Transcript of Meta-forum art panel discussion at Beloved festival

elfin king
your spiritual path- its whats happening to you, you can never be off it. and path to me implies meeting other people along the path. and its the meeting of the others where the synthesis of ideas comes from and if im a vessel, i view my art from this techne influence as a crucible, a melting of ideas given to me by others ive met walking on the path

michael meade
let me throw in a perspective from ancient philosophy i guess the notion is that each person is born with an innate genius genius is a latin word that was built upon a north african word genie which means "the spirit thats already there" so the greek word is daimon. and the idea is that when a person is born- born along with them is their divine twin.
the divine twin called the genius called the daimon is the one making the art. and so in those old traditions what they would talk about is artists are driven and compelled not necessarily by ego needs or by ambition but by a divine twin inside them that will have its expression- even if they die in the work; so that you see the artist up all night or someones having an art show and is painting 20 24 hours a day thats not them thats the daimon thats the genius.
and the word demon it what happens when the daimon cant express when a person cant live out their daimon they become a demon. the very one that could add beauty and creativity becomes a danger. and when you see public figures with a lot of authority who do not know their own daimon you watch them act out in demonic ways, that harms the community rather than helps it. if that makes sense.

La: so important, so true. so i want to bridge this next question- this is our last big question- many of us are aware we are in the process of collectively birthing a new paradigm- and i want to ask these representatives of all of us- im really asking ALL of you- i would choose to ask every one of you this question and all of these questions- so just keep that in mind- you are on the spot here- what do you consider essential ingredients for assisting in the birthing of a sacred culture?

(LOVE)

celeste:im gonna jump on that -so earlier someone was speaking about the space in which art is beheld and i think that one of the first ingredients and one of the most important ingredients in birthing a sacred culture and birthing anything creative into the world is space.

stilling ourselves enough and getting out of the way enough so that we can listen to what it is that wants to come through from the other side- and so this question so beautifully works with all of the other questions in that much of the spiritual practices that we do are around getting out of our own way- they are clearing the channels, clearing the energy waves, clearing the paths so that those voices can come through and they can come through powerfully they can come through succinctly.
and to me in this day and age in this crazy chaotic bombarded world that we live in just to come to that point of stillness and silence is revolutionary.
and anything that comes from there is going to be a change- so ill start from there.

elfin king: i think a key in building a sacred culture and evolving a sacred culture which is something each one of you can do now is to learn the name of your neighbor and to call them by their name- reflect on that.

Arun: just as biodiversity is necessary for a healthy ecosystem psychodiversity is necessary for a sacred culture.
having the ability to fully dive into our own trips and and our own experiences our own names and forms for the divine or the beloved,

but then also being able to get outside of our own trip enough to recognize that everyone, everyone is having that relationship also and that we dont need to convince them of our relationship- of our names and forms, of our path,
and that the contact high is shareable- if everyone in their own way is choosing to tune in to their own form of sacred art that connection should be shareable without any need of convincing anyone of anything-

and its beautiful to see so many paths sharing space on one stage at one festival in one culture that people from a variety of flavors and colors of that relationship with that divine with that lineage or path through which they are passing can still recognize the unity thats behind that and not get caught up in the differences in name and form the differences in the language of the path that they are on. And a culture that invites all its participants to fully show up. i think, is the begining of a sacred culture and the artwork that includes and invites the whole pantheon within each of its members that has a place for them that is able to be honored and integrated. Any god thats left out becomes a demon that sabotages from within. coming together in such a way that we are all inviting all of ourselves to show up here, that every level of our selves is being acknowledged and fed.that gives them than a chance to integrate and leaves them than a more complete microcosm, which is necessary than for the macrocosm for the culture itself to than become sacred.

(YEAH!)

michael meade: the unraveling of culture and the rattling of nature that we're going through, historically unique it seems. im sorry to say its not going to end soon, thats my perspective. we're in the slow apocalypse- we are in this long undoing of something. and before a new paradigm can fully arise we have to finish with the undoing- deconstruction of the old stuff. and a characteristic of whats happening now is dissociation. Theres tremendous energies splitting people off- from themselves on the inside and through fear and other mechanisms from each other. and even though technology can be used for beauty it can be used to seperate people from life.

i work with a lot of young people, i work with gang kids i work with homeless kids i work with kids that are having psychiatric and psychotic disorders and there are more and more of them. because of this pressure and this rattling in the world.
So if i had to pick one thing that could contribute to a healing and perhaps a renewing it would be love. the greek word is eros. eros was the first god that suddenly sprung from the golden egg of creation while it was floating on the darkness of the endless night of the ocean. eros is what burst this world. and to whatever anyone can do to remain connected- eros is the energy of connection. connection first of all to ones self and than from whatever the guiding spirit is inside connection to other people. with the dissociation going on its a loss of eros connection and therefore a loss of love. and ill just say this old phrase from africa which is- what you love is the cure- the great disruption is the disease and what you love is the cure.

Ubaka Hill:

the first thing that i would do is change how we say the word paradigm- when i look at that word on paper it looks like to me that it says para-dig em' so i would like to change paradigm to para-dig em' and than when we see each other we can say "can you para-dig it baby?" and thats when we know we are in a paradigm shift when we look at the word paradigm and it no longer says paradigm it says para-dig em.

and than along with that i think we do need to pay attention to our languaging as wordsmiths- because our language holds us collectively and individually in the collective consciousness as a still photograph. it holds us. it keeps us in a holding pattern. like an airplane when the tower says hold on stay keep spiraling dont come down yet- its a holding pattern. and we need to stop holding each other in a holding pattern.
we also need to look at the structures that have created culture tradition what we have been told thats normal and not normal what we have been told in terms of what is reality or not or sacred or not is to let all of that and go start creating according to you-
according to me.
according to us.
theres another aspect there and in the paradigm shift one of the things thats going to assist us is to begin to let go of those things that we identify with meaning that it defines who we are.....becoming.
Im an african american and im proud to be one however- my soul is not ethnic
and if it was how limiting- id be very dissapointed.
do all this work to discover soul and its african american
to do all this work to discover soul and find out my soul is woman only how limiting
and so to look at how we identify with that defines who we are.
Because as soon as we add something to these two words I AM-
and we think we have to complete that- we start diminishing our greatness.
I am- is a complete sentence. and so part of that is to begin to move out of the conscious awareness and the practice of duality.
we are moving towards nonduality.
and nonduality says: when i see you i see that you are a beautiful species called a man but thats not who you are.
i see you as spirit.
as essential self.
as core essence.
you look at me you dont see me as woman,
you recognize im a beautiful flower in the garden called woman species
but you see me and greet me and speak to me you speak to core essence
and i to you.
and in the languaging we may have to come up with some other words- replace the word God
we may have to also replace the word goddess.
but i think goddess brings us closer to wholeness.
because in word goddess god exists.
with god their is no goddess meaning there is no divine feminine present- she is invisible.
in the word female we have wholeness male divine masculine gets to exist, in male divine feminine is invisible.
so our languaging represents where we are, our languaging, the rewriting of our myths
the retelling of our star constellation why when we look up at the night sky and we look up at the stars we call out the names made by the greeks and the romans- and why do we still see what we've been told to see- so the paradigm shift- those keys to the shift are
freedom and authenticity and identifiying with nothing. I am. a complete sentence.

la: words- taoality- take your duality and upgrade to taoality, another one relating to genius is our synergenius mm: or our sinninggenius La: how bout synerjesus? indigenuity is another word i wanted to bring in. anybody else?

Ubaka Hill: heres another word- what if we went from kingdom like an animal kingdom and flower kingdom im not tryin to go to queendom as the answer but what about kindom? k i n we are kin with all things. sometimes we think to find a balance if its male-centric we gotta go female centric- if its female centric we gotta go male-centric and make it extreme- but it is about that balance. where all are welcome and all are included. and what about changing some of those little tales- you can finish this sentence- you made your bed so...... (lie in it) basically suffer- suffer. thats old paradigm- new paradigm says this- "you've made your bed- just change the sheets- you dont have to lay there and suffer- just change the sheets baby!
and what about the line- with all do respect "we shall overcome someday" as long as we say someday some day never comes. and what if we change this "this little light of mine im gonna let it shine" little light? theres nothing little about our light is there- maybe it says "this here light of mine im gonna let it shine"

arun: look around and notice that we are creating the artifacts and relics of the age to come and whatever that looks like, whatever the changes are going to be like that are on the way, thinking of the cultural arc that we want to pass into the future. the generations after us are inheriting a world mostly made from human artifacts- are they lucid?
and so think- what am i offering into that stream thats being inherited by the future generations.
are we passing relics of good, artifacts that hold the sacred and hold the worlds that we want them to recognize and remember?
its because of the forgetting of these inner worlds that we fall into the trance of history as being something that happens to us- as opposed to the ultimate art project- the co-creation of the world to come- and we can think of all these things wether they be songs, wether they be new languages, wether they be images wether they be traditions, these new memes, these new signals we are injecting into the bloodstream of the human that is inheriting the future- and we can think of this cultural arc- what do we want to pass on? and how can we offer gifts that help people easily and joyfully remember the heights and depths of their own true nature so they dont have to repeat the mistakes we have been living out historically due to all this forgetting.

la: yes!

david heskin: all of us are artists here- artists drunk on the divine and obsessed with our unique means of expressing it- in our prayerful imitation of nature- may we do as the plants do and give thanks everyday to the light that propels us.

celeste- i just want to say that this conversation is incredibly compelling and enriching and its sparking all of us i can feel it- and i want to point out that theres an element where we are a little bit preaching to the choir here- so all of the incredible inspiration that we are gaining from this conversation, from this event- i really want to encourage us to bring it beyond- take it beyond all the people that you already talk to about all this stuff- take it beyond your community that youre in contact with on a regular basis and let the beauty that you love be what you do- take it into the world- go beyond your own comfort zones- push your own limits

Ubaka Hill: well we are the ones we've been waiting for- you are the beloved that you seek- you are the manifestation of all there is- and the best that i can do and the best that we can do is be the model to turn someone else on- and BE it- no matter who's looking- and be it especially when no one is looking.

La: (was their more at the beginning of this too? ) our intention as we empty into stillness- evoking the connections, thrilling in the diversity, emanating healing- becoming the culture we wish to create. thank you