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Description
Medium: 8.5" x 11" Computer Paper
Instrument: Sakura Mircon 005 (0.2mm tip)Completion Time: 2 weeks

Supplimentary Info:
print: (parable)

Printing...

"Shit, where do I start?

Technical details: You can see every feather in his wings. In his gripping hand, if you look closely enough you can see his fingers.

Okay. This piece is a depiction of the story of Icarus. In Greek mythology, there were a son and father; Icarus and Daedalus. Daedalus was an inventor and an architect, and a renouned one at that. One day he recieved a commission from King Minos of Crete to build the world's most inescapable labyrinth to imprison the king's furfag son, the Minotaur. He accepts the commission and builds the labyrinth, only to be told at the end of it that it was imperitive that no one ever know how to get out; and having built the thing, that was knowledge that he and Icarus had. So, Minos had them imprisoned in the very higest room of a tall tower. They were cared for and were treated luxuriously, but they were still prisoners. One day, Daedalus, being the genius inventor that he was, realized that he could build wings out of the feathers from pillows and candle wax. After enough time to collect the materials to do so, he shaped them and affixed them to the backs of himself and his son. They flew out the tower window and far away to safety.
Icarus took with great amourousness to his newfound abilities of flight, and skirted the skies as well as any bird. He would fly far into the great blue void, much to the chagrin of his more conservative father, who often warned him of the perils of such carelessness. Icarus didn't care.
It wasn't long before the flights of mortals began to bore Icarus, though. Shit got old quick. One day he decided that he was going to fly up farther than he had ever flown, catching up with the Chariot of Apollo; that is, the sun. He flew and flew and flew, but far into his flight was distressed to encounter a factor he hadn't considered; the heat from the sun was beginning to melt the wax that held his wings together. He was determined, though, and kept going. Before long, too much of the wax had melted away. His wings disintegrated and he fell to his death.

Onto the picture itself, first we'll identify the symbols. There's a labyrinth in the sun that ends in a lock. The All-Seeing Eye is up there. There's some strange molecule to the left, a white parabola (which was made by drawing around where I wanted the parabola to be; none of my pieces have any whiteout in them), a key in his gripping hand (did you catch that?), the number Pi written down the top and right borders, and some circles and a hexagon off to the left.

The key in his hand represents the key to enlightenment. Wings in this piece represent the bodymind. He has the key (i.e. the knowledge) to Godliness (i.e. enlightenment), but he cannot pass the barrier because his wings are only made of wax; they are not solid enough to withstand the trials of such a venture.
His outstretched hand is placed at the exact zenith of the parabola, denoting that this image depicts him in the exact moment of zero gravity right before he fell to his death. Pure bodiless consciousness, depicted by the All-Seeing eye, is just out of his reach.
The labyrinth in the drawing is not only reminiscient of the labyrinth of Crete, but also the walking labyrinths used by various religions (Tibetian Buddhism especially). Note that there is a tiny entryway at the top-middle of the piece; following the path of meditation takes significantly longer to get to the lock, and it is easy to lose track, but there are no obstacles in one's way.

The molecule to the right is Dimethyltryptamine; DMT. Anyone who knows me has probably heard me rant and rave about this chemical, so I won't be going into it in depth here. If you don't know what it is, there's a relatively good primer at [link] . The relevant information pertaining to DMT in this instance is from a test run by Terrence McKenna:
"I took this stuff to Tibetans, to the Amazon. I gave it to Tibetans, they said "this is the lesser lights, the lesser lights of the Bardo. You cannot go further into the Bardo and return. This takes you as far as you can go."
(In Tibetian Buddhism, the Bardo is the afterlife, 'a place full of lights'. When one achieves enlightenment they are said to have seen the lower lights of Bardo.)
There's also a small reference to the movie Pi, denoted by the number across the top and side, the sun, and DMT. In the movie, the main character suffers from these intense headaches. Every headache sequence in the movie ends with him looking at a sudden bright light and passing out; I believe the sun is usually the light he sees. I only saw the movie once. He then passes out, experiences a short clip of some really weird and inexplicable shit, and wakes up somewhere having no other recollection of the experience.
When you smoke DMT, there's a sharp comeup where one approaches an intense bright light. The bright light is broken through, followed by approximately ten minutes of hallucinations so awe-inspiring and profound that one often forgets to breathe. After said ten minutes one comes down and back to reality. Should one be partaking of this chemical for any specific spiritual purpose, it's important to write down everything that was imparted; within a half an hour, most to all of it will have been forgotten.
I found the parallels between my experiences and the main character's to be significant.

Off to the side. there are 6 spheres and a hexagon. They're designed to simultaneously be a sort of lens flare effect as well as the six primary planets used in astrology. Venus, Mars, and Saturn are marked by their respective symbols; Earth by fern-ish spiral patterns, denoting life. Jupiter was drawn to resemble the planet itself, and has a diametre/radius mark (the line and little square) to link it and the value Pi together as mathematical representations (the circumferance of a circle is Pi x r^2). Saturn is shaped like a hexagon as an easter-egg reference to the hexagonal storm that was found on it's north pole.
([link] )

And lastly, the title of the piece is a reference to a pairing of songs written by Tool, tracks 6 and 7 on their album Laturalus: Parabol/Parabola. The reference is marked by the parabola in the piece itself being coupled with the title; Parable. The relevant lyrics to Parabol/Parabola are as follows:

Parabol:
"We barely remember what came before this precious moment,
Choosing to be here right now. Hold on, stay inside...
This body holding me, reminding me that I am not alone in
This body makes me feel eternal. All this pain is an illusion."

Parabola:
"This holy reality, in this holy experience. choosing to be here in...
This body. this body holding me. be my reminder here that I am not alone in
This body, this body holding me, feeling eternal all this pain is an illusion...
Of what it means to be alive."
and
"This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality.
Embrace this moment. remember. we are eternal.
All this pain is an illusion."

Oh yeah. And the story of Icarus is a Parable.

Bottom Line: You can't force enlightenment."_

Description
Medium: 8.5" x 11" Computer Paper
Instrument: Sakura Mircon 005 (0.2mm tip)Completion Time: 2 weeks

Supplimentary Info:
print: (parable)

Printing...

"Shit, where do I start?

Technical details: You can see every feather in his wings. In his gripping hand, if you look closely enough you can see his fingers.

Okay. This piece is a depiction of the story of Icarus. In Greek mythology, there were a son and father; Icarus and Daedalus. Daedalus was an inventor and an architect, and a renouned one at that. One day he recieved a commission from King Minos of Crete to build the world's most inescapable labyrinth to imprison the king's furfag son, the Minotaur. He accepts the commission and builds the labyrinth, only to be told at the end of it that it was imperitive that no one ever know how to get out; and having built the thing, that was knowledge that he and Icarus had. So, Minos had them imprisoned in the very higest room of a tall tower. They were cared for and were treated luxuriously, but they were still prisoners. One day, Daedalus, being the genius inventor that he was, realized that he could build wings out of the feathers from pillows and candle wax. After enough time to collect the materials to do so, he shaped them and affixed them to the backs of himself and his son. They flew out the tower window and far away to safety.
Icarus took with great amourousness to his newfound abilities of flight, and skirted the skies as well as any bird. He would fly far into the great blue void, much to the chagrin of his more conservative father, who often warned him of the perils of such carelessness. Icarus didn't care.
It wasn't long before the flights of mortals began to bore Icarus, though. Shit got old quick. One day he decided that he was going to fly up farther than he had ever flown, catching up with the Chariot of Apollo; that is, the sun. He flew and flew and flew, but far into his flight was distressed to encounter a factor he hadn't considered; the heat from the sun was beginning to melt the wax that held his wings together. He was determined, though, and kept going. Before long, too much of the wax had melted away. His wings disintegrated and he fell to his death.

Onto the picture itself, first we'll identify the symbols. There's a labyrinth in the sun that ends in a lock. The All-Seeing Eye is up there. There's some strange molecule to the left, a white parabola (which was made by drawing around where I wanted the parabola to be; none of my pieces have any whiteout in them), a key in his gripping hand (did you catch that?), the number Pi written down the top and right borders, and some circles and a hexagon off to the left.

The key in his hand represents the key to enlightenment. Wings in this piece represent the bodymind. He has the key (i.e. the knowledge) to Godliness (i.e. enlightenment), but he cannot pass the barrier because his wings are only made of wax; they are not solid enough to withstand the trials of such a venture.
His outstretched hand is placed at the exact zenith of the parabola, denoting that this image depicts him in the exact moment of zero gravity right before he fell to his death. Pure bodiless consciousness, depicted by the All-Seeing eye, is just out of his reach.
The labyrinth in the drawing is not only reminiscient of the labyrinth of Crete, but also the walking labyrinths used by various religions (Tibetian Buddhism especially). Note that there is a tiny entryway at the top-middle of the piece; following the path of meditation takes significantly longer to get to the lock, and it is easy to lose track, but there are no obstacles in one's way.

The molecule to the right is Dimethyltryptamine; DMT. Anyone who knows me has probably heard me rant and rave about this chemical, so I won't be going into it in depth here. If you don't know what it is, there's a relatively good primer at [link] . The relevant information pertaining to DMT in this instance is from a test run by Terrence McKenna:
"I took this stuff to Tibetans, to the Amazon. I gave it to Tibetans, they said "this is the lesser lights, the lesser lights of the Bardo. You cannot go further into the Bardo and return. This takes you as far as you can go."
(In Tibetian Buddhism, the Bardo is the afterlife, 'a place full of lights'. When one achieves enlightenment they are said to have seen the lower lights of Bardo.)
There's also a small reference to the movie Pi, denoted by the number across the top and side, the sun, and DMT. In the movie, the main character suffers from these intense headaches. Every headache sequence in the movie ends with him looking at a sudden bright light and passing out; I believe the sun is usually the light he sees. I only saw the movie once. He then passes out, experiences a short clip of some really weird and inexplicable shit, and wakes up somewhere having no other recollection of the experience.
When you smoke DMT, there's a sharp comeup where one approaches an intense bright light. The bright light is broken through, followed by approximately ten minutes of hallucinations so awe-inspiring and profound that one often forgets to breathe. After said ten minutes one comes down and back to reality. Should one be partaking of this chemical for any specific spiritual purpose, it's important to write down everything that was imparted; within a half an hour, most to all of it will have been forgotten.
I found the parallels between my experiences and the main character's to be significant.

Off to the side. there are 6 spheres and a hexagon. They're designed to simultaneously be a sort of lens flare effect as well as the six primary planets used in astrology. Venus, Mars, and Saturn are marked by their respective symbols; Earth by fern-ish spiral patterns, denoting life. Jupiter was drawn to resemble the planet itself, and has a diametre/radius mark (the line and little square) to link it and the value Pi together as mathematical representations (the circumferance of a circle is Pi x r^2). Saturn is shaped like a hexagon as an easter-egg reference to the hexagonal storm that was found on it's north pole.
([link] )

And lastly, the title of the piece is a reference to a pairing of songs written by Tool, tracks 6 and 7 on their album Laturalus: Parabol/Parabola. The reference is marked by the parabola in the piece itself being coupled with the title; Parable. The relevant lyrics to Parabol/Parabola are as follows:

Parabol:
"We barely remember what came before this precious moment,
Choosing to be here right now. Hold on, stay inside...
This body holding me, reminding me that I am not alone in
This body makes me feel eternal. All this pain is an illusion."

Parabola:
"This holy reality, in this holy experience. choosing to be here in...
This body. this body holding me. be my reminder here that I am not alone in
This body, this body holding me, feeling eternal all this pain is an illusion...
Of what it means to be alive."
and
"This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality.
Embrace this moment. remember. we are eternal.
All this pain is an illusion."

Oh yeah. And the story of Icarus is a Parable.

Bottom Line: You can't force enlightenment."_