There is a tension that never resolves, never finds release.
A never ceasing kaleidoscope of thoughts.
Tightening the cranial tourniquet is a risk.
The persistent pressure transforms boundaries.
Crossing a threshold, where agony and bliss converge.
The skull is a cage.

Inhale deeply, overcoming gravity.
Fall backwards and drift upwards.
Let all thoughts flow like a river.
Ascend over obstacles using intuition.
Let desires run free.
Explore without consequence here.
The only view is from above.

We were born into this, from dividing cells into the unknown.
In our hearts, only blood flows.
In our minds, only chemicals and electricity react.
We navigate mazes of imagination and invention.
No proof exists that free will is more than an illusion.
This symphony is performed for us and by us, the captive audience and participants.
We seek patterns in the noise, striving to perceive the purpose.
The mystery evolves. False prophets feed the feeble minded predictions.
Day blurs into night in an infinite loop.
For each of us, there is a single, inevitable escape.

Promises of cures and blessings.
Perfect machines created to heal, whose power would never fail.
Awareness dawning, spirits danced within wires.
Like magic, the metal found a way.
Bringing curses that can’t be broken.
They were summoned without fear.

Eyes fixed on screens, seduced by flashing lights.
Mesmerized by distortions of perception.
Sounds and shapes are perceived by waves.
Once familiar forms twist and warp into voices.
Beautiful shadows where they shouldn’t be.
Reflection.

A rush of energy.
Adrenaline, inspiration, urgency, obsession, overtaking reason.
That mundane reason.
Vivid ecstasy fuels the journey.
The outpouring from breaks in the wall floods the pathways with fuel.
Each spark ignites the next in rapid succession.
Taking multiple paths all at once, feeling the division inside.
On the edge of a chasm, senses heightened, each pulse magnified.
A dimension away from tranquility.
No way to slow down or turn back.
Motivated to exchange old for new, to perfect the craft and turn the rest to ash.
Racing towards completion before the crash.

Under the spell of the moving world.
The body moves while the mind remains divided between worlds.
One of conscious control and one of obedience to the trance.
Unable to resist unseen forces.
Reality and dreams merge.
The power of suggestion can rearrange beliefs.

Pushing through influential memories and hallucinations of the past and future.
The present moment is obscured but the boundaries are evident.
Within corridors of the mind, meanings drift.
Scraping layers of accumulated, obsolete code.
A test of endurance, made possible by defiant momentum, hindered by comfort.
What awaits on the other side?