Archetype Apocalypse

blocked doors, blocked doors
hiding little men

see them march, in little rows
each one wanting to beat the other
clammering for the last scrap of earth that they can smother

I am so damn tired
of a world infested with liars

I want to fly away
from this dead rock floating in space

I feel so all alone
in my outrage at what they have done

I will have a child to face
and tell her of the foolishness
of our race

we own your ones and zeroes
and your skin and bones
this is no grand deception
just a narcoleptic plunge

your dreams are our conception
the real's a desert sun
you have no more true heroes
just the glass in the bowl you haunt

cults become cultures when they turn pro
before and after its all mind control
but there is a place they can never find
beyond the barriers of your mind

as long as there's been history
a pattern has emerged
the murderous get thirsty
to dominate the herd

but recently its shifted
into another form
the killers all where neckties
and hire out their chores

the scan slipped down the side of her wrist
she was lost in day-dreaming over the friends she missed
then a whisper behind her, a theoretical crime
its getting harder and harder to flee these prisons of the mind

a wizard was waiting, in an empty room
the transfer was coming, from southern Veracruz
then a whisper inside him, the code is compromised
its getting harder + harder, to be a hero of the hard drive

thirsty for an ark?
or a brand new home in the stars?
if so, then there is a plan
for you, at childhood's end

are you a keeper of dreams?
or a sitter in trees?
if so, then its time to dance
as if this day was your last

the streets were buzzing with unexpected news
a rumor was spreading of an unknown flu
as the stores were clear a voice was heard to cry
its getting harder + harder to find in this chaos, a design

the nations were calling, through tense diplomats
we must stop this madness and have peace at last
then a whisper in hiding, from a master of lies
its getting harder + harder to tell the war from the crime

the main samples are from psychedelic future historian Terence McKenna (who's quote gave birth to the title) and Larry Harvey, one of the founders of Burning Man.

the other samples are random bits from old documentaries and/or "educational" films.

you want to find your circles
I want to find my squares
you want to get more paper
I want a reason to care

this is the way to dive it
then come back up for air
whether wave or solid
is neither here nor there

this song pretty much wrote itself... while its not directly connected to the overall theme I had to include it just to prove that its not all conspiracy and foreboding here, but sometimes downright playful good times. after all... its not the end of the world, it just smells that way.

for those wondering where the sample came from... its me reading Michio Kaku's comments on superstring theory.

I feel the earth move, under my feet
the shifting sands, the talking streams
every song has already been sung
prayers for peace, poems for love

you really ought to get some sleep
these late night vigils really aren't what they seem
the ice already cracked the hull
we're net in line to come in from the cold

a storm to you, is a cleansing to me
lightning strikes and burns a whole for a seed
change is not a constant thing
I hope we're ready, for its accelerating

protect a tree and you go to jail
we're like a leper who has some skin for sale
you're a peasant with the eyes of a king
but you still can't see that its not your dream

his-story is a tale of winners
that we're losers is written in our nerves
but this is all coming to an end
your turn to tell where the story begins

I want a window
into the games that you play
the pool is shallow
but the walls around it a maze
what are the reasons
you want to own everything?
is it a hunger
or an inner child's morphine

these are the last days
of ancient sunlight
the engine's burning
but there's no sign of life
we are a cancer
eating flesh and bone
is it a hunger
to push it passed the thresholds?

this is how the world ends
and begins again
death and birth
dark and light
everything's gonna be alright

you look so tragic
in your emaciated pose
skipping on meals
but gorging on new clothes
we're always feeding
the emptiness inside
because its a hunger
that only spirit can suffice

the problem is time
and what you decide
left turns a corner
and right takes a dive
you can stare out the window
or run and hide
we're all gonna go
so it matters not who survives

this is the old world
choking on its last breathe
out of the ashes
the phoenix will rise again
we are the fires
that come before a new spring
don't lose the hunger
burns in the heart of the flame

"You might not see things yet on the surface,
but underground, its already on fire."
the palatine of fame of fortune
is a worthless dream, which to aspire

twelve billion eyes, stare at the heavens
and countless sun, shine back through time
turning back to earth, we find divisions
that are only real, inside our minds

there's a master key, that will open
everything, that we're looking for
but none of us, has found the latches
as we're fighting, for first at the door

I want to, find a single truth
I love you is my only absolute
the future, is a fractal that depends
on the actions of every woman and man

we can look into the heart of an atom
but know nothing, of another's soul
the Ancient Ones will keep returning
until the blue and red, turns indigo

I want to, find a single truth
I love you is my only absolute
we will find, a way out of this mess
for paradise, is closer than our very breath

quote by Y.B. Mangunwijaya

Guzheng (Chinese harp) was performed by Zhang Wei from my favorite Beijing group Buyi Band.

The female sample was from an interesting video I found while doing a search for the word "compassion." The male voice is the enigmatic (and dearly missed) Bill Hicks.

the first quote is from a video clip of John Trudell, the second my my friend Glenn reading Abdu'l Baha from the Promulgation of Universal Peace:

"The human body is in reality very weak; there is no physical body more delicately constituted. One mosquito will distress it; the smallest quantity of poison will destroy it; if respiration ceases for a moment, it will die. What instrument could be weaker and more delicate? A blade of grass severed from the root may live an hour, whereas a human body deprived of its forces may die in one minute.

But in the proportion that the human body is weak, the spirit of man is strong. It can control natural phenomena; it is a supernatural power which transcends all contingent beings. It has immortal life, which nothing can destroy or pervert.

If all the kingdoms of life arise against the immortal spirit of man and seek its destruction, this immortal spirit, singly and alone, can withstand their attacks in fearless firmness and resolution because it is indestructible and empowered with supreme natural virtues. For this reason we say that the spirit of man can penetrate and discover the realities of all things, can solve the secrets and mysteries of all created objects.

While living upon the earth, it discovers the stars and their satellites; it travels underground, finds the metals in their hidden depths and unlocks the secrets of geological ages. It can cross the abysses of interstellar space and discover the motion of inconceivably distant suns. How wonderful it is!

It can attain to the Kingdom of God. It can penetrate the mysteries of the divine Kingdom and attain to everlasting life. It receives illumination from the light of God and reflects it to the whole universe. How wonderful it is!

How powerful the spirit of man, while his body is so weak! If the susceptibilities of the spirit control him, there is no created being more heroic, more undaunted than man; but if physical forces dominate, you cannot find a more cowardly or fearful object because the body is so weak and incapable.

Therefore, it is divinely intended that the spiritual susceptibilities of man should gain precedence and overrule his physical forces. In this way he becomes fitted to dominate the human world by his nobility and stand forth fearless and free, endowed with the attributes of eternal life."

(Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 263). Random note: Abdu'l Baha was the real-life personage who became the model for Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet.

you went to bed last night
tv glow, sound down low
another day and you're someone else
there's nothing such as frozen dreams
its just a world of shadow play
there's still time to reinvent yourself

there is a land
where we belong
red skies and moonlight
and no more need for the walls we built
you and I, can be in love
and do the things we dreamed of
in this new world utopia