Meta-Media

[IllusiveOwl]

Born as a consumer, I never really thought about media or the constant stream of outside content that I consumed day-to-day. Lately over the last couple of years, however, I have been noticing more and more that there are different kinds of media: the kind that makes money and reduces its watchers to drooling cattle (New Girl, simplified religion, most music, advertisements), the kind that is clear in its intentions, that either educate, deconstruct, or are unbiased - like Planet Earth, some philosophy, propaganda, metaphysics, statistics/analysis stuff, Math, etc - and the kind made with the intention of psychic / spiritual evolution at its core, the kind that inspires an individual to break away from the outside world and look within, or to look at the world without wearing some pre-made perspective-goggles (some esoteric / occult content, and very few publicly shared content, mostly cult-following level stuff)

The third kind, that my birdbrain has dubbed Meta-Media, is what I would like this thread to focus on. I want to hear if any of you have found media that shares fundamental truths about our being that have made you a more sober, free, insightful, and empowered individual entity. Please also feel free to ramble about why.

Because this is the Visual Entertainment section, please strike off any actual occult/philosophy/esoteric works from your lists.

A few examples from me are: When Black Birds Fly, They Live, Mad God, Videodrome, Westworld, Bloodborne, and Mage: The Ascension.

I think each of these looks at our unique position as individual entities in a way that sheds illumination and promotes thought / insight.

 

[Taudefindi]

Mage: The Ascension.

Amazing RPG, and to that I'll also add Demon: The Descent and Promethean: The Created.

Post automatically merged: May 13, 2024

I remembered one manga that I read many years ago, it is called "Destroy & Revolution".

The story (starts off)as two male teenagers seeking to change society through the mysterious power of one of them(the protagonist), a power that he learned from an old man he met(on a hospital, I think?) and it is a power that keeps evolving through the story but the gist of it is that it relies on perception of the person.Their perception of themselves and everything around them is what gives them power over reality.

I don't want to spoil anything in case someone seeks to read it(it is a bit lenghty but the story gets bigger and bigger in scope so it's a fun read), but just to give a little spoiler: once they create a small organization and become known through Japan, they end up attracting the attention-and later the ire-of the US government, and then the whole world has it's eyes on them.

There are talks about supernatural powers and the science trying to explain them, so it is interesting to see the duality of spiritual understanding and plain scientific knowledge.

This story is one that made me realize how powerful perception can be(and the reason why I keep insisting on my psychic training), and not only the perception of the self and of the universe, but also how others perceive you too.
If anything, this story starts small like an atom and ends big like the universe, the progression doesn't feel that rushed so you won't be wondering "where that come from?!".

Post automatically merged: May 13, 2024

Forgot to mention, but this power is called "Oneness"...make of it what you will

 

[IllusiveOwl]

Etidorpha is also a massive example of meta-media so blatant it deserves its own post.

 

[Robert Ramsay]

Etidorpha is also a massive example of meta-media so blatant it deserves its own post.

I had never heard of this before and had to Google it - thank you!

 

[IllusiveOwl]

I had never heard of this before and had to Google it - thank you!

I highly recommend it! There is a wonderful lecture by Manly P Hall on Etidorpha, he says it is allegorical but there is much in it that is plausable if not just outright true. It's a beautifully made narrative that covers a wide variety of topics from Ether to Love

In a second breath, I would also like to mention the movie "Lord of Illusions", it speaks a lot about magic, with lots of esoteric truths. The main takeaway is that

Spoiler: Potential spoilers

flesh is a prison, and that magic sets you free

. Love it to death, it's like a narrative straight out of a Mage: The Ascension session.

 

[Robert Ramsay]

I highly recommend it! There is a wonderful lecture by Manly P Hall on Etidorpha, he says it is allegorical but there is much in it that is plausable if not just outright true. It's a beautifully made narrative that covers a wide variety of topics from Ether to Love

In a second breath, I would also like to mention the movie "Lord of Illusions", it speaks a lot about magic, with lots of esoteric truths. The main takeaway is that

Spoiler: Potential spoilers

flesh is a prison, and that magic sets you free

. Love it to death, it's like a narrative straight out of a Mage: The Ascension session.

Oh it's Clive Barker's film! Yes, I will try and see that one

 

[IllusiveOwl]

I would also like to mention the book "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep." because it highlights very plainly things that we see as normal and makes them into genuine absurdities, like our use of the "Empathy Box", the consumerist culture was reduced down to the purchasing of different pieces of nature, those sensitive to the hellish environments are labeled negatively in a similar way that people are labeled today.

I believe this piece of media is very meta and has a lot of elucidation to offer anyone reading it. Not to mention the Blade Runner series was roughly based off it.