Faze Point

Who is Faze x Point?

Like all of us, I contain ongoing multitudes; infinite multiplicities.

Among many things, I am someone trying to support the movement towards greater coherence on all levels: from personal-physiological and psychological, to global socio-ecological and physio-technical coherence.

I embrace change, experimentation, radical dreaming. I also embrace patience, slowness, and depth. I am still learning, trying, failing, hurting, and being humbled, all while accepting the upswell of empowerment, ease, success, and abundance through me. 

I invite you to take a listen to this beautiful, affirmative song which resonates with me deeply right now.

You learn more about my journey on my personal Substack, Being Faze'd

Intellectual Bio: 

I have studied philosophy pretty intently for over a decade, beginning with a strong eastern influence; Buddhism, Taoism, and "new age" integrations of mysticism and science. Psychedelics, Watts, Mckenna, Plum Village, the Tao of Physics, etc. Then, becoming disenchanted with what appeared to be too lofty a removed idealism, I turned to Marxism. The Manifesto, the manuscripts, Capital V. 1, Engels origin of family, Lenin state and rev, David Harvey, Michael Roberts, Michael Heinrich, Endnotes, etc. Becoming disenchanted with what I saw as too rigid, binary, and academic an approach, I became most interested in Hegel, Schelling, Delueze, Spinoza, Whitehead, etc. -- dialectical, theological, processual, phenomenological systems. I integrated my various influences, and my cultural context into a spiritual, communalist project. I lived in a shared home in an ecovillage, learned about permaculture, appropriate tech, DIY vibes, sociocracy, NVC, IFS, Possibility Mgmt., etc. Becoming disenchanted with the slow pace of change, the financial challenges, the interpersonal limitations, the power dynamics, etc. I left to study as an electrician, thinking I would be letting go of the desire to be a world-changing movement leader. Then, my path urged me to write again - to finish the synthesis of thought I'd been searching for and longing to develop for years, and to move to California to further a holistic, (post-rationalist / super-rational) spiritual, trans-humanist, community project. Now I am in the process of starting a nonprofit to continue my research and organizing community events, working to publish my paper, and attempting to engage other frontier-thinkers working on similar projects. 

Personal Bio:

Growing up, I often felt like I didn’t belong; at times, I felt very lost. I always had curiosity, and I was encouraged to appreciate generosity and service to others, though a countervailing tendency also ran strong. My lack of guidance was rectified by my brother, as he found his own guidance, and taught me of universal compassion, radical exploration, and explicit service to the collective. So, I began self-identifying as a Bodhisattva - vowing to end all suffering by teaching and honing the awareness of the illusion of the self. This turned out to be a bit more difficult and time consuming than we both thought, and before long, we both turned towards more practical matters of life in this world. My service to the collective was transferred into the study of social power-structures; Marx, anti-capitalism, and my excitement for violent revolution. The righteousness of self-sacrifice - the ultimate service - for the greater good is, for me, undeniable. Literally, a greater good - more good. I wanted the heroic, militant destruction of the system that I thought perpetuated the most suffering in the world. And, I wanted validation from my dad, a lifelong Marxist. So, I went to study Marx at University, and was sorely disappointed when I discovered that they weren’t starting the revolution there. I dropped out soon after, and found some friends to try to start a commune with. Because, communism is really about community after all, and enlightenment is a lot easier with a Sangha. Things remained harder than expected... but at least we tried! Continuing to follow that dream, I moved into an already existing, 35 person, 45-year old commune in the hilltowns nearby. There was great beauty in my ~3 years at Sirius Community, and many challenges for all involved. I learned that I had to prioritize my own health and happiness more firmly if I wanted to do anything greatly supportive to others. It became clear that it would be best for me to move on. Things seemed to align nicely for my departure, and I decided both to embrace rational calculation more fully in my own life, and to settle for something less than worldwide revolution - a consistent routine in a semi-technical field with financial security. And that’s when I decided to change my name more fully... for symbolic purposes ;)

It felt relieving to settle, and exciting to learn from a purpose-driven company. Then, I got fired, and fell into some old crutches. In that rebound, I received four powerful invitations: 1) to spend a month polishing my philosophy for an essay competition about “Consciousness”; 2) to move to California with a lovely girl looking for kelp, 3) to get a “free ride” to Burning Man with a friend from high school, and 4) to move into a tiny-home on a friend’s ranch / family-sized community in Northern California with a work-trade deal.

And this is what followed:

1) I labored over every word in the logical progression of thought from undeniable, direct experience to universal truth and social organization, and felt satisfied enough with the final product to start proselytizing to most passersby...  

2) Romantic love, like all intense love, seems to fuel a fire for growth. And, sometimes, its desires can overtake more rational and sustainable strategies. I have set an intention to try to be as reasonable and diligent in my approach to life as I can be, encouraging me to try to transcend all short-term pleasures that do not clearly bring sustainable, long-term benefit. I seek to focus more fully on my higher ideals/values/desires which relate to a larger sense of identity, and I acknowledge that short term pleasure and fun does support a larger and longer striving. And, in this pursuit of my higher self (a bigger, more powerful self) I aspire to a maximally global, fluid, aspirational existence. At this moment in history, it seems we are in need of those who can push past historical and cultural limitations to create something radically, experimentally vitalizing. 

3) Burning Man was magical. I plan to return there again soon.

4) One cannot live without dreaming, after all, and California is said to be the place of dreams. I departed for my Westward expansion in search of greater meaning, excitement, and fulfillment of my deepest aspirations, and I have hardly looked back. I only look forward, to the still hazy potentials of more expansive experience. I'm leaning into more personal growth, physical exploration, and community, or the "3I": integrity, intensity, and intimacy.