Suneleusis: The Spirit of Community

"suneleusis , eôs, hê,

- Quoted from A Greek-English Lexicon, (link)

The Community Protocol was an idea born out of the dreams of many people. For me it began with a heroin addict in the next room, screaming in agony during withdrawals in 1999. Due to unknown causes that man died that night, screaming that the devil (sic) was after him. When I heard him scream, I knew that he was wrong: his devil already had him. I had no money, and no way to help him. I decided that night that I had to find a way to change the world and end the kind of suffering that drove that man to seek fulfillment in heroin, and myself to seek it in other drugs. I am not the only one. Aikeena decided that he would challenge the roles and structures of the world that were maddening for him, as he was not a part of their madness. Others have lived entire lives based in dysfunction and want to help stop the devastating cycles that are passed on, generation to generation. Still others see the overall self-destructive nature that manifests at the national level and seek to inject sanity into the geopolitical arena.

The reasons all boil down to the same thing: Humanity is collectively sick. Individuals can transcend this, but our collective is dragging us into the darkest reaches of the human heart. The collective must be reformed, and we must begin the long journey out of our sickness. We must fight to rectify our broken world: Tikkun Olam.

To that end, a small group of people gathered to write the ritual that would awaken the egregore of an online forum. I was able to successfully mimic the group dynamic on a separate forum, and then siphon it off into a ritual item. Then my wife and I began preparing for the ritual. We did not have a third person at the time. We continued to search but found no one. We had a friend who had showed up and we began talking to him. He was not dedicated to the idea, so we held out for someone who would see it through. Finally, the cousin I had grown up with, who was like a brother to me started visiting regularly. We explained the project to him first, then built up to explaining the working, making sure that he was the right person for the job. He stuck with it and pledged himself to the work. Our triad was now completed, and we performed the ritual without a hitch.

Through a juxtaposition of the Hebrew Alefbeit and the Norse Runes, we created a symbolic matrix within our awakened egregore. This group mind is a cooperative, where individual nature is maintained, but empathic data can be shared; it's like an ad-hoc network of minds. The most interesting part of Community was that when we separated the group that established it we started getting data on the various reality streams around us. Reality is not a continuous surface: rather it is much like Google Earth's Keyhole pictures, a bunch of little pictures pasted together. In this case, we're talking about bits of time and space that are pasted together. The remnants seem to decay somewhat, but the same temporal context can be repeated. Spatial contexts are obviously more repetitious but don't hold meaning very well. Temporal context holds memory better but decays faster. People, places, and times can all serve as gateways into these pockets of meaning, although I think we associate memories with time mostly. Community allows us to see through these barriers by establishing a group context: a common basis for comparison. In our own experience, community allowed for an understanding of these space/time contexts because one of us lived about 30 minutes away. So when he travelled home, the data was transmitted to us.

The following is a record of my thoughts just after the ritual:

"Basically [the] experiment was a roaring success. Linear temporal consciousness was broken down and many strange events of the past were explained to some degree.

"To elaborate, Einstein in a dream once saw reality as a river. Most people, despite being denizens of said river, see the river as a whole. Few examine it in terms of its currents, although this is precisely what needs to be examined in order to navigate. Many go through the whole of their lives never noticing the inconsistencies in their own personal histories. Casteneda's recapitulation technique as a method of drawing one's power all into one stream makes much more sense now.

"The experiences of this last week basically revealed that reality is not a unified whole as some would have it. It consists of streams of acceptable experience, sometimes based on temporal context, sometimes based on spacial context. Some areas are more fluid than others, and in like manner some times are more fluid also. Some of this is individual, as there may be a resonant reaction between a person and a place that causes more fluidity.

"For the sake of convenience I'm using the term fluid to denote something external to oneself that takes on resemblence to one's internal reality and yet remains parallel to the typical consensus reality. If it diverges from consensus reality completely, I'd have to call that a complete dissolution, and as of yet, I've not experienced this often enough to be able to comment.

"So while most people think of Gateways being necessary to enter a new dimension or domain, I'd say that there are gateway locations, gateway times, and gateway people. See, people can act as gateways as well, if they have a tie to an alternate stream of consciousness. This is often described as being "sucked into x's world" and when it is percieved negatively, is a source of much sympathetic head-nodding. When viewed as a positive thing, others often perk up their ears, or ask to be introduced, etc...

"These are the currents within the Tellurian, the larger reality. Like I said, not every realm is parallel to our consensus, although how far out this goes, I'm not entirely sure. Some say that outside of this realm there is a sea, called Quiddity, or the Astral, or the Umbra, and it is in the perception of this that I believe our salvation can be found.

"Y'see, we've been duped. Our reality was sold to us, packaged up neatly with a nice box and bow, but it's actually a construct. Of course, there's nothing wrong with it, but rather there is the problem of having bought into it not knowing what else there might be. In some ways I suppose it's like running XP only because you aren't aware that there are other OS'es. Deceptive business practices are sometimes indicators of problems elsewhere in the deal.

"I believe in Community. My concept of Community though, is about being aware of our choices, being responsible for our own existence and it's repercussions, and also allowing for other forms of existence to run parallel. Right now, we're cowering in a corner, instead of looking to new frontiers, and that's never a good position to be in. Never leave your back to the door.

"Community suggests that we extend our purview, and at the same time, stick together. If self-initiation isn't a myth, then certainly a broad pattern of other options may need to be considered. Exploration is all well and good (To boldly go... etc...) but fortifying certain aspects of this place is necessary as well. I get the feeling that ontological reality will trump religious strife rather quickly, although differences will remain without a doubt.

"Of course, there are reports that there may be others from across the Dream Sea that don't like us much. Of course I have no verification of such, but with my current perspective, I can see how terrible that might be, considering the lack of awareness on humanity's part.

"The Shattering of the Vessels isn't just something that happened within. It is all around us, even if we don't see it.

"When it comes right down to it though, this changes things only subtly. Life continues. Children grow. Money is spent. Cats need food. Wife is still pregnant with the baby. Being catapulted into a spiritual dimension isn't all it's cracked up to be. ;-)

"Words just don't serve to explain this shattering process, I guess. I can't feel it strongly enough in these words to actually convey anything. Today I dreamed while napping, and it felt like things were being put back together again. Solve et coagula.

"The open road (which is just as dangerous as doddering old Bilbo said it was) goes ever on and on, out from the door where it all begins. Far ahead now it has gone, and I will continue to follow as I may (to paraphrase)."

and my wife transcribed her reaction as well:

"After this particular working was done, I was struck first by the subtle shift that I felt inside my own head. It felt like a part of me that had been kept locked shut opened. I realize that due to my own experiences there were many abilities that I have locked away through fear. In working with others that I trust, I am learning to trust in my self as well.

"Memories opened up, and not just as my own memories colored by my experience and my own needs for self definition, but memories in an almost objective perspective. I came to see things in my own past, some fantastic in nature, and others more mundane. There are parts of my life that I really can't explain, nor do I have any physical evidence of. I used to say that the proof of the experience was in the way that it changed me. I didn't realize how much I was paying lip service to an idea that was more true than I could have realized at the time. It came to me in a flash of insight, how much we are shaped by experience, perceived or actual. Perceptions of what we have gone through more than the actual event are what shape us. It is what causes two people that share an experience to come out of it with a completely different results.

"I watched the flow of memories like a stream. I could see the discrepancies, and my first thought was how out of place and improbable they seemed. How could I at that age have gone through those things without anyone noticing, without witnesses? How did I survive them at all? I have questioned the validity of the memories more than once. My mind would then shy away from the doubts. I was not ready to face being crazy and that was usually the conclusion that I came too. This time was different. There was not the usual emotional need for proof. I could see how those experiences would shape a person, I could see me as I have become, and cause and effect fell away. There was no need for proof, there was no need to substantiate the memories. It really stopped mattering whether or not they were real. If it was no more than a long ritual that changed me, or some delusion used as a sim, the results were what mattered. It was a very freeing feeling. I could call on the skills independently of the memory, I don't have to doubt the skill, because there is doubt about the memory. Very refreshing.

"The second thing that I felt was a shift in current perspective. It was like watching as my mental eyes were refocused. There are layers to the reality that I live in. There is what I am seeing, what you are seeing, and what is "really" going on. To change me, I have to change what I see. To change you, I have to change what you see. What is really going on is up for debate.

"The Nornir are responsible for the weaving of the threads of fate, common enough mythos. Yet even the Norse recognized that we are not bound my the fates woven for us. I don't think I understood the paradox until this. By learning to see, I am learning to weave. Becoming Nornir. Drinking from the well is a double edged sword like so much. Probably the oddest thing is that I was afraid in the beginning. I wasn't afraid of the newness, or what might happen. More I was afraid it would be like coming home."

Many of these concepts are further elaborated upon on the Project Miodendre page.

Community is the basis for a shared experience hierarchy. Obviously in the scenario presented above, there were a limited number of variables. However, if considered in terms of a wider distribution, we might find that new systems of "closeness" might emerge (like 7 degrees of separation). Some factors might be degree of influence, wherein emotional feedback might accompany authority, or degree of intimacy, where certain emotions might be kept separate as a default, to prevent unpleasantries. Jewish mystics have described this unified hierarchy of mind as Achdut. They believe that it will come as a result of piety, but they don't specify as to how this will work. I propose that multiple criteria be used for connection instead of one. These connection types will each have their own "expert system" which will decide the relationship between two people. The most simple model for this kind of "sorting hat" would be the Tree of Life. However, this wouldn't be an order imposed upon the system. Rather, Community has found it's own process of self-organization, to facilitate the greatest amount of natural robustness. It manifested in my dreams as the Phasma. We are still working on fully expounding upon the meanings contained in that symbol, but you can do a simple meditation on the subject here.