Digg This Story   Apr 15 08

/ by tony schibono

Aside from design, art and music there is a new culture that has been attracting my attention lately. The meta-physical, occult and new age are areas of thought very much overlooked by popular and common culture. With political, societal and environmental issues continually surfacing in our time, perhaps we all, as individuals, need to look deeper into the mysteries of our lives and the contents of our own minds to gain a better contextual understanding of the global situation we are all participating in.

Reality Sandwich is a community driven blog on just this topic. Founded by writer and new age philosopher, Daniel Pinchbeck, valuable insights and information into these realms of philosophical thoughts and the on-going analysis of the human spirit and our perceived reality are presented here by people who have devoted their lives and professions to the study of these archaic and forgotten areas of study.

What I find most interesting within this area of thinking are the metaphors and motifs commonly presented in stories about the human mind and our percieved reality as they relate to systems theory and design. Nature and the natural world is a major working system with rules, processes, an interface and predictable outcomes (as with any system). I draw much of my inspiration from these big ideas and insights as the are derived from natural processes verses ridged design rules imposed by technical minded individuals who tend to overlook the extremely dynamic  nature of the human mind and spirit when approaching design problem solving. I often find myself reapplying and contextualizing these ideas in my work as a graphic communicator and information architect.

So I encourage you to look deeper for inspiration in your life, beyond the blooming buzzing noise of mass media, brand power and popular culture - into the contents of your own mind and direct experience of reality. It takes courage and an extremely open mind, but i promise you that you'll be very surprised with what you find there...

Along with Reality Sandwich, here are a few names and resources to peruse:

Terrence Mckenna
Writer, Philosopher, and Ethnobotanist

C-Realm Podcast
Discussions on topics focused on the coming Vingean Singularity, Entheogenic Exploration, the re-localization of community & agriculture, and Individual Conscious Autonomy.

Daniel Pinchbeck