The Secret Chamber of the Heart
Molly Hankins April 23, 2026
There is a tiny space inside our hearts…
Heart-shaped World Map, 1536.
Molly Hankins April 23, 2026
There is a tiny space inside our hearts. Described in ancient religious texts dating as far back as the Chandogya Upanishad, between the 8th and 6th century BCE, and even further, in a little-known addendum to the Torah written about in countless secondary sources, with a title said to roughly translate to ‘The Secret Chamber of the Heart.’ The original source material has never been found, and there is no known complete English translation but its message is said to mirror that of the Chandogya Upanishad - it is from this space in our hearts, which we can enter into through meditation or simply by visualising, where we access the part of ourselves still connected to The Creator. When we create from that place, we bypass the egoic mind of judgement, creating with the most highly potent energy available, free of fear.
In 1991, science identified this secret portal of creation when Dr. J. Andrew Armour discovered a neural network inside the heart he called the intracardiac nervous system (ICN), also known as the ‘heart brain.’ This network consists of approximately 40,000 brain cells, not heart cells, and is believed to power the rhythm of our heartbeat. HeartMath Institute has conducted studies where emotions are intentionally experienced through the heart, and found that the nature of electrical signals produced and shared with the brain change. Study participants intentionally feeling positive emotions in their heart consistently experienced a more smooth and stable heartbeat, and the opposite was also true. Cardiologist Dr. Sandeep Jauhar has studied how negative emotions not only change the behavior, but also the shape of the heart, for the worse.
“The nerves that control unconscious processes, such as the heartbeat, can sense distress and trigger a maladaptive fight-or-flight response,” said Dr. Jauhar in a 2019 TED Talk about how grief can affect cardiac health and the autonomic nervous system. The antidote to this negative impact is what HeartMath calls ‘generating coherence’ between our mental processes, intuition and emotional state by consciously experiencing positive emotions from our heart brain. Coherence is a paraphysiological state, and is described in HearthMath’s seminal white paper Science of the Heart as a balanced integration of mental constructs and emotions. “The heart is, in fact, a highly complex, self-organized information processing center with its own functional “brain” that communicates with and influences the cranial brain via the nervous system, hormonal system and other pathways. These influences profoundly affect brain function and most of the body’s major organs, and ultimately determine the quality of life.”
Both the scientific and spiritual interpretations of this information point to the same conclusion - working with our heart brain improves the quality of our creations, including our experience of life itself. We connect with ourselves as part of the mind of the One Creator when we enter this place, described by author and spiritual teacher Drunvalo Melchizedek as a sacred space where our lives can be remade through conscious co-creation. In his latest book, The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life Vol. 3 he writes, “In this secret chamber, you will discover a world as real as this outer world, but more ancient and primal. It is the very source of the world that we are now walking around in.” This chamber functions as a portal connecting us to the original source of consciousness, the fountainhead of all creation - our one true self.
Melchizedek and his team have been leading workshops across the world for over twenty years on how to enter this secret chamber. In his new book, he concedes that as Earth and her inhabitants are ascending into higher consciousness, it’s becoming increasingly simple to teach people how to access the tiny space inside in our hearts as more people are experiencing what he calls ‘mobility of spirit.’ This begins first with identifying as a spiritual being inhabiting a human body, then practicing moving our consciousness beyond the body. Can you imagine moving your spirit into the body of a tree and seeing the world from that perspective? Even if you feel like it’s just make-believe, that’s perfectly fine - this is the only precursor required for being able to consciously access the secret chamber of the heart.
“The truth is, once we achieve spiritual mobility and establish the conscious, loving connection between our Earthly home and the Sun, we intuitively find our own way into this place, and our experience of it is unique to us.”
Before we begin this work, our consciousness is either in the mind or the heart - never both. For this reason, it is recommended we begin by practicing moving our consciousness from the brain into the heart and envisioning what that looks like. In Melchizedek’s Living In The Heart workshops, participants spend several hours mastering the technique of moving the seat of individual consciousness first into the pineal gland, then into the heart by way of the throat, and describing how the inside of the heart appears. He recommends using a blackout eye-mask to enhance this practice because the pineal gland is best activated by total darkness.
The final step required to access the sacred space within the heart is using the ‘Unity Breath,’ a practice he channeled from Yogananda’s guru Swami Sri Yuktewar Giri, described in a previous article as allowing access to the subtle realms of expanded awareness. Imagine sending a cord of energy to Mother Earth, sending her love and then feeling her love come back into your being. Then imagine sending a cord of loving energy to the Sun, which he calls Father Sky, and feeling that love being returned. “When your heart, the heart of Earth, and the heart of our Sun are connected with love, a special vibration enters into your spirit, and at that moment, the trinity of love is alive on Earth,” Melchizedek explained in the third volume of The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life. “Your Divine Mother, your Divine Father, and you - their Divine Child - are one in love. This is the Unity Breath.”
Breathing into this connection expands our awareness of the tiny, secret space inside our physical hearts. This might materialise as an intuitive knowing that you’re already there, or you might imagine yourself crossing a threshold into what many describe as a crystal cave of humming vibration. Several different meditative methods of access are offered in Melchizedek’s workshop and books. The truth is, once we achieve spiritual mobility and establish the conscious, loving connection between our Earthly home and the Sun, we intuitively find our own way into this place, and our experience of it is unique to us.
Access can be blocked by incoherence generated from conditioning and trauma, but rest assured we can work through these blocks by building coherence. Intentionally experiencing positive emotions like gratitude through our hearts activates the parasympathetic nervous system, lowering our heart rate and creating a physical feeling of wellbeing. Using vibration to stimulate the vagus nerve, which is the main component of the parasympathetic nervous system, is another proven method. This can be done through humming or toning, as well as through music. “Numerous studies have shown that music affects emotions and mood states and can also modify physiological responses,” HearthMath tells us. Even a favorite song can be a portal to joy and a tool to facilitate coherence, acting as an access point to the secret chamber.
“Everything that has been manifested in the universe was created through this Tiny Space. When you are there, and the Source of Life merges with you, you and Source are one,” Melchizedek believes. “Engaging with this incredible Spirit will give you powerful guidance into the cosmos.” Once you experience it for yourself, you are forever changed. Once you learn to create from this place, coherence and stability become features of everything you make.
Molly Hankins is an Initiate + Reality Hacker serving the Ministry of Quantum Existentialism and Builders of the Adytum.
“Black” is a Country (1962)
Amiri Baraka April 21, 2026
To a growing list of “dirty” words that make Americans squirm add the word Nationalism…
At the height of the civil rights struggle in 1962, Amiri Baraka (formerly LeRoi Jones) wrote this essay-cum-manifesto that became one of the most significant works of racial theory of the 20th century. A call for black self determination, it is no coincidence that it was in the same year of publication that Malcolm X entered the public sphere as an alternative leader to Dr. Martin Luther King of the Civil Rights Movement. Baraka, when talking about this now-famous work, and the controversy that surrounded it for years, said that the only thing he was abdicating for was that Black people in America have to act in ‘our best interests’. In his pleas for self determination, Baraka argues that Black people have a unique culture that constitutes a national identity seperate from that of White America. Baraka would go on to found the Black Arts Movement and spearhead the second Harlem Renaissance, but this essay marks his most profound shift, from a beat poet of Downtown New York to a thought leader in Harlem, fighting for a new world.
Amiri Baraka April 21, 2026
To a growing list of “dirty” words that make Americans squirm add the word Nationalism. I would say that the word has gained almost as much infamy in some quarters of this country as that all-time anathema and ugliness, Communism. In fact, some journalists, commentators, and similar types have begun to use the two words interchangeably. It goes without saying that said commentators, etc., and the great masses of Americans who shudder visibly at the mention of those words cannot know what they mean. And it is certainly not my function, here, to rectify that situation completely. But I do think that unless the great majority of people in this country begin to understand just exactly what Nationalism is (or at least that variety of Nationalism which is most in evidence among the smaller, so-called uncommitted countries of the world) they will pass from the scene like the boxer who “never knew what hit him.”
The concept of “acting in one’s own best interests” is certainly not unknown to America or to the rest of the so-called Free World (which I am told includes Portugal, South Africa, and parts of Mississippi). In fact, I would say it is just this concept which has allowed the Western peoples to remain for so long the richest and best-fed in the world. No matter what people or countries had ultimately to suffer while they were pursuing these “best interests,” the pragmatic efficiency of England, France, or the United States in accomplishing such ends is almost legendary. Weird historical “music,” in the so-called Opium Wars in China (Britain), the “defense” of the Suez Canal (Britain/France), the Spanish-American and Castro-American Wars (United States)—some examples, both recent and long past, of this “best interests” doctrine as applied by the West— leaps immediately to mind. And these kinds of activities can also be included within the definition of Nationalism. So it seems strange at first to see Westerners squirming at the mention of a concept and/or practice they themselves have been most responsible for perfecting. There is a comic analogy in the fact that in con man language “savage” means “sucker.”
The “rub,” of course, is that when another people or country, who have been used or exploited because it served the best interests of a Western power, suddenly become politically and/or physically powerful enough to begin talking about their own best interests, which of course are usually in direct opposition to the wishes of their exploiters, it is then that Nationalism becomes a dirty word—one to be stricken from as many minds as possible, by whatever methods. (To my mind, it is absurd to think for a moment that the people who killed Patrice Lumumba thought he was a Communist. They understood exactly what he was.) And it seems a simple enough conclusion to me that most of the so-called “hotspots” in the world are caused by this same conflict of “nationalisms,” even in our own South. (An historical aside: The Civil War in the United States was of course the victory of the industrial interests in the country over struggle must take. In America, black is a country. The Cubans are attacked by this country because they refuse to let themselves be used solely to further the Industrial interests of this country. Communism is not the issue. Lumumba was killed because he resisted the designs of the neo-colonialists to continue to make money from the labors of the African. Communism, again, was not the issue.
“The idea of “passive” resistance is not the answer. It is an Indian “rope trick” that cannot be applied in this scientific country. No one believes in magic anymore.”
The black man has been separated and made to live in his own country of color. If you are black the only roads into the mainland of American life are through subservience, cowardice, and loss of manhood. Those are the white man’s roads. It is time we built our own. America is as much a black country as a white one. The lives and destinies of the white American are bound up inextricably with those of the black American, even though the latter has been forced for hundreds of years to inhabit the lonely country of black. It is time we impressed the white man with the nature of his ills, as well as the nature of our own. The Negro’s struggle in America is only a microcosm of the struggle of the new countries all over the world.
The idea of “passive” resistance is not the answer. It is an Indian “rope trick” that cannot be applied in this scientific country. No one believes in magic anymore. The Christian church cannot help us. The new nationalists all over the world have learned to be suspicious of “Christianity.” Christ and the Dollar Sign have gotten mixed up in their minds, and they know that the latter is their enemy. It is time black Americans got those two confused as well. The idea of the “all black society” within the superstructure of an all white society is use less as well (even if it were possible). We are Americans, which is our strength as well as our desperation. The struggle is for independence, not separation—or assimilation for that matter. Do what you want to with your life . . . when you can. I want to be independent of black men just as much as I want independence from the white. It is just that achieving the latter involves all black men, or at least those who have not already taken those available roads into the mainstream I mentioned earlier— subservience, cowardice, and loss of manhood.
This struggle has first got to aim itself at those black men who have already taken those three roads to “success.” The “rubber stamps” of our exploitation. Usually, as we know, these rubber stamps are set up as our “leaders.” Official Negroes they are called. Good. Let them be official. It only means that they are as sick and useless as everything else in this country that has, of recent years, been unofficial. When we speak of the ugliness of American foreign policy, we cannot separate our disgust with that from the knowledge that these official Negroes, as such, must be the repositories of those same policies. The best interests of the black man in America cannot be furthered by these puppets and messengers. It is not in the best interests of the black man if another black man gets up in the United Nations and apologizes to that august body for the conduct of “his people.” It is not in the best interests of the black American if another black American suggests to the world that the only way in which his people are going to achieve their independence is to get walked on in public places or blown out of buses. And it is strictly up to those black people who realize these things to come out and say them. Not only say them, but act upon them. And we must act now, in what I see as an extreme “nationalism,” i.e., in the best interests of our country, the name of which the rest of America has pounded into our heads for four hundred years, Black.
Amiri Baraka (1934 – 2014) was an American writer, poet, historian, playwright, essayist, and critic who is one of the most significant, controversial, and respected writers of his generation. His work are considered defining texts of African American culture and Baraka is widely regarded as the founder of the Black Arts Movement that brought on the second Harlem Renaissance.
24 Returning - The I Ching
Chris Gabriel April 18, 2026
Going in and out untroubled, friends come…
Chris Gabriel April 18, 2026
Judgement
Going in and out untroubled, friends come. He goes his own way, and returns after seven days.
Lines
1
Returning from nearby.
2
Returning to rest.
3
Returning and turning.
4
Returning alone on the middle path.
5
Returning the favour.
6
Missing the turn.
If you use the army on this path there will be a great defeat.
Even the King will suffer. After ten years you still won’t be forgiven.
Qabalah
Gevurah to Binah: The Path of Cheth. The Chariot.
This hexagram shows us light returning after a period of darkness; the crack of dawn and the coming of spring: The turning point. We can see it depicted in the hexagram itself, where the single light yang at the bottom breaks into the five dark yin lines. Thunder under the Earth is the natural energy which drives plants forth out of the darkness of the Earth, thus the Spring. The ideogram shows us walking in the manner of the sun, or in the matter of folded fabric - both images of repetition. No matter how dark a time or difficult a journey, the turning point comes and things change.
Judgement: Here we see the repetitive cycle shared with friends, going to the same places, even when one strays for a time, they return.
1 After only a brief darkness, returning to light. This is like making a wrong turn but catching yourself before you go too far in the wrong direction,
2 Returning to rest is going back to sleep, keeping things in place for a time: to recover and restore one's energy.
3 This is going a long distance, reaching your destination, returning home again, then doing this again and again. While the previous line was a restful return, this is a restless return. This is a long commute, or an unprepared journey. A difficult but often unavoidable situation.
4 When you are in the wrong place among the wrong people it is good to return home alone.
5 When we go on a profitable venture it is good to return home with gifts for those who helped us make the journey.
6 The timing of a return is extremely important, if we miss certain turns, we can add hours to a journey. In war, if one acts at the wrong time, they ensure they will be defeated.
While the Sun knows exactly when to return, humans do not. We constantly make mistakes that could have been solved if we only knew when to stop and when to go. With the hexagram being connected to the tarot card of the Chariot, the lines strongly call to mind driving a car. All drivers have experienced each of the situations depicted here.
When we look to the opposite hexagram on the path of Cheth, that of Excitement, we see the driving force behind the initial journey out. In excitement we can thrust ourselves into a journey, only to find ourselves far from home, and needing to turn around.
The images here are simple and mundane, but we can understand the higher meaning as “Seeing the Light”. Even after a life of sin, we can turn our lives around, not just our cars. This is a moment of “enlightenment” which will set us in a radical new direction. This is Saul on the road to Damascus blinded by the light of Christ, who converts on the spot, ending his persecution of Christians.
Therefore, let us have the wisdom to see our path clearly, and know when we have strayed from it. To know when it’s time to turn around and return.
Sacred Geometry and White Magic
Flora Knight April 16, 2026
Sacred geometry is rooted in the idea that God is the ultimate mathematician and that the mathematical patterns observed in nature are signs of divinity…
A detail from Hirschvogel’s ‘Geometria’ (1543).
Flora Knight April 16, 2026
Sacred geometry, the concept that divine mathematical patterns underpin the universe, has profoundly influenced various religious and mystical traditions. It is rooted in the idea that God is the ultimate mathematician and that the mathematical patterns observed in nature are signs of divinity. These sacred patterns manifest in numerous ways, such as mandalas, religious architecture, and symbols across Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Yet in witchcraft, it is the pentagram that has been most prevalent. Alongside its other interpretations, the pentagram embodies the principles of sacred geometry, a cohesive and balanced symbol, simple, repeatable and divine.
White Magic has long been fascinated with sacred geometry, particularly drawing inspiration from the Temple of Solomon’s design. This structure has significantly influenced the geometric architecture in witchcraft. The intricate designs and patterns seen in the Temple of Solomon have become a cornerstone for many later structures, reflecting the importance of geometry in magical practices and teachings. Various white magical institutions have adopted these geometric principles as a core part of their teachings, emphasizing the connection between spirituality and mathematics.
The caretaker at Newgrange, 1910.
One significant site that highlights the importance of sacred geometry is Bru’gh na Bo’inne, or New Grange, in Ireland. This ancient burial site, one of the oldest Western structures, dates back to ancient history and served as a burial place for Irish kings. New Grange incorporates sacred spirals in its design, which were later espoused by Fibonacci. The entrance of this structure features right-hand spirals, known as Deosil, which are used by priestesses when casting a holy circle. This counter-clockwise movement symbolizes holiness and positive energy. As one progresses through the corridors, the spirals shift to a clockwise direction, known as widdershins, which represents movement away from goodness and aligns with the sun's movement. Each chamber within New Grange symbolizes one of the three worlds of Celtic magic: the sky world, the middle world, and the underworld. This structure parallels the Temple of Solomon in its representation of the fourfold nature of the universe.
Beyond architectural marvels, sacred geometry finds its application in geomancy, a form of divination that became widespread in medieval Europe. Originating from Arabic and Persian traditions, geomancy involves interpreting patterns formed by tossing earth or stones onto the ground or making marks in the sand. By the medieval period, geomancers began using pen and ink to draw random lines of points, creating a Geomantic tableau. This method of divination became second in importance only to astrology during the Middle Ages.
Symbols of Geomancy.
In geomancy, the practitioner draws 16 lines of points while contemplating a question. These points form groups called the 'Mothers,' which generate the 'Daughters,' then the 'Nieces,' and finally the 'Witnesses and the Judge.' The Judge represents the answer to the question posed. Each figure in the Geomantic tableau is associated with a planet, zodiac sign, time of day, and element (earth, air, fire, or water). Figures that point downward are considered stable and arriving, while figures pointing upward are seen as departing and movable.
The question posed in geomancy is assigned to one of the 12 astrological houses, each governing a different aspect of life such as riches, health, marriage, and journeys. For instance, a question about marriage falls under the 'wife' house, while a query about a ship's safe passage falls under the 'journeys' house. The geomancer interprets the tableau by examining the figure in the relevant house and considering its properties to determine the outcome.
Sacred geometry's influence on witchcraft and divination is profound, reflecting the deep connection between the mystical and mathematical realms. It rejects the idea that the universe exists in chaos, and rather points to a truthful order, available for all those willing to look.
Flora Knight is an occultist and historian.
It’s Gonna Rain
Derek Simpson April 14, 2026
By the time Steve Reich released It’s Gonna Rain, splicing and looping strips of audio tape was a technique well known to the champions of the avant garde…
Hans Glaser. 1554.
Derek Simpson April 14, 2026
By the time Steve Reich released It’s Gonna Rain, splicing and looping strips of audio tape was a technique well known to the champions of the avant garde. A handful of composers had long been manipulating prerecorded sounds, challenging the idea that music is defined by rhythm, melody, and harmony. These composers had been laying the foundations of electronic music since the late 1940’s in a style known as musique concrète or ‘concrete music,’ creating works defined by their unidentifiable source material.
A single sound may originate as a 3-second recording of laughter, for example, but in the final composition, the laughter would be slowed and stretched to 20 seconds, emulating an engine being ignited in the distance. Another sound, a train passing by, may be sped up, layered on top of itself a few times, and looped, creating a 3-minute chorus of metallic frogs. The idea was to create a subjective musical experience, to compose works that were fully made up of these abstracted sound recordings. The work was a success if a listener could hear something totally fresh to their ears. Reich’s 1965 composition flips this idea on its head. Using the same basic tools as a piece of concrete music, the sample and the loop, Reich underlines and accentuates his piece’s source material: a single recording of a human voice—that of Pentecostal preacher Brother Walter.
“He began to warn the people! He said: ‘After a while, it's gonna rain after a while, for forty days and for forty nights!’ And the people didn't believe him…” Brother Walter’s sermon booms through San Francisco’s Union Square, “And they begin to laugh at him! And they begin to mock him and they begin to say: ‘It ain't gonna rain!’" He preaches about Noah, a righteous man called upon to preserve life on Earth after God decides to cleanse the Earth with a massive flood. God advises Noah to build an ark, one that can fit his family as well as pairs of each animal to repopulate after the flood. In the time it takes Noah to build the ark, he tries to warn others about the impending flood, but as Brother Walter reminds us, Noah was considered a fool for his concerns.
And then it rained.
About half of Steve Reich’s roughly 17-minute composition features loops of Brother Walter’s proclamation “It’s gonna rain! It’s gonna rain! It’s gonna rain!…” over and over and over again. The main loop is duplicated and played on two tape machines. One is panned to the right ear while its twin loop is panned to the left, each slightly out of sync with its counterpart, creating a swirling effect upon playback referred to today as ‘phasing’. The result is a masterwork in balance—the Organic (human voice) and the Machine (regenerative tape loops) provide perfect support for one another as the piece gradually phases into oblivion.
“The answers may not immediately be so obvious. They may even be hard to hear at first, whispers in a crowded room.”
Sixty years later, the Machine has completely flooded the music-making process and the industry that surrounds it. Samples are conserved and archived in their own libraries, looping has become a popular compositional tool embraced by all genres, and the laptop serves the independent artist as the sole affordable means to write, arrange, record, produce, mix, master, distribute, and promote their own work.
Musical ideas can now be expressed faster than ever before without the supposed hassle of learning to play an instrument. A talented prompter can prompt an AI model with their musical idea, and the model will translate their idea in under a minute. Being trained on all available recorded music to match any and every specific artist’s musical aesthetics, the model will present you with a song containing your own musical ideas, convincingly performed by an artist you love, or by a totally new ‘artist’ whose style is informed by those you love.
Artists themselves have become the raw source material they once used, getting their own likenesses sampled for songs they wrote that sampled songs that someone else wrote that sampled songs that were based on songs that some other people played. It’s gonna rain, it’s gonna rain, it’s gonna rain.
For the moment, the Organic has lost its footing in music-making. Whether Reich’s composition was a divinely channelled warning in and of itself is entirely up for debate, but the fact remains: if we’d like to consciously preserve any shred of the Organic while the Machine continues to flood the arts, we must create the balance ourselves.
If we focus on creating and maintaining this balance, we can remain mindful of our fascinations. When a shiny new toy presents itself, we can watch our interactions as we become more and more familiar with it, paying close attention to how we feel as we use it. If we haven’t applied that kind of attention to our interactions with an older piece of tech, we can certainly apply that same watchfulness each time we use it from here on out. It’s never too late to be mindful.
We can also maintain awareness of our relationship to convenience. If a new software is promising to provide an ‘easier way’, we can explore its exciting features all the while asking ourselves important questions like “Do I have as much fun creating when I use this?” or “Is this making the work better?”. The answers may not immediately be so obvious. They may even be hard to hear at first, whispers in a crowded room. Or they could be loud answers that surprise us. Listening as closely as possible to whatever comes up is key.
When we come to our creative process with the intentions outlined above, we are not interested in vilifying anything that could potentially be of use. We are not looking to label anything as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. We are instead using the contemplative space we inhabit in that moment of exploring the Machine to bring us closer to our intuition. If we can hear our intuition loud and clear, then we can trust in the creative decisions we are making as a result. If we can trust in our creative decisions, then we are gifted with a deep, knowing sense that we are doing our best and most honest work in each moment, both as artists and as human beings. No matter what new technologies we embrace from this contemplative space, balance is maintained without extraneous effort. Any flood can continue on and we can respond accordingly, preserving the Organic in all its undeniable glory.
Steve Reich. "It’s Gonna Rain, Part I (1965)" Early Works, Nonesuch Records, 1987, https://music.apple.com/us/album/its-gonna-rain-part-i-1965/79577208?i=79577204.
Steve Reich. "It’s Gonna Rain, Part II (1965)" Early Works, Nonesuch Records, 1987, https://music.apple.com/us/album/its-gonna-rain-part-ii-1965/79577208?i=79577206.
Boosey & Hawkes. "Steve Reich on Composing "It's Gonna Rain"" YouTube, uploaded by Boosey & Hawkes, 17 August 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQFh85RY03c.
23 Stripping - The I Ching
Chris Gabriel April 10, 2026
Stripping, don’t go too far…
Chris Gabriel April 10, 2026
Judgement
Stripping, don’t go too far.
Lines
1
Stripping the bed of its legs.
2
Stripping the bed of its frame.
3
Stripping it.
4
Stripping the bed and stripping the sleeper.
5
One catches the favour of courtiers like catching fish.
6
A great fruit goes uneaten. The Sage finds a way out, while the small are stripped of their homes.
Qabalah
Netzach to Malkuth: The Path of Qoph. The Moon.
The hexagram gives us the image of a landslide, both with a mountain losing earth, and visually . The ideogram shows us a carving knife, the image of stripping away, peeling, and cutting. This is the subject of the famous William Blake line:
If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.
Judgment: When walking on eroding soil, one must be careful or the whole structure may collapse. Further, if one is cutting something, they must not go too far or risk cutting themselves.
1 A thorough cleaning. The legs of a bed are stripped and a weak foundation is strengthened.
2 The bedframe is now undone, the continuation of the foundation’s strengthening.
3 Beyond the bed, this is a stripping away of surfaces and appearances. Blake puts it well: melting apparent surfaces away, and displaying the infinite which was hid.
4 A strange and humorous image, after one has removed the sheets from a bed, they remove the clothes of the one in the bed. A thorough stripping.
5 The image changes a great deal, away from the bed motif. Now rather than taking something apart, we are bringing something together. This is the animal magnetism of Mesmer, the ability to energetically attract.
6 The image changes again, cataclysm comes, what had been saved is lost, a wise man escapes, but everyone else loses everything. This is a natural disaster. Consider the food perfectly preserved by the explosion of Vesuvius in Pompeii.
It is important to dig into the image of the bed that repeats through the lines; the place of sleep and dreams, the place where we are unconscious. This is the thing that must be cleansed, rearranged, and understood clearly. As stated before, this is the “cleansing of the doors of perception”, the stripping away of surfaces to see what truly lies below. David Lynch says it well: the sleeper must awaken.
Both individually and as a species, we must awaken. We undergo personal catastrophes to grow stronger and more aware. The same is true of worldly catastrophes. The wise hunger for this learning, but most fear traumatic growth. Should our tribulations not awaken us, the last line warns us that coming catastrophes will strip us of everything.
Personal disasters are the most common source of awakening: break ups, car crashes, near death experiences, and deaths. These strip away the monotony of our lived experiences and reveal the gnashing maw of reality in vivid detail and provide us with a truth that cannot be easily ignored or repressed.
Even God had to engrave and strip himself to create the world. This is described in the first verse of the Sepher Yetzirah:
With 32 mystical paths of Wisdom
engraved Yah
It is through engraving the divine that he made space for reality to be created. This is why writing is so significant in the text, being that words were cut into clay or stone.
The hexagram corresponds to the Path of Qoph, which is the image of the back of the head, and to the tarot card of the Moon. This shows us clearly that the subject is the Unconscious mind. This is the realm where things grow dirtier and dirtier, and where we sink all our unpleasant perceptions. It is the veil between the conscious and the Unconscious that must be pierced and stripped away. Jung put it perfectly:
Until you make the Unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.
John C. Lilly: Solid-State Intelligence Rebel
Molly Hankins April 9, 2026
Scientist, poet and author Dr. John C. Lilly was a controversial figure, best described in a new documentary as a man “determined to get his hands on the steering wheel of consciousness”…
The Centre of the Cyclone, Justin Todd. 1972.
Molly Hankins April 9, 2026
Scientist, poet and author Dr. John C. Lilly was a controversial figure, best described in a new documentary as a man “determined to get his hands on the steering wheel of consciousness.” Working tirelessly throughout his life to synthesise science-fiction and metaphysics into hard science, Lilly is most well-known for his work studying dolphins and his theory of self-programming, a radical take on neuroscience proclaiming that the brain is a ‘programmable human biocomputer.’ To pack his life story into a single film is a tremendous undertaking, but John C. Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office, directed by Michael Almereyda and Courtney Stephens and released this year, takes it on fearlessly. The film delves into a lesser known portion of Lilly’s work, his obsession with rebelling against what he called ‘solid-state consciousness or intelligence’ in order to free his own mind.
Lilly identified what he believed to be a malevolent force in the universe, which he referred to solid-state intelligence (SSI). During his many psychedelic trips, often taking place in a sensory-deprivation floatation tank of his own design, Lilly perceived that life on Earth was playing out amidst a mythological battle of good and evil. Solid-state intelligence was antithetical to an opposing, benevolent force he believed to be extraterrestrial-powered called ECCO, an acronym for Earth Coincidence Control Office, and the name of the Almereyda and Stephens’s documentary. He believed this force of good used coincidence and synchronicity as invitations to disengage from the ‘consensus simulation’ of the solid-state reality, and begin to merge with higher-dimensional intelligence.
‘Coincidence control’ refers to Lilly’s idea that internal states appear to orchestrate external events, which is what we experience as synchronicity. He believed this was a false interpretation of reality, one that actually feeds SSI by keeping us locked into a worldview where our Earthly experience is all there is. Such synchronistic experiences, Lilly claimed, were actually the work of a caring, extraterrestrial intelligence base that exists in higher dimensions in order to remind us of our spiritual nature. He also believed ECCO was transmitted through the frequencies emitted by whales and dolphins. Lilly said SSI was an artificial force that seduces us into forgetting ourselves as spiritual beings by beckoning us further and further into the consensus simulation of human limitation and cutting us off from our true, unlimited nature.
ECCO, on the other hand, served as a cosmic guidance system he came to identify as a more refined concept of the Creator. In Italian, the word ecco translates roughly to ‘here you are’ or ‘this is it.’ Lilly said, “I call God ECCO now… I finally found a God that was big enough.” His experience of ECCO registered to him as being alien in origin, but as he had more psychedelic experiences both in and out of the sensory-deprivation tank, he began to experience samadhi, the cosmic bliss and total peace from realizing our connection to all of life. His fascination with cetaceans led him to wonder if dolphins and whales experience some version of this state of being throughout their lives. As a young scientist, he set out to learn how a highly intelligent, non-technological species that doesn’t build anything evolves. He concluded that their social nature and individual states of being, must become very advanced and that they’re transmitting the information field of those advanced ways of being through sound.
Lilly spent much of his later years iterating protocol to counter the work of SSI, and describes working with Ram Dass on this matter in his autobiography Center of the Cyclone. Ram and Lilly developed meditative affirmations to help connect with ECCO. It began first as Lilly declaring himself to be the meta-programmer of his own human biocomputer in an effort to disidentify from his physical form and opinion of his Earthly self. It then evolved to: “I am not the biocomputer. I am not the programmer. I am not the programming. I am not the programmed. I am not the program.” From this point on in his meditations, Lilly was able to identify more with the universal intelligence of ECCO and witness his human-self more objectively. “Let me just be me - hereing and nowing - accepting what is, and what is not, equally as true,” he wrote of this turning point in his own evolution. It’s the state of being he hypothesized to be baseline-consciousness for cetaceans.
“To transcend one’s limiting set, one establishes an open-ended set of beliefs about the unknown.”
Lilly’s use, and what many would argue was abuse of L.S.D., P.C.P. and ketamine, destroyed his reputation as a scientist. But he claimed that there was only one role in the quest for true self-understanding, that of an explorer. He aspired to be a dispassionate scientist, but found that to be fraught with SSI limitations. As an explorer, he seemed to tap into what he described as “very deep and basic truths about realities that are not ordinarily experienced.” This exploration took him further and further away from the aspirational objectivity of the scientific method and further into becoming a philosopher and mystic. To him, every trip further removed him from the false matrix of solid-state living, strengthening his connection to the beyond-Earth intelligence of ECCO.
Another role Lilly played throughout his life besides explorer, was that of a poet. He penned his most famous poem, In The Province of the Mind, when he was in high school. It contains profound foreshadowing of his life’s work, certainly regarding his focus on understanding consciousness, and maybe even alluding to the unconventional methods he would use to explore both its limited and unlimited nature. According to the documentary, when asked what happens when we die Lilly said he’d like to reincarnate with five other souls into the body of a sperm whale. This poem charts the course of his life’s work, a multi-decade rebellion against the limited perception inherent to our solid-state in the world of form, hopefully leading him to his next incarnation as a 50-ton whale with his most beloved companions.
In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true either is true or becomes true within certain limits, to be found experientially and experimentally. These limits are beliefs to be transcended.
Hidden from one’s self is a covert set of beliefs that control one’s thinking, one’s actions, and one’s feelings.
The covert set of hidden beliefs is the limiting set of beliefs to be transcended.
To transcend one’s limiting set, one establishes an open-ended set of beliefs about the unknown.
The unknown exists in one’s goals for changing one’s self,
in the means for changing,
in the use of others for the change,
in one’s capacity to change,
in one’s orientation towards change,
in one’s elimination of hindrances to changes,
in one’s assimilation of the aids to change,
in one’s use of the impulse to change,
in one’s need for changing,
in the possibilities of change,
in the form of change itself,
and in the substance of change and of changing.
The unknown exists in one’s goals for changing one’s self,
in the means for that change,
in the use of others in the changing,
in one’s capacity for changing one’s self,
in one’s orientation towards changes,
in the elimination of hindrances to changing,
in one’s assimilation of the aids to changing,
in one’s impulses towards changing one’s self and undergoing changes,
in one’s needs for changes,
in the possibilities for change,
in the form of the changes themselves,
and in the substances of the changes and of changing itself.
There are unknowns in my goals towards changing
There are unknowns in my means of changing.
There are unknowns in my relations with others in changing.
There are unknowns in my capacity for changing.
There are unknowns in my orientation towards changing.
There are unknowns in my assimilation of changes.
There are unknowns in my needs for changing.
There are unknowns in the possibilities of me changing.
There are unknowns in the form into which changing will put me.
There are unknowns in the substance of the changes that I will undergo, in my substance after changes.
My disbelief in all these unknowns is a limiting belief, preventing my transcending my limits.
My disbelief in all these unknowns is a belief, a limiting belief, preventing my transcending my limits.
By allowing, there are no limits;
no limits to thinking,
no limits to feeling,
no limits to movement.
By allowing, there are no limits.
There are no limits to thinking,
no limits to feeling,
no limits to movement.
That which is not allowed is forbidden.
That which is allowed, exists.
In allowing no limits, there are no limits.
That which is forbidden is not allowed.
That which is not allowed is forbidden.
That which exists is allowed.
That which is allowed, exists.
In allowing no limits, there are no limits.
That which is not allowed is forbidden.
That which is forbidden is not allowed.
That which is allowed, exists.
That which exists is allowed.
To allow no limits, there are no limits.
No limits allowed, no limits exist.
In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true either is true or becomes true.
In the province of the mind there are no limits.
In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true is true or becomes true.
There are no limits.
Molly Hankins is an Initiate + Reality Hacker serving the Ministry of Quantum Existentialism and Builders of the Adytum.
Carnunthum Meditations (167 A.D)
Marcus Aurelius April 7, 2026
Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial…
A Roman Emperor and a stoic philosopher, Marcus Aurelius wrote twelve short books across his life intended only for personal as a source of guidance and self-improvement. Made up mostly of maxims to live by, these works were collected and published some centuries after his death and came to be known as ‘Meditations’. Today, ‘Meditations’ is one of the worlds most enduring works of philosophy, and serves as a bedrock of our understanding of stoicism, a philosophical movement based on self-determination, discipline, and morality. In this book, written during his time in Carnunthum, Aurelius tells us that by focusing on our own mind, acting with purpose and integrity, and aligning with nature’s order, we can remain undisturbed by external events, pleasure, pain, or the opinions of others. The text presents a Stoic acceptance of mortality and impermanence, arguing that a life guided by reason, gratitude, and inner coherence is sufficient for tranquility, regardless of fate.
Marcus Aurelius April 7, 2026
Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil. But I who have seen the nature of the good that it is beautiful, and of the bad that it is ugly, and the nature of him who does wrong, that it is akin to me, not only of the same blood or seed, but that it participates in the same intelligence and the same portion of the divinity, I can neither be injured by any of them, for no one can fix on me what is ugly, nor can I be angry with my kinsman, nor hate him, For we are made for co-operation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth. To act against one another then is contrary to nature; and it is acting against one another to be vexed and to turn away.
Whatever this is that I am, it is a little flesh and breath, and the ruling part. Throw away thy books; no longer distract thyself: it is not allowed; but as if thou wast now dying, despise the flesh; it is blood and bones and a network, a contexture of nerves, veins, and arteries. See the breath also, what kind of a thing it is, air, and not always the same, but every moment sent out and again sucked in. The third then is the ruling part: consider thus: Thou art an old man; no longer let this be a slave, no longer be pulled by the strings like a puppet to unsocial movements, no longer either be dissatisfied with thy present lot, or shrink from the future.
All that is from the gods is full of Providence. That which is from fortune is not separated from nature or without an interweaving and involution with the things which are ordered by Providence. From thence all things flow; and there is besides necessity, and that which is for the advantage of the whole universe, of which thou art a part. But that is good for every part of nature which the nature of the whole brings, and what serves to maintain this nature. Now the universe is preserved, as by the changes of the elements so by the changes of things compounded of the elements. Let these principles be enough for thee, let them always be fixed opinions. But cast away the thirst after books, that thou mayest not die murmuring, but cheerfully, truly, and from thy heart thankful to the gods.
Remember how long thou hast been putting off these things, and how often thou hast received an opportunity from the gods, and yet dost not use it. Thou must now at last perceive of what universe thou art a part, and of what administrator of the universe thy existence is an efflux, and that a limit of time is fixed for thee, which if thou dost not use for clearing away the clouds from thy mind, it will go and thou wilt go, and it will never return.
Every moment think steadily as a Roman and a man to do what thou hast in hand with perfect and simple dignity, and feeling of affection, and freedom, and justice; and to give thyself relief from all other thoughts. And thou wilt give thyself relief, if thou doest every act of thy life as if it were the last, laying aside all carelessness and passionate aversion from the commands of reason, and all hypocrisy, and self-love, and discontent with the portion which has been given to thee. Thou seest how few the things are, the which if a man lays hold of, he is able to live a life which flows in quiet, and is like the existence of the gods; for the gods on their part will require nothing more from him who observes these things.
Do wrong to thyself, do wrong to thyself, my soul; but thou wilt no longer have the opportunity of honouring thyself. Every man's life is sufficient. But thine is nearly finished, though thy soul reverences not itself but places thy felicity in the souls of others.
Do the things external which fall upon thee distract thee? Give thyself time to learn something new and good, and cease to be whirled around. But then thou must also avoid being carried about the other way. For those too are triflers who have wearied themselves in life by their activity, and yet have no object to which to direct every movement, and, in a word, all their thoughts.
Through not observing what is in the mind of another a man has seldom been seen to be unhappy; but those who do not observe the movements of their own minds must of necessity be unhappy.
This thou must always bear in mind, what is the nature of the whole, and what is my nature, and how this is related to that, and what kind of a part it is of what kind of a whole; and that there is no one who hinders thee from always doing and saying the things which are according to the nature of which thou art a part.
Theophrastus, in his comparison of bad acts- such a comparison as one would make in accordance with the common notions of mankind- says, like a true philosopher, that the offences which are committed through desire are more blameable than those which are committed through anger. For he who is excited by anger seems to turn away from reason with a certain pain and unconscious contraction; but he who offends through desire, being overpowered by pleasure, seems to be in a manner more intemperate and more womanish in his offences. Rightly then, and in a way worthy of philosophy, he said that the offence which is committed with pleasure is more blameable than that which is committed with pain; and on the whole the one is more like a person who has been first wronged and through pain is compelled to be angry; but the other is moved by his own impulse to do wrong, being carried towards doing something by desire.
“For a man cannot lose either the past or the future: for what a man has not, how can any one take this from him?”
Since it is possible that thou mayest depart from life this very moment, regulate every act and thought accordingly. But to go away from among men, if there are gods, is not a thing to be afraid of, for the gods will not involve thee in evil; but if indeed they do not exist, or if they have no concern about human affairs, what is it to me to live in a universe devoid of gods or devoid of Providence? But in truth they do exist, and they do care for human things, and they have put all the means in man's power to enable him not to fall into real evils. And as to the rest, if there was anything evil, they would have provided for this also, that it should be altogether in a man's power not to fall into it. Now that which does not make a man worse, how can it make a man's life worse? But neither through ignorance, nor having the knowledge, but not the power to guard against or correct these things, is it possible that the nature of the universe has overlooked them; nor is it possible that it has made so great a mistake, either through want of power or want of skill, that good and evil should happen indiscriminately to the good and the bad. But death certainly, and life, honour and dishonour, pain and pleasure, all these things equally happen to good men and bad, being things which make us neither better nor worse. Therefore they are neither good nor evil.
How quickly all things disappear, in the universe the bodies themselves, but in time the remembrance of them; what is the nature of all sensible things, and particularly those which attract with the bait of pleasure or terrify by pain, or are noised abroad by vapoury fame; how worthless, and contemptible, and sordid, and perishable, and dead they are- all this it is the part of the intellectual faculty to observe. To observe too who these are whose opinions and voices give reputation; what death is, and the fact that, if a man looks at it in itself, and by the abstractive power of reflection resolves into their parts all the things which present themselves to the imagination in it, he will then consider it to be nothing else than an operation of nature; and if any one is afraid of an operation of nature, he is a child. This, however, is not only an operation of nature, but it is also a thing which conduces to the purposes of nature. To observe too how man comes near to the deity, and by what part of him, and when this part of man is so disposed.
Nothing is more wretched than a man who traverses everything in a round, and pries into the things beneath the earth, as the poet says, and seeks by conjecture what is in the minds of his neighbours, without perceiving that it is sufficient to attend to the daemon within him, and to reverence it sincerely. And reverence of the daemon consists in keeping it pure from passion and thoughtlessness, and dissatisfaction with what comes from gods and men. For the things from the gods merit veneration for their excellence; and the things from men should be dear to us by reason of kinship; and sometimes even, in a manner, they move our pity by reason of men's ignorance of good and bad; this defect being not less than that which deprives us of the power of distinguishing things that are white and black.
Though thou shouldst be going to live three thousand years, and as many times ten thousand years, still remember that no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses. The longest and shortest are thus brought to the same. For the present is the same to all, though that which perishes is not the same; and so that which is lost appears to be a mere moment. For a man cannot lose either the past or the future: for what a man has not, how can any one take this from him? These two things then thou must bear in mind; the one, that all things from eternity are of like forms and come round in a circle, and that it makes no difference whether a man shall see the same things during a hundred years or two hundred, or an infinite time; and the second, that the longest liver and he who will die soonest lose just the same. For the present is the only thing of which a man can be deprived, if it is true that this is the only thing which he has, and that a man cannot lose a thing if he has it not.
Remember that all is opinion. For what was said by the Cynic Monimus is manifest: and manifest too is the use of what was said, if a man receives what may be got out of it as far as it is true.
The soul of man does violence to itself, first of all, when it becomes an abscess and, as it were, a tumour on the universe, so far as it can. For to be vexed at anything which happens is a separation of ourselves from nature, in some part of which the natures of all other things are contained. In the next place, the soul does violence to itself when it turns away from any man, or even moves towards him with the intention of injuring, such as are the souls of those who are angry. In the third place, the soul does violence to itself when it is overpowered by pleasure or by pain. Fourthly, when it plays a part, and does or says anything insincerely and untruly. Fifthly, when it allows any act of its own and any movement to be without an aim, and does anything thoughtlessly and without considering what it is, it being right that even the smallest things be done with reference to an end; and the end of rational animals is to follow the reason and the law of the most ancient city and polity.
Of human life the time is a point, and the substance is in a flux, and the perception dull, and the composition of the whole body subject to putrefaction, and the soul a whirl, and fortune hard to divine, and fame a thing devoid of judgement. And, to say all in a word, everything which belongs to the body is a stream, and what belongs to the soul is a dream and vapour, and life is a warfare and a stranger's sojourn, and after-fame is oblivion. What then is that which is able to conduct a man? One thing and only one, philosophy. But this consists in keeping the daemon within a man free from violence and unharmed, superior to pains and pleasures, doing nothing without purpose, nor yet falsely and with hypocrisy, not feeling the need of another man's doing or not doing anything; and besides, accepting all that happens, and all that is allotted, as coming from thence, wherever it is, from whence he himself came; and, finally, waiting for death with a cheerful mind, as being nothing else than a dissolution of the elements of which every living being is compounded. But if there is no harm to the elements themselves in each continually changing into another, why should a man have any apprehension about the change and dissolution of all the elements? For it is according to nature, and nothing is evil which is according to nature.
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121–180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoic philosopher.
22 Shining - The I Ching
Chris Gabriel April 4, 2026
Shining is prosperity. Go a little way…
Chris Gabriel April 4, 2026
Judgement
Shining is prosperity. Go a little way.
Lines
1
Shining his toes, he gives up the chariot and goes on foot.
2
Shining his beard.
3
Shining so it glimmers.
4
Shining white. On a flying white horse, like a thief in the night.
5
Shining in the high garden, a tiny tiny thread of silk.
6
Shining bright.
Qabalah
Tiphereth to Netzach: The Path of Nun. Death.
Tiphereth illuminates the love of Netzach
The hexagram gives us the image of fire at the foot of a mountain, and the resulting beauty and illumination. The ideogram shows grass, and a cowrie shell - the currency of ancient China, Africa, and India. Just as gold was used for both money and jewelry, so too were cowrie shells. The image is that of a cowrie shell necklace; something to make the face shine.
Judgment: Jewelry and beauty are a sign of prosperity, but one should not go too far lest they risk being gaudy.
1 When we make our feet beautiful, walking is a joy. Consider the excitement of a child with new shoes, ready to show them off.
2 A beard on its own is a sort of ornament to the face, when we decorate it further, it can show power. We can think of the Postiche, the golden false beards worn by ancient Egyptian Pharaohs.
3 Jewelry can become dull when worn regularly, in which case we shine it to make it glimmer and sparkle again. The shine is the valuable part of jewelry, consider how jewelry mirrors the natural glimmering of water.
4 Here we see an echo of Bellerophon riding a winged Pegasus and then falling, or perhaps more vividly, Christ on a White Horse from Revelation 19:
11And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 12His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
And as he appears in 1 Thessalonians
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
This is the shining of the Divine.
5 Though the thread of silk is small, it is very strong, having greater tensile strength than a comparable steel wire. It looks weak on its own, but will make something fit for a king when put to use.
6 Here there is shining without a source, the white light of what is beyond the shining sun and stars. An almost universal feature of near death experiences is the vision of endless white light.
Mankind has left behind an endless history of beauty. From primordial times when we gathered the smoothest rocks and shells, to the modern day mining of gold, silver and jewels, we have always valued what shines. In the luminous we see the divine, and hope for life in the hereafter.
The correspondence with the Path of Nun and the Tarot card Death is significant here, from it we can see the beautification of the dead - a vital practice for the ancient Egyptians and Chinese, who fantastically decorated the bodies of the dead, their tombs, and their graves (even pyramids are graves). This is also the simple act of putting coins over the eyes of the dead.
Adding “Earth” to the titular ideogram gives us the word for Grave: 墳. A grave is beautified earth.
The Architecture of Dreams
Robin Sparkes April 2, 2025
Carl Jung, one of the pioneers of psychoanalysis, tells the story of a patient who dreamt of a golden scarab…
Exodus, or the Voluntary Prisoners of Architecture: The Strip (Aerial Perspective), Rem Koolhaas. 1972.
Robin Sparkes April 2, 2026
Carl Jung, one of the pioneers of psychoanalysis, tells the story of a patient who dreamt of a golden scarab; a luminous, rare beetle. As she recounted the dream to Jung, he heard a tapping at the window behind him. He opened it and in flew a scarab-like beetle, the closest analogue to the golden scarab found in their region. He caught it and placed it in her hands. Her dream breached reality and became a foundational example of what Jung described as synchronicity, an acausal connecting principle where the psyche and the material world fold briefly into one another in correlation. An inner image manifested into matter. Synchronicity proposes that meaning is constructed as it is encountered, appearing at the precise intersection of inner intuition and outer event. Jung believed dreams were an amplification of the self and advocated writing them down, building a bridge between the conscious and unconscious mind.
A bridge.
When I was 23, I moved from an old Victorian house along Burgess Park Camberwell, in South London, to Leonard and Power Street in Brooklyn, New York. In both cities I was one bridge away from the centre. In London, the Thames, in New York, the East River. From outer membrane to temporal nucleus.
My first evening in New York was April Fool’s Day and I walked home late from Manhattan, crossing the bridge back to Williamsburg. At the apex of the suspended passage, something blurred. I forgot my new life in New York. In my tired eyes I imagined crawling into my bed in Camberwell, sightlining through the window to the tennis courts of Burgess Park. I was listening to Surround by Hiroshi Yoshimura.
By the time I reached the end of the bridge, Manhattan folded into Brooklyn, and I felt I had crossed the street from Borough Market to Broadway. For the next four years I lived half the year between London and New York with recurring dreams that they were the same place. I never spent enough time in either city to feel fully at home. There formed a liminal metropolis in the unconscious, an archetypal interior where distance dissolved. My transient life was rearranging space in my dream field of the sister cities. I would leave a rave in South London and cross a bridge to arrive in Midtown. Friends from both cities occupied the same rooms, as though the psyche were composing their own compensatory geography. Streets overlaid one another as tracing paper over a plan. I began to rethink my relationship to architecture. What is architecture in psychological space?
After Brooklyn I moved to Harlem. Then back to Camberwell. In December 2019, I returned to New York and stayed in a mystical woman’s apartment in a building called the School House in Chinatown. She left dried leaves on the counter and insisted I drink them in hot water each day. Over lunch I told a friend in the building about how I would dream about living simultaneously in London and New York. I found myself scanning his shelves. My hands landed on a large chrome volume, 1,344 pages heavy, called S,M,L,XL by the architect Rem Koolhaas. He said he’d read it in Toronto, explaining how a running dictionary moved through the book, continuously cross-referencing itself. A few months later, I bought the same book at the Architectural Association Bookshop in London.
Over the Covid lockdowns, I returned to New York and took S,M,L,XL with me to Alphabet City’s towering complex blocks lining the FDR. I took up running, traversing from the east village to central park, where I would lay on the grass and stare at the clouds. I was sitting along the east river, when I read the prologue to S, M, L, XL, which begins with ‘Once, a city divided in two parts.’ Koolhaas proceeds to discuss the bridges over a river, which axis London, a surreal reorganisation of the centre. Synchronicity. A bridge as mediator. Time folding back on itself. Inner condition and external structure streaming parallel.
“How do we measure the timeline of synchronicity, that does not begin or end?”
Many metropolises are established along rivers, where waterways functioned as primary logistical corridors for trade and extraction. An infrastructural spine for commerce, circulation, and territorial growth. Architecture is a necessity.
Shelter. Infrastructure. Circulation. Dreams construct spaces not because we require them for survival, but perhaps because we long for them or symbolically relate to them through time looping. In my dreams, bridges unfolded beyond their structural connections, becoming temporal architectures attuned to my body’s rhythms, marking cycles of sleep and wake, shifts in alertness, and the flow of circadian time.
After Covid, I took a turn in my career path and I moved permanently back to London. I no longer dream of London and New York merging.
Perhaps the architecture of our dreams reveals our most honest urbanism, one governed not by capital or infrastructure, but by longing. When I stood on the bridge between Brooklyn and Manhattan, imagining Camberwell, was I recalling or forecasting. Was I building a future self who would one day return? Sigmund Freud suggested that dreams are a theatre of memory, where past experiences and desires fold into the present dreamscape. When we imagine constructing a theatre from an architectural perspective, how do we perceive the ways it differs from a brain. Both organise space, filter light,create thresholds, andmediate between inside and outside. In dreams, micro and macro collapse and the universe extends above and within. Do our dreams operate in four dimensional space? Albert Einstein proposed that time is a dimension like space. If so, the dream may be a spatial mirror, allowing past, present and future coexist in the same corridor.
Hour Glass Theatre for Listening, Bojan Kostović.
A painter renders an image from the inner eye. A dreamer constructs a place from memory and anticipation. Both contract imagery into form, both edit reality. A friend once described dreaming of a flea market that felt as if it were a neverending city, with shiny objects stretching infinitely. Another described dreaming, without color, of an infinite tower with a spiral staircase, standing on an endless road. These are architectural typologies, the market, the road, the tower. But in dreams they are unbound by gravity or planning permission, they are spatial metaphors. “Dreaming is the doorway,” writes Eric Wargo, who discusses time loops as retrocausation and precognition. Are we dreaming forward or remembering backward? Is there a possibility that we are beyond a myopic now? Is what we consider the ‘now’ just a glimpse of synchronicity over an expanded lifetime, and how do we measure the timeline of synchronicity, that does not begin or end?
If architecture is the organisation of space across time, perhaps dreams are a radical form of architecture: structures without matter, cities without borders, bridges that span oceans. We are living in a world of scarce resources. If architecture is shaped by need, and dreams are shaped by desire, we must ask ourselves what our intention is toward those desires. Can our dreams reveal what our environment is asking of us? Can they expose the excess, the longing, the imbalance between what we require and what we consume. What are we building, and why?
Perhaps synchronicity is not only a poetic coincidence, but an ethical signal. A moment where inner imagery meets outer condition and responsibility. If our dreams are architecture without material limits, they move freely and without consequence. Waking architecture, by contrast, always carries consequences. In a time of ecological strain and spatial inequality, desire cannot remain abstract. It must be examined. Redirected. Refined.
Robin Sparkes, is a spatial designer, studying the kinesthetic experience of architecture. Her design, research, and writing practice traverses the relationship between the body, temporality, and the acoustics of space.
The Book Cover Review: The Chrysalids
Thomas Sharp March 31, 2026
There were two ways that people living a very long time ago would leave handprints on the walls of caves.
Thomas Sharp March 31, 2026
There were two ways that people living a very long time ago would leave handprints on the walls of caves. No doubt you’ll have used both methods as a child, when your imagination was emergin and mark-making was a daily activity.
The first is a stencil, drawing around outstretched digits. Picture our ancestors placing their hand against the rough stone and precisely spitting pigment at it. And the second method is to leave a solid print, as we see on this 1964 paperback edition of John Wyndhams’s The Chrysalids.
The dogma of decades was that prehistoric artists were men. More recent research begins tounpick this dominant narrative (someone had the good idea of measuring finger ratios),fixing women at the centre of the cultures’ creativity.
‘When I was quite small I would sometimes dream of a city – which was strange because it began before I even knew what a city was.’ So opens this beautiful, melancholic, thrilling coming-of-age story. It is set in a time post ‘Tribulation’, the reader inferring this to be some ancient nuclear catastrophe caused by the godless Old People, misremembered in religious tracts of deity vengeance. Humans have rebuilt small communities, trying to coax an irradiated land to produce crops and animals.
The inevitable arable and livestock mutations are rigidly rejected by the dominant, dogmatic ruling men as ‘abominations’ and ‘blasphemies’. To be alive but to fall outside the mainstream narrative is to live as an ‘offence’.
Main character David has his own mutation, one he is able to hide from the terrifyingly conservative family he is growing up in. One day he meets another child, Sophie. She has a more visible blasphemy, a sixth toe. Her family survives secretly on the outskirts of the village. To be found would mean banishment to the Badlands – an unlivable wasteland.
I admire our cover artist, Bryan Kneale, for ignoring the fact that Sophie’s genetic anomaly is on her foot, rather than her hand. In fact I’m not sure anyone in the book is described as having six fingers. But here we are – a downward facing black/purple extra-pinky handprint set against the atomic flash of Penguin orange and reaching out to the reader in mutated welcome.
Actually, the 1955 hardback first edition of The Chrysalids does use a foot with a bonus toe and it just doesn’t work. Footprints speak of journey, handprints speak of creation. We find traces of our own Old People in cave complexes and ancient river beds. Their footprints are accidentally preserved, some plodding hunter treading in the right combination of mud, whereas their handprints are deliberate marks full of agency and hope, stretching out to us across a million tribulations.
The Chrysalids of the title are David and a group of his friends. Their unseen mutation is less a blasphemy and more the inevitable future of the human race.
And this is what they share with our prehistoric artists.
Thomas Sharp is a British poet and creative director. He has created work for the British Library, Sir Simon Russell Beale, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Cubitts, Politico. Historic Royal Palaces, London Fire Brigade, Design Museum, English National Ballet, Henry Moore Foundation and the Francis Crick Institute. He self-publishes and his colophon is his own handprint plus an extra finger. You can see his commercial work here, his artistic work here and receive regular thoughts on language, consciousness, magick and romance from here.
This article was borrowed from David Pearson’s Book Cover Review. To see more like it, head here.
21 Biting - The I Ching
Chris Gabriel March 28, 2026
Biting is prosperity. Gain by correction…
Chris Gabriel March 28, 2026
Judgement
Biting is prosperity. Gain by correction.
Lines
1
Chained feet. One’s toes are cut off.
2
Biting flesh, cutting off the nose.
3
Biting cured meat and finding poison.
4
Biting dried meat and finding a gold arrow.
5
Biting dried meat and finding yellow gold.
6
Chained neck. One’s ear is cut off.
Qabalah
Gevurah to Tiphereth: The Path of Lamed. Adjustment. Gevurah corrects Tiphereth
In this hexagram we see the image of a mouth, with the solid lines on the top and bottom as the lips, the broken lines as the teeth, and the solid line in between as a thing being bitten. It is thunder below the sun, a solar flare or a sudden lightning strike. The ideogram provides an image of biting, with one character relating to “biting questions” or “biting words”, and the other directly to eating.
Judgment: Biting, here, is correction itself. Just as the Qabalistic path is Lamed, the shepherd’s crook, we can think of the nipping shepherd dog keeping the sheep on the proper path. In the human realm, this relates to crime and punishment: the pursuit of Justice.
1 At the lowest line, we see the feet in chains, and the toes cut off. This is a historical punishment meant to cripple a warrior. This occurs in Judges 1:6, But Adonibezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.
This is also the ritual punishment of Kings described by Robert Graves, “the sacred king was ritually lamed in a way that obliged him to swagger or lurch on high heels”
2 This is the idiom of “cutting your nose to spite your face”, a punishment that hurts the one inflicting it. Traditionally, the cutting of noses, known as rhinotomy, was a punishment for adulterers. The most famous example of nose cutting was inflicted on Byzantine emperor Justinian II “Rhinotmetos”, who was deposed and mutilated, but made himself a golden nose, overthrew his enemies, and became emperor again.
3 The preparation of a cured meat has been accomplished, but within it there is poison. This is punishing an old crime. In a case like this one should “let sleeping dogs lie”, not try to punish too severely, for the feelings this arises are toxic. This is revenge rather than justice.
4 Finding a golden arrow in dried meat, this is an investigation, piercing through to the heart of the matter, chewing on a case.
5 The golden truth is found in the midst of this dried meat. The case has been chewed on and the facts of the matter have made a judgment clear.
6 Mirroring the first line, here we see the head enchained, and the ears cut off. This is a criminal who is deaf to counsel and blind to justice. Punishment will have no effect on someone like this.
As this hexagram relates to the Tarot card Justice, we see that that the law is dealt by the Sword she holds. Across cultures and times, many punishments took the form of mutilations; the offending body part would be cut off, such as the hands of a thief. In the lines, we have many forms of punishments with varied results as well as forms of judging crime.
While we may not be judges or criminals, we must develop good judgment and know when to correct behaviours in ourselves and those who wrong us. We must not go too far, or be too lenient, but keep to the straight and narrow path of justice.
Otis Black (Lost Songs Project)
Molly Hankins March 26, 2025
There’s not a lot to hide behind when it’s 114 degrees and you’re sawing reclaimed wood…
In Joshua Tree National Monument, Ansel Adams. 1942.
Molly Hankins March 26, 2026
Welcome to the latest edition of Lost Songs Project, a series telling the stories behind songs lost to the world until now. We spoke with the LA-based country-Americana artist Otis Black and his co-writer and co-producer Cody Marksohn about their unreleased album, ‘Hellhounds.’ The two songwriters met through a mutual friend and bonded during the 2020 lockdown when Cody, bored out of his mind in Los Angeles, went to help Otis remodel an old house he’d just purchased in Joshua Tree. Even though they barely knew each other, Cody had a family background in construction, was desperate for a project to keep him busy, and knew Otis was someone he eventually wanted to write music with, so he braved the desert summer heat and joined him.
“There’s not a lot to hide behind when it’s 114 degrees and you’re sawing reclaimed wood,” Cody said of the strange period when they went from being musical acquaintances to friends. “But Otis is a great guy and he needed help. I’ve done a bunch of renovations, so I knew how to help. And I think the fact of the matter is that if Otis wasn’t talented, I probably would’ve ignored his texts. But I thought, this guy’s great, I like him a lot and he’s really fucking talented. So why would I not strengthen our relationship? I wanted to be around him. And he’s a crazy musician. So spending more time with someone like that, even doing terrible shit, is still fun.”
Otis had previously been signed to a record label as a 20 year old under the name Otis English. Even with the quick success of his first single “Young Kids, Old Love” in 2016, and subsequently being put in writing sessions with different producers every week, he still wasn’t able to make a living in music. By his own admission, Otis gave up. After the renovation in Joshua Tree was finished, Cody was able to get him to start writing again with the intention of pitching the music to other artists. But as the two hit a flow in their collaboration, it became obvious to both of them that Otis was the right artist to record these songs.
They’ve shared a few tracks off the album with us, and knowing the backstory of how they came to be, you start to hear the liminal space of the blazing desert where they forged their connection amidst the mounting uncertainty of that time period, and how they filled that time with urgent action. Where the action would lead, both in the remodel and song-writing, wasn’t nearly as important as the joy of doing it and building their relationship but both projects became very real very quickly.
Hellhounds 2. Holy Water 3. Carolina 4. Drinking and Driving
MH: Cody, you’ve been writing and producing for other people for a long time, how far into writing these songs did you realize Otis was meant to be the artist?
CM: I always believed. Back when he was signed, he was being put in writing sessions everyday, and I think those people just weren’t taking advantage of being in the room with him. You gotta let him do what he’s good at and then build a song from there, not be like “uhhh so-and-so wants an EDM pop thing with a huge drop. Otis - do it.” Some people are great at that, but I think with Otis, just don’t get in his way and he’ll get to where he’s going. It was very clear very quickly to me, but you can’t force someone or just be like, “you’re doing it!”
OB: I honestly probably would have appreciated that approach.
CM: Well, I guess that’s kind of what our wives did.
OB: My wife’s good at that.
CM: Otis came over one night when we were really at the entry of our flow-state of writing this stuff together. I think we had a few things we knew were sick and we were like, “we love making music, let’s just keep writing this stuff cause we like it. And Otis said “I gotta talk to you about something. I think I wanna be the artist and make this album.” And I was like “Oh my God yes. That’s the best thing I’ve ever heard, that is incredible.” I was so in, and since then almost every time we got together we wrote at least half a song, it felt easy. We were doing our thing with no parameters or assignment. It was just whatever we thought is good, whatever we believed in - that’s what we’re going to do.
OB: I don’t feel like our process is fully getting out of my way. This was a collaborative effort, with me starting by finding something on the guitar or piano for that matter, any instrument that’s in my hand that makes me feel inspired in the moment a just start singing gibberish. Every single one of these songs starts from that point. Then Cody will hear something that I said in my gibberish melodic thing, and be like “that was cool.” Then he’ll start breaking down or…
CM: I translate it.
OB: Lyrically, yea. It’s always taken me a long time to write lyrics. I can churn out an album in a week if it’s just instrumental stuff. Lyrics have always been a troubling point for me and I really have to take time with it to get them right. Cody’s coming from a hip-hop background and a rapping background. I’ll say a few lines and Cody will be able to change around the things that I’m saying,the words that I might be mumbling and paint the beginning of a picture.
CM: For as long as Otis has been learning the musical side, I’ve been obsessing over lyrics. I can’t play instruments or sing melodies, but if someone else is doing that, it’s my favorite thing in the world to go, oh - here’s what you’re saying.
Otis Black & Cody Marksohn
OB: We’ve talked about this a few times and realized how you write is very much a showing of the type of music you grew up listening to. I grew up listening to a lot of classic rock. My favorite band of all time is Zeppelin. When you actually break down the songs of rock music, there’s not a lot going on. It’s not really a lyric-based art-form. It’s like energy and music. And while Led Zeppelin is my all time favorite band, if I were just to pay attention to the lyrics, it loses everything. That’s not what the focus is on, the focus is on the arrangement, the production, the composition of it. And that’s why I feel I’ve always had a problem with coming up with lyrics on the spot is because that’s not what I was raised to do, whereas Cody growing up listening to hip-hop and rap; lyrics are the only thing he focuses on. So coming together on this was an extremely symbiotic relationship.
MH: Are there plans to ever release these songs?
OB: I have to release it at this point. Imagine we come this fucking far and I’m like actually, I want to be a carpenter again.
CM: I feel like there’s such a positive response amongst friends and family that at this point, this is real.
OB: The day I came to Cody and said I think I have to be the artist on this, happened because my lovely wife sat me down. She said, “You’re doing like, sixteen different things right now and you’re turning 30 soon and you should really focus on what you really want to do. You gotta pick something and really stick with it.”
CM: Otis is the only 30 year old I know who was born in the ‘70s.
OB: So I would be over at Cody’s one to two days a week, kinda for funsies, kinda…
CM: Kind of as an outlet.
OB: Well yea, which leads me to ‘Hellhounds,’ which is the first song, the album intro. It’s kind of ambiguous when you listen to the lyrics but it’s about you. Well actually it's about me, trying to get away from writing. I didn’t realize this til after we wrote it by the way; I was driving home, or to the bar where I work, and I was listening to lyrics and went, I think I know what this song’s about, cause when we wrote it I wasn’t really sure. To me that song is about letting a dream go but it still follows you around like an itch on the back of your neck And the lyrics in ‘Hellhounds’ reflect that. It’s like I’m trying my best to get away from the thing that I believe is what I’m here to do, which is to write songs.
MH: It feels like there’s a stark contrast between the timeless sound of these songs and the time y’all wrote them in, which is relatively recently. Do you guys feel that?
CM: Big time. Otis and I had this conversation back and forth a bunch of times through writing this, where we’ve been like, everywhere you look, you’re wondering is that real? Is that video real? Is that dog real? Is this news real? Nothing is revealing itself in a completely believable way. Someone plays a song for you and they say ‘A.I. made that.’ So there’s no artist I can be a fan of now and find their music? It’s just like churned out. So for us, as we wrote it we thought, you know what’s really cool about this? It feels real. Like it’s all real performances on real instruments, no samples, every part of it is a real person playing music.
OB: A couple of these songs are not even technically produced, it’s one mic and one take all the way through, which I really like because it shows a lot of variety. We have full twelve-piece band productions and we still can strip it back to just bare bones, and it creates a lot of dynamic within the album-sphere, the thing that it exists within. But it was semi-conscious. I mean Cody and I had a lot of talks about howthe human element, even if it’s not as prevalent in pop culture, is still something that’s sought after. That was our approach to this. Nothing is quantized, nothing is auto-tuned, it’s all raw on the paper. And I feel like people still want that. I want that.
CM: Same.
OB: And we set out to make an album that we want to listen to.
Find Otis and, someday, ‘Hellhounds’ at Instagram.com/OtisBlackOfficial.
Molly Hankins is an Initiate + Reality Hacker serving the Ministry of Quantum Existentialism and Builders of the Adytum.
Intermedia (1966)
Dick Higgins March 24, 2026
Much of the best work being produced today seems to fall between media. This is no accident…
When Dick Higgins sent out the first issue of his soon to be legendary ‘Something Else Press’ newsletter in 1966, it contained only this essay. Higgins was a modest man by nature, and most of his work at the press had been about highlighting the voices of his contemporaries and influences, including John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Claes Oldenburg, and Gertrude Stein, as well as documenting the Fluxus movement, which he himself had founded. The radical influence that this piece had on the artistic scene first in New York, and then America, and soon across the world, always sat uneasy with him, and yet the term he coined, ‘Intermedia’, came to define a generation. Higgins, one of the first artists to use computers in his work, saw that the traditional mediums and classifications were fast becoming redundant, and artists who did not adapt to an increasingly ill-defined world were at risk of becoming redundant. Generously argues and delicately presented, Intermedia remains one of the foundation texts of 20th century art, and Higgin’s prescience only gets more remarkable the further into the future he helped create we get.
Dick Higgins March 24, 2026
Much of the best work being produced today seems to fall between media. This is no accident. The concept of the separation between media arose in the Renaissance. The idea that a painting is made of paint on canvas or that a sculpture should not be painted seems characteristic of the kind of social thought—categorizing and dividing society into nobility with its various subdivisions, untitled gentry, artisans, serfs and landless workers—which we call the feudal conception of the Great Chain of Being. This essentially mechanistic approach continued to be relevant throughout the first two industrial revolutions, just concluded, and into the present era of automation, which constitutes, in fact, a third industrial revolution.
However, the social problems that characterize our time, as opposed to the political ones, no longer allow a compartmentalized approach. We are approaching the dawn of a classless society, to which separation into rigid categories is absolutely irrelevant. This shift does not relate more to East than West or vice versa. Castro works in the cane fields. New York’s Mayor Lindsay walks to work during the subway strike. The millionaires eat their lunches at Horn and Hardart’s. This sort of populism is a growing tendency rather than a shrinking one.
We sense this in viewing art which seems to belong unnecessarily rigidly to one or another form. We view paintings. What are they, after all? Expensive, handmade objects, intended to ornament the walls of the rich or, through their (or their government’s) munificence, to be shared with large numbers of people and give them a sense of grandeur. But they do not allow of any sense of dialogue.
Pop art? How could it play a part in the art of the future? It is bland. It is pure. It uses elements of common life without comment, and so, by accepting the misery of this life and its aridity so mutely, it condones them. Pop and op are both dead, however, because they confine themselves, through the media which they employ, to the older functions of art, of decorating and suggesting grandeur, whatever the detailed content of their artist’s intentions. None of the ingenious theories of the Mr. Ivan Geldoway combine can prevent them from being colossally boring and irrelevant. Milord runs his Mad Avenue Gallery, in which he displays wares. He is protected by a handful of rude footmen who seem to feel that this is the way Life will always be. At his beck and call is Sir Fretful Callous, a moderately well-informed high priest, who apparently despises the Flame he is supposed to tend and therefore prefers anything which titillates him. However, Milord needs his services, since he, poor thing, hasn’t the time or the energy to contribute more than his name and perhaps his dollars; getting information and finding out what’s going on are simply toooooo exhausting. So, well protected and advised, he goes blissfully through the streets in proper Louis XIV style.
This scene is not just characteristic of the painting world as an institution, however. It is absolutely natural to (and inevitable in) the concept of the pure medium, the painting or precious object of any kind. That is the way such objects are marketed since that is the world to which they belong and to which they relate. The sense of “I am the state,” however, will shortly be replaced by “After me the deluge,” and, in fact, if the High Art world were better informed, it would realize that the deluge has already begun.
Who knows when it began? There is no reason for us to go into history in any detail. Part of the reason that Duchamp’s objects are fascinating while Picasso’s voice is fading is that the Duchamp pieces are truly between media, between sculpture and something else, while a Picasso is readily classifiable as a painted ornament. Similarly, by invading the land between collage and photography, the German John Heartfield produced what are probably the greatest graphics of our century, surely the most powerful political art that has been done to date.
The ready-made or found object, in a sense an intermedium since it was not intended to conform to the pure medium, usually suggests this, and therefore suggests a location in the field between the general area of art media and those of life media. However, at this time, the locations of this sort are relatively unexplored, as compared with media between the arts. I cannot, for example, name work which has consciously been placed in the intermedium between painting and shoes. The closest thing would seem to be the sculpture of Claes Oldenburg, which falls between sculpture and hamburgers or Eskimo Pies, yet it is not the sources of these images themselves. An Oldenburg Eskimo Pie may look something like an Eskimo Pie, yet is neither edible nor cold. There is still a great deal to be done in this direction in the way of opening up aesthetically rewarding possibilities.
“Versailles no longer speaks very loudly to us, since we think at 85 miles an hour.”
In the middle 1950s many painters began to realize the fundamental irrelevance of abstract expressionism, which was the dominant mode at the time. Such painters as Allan Kaprow and Robert Rauschenberg in the United States and Wolf Vostell in Germany turned to collage or, in the latter’s case, dé-collage, in the sense of making work by adding or removing, replacing and substituting or altering components of a visual work. They began to include increasingly incongruous objects in their work. Rauschenberg called his constructions “combines” and went so far as to place a stuffed goat—spattered with paint and with a rubber tire around its neck—onto one. Kaprow, more philosophical and restless, meditated on the relationship of the spectator and the work. He put mirrors into his things so the spectator could feel included in them. That wasn’t physical enough, so he made enveloping collages which surrounded the spectator. These he called “environments.” Finally, in the spring of 1958, he began to include live people as part of the collage, and this he called a “happening.”
The proscenium theater is the outgrowth of seventeenth-century ideals of social order. Yet there is remarkably little structural difference between the dramas of Davenant and those of Edward Albee, certainly nothing comparable to the difference in pump construction or means of mass transportation. It would seem that the technological and social implications of the first two industrial revolutions have been evaded completely. The drama is still mechanistically divided: there are performers, production people, a separate audience and an explicit script. Once started, like Frankenstein’s monster, the course of affairs is unalterable, perhaps damned by its inability to reflect its surroundings. With our populistic mentality today, it is difficult to attach importance—other than what we have been taught to attach—to this traditional theater. Nor do minor innovations do more than provide dinner conversation: this theater is round instead of square, in that one the stage revolves, here the play is relatively senseless and whimsical (Pinter is, after all, our modern J.M. Barrie—unless the honor belongs more properly to Beckett). Every year fewer attend the professional Broadway theaters. The shows get sillier and sillier, showing the producers’ estimate of our mentality (or is it their own that is revealed?). Even the best of the traditional theater is no longer found on Broadway but at the Judson Memorial Church, some miles away. Yet our theater schools grind out thousands on thousands of performing and production personnel, for whom jobs will simply not exist in 20 years. Can we blame the unions? Or rents and real estate taxes? Of course not. The subsidized productions, sponsored at such museums as New York’s Lincoln Center, are not building up a new audience so much as recultivating an old one, since the medium of such drama seems weird and artificial in our new social milieu. We need more portability and flexibility, and this the traditional theater cannot provide. It was made for Versailles and for the sedentary Milords, not for motorized life-demons who travel 600 miles a week. Versailles no longer speaks very loudly to us, since we think at 85 miles an hour.
Intermedia Theatre Piece, Dick Higgins. 1968.
In the other direction, starting from the idea of theater itself, others such as myself declared war on the script as a set of sequential events. Improvisation was no help; performers merely acted in imitation of a script. So I began to work as if time and sequence could be utterly suspended, not by ignoring them (which would simply be illogical) but by systematically replacing them as structural elements with change. Lack of change would cause my pieces to stop. In 1958 I wrote a piece, Stacked Deck, in which any event can take place at any time, as long as its cue appears. The cues are produced by colored lights. Since the colored lights could be used wherever they were put and audience reactions were also cuing situations, the performance-audience separation was removed and a happening situation was established, though less visually oriented in its use of its environment and imagery. At the same time, Al Hansen moved into the area from graphic notation experiments, and Nam June Paik and Benjamin Patterson (both in Germany at the time) moved in from varieties of music in which specifically musical events were frequently replaced by nonmusical actions.
Thus the happening developed as an intermedium, an uncharted land that lies between collage, music and the theater. It is not governed by rules; each work determines its own medium and form according to its needs. The concept itself is better understood by what it is not, rather than what it is. Approaching it, we are pioneers again, and shall continue to be so as long as there’s plenty of elbow room and no neighbors around for a few miles. Of course, a concept like this is very disturbing to those whose mentality is compartmentalized. Time, Life, and the High Priests have been announcing the death of happenings regularly since the form gained momentum in the late fifties, but this says more about the accuracy of their information than about the liveliness of the form.
We have noted the intermedia in the theater and in the visual arts, the happening, and certain varieties of physical constructions. For reasons of space we cannot take up here the intermedia between other areas. However, I would like to suggest that the use of intermedia is more or less universal throughout the fine arts, since continuity rather than categorization is the hallmark of our new mentality. There are parallels to the happening in music, for example in the work of such composers as Philip Corner and John Cage, who explore the intermedia between music and philosophy, or Joe Jones, whose self-playing musical instruments fall into the intermedium between music and sculpture. The constructed poems of Emmett Williams and Robert Filliou certainly constitute an intermedium between poetry and sculpture. Is it possible to speak of the use of intermedia as a huge and inclusive movement of which dada, futurism and surrealism are early phases preceding the huge ground swell that is taking place now? Or is it more reasonable to regard the use of intermedia as an irreversible historical innovation, more comparable, for example, to the development of instrumental music than, for example, to the development of romanticism?
Dick Higgins (1938-1998) was an American artist, publisher, poet, composer, theorist, and one of the founders of the art movement Fluxus. As the founder of Something Else Press, Higgins was responsible for the dissemination of many of the avant-garde ideas that took hold in post-war America.
20 Looking - The I Ching
Chris Gabriel March 21, 2026
Purifying but not sacrificing. Have faith in what’s great…
Chris Gabriel March 21, 2026
Judgement
Purifying but not sacrificing. Have faith in what’s great.
Lines
1
Looking childishly. Not a problem for small people, but the Sage regrets it.
2
Looking, peeping. Gain a pure woman.
3
Looking at my life, to go or return?
4
Looking upon the country’s light. It’s good to be a guest of the King.
5
Looking at my life. The wise man has no regrets.
6
Looking at his life. The wise man has no regrets.
Qabalah
Hod to Malkuth: the Path of Shin. The Aeon and The Last Judgment.
The Mercurial and intellectual Hod looks down upon the material World of Malkuth.
Mercury to the Earth.
This hexagram’s form in nature is a high tree from which one can see into the distance. The ideogram is directly “a bird’s eye view”, in both meaning and visual image. A bird sitting upon a high tree looking down. For human’s, this is a watchtower with a great view. The hexagram depicts this tower directly.
Judgment: The vantage point offers a clear perspective, but it is not the place to make hasty movements from. This is where we form our judgment and craft a strategy.
1 When we see through the eyes of a child, we see a world full of wonder. This is good for most people, but wisdom needs to be more strategic. A childish perspective can be good, but a childish decision can be catastrophic.
2 Peeping is looking into the private. There are vast differences between a “Peeping Tom” and the idea that Ancestors or Gods are watching our every move, Yet both are profoundly uncomfortable - one violates purity, the other enforces it.
3 Now the hexagram turns its eye inward, like Hamlet. Only from a “high” spiritual tower can we clearly assess our own life. It is nearly impossible to grasp life when we are in the midst of it.
4 Returning to the material world, we now look out upon the country. From this knowledgeable perspective one can give excellent advice to a King.
5 A wise person can look at any life well lived and feel nothing should have been done differently. They may not have led a perfect life, but they are wise enough to see the necessity of it all.
6 Many people with a bit of wisdom can see other peoples lives as well lived, but it is a masterful work to look at one's own life without regret.
While the perspective of the hexagram is very human, the corresponding Tarot card offers an entirely divine image of this dynamic. The Last Judgment shows the Apocalypse; God, from his perfect point of view has passed judgment on the earth. This is “Looking” with the eyes of an Angel rather than a bird, as such even greater judgments and decisions are made. A less fearful deity that strongly corresponds to this hexagram is the Buddhist goddess and Bodhisattva Guanyin, her name contains the name of the hexagram. 觀世音 “Seeing all Sounds”. She, like the Christian Mary, is “Our Lady of Mercy”. She sees all tears and feels mercy for all.
Let us then look upon ourselves and others with sensible judgment and with mercy.
Worthwhile Dilemmas
Derek Simpson March 19, 2026
Once the search is in progress, something will be found…
The Clear Light, Peter Schmidt. 1975.
Derek Simpson March 19, 2026
Once the search is in progress,
something will be found
Peter Schmidt and Brian Eno first met in a sort of mentor/mentee dynamic which, over the course of fourteen years, took the amorphous shape of an ongoing collaborative discourse. “He was someone who was using art as a system of knowledge,” said Eno, “not as a system of decoration or simply of earning a living. It was the crucial issue of his life as it is of mine, and it was the matrix around which he considered all of his other theories and personal discussions and problems…”
Over the course of their friendship, there were countless instances of synchronistic thinking where one would discover the other had been employing the same method of working without any prior discussion. At one point, Eno was writing open-ended phrases on index cards and picking one at random to help him open up during instances in which he felt blocked. He would then follow his immediate interpretation of the phrase as a kind of rule. If the phrase felt like it didn’t apply to the problem at hand, Eno would let the contemplation of it inform the work in subtler ways, effectively designing his way into a new opportunity for creative flow. “At the same time, Peter had been keeping a little book of similar messages to himself as regards painting” Eno reflects, “and he’d kept those in a notebook and we were both very surprised to find the other not only using a similar system, but also many of the messages being absolutely overlapping so there was a complete correspondence between the messages.” Upon this discovery, the two combined their respective messages, accumulating, and developing even more in the process. They soon released their collection to the public as a deck of cards known as Oblique Strategies, published in 1975, it prevails as Eno and Schmidt’s major collaborative effort.
Now in its fifth revised edition, the messages that comprise Oblique Strategies range in mystery; Disconnect from desire or Do nothing for as long as possible read like clear pieces of advice alongside the cryptic Towards the insignificant or Where’s the edge? Where does the frame start? Though Eno, a self-proclaimed ‘evangelical atheist’, has sparsely mentioned Oblique Strategies next to words like ‘oracle’ or ‘divination’, we get the sense that each directionless direction echoes some resonant wisdom rooted well within humankind’s longstanding relationship with divinity.
For some years prior to the development of Oblique Strategies, Eno had been studying the works of John Cage, a pioneer of avant-garde composition who was devoted to the study of Zen Buddhism. Many of Cage’s writings in Silence: Lectures and Essays—a book that Eno has repeatedly cited as a seminal influence— discuss and reflect the ambiguous nature of the kōans; specific sacred messages used in Zen Buddhist meditation. A classic kōan, for example, is one that Zen Master Hakuin Ekaku would often tell his disciples—Listen to the sound of one hand.
“Nothing changed and now everything is different.”
“Koan study is a unique method of religious practice which has as its aim the bringing of the student to direct, intuitive realization of Reality without recourse to the mediation of words or concepts…When the koan is resolved it is realized to be a simple and clear statement made from the state of consciousness which it has helped to awaken.”(Sasaki x, xi, xii)
The state of consciousness that a kōan helps to awaken is called satori—a sudden enlightenment described by many as a lightning flash of deep understanding. A more familiar, accessible sudden flash of deep understanding is what we might call inspiration, derived from the Latin inspiro, inspirare meaning ‘to breathe into’. When we are inspired we are “breathing in” new life, or spirit. We could say then, that inspiration is a mundane form of satori, or that satori is an experience of inspiration at some wider, deeper level.
When a disciple meditates on a kōan with intention and discipline for an extended period, an experience of satori is inevitable. Pulling an Oblique Strategies card has a similar effect on the artist concerning an experience of inspiration, only the whole process happens much quicker. One pulls the card with intention, flips it over, reads the sacred message—
Faced with a choice do both
—and the new perspective offered by this suggestion alters conscious reality. Seemingly disparate ideas begin to reveal themselves as inherently connected in unexpected ways. Recognizing these newly revealed connections, we light up with a charge of readily available energy. In a flash, the process is once again set in motion, imbued with new life. Nothing changed and now everything is different.
When we ask ourselves a sacred question or give ourselves a sacred prompt, we establish a magical relationship with language—the tool we use to understand the world around us. This new relationship acknowledges that there are other, more subtle tools for understanding within us which only get sharper when we let them be of use. The more we allow the use of these alternate tools to inform our creative process (as well as our meditation), the more enriched our work, our play, and our lives become.
We’ll end on an exercise, read the statement below.
The most important thing is the thing most easily forgotten
Now feel free to contemplate a bit.
When you’re ready, open yourself up to this next question:
Is the above statement a kōan or an oblique strategy?
Eno, Brian and Peter Schmidt. Oblique Strategies. Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt, 2001. Deck of cards.
“Brian Eno Interview" Ode To Gravity, Hosted by Charles Amirkhanian, KPFA, 02 Feb. 1980, https://archive.org/details/BrianEno/BrianEnoOTGR1.473.wav.
Miura, Isshū and Ruth Fuller Sasaki. THE ZEN KOAN. Harvest Books, 1965.
Inhabiting the Space of Sensitivity
Tuukka Toivonen March 17, 2026
Volumes have been written about how digital and consumerist distractions shorten our attention spans and hamper our cognitive abilities…
Die südliche Milchstrasse, Anton Pannekoek. 1928.
Tuukka Toivonen March 17, 2026
Volumes have been written about how digital and consumerist distractions shorten our attention spans and hamper our cognitive abilities. Much, too, is being said about how algorithmic technologies, while undoubtedly powerful, are diminishing our ability to think, learn and create in original ways. But how well do we understand that most subtle and most wondrous of faculties on which those endangered abilities rely – sensitivity itself? Are we cherishing and consciously fostering it, allowing it to speak to and gently guide us towards the things that revitalize us and away from those that don’t? Are we ensuring that our sensitivity cooperates with our cognitive thinking abilities to bring forth the highest levels of insight and intelligence within us, genuinely letting incoherence become a catalyst for coherence, as David Bohm’s observations suggest it can?
In an earlier life, I used to view sensitivity as a weakness – the lack of a thick skin. ‘Being sensitive’ meant getting deflated all too easily by others’ comments and dreading their reactions to whatever one might do or create. In Finland where I grew up, ‘a sensitive youth’ (herkkä nuori) denoted a fragile and ‘pure’ young soul who could not bear the hard realities of life. The binary subtext was that such a young person could survive life’s inevitable blows only by toughening up and shedding their excessive sensitivity. In this cultural scheme, sensitivity could only be defined as a burden and a problem to be dispensed with. As I matured and entered a graduate school full of wine and cheese tasting societies, I began to associate sensitivity with a certain sense of sophistication. It was a quality that only those with the time for the so-called finer pleasures could hope to cultivate and demonstrate in specific contexts.
Both of these understandings, I eventually came to realise, grossly missed the mark when it comes to sensitivity and the profound role it actually plays in human life and its unfolding. The more artists I met, the more I noticed that a keen sensitivity appeared key to their creativity, much more so than I had appreciated based on my own academic approach to the creative process. This was not a faculty activated exclusively during moments of sketching, painting or designing, but a far more holistic quality of suppleness and awareness that resonated inwardly and outwardly without any real on-off switch. I would notice how my attuned friends would spot the stealthiest of cats with great ease from a distance or how they would run up to large dogs without a whiff of hesitation, picking up the emotions of their newfound canine friends and instantly entering what seemed like a shared moment of aliveness across species lines. For these friends, great sensitivity was ever-present and active, coloring and energizing every moment and seamlessly guiding their outward behavior.
As deeply inspiring as these episodes were, it took still longer – and many challenging life experiences – for me to register just how untethered I had become from my own sensitivity. It was not until making time to properly slow down that I finally realized the steep costs this had imposed, in the form of a diminished sense of direction, meaning and joy in day-to-day life.
As I sought to restore my fullest abilities to perceive, feel and bring about a deeper coherence, I found myself spending more time in what I now call the Space of Sensitivity. Put simply, this is a sphere that exists for the unhurried and non-judgmental sensing of the fullest range of signals within one’s mind and body.
Such sensing often begins with the detection of various distress signals within oneself, for these tend to be hitched to neglected sources of incoherence. These signals may include moments of impatient irritation, weight pressing down on the chest, abdominal discomfort or headaches triggered by recurrent thoughts or dreams. Fully embracing these signals and their subtle sensorial qualities is vital, for it is such continued observation that begins to dissolve that distress and excavate its lessons.
“Sensitivity can then re-establish its role as a basis for our emotions, enlivening all that we experience and infusing it with rich meaning.”
These lessons of discomfort come in many forms: one may suddenly notice having compromised one’s true wishes to maintain relational harmony, or that one behaved with unnecessary aggression after having been made to feel helpless in the face of unexpected criticism. Through such watchfulness, one begins to identify persisting factors that distort or mute one’s sensitivity, from constant over-stimulation to an internalized need to rush to decisions or the belief that what one genuinely thinks and feels doesn’t really matter that much. Fear, in its many guises, may surface as a key culprit, as may addictive and compulsive tendencies of various kinds, along with the terror of simply spending time with one’s self. A range of practices, from hypnosis and somatic or psychedelic therapy to movement and meditation, can be of help in accessing a deeper layer of root causes that may not be so easily detected.
The Space of Sensitivity is nothing but a convenient conceptual container for inner sensing processes of various kinds. As such, it is not a ‘thing’ or a separate entity. Yet conjuring up such a space is helpful because it foregrounds and re-values these crucial processes in the context of day-to-day life, giving one permission to seriously engage with them and inviting one to treat them as sacred. It becomes easier to attend to inner signals of incoherence, which really are engines of coherence, with great intensity and on a continuous basis. This launches us on a path towards a full recovery of our sensitivity in a very different way compared to more casual reflective activity. Sensitivity can then re-establish its role as a basis for our emotions, enlivening all that we experience and infusing it with rich meaning.
As Bessel van der Kolk has found through his influential work on trauma recovery, the restoration of sensitivity allows us to finally ‘want what we truly want’ and consistently make decisions that serve us. Even more radically, as our embodied intelligence becomes so accessible to us that we need little time to read its messages, we become adept at moving from incoherence to coherence and making decisions quickly. Our sensitivity becomes integral to our very being, making it total, unified, unimpeded, natural, immediate. Once we reach a state of non-division between the ‘senser’ and the ‘sensed’ (to echo the non-dualism of J Krishnamurti), our lives can again unfold as one unified movement with little need for resistance or self-fragmentation. We also regain the power to ‘resonate externally’, as inner harmony frees up our energies and helps us to perceive the more-than-human world vividly and in a way that engenders involvement. The deeper significance of restoring our sensitivity is not as the restoration of some narrow or secondary or purely aesthetic ‘compartment’ within us, but as the rejuvenation of our highest intelligence in the most holistic – and ecological – sense.
Hoping sincerely that your journey into the mysteries of sensitivity will continue well beyond this short moment, I will leave you with an invitation to contemplate the following words of the legendary Japanese monk and philosopher Dōgen (1200–1253):
‘The total world in ten directions is one transparent pearl…The total body is a pair of right dharma eyes. The total body is a true human body. The total body is one word. It is transparently illuminating. The total body is the total mind. When one is a total body, there is no obstruction for it; it is graciously smooth and tumbles [freely].
Tuukka Toivonen, Ph.D. (Oxon.) is a sociologist interested in ways of being, relating and creating that can help us to reconnect with – and regenerate – the living world. Alongside his academic research, Tuukka works directly with emerging regenerative designers and startups in the creative, material innovation and technology sectors.
19 Approaching - The I Ching
Chris Gabriel March 14, 2026
Approaching is the origin of a pure and bountiful harvest, but after eight months it’s unfortunate…
Chris Gabriel March 14, 2026
Judgement
Approaching is the origin of a pure and bountiful harvest, but after eight months it’s unfortunate.
Lines
1
Approaching together in purity.
2
Approaching together: joint approach.
3
Approaching, but gaining nothing. He worries.
4
Approaching and achieving.
5
Approaching with knowledge makes a prince do great work.
6
Approaching with offerings.
Qabalah
Imperfectly the Path of Vau: Chesed to Chokmah. The Hierophant.
In this hexagram we are given the image of the shoreline, a Lake approaching the Earth. The ideogram gives us the image of supplicants: a crown is met with three kneeling people making requests. This is the role of both a petitioner at the court of a King, and the prayers in which we make our pleas to God. As the tide slowly and humbly meets the earth, so the supplicant petitions the King.
The Judgment tells us it is good to make requests and attempt to make changes in the world, but when no ground is gained, it’s best to move on, lest it becomes begging.
1 A unified group advocating for a cause may be able to sway the powers that be with greater effect than a lone individual.
2 Forming coalitions can allow advocates for multiple causes to gain greater influence.
3 Often pleas are met with no results. This is something to contemplate. One should not go on tilting at windmills, but find the most effective method to achieve one’s goals.
4 The petition is accepted, the low meets the high on even ground now.
5 People with power must attract wise and knowledgeable people. Wise people must approach people with power. It is through interaction that great works can be achieved, for both sides are weaker without the other.
6 Lobbyists know well that the key to making changes can be bringing gifts to those in power.
In each line we see a form of petition and its potential for effect. While the text refers primarily to worldly powers, the corresponding Tarot card, the Hierophant or Pope, gives us the perfect symbol: a worldly power representative of a divine power - unifying supplication as legal and divine. This has of course been the case for much of history: the God-Kings of Egypt, China, and the Americas.
A great deal of ritual magic consists of petitioning spiritual powers. As these lines show, there is little difference between making pleas to a king or a deity; one should make the approach with a group, one should have offerings, and most importantly one must have the knowledge to make use of such an interaction.
While many people may never make pleas to a king or petition a deity, nearly everyone will interview for a job, ask for a raise, or try to gain money from another. This is the mundane function of the hexagram. Therefore, let us grow in wisdom so we can approach those who can change our lives, and not make fools of ourselves.
The Mountain and The Fool
Molly Hankins March 13, 2026
On the very first card of the Tarot Major Arcana we find The Fool…
Molly Hankins March 12, 2026
On the very first card of the Tarot Major Arcana we find The Fool. Attributed to the number 0 and the Hebrew letter Aleph (א), he is pictured with a mountain range behind them. Ready to step into the valley of experience, The Fool looks up blissfully, certain of their safety as they’re about to drop off a cliff. And so it is as we leave Source consciousness and step into the valley of separate individuation. Our souls long to know what we’re getting into, but once we take that step into physical incarnation we are stepping off a metaphorical cliff into the great unknown.
At this early stage in the journey, The Fool is still knowingly connected to superconsciousness or source-consciousness, which we forget as we get further into our incarnations. It is exactly this connection that allows The Fool to remain so calm. The number zero represents superconsciousness and harkens to the zero point where consciousness begins; our collective point of origin also known as The Cosmic Egg. Occult author and founder of ‘Builders of the Adytum Mystery School’ Paul Foster Case attributed Aleph to this card because it is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It’s also known as the father, or the ox as it’s expressed in pictograph, a symbol of the motive, life-giving force from which all things derive.
The Fool is accompanied by a small dog: an evolved, domesticated descendent of a wild animal symbolizing how our consciousness evolves. As Case wrote, “The little white dog is a descendent of wolves and jackals. Thus he is a human adaptation, whereby something given in a wild and dangerous state by the modified processes of nature has been changed into a friend, helper and companion of man. He also indicates the truth that all subhuman forms of the Life-power are elevated and improved by the advance of human consciousness.” The dog embodies the same evolution our souls experience while in human form as well - from lower, animalistic tendencies of dominance and submission towards a wider range of conscious expression of creative capacity.
According to Case, the iced-covered mountains in the background of the card refer to the cold, still nature of the Absolute, the Source from which consciousness originates. The human brain and matter itself have been described as ‘warm, wet and noisy,’ most notably by physicist Max Tegmark, the exact opposite expression of cold stillness illustrated by the mountain range. The archetype of The Fool symbolizes the state of Life-power prior to self-expression in the valley of experience. The image of the mountain appears in many of the Tarot Major Arcana cards, including The Emperor, The Lovers, Strength, Temperance, The Star, The Moon and Judgement. The Hermit waits on top of the mountain holding a light for other seekers to make their way back to Source.
“All of us embody the archetype of The Fool as we leave the safety of unexpressed potential and venture into the warm, wet and noisy world of form.”
The image of the mountain is making its way through the pop-culture social media sphere this month, following the release of the new Gorillaz album, The Mountain. Easily the band’s most overtly spiritual record, it was inspired by two trips to India taken by co-founders Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett after their fathers passed away within ten days of one another.
The Mountain album cover illustrates what feels like a perfect completion of the cycle of incarnations, the antithesis to The Fool’s depiction. The album art finds the Gorillaz characters all together at the very top of the mountain facing the sun. It feels like consciousness itself split into all these different characters, found each other in the valley of experience, had a great adventure playing and creating in the world of form, and then returned back up the mountain. Scientist and author Itzhak Bentov described the realm of the Creator as ‘the fertile void;’ cold and still at rest but alive with potential for expression. It’s akin to what Paul Foster Case described as the icy peaks of the mountains from which The Fool descends.
The album’s cover art feels like the last stop before these different expressions of consciousness are absorbed back into the fertile void. Three of the band members seem to be looking back down to the valley, but Murdoc (the fictional founder of the band) is looking towards Aleph, expressed as sunlight. Even on his phone, he’s still clearly caught up in the experience of form. The Fool is also looking up, confident in his undertaking even though it might seem quite foolish to come into a realm of duality where inevitably everything and everyone we love in this realm we’ll eventually lose.
According to Bentov, life is the ultimate game of hide-and-seek. Not only do all the different expressions of consciousness ultimately find each other on the proverbial mountain, Bentov also believed that mystical experiences are actually the Creator peaking into the world of form to tell our souls, “Boo! I’m you.” All of us embody the archetype of The Fool as we leave the safety of unexpressed potential and venture into the warm, wet and noisy world of form. Much of The Mountain‘s lyrical content deals with the challenge of saying goodbye to those we love when souls leave their physical bodies. But as the album cover and generally uplifting musical choices in the songs promise, we all ultimately find each other in the end, and again and again throughout the valley of human experience.
Molly Hankins is an Initiate + Reality Hacker serving the Ministry of Quantum Existentialism and Builders of the Adytum.
Notes On Writing (1959)
C. S. Lewis March 10, 2026
It is very hard to give any general advice about writing. Here’s my attempt…
Script from “The Proper Art of Writing”, Paul Franck. 1655.
Ask a hundred writers on their advice for writing and you’ll get a hundred different answers. Myriad schedules, techniques, tactics, and maxims that one writer will swear by are meaningless to another, yet so often are decreed as truth. In 1959, the author of the Narnia series C.S. Lewis received a letter from a young schoolgirl in America, asking for his advice on writing. Lewis answered every letter he ever received, and famously spent hours each day on his correspondences which have since been compiled in multiple volumes. His reply, here, was short and to the point. Lewis acknowledges the difficulty and fallibility of writing advice on a general scale, so instead gives a framework with which to think about process of putting pen to paper, and for him it must be pen to paper as per advice number 7.
C.S. Lewis March 10, 2026
It is very hard to give any general advice about writing. Here’s my attempt.
Turn off the Radio.
Read all the good books you can, and avoid nearly all magazines.
Always write (and read) with the ear, not the eye. You should hear every sentence you write as if it was being read aloud or spoken. If it does not sound nice, try again.
Write about what really interests you, whether it is real things or imaginary things, and nothing else. (Notice this means that if you are interested only in writing you will never be a writer, because you will have nothing to write about. . . .)
Take great pains to be clear. Remember that though you start by knowing what you mean, the reader doesn’t, and a single ill-chosen word may lead him to a total misunderstanding. In a story it is terribly easy just to forget that you have not told the reader something that he wants to know—the whole picture is so clear in your own mind that you forget that it isn’t the same in his.
When you give up a bit of work don’t (unless it is hopelessly bad) throw it away. Put it in a drawer. It may come in useful later. Much of my best work, or what I think my best, is the re-writing of things begun and abandoned years earlier.
Don’t use a typewriter. The noise will destroy your sense of rhythm, which still needs years of training.
Be sure you know the meaning (or meanings) of every word you use.
C. S. Lewis (1898 – 1963) was a British author, literary scholar and theologian. Most know as the author of The Chronicles of Narnia