Shpongle Experience
I was entrapped in a sea of writhing bodies. I was slave to the music and I let it flow through me like a hotspring bubbling out of a crack in the dusty ground. And so was the motion put into effect. I heaved my arms about my head like a crazed lunatic begging for the answer to be released unto the world, to crack it open and let the yolk ooze out onto the people I had surrounding me. I could see in every direction people were having a good time, and so I released my spirit into the air.
And so it emerged, a vaporous entity of lights reflecting in the smoky air. It grew to fill the entire space above the heaving masses and here it billowed out like a mast in full wind. I could see this one girl, dressed like a native american princess, a fleece shroud draped across her shoulders and golden hooped earrings reflecting the sparkling murmurs of belongingness. She had on brown fleece boots with tufts of fabric spiraling up her ankles and her face was made up with 4 additional eyes painted beneath her own. The light show cast her features in a translucent haze and in the security of this isolation she threw her spirit into the pudding with me.
As two spirits merged with the music still infinite souls remain unattached and so from each was given the protection of this joyous aura. No hostility between souls can remain when the current moment is the actualization of your dreams. Only then will you have nothing but good will to pour out into the world, and accepting all others as a part of yourself will bring into light this understanding of what universal brotherhood could mean.
Into this tranquil, writhing sea would he have you be thrown. He who sits behind the monitor and controls all actions with the flicker of his wrist. Every one of his choices sends out spiraling ripples through the crowd and shouts of joy rebound all around the room. Under his kind and wise gaze you will find the courage to let go of your individuality for a second, to help yourself through the doorways of perception. He will have you be just another dancing fool in a sea of dancing fools. When you find yourself at this choice, the answer you make will entirely define your existence.
Let go and abandon all notions in your head in favor of the joy of the moment, of the experience, of the delicious taste of interconnectedness. Be brave enough to let go of your beliefs and move forward. He is drawing you forward. You watch as his old fashioned top hat with an eagle feather sticking through it rocks back and forth in the control tower. He, above all others, has a very nourishing perspective with which to drench his surrounding. No anti-social vibes remain when he walks into the room. Just looking at him lets you know that everything is all right, if you ever had any doubt.
People would love to dance all night. I know even as my spirit began to funnel back into my body I kept shouting at the rafters, clinging on to this thing I had in my fingers. But I knew that it would fall through my fingers eventually. I had to accept that all things must come to an end even as I so energetically savored its last drops. And so in the end everyone was returned to themselves from this melting pot but the vision of all the others remained even as people stumbled out of the door.
I lingered a while in the evaporating air. The swirling light show had ceased its acrobatics and the people were all heading to somewhere else. The current moment seemed to have been drained by the ecstatic crowd, and they were off to look for another moment to drain. I stood around and cheered still. The moment was still full of energy for me. And I was not alone in my passion. A large crowd of people were still gathered around the stage and He was giving recognition to all of the dancers who led the performance this night. We were all reaching to shake his hand and he shook all of ours in a way that made me know that he cared about me. I thanked him profusely for his talent and he moved on to shake everyone else’s hand.
That was how it happened, and I had to pull myself back together. We were all so deep in the pudding together but I had a friend I came with and we had been separated so he puffed back into existence waiting down by the exit. I joined with the trickling remnants of the concert and stepped cautiosly down the stairs, paying too much attention to some white blob that was on the middle of one of the steps and I emerged into the night.
And so the journey from air to air had come around full circle and there was no longer any place to be and there were no words left to be said. the sea of human energy had sealed shut temporarily but I knew where it was located and I strolled very slowly down the side walk. There was a bum standing over by a fence playing a trumpet. This guy walking in front of me started dancing to this trumpet music and shouted “isn’t this incredible!”
Yeah man, I know what you mean, but I gotta find my car. It was parked in this large lot of broken concrete and ashpault and it was covered in the dust of the entire whirlwind from which I had been cast. I stood for a minute outside my open door and breathed in the odor. I watched as others who had been saved continued to carry the moment with them and with determination I sat down in the driver seat. I cranked up the car and my friend buckled his seat belt, ready to see what would happen. But I was still loathe to let go of the moment, because I never accepted that it was only in the environment of the concert that this sense of acceptance could remain, but that it is possible to find people everywhere who will allow you to coexist with them in the same space. I did not want to relinquish this feeling from my soul.
And so I listened to the music blaring from my car speaker. Yeah, I knew that feeling would be mine forever. For it is through music that all souls are connected, so much better than words could ever do. The most intimate thing two people can do with each other is listen to music, especially from bands with more existential or at least thought provoking perspectives. To understand that everyone has their own perception of what a song is yet the song is also an entirely separate thing. To let the meanings slip under your defense with the sweet sugar of a good beat. To appreciate the song, and more importantly, the musicians for their kind donation of their perspective for others to drink from and grow closer.
The artist must however remove himself from his work, or at least not give all of himself, because the actual material the artist is molding are others’ perception. So when an artist has refined his skill so perfectly that his perspective lifts up an entire mob in bliss, you must bow at his feet. He is the one who makes life into what it is, and it is he who determines exactly what society believes. But he must have the grace to inject these ideas into the nerve endings of society and then release it from his hands so it can soar free.
And so, when all is said and done, this is the story of a single man who walked into a room a free man, and left it a free man with a fuller understanding of what freedom means. Some (or most) might call this pure hedonism, but that is a branch of philosophy that cannot be ignored. This might not be a behavior to engage in anything approaching a routine, but instead as a pleasant respite from the dreary routine which is life. And so I would recommend that everyone drink from the spring of hedonism and be open to whatever comes after. I know that I will try my best to do so.
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