BEYOND REALITY

The ancient song of the shaman was lost between the trees of the Amazon jungle. It was
a dark night with a pale lazy moon, hiding from the brave stars. The dim light of the night was
laid softly on the mystical side of mother earth. A silent, slow breeze was upsetting the jungle.
Somewhere in the dark, there was a poor wooden shelter. A Puma was passing by, looking
for its prey, but it suddenly stopped. It sensed something near by. It was happening very
close but…
The gates of the unknown slowly opened, as the spirit of Ayahuasca, answered the calling
of the Shaman… revealing the unseen worlds to the eyes of the humans. The potion of the
sacred plants was working its way through the neurons and the molecules of the body…
Reality was not the same anymore… yet; everything was so real and in a strange way, a little
bit familiar…
Who could ever imagine… the artist watched astonished as he came in contact with a new
world. Strange beings where flying along with DNA spirals between geometrical structures of
unimaginable beauty… Time and space where lost in this endless dimension. They did not
belong here. Other kinds of language existed here. Unknown and strange languages that did
not need any words to be expressed. Here, language was alive. Thoughts were being
transformed into shapes as they where born. No past, no present, no future existed here.
Everything was here always and forever.
The artist tried to understand. Limits, time and space belong only to a minor dimension…
the dimension of the physical reality. Things started to make sense somehow.
Coming back to the usual reality, he attempted to put his experience in order with what he
knew. Could it be true? His senses, his feelings, even his instincts agreed. The experience
was more real than ordinary life. But how could it all fit together…?
String theory uses mathematics to search what can possibly exist in levels far smaller than
quantum level. In a level that could be described as “string level”. Normal tools for
experimental verification are useless in such extremes. Only recently in C.E.R.N. we have a
chance of experimentally verifying these theories. Theories that describe many dimensions
which can co-exist at the same space at the same time or parallel to each other according to
other scientists. Could it be that what science starts to discover now, are the worlds of spirits
that we find in almost every human tradition? Its sounds strange that the Shamans could
know and visit these dimensions or one of them since ages that date back to the beginning of
humanity.

Close your eyes. Quiet your mouth. Relax your ears… History is whispering something…
Ancient times of China… Shang and Chou periods… Shamans… songs and rituals… the
dragons and the calling of the unknown…
Ancient Greece. “Iera Odos”. A sacred path from Athens to Eleusis… the mysteries and the
“Kykeon” potion with LSD…a journey deep into the human and the universe. Mystical rituals
that reveal the unspeakable…
Ancient America… the Mayas…the Incas…the Shipibo…The Aztecs…Ayahuasca and
Peyotl… ceremonies and spirits…
From the mystical Siberia to the misty tropical mountains of Peru.
Common roots of the human civilisation. The common Psyche of humanity… The findings of
the past, our common heritage.

Only with great respect we must approach the traditions of practices and knowledge that is
passed from generation to generation in every culture.
Religions use allegory to speak about these worlds. Each on its own special way. The
structures that most of societies formed through human history, gradually discarded this
knowledge and practices as dangerous myths. In our age, a new spiritual awakening is
evolving. The extreme materialism is making modern people and societies sick and unhappy.
Everything seems pointless and void to the “civilized” people… This emptiness is making us
look into ourselves and out on the universe for a true meaning and reason of our existence.
 Terence McKenna said that the only person in modern societies that is allowed to speak
about the unseen worlds and not being taken as crazy is the artist.
This is what I have set as my personal goal in life. I can describe it as a today’s artist
attempt to touch and maybe propose a personal view of the fundamental question of the
human species using the accumulated spiritual, philosophic and scientific traditions of
humanity. This fundamental question can be summarized in two simple words: What IS?
Meaning, what is reality, what is to exist and what is life. These questions bear within
themselves questions such us what is a human and if there is a Why in human life. The Why
prescribes a purpose of the phenomena of life. It is vital to remember that the right question is
just as important as the right answer.
I humbly try to approach the unseen and bring something back into our reality by the means
of artistic creation. I understand the role of the artist as an explorer. A modern age traveller of
the spiritual realm. For my research I use scientific studies that help me cross examine my
philosophy and generate new meaning from the findings of science. Parallel to that I use out-
of-body experiences and try to “see” at first hand what really is out there. Finally, I use
Philosophy to arrange everything into a logical system that makes sense and gives birth to
more accurate questions. This is how I try to understand other cultures and also my own. By
finding the common ground at which they all evolved. The artistic part of my journey is where
I try to communicate everything I have approached with other people. When I am painting, I
go into a state that can be described as creative meditation. I try to let the hyper logical side
of me express the deeper meanings that the conscious logic cannot grasp. When I see my
works, I witness a forming of spirals, waves and symbols. I see lights that darken and
darkness that breathes… Mathematical equations connecting with archetypes. Visions
engaged with philosophy. Levels of existence co-relating with each other.
One can witness references to the material plane as solid geometrical shapes. Movements
and flows that expose forces working their way through solid forms and empty space. The
closer the work will get to the infinite the less it will bear the possibility to be described. The
works presented here are just few steps to what I hope is the right direction. The road is
infinite and the approaches vary. We are all viewers of different angles of an ever-changing
miracle…

“Searching but not seeing, we call it dim.

Listening but not hearing, we call it faint.
Groping but not touching, we call it subtle.

These three cannot be fully grasped.

Therefore they become one.

Rising is not bright; setting is not dark.

It moves all things back to where is nothing.

Meeting it there is no front,

Following it there is no back.

Live in the Ancient Tao,

Master the existing present,
Understand the source of all things.
This is called the record of Tao.”

From “TAO TE CHING” ,LAO-TZU

Tano.
27-2-2010. Athens