alexandria has many resources to learn about things, but the Living Library Project is about bringing people together to teach and learn. To this end, we are creating a database of subject matter experts to augment the already impressive stacks of Virtual Alexandria. When customers of the Library ask questions or need skills that experts can best answer, a librarian contacts the expert to facilitate the best possible answer.

But the Living Library project goes far beyond simple questions. It also involves bringing together students and mentors to train in various skills. This includes mundane skills as well as subtler arts. The final aspect of the Living Library Project is connecting students and mentors for training in mystical/magical/mechanical wonders. Need to learn a programming language? We've got programmers. Need to learn how to walk the spirit world? No prob.


We take this sort of mentoring incredibly seriously and will help students and mentors participate in the exchange in a secure fashion. The Library creates temporary safehouses for instruction and engages in resonance encryption to prevent detection. Our saying around the Library is that it is never more dangerous contributing to the library as it is knowing the information in the first place.

If you are interested in becoming a subject matter expert/mentor for the Living Library Project, fill out our form here. Once we have built up our database, we'll create a portal for interested students. Direct all inquiries to virtual.alexandria.project@gmail.com.

The Oracle on Prime

There is one secret and only one secret to the understanding of the Art of Prime. This has been passed down from the time in the Cult of Ecstasy from when we created the Code of Ananda. Ananda, fun fact, is Sanskrit for Bliss. So the Cult follows the Code of Bliss. Very interesting historical fact for you. Already you are learning.

But the secret! Ah yes the secret of the base essence of the universe. The very stuff that makes us real, all the way down to our "God Particles". Listen close, for that secret is:

Be.

That's it. To utilize the reality supporting nether beyond, just be.

Be joyous. Ancients held that those in the fits of rapture could see fae, and otherworldly creatures. This is absolutely true. At our highest states of being, we can see the other sides of everything around us. As we be, so to do the things and peoples around us.

Be kind. To others, to yourself, to those in need, and to all ways of life. Never obstruct the Awakening of those around you. If you see the Bhudda in the road, kill the Bhudda.

Be free. Yourself and others. The Code says, "Thou art miraculous. So art we all." Be excellent to one another.

Be. Fucking exist. Fucking feel. Fucking touch, and experiment, and push! Achieving this higher conciousness allows one to see the unifying factors in us all. At these highest planes of existance, we gain a deeper understanding of what binds us all. What are we? We fucking are!

It is the only way.

Prime and the Virtual World

The Universal Matrix is the idea that organizes Virtual Adept thinking and practice. This vast matrix is first and foremost information. Most of what seems like the world is actually data arrays, information configured and displayed.

From this perspective, it may at first seem easy to describe how Prime works. A common claim is that Quintessence is the energy source that powers the Universal Matrix. By channeling said energy, power grids or batteries can be created and used to facilitate changing or stabilizing other data arrays.


That version isn't wrong. However, it misses an important aspect of VA thinking. VAs are nothing if not hackers, and one of the central notions of hacking is mutability. Things are arranged one way, but they can be, often easily, arranged another. To evoke a more philosophical language, most VAs are antiessentialists; we reject the idea that there is a real, ultimate, underlying reality.

This makes understanding and manipulating space a snap (as space is easily manipulated by reconfiguring arrays... because it is an array!). But it is a nasty poser when taking up the question of Prime. How does an antiessentialist account for quintessence? To call quintessence the power source for the Universal Matrix is to say that the Universal Matrix is the real, ultimate, and underlying reality. And maybe it is, but it probably isn't. Not only will most VAs fight you if you go around peddling authoritative reality, we also are wary of calling the cart the horse. Yes, we change things by flipping bits, but that doesn't make flipping bits the ultimate truth of the universe.

So, quintessence is a sticky subject. Yes, in some ways it is an energy source, as it enables arrays to be unfolded out of the Universal Matrix. You need energy to do that.

But quintessence is also data. All Juice has encrypted data built into it. That encrypted data is hidden to most, but mages, technologists, and even some second rate palm readers can read the data written into quint. So quintessence is also data.

Just to further complicate matters, quintessence is also programming. VAs change the universe by hacking or reprogramming it. There are VA methods of creating quintessence that involve puzzling out programs, and those programs are themselves quintessences. Some programs are simply more vibrant processes than others.

So is it energy, data, or process? Hell if I know. But I'll tell you what it ain't. It isn't the foundation of reality. Some folks will lecture or preach about how flowing quintessence makes the material and spiritual universe (you know who you are). But if it were, how could people in said material and spiritual universe create quintessence? That makes no damn sense. If there is some supernal world of quintessence, it is merely another data platform that interacts with other platforms (mental, material, spacial, etc).

Some folks may give me crap for not answering the question. But let me promise you this: if anyone ever gives you a definitive answer to the question of what the ultimate universe is made out of, they are also trying to sell you something. I run a library. I'd sell more subscriptions if I stuck with the "Quint is data" version. But the VA in me can't. Nobody will ever corner the universal reality market, not even the greatest library ever.

"Life and what little I know of it" by Aireya

As a child, I spent time volunteering at hospital.  I was among the injured, the sick, the dying.  I was immersed in the frailty of the human form.  Life, however, is so much more than that.  Yes, I saw the frailty, but I also saw the sheer determination of those to survive and recover from resounding odds.  That determination was a kind of magic all on its own.

The Life Sphere is a lot like that.  It is literally what we make if it. The Life Sphere can be used to heal or alter the body, promote growth in plants, and detect living beings nearby. It flows through all living things and is an ever dynamic sphere. Always changing.

With everything, there is a darker side. Life is not passive and should never be underestimated. With the intimate knowledge of the body comes the knowledge of how to do harm to it. It can cause death with a single bacteria or a wound to a vital area.

Life is a struggle; an ever changing, often dangerous struggle.  Studying the Life Sphere can give one an understanding of how delicate that struggle really is and how easy it could be to find yourself slipping from it. Through our will and the innate magic that flows through every living creature, we can tip the balance of that struggle either way. I choose to heal with my gift.