Imprints and Noise

We have repeatedly said that, from the Myth’s standpoint, the world process is a constant mutual transformation of two fundamental forces — life and awareness, or, from the physical point of view — energy and information, which are closely interconnected.

The connection between energy and information can be viewed as the transformation of energy into structured data and back. In this, any interaction of systems is accompanied by the emergence of information about it, an “imprint” or “reshimo”, which is the otherness of the energy of the interaction.

We said that from the standpoint of Magic, two systems that have entered into interaction once retain a connection forever, and the bearer of this “connection” is precisely the “reshimo”.

Reshimot of important, strong, and initiating events can be of great significance as inductors of similar changes in systems and streams of consciousness resonating with them, and therefore “places” and “objects of power” that appeared as bearers of corresponding imprints have always attracted great attention from Magi.

At the same time, if such a place or object is exposed to a large number of heterogeneous carriers of information, it becomes noisy, and the “target” reshimo on it becomes hard to distinguish. In other words, mass, careless visits to energetically important places do not “steal” and do not “carry away” energy from them, as is often said, but rather “noises them up”, masking the energy and greatly complicating access to it.

In general, the notion of “noise” (Greek “krotos”, κρότος) as a form of disordered energy has great theoretical and applied significance for Magic, since “noise” in the manifested world is a form of existence of chaos, and, accordingly, its study and the development of methods of resistance to it can also be used on the scale of “cosmic chaos” — tohu, both in its “pre-created” and in its “counter-structured” hypostases.

On the one hand, noise is a manifestation of the natural striving of manifested systems toward disordering, and in this sense it can be presented as the antithesis of information and cosmization, a form of entropy and the “voice” of the Interval in the worlds. In this sense, noise is interference, an obstacle that should be overcome.

On the other hand, noise is also a field of possibilities, which can be used to maintain and amplify a weak signal (this phenomenon is known as “stochastic resonance” and occurs when noise, as an assemblage of different signals and frequencies, may contain components that resonate with the target signal, and therefore amplify it).

Accordingly, if, for example, as a result of some important event a valuable reshimo arose, then to preserve and maintain it one should: 1) avoid undesirable noise (that is, keep the place or object in cleanliness and sanctity), and 2) surround it with resonant objects that amplify and purify the target signal.

If the reshimo is already noisy, then to identify it and tune in to it one should apply general approaches for overcoming noise, such as:

• the use of suitable filters, i.e., the use of energies and objects “related” to the nature of the sought reshimo;
• the use of decoding systems, i.e., bringing the mind or another “receiver” into a state of selective receptivity;
• searching for signs of the target reshimo at different levels and in different forms (or channels) — the so-called “redundancy”, followed by synthesis of the obtained data;
• the use of controlled noise in order to create “stochastic resonance” — for example, with the help of music and other multi-signal sources;
• the use of a wide range of “receivers”, for example, in the course of group tuning.

Consideration of any Magical search ritual shows that all the mentioned approaches are widely used in it: the Magus uses objects of power as filters, tunes into the reshimo to decode it, listens to all sensory sources, often uses music or singing, and does not neglect the help of companions.

Similarly, considering any “strong” object shows that it, on the one hand, is maintained in ritual purity, and on the other hand, is usually surrounded by additional “amplifying” and guarding auxiliary decorations, signs, etc., and is also maintained by “pilgrimages” to it.

In general, it is very important for a Magus to understand that not only polyphony, not only coherence and symphonic quality, but also introducing noise can, in a certain situation, be useful, providing that resource which is impossible to obtain in an ordered environment.

At the same time, viewing noise as a manifestation of the Interval makes it possible both to discover non-obvious reasons for its increase in the modern world and to develop approaches for overcoming tendencies toward disorder.