media

Madness Isn’t The Measure

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It seems that there’s always some book or movie or secret that people tease will “drive you mad.” There are mystical tomes that will supposedly melt your mind – as of this writing I’ve seen this applied to Enochian lately. I’ve witnessed people claiming that there’s secret footage of dark practices that will drive you mad – for some reason, this usually involves Hillary Clinton. I suppose if I wrote a book called “The Enochian Secrets of Hillary Clinton” I’d reach a lucrative audience I’d never want to meet.

“It will drive you mad,” is a strange way to promote something. No advertiser will approve ad copy that reads “This Macaroni and Cheese will give you anxiety!” I’ve never had a commercial tell me “Now you can get the socks that will cause depression.” Mental breakdowns are a peculiar way to get someone’s interest.

I know of course that the “pitch” here is that these secrets someone can reveal (usually at a price) are so reality shattering that your weak little mind will break. Off the bat, doesn’t that feel like the secret-holder hints that they’re stronger than the rest of us. Oh it might not be intentional, but it’s there, an annoying sense of bragging should lead to mistrust immediately.

Also, someone tells you that this book or film will drive you mad, doesn’t that also mean that whoever wishes to share the mystery is bad at it? Look, if you’re really desperate to reveal great secrets from under the skin of reality, maybe do it in a way we can handle it? Sure if the knowledge has already driven you around the bend, maybe you have an excuse to create spirit-shattering books and plays. Otherwise, take a communications course or something, mister or missus Holder Of Hidden Knowledge.

All of the above, of course, is me being sarcastically charitable that people claiming madness-inducing knowledge actually know anything.

You don’t need to reveal Shattering Truths to drive people insane – you can use complete and utter bullshit. Many, many people go down absolute rabbit holes of conspiracy theories or fake occult texts, or con games and lose their minds. You can create little worlds of words and images and insinuations that people will happily become trapped in to the detriment of their sanity. You can even do this by accident, as I’m sure we’ve all witnessed courtesy of social media.

People don’t need revelations to go mad, just something to obsess over and some points to connect. When someone claims ruinous knowledge, you can guess what I assume it is.

So no, telling me something “can lead to madness” doesn’t impress me. Yes, it is a warning, it’s just not a warning about threats to my mental health. It’s a warning of arrogance, of bullshit, of a scam, and at best something that’s just an elaborate puzzle with no solution.

Warning “this secret will drive you mad” is a warning about bullshit. Which may make me mad, but more in the pissed off way than the mental breakdown way.

– Xenofact

The Most Dangerous Occult Book In The World

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So many tales and conspiracy theories have “the most dangerous occult book.”  It’s enough the late Sir Terry Pratchett parodied it with the “Necrotelenomicon” a book by Achmed the Mad (who preferred to be called Achmed I Just Get These Headaches).  But how is such a book portrayed in fiction?

Inevitably it’s some rare and creaky tome, thick with horrific pages, and challenging or dangerous to read.  It drives readers mad, it crawls with brain-twisting truths, it twists reality  To read it is to feel something else is watching over your shoulder and it has its own plans.

However, what would a truly dangerous occult book be?  Not some kind of Anti-Personnel Grimoire (a term The Necronomicon Files by John Wisdom Gonce II used delightfully).  A book that is a threat to the world isn’t that much of a threat if it drives most readers mad.  So what would such a book truly be like, a book that delivers real power and isn’t a trap?

Well first, it wouldn’t damn well drive you nuts.  A Dangerous Occult Book – let us call it a DOB – would probably not make people insane by reading it or even being in one’s possession.  Such things tend to be noticed, and such owners tend to have painfully short relations with stakes and kindling if they stay reasonably sane.

Secondly, A DOB would not be particularly hard to use.  It may crackle with power, but if that power takes too much effort to use, it’s simply not worth the time.  It would be streamlined, simple, clear, and give you useful abilities.  If a DOB takes too long to use and is too hard you’re better off using a fist, a lawsuit, or just doing something else.

A DOB would allow you to have an effect and it wouldn’t necessarily be what’s expected.  Do you need to summon demons – or just manipulate minds?  Is it worth turning lead into gold when precognition can let you make money more subtly?  Must you be able to throw obvious lightning, or would subtle curses be more you route.  It’d would work, but it might not be obvious to our expectations.

A DOB might contain a lot of useful information that changes one sense of place in the universe.  Simply and effectively, it would change you and empower you by helping you see yourself differently.  It would keep you from being trapped by existing religions and traditions, freeing you to use that power in its pages.

Finally, a DOB would be easy to transmit, spreading power among those in the no.  It might not be overly long, it would be clear, it could be copied.  Replication would make it even more dangerous as it could be spread about, extra copies hidden, etc.

A truly Dangerous Occult Book wouldn’t be some hernia-producing grimoire.  It would be a manual.

Of course, if we’re all looking for big thick grimoires filled with incomprehensible diagrams and fonts off of a heavy metal album?  Then maybe we’d miss the simpler but more powerful books under our nose . . .

Or someone could be writing it right now.

– Xenofact