What is a Geilt?

Being in SEO, I often search for my own name to see how its ranking, making sure I dominate the first page. I also go by a pseudoname “geilt”, that I picked up during my adventures into spirituality, and research into Celtic mythology and spirituality then later used in MMO‘s and Online Gaming. It is an old Gaelic term that means “one who has gone made from terror”. Searching for it I found this lovely article by Erynn Rowan Laurie on her blog about Geiltadecht.

She describes a geilt as:

It is translated as “one who goes mad from terror, a panic-stricken fugitive from battle, a crazy person living in the woods and supposed to be endowed with the power of levitation, a lunatic.” It may also be the name of some kind of bird or it might mean “grazing.” The title I’m using here, geiltadecht, is a neologism to describe the practice of the geilta.

This is the title that I also found from a book called the Lost Books of Merlyn, where I originally encountered the word “geilt”, though the description was vague and only mentioned Merlyn as a Geilt. Although Meryln had not technically gone mad, as Suibhne Geilt did, there can be other interpretations of the word. Madness, has different meanings from different perspectives, as can be seen in this next quote:

Other “madmen” in the Celtic literary tradition, including Myrddin and Lailoken, were regarded as prophets — seers and possessors of a certain “crazy wisdom.”

Crazy wisdom may not mean that the person is insane, but could mean that the standard of knowledge they have attained is seen as crazy by others. Philosophies and concepts such as Non Dualism (Advaita), Emptiness (Shunyata), the World as Illusion (Maya) are examples of ideas that don’t work in society. Try telling someone that love does not exist, nor hate, nor any emotion they feel; that its all an illusion; and see what kind of response you get?

This next excerpt is excellent as it show the contradictory nature of the term, and the philosophy I see behind it.

That said, the nature of the geilt means that control is often an illusion. Interpretation and acceptance is a more fruitful path for one with these proclivities. This is not in any way suggesting “giving up” but merely a statement that the world and the Otherworlds are vaster than we can understand and we, mere humans, have very little power over some things that happen.

Knowing control is an illusion, that what you do is not actually you, but something that is just happening, and accepting it. It is hard to describe. A Geilt realizes that they are doing something and have choice in doing what they are doing, but then realize that this thing that they are doing, is only being done, without purpose, reason, and even without need for control…

a geilt is an outsider, someone who lurks on the boundaries of groups and societies. That inclination to solitude is part of what marks someone as geilt

Every Geilt is different and so are the symptoms of madness! But this much is true, the “mad wisdom” a Geilt has usually stays with themself, and why? Because most aren’t ready to hear it, or if they are, are not willing to discuss it. “That person is just “crazy”, he doesn’t fit into my little box that i’ve put the world in and what I have defined as it’s “parameters”.”

Within the experience of geiltadecht, madness and destruction is the foundation for transformation.

Madness and Destruction happen both physically and metaphorically, in the mind and body, these experiences are transformative and depending on how it is harnessed, can open doors or close them. Concepts of geiltadecht exist in Eastern Traditions as well such as Shaivism, where there is Worship of Shiva the Destroyer, who brings about wondrous transformations. Even the older Rigvedic God’s such as Rudra are worshiped for their destructive yet regenerative qualities.

Erynn will have a paper on the concept of Geilt in a academic book that is soon to be published by Macmillan: Disability and Religious Diversity

Amazon Kindle Fire and Silk’s Cloud Browsing Evolution

On September 28th, Amazon.com announced the Kindle Fire. a $200 Android Based tablet that is plugged into all of Amazon’s services. This will be the first device that supports Amazon Prime‘s new Netflix Streaming Video Competitor. It will also become the most dangerous competitor Apple has ever seen.

Amazon markets to the masses, they make their money by having you buy lots and lots of their stuff. I myself use an Amazon.com Visa card as my primary method of payment for everything, because I get a minimum of 1% back in gift cards (2500 points was $25.00 gift card.) Happy as I was with that, Amazon just lets me SHOP with the points instead of having to redeem the cards…amazing. Have to love when companies make customers lives easier.

So, being a happy Amazon Prime customer already, your damn right I ordered that thing right then and there, jumping from the news page to the newly redesigned Amazon.com home page to see the beautiful Kindle Fire, add to cart, add a nice leather case and a warranty, and there goes my $300( I had $400 in points just sitting there ).

Amazon’s new front page says something too. It’s a search bar…they are a search engine for products, get whatever you want, just type it in! They are one of the first merchants that, I believe, is so popular they really dont even have to have a single product on the home page to make a sale. They can use it like a real home page, giving real news, the latest and best products and information you need. If you want something, you’ll just search for it. Thats what 10+ years of search engine indoctranation and use has done to us.

After ordering the Kindle Fire and knowing almost nothing about it, I saw a link on Amazon’s home page that discussed about it’s new Silk Browser. Essentially, the browser uses Amazon’s Web Services (AWS) to process a web page in the cloud, and serve it optimized, and near complete, on a device.

It’s a Cloud Browser…

This removes any hardware limitation for web pages due to the intense Javascript processing and image downloading done by AWS, and then sent to you.

Cloud Browsing is an amazing idea. I’ve known ans enjoyed cloud servers for years. Load balancing is a must for high traffic sites, but never did the though occur to me that the user could use the same power. I took for granted that our devices just always get better, and when my current device starts to lag I replace it with something more robust…now…this may not ever need to happen, to a certain extent.

If amazon can control the complete output to screen and user interaction with that output, and translate it into small sized optimized communication between AWS and the User, then we have something huge. The web is changing. Our interfaces will get simpler, not more complex, the heavy lifting can be done in the cloud.

In my opinion, cloud browsing could even solve the issue of bandwidth caps, having AWS process and filter out the uneeded data that is sent to your home devices. If you could install Silk on the PC, the browsing experience would be lightning fast, and you would reduce the load on your bandwidth.

Unfortunately, evil service provider companies like AT&T and Comcast probably would just LOWER the bandwidth caps even further if the web became more optimized and less bandwidth heavy…gotta love not having almost no competition for service providers…

I say cloud browsing is a great step in a new direction. Let’s optimize what we have and utilize the massive backbones that these successful and giant companies have been creating. Support them and let them give the public something amazing for free or even for a small fee.

I’m still waiting for a “Google ISP”, so this nightmare of worrying about how much bandwidth I’ve used month to month can go away…

ADT Alarm Service and Installation Review: Overpriced Liars and Unskilled Technicians

My house was ransacked 4 weeks ago. I usually work from my home office and the one day I left home I came back to find all my valuables gone…they went through everything. So I decided it was time to activate the alarm that I had neglected to worry about for so long. My house was not secure at all and I accept it was my fault.

I called ADT, had a salesperson come to the house to give me a quote; $700.00 to install, and they would use the already equipped system that was in the house, the screens and connectors, etc. The salesman even gave me a used panel and motion sensor to help bring down the price. I was happy, they started the process of pulling permits.

A week passes and the technician finally comes to the house. I feel relieved because now I can leave my house without worrying about thieves coming back to take whatever little is left in the house.  I hadn’t left the house alone in a week. The technician tells me suddenly that they cant use any of the screens or connectors in the house because they are too old. This means all this stuff has to be replaced…costing an extra $900.00 dollars (Now about $1900.00 dollars total with first and last months, etc.). This made the total price more than twice cost of the original quote! I reluctantly agreed  and the installation started…it needed to be done, even if i felt slighted by the whole situation.  I had to wait for the weekend to pass to recieve the new screens and finally be able to leave the house. At the same time I had cameras installed…by an ADT Technician working off duty (who was late multiple times because they decided to finally GPS his Van…and also always had an excuse.).

The ADT Technician who was installing the pieces at my house left many unsecure spots, especially on the sliding glass doors which was the main point of entry for the robbers previously, where you could literally stick a finger in the open door after cracking it open and pull the sensor off and then just stick it to the one on the frame, giving full access to the house…I notified him about it as he was installing it and had him fix that, pulling the sensor further away so it would trip when the door was opened a crack. Well guess what?

It’s only been 3 weeks having the damn alarm system installed and already one of the sensors fell off of the sliding glass door on its own and went missing…Now I have an insecure house again because the alarm wont allow itself to rearm. Why did the sensor fall off? Because when you install it as he did on a sliding glass door, sliding the damn door open fully rips the sensor off. Did he test it or know about that? No…did he say anything? No? Is there a way to secure it without that happening? I have no idea. But I am pissed. I am pissed that after spending all that money I already having problems. I am pissed I was lied to about the price by the salesman and about what technology they could use in the house. I am pissed that I had to deal with a technician and salesman fighting each other over the phone in my presence about what could and couldn’t be installed, and I am also pissed because the ADT guy who did the cameras has blown me off to run an ethernet cable for the past 2 weeks so I can view my cameras remotely due to his laziness.

Lazy unskilled technicians, lying salesman, lack of professionalism that is my experience with ADT so far. It makes me feel as if ADT is taking me for a ride, and are just as bad, if not worse, than the thieves that ransacked my house. I feel used and violated by both, and exceptionally angry. The thieves that ransacked my house started the job by clearing out my valuables, now ADT is finishing me off by clearing out my bank for a crappy installation and terrible service.

The Egotistical Problem of Past Life Regression

Past Life Regression is used by many spiritual practitioners to seek wisdom from “those” whom they believe “they” once where. “Those who they once were” can mean the chain of events and information that has led them to their current wisdom, as well as a coarse interpretation as the physical entities that their “soul” inhabited.

Aside from the metaphysical ramifications, and belief system altering experience that this can be, there is a unspoken effect of both believing and communicating with ones past life, that is the problem of Egotism. The self importance, pride, and majesty that comes from believing one was even a relatively famous figure.

It becomes very easy to identify oneself with “those who came before”, and accept them as part of who a person is. This acceptance; even the tolerance of the notion begins to heighten the ego with visions of grandeur, exciting the brain in new ways. Verily, new experiences cause excitement. A seeker knows this. A seeker also knows excitement is only a delay on the path, however pleasurable.

Who you are, who you were, and who you will be, are all in the same, null and void. The culmination of experience is just that, the gathering together of a non existent that believes it has a righteous fury to impose itself on reality. When amplified by a legion of personalities, and without the proper care and concentration, this indignation becomes permanently affixed in the mind, barring any growth until a new cycle begins.

On the Multiplicity of Reality and Unity of the Godhead