As a product of the American Schooling System and its Prussian educatory persuasions, I graduated High School as a left-leaning atheist psychologically addicted to hallucinogens. During this time I had many powerful, visionary experiences, but instead of seeing them with the shamanistic  validity I now know they deserve, I attributed them to chemical reactions within my brain, mere illusions that could solely be explained in the physical realm. In particular, one of these experiences had a more severe impact on my mind than the others and it eventually would lead to my current understanding of my art and it's strange, quantum exhibitions. 

       On this occasion I consumed a near fatal dose of dextromethorphan hybromide. I had extracted it from an over-the-counter medication via a backyard chemistry experiment that produced much more dxm than was anticipated. The consumed amount propelled me into a violent seizure. According to those present, after the initial seize, I was unconscious for an additional three to four hours, frequently muttering in muffled exclamations as if trapped in a nightmare. After waking up, although I gradually calmed and perceived more normally, hallucinatory and delusionary effects lasted for the next four days. On the fourth day, I still registered a low-grade fever and was so mentally confused that I feared permanent brain damage. However, after sleeping the duration of day five, something unexpected happened; I awakened on the sixth morning and discovered I had an extraordinary new mental ability.  Not only had my original intelligence returned, but I now had mental access to a constant and vivid, infinite stream of mental imagery. My mind functioned just as it always had, with the same internal dialogue, logic, memory recall etc., but now was forcibly over-layed with a visual information-feed of ever-changing, moving and morphing objects that changed in style, intensity, and subject matter, seemingly on their own accord. The only substantive control I seemed to possess was an ability to change my perspective viewing angle and viewing distance. With practice, I became proficient at isolating objects and perceiving them from the most preferable vantages. I became obsessed with this activity, and would lie in my bed for hours at a time, captivated by the endless enfoldments seemingly projected upon the back of my eyelids. I eventually noticed that my daily life experiences had subtle bearings on the content of these visions, and I realized that perhaps this was a window into my subconscious mind. At any rate, I knew from the start that this occurrence was not to be taken for granted and that I was lucky to come away with this extraordinary new skill, all without sacrificing any basic functioning of my brain.

       I loved my newfound sense so much that I soon became terrified that its potency would either wane or go away entirely. This lead to the need to record what I was seeing and I began painting my more memorable conjurings. With the privilege of hindsight, I've noticed, in retrospect, that many of my art pieces anticipated aspects of my current awakening, while at the time of execution I had no real idea of what their meaning was. I thought I was merely making a record of what was streaming through my imagination.

In the following three works, taken from different stages in my artistic development, I believe there exists the prophetic anticipation of my current spiritual transformation and its accompanied socio-political world views.

PERPLEXION FROM THE SOUND OF AN APPROACHING TWO-CAR-GARAGE 2007*

*To me, this is an unconscious recognition of the dehumanizing aspects of modern society and the inability of the popular majority to think individually. Four years before I was cognizant of the suppression modernity was inflicting upon our natural divinity, I have drawn a faceless, dehumanized, rock-headed man in a suit, puzzled by an approaching group of hive-minded persons in lock- step, restricted by the suburban structure that incases them.  A dollar bill hangs above him by a string, much like food dangled before an animal in an attempt to distract it, occupy its time or lead it into disguised captivity. This was a direct window into my forthcoming conscious perceptions of our modern society and its misguided and/or nefarious motives.

THE PERSONIFICATION OF TIME 2008*

*Two grandfather clocks are shown; one is smothered with a pillow while the other is smashed with a sledgehammer. In my opinion, not only is this a subconscious inclination to the link between time and living, malleable consciousness, it is also an anticipation of my understanding that our modern time-keeping is erroneous, disruptive to our natural, instinctive perception and needs to be  eliminated [smashed and smothered (a duality as well)]. The depictions occupy a dark, empty void not unlike the space our Earth moves through, and this is also befitting, since we need to return to cosmology for our time-keeping methodology. The eggs could be representative of the eventual birth of this future understanding, mirrored as well in the overall quantum feel propagated by the bending stripes that are dictated by the image (Magritte's Time Transfixed) on either facade of the flanking structures.

IN VIVO 2009*

*A full-term fetus, wrapped in snakes, is nestled in the womb of a dissected female torso. This, I believe, is a quite remarkable premonition of my impending rebirth. Approximately a year after this painting was executed, my Kundalini awakening began. As many reading this will know, Kundalini or "coiled serpent" is a snake-like river of bliss-energy that is usually awakened in persons who have attained a certain level of spiritual enlightenment. As the process progresses, the seven chakras are unlocked by this Kundalini or "higher self". I can personally attest to the energy’s systematic removal of certain restrictive bands of dead energy. These bands or "fetters"  forcibly inhibit the propagation of the body's energy currents, damming the flow within channels, wrapping our body like a cocoon and holding back our divine and blissful soul-force. This continues until they are,  alas, peeled away by the Kundalini itself. Unleashed by the true potential housed within our mortal, physical shell, we can then maintain higher vibrational states, exist in forms of lesser density, and expand our toroidal energy field. This field takes the shape of a double torus, which astonishingly, is an exact match to the shape of the halved-apple seen at bottom, appropriately situated at the mouth of the birth canal.

* * * * *

The presentation and analysis of these three works should be sufficient enough to illustrate my point, yet there are literally hundreds of pieces from my oeuvre that lend credence to my art's poetic, quantum clairvoyance. On that fateful occasion, when I overdosed a decade ago, a window was opened, whether pineal or otherwise, into my higher mindscape, revealing a prophetic incite that is seemingly free from the familiar restrictions of  linear time. I now have no doubt that this would have happened regardless of my escapades with hallucinogens; I simply needed them as a medium to allow such oddities into my reality. That day, an introduction took place between two inter-dimensional aspects of me, and because a common verbiage was lacking, communication was propagated via images, because this, much like math or music, is a universal language recognized by all sentient intelligences. Man is at his core a creator, divinely so in fact, and I have had the extraordinary privilege of creating on a level beyond my ability to consequentially comprehend the implications therein.

Yet, creation isn't limited to the smearing of pigments or the strumming of chords. As a microcosm of existence itself, we create in all moments of being. Every thought, every blink, every step is a meaningful cause affecting the wondrous reality unfolding around us and within us. Sometimes this observation seems particularly evident, and we hone this recognition with every passing moment. As I write this, I realize what the illusion of time may be all about; Time exists as an opportunity to refine our ability to create reality. At first this happens without our awareness. Then, only when ready, we begin to do so consciously and instantaneously, for this comes with the highest responsibility. When that moment arrives, I have no doubt we will fast assume a spherical form and proceed to hang serenely amidst the vastness of space, much like our sentient Earth does today. Surely too will we be  riveted, just as she must be, by the co-created dramas unfolding upon our surface. Living as a loving vessel for the development of wisdom through created experience, we will forever rise.

Art and Quantum Clairvoyance by Jarrod Schneider