Family finds you

I made it! We're here now. Seventeen days of straight travel but it was all worth it. This place is so beautiful... Glorious pieces of art, both natural and man-made, strewn endlessly about. I feel at home here, the same mediums I have spent my life perfecting being displayed on such a grand scale in this forest. A beauty to behold, truly.

It's like all of my life and everything I have learned was taught to me by this forest, through other things. All along, it was this place, influencing it all so I may eventually discover it. What an amazing idea.

I am not the first, nor will I be the last, to visit this forest. Everyone does, and everyone leaves their mark - It's both meaningful and meaningless. Each piece of art, I mean. So much goes into the art, every piece is a different person's life... And its beautiful, but there are so many that each individual is lost into a sea of something glorious.

I won't just be another wave in an ocean, though. I have a plan, something to set myself apart from the rest. Something to be memorable, maybe even to be the centerpiece of this canvas.

I am going to go down in history here.

Thousands of names, faces, lives, and stories - all told through single works of art. There were people's entire legacies sitting here, and despite being completely exposed it was safe. The safest place for it, even while vulnerable, was this forest. Firstly, there are so many that one who would wish to damage a legacy would be overwhelmed. Besides, nobody who seeks this place out lacks respect for the people who poured their soul into it.

Not many people at all seek this place out. It's hard, although not impossible, to find where it is online. On top of the difficulty locating the forest, it is incredibly far from any large population. Over 10 miles from the nearest occupied house, and much further from any large city.

That's part of it's charm, though. No cities nearby, no light pollution. The forest around the collection of art is beautifully untouched by humanity. The most vivid greens, the clearest skies, and well-defined constellations decorate this gorgeous, secluded offshoot.

Chirps of birds and even the little pit-pattering of the squirrels is clear and crisp, almost emphasized in an otherwise silent grove.

Each artwork erodes, decays, decomposes, et cetera. Nothing is maintained out here, but that's part of the story told by these works; not necessarily overtaken by nature, but assimilated. Often times people forget that humans are natural, and a part of nature, not a separate entity. Animals went extinct before us, and when we are gone things will still go wrong.

We are but a piece of this world, just the same as any other animal, yet we have placed ourselves so far above others. Many animals eat other animals, or even each other, yet we are the only animals that question whether it is moral. Many animals harm the environment, yet we are the only ones to try to reverse it.

And I think we should. We are empowered so highly that we are capable of these thoughts, and that we can survive and even thrive while helping rather than harming the environment.

But who decides what something's natural state is? The species that clash, how do we determine which is superior? Then what does that make us, gods? Beings to simply rule over the Earth and enforce rules we do not always follow ourselves?

But that's what all of our leaders are. This world belongs to those who are confident and delusional enough to take power where there is none. But the rest of us just play along and they get away with it. From birth, we are raised as mindless cogs to a machine that we cannot even benefit from. We are imbued, engraved even, with these values and ideas that make the horrible things seem even more outlandish. So much so that we would be deterred from even considering it a possibility.

All so the elite get away with it for longer.

"Cults are bad!"

They are a cult. Every last one of them.

The higher up the totem pole, the more vile human beings seem to get.

So they will tell you I am part of a cult, and I am. But I am not a part of a cult that is nearly as horrible as theirs. Sure, we have beliefs that transcend what science confirms. We engage in rituals. But they do too, and they harm people with theirs. Our purpose is only to grow closer to the natural world. There is no God. God is a story they tell you to keep you in their control. But most don't get that. The only thing above us as humans, the only higher entity, is the constructs which allow us to live. There is a deeper sentience, one that flows through all things with energy, one that creates and destroys and sustains and abandons.

It is here, in this forest. It is present here. And the only way to live beyond death is to join it, to assimilate yourself into the being that is present through all things. One thing we got right with our religions is the idea of letting go of your worldly desires, the things you think make you whole. None of that truly matters, not in the end. We live only to satiate and slave away for the rich so that they may further indulge in gluttony. We die for a cause greater than us, something you cannot hope to understand until you are a part of it.

The Family is benevolent. They could all complete their journey immediately, but there is something precious in a human soul. So, each member stays behind for 5 to 10 years to enlighten more individuals. Each new member brings all that they can to contribute, so that we all may live the same way. Every once in a while, someone somewhat wealthy comes in. All of their belongings are sold, and the money ensures food, clothing and housing for the Family for much longer.

We do not just buy food; we grow it too. Farms aplenty reside in our town, and we indulge ourselves into the natural ways of life. We do not eat meat outside of ritual. Our vegan diets revolve around natural supplements, and we often order spices or seasonings to enhance the flavor. Each meal is its own ritual, which one partakes in by covering their eyes and plugging their ears and pinching their nose. Unfortunately we do not yet have a system in place to remove the sense of touch, but this is the closest we have come to isolating taste. This way we may experience our food the way it is supposed to be experienced.

We call the being which flows as an indescribable form through all things that hold energy the Essence. This forest happens to be the best gateway to the Essence that we have found. I served eight years in the Family, and was sent early because of the foundational work I did.

In my past life, I dealt drugs. Even then, I upheld a certain belief system - nothing, absolutely nothing, was laced. Back then I didn’t know, but I had some feeling. Every time I used LSD, I felt it. Each drug has a purpose, one that is beyond our control. They pull you closer to different things. LSD is what helps you gain perspective beyond your typical ability, and it’s how I discovered the Essence. Most are recruited, but few including me have some premonition that tells us of the Essence. I knew there was something there, and so I did digging. It was my call to arms, and I used every last favor I was owed to get to the Family. I’m not sure what it was, but I had this understanding that I would find them eventually.

The way to the Family, and to the Essence, is simple. Worldly belongings, personal value through others’ debt, and any kind of power, must all be shed. None can be spared; You are to survive and that is it. Then, when your mind is ready, the Family finds you.

I brought LSD to the Family. Through trial, we discovered the ideal dose size and environment depending on personal experiences and developed a system to determine how each person would undergo the process.

Scientists tell you it will kill you, it’s bad for you. And that it is. But once you realize that your physical form is the only thing limiting the power of your soul, you will understand that it is a good thing. The reason you feel so good doing things so bad for you is because it is what truly enriches you. This often reaches people in ways that are not perceived ideal. Depression, for example. Those who commit suicide are not aware of the Essence, rather they have been pulled by it. The method by which they are pulled, I disagree with, but I know that I do not understand the vast complexity. I am but a pawn, and I must serve my purpose to reach the greatest gift I could possibly receive.

Immortality is a fallacy, they will say. In one way, yes. But true immortality, true power, does not come from this world. It comes from a dimension higher than us, one we cannot yet perceive. We are not from here, we are not from these bodies. Our physical forms are not something we outgrew over time, but something that has been a trap designed for us all along.

This is my final story, my final message to aid the Family in teaching the newest. Each of us, before transcending, documents our final perspective so that continual learning may persist. Think of a perspective as a language. English is one, and yet there are so many others. Have you ever run into the issue of a word in one language not being able to translate into another? I think in English, as do many. Many think in a language that is not English, and they perceive some concepts that we cannot due to our limited scope of thought that is English. Different perspectives are limited in different ways, but each has its own unique understanding of reality. And so, the more you can explore, the more perfectly you can understand something.

Goodbye now, and thank you, Father Rudan. Thank you for your sacrifice to remain present in the material plane eternally for the sake of others, and thank you for showing me the way to purity. And thank you, all of you, who are reading this or hearing this or perceiving this story in some way. Thank you so very much for making more meaning out of my sacrifice, and for learning and being willing to learn more. Your journey will be magnificent, and you shall reach the eternal peace.

Now I will be art. My story, my face, my body, to join the thousands hanging from these trees.