I find it interesting when people ask me why I read the books that I read. The immediate response that comes to mind is, why don't other people read the books that I read? I know that some people read some of the books that I read, but I would tend to think that very few read all of the books that I do. Statistically the number would be very small indeed.

One of the things that I'm trying to do by keeping track of the order that I read and finish books on my booklist is to track the chain of what I read and how they relate to one another, if there is any relation.

I think that most people get too attached to one particular reality tunnel, as Robert Anton Wilson would call it. Thier world-view becomes comfortable and anything else is dangerous and if not outright obscene it is disturbing. So much do they think that they will be disturbed they refuse to look or even to consider the possibility of an outside view. They become xenophobic and place artificial walls around themselves.

I just finished reading Disinformation: the Interviews by Richard Metzger, and one person, flipping through the book and seeing a painting Secret Babylon the Great: The Mega by Norbert H. Kox, which incoporates the "traditional" version of Jesus as the Statue of Liberty holding aloft the Holy Grail which appears to be sprouting some form of tentacles, she called the picture "very blasphemous." The Jesus/Liberty is surrounded by occultic symbols such as the eye and is being struck at its foot by a beam of light which also penetrates what appears to be a bible and is destroying the foot of the statue. The Grail, Jesus and the book that Liberty holds all sport pricetags as well.


I can understand why she would feel that it was at a casual glance, and Kox's work is often called that, but if anyone cares to investigate further, or, I don't know, actually thinks about what is being depicted in the image, it is apparant that Kox is making a statement about the current state of religion as he does in all of his paintings. With the pricetags he is saying that the image of Jesus is bought and sold today as a business, and the church has become mired in occultism and is being destroyed from the base by a misunderstanding of the word of God in the Bible.

He says as much in the interview, though that particular painting is not really discussed.

On the surface this would appear to be blasphemy, but he is actually trying to make a point with his imagery.

But back to the question of why I read what I read...I want to understand people and why they think what they think. I don't know of any better way to understand a person and their position than to listen to them, and through their writings, that is what I am trying to do. Be it Bob Larson and his everything is a portal to devil-worship and Satanism, or Aleister Crowley (who according to Larson I shouldn't be reading, because he is a portal to Satansim, go figure. I guess Bob is the only one who should read him and then just let us know how evil and deceptive he was, save us the trouble and the temptation). I also read alot of fiction and I hope to read some of the Left Behind books soon, because I want to know what those books are telling people, lots of people are buying and reading them.

At the core I think it's important to follow the advice that Robert Anton Wilson gives in one of his books to remember not to believe to take your own Belief System (B.S.) to seriously, and not to take others B.S. too seriously either. Leave youself some room to evaluate and then decide.

Because how do you know?

Why is the most important question in the English language and if someone starts barking back the answer, "just because," or "because so-and-so said so," press the issue.

And if someone shows up and tells you to stop asking those questions ask them even more vociferously, because you're on to something then.