The Fez

I started data mining the Internet in 1993 for career guidance, even sending a naive email to Bill Gates (never read, most likely). But by 2000, I discovered a greater scope (arbitraging information for money) and became obsessed with extracting meaningful information.

But extracting is less powerful than injecting information and I developed a model for purposeful manipulation, which led to an epiphany about ego diseases, like the seven deadly sins.

Each disease has an aspect that exposes the sufferer to manipulation. The diseases became my focus. Manipulation is a broad concept and in 2009 Janet showed me that it's part of music, theater, dance. The artist seeks to manipulate the viewer.

This stew of concepts simmered for several years, no doubt affecting my subconscious.

I don't remember stepping onto the dance floor at The Fez. I blacked out for thirty minutes and then I un-tranced and looked around...

I was on an empty floor except for four women dancing in a circle around me; everyone else was watching from the perimeter. As I turned to leave, one woman grabbed my shoulder and said,

"NO! You can't leave now!".

It was one of the more bizarre events in my life.

The ego diseases often manifest as hidden resentment. My lack of exposure to envy and jealousy was lucky, not knowing their pervasive nature until later in life. They've gotten easier to identify.

Perhaps the Bible is correct that abandoning material goods frees your mind. Few people understand, though, except in a theoretical way but I traveled extensively from 2004 to 2014, abandoning almost all material goods except my clothes, phone and laptop.