Alleys of the Mind: The Modern Divine Comedy

Waking up one morning after the night of my birthday, I felt as though I began my trek of busting out of the simulation of modern-day life. I experienced a hallucinatory mania that felt connected to all aspects of religion and the Power of Myth, written by Joseph Campbell. Taking my own personal Hero’s Journey of creation, I began to connect to the Hero with 1000 Faces as a spiritual mentor and guide to those spirits lost within their unconscious, subconscious and conscious minds. Spiraling up and down and every which way around, in our modern-day Inferno: anxiety, depression, and manic episodes. I denounced it as mental illness for myself, due to my own experiences of it. I tend to isolate and self-destruct instead of taking my mania out on people. The true connection point here is human connection, being seen within reality. As the mindsets are similar and we can balance, learn skills, and grow from the seeds of knowledge we spread. The Inferno within our own alleys of the mind, which we project onto others, is within our own mental states, a metaphor for how we see and hear within reality. Typical Human Nature is trying to control self and others, thinking negatively, telling people who they are, or pushing doubt into their current internal environments. To be an effective leader all must be seen and heard connecting to the bigger picture of a close-knit community.

I began to look back through history and look at it through the perspective of reality and the parody of the Divine Comedy. This age-old collection of books and Renaissance paintings showcase the reality of the mind in Hell, the body and mind in Purgatory, and Paradiso.

What is truly needed within society in order to heal and connect truly with everyone’s reality of the mind and the actions that do or do not follow the screams for help. Apparently for some, asking for things online is not an answer, we need to be problem solving on our own frequently and rapidly in order to keep the mind focused and present in order to continue to thrive within an urban or suburban hellscape of lack of community.

This hallucinatory (…?) or metaphysical space of physical entities from the dead, for me I see the shadow people stuck within their own personal hells within their mental inferno. I tend to call these people the lost, even though they are visible to everyone in society, just ignored and the stigma of disability or inability to work is placed upon them. In this travel from hell to purgatory, I realized there are many living souls here, untethered to their physical bodies. Is it astral projection? Or is it the spirit of voyeur? Watching people suffer or enjoying the thrill of suffering. In the past the only human condition was considered suffering as we are all aware of our mortality. Though hope of the better future and personal victory to find comfort within ourselves and through larger communities.

Within myself I felt the connection to time and space as I traversed my memories and past artwork, from kindergarten to a modern woman in America.  At first it seemed like a Modern Renaissance of rebirth within me on the precipice of a divine creative story. Which this is based off of. Though now after spiraling through the self and a projection of others. I found my self-destructive nature turned into something completely othering from a tribe of people once chosen to connect with. Realizing that the community within is filled with holes and the black and white thinking of human nature, not really listening to their human reason or being guided by a wise mind. We cannot force people to exist within purgatory, as we all are finding what we need to reach our own Ikagai. I thought I was on the way, until I apparently misspoke and was rejected from a community reality. My only connection became one of the internet which is where human connection goes to die.

I attached meaning from myth and lore to everything I saw and experienced within the synchronicity of nature. I began to look at them as a side quest to find my own internal peace, self, and reconnection to the self within the expanse of the universe. Within my thought process I’ve chosen not to label people and let them exist how they please. Within The Original Divine Comedy, purgatory is seven layers deep, connected to the Seven Deadly Sins. I was able to face my own, though, others would argue that smoking nicotine is Gluttony. I look at it through a medical lens of willpower and dependance on a substance to find moments of Paradosio within myself. Through this spiritual journey of connection within self and my own power of creation, I realized we can reduce our own stigmas within ourselves by maintaining the good; positive thinking and choosing to continue on our chosen paths, until we find true connections with those who want to commit to face to face communication.  The general pessimistic outlook on reality and world is what clouds our judgement. The true solution is finding happiness within the positive or good wolf within the higher self. Within existence we are seeking solace, solutions, and work that stirs our souls to achieve higher planes of knowing and confidence within a body of work. I lost myself unable to speak clearly with the community all around. I felt as though I was living as a mute, yet I felt the vibrations pour out of me as I thought and hummed with my throat. Sending a secret language and energy to ancient civilizations of peace and understanding of previous traditions and how we can look to the old to generate new knowledge and inspiration for the play of life.