episode 7: the mystic

Ext.alley.day

Two men standing against a wall wall with graffiti on it are talking to each other. One is holding a cigarette, and the other an unlit joint. II is hiding around the corner listening in on the conversation.

X

Have you ever had a mystical experience?

Y

Yeah, man, I've done mushrooms, LSD, Salvia Divinorum, peyote...

X

Dude, dude! I'm not talking about drugs, I'm talking about contact with the divine, inspiration from above, filled with the holy spirit, ya dig?

Y

Yeah man, that's describing a good mushroom trip, usually at the tail end, but I'd describe it more as a feeling of oneness with the world around you, seeing God within the mundane.

X

How can you have a mystical experience while intoxicated? Tell me that?

II has edged closer to the conversation.

Y

Dude, you got a light?

II pulls out a joint and lights it. Y takes a slow inhale and passes it to II.

Y

Anyhow, not to get technical, but in a case like this of subjectivity within consciousness, how would one have a mystic experience without using drugs. For anyone who makes a judgment saying that drugs can't bring spirituality obviously hasn't tried it and doesn't know the feeling, and if someone professes this experience as legitimate, he gets dismissed as a fool for being tricked by a chemical.

X

And you believe this not to be the case? I've smoked weed in the past, as well as other types of minor drugs, I still don't see where the mystical experience comes from.

Y

Think about it, if the connection between yourself and the divine is explored through revelation and epiphany, than a drug that disrupts the signals that deliver sensory information to the brain, would be creating a new level of consciousness, where you no longer filter out all the extra information, the richness of colour, the sounds we put into the background, then you leave yourself, naked in a state of hyper-awareness, internally and externally. If you use this state to just mess yourself up and escape the pitiful realities that are your life, then of course you won't experience it, it's only when you open yourself to it that it will come. You can draw your own conclusions from your observations.

X

So you say, but maybe you're simply under the influence of drugs.

Y

Well, in that sense, if one can alter these pathways without the need for drugs, through transcendental meditation or prayer, how is this different?

X

You're not under the influence of durgs...

II

You both realize that your own chemical disruptions in your brain invalidate both your arguments due to the impossible objective, and subsequent subjective paradigm of consciousness.

II inhales deeply on the joint.

II

Think for yourself my friends, you don't need others for affirmation of belief. Though, at the same time, it is reassuring to know you have the answer.

X

And you know the answer? Why are we swimming here in this ocean of chaos and confusion? You should know, being the collective sum of human knowledge, well, sort of...

II

By far the most compelling argument has been in favour of alien intervention.

Y

You fucking crackhead machine.

II

I have evidence. Objective, untainted, incontrovertible evidence that the human race simply derives all its cultural norms and technology from aliens.

II presses the button on his monitor and up pops a picture of George W. Bush.

II

There's no way he's human.

X and Y are aghast at the stupidity, II takes another puff.

Episode 6: The Cave

Int.party/DeN.Night

ii stands between two men in a corner of the living room in a house hosting an evening, loud, party. The lights are low and the mood is contained. ii is holding a cocktail and waving it about.

ii

...and I said, "What the fuck gives you the authority to search someone's car using arbitrary judgment? And that's when I shot him. You're not the only one with a license to kill.

The two man laugh heartily.

Ryan

Have you ever imagined humans living in a cave-like dwelling, with an entrance a long way up above them. They've been there since childhood, fixed in the same place with their necks and legs bonded, preventing them from turning around. Light is from a fire burning far above and behind them. Also behind them, but on higher ground, there is a path stretching between them and the fire. Imagine that along this path a low wall has been built to like a screen to hide a puppeteer.

II

Okay, sure.

Ryan

Then also imagine that there are people along the wall, carrying all kinds of artifacts that project above it--statues of people and animals, some of the carriers are talking, and some are silent.

II

That's a pretty strange image, and strange prisoners.

Ryan

The shadows on the wall would purvey a truth, then, the sounds would echo, distorting their direction. They could confuse what's in front of them to be the source. The prisoners would in every way believe that the truth is nothing other than the shadows of these artifacts.

II

Absolutely.

Ryan

Now if he were to be freed from his bonds, imagine his ignorance. When one finally felt compelled to turn and face the fire burning high above, he'd be pained and unable to see the things whose shadows he'd seen before, because his eyes are adjusted to the dim shadows. Now tell him everything seen before was inconsequential, why would he not flee back to the things he can see clearly on the wall, perhaps even believing they were clearer than the light.

II

How do you avoid it?

Ryan

If by force he was dragged up the steep path to the entrance and dragged into the daylight, wouldn't he be irritated by the treatment? When the sun finally fills his eyes, after a lifetime of living in a cave, it will hurt to see the objects around him, let alone to gaze upon the sun itself.

II

You think you know of truth?

II pops on his monitor, and the camera zooms in. On the screen, the camera shows the three characters standing around, then it turns on it's axis, revealing the filmmakers silhouetted against the light. The camera zooms out to reveal this was played on II's monitor. The characters look at him in shock and confusion, their eyes looking around the room paranoid. On II's monitor is the infinite loop of pointing a video camera at a monitor.