This article marks the first of many articles to come in reference to the field of design. These articles will attempt to analyze and interpret the meanings of a vast number of subjects surrounding the design field, and enlighten the reader of their importance. However, before I get into my first subject on design I need to establish a foundation so that you, the reader, know where I’m coming from.

For those of you who don’t know me personally, this article might not surprise you as it is on the internet where there aren’t many surprises left. As for those who do know me, or have even met me briefly, this article counts as a sort of conceptual framework for a combination of old and new ideas that are synthesizing in me based on recent epiphanies. You see I’ve been hiding a bit of a strange secret ever since the late summer of 2011 and it’s high time I tell people about the experience. This experience has vastly changed my perception of my reality, and has also urged me to share these experiences with anyone interested or simply bored with the usual chatter and preconceived ideas.

Firstly, I’d like to say that I am in no way profiting from this article and so you might conclude that there is seemingly nothing in it for me other than the fact that I can get something big off my chest, and share it with the world. If for whatever reason you cannot suspend your disbelief in me, I can’t blame you, as I was stricken with the same problem for a number of weeks after the occurrence. So anyway, on with the story…

It was late one night after graduating college that I was struck with a sort of melancholy. I  was 25, and had gotten a degree in Graphic Design but after working for a big design firm for a short while, I was simply rubbed the wrong way due to the work coming in. Deep down, on some core level, I didn’t believe design was meant to be used in a hyper capitalistic manner but in our day and age there seemed to be no other way around it. I felt trapped, and lost. I’ve always envisioned myself as a positive person who deeply wished to make art for all the right reasons, so I started doing what I always did while lying in bed at night, I doodled. I got lost in my doodling like I had a thousand times before and then something miraculous happened. All of a sudden I heard this commanding voice. At first I had thought it was coming from another person in the house but it quickly registered as coming from within, so I did something that I think most people can relate to, I contemplated my sanity. It wasn’t male or female but it definitely was a voice, and I could feel it from the inside of my mind…or heart. I’m honestly not sure which at this point. The voice seemed to be repeating over and over the words “Go out and sit on your roof”. My room in the upstairs portion of the house had direct access to a roof, and while only in a t-shirt and underwear I decided I would at least give this crazy notion its due. Besides, due to the lateness of the hour, I would have no problem being completely undetected and alone.

So there I was out on my roof at around midnight and the skies were clear. As I sat and waited for the next big message to come rushing in I further contemplated what I was actually doing out here. Was I crazy? I didn’t feel crazy…so I waited. I remember my heart beating fast and just when I had gotten it to calm down I noticed a UFO shaped object in the sky not even 100 yards or so away from my location. Please note that I am not directly saying that it was a UFO, I am saying that it’s shape (that of a 3d vesica piscis or like a football) resembled what we would now refer to as a UFO. And it was transparent! The only reason that I noticed it, since it didn’t have any relative sensual qualities, was due to the fact that it seemed to be bending space slightly around its perimeter. If you’ve ever seen the movie ‘Predator’ when he cloaks or camouflage’s himself, you have a good idea of what I’m talking about. See the picture below.

The next question that usually follows is, “Did I get abducted?” The answer is no, or at least I don’t think I did. What happened was a conversation that I will inevitably never forget. I’m not really sure I want to delve into the specifics of the conversation that took place, but I will say it was profound. What I really want to relay onto you, the reader, is the relevance my experience has for not only artists, but people in every field of interest. It’s the fact that we are more than we normally perceive ourselves to be. One of the main aspects of the conversation was the fact that I needed to learn how to connect with my true self through meditation. It’s relevant to note that I had not previously been interested much in meditative practice, but it seemed that if ever there was a time to start, it was then.

After this conversation had run it’s course, and the ‘object’ went off into space, my reality was altered from what it had been prior to this experience. Only after awaking the next day and attempting to go about my business as usual  did I realize that my mind seemed to be churning uncontrollably. It was as if a door or pathway in my conscious thought was now open and ready for action. Or if you prefer, my new eyes were opened. I was having prolific ideas about everything I would interact with, and at times I couldn’t control the information coming in. It got to the point were my girlfriend would look over and I would be having a full on conversation with myself. When we would engage with large masses of people, say during a baseball game, so much information was pouring in that I couldn’t even focus on enjoying myself. Only within the past couple of months have I been learning to process things with the essence of control. This is really where meditation comes in handy.

You now might be asking yourself, “Well what does this have to do with art?” Everything. I began to sense the innate relationship and structure in everything I interacted with, especially with what is referred to as ‘fine art’. In other words I began to see in numbers. I’ve come to learn that numbers and their relationship with each other in geometry is the blueprint of creation and the genesis of all form. Please note that this does not mean that geometry is creating itself, it is simply the underlying schematic. An example might be that an architect creates architecture, not the other way around. Numbers are the fingerprint, not the finger. Through observing and studying geometric forms our bodies and minds begin to tune themselves to certain frequencies and we begin to resonate along with them much like how a radio tunes into specific stations or frequencies. This lead me down a path of which I am still navigating, the path of Sacred Geometry.

Sacred Geometry, for those of you who are unaware, is the idea that all creative expression, whether it is the ocean current, pinecone, or a man-made painting, stems from a single source, nothing, or in mathematical terms, zero. Zero seems to be the balancing point from which positive and negative number values find their balance. From then on, as most of you know, we continue up (or down) the ladder until the number 9 is reached. The numbers 1-9 (zero being source) are the groundwork or base architecture for our entire existence. Hopefully this doesn’t come to most of you as a huge shock as it did form me, but one things is for sure, learning to perceive or read the base architecture of all existence seems to be an important element of our conscious understanding.

In the coming months I will break down each digit one-by-one including zero in my segment called Geometrically Ordered Design or G.O.D. if you like, and hopefully open a door for you as it has been done for me. I’m glad to have finally come out about what has happened in my recent past as it has been a rather large burden on my shoulders. Until next issue, I send my love and gratitude.

–Dustin Pike