E-PRIME AND CHAOS MAGIC

~ Or alternatively titled: OCTARINE LANGUAGE TO GO!

"The false concept of 'being' acts as a word virus, scrambling our thoughts,

for nothing consists of other than what it does. I think, therefore I think

that I think, nothing more!"

-- Peter Carroll, PsyberMagick.

"E-Prime and Chaos Magic": an article on the Whys and Hows of using E-

Prime (English Prime) as a language medium for those operating in Chaos

magic by Su Leybourn (Sor. Wile_e_Chaote).

1) CONSIDERING E-PRIME:

In the convoluted, cascading memes of Chaos magic, you might come

across the occasional mention of the term "E-Prime", or English-Prime. A

quick use of ye olde arte of Googlemancy reveals that E-Prime relates to

language and some manipulation of grammar where the verb "to be" gets

tossed out the proverbial door. Boring! We hear you say. Why bother? You

might well ask.

Do you want to exploit the nature of your mind to the max? Do you want to

boldly go where you have never gone before? Do you want to DO magic

with a flexible, fluid mind that can warp speed, or turn to tango? Well …

settle back, make yourselves comfortable, and let us take you on a magical

ride that just might shift your thinking into warp drive.

Consider the following quote by Peter Carroll from his "PsyberMagick":

"Some philosophers and psychologists bemoan the disintegration or

fragmentation of the self in the contemporary world.

We celebrate this development.

The belief in a single self stems from religious monotheisms having only a

single god. Let us throw the baby out with the bath water.

If you consider yourself an 'individual', in the sense of 'indivisible', you have

not lived.

If you merely consider yourself as a single being capable of playing various

roles, then you have yet to play them in extremis.

The selfs must allow each self a shot at its goals in life, if you wish to

achieve any sense of fulfillment and remain sane."

Does this message from Pete Carroll resonate with you? IF you want to

explore the meta-selves potential within ... then E-Prime might just place

you on the fast track. IF you have yet to explore the multiple aspects of the

selves in extremis ... then E-Prime might just hold the key.

Now some folk have noticed that we write in a very particular (some might

say peculiar) form of English language known as E-Prime or English-Prime.

In the simplest of terms, we use a form of English that excludes the verb

"to be", which basically means "am, is, are, was, were, be, been" and their

contractions.

Bizarre, do we hear you say? Why on Earth would anyone do this?

Ignoring such flash thoughts as lunacy; masochism; eccentricity; wanting

to stand out from the crowd or a sadistic bent to torture folk with ripples of

subliminal content ... let us first explain a little about E-Prime:

2) A POTTED HISTORY OF E-PRIME:

The idea for E-Prime started back in the 1930's by Alfred Korzybski who felt

that our language structures often led to muddied thinking ... shades of

Star Trek's Mr Spock and Vulcan logic in the making, we suspect. However

it got left to Korzybski's student, D. David Bourland, Jr. to eventually create

this new form. He proposed the exclusion of the verb "to be" in an attempt

to remove vague and misleading concepts from our language. Academic

papers and theses would improve for getting written in E-Prime. To date, a

significant number of physicists have adopted this medium for written

communication, and we wait on other disciplines to get the picture.

One hypothesis, known as the Sapir-Whorf-Korzybski Hypothesis, might

come in handy to keep at the back of your mind. Given the premise that a

change in language can alter our perception of Life, Universe et al, as

powerfully as some hallucinogens, we feel that E-Prime must have more to

it than meets the eye.

In magic terms, enter R. A. Wilson with articles like "Quantum Psychology"

and "Towards Understanding E-Prime". NOW the field goes for warp drive.

Peter Carroll writes an enigmatic magical work called “PsyberMagick” ...

written using (you guessed it) ... E-Prime. Read these works, and then

decide whether you want what they have.

Enter ... stage left ... E-Prime.

3) WHY E-PRIME:

Consider whether any of the following statements interests/intrigues you.

1. The use of E-Prime brings us back to what we do best i.e. observe, think,

perceive, deduce and theorise.

2. Problem solving seems easier when the mind flips into E-Prime.

3. When operating in this language medium, the ability to cheat, deceive,

impress, or convert someone does not happen so easily. This means that

no way in hell would marketing companies want to write their slogans in

this format, we muse. Imagine "Coke is it" (Coca-Cola) and "A diamond is

forever" (De Beers Consolidated) re-written as "Coke seems it" or "A

diamond equates to forever" and selling so well!

4. Perhaps we could even say, quietly, that E-Prime equates to an ethical

stance in language usage. Here, we refer to "ethical" as "balanced", as in

fluid, and able to move, manoeuvre, negotiate and change.

5. E-Prime, when used to the max, removes the stultifying little box/prison

that we could call I AM i.e. the Chaoist's anathema. In space/time, the old

adage, "I am my own worst enemy", produces a new shiver to the hairs on

the back of the neck.

6. E-Prime seems to activate a wide-angled lens to mind.

7. We find that we can use the expression "Eureka!" more often, in all its

fiery, expanding, glory.

8. Many people get caught up in the glamour of "Being" and end up

seemingly encased in glass houses of their own devise, raising their arms

to the sun, metaphorically speaking. We, on the other hand, who bypass

this snare, have the power to use diversity of role to its nth degree.

Operating in chaos magic, we might find that useful in the achievement of

results to the nth degree.

Theoretically, you can write virtually anything in E-Prime. You can talk

using E-Prime. You can even think in E-Prime. These aspects can, and do,

connect, in a somewhat dot-to-dot fashion, with a lot of practice and

determination thrown in. Once connected, you can experience levels

hitherto unimagined to your thoughts, your perceptions, and beliefs. This

would seem a far cry from the old well-worn, solitary, fortress-bound, id of

self. One word of warning though ... E-Prime takes you more and more into

the scientific model of actual experience, rather than permitting you to

wander off into New Age fluffy thinking. This would make doing research

easier, and probably useless as pick-up lines at the local pub.

It might just come down to exploring and using a little magical formula that

looks like this:

Being-OUT < -- > E-Prime < -- > Doing-IN

Interested? Want to learn more in just three easy lessons? Now if you stay

focused in the next ten minutes, or so, we shall send to you, ABSOLUTELY

FREE, a reading list for additional information, and all this for the amazing

low cost of your current attention!

4) MASTERING E-PRIME IN 3 EASY STAGES:

Contrary to what you might expect, we shall avoid getting down deep and

dark into linguistics and go for the K.I.S.S. treatment (Keep It Simple

Stupid). Given that adopting E-Prime only equates to a slight alteration in

language, albeit with gargantuan effect, we shall start with the writing

aspect, where you can see, in front of you, the emerging E-Prime form.

Please note: The following exercises do NOT require you to punish yourself

if you slip up. We shall leave such antiquated responses where they belong

i.e. in the capable hands of the ceremonial magicians with a bias for

Aleister Crowley. We anticipate that if you take up the challenge to explore

E-Prime, that you shall do so to examine its potential advantages, and

because you know your own determination.

4a) STAGE 1 – WRITING:

1. Decide that you shall remove the following words from your vocabulary:

a) be; being; been;

b) am; is; isn't; are; aren't; was; wasn't; were; weren't;

c) I'm; you're; we're; they're;

d) he's; she's; it's ("it is");

e) ain't

2. Make a list of these words, and keep that list handy when you type or

write, for reference purposes.

3. Read articles on E-Prime to gain familiarity of the basic concepts. See

the Bibliography at the end of this document, for starters. R. A. Wilson

suggests, when reading, to pencil in quotation marks around any use of the

word "is" so that you can examine the confusion that such a word can

cause.

4. Use E-Prime for all your journal and/or dream diary entries. Construct

rituals and guided meditations in E-Prime. Note that an effective choice of

wording for magical Intent, using E-Prime, could look like this: "We Do Now

Will to …" (insert your specific target/goal).

5. Likewise, try this format in e-mail and whenever participating on

electronic discussion forums.

6. One of the most efficient ways to practice E-Prime happens when one

starts engaging others in electronic chat via typing messages i.e.

Messenger, chat-rooms etc. Why? The language chunks generally remain

very short and therefore manageable. You also get repeated practice to

develop speed and fluency.

7. Observe and make notes of words that you might overuse, in this first

level of exploring E-Prime. We found that the words "seems" and "equates",

for example, appeared very frequently in our early efforts.

8. We would estimate that you should feel reasonably proficient in the

rudiments of E-Prime within 3 months or so. In 6-12 months you should

hardly need to think about the words that you use at all. You might also

notice that your writings have a tone of authority about them.

4b) STAGE 2 – SPEAKING:

1. Continue writing in E-Prime, wherever possible. Attempt a variety of

styles, from short essays to stories, anecdotes to humour etc.

2. Retain the same word list as per Stage 1, but now begin the task of

speaking without these same words:

a) be; being; been;

b) am; is; isn't; are; aren't; was; wasn't; were; weren't;

c) I'm; you're; we're; they're;

d) he's; she's; it's ("it is");

e) ain't

3. "Slow and steady" makes the best maxim. Start with 20-60 minutes daily

allotted to speaking in E-Prime and increase as you feel more confident.

4. Keeping the language chunks short helps.

5. For anyone working alone on these practices, you could utilise telephone

calls; talking monologues; chatting with the cat (or any other available

creature); talking whilst you type etc.

6. It seems interesting to note that the brevity of speech allows for

effective nonverbal communications to happen at the same time.

7. Curiously enough, people conversed with do not seem to notice when it

gets used. This means that you can stop worrying now about whether you

appear, to others, as some blithering idiot, or not.

8. Switch to E-Prime when you have a problem to solve and see what

happens. Communicating in E-Prime conveys meaning and intent more

readily.

4c) STAGE 3 – MINDSET:

1. Continue with the writing and speaking as given in the earlier two levels.

1. Extend your list of omissions with the removal of the words "I, me, my,

mine" from your vocabulary. Now we begin the task of raising the meta-

selves aspect.

3. Additional studies in auric magic and the eight magics (see Peter

Carroll's "Liber Kaos", Part 2 The Psychonomicon, for starters) would come

in handy, at this point. If you have not worked with this already, check out

the modern magical language, Ouranic-Barbaric. This has an E-Prime base

and function.

4. Examine the Who, What and How of anything. Where has all the Paradox

gone?

5. Why does E-Prime seem to heighten empathy?

6. Start thinking in terms of probabilities instead of identified facts or

certainties.

7. Consider quietly translating the speech of other people and exploring the

nuances of what they attempted to communicate.

8. Look at what happens when you use E-Prime to negotiate, or arbitrate.

"By your belief in singularities, in granular absolutes, you deny movement,

even the movement of evolution! When things change, your absolute

universe vanishes no longer accessible to your self-limiting perceptions.

The universe has moved beyond you."

-- The Atreides Manifesto, Frank Herbert, Dune series.

5) LAST WORDS:

When we started using E-Prime we took this up as a challenge. A very

seasoned operator in Chaos Magic pushed all the right buttons. We would

learn that Chaoists generally used E-Prime for writing out their Intent and

when working with Ouranic-Barbaric, but that very few actually

communicated in this medium. Underneath the words came the challenge.

It actually impacted at a deeper level than we envisaged. If we thought

that our thinking seemed fluid before, it has taken a quantum leap. We find

problem solving easier. We can analyse more effectively. Now, with E-

Prime at our command, our thoughts seem faster than a speeding bullet,

more powerful than a locomotive and able to leap anything we set our mind

to do.

This document, "E-Prime and Chaos Magic", owes a debt to the catalyst

that opened our eyes to the wondrous hidden potencies of language for

magic. Choyofaque Frater Shazdat-Hadaka!

6) BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Carroll, P, 1992, Liber Kaos, Samuel Weiser Inc, New York.

Carroll, P, 1995, PsyberMagick, New Falcon Publications, Arizona.

Electronic Retrieval:

Bourland, D. D, To Be Or Not To Be: E-Prime as a Tool for Critical Thinking,

first published in "ETC: A Review of General Semantics", Vol. 46, No. 3, Fall

1989

http://esgs.free.fr/uk/art/epr1.htm

E-Prime, from Wikipedia,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-prime

Scorpio, D, E-Prime Tutorial,

http://www.angelfire.com/nd/danscorpio/ep2.html

Hilgartner, C. A, E-Prime and Linguistic Revision,

http://www.hilgart.org/papers_html/091S196.B07.html

Kellogg, E. W. III, Speaking in E-prime, first published in "ETC: A Review of

General Semantics", Vol. 44, No. 2 (Summer 1987)

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:PWT2nKn1qzMJ:learn-

gs.org/library/etc/44-2-kellogg.pdf+Kellogg+Speaking+in+E-prime&hl=en

Kellogg E. W. III and Bourland, D, D, Working with E-Prime

http://objectz.com/columnists/eandd/

Kenyon, R. E, E-prime: The Spirit and the Letter

http://www.xenodochy.org/gs/e-prime.html

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, from Wikipedia,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapir-Whorf_hypothesis

Wilson, R. A, Quantum Psychology,

http://www.rawilson.com/quantum.shtml

Wilson, R. A, Towards Understanding E-Prime

http://www.nobeliefs.com/eprime.htm

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" --

Arthur C. Clarke

Medusa161

--

This is great, Su - having done an Enlish degree at university this stuff

really interests me. When I have more time i'll have a closer look and see if

I can get my head round this more.

Case

--

Su,

A while ago lived in a commune where we tried to combat gender

assumptions by using the new pronoun 'co' instead of she he it.

found that easy as was only one thing to think about and lots of peoepl

trying it out.

Some years ago my partner was studying philosophy and we both got

caught up by Gilbert Ryle and I guess what is called e-prime we thought

about it a gret deal and made a lot of experiments with changing language-

Mostly with using adverbs rather than nouns - as in Lovingkindnesses?

Catingness mattingness- showing that things were actively beingness

The problems we found were mainly of inelegance; the language we first

leared has a sense of (false?) rightness about it which we negotiate I guess

in terms of rythm and flow.

There is a staccato quality to change which needs some seasoning to

make it feel right so have often thought that there needs to be some

inclusions in order to maintain a sense of rhythm, but havent quite got the

head for working on it.

One of the best language experiments we made was of not saying anything

pointless but saving up words for whatever was necessary or meaningful.

Still stumble over words as communicate with others who like selves, have

multiple systems so personal pronouns are useless.

The best have found is using a system of different pronouns which are

inclusive. Mewe theewe Uswe - The feel of the words sometimess makes

alluswe start to write in gemanic/archaic form - ie- hast theewe?

Thinking that language really is important but that maybe e-prime for mewe

doesnt reach critical mass in terms of change - soemthing needs to happen

about the fixation with nouns as well.

laura