Symbols

3 Garden of Oz

Humanity having chosen to be interested in what is relevant instead of what is true, is in the awkward position of making a living depending on shared fantasy. And then enforcing that fantasy as if it were true.

In Mundania, Clearness, self awareness, is a virtual perception mediated by the interaction of Colorless, Black and White. The general background of Recursion supports this.

Faerie has a general background of Recusion and so can support two additional kinds of self awareness based on usefulness.

First, there are the mechanicals. They have a degree of self awareness but they are not alive. Their self awareness is identical with their usefulness. Their physical polity involves connections that support their activity. They can be turned on and off. Turned on they function so as to be of use. They operate within severely conscribed limits. Turned off they are simply ready to be turned on again. As long as their mechanism remains tolerably intact they remain functional. They can be taken apart and put back together with no undo effects. They correspond to the fruit of the tree of Structure in the Recusive context. Tik-Tok and the Little Pink Bear are examples.

Another kind of mechanism is the fruiting plants. They're alive, you don't wind them up and they're usually not all that self aware, but like the Little Pink Bear, they are responsive. If cultivated they'll bear any thing at all as long as it is useful. Ham trees, bun bushes and crackerjack grass.

Second there are the nominates. They are self aware and they are alive. They have the appearance of that which is alive without any of the internal structure of that which they appear to be. Oz is jam packed with them. Most of them do not have any metabolic functions nor any way to support a metabolic function. They do what they do because they resemble a metabolic being capable of doing that. To the extent that they are non metabolic, they are essentially immortal unless their appearance is significantly altered. How much alteration is enough to stop them from living is entirely individual. Their self awareness and their life are also identical with their usefulness. They correspond to the fruit of the tree of Life in the Recusive context. The inhabitants of the China country and the Sawhorse are two examples.

Third there is everybody else. All the nominal people and animals. They are alive, self aware and have the appearance of what they are and the internal structure of what they are. They eat but they probably don't eliminate waste. Their active body functions are what is relevant and useful. Their poop isn't usually relevant or useful. They are everlasting but if they lose usefulness to themselves and others they become nonexistent. They may never die but they may be lost beyond finding. They are combinations of the tree of Life and the tree of Structure in the Recusive context.