Chaosmos invited to an open conversation on altered states of consciousness with Ivan March:
Psychedelic drugs alter the users’ state of consciousness, often providing dramatic insights which may be profound but are hard to describe in words or to assimilate into normal life. Today, by and large, tribal rituals, have been evolved into ‘Raves’, an explosive re-emergence of the repressed human drive to free consciousness from its unnatural ego-centred state. The modern manifestation of this state emerges within the Rave, which involves entering an altered state of (collective) consciousness through the ingestion of drugs, movement and sensory bombardment by technological artefacts such as hypnotic, emotional, loud repetitive beats, light and smoke. Rave culture, is often seen as purely hedonistic by the mainstream, yet it is frequently regarded as a spiritual event by those involved. Raves are trancelike ceremonies where ravers celebrate their unity and shared uplifted state, breaking barriers between one another and offering psychic relief to alienated people in a secular repressive and materialistic society. Yet there is superficiality and commercialization in Rave Culture & use of psychedelics, and it is up to the evolved cavemen as to what purpose and meaning they will bring to the Rave.
Join in some open & deep conversation around ‘Altered States & Rave Culture’ with personal storytelling, sharing circles & getting to know kindred weirdoes.
Ivan March is a music & arts festival curator, storyteller, activist, anime lover and cyberpunk nerd. He is the Communications Director at the grassroots-movement-supporting Guerrilla Foundation, Campaigns Coordinator for the Psychedelic Society & does a whole lot of other very strange stuff.