The End of Law

Summary

The web content discusses the concept of "The End of Law" as presented in various artistic and philosophical works, suggesting a state of existence where traditional legal and moral frameworks are transcended.

Abstract

"The End of Law" is explored through the lens of Bill Laswell's production "Hashisheen," which incorporates spoken word performances by notable figures like William Burroughs, Iggy Pop, and Patti Smith. The concept revolves around the idea that upon reaching the "highest initiation," one is freed from conventional restrictions, akin to having the "keys to the city." This freedom is not bound by external doctrines or laws, allowing for a personalized sense of justice and morality. The article draws parallels to Cixin Liu's "The Dark Forest," where an alien god struggles with the human concept of indirect communication, highlighting the inefficiency of intermediaries in a world where direct thought transmission could render law obsolete. It also references Julian Jaynes' theory on the evolution of consciousness and the development of deception in human interaction, suggesting a shift in hemispheric dominance that could lead to a more transparent and direct form of communication and understanding.

Opinions

The author perceives "The Book of the Highest Initiation" as a metaphor for liberation from restrictive laws and doctrines, allowing individuals to define their own moral compass.
There is a critical view of the rigidity found in "family owned religions," which are seen as being fortified by "unalterable doctrine."
The production "Hashisheen" is seen as politically sensitive due to its suggestion that individuals can operate above the law based on their personal inclinations towards corruption or love.
The article posits that the highest level of initiation is akin to the belief that "Nothing is true, everything is permitted," which is interpreted as a state of being beyond legal constraints.
The author seems to appreciate the directness and transparency of communication as depicted in Liu's "The Dark Forest," where the alien god equates speaking with thinking, contrasting it with human deceptiveness.
The article reflects on the historical development of the ability to separate thoughts from speech, attributing this evolution to the necessity of trading people to navigate diverse cultural and religious contexts.
The author endorses the album "Hashisheen" for its artistic exploration of these philosophical themes through spoken word and music.

The Book of the Highest Initiation kept coming to mind today

photo by author

The Book of the Highest Initiation is a cut on Bill Laswell’s Hashisheen, The End of Law, production. It is more reader’s theater than a music genre, though Laswell’s music is always top drawer. William Burroughs is included in the spoken word art, as is Iggy Pop and Patti Smith.

The reading is about the relaxation of discipline when one has attained the highest initiation. All those things forbidden to others are not forbidden to you. It’s like being given the keys to the city.

When I googled the book of the highest initiation, I got an unexpected return. There is a historical book of this name, but it seems to be a complex family feud within the descendants of Ishmael. The language on the Wikipedia page had the hard edge of unalterable doctrine, which is the razor wire fence around family owned religions.

Back to Laswell’s production, I suppose it is politically sensitive in some quarters because there is no explicit doctrine, or truth, which determines right and wrong. If I’m in the mood for corruption, I’m above the law, and if I’m in the mood for love, well, nothing can stand between the rosebud and me.

And the counterbalance, If I’m in the mood to be just, I am justice personified, and if I’m in the mood for love, I’ll prepare a guest room where love can stay. For three days.

The highest initiation is the same thing as, “Nothing is true, everything is permitted.” It is liberation from law. The end of law.

The end of law is really the end of an intermediary which determines right and wrong. That will be gone because it takes time to consult an external guidance system, and there is no time delay. This is already in cutting edge literature, such as, The Dark Forest, by Cixin Liu, the second volume of the Three Body Problem trilogy. The alien god is confused as to why think and speak are not synonyms, because on his world communication is direct, so the thought and the communication of the thought are one thing, thus, speak and think are synonyms to this more advanced mind. You cannot directly communicate without making the thoughts transparent. When they are transparent, law is not necessary.

This recalls Julian Jaynes’ theory that this space where we can censor what we think, separate it from what we speak, developed among trading people who had to pretend to hear gods not their own, because, in the immortal words of Lenny Bruce, “We have to do business with these assholes.” This gave deception a leg up, so to speak, on sincerity. This also recalls that there are shifts of hemispheric dominance, and one is in process. The conservatives are not happy about this, complaining, “We just got here.”

Without the law navigation is direct, so there must be transparency, as in Liu’s alien god character. Speak and think are synonyms. Duplicity ceases to be an advantage because it becomes obvious. Everything is in real time. As Burroughs said, there are those of us who must go to space or die, and there are those who die if we go. We an lose any number of times. They can lose just once.