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By Sam Thayer
This is your invitation to join a revolution, a radical revolution of American values. It is well known that revolutions do not begin with political movements or shots fired. They begin in the hearts and minds of human beings who find themselves sick and disgusted with things as they are and ready to try something altogether different. In the spirit of this heartfelt discontent and longing for a better way of life, we invite you to come along with us on a road trip like none other.
By “we” I refer to those of us who have already come over to the revolution and gone invisible. This invite, the three Primer podcasts that follow, and the entire How to Go Invisible course of instruction are intended to clarify what we mean by “going invisible” and to serve as an introductory guide for new practitioners.
I, Sam Thayer, am only the means of conveyance, the voice that chance or destiny has chosen to speak these words. Most of the content of these podcasts, the first history of invisibility and lessons in its practice so far as we know, is the work of one man, Dr. Jules Tranqillo, my teacher and mentor. Had I not discovered this guide among his effects after his death in 2010, this invitation might never have been extended. You’ll learn much more about Doc Jules and how he acquired his knowledge of invisibility if you decide to stick around.
Our revolution won’t be hounding you for contributions to anyone’s election campaign fund – it’s not that kind of party. We will ask that you give invisibility a fair hearing and consider a few simple questions to get you started in the invisible way of thinking:
Just what is the point of all this frantic running around you do?
Why did that new car (or house or boat or TV) not make you as happy as you’d expected?
Why did your last vacation go so fast and seem so short?”
Is this all there is?
Is this really the so-called “success” you’ve been chasing?
Do you sense your time running out – tick-tock, tick-tock – with the most important thing of all, whatever that might be, still eluding your grasp?
What is this ghost of futility and regret that wakes you in a cold sweat at 3 am?
Are you feeling me here? Have you asked yourself any or all of these “simple questions” before and drawn a blank? If so, this could be a good and hopeful sign. If you can give my Primer a few minutes of your time you’ll very likely find out why. We just might find ourselves fellow travelers on an adventure-filled Route 66 byway into the invisible way of life in America.
A Tour of Doc’s House
I haven’t brought you this far without good reason. What follows is a whirlwind open-house tour of maybe a year’s worth of invisibility studies. Don’t expect to make perfect sense of it – that’s what Doc Jules’ How to Go Invisible guide is for (see Table of Podcasts). Just give it a fair hearing and go with your gut. This glimpse into what lies ahead is intended to scare you away before you venture any further into dangerous terrain you’re not ready for – unless of course it happens to whet your appetite for more. In that case, by all means proceed.
Questions like “Is this all there is?” call us to aspire to greater things than we have likely heretofore imagined. What has been defined as a successful way of life by our dominant culture, which we call econoculture due to its complete surrender to commercialism, has completely failed millions of us by stifling our growth into the human beings we are meant to be. The growth potential of human life turns out to be much greater than we’ve been led to believe.
Doc Jules used to tell his apprentices (as we know from notes Doc’s students preserved from their one-on-one sessions) that settling for econoculture’s ideal of mature, healthy citizen consumers would consign them, as chronic discontents, to a gruesome, despairing death-in-life. He told them their break from econoculture had in effect thrown aside a ponderous stone that until now had stunted their growth, and at last they were free to rise upward into their full eventuality. He told them questions like “Is this all there is?” were first baby steps toward a full-blown heartbreak of disillusionment that could potentially overcome all obstacles to their growth potential.
Let’s imagine you have embarked on an epic journey since birth, if not before. After many adventures and much hard-earned growth you’ve found yourself stuck in a place called adult maturity. (Younger readers are invited to look ahead a few years.) This is more or less the stage of human development we are expected to maintain until old age and death, during which we enjoy as best we can the entertainments and material comforts that are the primary rewards of econoculture. Most never realize that their life growth journey has only been interrupted, sidetracked, certainly not completed. They’ve become permanently distracted and their attention captivated by econoculture’s charms.
The next stage of the journey for those whose heartbreak of disenchantment opens them to invisibility is breaking free of the egoic consciousness that econoculture instills in its devotees. Once free, rapid progress in a person’s self-actualization becomes possible. Teachings and practices have developed to assist escapees along their path to freedom. Adept practitioners take on apprentices and provide one-to-one instruction in the craft. Details are available in the How to Go Invisible podcasts of Doc Jules’ guide; I won’t elaborate further here.
Invisibles tend to not share much with others outside their circles of love about what it is they do (or don’t do) and why. Most try to stay alert for signs of that heartbreak of disillusionment in others who might benefit from going invisible; we might then, if it feels right, suggest invisibility as a way out and offer our help. Otherwise we work hard to keep our way of life indistinguishable from ordinary common everyday life in America – all part of the art of avoiding attention and escaping notice. Everyone who has longed for a life of complete obscurity is welcomed into the fold as a brother or sister in transparency. Others need not apply.
Has this whirlwind tour of mine failed to fully address the “simple questions” raised above while adding a few more puzzling quandaries in the process? Of course it has! Did you imagine going invisible to be some formulaic algorithm to a quick thrill? No such thing! Invisibility will likely be the most maddening, challenging, mind-bending and heartrending experience you’ve encountered in your life growth journey thus far – should you feel called to it.
And what might you expect in return for all your trouble? Let’s just say that were I to openly describe here, out of suitable context, the new way of knowing and seeing and experiencing ordinary everyday life that going invisible confers, I would risk dismissal as a charlatan by the gatekeepers of reality. I’ll guard my words, as Doc always advised. I’ll be discrete. I’ll take things step by step.
The conditioning of generations under econoculture has severely restricted most people’s vision of human potential. Expectations have sadly declined. A great leap forward in human consciousness is not on most people’s radar. We keep crawling around like caterpillars on short little legs when we are meant to sprout wings and fly!
It was Doc Jules’ teaching style, and now it’s mine, to approach a subject like this bit by bit, piecemeal, so as not to overwhelm the student, and from all these disparate parts and perspectives to assemble over time something understandable despite its great complexity. That is Doc’s organizing principle in his guide: brick on brick builds house. Follow his bricklaying one by one, podcast by podcast, and you will in your own good time discover that he has built for you a house of wonders we call the invisible way of life.
Sam Thayer
Nixitique, Mexico
August 2016
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