Sacred Spaces

When I was very young, I was told that when I died I would see a light at the end of a long dark tunnel. I would be compelled to move toward the light, but as I progressed demons would try and distract me. They would try and divert my eyes from that beautiful truth and pull me into darkness. Let us set aside the Rabbit Hole Experience for a moment and pretend that this is a beautiful way of expressing not something that happens after you die, but rather something that happens after you’re born.

Life seems to be all about identity. Who or what we were preceding our birth is just as blank as who or what we will be after our deaths. The space between is the laboratory where we conduct our research, driven to understand what it means to be “I Am” and hoping to find some stability in it. So we search for definition, for meaning, and thus set the stage, the great arena, of the human condition.

A fortunate few have been so lucky to see a light in the world. This light is difficult to define but is understood by those who have felt it. Chances are you have at least some idea of exactly what I am referencing as you read this. It seems this light is our gift, our guide that lights this path through the valley of death. Many ascribe a variety of names and attempted definitions for this most fundamental and universal concept. In the past my friends and I referred to it as “The Thing.”

I’m not sure I would use the word demon but, whatever the source of the distractions is, it seems to have developed quite a talent for capitalizing on our collective identity crisis. We all feel a desire to belong, to identify with one another and feel to be a part of a community. We need to fit in. Our individuality is stifled by the fear of isolation and alienation. We become less ourselves and more the characters we have learned to be to pacify these fears. We search for who we are in the molds society has created for how people should be. As we take our place inside the box our eyes are turned from the light. What is this voice that tells us to be afraid?

Now we introduce memes into the equation.

A meme (pronounced /ˈmiːm/, rhyming with “cream”) is a postulated unit of cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. (The etymology of the term relates to the Greek word μιμητισμός (pronounced /mɪmetɪsmos/) for “something imitated”.) Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes, in that they self-replicate and respond to selective pressures.

Think of them as programs written by our culture and downloaded into a child’s mind every time he turns on the television or listens to instruction or is subject to peer pressure, fear mongering, or suggestion. Memes capitalize on our desire for belonging by telling us we will fit in if we follow the leader. Listen to the thoughts in your head. Seriously. Listen to yourself think, to your internal dialogue, and become familiar with the processes of thought. We are confused in thinking our thoughts are who we are. We are what is listening to them. We experience a thought, then react. Thoughts are suggestions, they have sources. Just because you think it, doesn’t mean you think it is true. Your mind is a machine that must be programmed…and it has been. If you buy into the reality you are sold to the mentality. If a thought moves you in a direction and you go in that direction, you lend service to the agenda of the source of that thought. Since the day you were born warring factions have been battling over control of your mind because they need your support to gain strength. If they can control your mind, they can control your behavior.

If a person convinced you what he believed was true, he might also convince you to convince others of his truth and convince them to convince others. His words to you become his doctrine and a self-replicating, self-perpetuating pattern of thought that grows, consumes attention and generates power for his ideas and ambition. Memes become powerful instruments to gain your attention and support as your eyes are turned from the light. They perpetuate religions, political agendas, racism, sports franchises, movie franchises, merchandising and just about anything that needs your support to survive. Don’t think you are alone in your head. State sponsored, religious, corporate, and cultural brainwashing has filled our minds to the brim with so many memes it must be close to impossible to know how we really feel. So many voices whisper in our ears it makes us crazy and distracts us from our calling.

Here is how we push back.

Matter is energy. All things emanate energy. Some energies we interpret as color. Some we interpret as sounds. Some as thoughts and emotions. Some we can’t quite interpret. And some are so far beyond our comprehension we may never know them. Try and imagine how difficult it must be to explain what color is to someone who was born blind. Now try and imagine how much could exist that we don’t know because we have no way to perceive it.

I have often heard people refer to art as a shamanic practice. As much as I agree with this I much prefer to poetically draw a parallel between artists and wizards. We hold in our hands the energies we know as color, texture, shape and form and manipulate those energies into new objects emanating new energies. This new object becomes art, the expression of its creator, and in so there is an inherit magic. Many can barely articulate what moves them about art because the magic itself is constituted by energies at the edge of our perceptive capabilities.

“The flavor of sugar is not present in the individual Hydrogen, Carbon, and Oxygen atoms that constitute sugar. At that higher level of Order, you have the taste of sugar.” – Daniel Monti

So just as when you combine Hydrogen, Carbon, and Oxygen atoms in just a certain way you create sugar, wherein there is stored a certain magic we know as it’s flavor, so too is there a certain magical phenomena in art as you combine color, texture, shape and form into a new object. Now we see the meaning and purpose of art restored. We create beauty. And if there is one thing that is always said about the light, it is that it is beautiful.

When you place a piece of art that moves you in your personal space it will radiate that energy and permeate your environment. By placing art around your home you create hot spots pulsing with beauty and in that beauty you are reminded of the light of the world. By cultivating a personal environment saturated with beautiful emanations from profound and sacred objects you become less susceptible to the distractions brought on by the memes and the sensory blitz of a sensationalist culture because it helps you remember something. Something you may not be able to explain even to yourself. Something important. If society would create distractions, we will create focal points.

It has been suggested that we manifest reality. We will create the conditions to bring about the lessons in life we most desire to learn.  Subconsciously we will design a reality conducive to our hopes, dreams, desires and fears. What we fear we attract. Ever notice that when your inspection sticker has expired you see cops on every corner. An alarming number of people have embraced the idea that the world will be ending soon. It is almost like they need it to end in order for it’s present state to make sense to them.  If we are not careful we will manifest this reality. The end of days will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. To save the world we must change the way we think.  We must free ourselves of self destructive tendencies.  The liberation of the human spirit by freeing the mind from bondage. Cultivating a beautiful and healthy living environment provides a safe haven for the mind to grow and come into it’s own.

“Be the change you want to see in the world” -Ghandi

And so we bring you the Sacred Spaces Project. A series of installations where artists demonstrate the power of art over environment. Where we promote the idea that your outer space is the extension of your inner space and it is all connected through you, so cleanse your inner space by beautifying your outer space. This project will serve as an educational initiative as well to provide open dialogue between individuals about the meaning they have found in their own lives. Art is not the only tool for consecrating sacred space, but it is our tool. And the time has come for us to use it.

“Art is the tool I have been given to help people fall in love with life again.” -Joshua Meadows