Interview: Innervisions: The Ego, Soul and Paradoxes of Black Vision

“Oftentimes I ask people, ‘What came first, the truth or a lie?’ The answer is the truth, because a lie is the distortion or omission of the truth. Lies cannot exist without the truth, whereas the truth fundamentally exists on its own.”

These are the analytical meditations of Kevin Bishop, aka Black Vision, poet, thinker, myth maker, visionary, father and son hailing from Kings County, Brooklyn, New York.

Such measures of inquiry and contemplation are at the essence of his debut collection of poems, “The Paradoxical Effects of Black Vision,” released in 2008 through Lulu Publishing after five years of development. 

The title of the book, though seemingly obscure, possesses a very apparent meaning to Bishop, explaining it expresses the idea that awareness and perception are results of a unified experience that doesn’t exclude physical sensibilities, but, more so, emphasizes spiritual possibility. As he says, the title “conceptualizes the ability to see from an undifferentiated point of view.”

Bishop further explains that, though such a point of view is undivided, it is actually composed of distinct aspects – the spiritual and the physical.

“Even though the two sides are different vibrational degrees, they are inherently the same,” the poet, who is also a father of two, explains. “I feel the best description is placing an ice cube in water. The solid ice represents the physical body and the liquid represents the spiritual state. They exist on different vibrational levels, but share [the] same essence which is water.”

In realizing a foundation from which all perception and consciousness emerges, Bishop has found a more complete universal perspective.

“Through my experiences I have learned how opposites are more complimentary than they are adversarial.”

The Paradoxical Effects of Black Vision, or PEBV, is informed by these conceptual dynamics. Parables, fables, and myths from all parts of the world have been a source of inspiration and meditation for Bishop since he was a child. These childhood imaginings have provided the seeds for poems in his collection such as I.S.P. (Inner Sensory Perception), in which he analyzes the differing roles between the soul and the ego.

Bishop, who composed PEBV “after going through terrifying experiences dealing [with] acrimonious occult practices,” believes that the ego is responsible for extreme and harmful human desires. The senses, he says, are utilized by the ego in order to fulfill carnal inclinations. Because of its spiritual void, the ego creates conflict within the individual.

“The priority is the battle for control of self, which ties into the mind,” Bishop explains.