Everything you will find here is linked to my life, experiences, or observations. It is the result of thirty years of notes and ten years of travel, trying to understand how the systems surrounding us work and how we got to this point. The Manifesto gathers everything I found relevant on the way and a manual to get us out of here.
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Everything began with my healing journey and my unique connection to spirituality. I won't go into detail here. But if I had to give an image to explain how healing works, the spider web would be a good one. The idea is to start by finding a few points of junction in the web until we arrive at the centre, where everything eventually make sense.
I started to apply the principles found inside to the outside, multiplying the comings and goings. As I projected the spider web onto my outside world, my life began to resemble a treasure hunt with all the clues leading to the heart of the web. And as all roads lead to Rome, everything would invariably lead me back to Plato's Allegory of the cave.
Putting the points together, I understood that the allegory was not just a reflection on the human condition but more likely a complete recipe for using human behaviour to create the “perfect” republic. Or in other words an ideal dictatorship.
Plato was basing everything on the idea that humans believe what they see. It was a matter of showing them what we wanted to. It is when the entertainment concept came into play, translating as “…action of diverting”. The unique goal being to distract us from the cave exit.
Plato wanted to put on the Big Show, and everything would develop from there. The Romans a few centuries later, would bring the concept to life with the arenas, finding a subtle way to combine performance, demonstration of power, fear and bread distribution.
THE BIG SHOW
The idea of the arenas was well thought out but remained a little heavy to set up. It would take nearly two thousand years to move to the next level thanks to the advent of Henry Ford assembly lines. The idea of the assembly lines was born following a visit to an ultra-modern pork-cutting plant. With them came mass production, bringing progress to any doorstep, allowing everybody to take part in the “show”. Humanity didn’t just sit to watch the display, it was becoming part of it.
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Rich or poor could drive fast, taking a lawn to do so. This is where the Ford genius lay, interweaving Plato's spectacle with the economic system, keeping people in the spin cycle with the obligation to stay in the race to repay their debt. There was no need to use force to get there, the pink and varnished concept had managed to establish itself as the collective dream into which everyone projected themselves with delight. Everything starting at the second our dear little ones were leaving the family nest and signed up for a student loan. Rich or poor were all part of the machine. They all signed a contract saying goodbye to their freedom.
THE HAM SLICER
The assembly line was to become the matrix, the slicing method defining every part of our lives: From society to modern medicine and our ways of thinking, everything was put through the ham slicer. Everything was disconnecting us from the very idea of the big picture. And because not everyone could work on the assembly line, it became necessary to find a way to broaden the concept to every social class.
This is how the brilliant idea of “speciality” saw the light of day, striking the ego of the upper class on one side and imposing the necessary limitations on the other, the world of specialists stopping by itself where the next speciality begins. Everything was well-oiled, there was nothing left to do but add a cloud of complexity created thanks to an accumulation of multiple and contradictory data, statistics and studies. The one who wanted to venture out of their comfort zone would not only have to navigate the rough waters of complexity but also come armed with evidence and references. The complexity’s notion was successfully created as a decoy, encompassing a world governed since the dawn of time by immutable laws. A world no more, no less complex, just in constant evolution.
CHURCH, THE CROOKED INTERMEDIARY
Everything was going pretty well in the republic of spectacle. The magic trick was keeping the crowd’s attention to the right when everything was happening to the left. The painting, worthy of genius, was, however, not complete. The last layer was missing. It was necessary to prevent the divine from enlightening wandering souls in the heart of the consumerist paradise. It is where the church came in, proclaiming itself as a filter and translator, using diversion to transform the "problem" into its exact opposite.
The diversion would work wonders, transforming Jesus’ message of love and compassion into a religion imposed through torture, power and control. The Church would impose itself as the last link in maintaining humanity as far as possible from its connection to the divine, keeping us away from our path and destiny.
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GET RID OF
THE FORD SYSTEM
How? By making it obsolete, the way we make a trauma obsolete.
By looking it in the face, understanding his influence, and becoming aware of it every time it is there. The trauma I am talking about leaves an impact. Like a planet colliding with another generates a mark and a slight deviation, traumas destibilizes our fondations. Perpetuated by our peers, by those who have power or credibility, they make us deviate from who we are until one day we wake up and don't recognize ourselves.
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In the Ford world, respectability depends on the number of millions. The Bad Kings are the ones who speak and define the rules. In Maori assemblies, if a 7-year-old child wants to say something, everyone listens until he is done talking. If we want to change the world, we must start by changing the rules.
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"Changing the rules is not about waiting for the authorities in power to act, it is about imposing a change of direction by changing behavior."
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Subversive Monopoly, or how to understand the influence of power and money on our behaviour
Changing direction starts by understanding our behaviour regarding the system. This is where the Subversive Monopoly comes into play because we all had the experience of losing everything or making a fortune by unscrupulously leading our loved ones to bankruptcy. Monopoly is a bit like playing Milgram's Experiments Game and understanding the influence of power and money on our behaviour.
Subversive because it denounces the dysfunctions of our economic systems. The game begins when each player draws a birth card which defines the profession of their parents, their level of education and the salary they will receive at the end of each turn. Subversive because players are not just dependent on the system. They have the option of not letting it happen and coming together to bring down the one who ruins them. For example, a player who comes across the Amazon square must draw as many “stuff” cards as there are “online stores” and buy all the items offered to him. He pays a tax for each item at the end of the month and pays again to get rid of them at the end of the game. But he can also come across the “return to sender” card and return everything to the player who owns Amazon. If half of the players return their items to the sender, the Amazon player goes bankrupt.
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COUNTER PROPAGANDA
How do we bring people into debt for things they don’t need? How do we lead an entire nation to eat bacon and eggs and believe a few years later that it is the traditional American breakfast? How do we bring millions of people to smoke, spend their money, get ugly skin, yellow teeth, and smell discussing? Thanks to propaganda!
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There are two forms of propaganda: the one that sells happiness, social status, or freedom and the one that grafts simplistic ideas into our subconscious. Both use repetition until it imprints itself on the retina and becomes what we think is ours, transforming and shaping us without us even realizing it.
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COUNTER PROPAGANDA
The Propaganda of Ideas is spread voluntarily or not by those who benefit from credibility or appear as models of success. One good example would be Marc Andreessen, who says that we must embrace progress if we do not want to return to living in mud huts. The genius of AI uses simplification and dichotomy, a system as old as the world offering a choice between the plague and cholera as if nothing existed in between. Everyone should cry foul, but no one seems to pay attention to the enormity of the message. It's basic, but it works. Propaganda is a system of mass manipulation that is unparalleled in its effectiveness. It triggers unconscious mechanisms that even the most vigilant cannot control. It is impossible to match unless using similar methods.
It is where counter-propaganda comes into play, focusing on repetition and simplistic messages, drawing inspiration from happiness and dreams. If we can sell anything, we can also awaken consciences and free our captive minds. The tool is not evil in itself. It is just ultra-powerful.
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GET RID OF OUR SEARCH FOR PERFECTION
Why question our desire to become a better version of ourselves? Because perfection, as we understand it, does not come from a spontaneous act. Believing we are doing the right things, we are all chasing the same ideal, leading us to become active players in standardisation. The quest for perfection is a mirage defined by capitalist consumerism. An illusion that pushes us into debt to buy a nice car, a lovely house and everything that goes with it. The haircut and the impeccable lawn being the ne plus ultra to show how respectable we are.
During the era of mud huts, human integration into the group was taking place thanks to their value and actions. To be part of the pack nowadays, we must embrace uniformity, which ingeniously replaces "moral values" ​​with "market values". Allowing us to integrate thanks to the similarity of our material possessions or behaviour. The desire to blend into the group is so powerful that we are ready to deny what we think to be accepted by others. Asch Experiments shows we can validate total non-sens to avoid standing out.
The Asch Conformity Experiments explained in 40 sec
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​“Standardisation is the manipulation of appearances and thoughts, the distortion of how we integrate into the group".
And because being identified by the brand of our car or our haircut is meaningless, we become depressed and seek constant relief. That is where progress comes in, offering us everything we were not aware we wanted and giving us momentary comfort. Getting rid of uniformisation means returning to basics, and rediscovering our values ​​and who we are. It is about following the path of self-discovery and bringing back our weirdness. The simple act of breaking out of the mould destabilises the entire system. If the cogs are not round, the machine stops working.
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MAKE ART THE NEW RELIGION
I am not talking about the art adorning our living rooms. I am not even evoking the final piece. I am talking about the action of making art, this special connection with a part of ourselves which stays silent otherwise. The art I am talking about is made far from sight, like an essential breath of oxygen, like a silent cry in a world deaf to intuition. It connects with subversion, fighting conformity, embracing one's differences and taking the seemingly bizarre path to discover who we are.
Those who had the chance to experience the art I am talking about will recognise themselves. The others shouldn’t feel excluded, we all have an artist dormant inside us, waiting to connect with our personal transmitter, our divine radio, and our own prayer.
The reception is not always easy. The transmission has been encrypted for centuries, avoiding anything that could potentially harm the establishment of the "perfect" republic. During the Middle Ages, only one radio station was allowed, that of the church, imposing itself as the sole interpreter, eradicating any personal attempt to hear the divine music. Anyone composing their melody was cut at the source, leading to one of the most sordid periods in history marked by the Inquisition and the burning at the stake.
The result was radical, bringing order and discipline to the ranks and installing fear in the collective unconscious for centuries. But even if the so-called witches were wiped off the map, there was another problematic element: the artists, the unruly students, always in search of answers where no one was looking for them. The artists were threatening the smooth running of the entire operation. And since burning them would not have looked clean, a series of more subtle methods came into being.
If we look more closely we realize that it is not a coincidence if art turned into a passion or a non-serious pastime. It is no coincidence that art schools teach their student how to take a vow of poverty, trying hard to discourage them from following this path. It is no coincidence if museums and art galleries dilute the artiste's message, presenting only tiny parts of the artwork, disconnecting a sample or two from years of research. It is no coincidence that 90% of the writing on art confuses the reader with incomprehensible jargon that only a handful of initiates pretend to understand. Art has the power to wake us from our lethargy. Transforming it into an elitist pastime is a powerful way to keep us disconnected from our pure expression, our connection with our intuition, and our deep calling.
Making art the new religion is throwing out the church that has misled us and reconnecting to a universal faith that feeds on differences.
Making art the new religion is creating a religion of self. It is an invitation to connect with our forgotten sides, those who, unaccepted by society, have shrunk to the point of disappearing. It is rediscovering who we are and recognising the unique temple inside us. Accepting our weirdness and our beauty.
Making art the new religion is to perceive the music that is ours and share it with the world. Creating a universal symphony. A symphony of change, that will profoundly transform the way we envision the world and interact with it. A symphony that has the power to give birth to hope like the wind caresses the flowers of the fields. Like the sun shines again after the storm.
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Art is a deep and Universal truth buried in each of us. Giving it back a place is as powerful as it is enjoyable.