_SPUNCYCLE
2018

1/1
4000x2667
88,888 $BONSAI 
24h

some moments leave us changed forever in ways we could have never imagined. moments that we can try to recreate but may have no desire to because nothing will be as good as the first, & oh was this as perfect as could be. a ridiculously magical day in kyoto, my final of the maiden voyage to japan in 2018. the debut of tapping into parallel dimensions. the only time visiting a destination not using my camera. 6 hours of broad daylight with the phone in airplane mode left untouched. highest levels of presence. seeing sound. feeling energy pummeling through my body & out my fingertips. reading humans around me through vibrations only. an alignment of the universe that took many elements coming to fruition. ultimate peace in a place as spiritual as the fushimi inari shrine followed up with absolute mayhem in a cab ride from hell. one second i’m watching the busy, rush hour street of the city expand & contract in front of me & the next we’re whipping through a bamboo forest we had only seen as complete serenity on instagram. was i dreaming? warp speed through outer space the way these stalks were flying by on this path barely wide enough for a golf cart. i glance back at greg in the backseat, who was on the same adventure as me like “are we supposed to be driving through this?” as i turn around to face the front this disgruntled driver, with the most negative vibes i’ve ever felt from a japanese person, hits a girl with the left mirror, which folds back to absorb the impact. in the mirror i see her clutching her elbow as her man throws his arms in the sky, all the while keeps going like nothing happened. immediately i have thoughts sweep over me of having to file police reports & i instantly turn to the man signaling to stop. “arigato gozaimasu arigato gozaimasu!!” holding my hands up like NOW STOP. acting pissed that we weren’t grateful for his special tour he slams on the brakes, i jump out, dan pays him, he peels away, & all of a sudden it’s peaceful again. these giant bamboo stems blowing in the wind, creaking with every movement. no sign of the tourists that were hit, as we must have made it far enough for them to not see three gaijin in the vehicle. it was now that i finally turned on my camera that had been hanging around my neck all day without use. within minutes a cab from another era comes up behind us, passes, & those who were once in the way are back in the path as if the car drove right through them a la the old subway train in ghostbusters. i snapped. another gift from the universe but this time on quite possibly the craziest, most enlightening day of my life in a metaphoric way i could have never drawn up. we eventually exited the woods & ate dinner at a restaurant that had the most mystical restroom i’ve ever stepped foot in, i put headphones in with kendrick lamar - damn, we wandered back to the airbnb via some trains, i took one look at IG & asked myself “what are you even doing with this?” & proceeded to archive/delete everything / unfollow everyone. who the fuck are all these people??? it was the beginning of the end of subjecting myself to systems that others have built to control us through these computers in our hands.

6 years later i believe we have what we needed to escape those systems. 6 years later i returned to kyoto for the first time & created zero images with a camera. purely experience. that’s the way it will stay forever, so anything from this particular day remains rare & largely untouched even today.

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