Photo: Evan McCaffrey/Shutterstock

How the Occupy Movement Is Hacking Your Consciousness

Interviews
by Ian MacKenzie Dec 30, 2011
Listen to a discussion between filmmaker Ian MacKenzie and artist Pravin Pillay covering everything from Burning Man, the emerging paradigm shift, and how your mind has become occupied.

IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO PINPOINT when the shift occurs – when you go from being an “observer” of the various occupations around the world, to becoming a participant.

Perhaps it was when you realized the thriving vitality that emerged when you walked onto the grounds of an occupation: the drum circles, the creative signs, and the passionate dialogue enticing your ears. Or perhaps it was the way your heart broke when you watched hundreds of people, occupiers and anyone else, enjoy a plate of food served up by dedicated volunteers. Perhaps it was when you realized these were more than just lazy hippies, hoping to leech off the hard work of “the rest of us” to feed their own addictions and vice.

Or perhaps you’re still convinced the Occupy Movement is a waste of time. No matter, the hacking of your consciousness has begun.

Pravin Pillay, media theorist, artist, and organizational designer, has studied the phenomenon of “cognitive shifts” since he experienced his own visit to the desert of Black Rock City. The annual Burning Man festival has been expanding the realm of the possible for over 25 years, galvanizing consciousness with mind-bending art, radical self-expression, and a demonstrated gift economy.

“When people recognize a different way of being, they realize they can choose their experience in life,” says Pravin. The implications for the Occupy movement, as the next phase of humanity’s emergent paradigm shift, are profound.

Listen to the full interview – 30 mins

How the Occupy Movement is hacking your consciousness by ianmackenz

What do you think – how has the Occupy Movement already shifted your perceptions of what is possible, if at all?

Feature photo: bearpark

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