I think, therefore, I is.

Physics is funny.


When you are scrolling through you YouTube or Facebook feed, you might come across an idea called a 'Boltzmann's Brain.' The idea itself is a little complex, and has a lot to do with entropy and how the world works on the margins, but the basic idea goes like this: If you run the numbers, and given the universe is at least nearly infinite, then it is inevitable that somewhere out there, amid the rolling chaos, you are going to have a fully formed 'brain' or 'mind' form spontaneously among the random fluctuations of particles. In fact, mathematically, it is more likely that you yourself, right now, are in fact that 'brain,' floating in the cosmos, and all the thoughts and memories you are having write now are random fluctuations of said particles. 


Now most people when they hear this have either one of two reactions. 


The first is the idea that this is silly. How could random fluctuations have made me? I have all these complex and lengthy memories of my grandparents, and my childhood, and my first kiss, and so on.


The second is a kind of existential dread. If this is true, they figure, how can I be sure of anything I think I know? What if I am just one of these brains floating in the nothingness, hallucinating my whole life?


I honestly think that both of these miss something far more meaningful, hidden in the idea itself. 


If all I am, and all I remember, and all I think is ahead of me, is an illusion, If everything I am amount to only what is right now, then why waste what might be the only moment you have? 


Too many people go through life working a job that makes their days nothing but drudgery, barely paying the bills, going home either alone, or to a situation that can only be described as slow torture. 


If all you have is now, if yesterday and tomorrow are nothing but illusions, why waste the one moment that actually matters in the grand scheme of things?


Now, I am not advocating that you quit your job and run off with your hot secretary. But maybe, just maybe, you should get that extra scoop of ice cream. Maybe you should read or write that novel you have been putting off. Maybe you should reach out to that person that you have been thinking about, the one you left behind, and see how they are doing now. 


Just a thought...



---



Hey guys, I promised an announcement today. An announcement about what I am up to. 


You know the thing that I said Loki was pushing me to do. 


I have been a solo practitioner pretty much my whole life. This has been mostly because of difficulty finding people who share my beliefs generally, but also because even some of those can be hostile to those on the left-handed path. But over the years, and among those that I could talk to, I have noticed certain things that come up over and over again. 


First, I run into those that are trying to make their way down a path most consider outside what is 'normal' or 'acceptable,' but don't have access to resources and ideas that are core to understanding other parts of our beliefs. Things like hospitality, or kinship, or even how we treat and view strangers.


Second, I see people who are concerned about what how they preform even the most basic of rituals and ceremonies. They get nervous doing them, worrying that they will somehow offend the beings that they are reaching out to and treating with.


Third, I see those that even today, with all the resources we have at our fingertips, are afraid to even look for or through them. Not because of the ideas themselves, but afraid of who might be watching them behind the screen.


Now, Loki got me thinking. What if there was a way to at least try to address all of these problems. Some way to get the ideas an knowledge to people, in a way that is easy to access, and free of outside interference. That is what I have been working on. 


I have been building and designing what I have come to think of as a 'Digital Familiar,' a device that has all of that info, that you can access by just asking it, and is contained in a portable form. Something you can take with you into the forest for an open air ritual, or hide under your bed so that prying eyes can't find it.


Now, I have been working on this for a while, and I have taken the time to read through thousands of comments and posts on so many different forums, blogs, and websites. Posts that talk about these ideas and fears. But really, that was kind of unnecessary. In the end I only had to look as far as my own self to see these things, to feel this dread. 


I will be honest, this is something I intend to sell. The device is complicated, and the programming took a bit to figure out. In short, these things cost money, and time, and I have to eat.


But I my main goal has little to do with the sale. It has to do with being able to provide people with something that can help them start their practice, maintain it long term, and feel more secure in how they are doing it and whose eyes are on them. 


Right now, I am finishing the testing of the device, and hope to have technical info on GitHub by the end of day this Friday, though the testing comes first, of course. Loki likes it when you take time with your schemes, after all.


I also hope to have a working prototype, in a box, for people to look at and interact with, when I go to Castlefest in West Holland on August 2nd. I will have the code side of things done by then, but some of the parts are being a pain to get my hands on. And I am setting up a website where someone can see videos of the final device, as well as buy one for themselves if they think it will be useful for their practice.


I hope you guys will at least take a look when the time comes. 

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