Int. Café Workshop

The Council chimes in on what they have been watching

Scenography (Sc.)

The room is configured as a corporate workshop

Murmur of conversation

Participants seated at round tables looking over papers

Writing on Post-It notes and sipping water and coffee

The Master of Scenarios appears on a screen at the front of the room

Master of Scenarios:

Ok, let’s regroup

John, perhaps you can start us off

What is this rather peculiar state of consciousness?

Lilly:

[On-screen text: John C. Lilly, Scientist]

It’s a dream-like state

For experimenting with the design of mythic narratives

Combining the control of lucid dream

With the opening of the mind fostered by the psychedelic compounds

Real time creative control of hallucinogen-augmented lucid dream

That’s how I think of it

Bowie:

[On-screen text: David Bowie, Musician, Entertainer]

And we are clearly focused on a specific mythic narrative

For some reason, which I currently cannot fathom

We all feel oddly compelled to fuck with the Sinai myth

And the story of the golden calf

Campbell:

[On-screen text: Joseph Campbell, Mythologist]

Well, that is a particularly dangerous myth

And perhaps among the worst stories ever told

There are perhaps a dozen biblical stories

About the murder of family members

Solomon

[On-screen text: Sheldon Solomon, Experimental Psychologist]

Well, it certainly highlights the worst of human nature

Following an order to kill one’s family

And for what – heterodox religious practices?

Yeah, that’s pretty bad

Master of Scenarios:

And what strategies have we been devising so far in response?

The other David.

Lynch:

[On-screen text: David Lynch, Filmmaker]

So, we’re experimenting here

With the design of more functional myths

Better aligned with our actual cosmology and morality

Campbell:

We’re changing the story as a strategy

For changing the world

Solomon:

Essentially, we’re seeking new myths

To satisfy our need for meaning and value

Preferably without killing and eating each other

(To You)

And that’s where I think you come in

Sc.

All eyes throughout the room are on you

Becker:

[On-screen text: Ernest Becker, Anthropologist]

We would like you to participate in our festival

And to share your offerings

Including your own revision of the golden calf story

Influenced by your unique way of perceiving and engaging the world

Bowie:

Help us improve upon this mess

Master of Scenarios:

What mess are we talking about, exactly?

Stanley?

Kubrick:

[On-screen text: Stanley Kubrick, Filmmaker]

Well, take your pick

The story is certainly a mess

The world is mess – human nature is a mess

This place is quite obviously a conceptual mess

Chagall:

[On-screen text: Marc Chagall, artist]

It’s a cafe and workshop venue

It’s also an elevator going up and down Mount Sinai

I mean, really

Sc.

The space reverts to the elevator-café

Music is playing and people are drinking, talking and laughing