Making sense of life and feeling whole and complete is an ongoing process for many of us. One path that some have found useful is Advaita. Advaita Vedānta; Sanskrit: अद्वैत वेदान्त [əd̪ʋait̪ə ʋeːd̪ɑːnt̪ə]) is considered as the most influential and most dominant sub-school of the Vedānta (literally, end or the goal of the Vedas, Sanskrit) school of Hindu philosophy. It’s fundamental premise is that all there is is Consciousness. ‘Understanding’ is consciousness disidentifying with me as the doer which at first glance seems illogical. But is it?

Chuck Hillig is a modern spiritual teacher, author and licensed psychotherapist whose clarity of expression has earned him the admiration and praise of many notable writers and lecturers in this area.

Chuck writes personally and directly about the essence of non-dual spirituality and presents its deep truths to the average reader in ways that are totally unique, completely accessible and absolutely life-changing for many. Using his studies in both eastern philosophy and western psychology, Chuck’s “Enlightenment Quartet” presents a world view that shows his readers how to fully live a truly enlightened and authentic life in the 21st Century by waking up to who they really are.

“There are brilliant insights! Even one of them could dramatically change your life!”
Deepak Chopra

Chuck’s most recent offering is Living in the Wow, a ninety minute video presentation of his ideas that is a mind walk through the worlds of duality and oneness. Life presents us with a myriad of choices that can all be seen part of the illusion of separation and confusion and a hypnotic dream state. Like other non-dual teachers, Chuck helps his growing audience wake up from the dream in a highly entertaining and accessible.

Here is a five minute clip that is part of Chuck’s wake up call to those ready and willing to explore one path to living in the wow. Of couse true understanding is a very personal thing and the best anyone can do is point to it. In my experience, Chuck is an excellent pointer. Some dismiss these ideas as ridiculous. If you take the time to read or watch Chuck’s books and videos with an open mind, you may find them useful or not. You are ultimately the only one who will know if his ideas may help you shift your awareness into a new orbit.

This clip includes the word God which can also be read as consciousness, awakening, or realization or as Chuck uses in many other parts of the video, IT.

To order the DVD, click here.

Gregory Colbert has used both still and movie cameras to explore extraordinary interactions between humans and animals. His exhibition, Ashes and Snow, consists of over 50 large-scale photographic artworks, a 60-minute film, and two 9-minute film haikus. The show will next open in Mexico City on December 15.

This excerpt is entitled Feather to Fire, and is narrated in three languages by Laurence Fishburne (English), Ken Watanabe (Japanese), and Enrique Rocha (Spanish).

More information about Gregory Colbert and Ashes and Snow is available at www.ashesandsnow.com.

Ashes and Snow® and Nomadic Museum® are registered trademarks of Gregory Colbert.

Find more videos like this on c3: consciouscreatives.net

Barbara Marx Hubbard is a visionary whose fascinating life and books including Conscious Evolution, inspired me and thousands around the world. Her new video, Visions of a New Humanity is a powerful antidote to the doom and gloom scenario that is the norm in most mainstream media. It is a gift to us all and a map of a an emerging consciousness that can help us through these chaotic times.

In VISIONS Barbara has brought together some of the finest minds of our time, including world renowned physicist Freeman Dyson, biologist Bruce Lipton, scholar Jean Houston and others, to share with you some of the most cutting edge future scenarios for humanity based on the latest scientific, social and spiritual realities.

Enter the field of possibility here.

Antero Alli is a visionary playwright, actor, author and cultural and media trance breaker. His new Eight-Circuit Brain model and book empower individuals to diagnose the internal and external conditions of their lives and through a commitment to their own growth and the tools presented in the book, become conscious of, and resolve, what isn’t working for them. This interview represents one of the most profound and thought provoking I’ve had the privilege of conducting since this blog began.

NPD: Thank you Antero for taking the time to do this interview. I have spent days reading your book and have been inspired by the depth of your writing. I wonder if we might set the context for the interview with two questions: With most of my interviews I ask about the path to my subject’s present work. In your case, I encourage readers to purchase a copy of your book and read it for themselves because it i s so interesting and unusual but I wonder if there is one of your many life “shocks” you might care to share that was a standout or simply one example of a catalyst to your Eight-Circuit brain model and Paratheatre?

Thanks Jeff. I’m happy to respond to your questions. First I must explain what I mean by “shock”, as this term is commonly misunderstood and even associated with dread, fear, and pain. Shock, as I see it, refers to any exposure of our naiveté to the actual existing conditions of our lives that may be obscured by the buffers of our assumptions, beliefs, concepts, dogmas, and moralities. Sometimes, these exposures can be sudden and sometimes, they are gradual; shocks can be violent and they can be gentle. The types of shocks addressed in my book, THE EIGHT-CIRCUIT BRAIN, address the exposure of ego-naivete to the objective truths of Ecstasy, Uncertainty, Indivisibility and Impermanence through whatever forms and circumstances they might manifest. I view these four types of shocks as evolutionary triggers capable of awakening the sleeping or naive ego to more truth about ourselves, each other, and the world we live in.

Real life shocks arrive all the time and in a variety of forms and velocities. From falling in love to sudden evictions to financial windfalls to the loss of loved ones, real life shocks often manifest through circumstances well beyond our control and comprehension. I must say that I don’t see shocks as a negative or positive event. If shocks are viewed as negative then we take on a paranoid assumption that the cosmos is out to get or burn us. If shocks are viewed as only positive then we take on a narcissistic bias assuming the cosmos is out to bless or praise us. I see shocks ultimately as neutral in nature. I think how we respond to our shocks is what generates positive or negative energy. I also think that how we respond to the various shocks in our lives may be more important and self-defining than any given shock itself.

My first catalyst with the circuit model came in 1979 while reading Robert Anton Wilson’s groundbreaking book, “COSMIC TRIGGER”, and then soon afterward, in Timothy Leary’s opus, “EXO-PSYCHOLOGY” (later updated to “INFO-PSYCHOLOGY”). Though I was inspired by the brilliant theories of both authors, I felt something important was missing in the application of their ideas. As an instinctual type of person with a deep background in theatre and ritual, I took it upon myself to revision the 8-circuit model by devising ways to access and experience the realities and states of consciousness that the circuits merely symbolized. I also wanted to find ways of doing this without the intake of any drugs. Between 1980 and 1985, I got busy with creating and testing a series of rituals, exercises, meditations, and tasks to realize this purpose.

After five years of active research I wrote my first book, ANGEL TECH, which was published by The Original Falcon Press in 1986 (the book is currently in its ninth printing). This research produced its own hard-earned catalysts that led me to eventually share them with the world. Curious readers can read more on my personal shocks, including my initiation into Paratheatre, in Section Four of THE EIGHT-CIRCUIT BRAIN, entitled, “How I Got This Way”, in the chapter called “A Neurological Autobiography: A Personal Chronology of Outside Shocks and Hedonic Upgrades”.

NPD: Would you share your sense of this moment in history and how your work fits into the transformation and evolution of the individual and by extension the culture?

My sense of this moment in history is one of suspense and accelerating uncertainty, and since these comprise two primary catalysts for any truly creative state, I sense this moment in history carrying great potential for optimal creativity. Admittedly, this perception is biased by a deep optimism informed by decades of writing and producing original work for theatre and film. My optimism for modern culture at large and for society, however, has vanquished into a misanthropic horror.

As I see it, society as an entity has gone stark raving mad. The lowest common denominator of society — the consumerist culture — has succumbed to a mass hallucination of entitlement, fed and maintained by excessive materialism and soul-deadening greed, archaic religious beliefs and toxic guilt, government deceptions and immobilizing fear. I see modern culture as a cul-de-sac, a dead end. The problems of society cannot be solved by the same mindset that created them in the first place. I see a sick society in desperate need of healing yet I do not see how society is set up to heal itself. To begin this healing, a radical transformation of the mind — at the level of the individual — must occur.

I admit to having zero ambitions to change or save the world. I am also not here to contribute to society. In fact, I no longer care what happens to society. However, I do care deeply about the individual. I am here to support the individual in restoring the lost capacity for direct firsthand experience as a primary source of integrity, autonomy, and authority. I view anything less as walking backwards into the nightmare of history from which we all struggle to awaken. If there is to be any real transformation, I think it must happen within the individual first and then, through clusters of such self-governing entities — evolutionary agents — discovering and designing new models of intimacy, collaboration, and collective life that honors the integrity of the individual. Since I have no political agendas, beyond the body politic of each person to define themselves, I suppose I am suggesting a kind of spiritual anarchy. Define yourself or be defined, I say.

They say there is a war in heaven. My overall sense of this historical moment is that everything is simultaneously rising and falling, going down the toilet and ascending into higher consciousness, being destroyed by war and being redeemed by cultivating peace within. Everything is happening at the same time, isn’t it? The highest degree of consciousness is accessible within the individual, just as the lowest degree of consciousness avails itself in the herd. How we, as individuals, can wake up and learn to live with more truth about ourselves, amidst a society gone mad, may depend on how much compassion we can show our selves and each other. Truth alone will not set us free. Truth without compassion, looks and feels like cruelty to me. True transformation begins with vanquishing self-denial while embracing total self-acceptance. This kind of total radical action cannot occur without courage and a whole lot of heart.

NPD: Where did the term Paratheatre originate?

The term Paratheatre was coined in the early seventies by the late Polish genius of theatre, Jerzy Grotowski, to address his process of “paratheatrical” group dynamics conducted in the birch forests near Brzezinka, Poland. Stories from these wilderness events were made public by participant Andre Gregory, the actor in Louis Malle’s phenomenal film, “My Dinner with Andre”, who discussed the powerfully transformative effects of Grotowski’s work in the movie. Reading Grotowski’s seminal book, “Towards a Poor Theatre” and experiencing the film document of his Polish Lab Theatre performance, “Akropolis”, initiated my own Paratheatre journey in 1977, an adventure that continues to this day. Though my own paratheatrical research differs from Grotowski’s — I am not a devotee of anyone — I still refer to his written words as a source of inspiration and occasional guidance.

NPD: What are the central distinctions between theatre and paratheatre?

There are several important distinctions between theatre and paratheatre. The most obvious one must be the audience factor. Paratheatre tends to be participation-oriented, rather than performance-oriented; there’s no audience in paratheatre since everybody participates. Generally speaking, paratheatre refers to private, non-performance oriented processes of group dynamics involving rigorous physical, kinetic and vocal techniques. Without an audience, the focus shifts away from external pressures to perform, or to impress, and is redirected into self-created pressures such as performing actions with enough commitment to transform and refine the instrument of the self. Paratheatre represents a medium of self-work.

Theatre represents a medium of self-presentation. Theatre cannot exist without an audience. The actor on the stage performs for the audience. The paratheatre participant relaxes this desire to perform as part of a larger process of Self-discovery, of gaining deeper access to, and expression of, the internal landscape. Paratheatre can be pursued as a medium complete unto itself and/or as a means of preparing oneself for a public performance, dance, or theatrical event. There are other distinctions between theatre and paratheatre that I discuss more in-depth in my book, TOWARDS AN ARCHEOLOGY OF THE SOUL (Vertical Pool, 2003).

NPD: Is Paratheatre offered exclusively to actors?

Not at all! Since 1977, I have worked in paratheatre with many non-actors, non-performers, and non-artists, as well as numerous actors, dancers, singers, martial artists, and other types of performing artists. The motivations for wanting to do this work vary with each individual. Some do it to expand their talents and skills, while others do it for self-work, or personal growth or, for the spiritual purpose of reconnecting with their vertical sources (more on “verticality” later). Paratheatre is not a popular medium yet there are many different forms around the world with each one defined differently by those teaching it. The form I teach revolves around a standing ZaZen No-Form technique as a means for cultivating a profound internal receptivity to vital forces and currents in the body itself. Through this No-Form technique these sources of energy are accessed as movement resources capable of animating spontaneous patterns of motion, gestures, walks, sounds, songs, and characters. Due to the rigorous demands of the paratheatre work that I teach, I have come to learn that this work is not for everybody. Those wishing to participate with me undergo an interview and/or audition process before being invited into a “lab”, which runs three months for two to three nights week.

NPD: Can you broadly describe the Eight Circuit Brain’s circuits and how you apply them in
Paratheatre?

The circuits represent eight functions of Intelligence, with each one carrying its own innate “laws” or agendas, existing within each person at various degrees of latency and expression. Very broadly, these eight circuits are called: 1) Physical Intelligence 2) Emotional/Political Intelligence 3) Symbolic Intelligence 4) Social/Moral Intelligence 5) Somatic/Tantric Intelligence 6) Psychic-Intuitive Intelligence 7) Mythogenetic Intelligence and Quantum Nonlocal Intelligence. When I say that each carries its own laws I mean, for example, emotions operate very differently than concepts. If we try to impose our circuit three ideas over our circuit two emotions, we may never really discover our emotional truths while developing false ideas about them.

The 8-circuit model acts as a grid for the audacious potential of Intelligence Increase. My research shows me that intelligence can be increased in any circuit when we are able and willing to fully absorb, integrate and transmit the experience innate to what that circuit represents. This tertiary process reflects the functioning of the most basic unit of biological intelligence in the neuron’s capacity for absorbing, storing, and transmitting information and/or energy. It also doubles for my own definition of intelligence itself as the capacity for absorbing, storing, and transmitting information and/or energy. The lower four circuits represent preoccupations with meeting our various survival needs, whereas the upper four circuits symbolize more post-survival, evolutionary imperatives. I don’t buy into any upper/lower circuit hierarchy. I relate with all the circuits as equal in value. The first four circuits can anchor or stabilize the upper four, while the upper four can catalyze growth and development in the lower four. With increasing self-acceptance, all the circuits can be embraced and learn to work together in more meaningful and creative ways.

When I work with my paratheatre groups, there is no mention of circuits or any kind of symbolic system. In this very physical and kinetic approach, we are working towards a kind of concept-free zone of direct experience of the energies in the body itself and then, learning how to subject ourselves to these forces as a personal ritual of self-surrender. However, in my new book, THE EIGHT-CIRCUIT BRAIN, I have included certain basic principles and techniques of Paratheatre as a means to access the realities and states of being that the circuits symbolize. For those wishing to experiment with Paratheatre techniques independent of the 8-circuit model and any other symbol system, I suggest reading TOWARDS AN ARCHEOLOGY OF THE SOUL (Vertical Pool, 2003).

NPD: Can you talk a bit about first and second attentions and their relationship?

What we pay attention to informs the content of our minds; how we pay attention informs the quality of that content. The first attention is that awareness linked to language, thinking and the automatic assignment of labels and meaning. The second attention is that awareness linked to presence, energy, phenomena. Both first and second attentions are important and necessary for differing reasons. The underlying purpose of the first attention is survival; to figure out how to stay alive. The underlying purpose of the second attention is creativity, of directly engaging the autonomous forces of creation. These two attentions can function separately and/or together at various degrees and consequences. Left alone, the first attention fixates awareness on survival issues — such as security, status, analysis and problem solving, social needs — with minimal access to the “post-survival” luminosities of rapture, clairvoyance, telepathy, and the various powers of dreaming.

The first attention expresses a function of physical sight and intellect; the second attention conveys a function of the energetic body and intuition with biological correlations in the Central Nervous System. The sense of sight (first attention) is linked to insight (second attention) by way of stimulation of the light-sensitive, serotonin-rich pineal gland via the optic nerve. This stimulation occurs naturally during the onset of sleep, resulting in the hypnogogic state of shifting imagery that bridges waking and dreaming states. Though both attentions are already linked, their mutual interaction is rarely made conscious during daytime waking hours. Putting conscious effort into developing meaningful interaction between both attentions can also bring about fresh experience and information in our night dreams, as well as in waking states.

First attention stability is maintained by the pursuit of certitudes such as fixed beliefs, ideas, preconceptions, assumptions, and dogmas. The second attention is maintained by permitting more uncertainty, residing in silence, and being unknown to oneself. Both attentions can be strengthened through different types of concentration. First attention concentrates by fixating on an idea, image or concept; second attention concentrates by merging with the energy. First attention creates a picture and assigns a story, message or meaning to it. The second attention can be developed by attuning to the distinct signal, frequency, or vibration of the energy. If a message can be said to relay the ordering of a signal, the second attention gets the signal and first attention organizes it into a message.

NPD: What do paratheatre participants experience over what time frame? What is the cost of participating and is there an evaluation process to qualify participants?

Participants experience different results often determined by three factors: 1) the depth of commitment shown — you get out of this process what you put into it; 2) motivation — why you are doing this work and 3) the dexterity, talent, and skill you develop within this medium. Each three-month lab is limited to ten participants. Newbies pay about $200 and vets — those with two or more labs behind them — pay about $130. These nominal costs offset the expense of renting the workspace and basic training for newbies. I used to charge participants a lot more and allowed anyone to join that could afford the fee. However, through this approach, the work eventually suffered in quality. In early 2004, I changed the policies to an invitation only basis. Now I only work with those I personally want to work with and who can fulfill these basic prerequisites: 1) 24 years or older 2) physically fit and good overall health (no physical or internal injuries) 3) survival needs met (means of income, shelter, friends outside of Lab). I have posted a web page that outlines what candidates can expect in the interview process and also, from the work itself at: www.paratheatrical.com/intro.html

NPD: Can you discuss how you help participants achieve authenticity and what you mean by the terms verticality, asocial intent and the energetic body?

I cannot help anyone achieve authenticity since it cannot be achieved. Our authentic selves already exist; authenticity cannot be created or improved on. In this regard, self-improvement is a lie, a commercialized scam perpetrated by self-help gurus. If authenticity is a word for our essential nature then we approach this process through the No-Form technique I spoke of earlier. At first, this No-Form experience presents itself as some kind of relationship with the fertile void. With practice, this self/void relationship eventually disappears as we discover the void itself as essential nature. We discover ourselves as expressions of the fertile void; we are nothing. This revelation initiates a state of profound receptivity that allows for a more authentic state of being, movement and expression. It also initiates an asocial climate in the workspace.

Asocial means “beyond the social” and refers to ways of interacting that bypass social considerations — such as seeking approval, status, flirting, security, support, etc — in lieu of serving vertical sources, or verticality, while remaining open to relating with each other. A kind of double vision ensues: how to maintain our commitment to our internal vertical sources while remaining receptive to interacting horizontally across space with others. What I mean by ‘verticality’ is that axis of energy and information coming down from the stars above meeting the internal landscape within us and coming up from the Earth below. As we build our commitment to and dependence on our internal vertical sources, the energetic body is stimulated and activated. The energetic body refers to the experience of ourselves as energy, or light; some call it “the light body” or “the aura and chakras” or “the double”.

Paratheatre work activates and “lights up” the energetic body and releases its innate attributes of various types of psychic and visionary experiences. We approach the stimulation of the energetic body gently in stages so as to minimize “over-amping”, or over-stimulation, of the central nervous system — the biological sheath for the double. In relation to the 8-circuit model, the energetic body refers to the accumulating presence and energy of those circuits which have been activated through their absorption, integration and transmission.

NPD: In working with Paratheatre participants, what have you discovered about the human capacity for creative expression?

I have discovered that the human capacity for self-expression often shows a naive resistance to the states of boredom and frustration, as if they were not part of the larger processes of creation. Inspiration alone cannot nurture the human capacity for creative expression. However, once these resistances can be met, accepted, and worked through by increasing the force of self-commitment, I have seen breakthroughs and revelations beyond my wildest dreams. The capacity for creativity can also expand as students learn the value of self-discipline towards developing new skills and techniques that can result in greater precision and articulation of the internal landscape. Encouraging personal freedom in the student also plays a large role in nurturing their native talents and exciting the simple joys of playing. This ongoing interplay between spontaneity and precision remains a chief stimulant for development of talent and skill in this paratheatre medium.

NPD: Can you talk about the body/mind split in the age of hypermedia and its impact on our self-trust?   Can you expand a bit on the quote “Imagination loss precedes the death of soul”

“The emotional plague” is a term initially proposed by Wilhelm Reich for the irrational insistence on beliefs and ideas that depend on dissociation of mind from body. Reich also referred to it as “the neurotic character in destructive action on the social scene”. Though this body/mind dissociation has plagued humanity for centuries, it wasn’t until the “The Age of Reason” that intellect was exalted to god-like status thanks to the immense success of Newton’s theories and Descartes’ “Meditations”. Since then, the snowballing effect has gripped the collective psyche with overly-literalist thinking made even more dismal by the diminishing presence of Imagination in the culture at large. Imagination is a canary in the coalmine of the collective unconscious. Whether it’s on the personal or collective levels, imagination death precedes the death of the soul.

In the current Hypermedia Era, the body/mind fissure has been dramatized via massive collective projection of vital physical, emotional, and sexual energy into mentally absorbent mediums such as the internet, VR technology, video games, mass media advertising, and too much television. If the emotional plague is maintained by constant disassociation of mind and body, we can expose the virus wherever we are mistaking the virtual for the real, or taking any image or any idea of a reality for the reality itself, where we are eating the menu instead of the meal, mistaking the map for the territory, etc.

Two modern-day symptoms of the emotional plague in the Hypermedia Era have surfaced as: 1) an increasing trend towards depersonalization, homogenization and gentrification and 2) a steadily decreasing capacity for direct experience. As we lose trust and faith in the legitimacy of firsthand experience, we can naturally become more vulnerable and compliant to the dictates of external sources of authority and its endless cycles of obedience and punishment.

Without enough trust in our own innate sensibilities, intuitions and instincts we suffer from an absence of vital information, leading to a growing incapacity to distinguish between the real from the illusory, the true from the false, and what’s right from what’s wrong. Without self-trust — trust in our own direct experience — we remain as timid children dependent on parental approval and guidance for the way we live, work, create and die. What is real and what is an illusion? Do you know? Do you care? If you don’t know and can say so, you are probably just waking up. If you don’t know and/or don’t care, don’t bother; you are probably fast asleep. The emotional plague doesn’t care either and you will soon be assimilated, if you have not already been consumed. If you have come to know what’s real in life, dare to live by your vision, your truth; your example acts as a beacon to those lost at sea in their struggle to survive as living, awakening human beings.

NPD: How, when and why did you begin making films? What territory do they cover and what’s your mission with your films?

Though I have been working in the mediums of film and video since 1991, I didn’t really get serious about it until after the sudden death of my second daughter Zoe in September of 1992. The creation of my first feature, “The Oracle” (1993; 70 min), was guided by the epiphanies hidden within the deep sense of loss and sorrow of losing her. Great losses sometimes come with gifts. This loss gifted me with vision. The eyes of my eyes opened. I saw “death” as an illusion, an intellectual symbol for fear, social control and oppression. I saw through the lies of society and glimpsed the eternal cycles of Life. People come and go but Life continues. I saw how we are all, at essence, Love; I’ve seen true Love trump Death.

Since 1993, I have made eleven feature-length works — eight fiction and three nonfiction paratheatre documents — and a couple dozen short works. Most of these works are available on DVD at my website: www.verticalpool.com/dvd.html The territories covered in my films vary wildly yet I can see a thread that weaves them all together. I seem to have this obsession for portraying the dreams and dream life of my characters as strong influences in their waking lives. I like to explore that mystical interface between dreamtime and daytime realities as if they were already interwoven, which I believe they are. For example, in my 2005 film,“The Greater Circulation”, we follow two fever-dream nights in the life of poet Rainer Maria Rilke back in 1907 as he is writing his epic lament, “Requiem For a Friend”, in a Paris hotel room. Once night he encounters what he believes to be the ghost of his deceased friend, the painter Paula Modersohn-Becker, confronting Rilke with his own fears and his buried love for Paula, an event that inspires his writing processes. In his sleep, he also dreams of Paula and awakens with new images that he translates into poetry.

Another example is my 2004 paratheatre document, “Orphans of Delirium”, I frame a live performance of paratheatrical rituals through a story I created of an Actor on an absinthe binge waking up to the fact that he is dying. During this process, three ritualists portray the Head, Heart, and Gut centers of this Actor who undergo their separate transformations and reactions right before his eyes. In this symbolist ritual drama, five other ritualists portray a band of wandering orphans searching for a home. Meanwhile, two other ritualists play a magician and his apprentice who conjure up a series of scenarios the rest of the players fall into, as if by hypnosis. The entire performance unfolds as if in a dream, with no explanations or resolutions.

NPD: Your wife Sylvi is a composer and vocalist. Can you talk a bit about her work and your collaborative process?

Though Sylvi and I have been in artistic collaboration since 1989, we did not become romantically involved until 1995. I have nothing but awe and respect and love for her. Besides being an accomplished singer, musician, and composer in her own right, with four albums (CDs) of original music to her credit (and a fifth on the way), Sylvi’s many talents also grace the soundtracks of all my films. Her music, and especially her singing, runs a wild spectrum from the hauntingly beautiful to the dramatically somber to the lyrically silly. This musical diversity reflects a deeply multifaceted personality and an undying yearning for total self-expression. My films would not be the same without her contributions. Besides her music, Sylvi’s luminous presence also appears in many of my films in the many roles she has portrayed as an actress. People can experience her music firsthand at her MySpace page.

Our collaborative process is difficult to describe since it differs for each project. We do share a deep intuitive rapport, sometimes telepathic, that cuts through a lot of time. We are very aesthetically compatible and work very well together. Not to say there aren’t any conflicts and problems; there always are conflicts and problems to solve. Since we have learned to expect them, they do not disappoint when they arrive. Sometimes we will work in tandem where I show her an unfinished clip of film and she will develop music for it. Other times, we will work separately without any knowledge of what the other is doing and then, by happenstance or kismet, we combine our individual results and magic happens.

Each film pivots around a tone and sometimes, a musical direction informed by the setting or culture the story takes place in. For example, in my 2002 film “Hysteria”, the main character was Croatian and so, Sylvi researched eastern European music and folk melodies from that region. Other times, Sylvi performs compositions by other composers, such as Scriabin and Brahms for the story behind “The Greater Circulation,” which took place during their lifetime. The story behind my 2003 supernatural drama, “Under A Shipwrecked Moon”, involved a Finnish family and so Sylvi played her own piano arrangement of Sibelius’ “Finlandia” to accompany the final family dinner sequence. Our collaboration mid-wived other projects including “The Vertical Oracle”, a 52-card Neo-Tarot Deck and a series of books I have written that she edited. We call our production company, Vertical Pool.

NPD: Thank you very much Antero. I feel your work has an important role to play in healing our psychic and cultural wounds.

Thank you Jeff for your support and for this opportunity to share something of myself, my work, and the various processes that bring all this into fruition.

Finally, I want to share The End of the World As I Want It, (An Incantation to Be Read Aloud), a stunning piece of Antero’s writing from The Eight-Circuit Brain.

O GOD OF THE END OF THE WORLD, I am afraid to take you seriously; tell me you’re only kidding, show me how to be a greater fool than I already am by making me laugh at death without forgetting my mortality.

O GODDESS OF BEAUTY IS BETTER THAN TRUTH, I am embarrassed by my need to be right all the time. Send me your most gorgeous drop-dead image, The Mother of All Visions, the vision that outgrows and destroys all other visions including itself, so I can see through myself when I am lying.

O WRATHFUL DEITIES OF DOOMSAYING EVANGELICALS & DOGMATIC LITTLE BIGOTS, I am bored to tears with my intolerances. Grant me the enchantment to be entertained by the hidden pixie agendas behind all dreamy, dismal grey-faced warnings so I can stop taking myself more seriously than the life I am actually living.

O DEMIGOD OF POETIC TERRORISM, I am utterly and royally confused. Make me go crazy in the name of Creation, not Destruction, so I may freely sabotage the literalist virus immobilizing my imagination and learn to incite riots in the minds asleep to your splendor and glory.

O GODS AND GODDESSES OF EVERYBODY’S HOLY GUARDIAN ANGEL, I am fucked up beyond all recognition. Trick me into not knowing whether I am really a good person or a really bad person. Give me the wisdom to never believe my own PR and what other people think of me, no matter how much money they pay me. Deepen my gratitude for being a nobody in a world of wannabe somebodies and other hungry ghosts, so I can be touched in the head by your benevolence and tell your truths without wanting credit.
- AHMEN and AH!WOMAN!

In this remarkable interview, we explored a few rich fragments of the visionary work of Antero Alli. If you have found his ideas compelling, you’ll want to add his evolutionary book to your library. If you choose to read his book and try the tasks around each circuit, they can help you expose personal biases, integrate what has become separated in you and birth a new sense of aliveness in your body and life.

If you live in the Bay area, interviews for the February 2010 Paratheatre Lab will begin in December. Interested parties should contact Antero at that time by e-mailing him at antero@paratheatrical.com.  Until then, it is suggested that you read the material at www.paratheatrical.com/intro.html

To purchase or find out more about Antero’s books or DVD’s, Sylvi’s CD’s or to contact Antero, please visit his website: www.verticalpool.com

Every once in a while an exceptional DVD  comes along that alters your perception of the world in a very positive and powerful way. Boreallis, is a haunting meeting of fluid light and atmospheric sound that takes the viewer on a journey through inner space. Sausalito, CA based light artist Lynn Augstein’s multidimensional immersive visual masterpiece is mesmerizing, soothing and healing in its effects. The DVD’s exquisite score by ambiant music artists Steve Roach, David Parsons and others was artfully mixed by producer Dwight Loop.

Augstein’s work has been featured in many live performances of Steve Roach, including concerts at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art for the opening of Yoko Ono’s “Yes” exhibition, “Mythic Imagination” conference in Palm Springs, California and installation pieces at SomArts Gallery, the Cell Space and San Francisco’s Hyatt Regency.

Included on the DVD is a ten minute interview with the artist exploring her light art, inspiration and artistic development, a preview of an upcoming release and ten minutes of footage from her installations and concert collaborations.

Borealis is a great addition to your DVD library and bound to be played anytime you seek an expansive and peaceful retreat from the material world and a dive into a timeless stress-free universe.

To view some sample clips from the DVD, click here.

Disabled Guitarist Finds New Sound In Mbira
By Joel Rose, NPR

Imagine that your hands shook so badly that you couldn’t lift a glass of water. That’s what life is like for millions of Americans who suffer from essential tremor disorder. The condition is rarely fatal, but it can be devastating if you’re a musician. Guitarist Richard Crandell found that out the hard way. But the Oregon-based musician has found another way to continue composing and performing.

Crandell started playing guitar when he was a kid, but he didn’t really take it seriously until the late 1960s, when he heard guitarist John Fahey. For Crandell, it was a revelation that one could create a whole orchestra with just an acoustic guitar.

In the early ’70s, Crandell left his job and his marriage in Buffalo, N.Y., moved to the West Coast and started writing songs of his own. Crandell settled down in Eugene, Ore., and eventually opened for Fahey. Crandell’s occasional roommate Mark Zorn says his friend’s guitar rarely left his hands.

Crandell went on to record half a dozen albums. One of his tunes was even recorded by one of his idols, Leo Kottke. But Crandell never achieved Kottke’s level of fame. And these days, the guitar seems to cause him more frustration than joy.

Discovering The Mbira

Crandell was diagnosed six years ago with essential tremor disorder. An estimated 10 million Americans live with the condition, which affects fine motor coordination. In Crandell’s case, his hands shake when he tries to write, use a computer or play difficult passages on the guitar.

It was around this time that Crandell got a job offer. A local concert promoter asked Crandell to drive a tour bus for Afropop star Thomas Mapfumo and his band, but Crandell had never driven a bus before. Crandell successfully piloted the tour bus from Oregon to Alabama and back, then parked it in front of his apartment.

“They had totally cleaned out the bus,” Crandell says. “And I looked under one of the seats and I found this mbira. And I said, ‘Oh, what’s this? Well I’ll just stick it in my apartment.’ ”

The mbira is a traditional thumb piano from Africa. It’s a flat piece of wood that he holds in his hands, with a row of metal strips across the top that he plays with his thumbs. To his surprise, Crandell discovered that his hands don’t shake when he plays it.

Crandell taught himself how to tune and play the mbira. From the beginning, he says, he wasn’t trying to play Shona music from Zimbabwe. Still, he was criticized — not by the musicians in Mapfumo’s band, but by other Americans.

“There are little pockets of mbira players around the country who play traditional Shona music,” Crandell says. “And they sort of look down on you if you change the instrument around or do anything else. But the guys in Thomas’ band, they loved what I was doing. They say, ‘Richard, play us a new song!’ ”

The Mbira Opens Doors

Before long, Crandell was performing his new songs in public. Even longtime friend Zorn was surprised by how quickly Crandell adapted to the mbira.

“I didn’t take it seriously until I was wandering around the Saturday Market one beautiful Saturday afternoon,” Zorn says. “And I heard these shimmering notes which could only have been from the mbira. As music does, it just turned my head right away and I moved toward the source, and there was Richard.”

Crandell’s songs also caught the ear of Zorn’s younger brother, the MacArthur Foundation “genius grant”-winning saxophonist, composer and producer John Zorn, who runs a record label and a club in New York City. In 2004, John Zorn brought Crandell to the East Coast to record. And he recruited Brazilian-born Cyro Baptista to join Crandell in the studio. The percussionist says he was impressed by Crandell’s sense of restraint.

“He plays enough, not more than should be, no? It’s great because he plays leaving space. I could play in the betweens with him,” Baptista says. “The fact that he played guitar, I think this a plus for him. Because he has a harmonic concept that probably other mbira players don’t have.”

Baptista and Crandell made two records together, Mbira Magic and Spring Steel, both of which received critical praise.

“‘I’m grateful to have my little mbira,” Crandell says. “Turns out that I’ve gotten more attention on that than I ever got on the guitar.”

Guitar Recordings Re-Examined

That’s started to change in the past few years, as more of Crandell’s guitar music has been released on CD for the first time, though it’s not without its bittersweetness.

“I used to not think I was quite good enough, or I didn’t realize how special what I was doing was,” Crandell says. “I just kind of took it for granted. So now I’ve got this other gift of the mbira, and being able to do something with that.”

Crandell isn’t taking his second act for granted. He is planning to record a benefit album for the Essential Tremor Foundation. And he has even bigger plans.

“My mission is to calm the world with this music because it seems to be so soothing,” Crandell says. “And I’d love to play for the inauguration, if anyone out there is listening.”

And if anyone is going to need some soothing music, Crandell figures, it’s President-elect Barack Obama.

To listen to the NPR All Things Considered segment this article is based on and hear a bit of Richard’s soothing music, click here.

Tis the season to give and share so here are a few last minute new paradigm gift ideas.

Donate!

Give a small donation to a very worthy microlending organization like Kiva or Optinnow. Or better yet, buy a gift card for someone you love, and let them chose where to send the microloan, to any of a number of small, struggling third-world businesses that have far more use for your humble $20 bill than GM has for $20 billion.

Discover Beautiful Jewelry and Help Educate a Tibetan Child

William Aura was a top recording artist and ran a recording studio for years. These days his focus is on helping sell the jewelry of the finest artisans in the Kathmandu Valley with a portion of sales going to help educate young students. In addition, visitors to Aura Imports website have an opportunity to support the education of a child there for $30 a month.

Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations & Traditions for the Whole Family by Corey Colwell Lipson & Lynn Colwell

Celebrate Green! is an encyclopedic resource that helps readers authentically integrate healthy holidays and other celebrations with personal health and planetary stewardship. Too often, we forget about the planet when we celebrate birthdays, weddings and holidays but if this jewel of a planet is to survive, each of us must remember that every act we perform directly connects us with a conscious effort to either help heal our environment or an unconscious act of perpetuating the destructive lifestyles that a consumptive culture has unleashed on the world.

The book’s genesis is worth telling. It began one Halloween when, after seeing her daughter’s basket filled with sugar-laden candy, Corey saw that someone gave Zoe bubbles and another person offered some stickers which her daughter delighted in. Corey began to think about other traditional candy alternatives and that perhaps Halloween could be transformed into a healthy, green and sustainable holiday. From there, she asked the manager of her local natural food store if the store might consider offering alternatives to sugared treats and create signs for people to display in their windows alerting parents and children that they were a Green Halloween® home. The store agreed and Green Halloween® was born.

In November, 2008, thousands of Seattle children, teens and adults as well as major local sponsors began what has now become a movement. From Seattle, Green Halloween® went national in 2008 and from Halloween grew to encompass every holiday, through two websites, www.GreenHalloween.org and www.CelebrateGreen.net which promote year round eco-conscious holidays, as well as their great book.

In Celebrate Green!, Corey & Lynn provide readers with a window on the how’s and whys of eco-conscious holidays and celebrations of every kind so that we can become earth stewards each time we gather for an occasion. Celebrate Green! offers us hundreds of great eco ideas for almost every holiday and celebration including Easter, Earth Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, baby showers, graduation, weddings and more that include many free activities, positive community actions, delicious healthy holiday-themed recipes, and great websites for sourcing eco-friendly holiday related green products.

Beside the great ideas you’ll learn about in Celebrate Green!, you’ll also get an education on the downside of many taken for granted parts of celebrations like the dangerous pollution fireworks cause, the toxic chemicals in many Halloween costumes and the pesticides used in most flower growing operations along with the pollution caused by the planes that bring those flowers long distances to the US.

In short, Celebrate Green! is a priceless resource that belongs in the library of every new paradigm reader and would make the perfect gift for the eco-conscious friends and family on any holiday shopping list. And don’t forget anyone you feel might be ready to wake up from the consumer trance that informs far too many events, parties and celebrations around the world.

The Ultimate Encyclopedia of the Raw Food Lifestyle DVD

Many believe raw food to be the healthiest fare on the planet. This educational and empowering DVD provides a glimpse into the raw food lifestyle and features great interviews with Michael Beckwith, Tony Robbins, Gabriel Cousens, M.D., Bruce Lipton, and Gary Null. Among the subjects covered are Starting Out, Weight Reduction, Detox and Cleansing, Rejuvenation and Longevity, Optimal Athletic Performance, and Beating Diabetes. The DVD also contains raw food recipes from world-class chefs so you can begin to experiment and experience the multidimensional delights of raw food. I think you’ll agree that The Ultimate Encyclopedia of the Raw Food Lifestyle is the perfect introduction to the world of raw foods.

Music for Zen Meditation CD

I first heard Tony Scott’s Music for Zen Meditation over forty years ago and its meditative musical interplay of Tony’s soulful clarinet with koto remains a timeless sonic treat to this day. Check it out at itunes.

The Path of Peace CD

In his beautiful solo piano CD, Ben Dowling explores the inner dimensions of life through a heart opening voyage through the musical spaces of peace and tranquility. As a bonus, on the second side of this specially formatted disk, Ben’s music is elegantly combined with the work of visual artist Mark Wagner. The result is a multi-sensory treat for the eyes and ears.

Available at Amazon.com

The Life Visioning Process CD with Michael Beckwith

If someone on your holiday gift list is at a moment in their life when they are confused about the next step on their path or have absolutely no clue what they want to do with their life, The Life Visioning Process may be a perfect offering. This empowering and practical transformational tool can help them tap into their creativity in exploring and revealing the evolutionary impulse that can help them unfold and express their highest purpose. What a gift! At this writing, overstock.com is offering this CD at a 30% discount.

Music to Quiet the Mind

A collection of some of Power of Now author Eckhart Tolle’s favorite music for meditating, exploring inner stillness and the silence between the notes immersing the listener in the realm of the sacred.

Wishing you happy holidays and a new year in which your dreams become reality...