My Catholic Epiphanic Vision Quest in Copperopolis

First off, I'm not sure if it took place in Copperopolis, CA but I'm pretty sure it was in that region. 

When I was 14 years old, my Mother was persistent as ever to get me to become more involved in our parish. St. Anthony's to be exact. She somehow convinced me to go on a teen retreat into the mountains in order to solidify my mushy, unreliable faith. Normally I'd flat out refuse and lock myself in a closet and swallow the key, but since my cousin of the same age was going, I thought, "Fine. Let's get it over with." 

On a Friday morning in the summer (I think), the kids signed up for the teen retreat gather with their families in the parking lot of the church. Our bags are packed and we're ready to roll. I remember participating in a group prayer before we hit the road. 

Once we get to the campground, my memories get hazy. I remember sleeping on the top bunk, eating eggs for Saturday morning's breakfast, and being discouraged when the girl I decided was the prettiest and most attainable decided to cling to the handsome, athletic Hispanic guy with the infatuation with FUBU and golf visors. 

One night at the retreat, we were brought into a dimly lit room where noise was permitted. One by one, we participated in a mass hypnotism of some sort. i remember it being my turn and being surrounded by three women. One behind me, one in front and one on the side. The lady in front recited a prayer (chant) while the palm of her hand pressed against my forehead. Eventually, she would gently press my head back and the two other women would safely guide me to the ground. Now normally when this kind of thing happens, the victims involved are so overwhelmed with emotion and God knows what else, that they really do pass out for a few seconds. I, however did not pass out and decided to act like I did (years later I did the same exact thing when participating in a hypnotism show at the County Fair). 

The next day at camp we were split into groups of 5 or 6 and had a conversation with one of the counselors. One of the objectives was to get every teen to admit something they feel bad about at the moment. It was basically a communal confession. When it got to me, I reached for something bad. Honestly, I wasn't that bad of a kid at the time. I didn't do anything too crazy. I mean, I had tried pot and alcohol but that was something I wasn't willing to share with a bunch of goody goodies. I ended up discussing a girl named Missy I briefly dated for three days but ended up deciding to just be friends with. I felt bad about the way I treated her and the situation but chalked it up to, "This is what a high school relationship is." 

Fast forward to Sunday when we returned to St. Anthony's, just in time for evening mass. It's a bit embarrassing to admit but I was "awakened". Whatever it was that those spellcasters did to me, it worked (albeit briefly). I embraced my Mother and cried into her shoulder. I had seen the light. Finally, my Mother got the good ol' religious boy she always dreamed of.

After church, my Mother and I, along with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins went out to eat at Foster Freeze (A restaurant we never go to). Sure enough, who do I see at the joint? Missy. I remember being very disoriented when this happened. How could it be possible that the one person I mention on a religious retreat is now standing in front of me. Also, making it more than a coincidence was the fact that she and I both lived in the town over from where we were eating. I took this as a definitive sign from God that not only was he real, he was watching over me. I took this unprecedented moment as an opportunity to apologize to Missy for being such a bonehead. My conscious was clear and I felt lighter than I ever had before.

How amazing, right? I naively mistook synchronicity for God. But maybe there's more of a connection between the two than previously thought. Synchronicity is a reminder from the ethereal realm that there is something at work that is greater than you, I, and everyone else combined. It was truly a momentous occasion.

Anyways, Catholicism did not stick and I eventually went back to my normal ways of thinking. I have my older brothers to thank for that. They wasted no time in explaining to me logically how the religion doesn't quite work for certain minds.

Either way, what a gas!

-Dom

This Week in the Weird World of Sync...

This past week will go down in the annals of time as a huge milestone in modern society. On June 26, 2015, same-sex-marriage was legalized in every single state in America. This fight for basic human equality has been raging for years now. It's only been a day since the decision and it already feels strange to look back and wonder why this was ever a debate in the first place. In my mind there is no legitimate, logical reason to be against gay marriage. When you oppose the rights of others to marry, you oppose human rights in general. Who the hell is anyone to say that someone of a specific sect should not be allowed to do something that you ARE allowed to do. It is by far one of the most evil, arrogant ways to look at someone who is "unlike" you. It's even more perplexing that people are against something that literally has no effect on you.

So on to the first sync I experienced this week. It started with an observation that is only relevant to myself and the people in my Anthropology course. I find it very fitting that the week I'm studying 'Marriage Customs' is the same week that gay marriage is legalized.

Last week, another shooting occurred in the U.S. Just when you think they are a thing of the past, Dylann Roof shatters your expectations. Roof open fires on a predominantly black church in South Carolina. When Roof's pictures on the internet come to light, it is revealed that he has a deep affinity for the confederate flag (no shock there). 

So now there is a focus on this flag that is known for being synonymous with hate. Rational minds want the flag taken down, while bigots and homophobes defend its historical significance. 

Within the time span of just a few days, our attention is pulled from one end of the spectrum to the other. The flag of hate is symbolically "taken down" and replaced with the rainbow flag, which is obviously synonymous with love. When same sex marriage is legalized, your internet feed is instantly changed. Instead of the confederate flag plastering your point of view, it is arguably, systematically replaced by the rainbow flag. Positive replaces the negative swiftly.

Besides the flag of love waving high and proud, a hashtag floods the internet. #LoveWins. Almost a direct message saying: 'We Fought Hate and Won!" It reminds me of the Martin Luther King quote, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

Now, it is no coincidence to me that on the same day same sex marriage is legalized, celebrity, Courtney Love tweets about being stuck in the middle of the Paris Uber Strike.

This entire sequence of events reminded me that synchronicity never takes a day off. One last thing I want to mention is some choice words I chose to use throughout this post. Words such as synchronicity (duh), synonymous, symbolically, systematically

We are witnessing firsthand, unity. It is a slow and uphill battle but you can't deny that we as a people are evolving a little more every single day. It's always a great thing to wake up to great news and it feels like it never seems to happen anymore. We can only hope that this is a sign of great things to come. 

Onward & Upward!

-Dom

Lunatic for Love

Here are the facts.

I moved to New Mexico last year.

To a town called Los Lunas (Moon)

I then met a girl who lived on Moon Street.

Here name is Celina (Greek for Moon)

And then I fell in love with her.

Yes, that's a moon on my t-shirt

Good play, Universe.

-Dom

Life's what you make it

I know quite a few people who have all said similar things. And these are people separated by time and space.  These people I'm referring to are, in the nicest way I can think of...Naysayers. I love Urban Dictionary's definition of this unfortunate sect...

naysayer

One who frequently engages in excessive complaining, negative banter and/or a genuinely poor and downbeat attitude. Naysayers are distinguished by their tendency to consistently view the glass half empty, make frequent one-way trips to negative town, and constantly emphasize the worst of a situation. They have the capacity to rant and whine for hours on end about the most insignificant inconveniences. They tend to travel solo, but have the keen ability to spread their pessimistic attitude to a group of unsuspecting bystanders and encourage others to employ their mindset. Naysayers tend to blend in with those around them rather well, granted they have learned over the years to adapt to their surroundings. However, when the opportunity arises, their true nature will be exposed and they will stop at nothing to exclude others or bring a general sense of negativity to any situation. Not to be confused with non-naysayers who fight against the negativity brought forth by naysayers, make the best of a situation and are not afraid to call out a naysayer on the spot.

I'm not going to sit here and say that I've never had a negative view on the world. There was a period in my life, that my best friend John will attest to, that was a very dark time. It was like the period in the galaxy far, far away between Episodes 3 and 4.  I had become very depressed and cynical. I can say now, it was the saddest I've ever been in my life so far. It made me uncomfortable to be around. No one WANTS to be around an unhappy pessimist. Today, I feel fortunate that I snapped the fuck out of it. My glass isn't half full. It IS full. Because honestly, why the hell shouldn't it be?

Let's face facts right now. The truth of the matter is...YES. The world can suck. It can be discriminatory, disturbing, disgusting, discouraging, dejecting and dispiriting. I would hope that no one would actually disagree with that. But, at the same time, life is a many splendid thing. It lifts us up where we belong. Without life, there would be nothing. The truth is, the planet we all live on, is Earth and while it is argued to be run by a small sector of people who don't have everyone's best interests in mind, it's still our planet. We need to accept things. Acceptance to me, seems to be the key. Once you come to an understanding of the wickedness of it all, and just lay the cards on the table, then you can finally move forward. Yeah, shit sucks, there's child molesters, greedy fucks, murderers, dog punchers, war enthusiasts, and many more monsters scouring this big blue ball of life, but hey....THAT is life.

Since all that really matters is YOUR life, then it seems obvious that people should basically live the way THEY want to live. I do believe that everyone has the right to do what they think is best for them, just as long as they're not intentionally hurting others or the planet while doing it.

I've heard people say things like:
"Well, you know, really, we're born, we live, and we die. So really, what's the point of it all?"

While that is true. We are born, we do live, and we inevitably die, that doesn't mean we have to spend the 70-90 year period on this beautiful world in a constant state of negativity and unhappiness. What a waste of time. The following is a response from a person whose opinion I greatly respect, when I asked him, "What's the meaning of life?"....

"To have as much fun as possible."

So to those people who say, What's the point? I say this:

Fun, love, happiness, sex, drugs, movies, food, the outdoors, alcohol, music, friendships, family, knowledge, surprises.

Now those are just a few of the things that I personally love about life. How cool is it that we have the opportunity to watch 'The Avengers' or eat an ice cream sandwich? There's literally millions of trees that we can climb. And that shit is totally fun. Sometimes, it really is the little things that count. So you really should ask yourself...What are YOU living for?

The following are responses from some of my friends and family when I asked what the meaning of life was to them:


"Love, happiness, success and legacy"

"Life is about experiencing everything and anything that makes you happy. To be on your deathbed
and simply say "that was so much fun""

"To cooperate with the Universe's pattern and thrive"

"FBGM"


"-To experience a full range of human emotion.
-To question everything in search of truth.
-To understand that life is not about knowledge, power, and money - but mystery.
-To choose happiness.
-To love other humans and interact with them."


"The meaning of life is to answer to the one true gift we have. FREE WILL. To fight your free will, to go against your natural instinct is sin. We as humans have a gift, free will. Be free, stay free and think free."


"All in all, life is subjective, just like Aristotle said. Define your parameters and 
find your own damn meaning. Also, having fun is cool, too."


"In my opinion there is no meaning. It's the arrogance of man to assume a grand position in the scheme of the galaxy."

""You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life. -Albert Camus""

"42"

"I don't know so much about the meaning of life, but I've always felt that the purpose of life is to learn and experience as much as possible. And don't be a cunt."



-Dom

Keep Close to Nature's Heart

"Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean."
-John Muir

Superduper by Thomas de Rijk

Frenetic/Whimsical

Superduper by Thomas de Rijk

Lost in the Fog

'Lost in the Fog'
by Dominic Albert Risso


I was born in to a world, almost like a product on to an assembly line.
I adopted my surroundings, because I had no other choice.
I was taught about dogmas and archetypes, that everyone else was already
worshiping for years before my birth.
I was just as lost as all my peers.
And to this day, remain to be.

Happy Solstice Ya'all

http://youtu.be/4tqoWwIDCCw

'The Experience' by Dominic Albert Risso

‘The Experience’

A Short Story by Dominic Albert Risso

                Light years away, in the Primrose galaxy, a flourishing  kingdom led by a dying king faced a turning point. Even though his only son was the rightful heir, Prince Myriad was anything but right for this sacred position. He was brash, arrogant, and even cruel. He took for granted the gold he owned and the power he adopted.  A boy in adult skin, he had little respect for others. He treated his fellow man the same way a chef would handle expired food.

                In this world, a technology existed. A special chair only used for dire situations. Since the Prince was the only one that could lawfully inherit the crown, it was almost a requirement that he have, “The Experience”. Myriad was sat in the cold, steel chair. Two neon blue sensors, attached to dull green wires were placed on both of his temples. A half helmet riddled with blinking lights, hovered above his head.  The eldest doctor approached the Prince’s side.

“Myriad,” the doctor said bluntly, “This is how it will be.  You are not fit to rule this kingdom. You know nothing about life and its counter parts. You are like a flower that feeds off of star light. When you were a child, you were taught of Earth. This distant planet is home to hollow vessels known as humans. They incubate our souls. We are about to transmit your life force in to a suitable host. The life span could be anywhere from 65 to 80 years. Maybe longer. You will feel every second of it. But while you are living this experience, you will have no memory of your current life. In fact, you will think of yourself as a human and nothing more. From our perspective, no more than a minute will pass. It begins with the light and ends with the light. Myriad…Are you ready?”

                The Prince nods and lets his body relax. The scientists exit the room, observing through the glass partition. A switch is pressed and a flood of science is catapulted in to Myriad’s body.  His sternum jolts in to the air, while his eyes roll back in to his skull. The next thing he sees is a blinding white light. He finds himself in the small, fragile body of a newborn human baby. He is pulled from the womb of a beautiful woman. This baby belongs to a middle class family. Not poor, but not rich. He lives in America. He is the youngest of three children. He lives a modest life. His parents raise him to be a caring, respectful boy. He receives an adequate education. He knows that the key to a good, noble existence is to treat others the way that he wishes to be treated. He experiences love. Several times in fact. But with the good, comes the bad. This Earthling experiences the agonizing discomfort of losing his Mother to a dreadful evil known as cancer. He also gets in to meaningless squabbles with strangers. He watches films and listens to songs. They change his way of thinking. They alter his view of the world in front of him. He makes mistakes. He sees breathtaking sunsets, mountains, seas, and ancient ruins. He even marries a fellow human and pro-creates. He lives a full, genuine life. Sure he has regrets, but they are quite minute compared to the overall whirlwind of positive emotion. When his host body spends 88 years in full swing, he finds that his soul needs to find somewhere else to dwell. He passes peacefully in his bed. When he closes his eyes, instead of seeing the black behind his eyelids, he is again visited by this dimension-less white light. Myriad’s eyes return to normal. The helmet retracts and the doctors re-enter the room to remove the sensors from his head.

                “Myriad. Did it work?” asked the doctor. The Prince smiled in a way that no one had seen before. This smile was immediately followed by a stream of tears. Both happy and sad ones. He is informed that 33 seconds have passed. At first, this concept is very difficult for Myriad’s mind to grasp. “I was there for 88 years. I had two daughters, a gorgeous wife, an affectionate Mother, a supportive Father, and two wonderful, caring brothers. It was an experience unlike any other. It was beautiful, disturbing, whimsical, and horrifying.” The doctor nodded with a straight face and said, “It was necessary.”

The Maiden Post

As far as the interweb is concerned, I am very new to the world of synchronicity and synchromysticism.  I am still in the early stages of getting the basics down, as far as literature on the subject goes.  Taking a note from Alan Abbadessa-Green, I am starting this blog as a diary for the strange events that are occurring in both my waking and sleeping life.  So just to get things started, let me tell you all a little about myself.


My name is Dominic Risso.  I am 25 years old, never had a serious job, and am finally becoming comfortable with that fact.  I have been immersed in film and art for my entire life.  My Mother tells me that when I was at the ripe age of 1, my favorite movies included 'Bambi' and 'Robocop'.  I have two older brothers.  As children, we would use the family camcorder to make our own movies.  Usually spoofs of 'Rocky V', 'Home Alone', and 'Aliens'.  Through out my childhood in to my teenage years, I continued to make short films and skits with my friends.  I still make them to this day.  I would say my ideas have progressed through out the years, but alas, I've never been paid in lieu of my film making skills.  I probably wouldn't have it any other way.


When I was a freshman in high school, a strange thing began to occur.  I started seeing the numbers 333 and 33, EVERYWHERE. Receipts, graffiti, football jerseys.  I didn't know what to make of this and since I wasn't aware of the internet at that time, I had no way of figuring out what the hell was going on.  I always thought of it as something bad.  Like a curse or a warning.  At one point, I honestly expected March 3rd, 2003 to be the date of my death.  3/3/3 came and went and after a few weeks from that date, the numbers started to recede.


Fast forward 7 years.  After a brief stint in New Mexico, while trying to get my life in order, I moved back to my old stomping grounds of the California Central Valley.  I moved in with my eldest brother.  A person who has always been in to cool things like UFOs, conspiracies, mysticism, and anything esoteric.  After living with him for a month or two, a delightful little surprise plopped in to my lap.  333 and his son, 33 graced me with their presence once again.  Now I knew that it was time to figure out what this was all about.  I simply googled, "Seeing 333 everywhere".  To my joy, I discovered that maybe this wasn't a bad omen after all.


333 - This sign indicates that your Spirit Guides agree with your thoughts and feelings and could be interpreted as a Cosmic 'Yes!' to questions you have asked or ideas you may have.


After reading this and other information on the history of the number, I decided to embrace this strange happenstance with open arms.  I began to think of myself as lucky.  Perhaps something bigger than myself and maybe the entire universe was choosing to communicate with me.


I grew up in a Catholic household. I was forced to go to church every Sunday until I was 18 years old.  Suffices to say, I stopped going on my 18th birthday. I hold no hard feelings toward the religion, I simply just didn't get it.  I never felt what I was constantly told I was "supposed" to feel.  From 18-25, I honestly didn't know if I believed in a higher power.  It wasn't until this last year that I really started figuring out what I believed in.  I'm happy to say that I have become a lot more spiritual than I ever was in the past. And to be honest, I feel right at home. I'm still on this personal journey toward self-discovery and I realize that it is a journey that never ends.  But let me tell you, I'm diggin' the ride.  I couldn't be happier, learning these new things that just click with me.  


It was early 2011 that I began to watch Jake Kotze's amazing videos.  I was introduced to synchronicity and synchromysticism for the first time, but to be honest, I felt as if I always knew what it was, I just didn't know what to call it until now.  When I was a child, I was constantly coming up with ideas for films., whether they be simple synopses or full scripts.  I was always confused/surprised to later discover that a film in Hollywood was being made with the exact same plot.  If this were to happen today, I would either chalk it up to me reading about it on a movie site, and "forgetting", or more extensively, realizing that once an idea is formed, it is then part of this collective cloud of consciousness (333) that everyone has the ability to tap in to either subconsciously or unconsciously.


This thing called existence is a pretty bizarre carnival ride we're all on.  I'm still trying to figure out my place in it all. I've always been a very joyful, easy-going, happy person, so I like to think that maybe my contribution to this world is to spread happiness like mayo on a slice of bread.  And maybe even turn some people on to synchronicity in the process.  


Like I said, this is starting off as a diary of these strange events, but who knows what will come out of it. 
Only time will tell.


Enjoy 'Synchrotastic'.


-Dom