Operation Mindfuck, Dadaism and Zen

Operation Mindfuck (OM), is a concept developed by Robert Anton Wilson in 1968. Which seems to me is a very rational term. Since every one in the social life structure is normalized. Everyone needs a dose of mindfuck to come out of the matrix. 

Operation Mindfuck, is a holistic movement of activism, art, performance art, guerrilla art, cultural jamming, reality hacking, chaos magic, words of power, civil disobedience, graffiti and any activity that breaks the normal and manipulated paradigm. 

Everyone lives in a concrete reality tunnel. Which is so shaped that one is blinded by his own ignorance. The operation mindfuck is the process of increasing the parameters. And walking beyond that tunneled vision. So, we can also see Operation Mindfuck as a discordian new age religion. And knowingly or unknowingly we all are part of this. May be in different names. Everyone wants freedom in the core of their being.  

Discordianism, is the philosophy or the religion attributed to the Roman Goddess, Discordia, equivalent of the Greek Goddess Eris, who is the goddess of discord/ chaos.  

The philosophy of discordianism might sound harsh, chaotic and rebellious but its not. Its rather absurd and beautiful as Rinzai School of Zen. Where the interpretation of life is based on the lucidity of both order and disorder, peace and chaos. And the total system is nothing more than a cycle of neuro perception game. 

Operation Mindfuck is a process of plugging the self out from the matrix of perception. And looking at the world as it is. If it becomes chaotic, which it generally does, the discords work as the phenomenon to balance out the even. 

During 1916 a movement started in Zurich, Switzerland called Dada or Dadaism. A form of anti art movement.

Francis Picabia, Dame ! Illustartion Cover of the magazine Dadaphone (1920)

The Dadaism as I understand it is also a Discordian movement because its based on the chaotic aspects. The movement questions what is art, and what it means in general. It rejects the subjectivity of the art world. 

Da Da in the romanion language means Yes Yes. 

The movement was a revolutionary form of art during the first world war. Where all objects were used as art. For example, in Dada poetry, no words are used. Only expression and made sounds convey the message. Which for the conventional standards might not be poetry at all. But Dadaism explains that there is no such thing as conventional when it comes to art. There is no high art or low art.  Dadaism is a revolutionary activism, hence a part of the Operation Mindfuck. 

Tritan Tzara in his book Dada Manifesto 1918 writes; 

“I speak only of myself since I do not wish to convince, I have no right to drag others into my river, I oblige no one to follow me and everybody practices his art in his own way."

Tzara makes it clear that art should not drag someone forcefully. And it is not something exclusive. but a part of everyday life, which everyone lives in a different way. I personally agree with the notion that art must be free from all prejudices. 

Francis Picabia writes; 

Dada is like your hopes: nothing

like your paradise: nothing

like your idols: nothing

like your heroes: nothing

like your artists: nothing

like your religions: nothing

Nothing should be hypocritical. Not even art. Once exaggerated it loses its value and beauty. Though its beautiful. Again we must remember the notion of balancing out. Even dadaism, is a exaggeration of the known, natural and normal. 

Operation Mindfuck can also be seen as a relativist movement. An affirmation to the common grounds of all senses, from which we can figure out which is true and which is false. Which has meaning and which is meaningless. A relative observation. 

Malaclypse the Younger in his book Principia Discordia, explains that every grid has a certain chaos. Some chaos appear to be in order, while some appear to be in disorder. One grid might make a chaos look like a order, while another might make it look like a disorder. He further explains that reality is like the Rorschahch. 

Again coming to the Zen understanding. The Rinzai school uses something known as Koan. Which is a statement or a question that the master gives to the student, which he needs to figure out. Koan are generally chaotic, and finally lead to peace (as said). For example one of the Koan states:

If you meet the Buddha on your path, Kill him. 

Koans are like the Epimenides Paradox, which are problems with the reference of self in logic. The difference compared to Zen is that Zen is of no logic. But since logic is the primary force of mind, we can compare the two. 

Thomas Fowler (1869) states of the Epimendes Paradox as;

"Epimenides the Cretan says, 'that all the Cretans are liars,' but Epimenides is himself a Cretan; therefore he is himself a liar. But if he be a liar, what he says is untrue, and consequently the Cretans are veracious; but Epimenides is a Cretan, and therefore what he says is true; saying the Cretans are liars, Epimenides is himself a liar, and what he says is untrue. Thus we may go on alternately proving that Epimenides and the Cretans are truthful and untruthful."

We can see a very subtle relation between the Zen Koans and the Epimendies Paradox, in which logic fails. That is what Dadaism is about. A logic beyond logic. And Operation Mindfuck is to evolve from the categorical logic to the logic of wisdom. 

The well known philosopher Rene Desecrates, also has a very subtle Discordian actualization in his philosophy. He gives a great importance to Pineal Gland. Which he calls to be 'the principal seat of the soul'. Connecting the body and the intellect. Now the psychedelic researchers would surely agree with that. Because Pineal Gland is associated with DMT. Which induces in humans the chaotic peacefulness. The Discordian Philosophy has a saying that goes 'consult your Pineal Gland'.

Terence McKenna, a profound philosopher and psychedelic guru explains;

“Chaos is what we've lost touch with. This is why it is given a bad name. It is feared by the dominant archetype of our world, which is Ego, which clenches because its existence is defined in terms of control.”

"Under the influence of DMT, the world becomes an Arabian labyrinth, a palace, a more than possible Martian jewel, vast with motifs that flood the gaping mind with complex and wordless awe. Color and the sense of a reality-unlocking secret nearby pervade the experience. There is a sense of other times, and of one’s own infancy, and of wonder, wonder and more wonder. It is an audience with the alien nuncio. One has the impression of entering into an ecology of souls that lies beyond the portals of what we naively call death. Are they the synesthetic embodiment of ourselves as the Other, or of the Other as ourselves? Are they the elves lost to us since the fading of the magic light of childhood? Here is a tremendum barely to be told, an epiphany beyond our wildest dreams. Here is the realm of that which is stranger than we can suppose."

Operation Mindfuck hence is a process of getting out of the matrix. For doing so one needs to understand and know that there is a matrix. And matrix creates life, and sucks out of it. And matrix is within other matrix. And the cycles goes on. Hence the whole movement is an illusion game. And each naked reality is a doors of perception to another reality. McKenna is correct when he says its a labyrinth. 

Aldous Huxley must have ventured out of one matrix to another matrix, when he writes the following in his book 'The Doors of Perception"; 

“At breakfast that morning I had been struck by the lively distance of its colours. But that was no longer the point. I was not looking now at an unusual flower arrangement. I was seeing what Adam had seen on the morning of his creation - the miracle, moment by moment, of naked existence.”