That Which Is Not

"I'm holding onto white balloons
Up against a sky of doom.
Tell me you see them.
'Cause what's inside of me
Is invisible to most,
Even in clear view.

"The changes in me
Are likely to be like the weather:
Stormy and clear;
Strength into fear, bound together."



I'm in a bit of a hurry, but I want to tell you about a very important concept in my life.

Kindly bear with me on the analytical-ness, by the way; this blog makes a very useful sounding board for some of my more "out there" ideas, and for keeping track of my train of thought.


In order for anything to exist, its opposite must also exist, for the act of existing is, by definition, a comparitive exercise. For example, if "cold" were to exist in the world without "hot", we wouldn't understand what "cold" was at all, and "cold" would simply cease to exist. By the same token, in order for you to have any sense of identity, you must first compare yourself to someone else: I'm taller than him, she's prettier than me, he thinks one way about a situation but I think another, etc.

We live in a world of comparison, of relation. Think about it long enough, and you'll realize that it is, quite literally, the only way we are capable of existing.

This law goes deeper than you could possibly imagine, from the microscopic to the meta.

It is, in fact, what my current tagline is all about. As long as there is light, there will be darkness, but it works the other way too.

What that basically means is, just as light is needed to create shadows, darkness makes the light seem brighter. I know this rule can be used if I can just figure it out...

But getting to my point... I wouldn't quite say that Slenderman is the opposite of humanity. It's both more complicated and much, much simpler than that.

On the one hand, you have everything that exists. On the other hand, you have everything that doesn't exist. The Seen and the Unseen. The Known and the Unknowable. That Which Is, and That Which Is Not.

It's a tricky realm of ideas to get into, because That Which Is Not still, nonetheless, Is, at least in a sense. As mentioned before, even though your conscious mind will always recoil at what it perceives to be its natural opposite, your subsconscious mind does and always did work on the exact same wavelength as It and others like It. And therein lies something of a problem. A purely theoretical problem, I grant you, but still.

Remember what I said before about the difference between inception and denial? Well, because of the way our minds work... no, let me start again. But be warned - a rather high degree of metacognition is required here. Again, bear with me.

We actually have an extraordinary degree of control over our thoughts and surroundings. The world is as you perceive it, after all. If you think someone is a jerk, then otherwise innocent comments from that person will be perceived as insults. And if you think that chair is blue, it doesn't matter what color it actually is; it's blue to you, and blue it will stay. But this control only applies to what can be considered an extension of yourself - aka, That Which Is. The things that you think about; the realm of things that exist, according to your mind. It's the things that don't exist - the monster in your closet, the shadow of the tree against your window, the imaginary predator standing right behind you on a dark night - that we have no power over.

And, as history has proven time and again, it's the things we can't control that we fear.

Denial (not a factual statement, mind, I mean the kind of denial that any layman would call unhealthy) places an interesting twist on all this. Your conscious mind insists that something is not real. Your unconscious mind, however, says differently - after all, in order to deny something, you have to think about it quite hard, and that brings it into reality. The very act of denying something places it in front of you, and yet you refuse to see it. So it exists in a sense, but you remain unable to control it because you refuse to acknowledge it. Therefore, what you deny controls you.

I compare this view to my thoughts on good and evil, actually. As long as you know and fully acknowledge what you - as an individual and as a collective - are capable of, you can recognize the signs of one behavior or another and avoid it if you choose. It's all about maintaining control.


I am certain now, more certain than ever, that Slenderman doesn't exist, not in a metaphysical sense. Whenever It appears, your mind instantly recoils, insisting that the thing before you isn't real, it can't be real, it's too wrong. It can walk through crowds of people completely unseen except by those It's focused on. Sage found It by looking for nothing. Redlight and his associates are wrong: Slenderman is not "He That Is". Slenderman is That Which Is Not, and always has been.

That's out there, that's a fact. It has to be. What I'm wondering now is... can it be changed?

It can clearly bring us into Its unreality, that's been demonstrated far too many times. The Labyrinths, the teleportation, even lost time could fall under this, depending on the circumstances. Perception filters too. But can the reverse also be possible?

I think it might. I'm not sure how yet, but I think it might.

---

Busy day today. I'll be around when I can, but it'll be sporadic. Got more than a few errands to run.


On a completely unrelated note... Sage, it is beyond weird to be calling you "Sage" now, and Amalgamation or its variants are too much of a mouthful. Can I just refer to you by your name?

Also: HOLY SHIT M'S BEEN FOUND!