Hi,
I attended this incredible rave last saturday at the Hollywood Palladium called "The Awakening". ATB and Infected Mushrooms were the performing artists, and being a huge fan of these artists for years, I expected something phenomenal.
However nothing would have prepared me for what I experienced there( except perhaps our beloved spice ;=) ). The rave was no concert, it was more like Spiritual Awakening 101.
ATB started his set with some commercial trance stuff, but then things got more interesting. I noticed the banner which was a huge egyptian man lying on a sarcophagus. The design and color scheme looked rather like our forums's banner. What a strange coincidence, I thought. And then the magic began soon. I started having these insane visions, colorful patterns, feeling of myself getting morphed. The lyrics started to make sense at a deeper sense - "stop being seperated", "wake up to face yourself". My visions became deeper and deeper, almost like a spice trip. Infected mushrooms started their set, and IZen did this weird shaman stuff, muttering something to himself and wriggling his fingers towards the crowd. While he did this, my visions kept getting crazier. I kept my eyes closed, just dumbfounded and feeling extremely confused. Could they be telepathically sending messages to the crowd, was I experiencing something profound? Reality could not be this crazy, no, I must be losing my mind, and then infected mushrooms started playing their song "Becoming Insane". I could not help but LOL at the coincidence. My thoughts started going into overdrive, and thoughts of unrelated stuff like 2012(I dont believe in it BTW), shift of global conscience, etc. raced through my mind.
Just when I thought I could take it no more, some dude walked straight towards me through the crowd, and told me not to think and worry so much. He pointed to my chest and asked me to focus just there.
I did that, and I became more relaxed, although the colorful visions persisted. I had this intense feeling of KNOWING that I was God, that my conscience was God, and I was the answer to what I had been seeking for so long. I felt this intense sense of connection with everyone around me, knowing we were the same. This was probably the most profound and beautiful feeling of connection I have ever had in my life. This might be irrational and you may not believe it, but I was at a state where I felt I could transfer my state of conscience into others just by looking into them. Some of them would not first believe it, nodding in disbelief, but soon they would get it, their eyes shining with understanding and love. My friend later said he felt the same as I did, and felt that something truly profound had occurred. Perhaps this event was some modern replication of a shamanic ritual, I am not really sure.
I would love to hear if some of you had attended this event as well, and you too felt something profound. For those of you in Chicago, I believe a spring awakening concert is being held during march. I would definitely recommend you to go check it if you are in the area, not only for the spiritual journey but also for the music.
Much love to everyone. And peace.
This is it. This is what it was. This is what it will be.