Damien Echols
"So what are you? 'I am not an actor.' What are you? I spend a long, long time trying to answer that question. I am not a writer. I am not a poet. I am not an artist. "What am I?" That's the very first Koan in zen practice. You sit on the mat for hours at a time, with every inhalation asking "What am I?" If you're only a runner while running, what are you when not running? I know what I am. What is it I do all the time? Magick. Magick while awake, magick while asleep, magick while walking, running, sitting, breathing. I'm doing my best to weave a silver world where Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dance through the layers of reality as beautiful as angels. Where chivalry is not dead, and men still have the commons sense to hold a door open and see to a lady. This world crumbles a little more every day. With every rap song, with every gold tooth, with every mentally stunted philistine who can't even speak the King's English, with every person who things blue jeans and tennis shoes can be worn anywhere – the world crumbles a little more. Where people watch television at every waking moment and are content to waste their lives – the world crumbles. It’s my goal to create silver pockets, where men are gentlemen and ladies are ladies, where intelligence is the highest virtue and wisdom the most valued possession.
I'll tell you what helps to sooth the heart when you are trapped somewhere like Los Angeles. The key is gentleness. Be gentle, graceful and elegant in all you do and it will make a small world around you that other will respect. You can’t leave any holes in it, though. Gentle, graceful, and elegant in all things – in your speech, in your dress, in your movements, and in your manners. All the horrible, empty things in the world will have no choice but to respect and withdraw from you. It's like brandishing a crucifix and sprinkling holy water – the darkness has no choice but to recede. This is the formula for creating angels. All the darkness in the universe must retreat before event the smallest light. A cup of tea, when employed properly, can deflect a bullet.
You know what the most horrible thing about prison is? The fact that everyone is exactly alike. They aren't people, because they don't have anything that resembles a personality. It's more like they are every base and ignoble urge imaginable, all crammed into a skin. They're not alive, really. They are what Buddhists call hungry spirits in a hell realm. Demons and devils have more positive qualities than many of these people. There is no knowledge, beauty, love, or art. This place is hell by every definition. It's almost like walking down the tier and seeing the exact same person looking out at every cell and wearing every guard’s uniform. Each one is interchangeable with the rest."
Write to Damien at:
Damien Echols #SK931
Varner Unit
PO Box 400
Grady Arkansas 71644
Please remember his prisoner ID number (#SK931) must be included in the address. The prison mail rules are here, and we strongly suggest everyone take the time to read them.
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