New from Brian George: “Behind the Mask, the Presence, and Behind the Presence, the Mask”

“Where did the beings go who were the models for the masks, the instigators whom the masks invoke? They were once, at least in their own eyes, as fully physical as ourselves, a pattern of vibration that creates the appearance of solidity. They have disappeared beyond the horizon. They have climbed back through a ten-d donut hole above the clouds…”

So begins Brian George’s latest meta-mythopoetic phantasmagoria, a literary lemniscate that, true to its title, reveals and conceals, conceals and reveals its message, in evocative language both strange and strangely familiar.

There are the essay’s words, and there is that which is behind or beneath the words. If the words function as a portal, they also serve as a mirror; and they are a smokescreen and a mask in themselves. They invite us to reflect upon the ways we mask our own reality, our complicity, our consensus trance. George writes:

“In our culture we think of the mask as something that conceals, to be used by technocrats at Burning Man or by traumatized killers in slasher flicks, by Southie bank robbers or by Dyak headhunters. We are the way we look, just human. Masks are seldom worn by serious adults.”

And a few lines down:

“Pay no attention to the fallout from your actions. It is true that certain forests have gone missing. Whole populations have been ripped up by the roots. If some sea has met its death by accident, well, what is that to you? The mask that you wear is a testament to the Power of Positive Thinking. We are no more than the innocent corporate henchmen that we seem!”

And farther down:

“Our bodies are the masks for vast energies that we cannot hope to investigate, not most of us at least, and that we can, even with the right help, just barely learn to control. We would prefer to mask these energies. How easy it is to pretend they never did exist, these energies that turned an egg into a fetus into a person in nine months…”

Of course, this newsletter only has reasonable space to provide a few snatches from the essay (which verges on a lengthy prose poem), and it behooves the adventurous reader to experience it in full.

As one commentator replied: “I love reading your pieces Brian because I can take every sentence as a thing in itself… and as a complete playground that has the uncanny knack of opening up a myriad of both visual and mental constructs.”

Read “Behind the Mask, the Presence, and Behind the Presence, the Mask” and discover for yourself why, as J.F. Martel, co-host of the Weird Studies podcast, put it, “Surely, George is one of the rare living writers who truly deserve to be called visionary.”

You might also be interested in Brian’s 2022 book, Masks of Origin: Regression in the Service of Omnipotence, available from Untimely Books. Rumor has it another one is emerging from the depths as we speak…

We welcome your comments or questions—and of course, your support. Become a patron of Metapsychosis to allow us to continue bringing you this journal without a pay-wall and ad-free. But that is not to say that patrons don’t get perks. As a patron of Metapsychosis (or a supporting member of Cosmos Co-op), you’ll get access to our private community forum (Infinite Conversations), as well as the opportunity to participate in creative offerings such as our Writers’ Circle (starting April 14).

Thank you to our newest patrons, Jenny, David, and Sreedevi! And thank you to all our readers…

Until next time,

Marco V Morelli
Editor-in-Chief, Metapsychosis journal
Co-Creator, Cosmos Co-op