Since the previous letter, the reckoning of years had creaked forward yet another notch. As this is no more than an arbitrary signifier, it will not be rendered undue importance by being mentioned here. Quite a bit has taken place in the interim, but very little of it of any interest. On to other matters.
The Cultural Exhumation Imperative has been taking some clumsy forays into the related territories of memory, the imposition of will, and all the attendant rationalisations thereof. These developments have been instigated primarily by the most recent of the non-performances, which involved the unwitting participation of E. R. J. Burriesci. Continued work centred around this fascinating larval creature is presently being undertaken, in the hope of utilising the perspective of an existence still devoid of established precedence to uncover further means of deposing the tyrant of Conditioned Behaviour. With any luck, the favour can be returned at some point in the future.
One aspect of the above developments is the manner in which cultural information is
imposed upon the individual under the deceitful representation of being fact – most often
by a source claiming some kind of “official” status. This information is generally based
on precedence, which is itself based on nothing more substantial than arbitrary past
choices, outdated circumstance, or, occasionally, deliberate ill-intent. Acceptance of
precedence as a reliable foundation for judgement, for no other qualitative reason beyond
the mere fact that it is a precedent, is a mistake that appears to never tire from repetition,
and is more likely to result in a magnification of human error than in a guiding principle
of any lasting value (this not even touching upon the great potential for abuse of
such things). This is not to deny the various useful applications that inherited / historical
information can be made to serve, but rather to emphasize the inherently suspect nature
of any source (particularly those presented as being of an “official” nature) that can point
to nothing beyond itself as its own final authority. By way of example, here follows the
non-performance list mentioned in the previous newsletter:
The Non-Performance List
Non-non-performance (solipsoliliquy)
There have been a few revisions to the sequence and qualification of the non- Performances, due to the emergence of a deviant strain of event. These were at first mistakenly included on the original non-performance list, but have now been recognised as a distinct occurance having distinct (yet not separate) procedures. The deviant strain in question has evolved into what is now referred to as the O.A.C. (Oneiromantic Ambiguity Collective). This is an ongoing collaborative effort between a dullard and two Scharpens, the involvement of whom in several non-performances (starting with what was originally considered to be n-p #7) was in fact the catalyst for the creation of this new non-entity. Ironically, no performance work (non- or otherwise) has been accomplished by the O.A.C. since being identified (perhaps a defense mechanism). Instead, extensive written material has been generated – not exactly using a collaborative method, but undertaken in a definite collaborative spirit. An excerpt follows:
M4b
A prolonged, hacking cough announced my entrance into the world. The stillness that welcomed me was absolute, and remained unchallenged for a period beyond measurement. For that blissful eternity it seemed that nowhere outside of myself did one exist to issue such a challenge - and, in this regard, I was disinclined. Silence cradled me and I was content. With a slight groan and shift in its position, my exhausted parent did finally make its presence known to me somewhere within the incomprehensible course of time. The unaccustomed blur of my senses apprehended nothing with certainty, and the form and features of my nearby progenitor conveyed themselves as little more than an indistinct blur of colour. Their exact nature never was revealed to me, in fact: the loving origins of my biological departure departed itself soon after that heraldic groan, never to be encountered by me again, indistinctly or otherwise. It stumbled away like a derelict, retreating in a wake of further groans and coughs – perhaps, unbeknownst to either of us, providing me with a whole series of siblings, left to languish in a perceptual mire just beyond that of my own.
I lay helpless for a great while: precise judgements of the passage of time are impossible
at the beginning of one’s existence, and an objective assessment in this case is irrelevant
anyhow. All was me, and me was all there was. I began to gain some familiarity with my
physical and sensory apparatus, and eventually managed to develop some motor skills by playing
infantile games - the exact details of which are lost to me now, so abstract were the procedures
involved. As locomotion became possible, I began to explore my environment. Surfaces were
uniformly hard and smooth, and possessed a great regularity of shape, making it quite easy to
create a simple map of my surroundings in my budding consciousness. This in turn helped to
hasten along my next stage of development: moving beyond simple recognition and response
into a realm of increasingly complex insights. Possibilities blossomed out of the most mundane
discoveries; the intrinsic nature of existence unrolled like a carpet of welcome before a parade of
cognitive leaps. My entire being throbbed with the joy of anticipation. I relished the arrival of
each moment, and celebrated every passing one; I rejoiced that such an existence was possible,
and that it had somehow been bestowed upon such a simple soul as myself. Then a great voice
called out to me, crying: “Ugh, what is that horrible thing! Get rid of it!” and with a quick, muted
crunch I was taken out of the world.
As to the appearance of future work, there have been various developments in this area as well,
bringing about a change in the originally planned sequence of irr. app. (ext.) releases. The two
most significant of these developments are: a) an entirely expected lack of funds generated by
the first release, and b) the quite unexpected bankruptcy of the release’s distributor. Both of these
conditions have coupled together in the dark, unwholesome places of the world to spawn forth
(oh, blessed predictability of this shining existence): Financial Difficulties. Yes, that’s right – the
almighty dollar had decided to piss on the parade, so alternative strategies have been brought into
play. At present, the originally planned 2nd release, “Foreign Matter, Nor Frequency Carrier”, is
being reshuffled, hopefully to materialise as the 3rd release, while the 3rd is being brought
forward, resplendent in hand-made packaging, into the position of #2. This re-arrangement was
necessitated by the already fully-designed artwork for #2 (now #3) not lending itself to a hand-
made approach, and thus being forced to wait for a sufficient accumulation of funds to meet the
demands of (hateful, hateful) professional printers. The new second release is titled: “Their Little
Bones, Becoming Sharp, Find Repose, But Fail to Avoid Worrying a Breach in the Ghostly Skin,
The Which Separates That Above From That Below (This Being the Last and Final Seal), and
Whereupon All Light Evacuates the Furnace. Several Consequences Ensue.” In this is provided a
clear example of what financial problems can do to your better judgement. The projected release
date is mid-to-late May, but only in limited quantities. This is not to say a “limited edition”, but
rather “small amounts manufactured only to meet immediate demand.” The 3rd (formerly 2nd)
release will materialise as soon as is possible – with any luck, somewhere in the vicinity of
October. The second 10” release on the Something Weird label, “Dust Pincher Appliances
Addendum”, should also be available some time in the near future. The O.A.C. is currently in
the midst of its third written collection, but no plan to make this material publicly available
is currently in the works. Other written projects mentioned in the previous communication
are still in preparation. No surprise there. All else resides where it lies.
With a Heartful of Pins,
(signed)
Primary Manifest Intermediary
And Chief Bottle Scrubber
(for)
Errata in Excelsus, dsc.