Matthew Harris (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} glowing_fish) wrote,@ 2008-04-29 14:39:00 |
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No Omega
So, the other day, kind of as a joke, I wrote about having my own Human Instrumentality Project (only with blackjack and hookers).
In life, I think that for most people, along with doing well, there has to be something to look forward to. And often, that thing has to be somehow transcendent. The feeling of literally (or figuratively) climbing a mountain. And right now, although everything else in my life is going well, I don't really know what on the horizon equals that moment of exhiliaration.
This is part of the reason why I stopped taking DXM, because it was just too much of a cheap trick on myself to have that type of amazing feeling for four dollars, when I could get high and feel that anything I pick up is the secret to the universe. Maybe it is dopamine depletion, or maybe it is a realization that I am missing something.
Anyway, last night I was reading wikipedia, actually reading about various NBA players, when I saw a link in the Bill Walton article to "Omega Point", a concept that is used by Deadheads to refer to the feeling of merging with the music, but originally comes from Teilhard de Chardin, French philosopher, to describe the point of total awareness that humanity is eventually heading towards. The concept of course, is kind of what the Human Instrumentality Project is aiming towards. And of course, also what some people would call the singularity.
Not totally by coincidence, Rakim has a song called "No Omega", which begins with the lines:
which is actually in many ways just a normal Battle Song (with references to He-Man and everything!) but being that this is The R, it also has some spiritual meaning. Perhaps Rakim is meaning to tell us that spiritually, it is more important, more realistic, and more meaningful, to be originating things, constantly, than to look forward to a moment where everything will be understood.
So, maybe I should think about that, "No Omega".
So, the other day, kind of as a joke, I wrote about having my own Human Instrumentality Project (only with blackjack and hookers).
In life, I think that for most people, along with doing well, there has to be something to look forward to. And often, that thing has to be somehow transcendent. The feeling of literally (or figuratively) climbing a mountain. And right now, although everything else in my life is going well, I don't really know what on the horizon equals that moment of exhiliaration.
This is part of the reason why I stopped taking DXM, because it was just too much of a cheap trick on myself to have that type of amazing feeling for four dollars, when I could get high and feel that anything I pick up is the secret to the universe. Maybe it is dopamine depletion, or maybe it is a realization that I am missing something.
Anyway, last night I was reading wikipedia, actually reading about various NBA players, when I saw a link in the Bill Walton article to "Omega Point", a concept that is used by Deadheads to refer to the feeling of merging with the music, but originally comes from Teilhard de Chardin, French philosopher, to describe the point of total awareness that humanity is eventually heading towards. The concept of course, is kind of what the Human Instrumentality Project is aiming towards. And of course, also what some people would call the singularity.
Not totally by coincidence, Rakim has a song called "No Omega", which begins with the lines:
I'm the Alpha, with no Omega
Beginning without the end
which is actually in many ways just a normal Battle Song (with references to He-Man and everything!) but being that this is The R, it also has some spiritual meaning. Perhaps Rakim is meaning to tell us that spiritually, it is more important, more realistic, and more meaningful, to be originating things, constantly, than to look forward to a moment where everything will be understood.
So, maybe I should think about that, "No Omega".
