What iAhuasca Is: The Lunatic Is In The Second To Last Row

If you want to experience first hand the differences between how the programmed and the un-programmed man experience film, follow these directions:

iAhuasca

1.  Pick a new release movie that is playing at a local theater, preferably an action/adventure movie that will most likely be heavy on visuals and special effects, and preferably isn't more than 100 minutes.  Avoid reading reviews and seeing extended previews as much as possible as the less you know of the plot the better.  In reality, it can be any film.

2.  See the film at a time when the movie theater will be crowded.  Friday night, Saturday matinee or night, or opening night are the best options.  There is a certain adrenaline that is more accessible while trying this in a crowded theater as opposed to an empty theater.  Trust me, it's the best way.

3.  Select an album of music that you plan on listening to on repeat for as long as the duration of the movie.   I suggest Dark Side of the Moon because it is a cinematic album, and contains very universal themes, but really, use your intuition, and select any album that you enjoy.  

4.  Bring an iPod or any mp3 player and set the repeat option on.

5.  DO NOT BRING ANY EXPECTATIONS OTHER THAN BOREDOM.   ACCEPT THAT THIS IS AN EXPERIMENT AND THAT THE RESULTS VARY.  

6.  When the movie starts, understand that the burden of the storyteller is completely on you.  Pay attention to all of the available information on the screen and construct your own narrative.  Try to anticipate where the story is going to go based on your intuition.   If you think this is something too strange or weird, understand that this is a very natural process, one that is pushed into the subconscious of the heavily literate programmed man.  It is what young children do every waking moment of their lives.  A two year old is constantly inventing a narrative to explain the world they inhabit, and this is precisely the nature of the un-programmed mind.  Trust that any questions you have will be answered, and that it will all make sense eventually.  

7.  At the end of the film, take notice of the energy and emotion you are feeling, and see if it matches the energy and emotion of the theater.  Observe the audience with the same lens that you have been observing the movie.  

8.  Now that you have your own experience of the film, you can read the reviews, and see if your experience of the film matches the experience of the programmed minds of the reviewers.  See if there are themes that you missed, or themes that they missed.

9.  After a few days or a week, or when the movie comes out on DVD, watch the movie as it was intended.  Try to see how much of the story matches with the story you created on your own.

I first tried this myself in 2009.  The idea arose during a walk to the movie theater.  I knew the idea was absurd, but the idea that somehow this could ruin a Hollywood movie, or that I could lose out on important experience was equally absurd.  The only thing to lose was the $9.50 for the ticket.

So I walked into the Friday night showing of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and pressed play on Dark Side of the Moon.    I had not read the Harry Potter books, and to be honest, even though I had seen the previous films, I remembered very little.  They were all very long and to be honest quite boring.  I knew the characters, but I wasn't really in tune with where the story was going.

The two and half hours raced by and I was caught off guard when the credits rolled.  I was in an absolute state of shock.  I could hardly move.  As I turned to look at the crowded theater, almost every single person was already standing up, putting on their coats, and racing for the doors.  I wondered, did we see the same movie?  Had they even processed the experience?

TRY THIS.  JUST ONCE.  YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE. 

This is modern magick that is legal, safe, and available to anyone with an mp3 player and $10.  Most people who read this will dismiss it as too bizarre, or can convince themselves that they get it, they understand it, that it can't teach them anything new.  Don't be that asshole.  I should know.  Most of the time, I am that asshole.

A Really Big Shew Part 5: The Chicken Is The Chaos Of The Egg

A quick recap:

Kubrick, having read and understood McLuhan, realized that when watching the same film, "literate" man and "non literate" man have access to information the other does not.

"Literate man" has been programmed to see film in a specific way.
"Non literate" man has not been programmed to see film in a specific way.
This begs the question:  does this programming effect the way in which "literate" man "sees" reality?  If so, what information is "literate" man no longer able to see?

Let's return to the story and of the violinist in the subway.  Is this proof that the programming of "literate" man has altered his sense ratios in such a profound way that the violinist in the subway was as invisible to them as the chicken was to the filmmakers?  Did they not stop to listen not because they were in a hurry, but because they simply did not know that the violinist was even there?

McLuhan and Kubrick recognized that the programmed man was living deep in a Gutenberg Galaxy, and the un-programmed man was still living on planet Earth.  The goal of modern man is not to maintain residence solely in one domain, but to be able to travel freely between both.

Chess involves a certain type of literacy, in which the player must be able to read and interpret as much information as possible.  Information, in chess, is power.  Seeing the game from multiple perspectives gives us more information, and a good player sees the game from the perspective of both sides of the board, as well as aggressive and conservative.  Chess is also a game that is as much about technicality as it is about psychology, and moves are made that occur outside the realm of the board itself, moves that are within the rules, but subject to integrity and etiquette.  They are just as important to the language of chess as the moves of the pieces.  An extremely literate player, the programmed player, is aware of all of these sources of information.  

But, does the truly un-programmed player still have access to information that is invisible to the programmed players?  Is there a source of information that is only available to the person who has never played the game of chess?  

McLuhan and Kubrick would say that there is a source of information within a game of chess that is only observable to the un-programmed, and the programmed player who can access this information becomes a more powerful player.  So how does a programmed player learn to see something that has become invisible to them by virtue of their programming?  

A player must deprogram, or to put it more poetically, a player must be born again.  How does someone go about deprogramming?  

How can someone be born again?

We now have three people in this game of chicken:

1.  Un-Programmed Person

2.  Programmed Man

3.  Deprogrammed Person

A fourth Person will arrive at some point, but let's just focus on this power trio for now.