They Eygptian Connection

The Egyptian Connection

I am reading a book that has been in my library since my days at Bookman’s. It was in the section on Egyptian Mythology. For some reason I never got to it, until now, which seems fortuitous, as it comes on the heels of my finishing my three books. I have known for a long time that I have a special connection with the ancient Egyptian culture, as it is no accident that I have tagged my series of post-Inferno drawings
THE HIEROGLYPHIC THEATER. The idea for that name was a spin-off from reading Frances Yates fine book BRUNO AND THE HERMETIC TRADITION. The book was my first real clue that my mind was working in a similar way to their ancient mythology as I had the same inclination to express myself in a symbolic language. After my intense and active 5 years of teaching and politicking at UNLV, a time in my life when most of my life energies were flowing in an outward direction, I had one of those turn-around experiences, like St. Paul experienced, where I ceased all that activity and cut myself off, withdrew from society and embraced two months of solitude. Actually, I plunged like a stone in to my internal world. I became an “Introspective Voyager,” leaving behind the persona of a radical figure on the barricades fighting against tyranny and injustice. Instead I became a “plunger,” which is what Charles Olson said of Herman Melville. It means I knew how to take a chance.

The first thing that happened was the vision of the black sphere and the wheel design; it was a spontaneous vision that provided me with a clue about a new direction I might take. Given the kind of drawing I was doing at the time, it was another turn-around experience. At one point fear and anxiety became strong and I experienced some personal demons. One night while I was reading a book about the demonic at three o’clock in the morning there was a loud inexplicable crack in the brick wall behind my chair. I had reached the point of no return. A few days later, after sinking about as far as I could go at the time, I experienced death, transfiguration, and rebirth; and it was generated by a spontaneous eruption of energy that had shot up my spine and danced on the crown of my head; and after I saw myself die, lose all flesh, and then resurrect, slowly becoming whole again. I’ll never forget than image of myself as a bony ghost on “the other side.” The spontaneous rush up the spine was the key to the vision. I felt like an Egyptian who had visited the Land of the Dead.

I have come to call that experience in, of all places, Las Vegas, THE INFERNO, as it was a Baptism by Fire, in a place hellish hot in the summer. And it was more than reversal of course: a seal was broken and I now existed on the psychic plane, the middle zone between Spirit and the material plane. I became open to a new understanding of all things. From the internal perspective I am a twice-born man. But not a Christian, which is important to remember.

In November 1969, while living in Eugene, Oregon, I experienced a second kundalini rush, this time more sought after. It was different too, for when it happened I was meditating while in considerable pain. I had an abscessed tooth that I was seeing a dentist the next day. My legs were killing me after 20 minutes in the half lotus position. My right shoulder hurt like hell. Then, like the first time, there was this explosive release in the lower torso, in the region of the first two chakras, and the same energy came charging up my spine. The feeling had been I was vessel filling up with liquid; as the waters rose all my pains were wiped out and all I felt was bliss, bliss and more bliss. I am not sure how long it lasted but when the energy returned to the lower chakras, the pains returned. The rush was curative but short-lived. I can’t imagine what life would be like if such bliss was constant.

In 1970 I had 25 dreams that I recorded. Many of them contributed ideas and images that I fed off of for years in my drawings. The second rush had opened a second seal and the waterfall of dreams was the result. It was also in the winter of 1970 that I turned out my first three-decker ‘hieroglyph,’ the forerunner of THE HIEROGLYPHIC THEATER.

These breakthroughs and turn-a-rounds led to the inevitable: quitting teaching and relying on the “sure thing.” I became more of a risk-taker, following my intuition no matter how crazy most people thought I was. My eye was on one thing: personal authenticity.

The book on Egypt that I was reading was THE TEMPLE OF THE COSMOS: THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN EXPEIENCE OF THE SACRED. The author’s name was Jeremy Naydler a Brit who does independent research. He has a profound grasp of Old Egypt and is amazingly articulate in laying out the Ontology, Metaphysics, and Mythology, the foundational elements of Egyptian spirituality. He has reinforced my intuitive sense of identification with their culture. It is definitely more important to me than the Greek and Roman World.