/gen/ - General

I'll use this as a journal. Or to just record any thoughts, as and when the need arises.

>>1396(OP)

Ozymandias. I feel strangely connected to this character. I recently read Watchmen, by Alan Moore a few days back. Basically, the aspect of the character that draws me to him is (without spoiling the story,plot or even the character himself) that Ozymandias is a character who has attained peak human physical and mental prowess, by following a strict regimen drawing from various esoteric practices and martial arts. Ozymandias is also the title of a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, which comments upon the brevity of one and his achievements. Yet; this does does not dissuade Adrian Veidt from attaining near perfection, by the use of his Will. The concept of Will is a reccuring theme in the Occult, especially left-handed paths like Thelema. I also was led to video talking about self-initiation, by Richard Ruach (Check out his channel on yt). In it, he talks about how the Tarots 4 and 5, The Emperor and The Heirophant symbolise the Two Axes one must master to have mastery over Self. Spiritual and Physical. Alan moore included a snippet in the book, the "Veidt method" which may strike the average reader as just another example of Moore's excelent worldbuilding; However, I fully believe Moore intended it to be something more. I plan to reverse engineer the (a?) Veidt method.

Thoughts on Free Will.

I will preface this by saying that I was a staunch atheist ever since the age of 11. Prior to that, I was technically religious, but I didn't really understand what I believed in the first place. I guess you could say my atheism stemmed from logic; Claims require evidence, and the onus of providing the evidence falls on the shoulders of the claimant. Atheism leads to materialism which leads to belief in determinism.

>>1399

Determinism negates the concept of free will. Materialism negates the concept of consciousness itself. If you recorded and measured every neuron, there is no one, explicit stage where chemically, consciousness is generated. Yet one is still consciouss. This gnawed at me, driving me mad, and forcing me to reject the materialist paradigm for something else.

>>1402

Yeah, it's my favourite poem. Goes hard.