Okay that’s it, The Texture. We could have been discovered it much earlier. But it took many years to realize how simple everything is: the world we know is just a cluster of ultra complex information from which everything – yes, everything! – we know consists of. Information that exists because it was created at some time and has become more and more complex. We don’t know by whom all the information was created, and probably we will never know. The great religions call it God, Allah, Yahweh, Shiva. A helpless attempt to explain a creator. But this creator does not exist – at least not in the way you imagine him to exist. It is The Texture, the core that makes up everything. And we are part of it.
The Texture can be seen clearly when rational evaluation functions of the brain are switched off. With the synthetic drug CCG, a retro-hallucinogen, this has been achieved: a part of the brain stem that has been used since ancient times to create this façade named ‚reality‘ is shut down and all information reaches the areas of the brain that perceive visual and acoustic impressions unprocessed. The first parcipitants in our R&D program had become psychotic after the application of CCG, when the effect had subsided and cognitive processing functions had been restored, the sensory impressions experienced were no longer congruent with subjective perception. The curtain was lifted, reality was seen through. All subjects of the first phase were placed in an isolated psychiatric facility.
In later experiments, it was possible to prepare the parcipitants for the fact that what they would perceive under the influence of the drug was just another part of the world they knew. The shock could be processed, even if it took long therapies to understand what happened to them.
Under the influence of CCG, the parcipitants perceived a disturbing flood of supposedly disordered information and an infinite cacophony of complex sounds and ultimately saw the world as it really is. The parcipitants – like everything we know – were also part of the texture, but the laws that prevailed within it allowed the drug to make them experience things as they are. We tricked the texture by their own devices…
Piet, one of the test persons from phase 2, told me, after he had returned to his usual perception, what he had seen under the influence of CCG.
Me: „What was the most impressive thing you saw?“
Piet: „This bird. I looked up into the sky, and a bird flew. At least it looked like one. A bird of prey or something. And there was this grid across the sky. It looked just like in an old computer game. It was fucking weird!“
Me: „Well, what about that bird?“
Piet: „It bent the grid as it flew. I’ve never seen anything like this before.“
Me: „It bent the grid?“
Piet: „Yes, it just flew and bent the grid while it was flying. And with every flap of his wings I realised that everything we know is a big fuck-up. An illusion, nothing more. Why? Hell if I know!“
Me: „What now?“
Piet: „What do you mean, ‚what now‘? I’ve looked behind the fucking curtain, and I can die fucking peacefully when my time comes. I know the fucking truth now. And it just feels fucking good. And this so-called reality, hey, I can deal with that. Sex and drugs and Rock ’n‘ Roll, like the steak in the ‚Matrix‘. It’s all an illusion, but a damn good one. From now on, I’m gonna make the best of it.
After finishing my protocol, I turned off the light, closed the door and walked quietly and slowly down the dark corridor to room 3. I closed the door, lay down on the comfortable couch and turned on soft piano music that relaxed me. In the half-light of the room I looked around, opened the small refrigerator, took out one of the syringes with the sticker „CCG 25 mg“ and injected the content into my vein.
In retrospect, I think you should allow yourself some plain reality every now and then. But only as much that you don’t forget to experience the beautiful dream in the virtual world of human existence.
This short story was inspired by Blacker Shoals. Please, check out his great ideas, experiments, concepts and art on Instagram and on his website.