META : The Biggest Puzzle of The OOA (REPLIES/INTERATIONS NEEDED/WELCOMED!)

[TysonParticipant]

Hello all. First and foremost I do not intend to offend anyone or “talk down” to the community in general. I actually traveled from out of state and while in town happened to stumble across someone who had been to the OOA Institute (The Tension Experience). Based on all of the stuff online, it sounded really extreme. However; based on what praise it had received I decided to try it out of curiosity. I also felt as if this were something that I may one day wonder what it actually was and be unable to experience it again. Summed up : BEFORE I EVER BEGAN OR PURCHASED TICKETS I HAD EXPERIENCED THE FEAR THAT I MAY NOT EXPERIENCE SOMETHING. There was also an unsettling feeling of “what have I gotten myself into. FEAR EXISTED BECAUSE OF THIS EVENT BEFORE I EVER INTERACTED DIRECTLY WITH IT.

I also find it very important to the over all picture that the OOA and creators of the tension event have done what appears to be NO formal marketing – no radio, television, or generic internet ads. This immediately created a sense of word of mouth, a sense of secrecy. One must be informed in order to know that this place exists in the first place. As we know, they targeted a few select individuals to become a part of the indoctrinate process. Some of which, spoiler alert, have worked with Mr. Bousman on past project(s) and should not exactly be trusted to tell the actual truth. REMEMBER, NOTHING IS BY ACCIDENT. EVERYTHING WITH THE OOA AND TENSION EXPERIENCE HAS BEEN ON PURPOSE.

My next point to make is the definition of “Cult”: cult
kəlt/
noun
noun: cult; plural noun: cults

a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object.
“the cult of St. Olaf”
a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister.
“a network of Satan-worshiping cults”
synonyms: sect, denomination, group, movement, church, persuasion, body, faction
“a religious cult”
OR ***** a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing. *****

The last definition describes every single person posting onto this forum.

In fact, the tension experience HAS successfully created a literal CULT out of us.

Now on to my next point… The general message I have gotten is that you are to be present. To be in the moment, to pay attention to your five senses and your surroundings and interactions more than you pay attention to the screens (tv/phone/movies/computer). Now, mind you…. The only way we have recieved these puzzles, clues, and interactions have been through said screens. The most successful way in their marketing the event has been caused by an almost viral presence on social media platforms. The thing the OOA strictly preaches against.

Nows where I’m going to attempt to give my own theory on the entire META mind f*ck that is the tension experience.

We were given very vague clues. We were given suggestions that made us experience paranoia and fear. But most importantly we were given the barest ammount of stimuli required in order for us to be able to create our OWN_PATH and our Own Experiences within. It was told that right when you think you understand things, everything will be flipped.

Just what if the entire point of this was to show us what we could create on our own? To show us that they could instruct us specifically to use our phones less, to view these “screens” less (computer/tv/phone/etc) – yet; We all must continue to disobey in order to follow our curiousity and “figure more out”. Is there REALLY anything more to figure out from the tension experience? It is often said if two people read a book they will understand different meanings – it is the entire purpose and fun in book clubs.

My takings from this are that Mr. Bousman wanted to show us he could successfully, by definition, create a cult. I also see the META of how much time we have all spent checking our phones, email, computers, televisions, etc. for updates in order to “continue” our curiosity. We will never understand the tension experience fully because as we start to believe we understand, things change, because the entire point being that it is much like a bottomless pit in which we are wasting our time digging further and further when we should just…. experience things through our 5 senses. On that note, I ask you to ponder – have the OOA/Tension/BOS/ETC truly taken away our ability to fully experience things through our five senses? WE have done the marketing and recruiting of new individuals to take on this experience. WE have given up how much time to the screens – which in a meta type way – is taking away from our senses and creating deprivation and removal of said senses.

Again, I hope I offend no one by saying we have willingly created and joined a cult. All I mean is a cult is an obsession with a thing or person, which this has definitely created in each of us.

Thanks for your time and I hope to intrigue enough for a few interactions/opinions/replies.

• This topic was modified 8 years ago by  Tyson.
• This topic was modified 8 years ago by  Tyson.
• This topic was modified 8 years ago by  Tyson.

[MelissaModerator]

No offense taken.

Let’s just say hypothetically this was just a giant in-your-face lesson to be present in the real world. THIS was never a waste of time, I have met people on here that I call friends now. I have been carried through tough times because of the Community, a Community formed because of this. Even if this was a meta thing, I’ll walk away from it all a better person than I was before.

[MichelleParticipant]

@mkarrett All the feels in this. We’ve created a nice little family. x

[Hazel CloudParticipant]

I applaud you, Tyson.

This whole experience is definitely the most meta thing I’ve ever participated in.

[TysonParticipant]

I didn’t intend to say it’s a waste of time. That’s sort of what I am saying though about creating (almost forcing) relationships of some sort due to having to work together. Didn’t we have to work together to get a lot of things done especially during our ascension? I really dig the entire thing. I’ve never seen anything like it, including the community.

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by  Tyson.

[Hazel CloudParticipant]

I would say that it is time consuming, rather than a time-waster.

Time enjoyed is never time wasted.

[LawrenceParticipant]

I certainly think you are on to something, Tyson.

If I can get art-critic-wonky on everyone for a moment, way back in college we read an essay called “The Aesthetics of the Popular Arts” by Abraham Kaplan. What he did was to distinguish “popular art” that surrounds us daily with “high art” and list the criteria for it. I consider TENSION to be a work of high art because it satisfies all of these criteria. To that end, Tyson, some of the things you point out fall right into those criteria. In short, you have put something into the aesthetic experience and it has given something back to you that is utterly unique.

[For those interested in this kind of gobbledegook: https://www.jstor.org/stable/427970?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents%5D

[TysonParticipant]

TIME seems to be something involved very much so in all of this. Does someone have an exact tally of how many times “Time” is made a reference to in the experience?

[Lukas LParticipant]

I am not sure anyone would/could ever know, unless they got their hands on the “Script book” But nobody ever has exactly the same interactions as anyone else. be it as big as sequential scenes or be it as small as a response to a question. Thats what I love so much about all of this.

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