My opinion on the title being “dis-empowering”…

Treachery is everywhere. The world is a treacherous place.
And I believe treachery is, in fact, empowering.
So many contradictions in life.
So many dissonant situations, conversations, events, people, beliefs, etc.

“That’s why you must always remain receptive to the currents of the Dark Side, because no matter how nimble you are, or think you are, the Force will show you no pity.”
-Darth Plagueis

Considering movement, at great length,
Ease and comfort tell you to stay,
No struggles here or need for strength,
Food and drink keep hunger at bay.

Everythings so lush and green,
Nourishing water and comforting shade,
Altogether soothing and clean,
It lets you sink in and you begin to fade.

Safe from the sweltering heat,
The body rests and so does the blade,
Thirst quenching waters wash away the resolve,
From which your iron will was made.

“The death of a star – falling in upon itself – takes place in those of strength; those to weak are consumed. This is the begining of insatiable hunger, ambitions, wants, passion; and it is the end of contentment, rest, peace. The individual becomes a black hole, and has lost all convention, all comfort, for having dispelled the light that had once constituted his being.”
(The Honesty of Darkness | Excerpt)

“I think an Individual has a certain field of [energetic, mystical] gravity, and the more powerful a person becomes, the stronger his or her pull; extending that line of thought, I tend to think that we reach out – sometimes consciously, other times without an awareness that we’re doing so – and pull towards ourselves situations, struggles, lessons that we as individuals, on some subversive, subconscious level, feel need to recur.”
(Achilles’ Heel | Excerpt)

“It takes more than you’d think though. It takes having gravity as an individuated being, pulling circumstances, situations, and events towards oneself that make life difficult; it takes passing through the ordeal alive (which is sometimes referred to as ‘unscathed’, but every such experience is liable to leave a scar) and using what you’ve learned. It takes doing it over again, and again, and again, ’till you dried up, dead, and buried.”
(What It Takes | Excerpt)

“Darkness becomes concentrated in the same way a planet takes shape. Gravity is already there, and so the raw elements begin the process of forming into a distinct form. Earth was formed by gravity, is subject to it, is arguably a manifestation of it, and has gravity of its own in a way. So it is with the Individual. So too with the Dark Side.”
(A Random Fragment on Gravity, The Individual, and Darkness)

“The true nature of passion, is to burn first, and then to pull inward, to bring that for which you burn closer to you. Like a Star that burns first ever brighter only to collapse into Darkness and pull to the point that not even space and time can ignore or resist its call.”
(Life of a Star by Khaos | Excerpt)

Then it doesn’t work right one day.
Something seems to be wrong but you can’t tell what.
It won’t work at all anymore.

So you decide to do something new with it.
Anger, hatred, spite all whisper to you.
They say a lot of new things at first, and this is where it starts.

Destroy it because it wasn’t as valuable as you once believed.
Create so you have something new to value.
Value it enough that its destruction leaves you bereaved.

Eventually it becomes familiar and you see recurrence.
What you just did has happened before.
And the voices are snickering because they know, it’ll happen again.

Destroy so you have pain, emotions, a challenge.
When it’s gone, create so you have something new to value.
Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Hopefully this is a spiral; even if it’s pointless either way…
At least spirals go up and down.
Circles alone would just spin you around.

Cycles are circles; to evolve (or devolve) is to spiral.

(Second Edition | Reworked May 16th, 2012)

In fact, I think the tendency to confine posting of such things as lectures… it’s probably a bleed over from what’s been done at the Order for the last few years (among other possible sources that encourage that approach). I don’t think that’s really all that great of an idea though, so I changed the format of the Dark Lecture Hall.
_______________________________________________________

Lecture Hall
The Dark Lecture Hall, presented and maintained by the Dark Council.

Soliloquies, Monologues, and Asides
A Collection of lectures from the Dark Side, produced by and harvested from the general populace.
_______________________________________________________

One section confined to lectures that will (hopefully) be composed by the Dark Council and reflect both diversity and coherency. The idea is that what goes into the main Lecture Hall, and what is kept out of it, is more deliberate, focused. The other section would consist of lectures plucked from the discussion forums and holocrons, assuming people start a trend of posting lectures there as opening posts for at least some of the threads they start.

Versatile, or so it’s designed to be. If used well, I think the architecture is there for spontaniety and chaos as well as for a more thought out representation, even if a little chaotic in and of itself by virtue of diverse people. One thing I’m fairly sure of when it comes to what will actually go in: nothing from the past, only lectures, monologues, asides, etc. written since the establishment of the new layout.

 Recent Interviews

CNN Interview
By Abbey Goodman, posted May 1st

UMG (Universal Music Germany) Interview
By UMG, video posted April 25th

Marilyn Manson on Born Villain, the “Celebrity Era,” and How He Got His “Stones Back”
By Marc Spitz, posted April 23rd

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 Loudwire Interview
By Graham Hartmann, 1-3 posted throughout April, 4 posted May 3rd

Album Reviews

Artist Direct News Album Review
By Rick Florino, posted May 1st

The Wild Poets Project Track-by-Track Album Review
By The Wild Poets Project, put on youtube April 30th

New Adventures in Hi-Fi Album Review
By James, posted April 30th

GigWise Album Review: “Could easily be considered one of Manson’s best productions to date.”
By Flora Neighbour, posted April 30th

Sputnik Music Album Review
By Jeremy Bentham, posted April 25th

In My Own Words

If I had to rate this album from one to five, I’d give it a five easy. I think that this is definately one of his best albums, if not the best. I’ve never really been able to settle on a favorite Manson album before (and still can’t settle on any single piece when it comes to the songs), but now that his latest one is out I can definitively say I have one now: Born Villain. There are a few songs I like less than others, but in my honest opinion every single one on here is fucking brilliant.

Hey Cruel World…, the first track, just seems to dive right in, which isn’t unprecedented (ref. Irresponsible Hate Anthem, Great Big White World, If I Was Your Vampire). But even though there’s no introductory track like Prelude (The Family Trip) or Thaeter in the quiet sense, the beginnings of a few songs are reminiscent of a sort of mini-prelude, such as the recitation of lines from Macbeth in Overneath the Path of Misery. Or in the first few seconds of The Gardener… though short, the first, “I’m not man enough to be human, but I’m trying to fit in, and I’m learning to fake it,” is spoken in much the same way as is done with the Shakespeare quote.

The Gardener itself is a mostly spoken song that I look at as one of Manson’s most insightful commentaries on the nature of relationships since User Friendly (See “She is doomed to be your idea of her/Your book isn’t burned, it was never written” from Gardener compared to “‘I’m not in love, but I’m gonna fuck you, ’till somebody better comes along’/Use me like I was a whore, Relationships are such a bore, Delete the ones that you’ve fucked” from User Friendly). Of course, I think that can be interpreted as applying to more than just the obvious relationship angle.

To me, it seems that parallels can readily be drawn to connect it with his best works of the past; synthesized, with little elements throughout that remind me of Portrait, Mechanical Animals, Antichrist, etc., yet they’re integrated as part of an album that’s set apart, an album that stands alone as something all its own, something new. All in all, I think this album is fucking awesome (see the first paragraph up top, referencing my bias).

Official Born Villain era Sites – Marilyn Manson.com and Born Villain.com

Marilyn Manson’s Official Website
This is the artists main site, recently revamped to reflect the current era in imagery, ambience, format, and overall aesthetic changes. It includes his journal, upcoming tour dates, photography, paintings, a full catalogue of music videos spanning his career, and a few more things here and there.

Born Villain | Lyrics, Videos, Etc.
A “sister site” to MarilynManson.com, this site originally housed the Born Villain short film directed by Shia LaBeouf. In the absence of a Lyric Booklet to accompany physical copies of the album, the CD case directs its buyers to this site for lyrics. Videos tieing into the album, including the short film, the music video for the lead single No Reflection, and the short “I Am Among No One” teaser clip can be found here.

Main Page
Archive of Lectures Presented in the Dark Lecture Hall
Archive of Writings Grouped by Author

This archive is provided for the purpose of study and reflection, and not in order to demonstrate a current school of thought. Many lectures reflect past interests that are no longer represented within the community.
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The above is a brief sort of index linking to the Wiki archive of the Force Academy’s Dark Aspect. The text above and below the links was originally written by Richard Irvine as a part of those archives, and was adapted for use in the private dark training forums in pretty much the same form as seen above.

Credit goes to Irvine for the original text, as well as for the formatting and the initial transfer of material to the (newer) wiki archive.

Of note: the links will be there so it’s in an easy to find, accessible place for members of the Dark Aspect Student usergroup (info here); however, it was the first thing posted so that it would eventually be at the bottom of a list of threads within the information center. I feel it’s important, but in relation to active training it is of less importance than other threads that will be put there.

If I really think about it, it’s strange how the hand-written element went by the wayside for so long… that’s changed over the last few months of course, but for awhile there I wasn’t using paper and ink for much of anything.

I think it’s a good way of going about it, really; to use paper and ink first always provides for oppurtunity to change it as you type it out, to get a feel for the flow of it, and to touch it up as you re-read in the transference from a physical template to a virtual one. It’s still not something I do all the time, nor would I want to. But it’s still a good little process I thought worth noting.

Believe what you want,
but eventually,
You’ll have to admit
That this is me.

Get over it.

It doesn’t have to be such a chore,
Just open the door, I’ve Given you the key.

Add up the numbers, just basic math.

I know what you wanted to believe,
But you need to get over it.
I’m lost and it’s past time to grieve.
That lieing to yourself needs to quit,
It’s only been you that you’ve set out to deceive.

My self-abusing, liar loving whore,
Just do the math, open the door.

And walk away.

(Rough Version :: Written ?-?-?)

Trying to please everyone dillutes the actions and decisions one might take, but anger – among other elements - can put pressure on them; solidity, focus, form, and ultimately ones Vision begins to take shape. I don’t think twisting everyones panties into a buch is necessarily the most desirable course to take, at least not all the time; but if one must pick between the two it’s classic Machiavelli, it’s better to be feared (or hated or despised in this instance) than loved, if you cannot be both.

Having said that, it pays to be mindful of such imaginary obligations. In being mindful, the things others would have you live up to become quite the opposite of what they would be for a fool with no awareness or understanding of them. Accounting for them becomes an option; to take it further though, you can use knowledge of ’em to exploit them. Synthesize what you have to work with in the minds of others and what you’re ambitions are. Experiment, do things to observe and understand the interactions and friction that comes about in enacting your will on an enviroment.

An individual unaware of the expectations others might try to place on him or her - in certain positions or following certain accomplishments - is at risk of being chained by them. It is through this lack of mindfullness that the imaginary obligations demanded of a person can become all to real. A form of boundage (and not the good kind). I could point out that awareness and use of them might also restrict the flourishing of ones Vision, but the advice I’d give for that is simple, straightforward, obvious… be subtle and insidious.

(Written March 22nd, altered April 21st)