[here's a bit from some other Nowists, obviously unaffiliated, tho they are into onanism & surrealism so there may be some secret connection]
news from nowist central Rupert Francis | 25 April 2003 hi everyone, welcome to the first stevoland competition:) we're welcoming contributions to the forth-coming 'Idiot's guide to Nowism' which we are editing. take the attached Nowist Manifesto(see Body) as a starting point and write a paragraph, draw a picture, take a photo - open-source format to do with what you think Nowism might be:) Prize for the best one....50 nowts (to kickstart the stevoland local economic trading system) to be used on Ste-bay - buy the way, Michael and i are auctioning all our stuff, list to come soon) The nowists are a loose knit affiliation of individuals, a gravity well of singular entities, a group which constantly regroups. It has no political, religious, moral or ethical standards except those that it imposes at any given moment. It has no stated ultimate goal or goals except those goals that are important and vital enough in the present. It reluctantly takes on a name only as a loose-fitting label with which to be vaguely identified. Though there are no ultimate objectives there are relative certainties about what activities should be indulged in. Liberation from undesirable, economically motivated commitments, the unadulterated appreciation of the present and its myriad glories, from the food we consume to the way that we breathe, all these things are evident to us. Beyond these essential perspectives we do nothing except what we feel inclined to do. Behaviour which could be described equally as art, recreation, self-expression, stupidity, comedy, self-actualisation, or even just plain passing the time away. No rules have been imposed as to what form this behaviour must take and it embraces all that it likes and dismisses all that it does not, without the need for justifying its decision. It is the individual either acting alone or as part of the group, and the activities are as exciting or inane as they are wide-ranging. Activism, onanism, environmentalism, mentalism, surrealism, fatalism and perfectionism. Each individual is like a tendril of some great hydra, seemingly acting alone, it moves and with an unconscious will, it operates for the benefit and the greater good of the whole of the manufactured system. There are amongst us all the various incarnations of the artist, the thinker, the revolutionary. The musician, the actor, the writer, the idiot, the dancer, the anarchist, the designer, the observer, the lover, the teacher, the student, the comedian, the filmmaker, the cartoonist, the dropout and the idea of a perfect human unit. Formality is not our watchword, nor is seriousness. The actions and patterns of thought that we indulge in are always done with as much lightness of spirit as we can muster. If it becomes too serious then it is not worth indulging in. This isn't a performance piece, this isn't a method earning of a fortune, this isn't a joke, this isn't a message in a bottle. It's a message splashed against the wall of every tenement and every office block. It's the often failing wake-up call. It's the joke that only we ourselves get. It's the manufactured purpose to existence. It's the unabashed desire for liberation from all that we are and all that we have been. Those amongst the millions who also see this as a path forward are welcome to join in the ever shifting conglomeration of people that represent the nowists. We also accept donations.
