May 21, 2023

India pt.3: Auroville (Involution)

India pt.3: Auroville (Involution)

Monday we say good bye to the folks round Atlantis HQ and after some lunch we set off for Auroville with the unexpected addition of Treegens Jimi, adding some welcome dynamism to the party of myself and Rishi.

Stopping at various points en route to enable Jimi to host various twitter spaces we exchange tunes and banter while beelining our way towards a hotel just outside Auroville. Were trying to make a 9pm zoom slot that requires a computer and due to a fucked laptop screen hes hoping for a place with a TV.

It's pretty tight but we make it; no spare screen though so I give him my computer for the call and enjoy his radiant energy and love for treeeeeees from two floors up; I'm frankly laughing my ass off as I consider the porters perspective of this spectacle because Jimi's in the lobby positioned about 2 ft from the front desk and emphatically onboarding folks for an attempt at the Guinness world record. This would probably be a bit annoying if it were for some less quirky cause but since it's for most trees planted in a day it's probably quite resonant with the Aurovillian ethos!

Entering the international zone

In the morning we pack up our stuff and head for coffee in the visitors centre thates only a few minuites walk away the international zone. As I'm checking out the information boards Rishi signals my attention to say that he belives he just spotted a rather mysterious acquaintance of ours called Manoj; a mystic that once graced an equinox gathering we organised in 2020!

As if to confirm the intuition, my phone unexpectedly started playing some Gurdjieff DeHartmann tunes and we make haste to say hello to our suspect. Indeed it is Manoj; he's moving extremely slowly as if carrying a lot of mental weight. As we depart from the interaction I let the friend who introduced us know - who it turns out had just been on an ayahuasca journey the night before and had synchronistically seen Manoj (or someone that looked like him) within his visions.

As we depart, Jimi books us all places at the "BonGipsy eco-hut stay" a hippie haunt that costs about a fiver each. On first appearances its a pretty interesting environment but something's up; I feel a heeeeeavy drag of tamas energy. Damn; this place is an energetic black hole... we struggle to even drive out the gates due to unhelpful helpers engaging the lads and distracting them at every turn and I begin to feel like I'm in a zombie movie.

As we stop at the beach I realise just how agitated I am from the experience and tell the lads there's no way in hell I'm staying there so we move into the Unearth Hostel for a night. It's a nicer spot, and also ran by complete stoners - though this time helpfully unhelpful folk that are quite independent and not looking to feed on the brains of their new arrivals.

Wishing to book a meditation in the Matrimandir, myself and Jimi head off to look for the famous golden egg. Instead we end up rather lost and while checking google maps for directions a seemingly friendly bull decides to headbutt Jimi. A couple of passing girls laugh at this ask if were lost, like I mean no shit, but it turns out that they are in a similar position and looking for a sound healing session. As this sounds better than searching out a booking office that's probably closed, we decide to join them instead for this excursion instead. Turns out to be a good choice.

Yeah, we're lost.

Upon arrival we're invited to lie down comfortably, close our eyes and just let ourselves to be. If movement surfaces in our bodies, just honour it gently. It's a stereoscopic spree of polyphonic harmonics; instruments of all varieties played in the full sound scape of the auditorium. Real life surround sound. As I allowed my consciousness to drift around the various elements, I sensed a number of crystalline brain structures dissolving in the layer cake of neutral semantic energy, evaporating from my body in the form of tears. More lachromony, this time of a subtle variety.

Returning back to the Unearth Hotel we're recommended a nearby cafe for food where we can have dinner, make use of the internet and take various calls. An old peer calls me out of the blue; he's now hacking banks as a white hat and serendipitously wishes to hook me up with a cryptographer friend that's been training him in.

Yes please mate, that sounds great - though I'm a little concerned he's now hacking banks... I'm pleased to hear that he's finally got comfortable employment that suits him well as a white hat; though such a skill set could be a double edged sword as he could very easily end up as public enemy number one if he happens into hard times again... he's grown up on the worst estate of the UK monopoly board and is consequentially unfused about the moralities of normative society; perfect red team material as white hat - hopefully it goes well and lasts!

Rishi sends me some stuff that the NAO folks are doing on "Greencheck" identity; really cool way of doing sibyl proof humanity. Framed in the context of previous work a picture really starts to paint itself. Brad also seems to recognise the overlaps and enthusiastic to do some work together; I guess I'll have to write up a synthesis of all this identity stuff at some point soon. In the meanwhile we send each other various pieces of work and notes.

Jash, an old friend of Rishis, arrives in the evening and gifts me a creative artefact they both worked on that's truly exxxxceeelllent!! Like a sign from the chaosmos its a synchronicity that's far too weird to be causal in any linear or causal way; there's a letter enclosed that seems to pertain to my time at the Regen Foundation suggesting that my hesitancy in action has completely sunken a boat... yes; this is a rather schizoid association to make but seriously WTF!!? It just gets weirder everyday...

It just gets weirder everyday...


Thanks for descending this far, yeah - we are now in the belly of the beast so you might consider checking out the next part of the story for upward momentum and resolve as it's the best part of the Auroville journey!