The Key of Austin Peterson

or
- Esoteric Bossmanism -

A friend of mine once elaborated on the taoist belief and pratice to go in circles. And over time the “radius” shrinks, he said.
And so, over a very long time it shrinks to the point of no-more-shrink.
And that point shall be named nirvana.

I liked the idea he expressed. So let’s apply some of that general vibe onto the universe of irondollah / Austin_07 / ~~AustinGambles~~ / Bossmanjack

The Four Noble Truths form the foundational framework of the Buddha’s teachings. They diagnose the human condition, identify its cause, and provide a path to liberation.

Today I come to you with an advanced schizo take, an essay if you will, that does a little shallow-dive on the spiritual and ritualistic underpinnings of bossmantent and its enjoyment.

See, to some the act of watching a 30 year old white man, living at his parents home, gambling away the equivalent of a small nation’s GDP, screaming at the top of his lungs and taking suspicious breaks off-camera with ever increasing frequency might appear as somewhat bizarre. And to the untrained eye it most certainly appears as if that is all there is to it.

Money is in.
Yesss Guys.
Noooo.
I fucking lost it all.
Oh well.
My bad.
See you later guys.

The shallowest of minds, at that point, would - right here - quickly conclude that they now have seen the whole of the bossmanian microcosm and further infer that there is no more need for an extended director’s cut bossman segment this friday. Let me explain to you in great detail how they are W R O N G.

1. Dukkha – The Truth of Suffering

At the time of writing this we’re celebrating some type of two year anniversary in this thread (editor’s note: bossmanjack’s first appeareance on Dear Sneeder’s MATI podcast) and that had me go back and reflect on the fountains of nectar bestowed upon us over the past years by this absolute content machine of a man.
It also had me take a more inqusitive look at the most common and reoccuring themes of the bossman programme. Did he really lose it all? Why does he keep doing it to himself? Every? Single? Day? Buddyboy? Dude?!

There are many questions to ponder upon and facets and perspectives to consider, but today we shall only mostly look through the lens of a few simple - noble even - truths to guide our analysis and journey. And no truth is as simple and noble as the first of the four:

Life is suffering - IHMFLB

That is of course not to say that life can not squirt massively! Yet, the house-edge is very clearly defined and the ToS state that you VILL suffer, gambler child! Be upfag all you want but Evil Eddie will get his juicer one way or another.
I’m sure there is no need to dwell too much on the topic of Austin’s exisitence, with all its paid-for shelter, food, care and taxi services being merely a thinly redecorated torture chamber tailormade for his suffering and our entertainment. Really no two ways about it, right?

So how do we explain it then that a man who, nominally speaking, bangs my mother every other week, has money to piss away I can only WISH I was able to lose, and has me watching every single day is not feeling remotely satisfied?

Well, child, it all comes down to

2. Samudaya – The Truth of the Origin of Suffering

Imagine you win five figures on some slot feach, hell, let’s have it be a max win too for the sake of argument! A simple man, say you and I, would obviously and without hesitation withdraw his money and go about their day.
The way of the bossman on the other hand would have none of that and boldly proclaim an invocation of the second noble truth:

Suffering arises from craving - One more!

It is the eternal ‘+1’, the desire therein, the demiurge, that the teachings of the buddha et. al. identify as the root and origin of suffering, which again is inescapable.

So the only and righteous course of action, for a real and raw practioner of the bossman way, is to n-tuplechuck it until the desire fades, our alegorical “center of the circle” is reached and the ball of the world - shuffling around in the eternally rigged roulette wheel of the universe goes flying off and lands perfectly atop its spindle - sitting still - and the maxest of wins is consumed.

Miracles do happen!

3. Nirodha - Suffering can cease

It is then, that you might realize that there is no more squirt to chuck or rat to swish or pipe to smoke that you might further desire. Bit of “seen it all, done with it” type shit. And just like that you might also realize that in the same breath all the suffering has come to an end as well.

“There is an end to suffering.” - I am okay, We are okay!

See, the thing is you just won it all (like fr fr) on your final glorious chuck, and the price you are awarded is that you get to experience how it really doesn’t matter and never really had in the first place.
A weight falls of your soul that you are finally able to see and so all that remains is looking Eddie - evil, evil Eddie - straight in the eye, ripping up the digital betting receipt in front of him and to tell him proudly:

“I’ve lost it all, I am okay. We are okay!” and mean it!
It always would have come down to this anyway :)

This is all I have desired all along.
Nothing.

4. Magga – The Truth of the Path to the Cessation of Suffering

Now this is where buddha et. al. get very - almost medically - diagnostic about their way(s) of achieveing the good ending™ I’m not exactly sure I can sugarcoat how off-the-boat Austin really is here. Just look:

The Eightfold Path:

Right View – Understanding reality and the Four Noble Truths

Right Intention – Commitment to ethical and mental self-improvement

Right Speech – Speaking truthfully, kindly, and helpfully

Right Action – Ethical conduct (non-harming, non-stealing, etc.)

Right Livelihood – Earning a living without causing harm

Right Effort – Cultivating good states, abandoning unwholesome ones

Right Mindfulness – Awareness of body, feelings, mind, and phenomena

Right Concentration – Developing deep meditative absorption (jhana)

Anway, moving on moving on…