TANGIERS LIMOUSINE

This venerable Eastern esteem for wilderness explains the popularity of scholar’s rocks, single stones which have been carved into intricate, dynamic shapes by the powers of water, wind and frost. They were harvested from caves, river-beds and mountainsides, and mounted on small wooden pedestals. The stones - which scholars kept on their desks or in their studies, much as we might now keep a paperweight - were valued for how they express the history and the forces of their making. Each detail on a rock’s surface, each groove or notch or air-bubble or ridge or perforation, was eloquent of aeons. Each rock was a tiny, hand-held cosmos. Scholar’s rocks were not metaphors for a landscape, they were landscapes.

Many of these rocks have survived and can be seen in museums. If you stare at one closely enough, and for long enough, you lose your sense of scale, and the whorls, the caverns, the hills and the valleys which nature has inscribed in them, can seem big enough to walk through. 

I shall write this in the present tense: So I'm in this dive bar in the rough end of Neukölln playing pool and there's a huge stack of records and some unused decks which I avail myself of. Turns out to be an amazing collection of old funk, hard-bop, 90's hiphop etc. I start playing some records and the barman starts pouring shots of brandy to drink with him. I'm having a great time, especially when I find an old Jonny Guitar Watson LP with Superman Lover on it, which I put on. A French couple at the bar start French kissing. The barman is doing a little slo-mo Gangnam dance with his eyes closed. People are gambling on the pool table.

Suddenly the door flies open and this black guy, clearly some regular patron, walks in and as he's crossing over the floor he does a double take on hearing the music and turns to look at me, and then shouts to everyone in the bar: "Holy shit, white boy in specs and a parka is playing Johnny Motherfuckin Watson." He laughs and adds: "Goes to show, never judge a book by its cover!"

- 9: Wake, drink coffee. Eat muesli and banana. Don’t listen to any sound: no radio, no internet sound. Most days the bin guys come and crash around and make me feel indolent.

- 10: Set up for re-amping using Kim and Adam's equipment: sometimes in the bathroom, the balcony or the chamber, sometimes elsewhere.

- 10.30: Record and mix until 2pm with manic intensity. Stop. Eat a piece of cheese in silence in the kitchen, look out of the window, think about the neighbours on the other side of the building. Worry about reproductive capabilities (own, not neighbours).

- 2.30: Gather overdub parts recorded by talented friends and less talented self: assemble into arrangements, tear hair out in frustration at general ineptitude (own, not friends). Remember people I’ve known that are now dead, feel purposeful.

- 5: Apply for MA, worry about money. List pitiful items on Kleinanzeigen. Smoke a cigarette.

- 5.15: Quit Sibelius / Logic / Premier etc. Listen to music by other, better people.

- 7: Begin evening time of little-to-no merit or productivity. Make friends occasionally.

- 11: Go for walk around block with headphones on. The best part of the day. Look at the buildings and the trees.

- 12:30: Watch action movie, the cheaper the better. Feel guilty for not more frequently engaging intellectually with Tarkovsky or Tarr.

1: Piezoluminescence Piezoluminescence is a form of luminescence created by pressure upon certain solids. This phenomenon is characterized by recombination processes involving electrons, holes and impurity ion centres. Some piezoelectric crystals give off a certain amount of piezoluminescence when under pressure, as in handheld cigarette lighters when the button is pressed.

In the folk-literature surrounding psychedelic production, DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, and LSD have been reported to exhibit piezoluminescence. As specifically noted in the book Acid Dreams, it is stated that Augustus Owsley Stansley III, one of the most prolific producers of LSD in the 1960s, observed piezoluminescence in the compound's purest form, which observation is confirmed by Alexander Shulgin: "A totally pure salt, when dry and when shaken in the dark, will emit small flashes of white light."

2: Piezoluminescence in LSD Further investigation brought me to a random Google books result, which appears to be page 538 from a book entitled "Acorns: Windows High-Tide Foghat: Volume 1" by Joshua Morris. The first line caught my eye: “Straight spine is necessary in order to avoid arresting kundalini”

I suffer from Scoliosis - curvature of the spine caused partly by genetics but significantly impacted by the near death accident I had on my racing bike when I was hit by a car some years ago.

3: Kundalini Kundalini stems from yogic philosophy as a form of shakti or "corporeal energy”. Kundalini is described within Eastern religious, or spiritual tradition as an indwelling spiritual energy that can be awakened in order to purify the subtle system and ultimately to bestow the state of Yoga, or divine union upon the seeker of truth ". The Yoga Upanishads describe Kundalini as lying "coiled" at the base of the spine, represented as either a goddess or sleeping serpent waiting to be awakened. In modern commentaries, Kundalini has been called an unconscious, instinctive or libidinal force.

4: Kundalini syndrome Kundalini syndrome is a set of sensory, motor, mental and affective experiences described in the literature of transpersonal psychology, near-death studies and other sources covering transpersonal, spiritual or medical topics.

5: Transpersonal Psychology Transpersonal psychology is a school of psychology that integrates the spiritual and transcendent aspects of the human experience with the framework of modern psychology. It is also possible to define it as a "spiritual psychology". The transpersonal is defined as "experiences in which the sense of identity or self extends beyond (trans) the individual or personal to encompass wider aspects of humankind, life, psyche or cosmos”. It has also been defined as "development beyond conventional, personal or individual levels”.

6: Near-Death Studies Near-death studies is a field of psychology and psychiatry that studies the physiology, phenomenology and after-effects of the near-death experience (NDE). The field was originally associated with a distinct group of North American researchers that followed up on the initial work of Raymond Moody, and who later established the International Association for Near-death Studies (IANDS) and the Journal of Near-Death Studies. Since then the field has expanded, and now includes contributions from a wide range of researchers and commentators worldwide.

The near-death experience is an experience reported by people who have come close to dying in a medical or non-medical setting. The aspect of trauma, and physical crises, is also recognized as an indicator for the phenomenon. According to sources it is estimated that near-death experiences are reported by five percent of the adult American population. According to IANDS, surveys (conducted in USA, Australia and Germany) suggest that 4 to 15% of the population have had NDEs. Researchers study the role of physiological, psychological and transcendental factors associated with the NDE. These dimensions are also the basis for the three major explanatory models for the NDE.

Some general characteristics of an NDE include subjective impressions of being outside the physical body; visions of deceased relatives and religious figures; transcendence of ego and spatiotemporal boundaries. NDE researchers have also found that the NDE may not be a uniquely western experience. Commentators note that several elements and features of the NDE appears to be similar across cultures, but the details of the experience (figures, beings, scenery), and the interpretation of the experience, varies between cultures. However, a few researchers have challenged the hypothesis that near-death experience accounts are substantially influenced by prevailing cultural models.

According to the The NDE scale, a near-death-experience includes a few, or several, of the following 16 elements:

1. Time speeds up or slows down. 2. Thought-processes speed up. 3. A return of scenes from the past. 4. A sudden insight, or understanding. 5. A feeling of peace or pleasantness. 6. A feeling of happiness, or joy. 7. A sense of harmony or unity with the universe. 8. Confrontation with a brilliant light. 9. The senses feel more vivid. 10. An awareness of things going on elsewhere, as if by extrasensory perception (ESP). 11. Experiencing scenes from the future. 12. A feeling of being separated from the body. 13. Experiencing a different, unearthly world. 14. Encountering a mystical being or presence, or hearing an unidentifiable voice. 15. Seeing deceased or religious spirits. 16. Coming to a border, or point of no return.

In a study published in The Lancet van Lommel and colleagues list ten elements of the NDE:

1. Awareness of being dead. 2. Positive emotions. 3. Out of body experience. 4. Moving through a tunnel. 5. Communication with light. 6. Observation of colours. 7. Observation of a celestial landscape. 8. Meeting with deceased persons. 9. Life review. 10. Presence of border.

According to sources the NDE is associated with a number of after-effects, or life changing effects. The effects, which are often summarized by researchers, include a number of value, attitude and belief changes that reflect radical changes in personality, and a new outlook on life and death, human relations, and spirituality. Many of the effects are considered to be positive or beneficial. Van Lommel and colleagues conducted a longitudinal follow-up research into transformational processes after NDE's and found a longlasting transformational effect of the experience.

However, not all after-effects are beneficial. The literature describes circumstances where changes in attitudes and behavior can lead to distress, psychosocial, or psychospiritual problems. Often the problems have to do with adjustment to the new situation following a near-death experience, and its integration into ordinary life. Another category, so-called distressing or unpleasant near-death experiences, has been investigated by Greyson and Bush.

7: Cycle of Liminal Rites The title of my record, an investigation into the near death experience, through the pineal filter into the piezo-illuminated well, where the kundalini forces of the inky night explode from the base of my spine, outwards into a musical notation that drifts across the rooftops and becomes as inconsequential as the light clouds of rain that fall outside my window as I finish writing this at 22:09 on Tuesday 11th November 2014.