XPost: alt.magick, alt.magick.virtual-adepts   
   From: glass@panix.com   
      
   In article <49f4d472$0$19315$e4fe514c@dreader28.news.xs4all.nl>,   
   bassos  wrote:   
      
   >Did you know that the chance lightning will strike in the same place twice   
   >is increased by it striking ?   
      
   This is good. On one level it's mathematically trivial -- obviously, the   
   set of places where lightning has been observed to strike twice is a   
   subset of those with one strike. Join that one-strike club, and all you   
   need is to feel the lightning one more time.   
      
   On another level it raises questions of just how "repetition" works in our   
   thing. I'm fond of the alchemical observation that to really get a stone   
   that lasts, you need to go through the entire process again from the   
   beginning at least once: Until you've done the work "twice" or more,   
   there's a sense in which you haven't done it at all. This opens up   
   philosophical discussion as well as material involving time, memory and   
   storytelling. (Recurring dreams.)   
      
   On a third level,   
      
   >(path of least resistance and all)   
      
   The lightning goes where it "wants" to, and in its wake we learn about   
   this thing called "electrical resistance." Water and apples like to fall   
   downhill, and teach us something about gravitic spacetime curvature. Where   
   do thoughts "want" to go? Why do we dream?   
      
   >So what is the name of the god of alt.magick ?   
      
   Good question. When I call him, he looks like me when I was younger.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)