Pantheon Blog #1: Coming into Being

If the universe were a number, it would not be a prime. It would be divisible by two, that’s for sure, because all happening comes in pairs. Imagine the universe is as simple as being an idea followed by a decision. A possibility…and then a manifestation. Wait…that sounds too simple.

Let me boil all the little thoughts into this one summarizing concept sans metaphor:

Pantheon Longboards Universe is choosing to come into existence.

I chose to start Pantheon Longboards because I believe in the Universe and in the power of Ideas. Hell, the Universe itself is an idea if it is anything. The manifestation of one single thought (if it’s divisible by one). Or maybe a single thought followed by other thoughts, all reducing down to that original thought…and then, and then of course, that thought manifesting itself. Thought. And Action. And now here we are just experiencing it all, and it’s damn cool ain’t it? Welcome to Pantheon Longboards Universe!

What is Pantheon Longboards? Let me go back and just quote one of the first things I ever wrote about it and then see if it still stands. What better thing to first write than a mission statement–a reason for being:

“Although the company aims to generate profit, the primary goal of the Pantheon Longboards has little to do with money. When people are searching for an individual life plan, a common response to the question of what to do with one’s life is, “If money were no object, what would you do?” This stems from the belief that true success can never be had without the utmost passion and commitment. Pantheon Longboards is dedicated to the exchange of the teacher/learner–to expose truth and inspire others to settle for nothing less. We will build exceptional product to be sold at a fair price, and whether our customers are inspired to use our product as a result of quality design and craftsmanship or because they share the desire to spread our shared message, they will be further exposed to this truth nonetheless, and that exposition will open doors to greater teaching, learning, and understanding for all.”

What that means is that Pantheon exists for a purpose. If I felt like I had nothing I wanted to share with the world, I’d be happy to just give my ideas to someone else and let them declare whatever they wanted on my behalf. That’s the way we’ve created the world around us. But I guess I believe that the world ACTUALLY works some other way, IF we choose to make it so. I believe that ideas really are worth something…and not just ideas about stuff to sell, but actual ideas that can be worth something to someone’s existence outside of ownership.

So, first…in defense of everyone out there that exists and functions and sells skateboards without trying to throw you on some existential trip or maybe remind you of some big thing you already know but always forget, let me first say that skateboards are really fucking cool, and anyone out there that is promoting skateboarding, even if they promote not one single thing but themselves and skateboarding, those people are doing good things. They are spreading something that is capable of creating happiness through action, and that in itself is BIG. If they don’t understand the greatness of this thing they are spreading, then hey, they are the ones missing out. But here you are, and you’re skating and loving it. You get it. Go you.

Beyond that though, I guess the biggest reason to start a longboard brand was because for one, I love skateboarding and I have spent years of my life learning everything I can about it, and two, I felt like I had more that I wanted to give. More than just my time for a paycheck. More than just a product for money. More than my ideas for some false sense of future security for me and my family. Hell, I’ve been making what I perceived to be great money for a couple years now, and I haven’t been able to save a dime nor have I been able to afford to do all the things I wanted to do. I didn’t jump on a plane for one single event last year that wasn’t sales oriented. It just became more and more clear to me that I was in a trap. That as long as someone else owned my time, I was going to be stuck, always depending on that next paycheck, depending on someone else to give me the tools I needed, and never putting out into the world the true manifestation of the ideals which I hold so dear to my heart. I guess I just desire some level of truth of existence that I really think is possible, but I was unable to live it by trading my passion for money.

Well, life is just too great a gift to go through it like that, wouldn’t you agree? Even if you don’t–even if you’re like, Jeff, you’re a fucking snob…you had it made–that’s okay. I started Pantheon to create a universe that was true to myself, simple as that. What comes out of it will be a manifestation of that, and I hope you dig it. If you don’t, well, I just hope you see it. Just the act of exposition is enough for me. And those that wish to grab on, fucking do it and come along for one hell of a ride. This isn’t going to be some massive wave that smashes into everything in its path and takes over the world. We’re not making revolutionary shit here…this is skateboarding! But if you choose to ride this wave, our wave will get bigger, and it will be harder to ignore. We’re not aiming to start a movement, moreso just to add momentum to one that is already in motion. Everything you see is designed to inspire this, to inspire you, to inspire ourselves, to just simply accept and appreciate what we have and to push toward one thing we don’t. Our current societal concept of competitive existence is not sustainable, and we want to create a future where we can all thrive doing what we love. Our existence is enough…we don’t need you to buy our boards. This is built into the design! I will go do something else to put food on the table if I have to. I LOVE learning new skills! But what I’m not going to do is take something that I am so passionate about and piss it away in the name of profit. Fuck that. That’s not how I’m steering this ship. I am going to use this passion as fuel to take me where I want to go. If it runs out of gas, I’ll push it down the highway. That’s what Pantheon is.

So what should you expect from Pantheon? I’ll refer to another little diddy I wrote for our facebook page:

“Pantheon Longboards is focused on high end skateboard/longboard design and cost effective, time-tested, socially responsible construction. Our goal is to make killer skateboards/longboards, stoke out riders with awesome content, provoke thought and open thoughtful and necessary discussions through graphics and our overall message, and engage in longterm and socially responsible business strategies. We want to use Pantheon Longboards as an outlet to skate as much as possible and have lots of fun with the intent to feed and house our families through skateboarding while retaining our moral obligations to society and ourselves through our business practices. We will settle for nothing less, and we believe our world society can support this dream.”

What we’re looking to do is be able to focus our energy toward the Pantheon message, and we’re hoping that we can focus as much energy as possible toward this and in turn we will be able to put food on the table. That overall message is sort of hard to define without sounding like a lunatic and rambling on and on and on like we are clearly headed toward already, but we hope you get the gist of it, and we hope what comes out of the Pantheon Longboard Universe will inspire you in some positive way. Sort of like the reason I chose to tattoo a giant crop circle on my chest or put a 40-inch gong in my living room, I want Pantheon to be there to remind us all of the connection that we have to ourselves, each other, and our shared Universe. That, to me, felt like something worth creating.

Lots of love from me and the fam to everybody out there taking interest in our project. Thanks for reading. We’ll try to continue putting our interesting content here on the blog. There’s probably a way to subscribe. Feel free to do so, or just follow us on the ol’ social media business @pantheonlongboards

On the product side, we’re hoping to have our first board (pictured above) around the beginning of 2014. We’re working with a pretty small American manufacturer in North Carolina and starting with some pretty small quantities, so it’s been a little slow getting started (they got bills to pay, and we’re not the ones making it happen!). The good news is they make great quality boards, and we work together really well. We’re super stoked that they believe in our project and just happy to be making progress. We’ll keep you up to date. ‘Til then, it’s getting warm on the east coast this weekend…Go enjoy your skate!