Repost from my other blog, thought it would be relevant here too

At DJ class today we had Graham St John come by to talk to us about his research into rave/music cultures and festivals. What an awesome job, honestly, just going around partying everywhere and taking notes on how awesome each party was. I did look a little into him before he came by, just so I could be prepared this time with questions instead of sitting there like a useless lump, and I was actually quite interested in how he made a connection between these kinda big rave cultures and the Matrix.

Feel free not to watch the whole thing

Basically the idea that within a festival [and perhaps for the sake of this argument a specifically non-mainstream festival] most people are confronted by the idea of the blue pill vs. red pill in the form of actual mind/body altering substances. The kinds of substances in particular that change your perception and make you see the world in a different light. Depending on the individual that could range easily from MDMA for seratonin boosts right up to DMT for the ultimate spiritual experience, but the end result is to leave the festival a changed person. For the veteran however it’s not so much about revelation but about reveling in that atmosphere of discovery and freedom of judgement and oppression. There’s this comparison.. no more like a connection with these festivals and a form of religious enlightenment that seems deeply rooted in what I believe their purpose is for people today. I don’t mean religious in a contemporary sense because those religions haven’t really served the people and if anything have caused more strife.

My own personal experience with psychedelics was, as labeled, completely life altering. I can’t really remember what I was like before that point but I do recall simply being ignorant and very unwilling to accept anything outside myself. However I lacked the guidance that everyone should have when taking substances like it and that resulted in [essentially] what seemed to me like the collapse of the fabric of reality or you know.. a psychotic episode that didn’t end. I was basically stuck in the trip even after it wore off and there was no way out. It took me a good year or two before I was able to piece things back together to some degree and was able to start a degree here at RMIT. Even after all of that I still find that psychedelics hold great power and are somehow imperative for us to understand each other and our place in this world, just because I had a bad experience whilst I was on it, it taught me a lot about what I needed to do to keep moving forwards. If it wasn’t for my bad experience I’d probably have simply gone down a spiral of drug abuse and ended up a deadbeat junkie, instead I’m studying for a degree and trying to make my life count for something maybe bigger than myself.

In a sense it was like a right of passage into reality, and in that way I think he was right to point out the Matrixness of the festival scene. It’s a place where this kind of thing goes down, where people go to learn that there’s more to life than what we see on it’s surface but that means confronting the fact that it’s not all roses and butterflies, and thats what makes it both invigorating and terrifying. I hate that my mind is broken, that everything I once was is dead and gone, but I wouldn’t give up what I am today to take it back.

Also here’s a track I’m listening to now

Just a side note, Graham is publishing a book soon on DMT that looks pretty exciting.