[ e x p a n s i o n ] to see this article as it originally appeared on hyperreal please follow this link After transcending both, my body and mind recently in the depths and darkness of the deep underground called “rave” . Hearing one man’s words ring out in the dead of night and become my own, after releasing every cell and nerve of my being to the beats and bass. I realized something about this level of existence that we are all sharing. No matter what race, creed, or religion, the ability and power of transcending all of the minor details. It is all about making that choice. It may be different in detail from anyone else’s but essentially it’s the very same decision. To go beyond what’s on this level and accept things as they are and work with them in this dimension. Or to lead a life which works towards some higher place, always just our beyond reach. There is a path. Some of us know the way out of the darkness and some of us get lost in the density. There is always a choice. Everything is a choice. Whether you let something break you, or make you stronger. Whether you add it to your roster of experience or let it take away from you. It is a choice. That remains constant. I want to borrow from perhaps among the most beautiful words ever spoken.. “With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.” Those words spoken so many yearsago ring true to us today. They can be applied to our scene. They can be applied to ourselves. They can be applied our existence. They must be applied to our future. I believe in the strengh of this generation. I believe that this thing called “rave” should be a direct reflection of life. That it is possible to take “plur” beyond the doors of an event. It all begins with you. The future is uncertain for us. Let’s face it, all predictions, prophecies, and superstitions point toward the end of the world as we know it in a few short years. I too believe that. The world as we know it has to end. It has to change. So is this concept called “raving” and “plur” to be a drug infested epidemic or a model for our future. That it’s time to put aside our differences and focus on what we all have in common. Beyond “rave”. Technology is at the forefront of our generation, the face of global communication is changing. We can make it a global link, take advantage of our techno-babied generation or we can follow in our fore-father’s footsteps and leave another generation lost. Technology too is at the center of our scene, once again a microcosm. Within the scene some of us have already made the choice to transcend out of “rave” and into our everyday world and apply that same philosophy to our lives and begin making a difference. The time has come to realize our futures. I too have a dream…… [beach txt] Glancing around at everything that makes up me, and I can’t help but wonder how everything fits in. Laying naked I can feel the breeze coming off of the lake, surrounding me like a bubble of emotions, all running high. Writhing around in the sand without you, burying myself in the newness of it.The cold deep sands embrace every inch of me. The earth seems to swallow me up and I look to you to pull me up out of it all. All I can smell is the sweetness of the sea, and the aroma of something cooking down the beach. All of a sudden I’m feeling too drunk, and I see you walking up along the shoreline. I focus in on this approaching figure, and all of a sudden you’re scooping me up and taking me with you. Tasting the very essence of the day, and we live by the ocean. I sometimes get up at night when you are sleeping and plunge myself into it. Feeling my toes anchoring themselves into the eroded soft sands, and I let myself float with the currents. As the moon gently pulls at the tides, I float out to sea. Just thinking of you, while I imagine the curve of the earth, as I just float along through space. Wondering where the tides will take me, and I wash up on the beach, and run into the house. For hours I sat watching the sea, wondering if that’s where I came from. When the sun started to come up I thought of waking you, but then savoured the moment myself. Now i’m back beside you and I smell like sweet salty air. I feel oceanic, and I watch you sleeping for a few minutes from a chair beside the bed before releasing myself to a hot shower washing the sand and salt from my body and hair. I look down and sand fills the bottom of the shower, and reminds me of when I was small. That’s when you appear, and you’re there with me, like always. You’re smiling at me, and I’m smiling back. I suddenly feel like I have wings and I think that my favorite thing in the world has to be when we’re naked together. That’s when I feel closest to the Universe. As if it’s whispering in my ear that all is well…My eyes flutter open and I find myself riding in the car with you. I must have fallen asleep looking out the window. You smile at me, and my heart grins through my chest. What a dream it’s all been…. [ m a c h i n e r y ] All this terminology eats away at me, Makes me question every thought I have ever had. Gives me answers to things I have never asked. Yet I am here. I am driven. I am life. Breathing these fumes of technology. Hearing the sounds of the grinding gears of universal suspension. Creating images from experiences. Tasting the metallic oneness of harmony in tune with chaos. Giving it all to me, building it up. Packing it down. Tearing it all apart and bringing me back home again. Everything on this ride seems so fast and out of control, but the monotony of it is drilled into my dreams. Travelling but going nowhere. Feeling all of these emotions that I am not even sure exist.Disgusted with my stupidity. All is in front of us, lying exposed on this celestial desktop. All this graphic digitalness reaching deeply into my soul and shaking me with one great fist. Translucent calm central to my soul, supported by a limitless void. Covered, protected by this heavenly body bringing all things to attention. Inevitably. Yet this all surrounds me, penetrates every cell of everything, and moves me. Effortlessly it grabs hold of me and sways me to it’s atmospheric drum. Giving to me everything I lacked, using everything I had. This is it. This is the inevitable,now is time to MOVE. [ t e c h n o s h a m a n i s m ] Technoshamanism is not just for dj’s, and the creators of the music our scene is based around, it’s for all of us who are taken to another level through this technological society. It’s the idea of leaving your body and entering the sprit world through in this case techno, drum and bass, rave etc…..But by applying the same philosophy to our everyday lives we may be able to transcribe the technoshamanism beyond musik and our subculture. Interestingly enough, technoshamanism, zen buddhism, taoism and paganism (all basically philosophies based in and around the way of the universe and nature) are all ties together, therefore “ravers” members of this subculture should be taking the time to realize the quantum physics that exist within raving. Within going back to our tribal roots in this digitally techno oriented society. By tying ourselves to the shamanic nomadic route in ancient societies we can see the similarities. The Shamen of old, were said to enter the spirit world sometimes through the use of psychoactive drugs and sometimes through deep meditation, and chanting, singing and dance…… can we see any resemblances between this ancient sect and this new subculture…..We have done something that no generation in recent society has ever done before, it’s time to realize exactly what is happening, it’s anthropology at it’s best. It’s not “hey let’s get messed up” and if it is, that’s where the problem has began….. So is this digital world supplying this generation with a new religion?? :} We have created and upheld this modern primitive movement, It’s interesting that everyone is trying so hard to keep it underground. We are protective of what we have created. As well we should be. But it’s come time to clarify WHAT we are, WHAT it all really means, and expand it, we together can change the face of humanity and make the world of the future a much better placeRave is a sign of this generation making a connection, the uniting of past and future. The rave is ‘primitive,’ with its gathering of ‘tribes’ of young. We have a basis in quantum physics. It is time to accept the digital elements of our scene and accept our fate. Something that some have left behind, something that some of us need to teach the new members of our tribe. ~-+=EXPAND YOUR MIND, EXPLORE YOUR SOUL [ h o p e ] Taking away everything that complicates things, starting all over from the beginning, and snatching up whatever information you find in your path. Living for life and discovering one’s true purpose on this planet. It’s all become so much more than glancing in the direction of some silly highschool existence. Each section ends with each day, and the ability to renew oneself is mindblowing. What connection does one hold with the universal alignment of things? Where does that feeling of utter worship and spine tingling mesmerizing thought really evolve from? Nothing in the world can reproduce that moment, that second where you know that no matter what happens “Everything will be alright” “i am going to be okay”. Today has been a hard day for me, this is the anniversary of the day my life changed forever. This is the anniversary of when things were different. When things weren’t so thought provoking….So now that i have taken away everything that once stood in my path, now that all the things that held me back have been disposed of. And now standing alone at the edge of this abyss, i have nothing to loose. I have myself. I am free of all dependencies. No one and nothing. I was thinking the other day about my life, and how it may appear to someone if they were reading it as a novel. Would it be romance? adventure? tragedy? thriller? new age? i realized it would be all of that. Each little aspect crammed into the pages of a pretty exciting novel. I seem to be free from everything, but wants. I still want and need. Two things which i never really will be free of. Looking around at the people who surround my galaxy i see one common trait. Hope. This realization, that just like pandora’s box, we hold hope. Hope for the future, hope for ourselves, and hope for the next generation. Sometimes my heart hurts, I wonder why things have unravelled the way that they have. Sometimes my eyes well up with tears at the strangest moments, like sitting comfortably at a party and suddenly feeling this overwhelming grief. Fears of one day drowning in my own tears….Hope taps me on the shoulder sometimes…..just to remind me that she’s there, then there is a moment when i look up at the stars and realize that there is so much more to life than this. That one day the pain in my heart will subside, that the tears in my eyes will dry, and the lump that is ever present in the back of my throat will fade. Hope. Or maybe it’s just the fact that I have healed so many people, and no one has healed me. So there is hope for the future or finding the way out of the darkness and joining the people in the daylight. Hope of becoming eternal and completely free of what binds me. Listen to hope. Sometimes she calls out in the faintest of voices, she tugs gently at your sleeve, or her breath brushes your cheek in the slightest way. But she’s there. Never forget her. |