053 - How to embrace the unknown through community: Damanhur, Bowling Alone, & Morphic Fields

 Welcome to a quiet voice. My name is Colin Ward. So many of you said that you enjoyed exploring the masculine archetype of the warrior. And the power that we embrace when we take accountability. For crafting the story of our beliefs. Rather than letting our beliefs be crafted by somebody else.

So in this episode of a quiet voice, we're going to investigate a story that I took from a rather mystical place. Now look, reflecting back on any experience. That I have in my life is, is challenging because I'm looking for. Nuggets of wisdom and gold that I can put down into this podcast and maybe listen to myself in 10 years from now and remind myself of the place that I was. That's the purpose of reflecting. And being inquisitive. About just our lives and all of the beauty and wonder and awe that is around us through these experiences and domino and the temples of humankind.

What we're talking about today is one such experience that just defies my understanding of my world.

At the same time I'm brought to this. Really challenging place where I want to describe it to you so that you can see it. I'm not going to work too bright, like Charles Dickens, who was paid by the word to describe.

What these. Temples look like for you. As much as I want you to be instilled with the sense that I was there. And I connected with something that was much more. Then just what my eyes could see. So no, this podcast is going to turn in what, what to the Irish call a yarn.

Uh, yarn a long story with many twists and turns and knots. And.

Loosening things.

What I'm going to do is pull on whatever the loosest string is at the time. And my hope is that at the end, you'll get this constellation of reflection that will give you some insight on a place that you may never see with your realize what you can connect to on a philosophical, existential, creative, and spiritual level. So stay with me. Through this podcast.

What defies my senses and my logical understanding is the principle theme of this podcast, because I feel that every single step along my creative and spiritual path is marked by moments in which the person that I think I am is dumbstruck.

Where the ego. Around which mostly my consciousness sits. Starts to feel as if it's insane.

It started with the way in which I heard about domino war. You have to find through synchronicity when the stars sort of align and some sort of portal opens that allows you to step into a place of wonder and awe. And for me that portal opened. At the gym now. I've not an avid gym goer at the minute.

You could say that's an understatement, but at some point. I was. And I saw a good friend of mine when I was there who had just returned back from a trip. Early morning in that gym. I thought to ask. Oh, how was your trip? And he said, Oh, it was fantastic. You said. I was studying with these alchemists in the, well, actually he said. I was studying with these time-traveling alchemists in the north of Italy.

Now seven o'clock in the morning is very challenging to do anything. Um, I think it might've been earlier than that, but. Going to the gym requires a lot of strength and willpower. I want to get back into the gym because it connects with my warrior kind of understanding. But I think when you hear something like this at seven o'clock in the morning, heck when you hear it at four o'clock in the afternoon or 12 o'clock in the night after five shots of tequila, it still doesn't quite hit the same.

The phrase time, traveling alchemists in the north of Italy. Seven or eight words or so that I never thought I would hear.

Anyplace. Let alone. At an early morning. So. I think my senses were sort of overwhelmed that I just brushed it off as like. Okay. Excellent. Enjoy your set, you know, or whatever they say in the gym.

And moved on with the rest of my day, but it struck me enough to tell maria about it when I got home, because it was just this. Odd idea. And what I discovered later is that Maria happened to be listening to a podcast about that very place. At the very same time.

Unknown to her and unknown to me, we had come into contact with domino, the Federation of domino and the temples of humankind independently. On the same day.

It was. Amazing. And it led us to this workshop at Adam CRE, house. From in Westport. That was all about quantum time jumping run by a name that man named Michelle, I believe I ought to have him on the podcast, come to think of it, but. What he did during this workshop was connect us to our future selves.

He had a lot of scientific understanding around how our consciousness in the present is connected to our consciousness in the past and the future. The time is not so much of a linear thing, as much as it is a landscape. Thinking about that time is a landscape rather than a line. And on a landscape, we can visit different parts of our life and orient. This landscape, maybe receive some insight around one part of where we are in the quote unquote future. To inform us about ourselves.

And that's precisely what I felt when I was going to this workshop. I had some hesitation about it. I really didn't know if I aligned with it, but Maria was fervent and I was connected with her purpose. So, um, I went along anyway and perhaps. It was best that I did because I could. Work through all the uncomfortable nay-saying egoic, uh, logical mind that was like, ah, this is full of crap.

And. I think I've talked before about how, when I was studying shamanism, I was just constantly thinking I was getting scammed, you know? And yet at the same time, I was just. Moving more and more. Deeply. Into a sense that I don't know everything. I don't even know.

I don't know that the story that I was told when I was a child is even true, you know, about my world and how w like we were saying in the last episode, all these different. Ideas or things that we take on and they form our beliefs and our beliefs forms our actions and our actions from our environment.

And there I was in a quantum time jumping workshop, connecting with my future self to embody what aspect of my most idyllic future self is present right there in the moment.

Now, connecting back onto this. This is before my men's work. This is before. I've did a huge transformation this year. This is before we were married. This was before the business was going well, this is before so many things. And I can connect it back to that. One of those moments. So before we jump into the experience of what it's like to visit domino. Let's go back. All about 50 years. To win the vision for this Federation began. I don't know if it really started as a vision of a Federation, as much as it was a group of about 14 people. Organized by a man named Oberto.

I hope I'm saying that.

Right? Alberto.

Now Oberto, along with his 14 other like-minded individuals, individuals were connected with things like energetic healing. Uh, spiritual values, sustainability. The sense that everybody is an artist. And that artistic expression is a fundamental part of our being that needs to be nourished because it connects to something that's at the core of who we are. And they wanted to build a community that was separate from. The reality that they were living in modern Italy. Yeah.

Keep in mind. All these people are speaking Italian. That's another far out idea. They're not even sometimes we have, if I have this idea that I've got to be listening to people in. In English to really understand myself, but they're here. I was in domino or learning about. People speaking, Italian, you know,

Anyway. Back on track. What Falco and Ober Oberto, who is also called Falco Tedesco. He wanted to connect with. A place that was safe out from a lot of the mundanity of modern life that they felt was just squashing their connection to spirit. And just their intuitive path. I don't want to put too many words into this.

At the end of the day, it was 70 years ago. I don't think it was an investment opportunity that these 14 people were looking for, but they bought land in an extremely remote part of rural mountainous, Northern Italy.

No. I had a chance to, when I was visiting there, I asked like, what was there before domino?

And the truth is not much. As you drive up. You pass a giant dam in a sense that. This place is extremely industrial or it was at some time. And. Because it was industrial and it had shifted into. You know when nonindustrial. Uh, work. A lot of the people for lack of a better word had moved out. A lot of the younger people had moved to the big, bigger town of Turin. And so it was a relatively dare elect.

You could say community of, uh, with not many things going on. So the area itself had also been logged and mined. And even to drive up there now, it's extremely beautiful. Um, but. You could say that there's really not much else up there besides the Federation of domino at this time. But that's not exactly what they were looking at.

They weren't connecting so much with the town. I think. They had chosen that spot. Not because it was cheap land. But because this man let's, let's call him Falco from now on, because that's the name that he chose for himself. He was connected to, well, how could you say this? Hmm. Some sort of higher wisdom. Uh, wisdom that was present in him from birth. That allowed him to connect to. Knowledge and information that was present for many lives. And outside of just the experience and the information that he was gaining in his physical life. He was connected to this logic.

That was a gridding map of what he called synchronic lines. Now, these synchronic lines are very similar to what I talked about in an earlier episode of the podcast called, um, lay lines coined by the. The scientist or the researcher who was Alexander lay, I believe. Instead of in this case, synchronic lines are tapping into the same logic. That we connected with in the boa stone episode. You might remember that one. Uh, it was with me. Uh, gridding with, for lay lines, with copper rods.

That just sort of shook me to the core that maybe there's something about this world that I live in that is beyond what I can see and what I can touch and taste I'll beyond the senses. I might never really understand it, but I could touch. That it was wholly strange and magical. Um, Falco is in tune with that. And he had an understanding that four of the most important synchronic lines that run across the earth and move energy around this planet. Well, They collided right at this mountain. Now without any sort of.

Way to measure where these lines are, it was purely intuitive and purely connected to his. Um, you know, you could call it past life. Ancestral. I don't know a spiritual understanding. I don't have the words for it. And maybe neither did heat.

So he bought this land around this area to start this community. Or whatever. And soon after buying the land, they start excavating. In secret. Digging deeper and deeper into the mountain to connect with these energetic lines. Now I love the story here already because in many ways I feel that my work in. Spiritual and creative work is digging all the time in search of something that.

Well, it was already in me. It's already there. Um, the present. And they wanted to get into this mountain side to connect to the. Belt presence of the synchronic lines.

And that was the start. Of building the. Temples of humankind.

Uh, to hear the name, the temples of human kind. It's. It's got a name that you almost think they were, they were planning for it. You know, if civilization was to collapse, they wanted aliens to come down and wonder. Jeez, what the heck happened, you know, w who knows what that would look like? Craters and smoldering ashes, but, but protected inside of this mountain, I think. You could see humanity on a completely different light.

They dug into these mountains by hand in secret, illegally. And they built. Chamber within chamber within chamber, I think eight or nine chambers. Labyrinths. That. Well in their mind as they put it. Symbolize universal spirituality. Now this group it's, non-denominational not non-denominational it's not connected to any one particular read religion. As much as it's maybe linking together all the major spiritual beliefs into one sort of harmony. And I can say that when you walk through. The narrow passage that brings you into the first chamber. Of these temples, you would be struck. By the hand painted murals all along the wall. Painted on. Now warping wood. From them. Damp and moisture of the cave.

It felt as if you were, I was connecting to those ancient cave drawings that people have of like a bowl with tracing their hand and. In this case. Maybe the. The artists were more skilled, the illustrations more elaborate, but the idea the same. Putting down some sort of. Way to reflect on who they were.

And. On the left and right cave. The main division is. Uh, it's a story on each side of the development of both the masculine dominated culture and the feminine dominated culture. In other words, sort of a patriarchy and a matriarchy that are. Bringing in this tunnel. And then the tunnel expands into different. Beautiful. And elaborate.

Stain glass windows. Each one dedicated to, well, practically every single known deified force. In our world. Many that I hadn't even heard of an Africa and India. Um, but I was led immediately by our guide to see that Bridget. I was represented with flowing locks and the Irish harp in this beautiful Emerald green.

Now. Some of the other ideas in this first chamber. Uh, the matriarchy, uh, that the line of matriarchy was connecting with, with women being a place of birth and power and connected to Gaia, this living planet with a big image of a. Woman buried in the ground with this pregnant force that is being brought through her third eye into, into the world on the right hand side, on the masculine. It's connecting with stone circles, druidic peoples, uh, pagan, uh, iconography, you know, and the further you go investigate down these lineages of, of human history, you get into a very dark time. You know, you start and it's just full of beauty and love.

And.

Connection and raw material. And it gets corrupted in some way into war and poverty and famine and anger and fear and surveillance.

Many of the aspects that I. That I choose to keep, um, you know, at an arm's reach we're we're, we're present right there and.

But it was part of the story of how we're evolving part of the story of how we're becoming more in tune with each other, um, our, our, ourselves, and, and the reason why we're all here and. I looked into the end end of this chamber with sort of some curiosity, because I knew at the end of it would be the conclusion of this story, or at least give me some sort of sense of where we're going and what the domino area and people think.

I saw images of galactic kind of travel like were becoming multi-dimensional, uh, a sense that intergalactic, um, populations and.

One thing I noticed was two hands. Holding to chemistry beakers and in each one, a different object on the one on the right hand side. A hand holding a chemistry beaker. With.

A baby inside.

And on the left chemistry, beaker holding. An apple inside, you know, now. Art is up for interpretation. Maybe this is sort of a representation around how they think that cloning is coming, or maybe it's already here or. I'm not sure. It didn't really give me a lot of sense around maybe where we're going, but certainly a connected me with where I was and much more than what. Was around me, was this sense that. I was there for a reason to be immersed in this mystery.

And that's the most important part of my experience in that first chamber is that they were connecting how.

We can have hope. That hope is, is not something that we can that. I don't know that there's a miraculous part of our existence being here and we can't lose sight of that. Even amidst a dark history of war and famine and conflict, you know? That we are something beyond just. A coincidence. For a scientific kind of probability.

They dug these temples. At the same time they were developing things like new farming methods. Even their own currency. Starting to become very, very self-sufficient. And then by the 1980s, 1983. The first section of the temples were already completed entirely handmade by these community members carved into this deep rock igneous rock .

Which we'll come back to in a bit. Um, and then at the 1980s, the community grows attracting more residents committed to these sort of spiritual and ecological values. And it's only in 1992. When the temples of humankind are discovered by the Italian government. After a legal dispute. It could be evading taxes, probably who knows. But, I mean, Hey, can you imagine, like, Hey, I need to investigate your, your basement or, and then oops. They find this. Massive temple. You know, just one such chamber is what I tried do my best to elucidate, elucidate and described to you.

Nana. And then they had several chambers by that time, you know, can you imagine what the surprise was on the government officials? Well, I don't, I don't really know what the story is after that. I'll be honest with you. And I don't really like to expand upon the things that I don't know. Don't like to tell stories that I don't can't confirm our true. You know, But one way or another, it seems that. To use the word lightly that the Italian government didn't really like what was going on up there.

It seemed like they threatened to destroy it. Um, but. What I understand is that when they saw what was inside of it, They saw the incredible value that it was. And. You know, I think allowed it to exist, but. Probably they receive some sort of payment through the. Taxes of the tourist industry going up to, I don't know. But either way, this community that was creating its own currency and working to be self-sufficient around their values. High up in the mountains of Northern Italy, it was threatened. By the Italian government and. You know, they recognize that these temples are cultural and. artistic treasure.

It's cold. One of the wonders of the modern world or the man-made world, you know, similar to the Stonehenge, the pyramids of Giza, these, these things that defy our understanding around how they're built. And yet it's. It's not built millennia ago. it's. built right now. You know, it's wild. Like you can go see it.

And since then, you know, they've expanded their teachings, offering spiritual and personal development courses, you know? Yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, you, you, you can go into the internet and find whatever you want to find, but, but you're not here for that. you know? you can do your own research as a YouTube video that you can watch what what's connect in with. What it's like to be there in the flesh.

You might be interested to know that. Synchronicity guides. A lot of my relationship with Maria. It wasn't just how we met. In the sense that we were roommates during the COVID lockdowns, a complete strangers really, uh, that then developed a relationship upon that. Right place right. Time seems to fit a lot of how we guide our life.

And we chose to go to Italy. Because we pulled the names out of a hat and of all the places that we thought of go thought to go, uh, Turkey, Greece. Uh, Italy, Croatia and Italy is the one that came up and I had never been to Italy before. I was curious. It's kind of place. That's all the rich American celebrities like George Clooney go on holiday.

So you think, okay, it must be something to it, but at the same time, well, I wasn't really prepared for the type of culture I would encounter there and just the sheer beauty of the landscape. And of course the food can't forget the food, but this is not a food podcast. It's the story podcast. Stay on topic.

The reason why I'm talking about this is that our first day in Italy, we had to take a very long taxi, taxi, a trip out to our BNB because there happened to be a strike. , that was affecting public transit, but it turned out to actually be in our favor because we learned through the local, the local,, taxi driver. That well. There is a severe split between the culture of the north and the south of Italy. maybe this comes to a shock only to me, but my American education failed to tell me that there's a giant mountain range right through the center of Italy. That. Keeps almost a natural divide, but culturally, they're also very different. The taxi driver was telling us to not venture south into places like Naples or even more south, because it turns into sort of a wild west kind of thing. And in retrospect, what he's talking about I believe is, is exactly what, and here's where we start to get into the meat of this podcast.

What Robert Putnam, who was. Well, he's a political scientist who studied, um, the regional governance in Italy. Now, hang on. Now we're not getting too technical, but what he found was that regions in the north of Italy had higher levels of a term that he called social capital. Now. In economics, let's back up for a second.

There are three types of capital. Every sort of transaction or every sort of output that you create in an economic terms that either because a human did it or a machine did it, but the reasons why a human is able to make something, has to do with. Well, um, their human capital, which is their skills and their , education, maybe their expertise or their craftsmanship, but also their social capital, which is the degree to which they're connected with their community. You know, one guy can make one table, but 10 people can probably make,, Three times as many, or, you know, maybe more than 10 times as many tables, because they're organized. Think of an assembly line, that is a system that has an extremely high level of social capital.

And so what he found was that things like civic engagement or working with your, with your local politician or just trust in your community. Was much, much higher. In the north compared to the south. Maybe no surprise. Really? Why domino? Sure. The Federation. Started in the north fiddly because they could get together.

They trusted each other. And regardless of if they didn't like their. Civic community so much that they wanted to start their own. Federation. The culture at least allowed for a certain degree of cooperation. And so those. Those caves. It could be dug a lot faster.

So Robert Putnam was using this dichotomy and spread. You could say between the north and south of Italy as the center point to inform. His thesis that he outlined in a book called bowling alone. Uh, of a book that was released in the 1990s, but informed. A lot of. Of civic policy and. Now I would say. Uh, it was written before even the internet exacerbated a lot of the problems that he identified. What he started to see and called attention to was the fact that he was seeing social institutions, like local clubs, religious organizations, political parties even participation in things like. Picnics. Or, you know, neighborhood, uh, parties, they were going down. Tremendously. And he was able to use extremely strong data sets through advertising companies that were tracking the amount of ketchup that America was used to see that the reason why they weren't using so much ketchup is because they weren't having as many picnics.

Whereas the average person in the 1950s or sixties would have five picnics. By the 1990s, that number was two.

And it doesn't sound so much, but even when I grew up. I can count the number of picnics that I had with my community. Maybe on one hand within my whole life. You know, of course we didn't call them picnics in North Carolina, they would call them pig.

Pickins, you know, get a big pig and. Cook it up, get a bunch of styrofoam, trays, and a few pieces of corn. and. It sounds like a good time. But there's a lot that's happening. During that time much more than just eating food. And there's a significant difference between extreme. Uh, quality or conscious social interaction. And then, you know, a superficial one, everybody that listened to this podcast knows that there are certain people in your life that you can say anything to. And then there are others, like, you know, maybe your boss that you kind of just have to. have a little bit more standoffishness from, if that's the word just a little bit more distant. Um, but when push comes to shove, And crisis is right in front of you. Where do you. go? For help. Well, most people. They knock on their neighbor's door. And the thing that Robert started to identify was the most people in America. Didn't know the name of their neighbor.

Let's not lose track of. The focal point of this podcast, domino war in the north of Italy. This rubber Putnam business and bowling alone is just the way in which. My understanding was wrapped up. Now. In. New found purpose for living together in harmony and. Maybe there's something there about how. They can connect into higher levels of consciousness and spiritual understanding only through community that people that live alone may never be able to do. You know, there's often a sense that a hermetic life leads to much more. Enlightenment. Uh, there was division of the bodhisattva or going into the high mountain and retreating away from society in order to get that illumination and vision. And certainly there's some quality of that with domino war, but they still work together. And now they're opening up more and more to the, to the outside world.

Now domino war. Uh, in. North of Turin have integrated this neighborly love into community housing. They live in these self-constructed communal homes in which I believe 10 to 15 people might live in the same house.

They rotate who cooks dinner for the group? They have children who were born on the property.

And every day, this allows them to experiment with ideas that delve into intimacy. Lack of property, more sharing. And what I think they're touching upon here is a real non-community or. More like non duality. Where consciousness is not something that's separate between you and me, but that they can enter into a place in which. You know, what does it mean?

Nama stay.

I see a part in you. That when you're in that part and I'm in my part. We are one, something like that. Non-duality in which unity consciousness is more likely to reveal itself.

Yeah, that sense that I am you and you are me. Talk to him. See. I am in everything.

I think that's what they're touching upon when they live in these community housing and certainly in the. Judgment that you make about what's happening on the inside is beauty and love and harmony because they're exceptionally beautiful paintings on the outside. Dry stucco Italian walls. With. Detailed pictures, huge mushrooms. Butterflies. Globes. Dancing singing. Extremely detailed portrait. Piece of real people that are fundamental to the building of the domino Marion community. And.

Etched on the side of the building would be sculptures that look like. Gosh, it looked like somewhere between Egypt and Atlanta and figures with. Strong masculine chins with those. Chiseled. Uh, ponytail beards, like the Egyptians. Or, or frankly, strong feminine features with wide hips and large breasts and big eyes. All carved into the side of. Of the building.

One centerpiece in all of this is the dandelion. The dandy line is the symbol of domino war. And. You would be quick to realize that because it's drawn on nearly every single building they have. And. The dandy line is an incredible flower. Really? It. It has almost two blooming seasons in early spring and late, late fall or early fall.

And. Early spring. And it's a really incredible flower because it completely changes its state. You know, it. It has a lot of nutrients and its root. First of all, Maria is always reminding me of the medicinal properties of dandy line. It's an every part, the root, the leaf, the stem, the flower, everything has some sort of nutritional quality number one. Um, things are good for your heart.

Things are good for pain. Things are relaxing. I mean, it's a powerful, powerful plant. But just looking at that. Yellow. Flower. That many associate with weeds, it undergoes a complete transformation into a white globe with delicate. Almost a snowflake quality that in which it blows in the breeze to spread its seed. The Celtic people even use it as a symbol of what their understanding of their relationship to nature is both the masculine represented by this big yellow flower and the feminine represented by this empty globe that I described. It's a symbol of transformation, a symbol of. Non-duality and maybe some sort of transformation that happens only within the duality of things or that the fragment of the world in which we live in is. Is purposeful. Um,

Yeah, I'll leave that to you. We can talk about the dandy lion, a whole nother episode. In the center of. This, they have two sort of temples. They have open temples in which. It kind of looks like something like the Parthenon with standing columns and an open ceiling. In which the sky sort of becomes the roof.

He's. The center point of these big columns is gosh. Three figures. One of them. Um, Sort of an Eagle man. Uh, big torso with a head of an Eagle, uh, carrying a staff, which I understand is a representation of Horace because the domino Aryan people. Associate so much. Uh, just in the same way that we've moved from into the query and age, they could call it.

They think that we're in the age of Horace, you know, Um, and this image of Horace is all around. Domino or in one particular stain glass, I saw the wings of the Falcon of the Horace. Falcon is sort of. Wrapping around community and wrapping around the, this, this evolving Mandalah of, of, um, Symmetry and. Snake transformation.

I mean, it's just. It's hard to real, really picture, you know, So another, another figure that's up there is, um, a Aphrodite kind of figure, a very beautiful goddess that represents the feminine energy. And the other one would be sort of a pan or, um, playful musician creator. Um, all these are icons that are in the center of this. Or I should say the, at the focal point of this. Open temple, but at the other end is something that's extremely interesting.

It's, it's something that you would only read about in like a fantasy book or something. And when, uh, our tour guide was explaining what it is. I was dumbfounded to now first, I'll say that. I was dumbfounded by a lot, but I could sense that this tour guide she had been living on domino for longer than I'd been alive, just hard to believe.

30 plus years, she likely was in the temples. Carving and chiseling by hand painting these beautiful paintings that we were cert certain that we were going to see later on our tour. Um, Her name was, was lizard. That's the name that she took on when she joined the community, I think lizard pepper or something, because they do have some sort of rebirth quality where they drop their name. Of the outside world to embody a new presence within the dominant Orian community.

And she was something else, just a very, very, um, present woman. Um, I remember when I first met her, she walked in to start the tour and I felt like she had, she'd walked in this cloud of Chuli and. Different fragrances. It was, it was lovely. You know, the first. Impression was, was very sound. But of course in my mind, I was skeptical of maybe, you know, all of the cults that I had seen on TV or, you know, uh, that's the association I have in American culture with. With community living is. Cults and it's satanic or all sorts of blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, programming. You know, programming basically. Whereas she was very open and honest.

And would tell you the truth about what's happening in domino. If you asked.

Secrecy is known to be part of the alchemical philosophy.

And when I was reading books about alchemists, it's very hard to a. Well teach alchemy because the people that are engaged in the study of it are not really the kind of people that care to teach it they're there for themselves, or they're there for their own individual understanding. And this sense is that if they understand something, then it ripples out into the larger collective understanding.

This larger understanding or this rippling out, through one person knowing something is actually, a. Phenomenon called morphic fields. Which, , was researched by, um, a scientist. Rupert Sheldrake. A biochemist and a pair of psychological researcher. He kind of had this idea that when one person knows something or learn something that that knowledge is not necessarily contained within just the consciousness of that person, but rather it ripples out into other forms, other beings, they did some sort of experiment in which they had. Rats running inside of amaze and Australia and what they would record the time at which these rats would run the maze.

They discovered that then rats running the exact same maze in a different geographic location on earth. We're running it quicker. And you could argue, well, those rats were just smaller or smarter, but Rupert Sheldrake would argue that there's some sort of non-local. Connection that we have, consciously between all other humans. Or are there all there living things? All other living, living things connect with, a central key stone of the domino theory and philosophy.

They believe that the world is animate. It is living that every thing that is made has, uh, some form of consciousness, whether it's a, a tree or an animal or human, or even a crystal.

So when Maria chimed up and was sort of like, all right, what's happening over there in this big auditorium, she explained that. They have gatherings around the full moon. In which they have some sort of device that channels the light from the full moon to aluminate this. It looked like a amethyst or some sort of purple-y clear crystal in crystal. That's in the center on this big podium and they use these gatherings to divine or connect with an Oracle who can give wisdom around the future or the present and the past.

And. They all sit in this big community and connect with the power crystal. I mean, gees sounds great. Where's my invitation, you know, and those are open to the community much bigger than domino where anybody can come to those. So it, it felt like I was starting to witness that. Number one. Many of the preconceived notions about what my reality is, we're being challenged.

And then at the same time, my preconceived notions around what it means to be interacting with another person in community we're being challenged. Because here I was working so hard. To be open and disconnect from all the programming of. Paranoia around cults and autonomous communities. And every single expectation that I had, I was trying to let go.

And then I was just recognizing that I was still putting it there. The programming was so strong that I couldn't help, but have little voices come up in my head that were just like, oh, that's so stupid. Or all that says silly or geez, you know, All sorts of things, you know, and, and here. The data of the event. Was that this woman was very welcoming, very kind, very empathetic, spoke very plainly.

And you know about about many aspects of life that I found myself envious of and longing for. Um, Sure. Maybe the aesthetics are different and maybe I might not resonate so much with a big crystal for full moon, but maybe I would, I don't know. But what I do re re re resonate with are people that treat me like a human being. People that treat me with dignity and respect. And openness and are honest.

And that's, that's what I connected with. Um, most of all. Going back to these communal housing above many of the doorways and all of the. Um, Windows was a kind of cryptic language that I have a tough time describing for you all. Uh, in, in, I have describing for you. How seeing it. Um, but at the same time, It looked a lot like hieroglyphics that you see inside the pyramids. Egyptian higher group hieroglyphics in which there's not so much of an alphabet as much as a. Uh, an illustration that represents an idea.

It really opened my, we ask questions about what these these mean, and she could describe what they mean, but she'd said that they are also mysteries to them. That Falco brought a lot of these languages with him. Many of them they're still deciphering.

One such temple or inside of these cave, or I suppose cave or room chamber within this temple was connected to the element of water. And inside this water cave, I believe it was the second cave that, that, uh, they carved. Um, it descends in from underneath. Uh, an invisible staircase, like a staircase that folks out of an Indiana Jones movie, you know, where it just, the floor opens. It's incredible, but you would step down into this next chamber and it looks as if. A child. Has just drawn all over the wind, all over the wall. You know, a child. All of these etchings and different paintings. Uh, that looked like a language, you know, it looks like a language. And.

Of course on my intellectual level.

I only speak English. You know, I only understand the.

You know, the alphabet that we use in our language, but. I understand if I can get into my conceptual place, that symbols connect with information, information, connect with ideas.

And what she was explaining to us was that there are ideas within the. Language that's written in this room. That Falco hadn't even really taught them how to read. But that it connects with some sort of. If theoric understanding. Like just being in the presence of these symbols starts to connect with some sort of knowledge that is not inside of our brain or our memories. But it's connected to maybe past lives or another spiritual realm. Of understanding so that we get wisdom and insight around our lives. Just by being in the presence of these, uh, symbols and understandings.

Now at the same time, you could see. Drop it all way. However you want this hogwash kind of idea, like, oh yeah, sure. Whatever. And carry on, bring me to the next room, you know?

I really feel like there's something there with that. And. The reason why I say that is, is because of, of what I felt. When I felt many times you'll notice in even modern culture, a word.

Like far out is what they would say in the sixties or seventies, you know? Oh, that's so far out. So beyond our understanding and just by using those two words far out, you can connect with so much. Now the word that I hear so much in culture is. Does that resonate with you? Does that resonate with you?

I mean, It's a word that is reflected in sound.

That is connecting with an idea. And also a way of deduction. When you ask somebody, does it resonate with you? You're asking them not. What do you think. But does it strike a chord?

That rings true to you. And only you can understand what that chord sounds like.

And what I was feeling. In that space. As she was playing these beautiful wind chimes and allowing for sound to envelop the room. I was feeling that. I was getting this really big. Heaviness in my chest.

Heaviness that's that? Started with sort of a nervousness. Anxiety, maybe at the thought of being 10, 20, 30 meters underground.

But it's slowly enveloped into a calmness. And then a playfulness. And a curiosity. And a laughing kind of curiosity. And then the heaviness just sort of started to envelop into my whole body. At one point, Maria and I were walking down a set of spiral staircases between chambers and she asked me. Are you feeling it? And I was like, yeah. I'm definitely feeling it. And. Every single person connects with these temples on a different dimension.

So truthfully, that's why.

Take everything with what I say is a grain of salt and. Banish your expectations of what you can possibly get.

Another woman who was on the tour. Said that she kept hearing voices and all sorts of, um, Visions in her head. When she was down there, I just felt very clear, very present.

One by one chamber after chamber. I thought. Jeez, we must be down here for four or five, six hours.

But when we came out of the chamber, not to cut this. Trip too short. But when we came out of the cave, we only been down there for like an hour and a half, maybe two hours at the most, but it felt like the whole day had elapsed.

That is the part. That defies understanding that is the part. That. Connects me with this sense that the language that I was looking around on the walls. We're all the things that I didn't understand. That there could have been a part of me. That is outside of the me that thinks that it's me, you know, The part that thinks I'm calling right. That did understand. And did connect with it.

So before we wrap up.

I just want to talk about one other thing outside of the context of this podcast.

If the idea of being in a community. That's empowering. That's connected. That's authentic. And that's directed towards growth and understanding of each other and ourselves. Then I invite you to. Well, I invite you to check in with a quiet voice dot I E. A quiet voice started. He is a website that is connected to this page, uh, on which I have. Workshops, uh, and highlight some of the work that I'm doing with men's groups in-person and online. I feel that. Groups and communities are the way in which we can connect with ourselves and through each other.

And really just. Start to. Nourish that place of empowerment.

I am launching a new men's group. Enrolling starts in the new year in January. Um, and you can find more information about that on a quiet voice dot I E. I also have a in-person. Workshop that's happening at Adam Cree retreat house in Westport on the first Saturday of January. That is January 4th. It's going to be from 10 to five. Jeez, we're going to be doing so many exercises, but with the intention to connect with ourselves, to establish a presence that let us, that lets us connect with what we need to do in the new year.

And it potentially a community. Um, that we can use. Uh, to, to reach towards those growth opportunities. We'll be doing things like guided meditation, chanting, singing. Um, and all sorts of community exercises to just dive into this collective consciousness. There's a sauna and cold plunge. That's also happening on that day. And as well as an organic catered lunch, very excited, but any. Any sort of information you can find on a quiet voice. Dot E and any interest at all. Um, you can write to me. At Colin at a quiet voice. And we can schedule a discovery call to see whether or not a men's group. Or an online group. I couldn't can't support you. In your work. Thank you very much for your support of a quiet voice through this podcast.

So I'm thinking about how to finish this podcast because.

As you can tell there's a lot to talk about. There's a lot that I don't understand. There's a lot that. I'm seeking to understand. And I suppose that's seeking to understand is what brought me there. What brought me there. Last week. I talked about some wisdom that was coming from Charles Eisenstein. Um, I learned, uh, by reading one of his essays that he visited. Domino or on an invitation, stayed with some people and ended up reading a thousands of pages of their mythology that serves the backdrop of his understanding of domino. He condensed it. Into one paragraph. And I'd like to read that because to me. I learned a lot and I think it gives us some understanding. Around what is happening there?

As far as I know the largest. Intentional community in the world with 1000 members makes domino we're the largest in the world next to Aurora Ville. But what makes it extraordinary? Is the worldview and mission that carries it. Domino is founded on a very rich and detailed mythology. It originates with its fan founder, Falco, who in lectures and writings spanning several decades presented a kind of alternative history of humanity with associated metaphysical and cosmological teachings. It involves galactic civilizations prehistorical and para historical civilizations on earth. A cosmic battle between the forces of life and anti-life and a series of great defeats suffered by humanity and its galactic expression that cost us most of our senses and archetypes. Leaving us with only a limited menu of archetypes. And the. Five recognize. census. While these. Defeats. It happened millions of years ago, the domino Rian worldview holds linear time lightly, which means that it is also happening right now. It also includes multiple future timelines.

One of them leads to the final extinction of the divine aspect of humanity, corresponding to apocalyptic futures on earth related to catastrophe. Climate change, nuclear accidents, thermonuclear war, and so forth. A contrary, positive timeline leads to a triumph over the forces of anti-life and the recovery, uh, lost human capacities and archetypes. And so my digging continues, my digging for understanding continues, and I appreciate your patience. As we UN folded or unraveled this yarn of different ideas that are connected to this visit. To the Federation of domino and the temples of humankind.

The journey continues. There may not be a place where I'm going to reflect back, knowing that I know something. But I am loving the process.

And I hope you're loving it too. I wish you to connect with. Mystery in a way that's not connected with fear.

And I believe that that spirit of curiosity will guide us. It's guided me anyway. To the most profound beauty of my life.

I'll leave you before with the words of. Oberto a rowdy himself. Translated. From his book dying to learn.

I have been born so many times I have lost count. Even my awakening has passed through lives of preparation in every continent. And in my own way, it carries on even now. America 18, 12 Europe, a little earlier. Asia ancient Africa, Europe again and so on. I am bored now.

Board of being born. I know the stars and the era's. I have seen Oak trees been born and died. Very old. I have been leaf and fruit. I have fed upon myself. I have been unseen unthinkable heavens and sons. I have thought in unimaginable thoughts. I have not breathed. I have fished in rivers and I have been fished. I have been time.

I have forgotten my names and changed faces and voices. I have had wounds. I have had died with battle companions for a thousand flags.

I am paper and pen. Sword and side, diamond and coal. Aye.

I have learned to die in a hundred different schools. And I have died to learn again, to die, dying, to learn. The spirals have opened and closed again, sons have grown cold and hair has changed color. My tombs have been different water. Earth fire and abandonment. I have been my glittering prison. My senses have been mutilated. And widened. I have had blindness. And the site of a Falcon.

That's from the first page of dying to learn Oberto rowdy, Falco by his chosen name.

I wish you peace and presence until we speak again. Peace and presence as always my friends.

Goodbye for now.