An Over-explanation of the Burnt Negative Series

Both meaning and content derived from this series are left ambiguous and up to the beholder, but I wish to share a bit of how I view it, with a few tangents into my world-views. The burnt film photos allude to a connection between the micro and macro worlds. This lack of clarity allows the viewer to select what world or realm they are peering into, ranging from the microscopic level, perhaps a deep sea environment, to some nebulous celestial body in outer space. Also, the process of transforming an image of reality via fire and the resulting cavernous holes in the film, symbolize the true nature of our world. 

Our perception of the world as being stable and concrete are popular beliefs within a materialist scientific model. Consciousness and being-ness are still not fully understood or explained. Scientists and philosophers attempt solutions by offering several perspectives or prospective views as to whether we inhabit a mechanistic materialist universe, a biocentric (panpsychism) reality, or even that we are imbedded in a simulation. I enjoy this one - a view suggesting a simulacrum of architectonics surrounds us, that only appear to be a real universe to our somehow sentient avatar roaming within it and perceiving felt experiences. We are minded but somehow within a simulation (hard to swallow - but it IS entertaining). 

Our reality can also be understood to be a construct built by the brain and the slew of neurochemicals to generate a conscious experience; your mind essentiality hallucinating your perceived world as the picture we assemble inside our heads is merely a representation of the perceived outer world. These, to me, are not profoundly stable foundations or tenets - that we must trust our normal state of mindedness - which is a flimsy construct of the outer world created in our heads. Many slight perturbations of these workings, especially when a mind-altering hallucinogen is introduced to the mix, seem to change the shutter speed, as it were, or even the entire movie of consciousness altogether (as in a "DMT flash"). You may be wondering to yourself what a DMT (N,N-Dimethyltryptamine) flash is - please see my On Terence McKenna page under the Miscellaneous section. Briefly, DMT is a fast-acting and very short-duration hallucinogen that produces extremely powerful experiences, often replacing your entire visual reality with a completely alien world or dimension. But, don't ask me, I've never had first-hand experience - just utterly fascinated with all things psychedelia and especially this specific tryptamine class of substances. One other thing I will say about it is that the molecule is strikingly similar to the neurotransmitter serotonin and to psilocyn/psilocybin - I believe the only difference between it and the active psychedelic compounds in psilocybe/magic mushrooms, is the added phosphorus group - 4-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine.) If this stuff interests you, as it does me,  I have several links under the Other section on my links page in this vein, plus a bit about a friend of mine working in the field of psychedelic study and links to much of his research.

We must always be searching and informing ourselves to likewise build up our constructs of what we think is going on here within our bodies and in the perceived world around us. Not many will fancy this worldview, but it is one dear to me, one that promotes scientific skepticism, abandonment of the dogmas of tired religious belief systems, and one which embraces the unknown. Our ability to continually adjust and modify our take on what the hell is really going on here seems paramount. Suffice it to say, mystery and discovery are more appealing to me than the archaic systems we have been handed and guided to believe by charlatans and those wishing to control via imposition. The camera film, and the holes in it, represent the perturbation of the membrane that we call reality or existence and become windows offering a glimpse beyond that veil. 

-David