artwork by james koehnline

Chapel Perilous

"Chapel Perilous, like the mysterious entity called "I", cannot be located in the
time-space continuum: it is weightless, odorless, tasteless, and undetectable by
ordinary instruments. Indeed like the Ego, once you're inside it there doesn't
seem to be any way to ever get out, again, until you suddenly discover that it
has been brought into existence by thought and does not exist outside of thought."
Robert Anton Wilson, "Cosmic Trigger"

"House of Fear" by Sylvi Alli
(MP3 file)

 

THE EIGHT-CIRCUIT BRAIN
C-8 Quantum -- NonLocal (subatomic processes)
C-7 Mytho-Poetic -- Genetic (DNA, Ancestral and Planetary Mind)
C-6 Psychic -- Intuitive (Central Nervous System)
C-5 Sensory -- Hedonic (The Body and the 5 Senses)
C-4 Social -- Moral/Sexuality (The Hive; Collectivization)
C-3 Conceptual -- Symbolic (Intellectual Map-making)
C-2 Emotional -- Territorial (Status and Personal politics)
C-1 Physical -- Survival (Self-preservation, Shelter, Food)

The 8-Circuit Brain is a theory for intelligence increase developed by Timothy Leary in his book INFO-Psychology and then, revised towards its practical application in Robert Anton Wilson's PROMETHEUS RISING and my own book ANGEL TECH. (for more details on the eight circuits, click this). What does the 8-Circuit Brain have to do with Chapel Perilous ? This 8CB model can act as a kind of butterfly net or a grid or map to assist the reintegration process of any soul that has been lost, abandoned or damaged inside Chapel Perilous.

The 8-Circuit Brain can serve as a kind of grid for soul retrieval.

Chapel Perilous can be thought of as a non-local strata (beyond time/space) where lost, damaged and/or abandoned souls remain in suspension until retrieved and reintegrated as a living prescence through our bodies here on Earth. Almost everyone I have met and/or have gotten to know over the last two decades is, or was, inside Chapel Perilous and (in order of greatest percentage to the smallest):

1) does not know it and remains there unaware of their displacement
2) has awakened to the fact and cannot or does not want to leave
3) has awakened and managed to escape with soul intact or, paranoid
4) has awakened, escaped and returns there for reasons of their own.

I count myself among those who fortunate enough to have awakened
and escaped with soul intact and as one who periodically returns there
for reasons of my own. I know of others who have not been so lucky.
What I've seen there and what I've learned since is my story to share.

 

clcik the above image for the Chapel Perilous mythos

 

OUTSIDE SHOCKS

Beyond the Eight-Circuit Brain model for Intelligence Increase, our actual lives skip through a series of outside shocks. They are "outside" insofar as they arrive from sources beyond our control and comprehension, such as sudden evictions from our rented apartments, the unexpected break-up of a marriage, falling in love, the birth and death of a child or a parent or a good friend, loss of employment and means of income, surprise terrorist attacks, any sudden influx of massive material wealth, kundalini eruptions, Near-Death experiences and the natural disasters of earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, pestilence and so forth. None of these outside shocks originate in the Eight-Circuit Brain. However, the 8-CB can provide a wealth of ways to absorb, integrate and transmit these outside shocks.

As enough outside shocks are absorbed and integrated, we can become as human shock absorbers for the transmission of initiatic shock to others. As we are initiated, so can we become initiates. Some of us undergo this process instinctively without any conscious plan, while others approach it on purpose as a an ongoing Self-initiation ritual; either way, outside shocks absorbed and integrated throughout our systems become transformed into transmission of its presence to others. There are as many ways this process occurs as there are personalities serving its initiatic purpose, each with their own signature style of signaling the transmission to receptive others.

 

GEORGES I. GURDJIEFF (1866-1949).... ALEISTER CROWLEY (1875-1947)

 

THE MAGUS AND THE MYSTIC

I see two basic ways this initiatic process occurs with each defining different fates or paths: 1) the path of the Mystic and 2) the path of the Magus. Two prominent 20th century figures of esoteric knowledge, Georges I. Gurdjieff and Aleister Crowley, exemplify what I mean by these two extremes. Examine the expression in their eyes and perhaps you can detect the effects of the differing fates of Gurdjieff the Mystic and Crowley the Magus.

Back in the early eighties I had the privilege of being in the personal company of Robert Anton Wilson. That's when I noticed him using the word "mysticism" in a way that seemed at odds with his otherwise scientific attitudes and thinking. And so, I asked Bob what that word meant to him and he said, "mysticism is anything you can do to open your whole self up to the cosmos." By that definiton I felt like I was either already a mystic or on my way to becoming one. Sometimes I think Bob was more mystic than magus.

In 1987, I spent every day for three weeks in the Sedona Arizona home of Dr. Christopher S. Hyatt helping him typeset and prepare my book ANGEL TECH for its first Falcon Press printing; Dr. Hyatt is the publisher of this press. During this intense period Dr. Hyatt and I got to know each other and I got to learn a few things about magick; in my opinion, Dr. Hyatt is far more magus than mystic. Aleister Crowley's magickal axiom, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law... love is the law, love under Will," speaks precisely to the magickian's alignment with Will as a superior principle under which love, or devotion, serves. The mystic, on the other hand, follows a more devotional "path of the Heart" yielding to synchronicities and forces of nature the magus is attempting to control and bend to his will.

Both paths relate to different ways of responding to acceleration, whether that be of perception, energy or presence. The magus works to control and direct the forces, whereas the mystic works to serve and surrender to the the forces. Each represents opposite extremes in the spectrum of orientation, or how we approach life and also, how we tend to respond to the outside shocks that come our way; the curve balls and sucker punches life throws us from time to time. I offer these references here as they may become useful to discovering something of your own orientation, especially during any time logged into CHAPEL PERILOUS.

 

 

FATE, DESTINY AND THE FUNCTION OF OBSESSION

Outside shocks are not inherently good nor bad, negative nor positive, but neutral by nature (the universe is not out to get us; the universe is only out to get the paranoids). Outside shocks arrive as our fate; how we respond to them determines our destiny. Fate is unknown until it happens; nobody controls fate. Destiny, on the other hand, can be shaped by the ways we respond to our fate, our lot in life. Fate is in the cards; destiny, how we play them. The Eight-Circuit Brain provides a grid to reference multiple ways of responding to outside shocks with the possibility of utilizing their self-penetrating impact creatively towards various levels of metaprogramming; adjusting habit patterns, behaviors, beliefs and thinking processes to synchronize closer with our true nature. This process of responsiveness to outside shock expresses a mysticism of Self-initiation.

Mysticism means whatever allows the least mediated, and most direct, contact with the cosmos; Self as the archetype of wholeness of which the self of "ego" represents the degree of resiliency for bridging the more vertically-oriented internal landscape with the more horizontally-oriented external world-at-large.

Shock is the gift that keeps on giving. I don't qualify any outside shock or trauma as " initiation" per se as that definition feels too convenient to me. I see the first initiation as Self-initiation which unfolds over time by the many ways in which we continue responding to the series of outside shocks that real life invariably delivers. Shock can disconnect the ego from its familiar reality structures and leave us in a state of profound subjective disorientation, numbness and confusion about what is "real." Ego's bridging function between inner and outer worlds trembles, shakes and sometimes collapses under the stresses of outside shock. A state of "unreality" can infuse our consciousness.

When the ego feels "unreal", it can react with panic and anxiety which can naturally lead to fixating and obsessing on something or someone in ego's heroic attempt to regain lost ground and a sense of control. Many are the ways we can obsess: sex, money, drugs, alcohol, religion, ideas, romantic affairs, work, our health, causes, our appearance, animals; the list goes on and on...

Three things to know about obsession:

1) they express compulsive reactions to initial originating shocks or traumas
and are not the shock itself; obsessions express forceful reactions to shock
2) our obsessions point to where we tend to be in the most direct, intuitive
absorption of life energies; our obsessions show us where all the energy is
3) obsessions express symptoms of the ego working through the effects of
past shocks and traumas by their transformation through us.

Any obsession that fails to increase your life force may not be an obsession at all but the locomotive momentum of a very heavy force of habit that has overcome the force of your will. This path of inertia leads to the back door of Chapel Perilous. Any obsession that increases your energy to the point of unstoppable exhaustion and burnout is your life going out of control. This path of mania leads to the front door of Chapel Perilous. If you are skipping along minding your own business when an outside shock suddenly interrupts your life as you've known it, perhaps you were unaware of standing on the trap door of Chapel Perilous. And that, very soon, you could be falling, falling...

 

f

..a

....l

.....l

.........i

..........n

..............g

There are roughly three ways to enter Chapel Perilous: The Front Door, the Back Door
and the Trap Door. Those who enter through the front door fly though a swirling vortex
of cresting novelty. Those entering the back door trudge inside the Chapel waist deep
in an entrenchment of habit. Then there are those who unexpectedly drop through the
trap door after an outside shock rips the bottom out from beneath them, as they freefall
into the abyss. All who enter Chapel Perilous have embarked on an initiatic voyage as

babes in the abyss.

Not all the babes in the abyss escape Chapel Perilous intact. Some are
emotionally stillborn, while others are born psychically deformed and
blind-sighted by terror. There are good reasons why this place is called
Chapel Perilous and not Chapel Happy. Yet there are also ways to emerge
with an entirely renewed outlook on life, as any genuine psychic death and
rebirth experience can bring about. Chapel Perilous. A chapel is a place of
worship and perilous means fraught with danger. Chapel Perilous refers to a
place in the psyche where a certain kind of danger has turned into a place of
worship. Whether or not that certain danger is accidentally or intentionally
worshipped depends entirely on your relationship, or lack thereof, with...

Chapel Perilous.

If you don't know whether or not you're in Chapel Perilous, file away the
following information for future recall. If you are starting to wake up inside
Chapel Perilous, see if you can remember which of the three doors you entered
to get inside: was it the front door of novelty, the back door of habit or the trap
door of outside shocks ? Here are a few pointers to refresh your memory:

TIMOTHY LEARY
Honorary Front Door Patron Saint of Chapel Perilous
status: escaped with soul intact

BACK DOOR: HABIT. This door can creek open during any episode of staggering
inertia, psychic and creative stagnation, and psychological immobilization where
the force of our will has been clearly overcome and overwhelmed by a heavier
force of habit and redundancy. The force of inertia becomes its own force of will.
This can manifest as placcid apathy or steely cheer and an overly structured or an
extremely messy life (depending on disposition); the back door may be like two
French doors swinging both ways. A hyperactive fantasy life, castles in the clouds,
can sometimes alleviate the undercurrent of anxiety and boredom resulting from
the absence of change, growth and novelty. One's comfort zones become a tomb.
There's a fine line between a rut & a groove and the rut wins! Too stuck.

KURT COBAIN
Honorary Trap Door Patron Saint of Chapel Perilous
status: unknown

TRAP DOOR: OUTSIDE SHOCK. This door can fall away at any time without
any warning and throw us into a spiritual freefall with little or no references to
guide or manage the experience. We feel at the mercy of greater forces that can
not be comprehended nor controlled, though we may desperately try to do both.
One common cause of Trap Door entry into Chapel Perilous occurs in nonstop
catastrophic romances between lovers suffering massive Anima and Animus
projections (see The Anima Shrine). Other examples include culture shock
and other examples listed in the "FATE, DESTINY & THE FUNCTION OF
OBSESSION " section. Agitation, disorientation and deep feelings
of being lost often accompany this entry into the Chapel.

Once you can determine which door you entered through you may be able
to trace your way back out but probably not by leaving the same way you
came in. If you're stuck in the Chapel because you came in through the back
door of overwhelming habit, you're likely to remain there if you try to leave
through the back door. Try the front door, instead. Same goes for those who
came in through the front door of novelty. Try the back door of increasing
your consistecy through repetitive habit patterns, such as going to the same
restaurant every day, at the same time, and always ordering the same meal
(of course it would help if you really like the food). As the front and back
doors represent opposing orientations of change and stasis, they can be
used against and with each other as counterpoints for creating enough
leverage to neutralize any tendency for identification with either.

artwork by james koehnline

Those who fell in through the trap door of outside shocks may not find such
easy or simple solutions. As this was my first trip into the Chapel, I can say
my exit attempts proved futile until I learned the secret of inner stillness. It
seems that I could not walk out of any Chapel door if I was anxious, in panic
and in any way drawing attention to myself. Once I agreed to undergo the ego
death phase of my initiation and surrender my attachment to any outcome, an
inner stillness replaced my previous agitation. With my first big drop through
the trap door coinciding with falling deeply in love for all the wrong reasons,
this also meant learning to get my attention off my obsession with this young
femme fatale and onto the Anima herself (via the Anima Shrine ritual). This
had the effect of defusing the negative emotional charge of animosity in my
body and I walked out of the Chapel intact. After awhile and to my surprise,
I started missing the place. I returned; this time, through the front door.

---

A Parallel Universe of Strange Loops

---

 

 

click image for a window
into a strange loop

Though all three doors convey different reasons for slipping inside Chapel
Perilous and very different experiences of what that's like, they all share a
common expression as a "state between states", a kind of bardo limbo zone
where I could not seem to get in-sync or in time or in step with the rest of
my life. My timing was off. In fact, the longer I remained in the Chapel, the
worse my timing got. It got to the point where I was aware of going through
the motions but without any real conviction. Even I couldn't believe myself
anymore. Hello there. Pardon me. Hi, I'm not really here but I'm here.

Hi, I'm not really here but I'm here.

If there were telephone booths inside Chapel Perilous, I was phoning in
my life, rather than living it. As my consciousness set up residence in the
Chapel, my bleak internal landscape was mirrored by the equally dismal,
dreary walk through the bardo netherwords of my waking hours and my
sleepless nights. I return to Chapel Perilous now for creative reasons with
confidence of knowing I can leave anytime via the door of inner stillness.
Chapel Perilous provided its own parallel universe of strange loops,
made even stranger by how familiar they eventually became for me.

Over the years since I have come and gone like some psychic tourist,
at times pondering which world was the "real world". I suppose that
entertainment is one way I worship danger. Makes sense. As an artist,
I don't like to stray too far from peril. I have come to the conclusion
that any art produced by conscious mind, no matter how wonderful,
is dead art. And that art stays alive by staying dangerous. As I have
gotten on in years (I am 53 now), my visits to Chapel Perilous have
grown less and less frequent. One way I can understand this comes
through knowing more about my needs. I just don't need as much.
A little bit of vintage chaos goes a long way for me these days...

Emerging from the Chapel Perilous

Why would anyone want to enter Chapel Perilous ?
For some, once is more than enough. Others make
their homes there. As for me, I come and go according
to the Muses' whims and only stay as long as integrity and
autonomy permit. As they say, nice place to visit but...