Intrigue: The Lucrative Nature of Mystery

Face it, Jay-Z has catapulted in recent years due partially to the overwhelming obsession of right wing Christians that feel he is inextricably affiliated with the occult. Jay has turned this Luciferian association into a rather clever marketing ploy, using the Baphomet head on some of the items in his lucrative Roca-Wear line and even sporting “Do What Thou Wilt”, a famous occult adage preached by Aleister Crowley and Thelema, on a t-shirt. Moreover, his open usage of the “All Seeing Eye” the Roc symbol spawns ceaseless debates about occult imagery in hip-hop. Veteran rapper, MC Hammer and hip-hop Legend Nas, both have called Jay out about him “selling his soul”. Upping the stakes, Jay’s questionable power has bled over into 3 titans of celebrity culture, his protege Kanye West, pop singer Rihanna, and of course his wife Beyonce, who has become a hot occult topic as of late with her alter ego Sasha Fierce.

I am not agreeing nor refuting the claims made by my brethren under the Christian faith; but, I have to say that all of our scrutiny and “exposing” of Jay-Z’s empire has done one thing for his net worth: increase it exponentially. We common folk tend to look at life, especially success, from few limited dimensions. We think that if you work hard, make the right connections, and ultimately stay positive, then success and possibly fame will be your companions. However, there is a saying in Hollywood, “any publicity is good publicity”. There is no “right or wrong”, no “good or bad” attention. Attention is attention. Period.

What Jay-Z and many others like him do so incredibly well is nurture and air of mystery, because mystery inspires the imagination. The human mind is hands down the most lucrative market an organization or individual can tap and the imagination is the most critical component. When dealing with people, you want to inspire them to think about you, maybe even obsess over you by letting their mind run free about who you are or what you do. We as humans have a need to know a primal impulse to understand, assimilate, and make things become predictable, when something begins existing outside of our megalomaniacal imaginations it becomes a wellspring of conjecture. We will guess and guess until something — anything — becomes a suitable description of the “what” or “why”.

Managers and PR reps understand this idiosyncrasy present in the masses and they exploit it to no end. Powerful CEOs and men of high repute understand it and exercise it relentlessly. People are only amused by things they understand for a short period of time. There is nothing more attractive than success that cannot be explained; nothing is more sensational than a mystery that wins over and over again.

Man is fascinated by the universe, both inner and outer, because neither can be possessed; we will never stop evolving, the universe will never stop expanding. We are taunted by the existential carrots of scientific inquiry and the proverbial “why are we here?”.

You can tap into this reality and begin increasing your stock in your social spheres:

The play is set to begin, you settle down in your seat in the 3rd row behind the VIPs. Understandably excited, you begin recalling all of the reviews you have heard about the show, the fast scene changes, how the actors seem to change costumes in mere seconds, you literally are shaking with anticipation. But then, something peculiar happens, the walls that shield the audience from the backstage bedlam begin to disappear until they become perfectly invisible. You are now watching everything as it happens backstage. You see the entire production unfold and the mystery of how they make it happens evaporates. At first it was intriguing, like watching an assembly line, but after a while it becomes predictable

Many of us live our lives in this fashion. We broadcast every aspect of our achievements for the world to see. Between casual conversation and the broader platform of social networking, we completely forfeit the power of mystery for the momentary satisfaction of expression. Don’t be that person! Remember, the world is your stage and the best way to create drama is via causal ambiguity, a mysterious aura that no one besides you can explain. Break out of the habit of being the interminable yammerer or the person that tries to be everyone’s friend. Power is earned through intrigue and the intriguing aren’t worried about making friends, only making impressions.

Tap into the lucrative nature of mystery and find yourself instantly rising. Let out bits of your life here and there and allow others to arbitrarily fill in the middle, court controversy without anger (unless you want to stir up the atmosphere a bit), and be your own “most interesting _______ in the world”.

bryce

Balance: Accepting Life’s Futility

Last night heralded the exit of another individual from my life. Upset by circumstances that there isn’t enough space here to explain, we both went our separate ways at 12:43 AM, pissed off and fueled by singleminded emotion.

What is ironic is that the last few weeks I had been struggling with this very topic: the utter and absolutely futility of life (something I have written about in blogs past), but now my nihilistic musings have taken on considerably larger implications. The problem is that life requires balance between all things within a system. Most emotions and feelings orbit in a binary system, love vs hate, anger vs happiness, pride vs humility. However, being that we are exceptionally complex beings, existential experiences can occur in tribunary and quaternary systems.

The necessity of balance directly contributes to the futility of life; we have been taught since we were children that so much in life matters, but as we grow into adult we become painfully aware that most of those things absolutely do not. We adopt such mantra as “life goes on” and “build a bridge and get over it”, testaments to the fact that we are capable of reducing things that were once highly significant. The individual I opened up this post with s someone I care for, yet, if circumstances progress along the same trajectory they are on now, she will unfortunately become a fleeting memory.

The real issue at hand is much deeper than what I am currently positing here; the place I am attempting to reach involved the very fabric of reality that we begin spinning from childhood. As someone who is passionate about being right, being efficient, being as correct as possible (although generally impossible), I am realizing that this world is simply a ceaselessly swirling maelstrom, a whirlpool which nothing ever really changes. This is by no means an indictment against life, not is this a real criticism. What I am digging at is that there is no real “rightness” in this world, no real form of justice to be found. What is just to one man is an egregious affront against another. What is efficient in one man’s mind is woefully superfluous in another’s. That is because deep within the preconscious lies the principles of balance that pits futility and significance against one another. More terrifying, this principle pits self preservation against the necessity to be vulnerable.

“There is no growth in the comfort zone, no comfort in the growth zone”

Ever pondered that quote like I have? This classic case of balance perfectly captures what is happening inside the bodies of every human with a functioning brain. To further disrupt things, the comfort zone for one person is intensely different than that of another’s. TO FURTHER DISRUPT THIS DISRUPTION: Most of the time people are ignorant to what actually should BE their growth/comfort zones. The higher functioning human brain can choose to ignore or inadvertently be blind to vital truths to understand their growth/comfort zones.

All of this leads to my ultimate point: life has no universal meaning. People have no inherent value. The meaning or value attributed to anything is predicated entirely on that person. Period. Thus, the fact that we can get over people or change the “meaning of life” as we see fit belies these voids. This will be hard to grasp for most people because it seems so foreboding, so negative, but really it is intensely liberating (perhaps too liberating) for those who channel its meanings accordingly. By grasping the futility just as tightly as you grasp the purpose, you will become a person who exists outside of banal desires and feelings. You become uninhibited, free from the rules, regulations, and social normalcies forced upon us by culture and society.

But until you see things for what they are, a complex balance act, existence will enslave you. Some people like to be enslaved though, it is simpler and all of the luxuries they feel are necessary are readily available. But for those who want the most out of life, who are prepared to grab responsibility by the horns, and completely revolutionize their existence, the first step is embracing ALL of the facets of balance.

Accept that your life means nothing and everything all at once. Accept that people inherently mean nothing, therefore, when someone actually does capture your being, you will know that they are someone to fight for. Accept that after death you will probably be forgotten, so that you maximize your time on earth not seeking fame, but seeking enlightenment; for those that become enlightened very often find immense posthumous fame.

You are the ouroboros. Being consumed, yet never succumbing to consumption.