The Endless Song, A tale of love, horror and magic by Davila LeBlanc.
They’re calling it Vision, but no one knows where it originated. Some say it takes you to a whole new level of existence; others say it is just another psychedelic. But strange things are happening in cities all around the world, and people are saying Vision is responsible. A video of a woman screaming, and a train careening off the tracks, narrowly missing her child has gone viral. Strange circumstances popping up everywhere have got people asking: what is Vision? Five friends are about to find out for themselves in the snowy woods of Mont Mégantic under a vast expanse of stars.
What might their hidden power be?
I was at the dark-sky reserve on Mont Mégantic lying in a snow-bank with my then girlfriend, now wife, the two of us tripping out on the sheer awe of the starlit sky. Cuddling in a blanket, bundled and warm, we spent an hour sipping from our thermos of hot cocoa marveling at the countless stars we saw that night, including the sacred geometry between them.
That is when the story of The Endless Song, was born.
My name is Davila LeBlanc, I am an author of two books, I saw my first screenplay produced into a film, and I’ve sold and written television shows (you’ll probably recognize my name as one of the cool guys who co-created The League of Super Evil). I am presently running a pre-sale campaign for my third and latest book: The Endless Song. Today I come to you with a confession… I’ve done psychedelics before, several times in fact. I know, big surprise right? What a shock! You mean that author of books about space wolves and snake people who live in floating space trees or the show about super-villains trying to take over the neighborhood, was a recreational drug user all along? Quelle surprise! What a surprise!
But it wasn’t always like that. No, I was once a regular, run-of-the-mill, blocked creative dealing with a new challenge: how could I become the best “me” that I could be. I had thought to achieve this through rigorous martial arts studies, meditation and a return to studying my Celtic ancestry.
It was while meditating that I learned how much room I had to grow as an individual, and I could catch fleeting glimpses of the joy one felt when in the state of cosmic gratitude and marvel. While I was in British Columbia working on the League of Super Evil, I had almost sworn off everything (well not pot, I’m only human). By the party life standard Vancouver inflicts on those who call it home, I was living like a monk. My free and committed time was spent in meditation, martial arts and work.
In the fall of 2005 I could feel that I was coming close to a realization, an important one, that was just beyond my reach. I was 25 and I thought I had managed to remove as much of my ego as possible from the quest of self-improvement, but it wouldn’t be until I was introduced to magical mushrooms a year later that I would discover one of the most powerful tools for my spirit quest. On that fateful night on the beaches of Vancouver with a trusted circle of fellow spiritual friends and family, I caught glimpses of what true joy was. I know now that back then I was dealing with some heavy depression yet even in those days I was too proud to admit to myself that I needed help. The strong remain strong, they do not need help.
This erroneous thought process had stalled my development and caused me to push many very good people away. Yet as I was made aware of the rabbit hole and took my first steps into it, I wept tears of sadness at all the sorrows I had carried with me to that point in my life.
Soon enough as all the sadness was evacuated from me. Those tears quickly turned to fitful tears and giggles of joy. I was so blessed to be part of the experiment we call existence, and the mushrooms had been like a gentle guide through all of this. A gentle guide who made you want to vomit every now and then, but a gentle guide non—the-less.
Don’t worry you are going in the right direction. Twelve years ago is when that message was delivered to me in the flow state of a great psychedelic trip. And I’ve done my best to be a responsible psychonaut ever since. These journeys into the rabbit hole would be great, they would be incredible, but this wasn’t a party drug culture that I was becoming part of.
Psychedelic culture is about self-growth and accountability. It shows us that there are other ways of experiencing this world. It expands our perspective and even activates normally untapped neural pathways granting access to healing, alternative consciousness, deep cosmic understanding and other profound experiences. I knew that I needed to apply these positive lessons, feelings and impressions to my everyday life. I could not let this knowledge go to waste. I found myself listening more and more to my intuition from there on in.
The more times I dove into this altered state of consciousness, the sharper and clearer my intuition seemed to be. I found myself worrying less and less about the superficial and caring more and more about the things that mattered most: treating myself and the world around me with love, respect, wonder and harmony.
It was therefore no shock to me that my curiosity eventually turned past mushrooms towards chemical compounds like mdma, lsd and ecstasy. All of these compounds were done with trusted friends and family. People who, like me, believed that these altered states of mind were the key to figuring out something big, not necessarily about the universe, but about ourselves.
Throughout all of this grand adventure I was able to find the love of my life. My wife and I have travelled down the rabbit hole together several times, it was while in this state that we realized we were deeply in love with each other and that we would be together forever. I have met and connected with some of the best people I know and the sad part of all this is the fact that more often than not I have been forced to keep this very important part of my life a secret. (While we are on that topic, please no one share this article with my Grandmother). Not because I think that what I’ve been doing is wrong. Because there are no arguments you can offer me to the contrary. I made the choice to do what I wanted to do as a grown adult, sound of mind, soul and body. My answer to the question: are psychedelics a good thing is a resounding, YES!
Do I mean to say that everyone should do it? I don’t know if I can rightfully answer that question. Everything is medicine, even illicit drugs. We need to take the right medicine for the right ailment. I do think that if there were less of a social stigma towards those who were consuming, perhaps more of us would be more open about it as well.
Yes there are addicts, drug lords and complicated issues with regards to law enforcement and the state-sanctioned war on drugs. These aspects represent what can be labeled a more “negative side” of drug culture. However I do not think that the majority of users are addicts or criminals. Rather I think the majority of users are what could be described as recreational or medicinal.
Many people do turn to the use of psychedelics for the sheer party “it feels good” reasons, and I’ve been guilty of that. Not every experience in life needs to be a massive lesson Sometimes you just want to be messed up and dance. That being said, I also know that a significant portion of the psychedelic community are people who want to experience a deep spiritual revelation and expand the limits of the mind, soul and self. Neither one of the above reasons are exclusive.
You would be amazed how many lessons on the sacred nature of the divine frequency that is the universe you’ll experience when tripping out and losing yourself to music and dance. Fun fact, I NEVER danced before my first mush trip and now, well it is hard to give myself reasons NOT to dance. In fact I might just get up and dance once I’ve done writing this article! At their best, psychedelics offer a perspective on the world that was always available, just not so easy to find. And I don’t think an entire segment of the population should be labeled as irresponsible criminals just because they wanted to experience an altered state of consciousness.
That was the main reason for me deciding to take a chance, stop messing around and finally start writing my latest book: The Endless Song. I wanted to produce literature in which we could introduce human characters turning to psychedelics for human reasons. Oh and also HAVE THEM BE THE HEROES OF THE DARNED BOOK!
I have grown so tired of seeing the drug users in film and television be portrayed as shifty, violent and flawed. As if they are somehow horrible and stupid for doing what they do. I’m tired of the dialogue being that all of this is bad, period.
Well I’m sorry but that narrative simply won’t do for me. Not when the debate demands more nuance and tact than a simple: Drugs are bad, and users are criminals. Not if we are going to have an honest conversation about drugs and the role they are going to play in shaping our society to come—and they will make no mistake about that. Pot users are growing more and more vocal, and we now have legalized marijuana on the lips of policy makers and activists alike. Heck our Prime-Minister here in Canada was voted in on the promise of legalization. The same is eventually going to have to happen not only with cannabis but with everything.
We are going to have to engage in grown-up discussions about things that we may not all be super comfortable talking about. But this dialogue needs to happen, it needs to open, it needs to be respectful and most importantly it needs to be true.
And if The Endless Song a story about a bunch of friends who do a fictional drug called Vision in the woods only to gain super-powers out of the deal—is a great way to add to that grown-up conversation then I am happy to have contributed something.
I never once turned to psychedelics to escape from reality, rather I learned over time that I turn to them in order to truly experience it.
Davila LeBlanc is a published science-fiction author (formerly HarperCollins), and an avid storyteller who has written for both film and television. He can be found @ www.davilathewhite.com
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