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how'd you know you are alive unless you've once been dead

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwMu6Y10naU

James Kent

"Human beings craft representations of their Gods based on the technological paradigms of their era. Over time, our Gods have evolved from primal personifications of nature; into clans of tribal warriors and elders; into a single wizened old sorcerer; into a clever cosmic clockmaker; and most recently, into a plastic universal field of morphic energy. Could it be that all of these characterizations are correct, and that the lens of our technology only makes the nature of God clearer through time? If so, what's next?"

James L. Kent knows his shit. read his super interesting book on the science of tripping, Psychedelic Information Theory: Shamanism in the Age of Reason.

intelligence = self teaching

1.) Intelligence is Self Teaching.

2.) Intelligence is Self Referring.

3.) Intelligence is Self Transcending.

jack herer died :(

sadhus

Regarding sadhus, according to the Indian ashram system a human life consists of four phases. The first is student life (brahmacarya), roughly up to the age of 25. Student life consists of learning practical skills and basic spiritual philosophy. The second stage however is householder life (grihastha), which consists of taking financial and emotional responsibility for a family. Only after 25 years (or more) of that does a person renounce practical responsibilities to become a pilgrim and forest dweller (vanaprastha), with the final 25 years dedicated to full time spiritual life as a "world renouncer" (sannyasi)

in-toxic-ating energy

"The beast of prey seizes hold of him and soon makes him forget that he is a human being. His animal affects hamper any reflection that might stand in the way of his infantile wish-fulfillments, filling him instead with a feeling of a new-won right to existence and intoxicating him with the lust for booty and blood."

~C. G. Jung.

GEOMETRY = FROZEN MUSIC

When I am alone, I am perfect.

sometimes ii (Philosophy 101)

Sometimes I think all those philosopher guys have this same view of the world, you know? I think all those wise bearded guys that seem to know everything and have witty-snappy responses to everything actually have deciphered the world and hence their inner peace and characteristic wise-ass stance. Sometimes I feel like they do this on purpose. They know the fundamental paradox of our existence but aren't troubled with it's paradoxical nature. They know we must create a sort of story to rationalize our own existence and actually propose stories of their own. They know and accept the possibility that all of the possibilities are true. Every one of them is right because it really doesn't matter. The explanation of the universe? it just is. It's itness itself.

Sometimes I think those ancient wise Greek dudes in Athens were just challenging each other to see who could come up with the most fucked up story of how the world came to be. Think about it. There were even some Captain Planet-like dudes there, each one advocating an element as the origin of all things; Thales with water, Anaximenes with air, Heraclitus with fire and of course Anaximander with his esoteric "apeiron" (earth?)

But can't we come up too with our own fabricated weird views of the world? Don't we actually make these stories as to why we are what we are? Aren't we all then philosophers too? Yes, yes, yes.

As a result of daily human experiences and thinking about other people's view of the world I have realized that everyone has to come up while growing up with some story that recapitulates how he/she exists. Think about it. You have to have some sort of chronological montage of your perceptions so far experienced. It's a very personal issue. Very instinct-like, non verbal, felt, made when we are just beginning to grasp this weird universe we realized are in in our infancy. It's imprinted from very early, and we all do it.

Even people who don't subscribe to a particular way of thought do it. Maybe they don't read a book about it but they separate right from wrong and somehow acknowledge some universal mystical balance. When we go through shitty times we always wonder if it's something we have done; if you don't, well, maybe you should. This should remind you of cosmical balance aka karma. I'm not stating anything new here, folks. Even the buddhist guys did not invent karma, the concept can be traced centuries before, in Indian Vedic texts. You think I'm making this up? Time to read some Upanishads.

If you do the exercise you realize that all we can prove is that we think, and therefore, we are/exist --(thanks, René). Our consciousness is because I, right now, am reflecting about it. Do it, is fun. Our consciousness is our meta-self. No other being in this planet we inhabit seems to be aware of this. Or are they?

Does a dog knows he is a dog? does a tree acknowledge the fact that he is this woody thing that grows leaves and needs CO2 and sunlight and all that? Well, they DO, certainly, because the little plant in the dark corner tilts a bit to the light source in search for needed energy. But the little plant doesn't seem, at least to us, to decide this sort of things. Maybe it doesn't reflect in real time? Ah, enter free will. Why are these monkeys doing such a noisy rabble, what are they up to. The bottom line is that, as of now, no one really knows for sure why. But sure it's fun to argue about! So instead of discussing about this ubiquitous life force they just agree in their disagreeance and spend their times joking about it and having a good time. Philosophizing. And why not? the bottom bottom line is that almost everyone has got their story and history and has come to terms to their own existence, however twisted or different they could be. Those who do not are trapped in perpetual self-arguing and troublesome life experience in general. So why not just accept it?

Sometimes I think there's certain people who realize all this and use it in their favor. What? I'm getting on to something here. Maybe if one of those philosophical dudes could get enough people to believe their story... Mmm. Maybe if a lot of people actually believe his crap he could use it to his advantage. Maybe he becomes something of a leader of the unknown, holder of the answers to the quintessential question of existence for the ones that buy it. What if this evil Socrates sells it so good that a LOT of people actually buy it and follow him around like sheep doing what he says and even asking for more? Mmmm. Interesting, isn't it? What are you thinking of?

I'm not pointing fingers here but there's a lot of gullible people out there. And there's always those who seem to be just waiting for opportunities to profit of other people's gullibility. I'm sure you know someone like that. The thing is everyone, all of us, need to have at least some vague answer to this omnipresent mystery. If you feel like getting on your friends nerves you can do experiments and ask them. A lot of people become defensive, like you're somehow threatening them or something; it's really weird if you think about it. Go ahead, ask your mom. Such an important matter and people just don't want to talk about it. ASK YOURSELF. The majority will say something like they do believe in the imposed magical spirit of their determinate region despite almost never actually doing something about it, like going to the local house of worship or praying or something. These "passive hypocrites" are generally good guys who just go with the flow and just accept things; maybe YOU are one of them, we all kind of do it when we're kids and with other affairs, the problem is that this kind of guys are the majority and maybe that's why some people can impose their realities on other people and evil Socrates gets his way.

Of course there's the type who never thinks about it and, well, just do not give a shit.

What reality tunnel do you follow? are you a believer of magical men in flying clouds? perhaps bearded men with deep, sexy eyes? maybe you are one of those guys who is very organized about it and follow the teachings of a magical leader? that maybe wears funny hats? hey! you should've seen that one coming. Snap!

Maybe your deity cannot be reproduced in such mundane form such as a piece of paper. Or rather, it not only can be represented, but also look very cool while doing so. You can have some really beautiful statues too. (click pics for hi-res)

Maybe you feel inspired by some enlightened guy. All in all I prefer the chilled statues from east over creepy west ones. Have I hit the one you're stuck with yet?

Or maybe you just don't give a shit.

Which is perfectly fine because if you've been paying attention, no myth ultimately discredits another. Just subjective realities. It's all there is. Independently of what you believe, either if you are pretty poignant about it, or really don't even think about it, and never question your own reality, you have some notion of right/wrongness. In all works of fiction, good fiction that is, there needs to be the good side and bad side, otherwise the fictional world wouldn't be credible, the first matrix was happy and fun but we didn't buy it. So we realize that there's a struggle of people imposing their own reality on everyone else. The more you think about it the weirder it gets.

Smart people who call religion fables that sheeple like to follow have their science. Yes, folks, now we made it. This one time we have a good method. We can build nice things. We are on the right track finally. We made some rules so we don't have bias. We do things considering all options so we can make the best decision given the circumstance. But, hey, let's not jump into conclusions, we're being philosophical here. Do governments apply the scientific method? ponder that for a while. Do your personal authority or local organized dominator follow scientific rigor? who or what is your authority, now that we are on the subject? Is it in or out of your head? Maybe in the labs and on paper things look nice but in reality things are a little off. By a little off I mean FUCKED UP.

Did you know that no one actually knows what the fuck is gravity all about? We can model equations of how it happens and you can probably find the time it takes for a banana-shaped dong to get from the top of your house to your sister's head, but how it happens? Not even asking the more complex why but the mere how. If you look it up (no, I'm not getting this out of my ass) you start reading weird sci-fi-like things like space-time continuum and dark matter. It gets weirder. Multi-dimensions kind of weird. And I'm not even getting into crazy quantum hokus pokus territory here that no one understands (worry not, I won't).

So which reality do you subscribe to?

is it prepackaged?

or you made it yourself?

someone made one and you liked it?

you read it somewhere maybe?

I think about this sometimes and you should too, sometimes.

***read before parting***

In Dr. Leary's words:

Why you should smoke cannabis:

Fun, sensuous enjoyment, esthetic pleasure, interpersonal closeness, pure experience.

Why you should trip on LSD:

Increased personal power, intellectual understanding, sharpened insight into self and culture, improvement of life situation, accelerated learning, professional growth.

Have a notebook ready!

:)

Start growing

Plant marijuana, save the world.

http://www.azarius.net/news/178/Cannabis_fields_against_climate_change/

http://thepiratebay.org/tor/3884742/RealityPortal-TheMovie.avi

WATCH THIS.

http://www.virusmyth.net/aids/

If you get a test and come of HIV positive, then, you have done it, you're fucked. LIES.

childhood memory

In my younger, purer form (I remembered this while reading Alan Watts) I used to think that when one died life just carried on on different eyes without "me" remembering a thing. Now I realize it is very wise! :)

As promised 1 hour ago

WATCH THIS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2ykoJqoIyw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zaj7cBNs7H8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dipvzMUOsY

fun facts about cannabis

• We have been smoking and using weed for thousands of years; fabrics made of hemp can be traced to 7000-8000 B.C., which is also the earliest known woven fabric.
  

• In the US of A it was mandatory for farmers to grow hemp, in fact, between 1763 and 1767 you could be thrown in jail in Virgina for NOT growing some hemp.
  

• Hemp was used for making clothes, paper and a lot of other textiles things. Yes, it's possible to make paper out of weed, in fact, it's cheaper and less polluting than trees, not to mention of course that chopping down trees is not such a good idea since they are basically the lungs of the earth.
  

• It's illegal because of the personal agenda of greedy and corrupt people like power hungry ignorant bastard Harry J. Anslinger, who dropped some jewels like "There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others." and "Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind." which is the equivalent of kicking in the face, repeatedly, any smart person who has actually ever smoked it. In a calculated campaign, aided with yellow journalism and stupidity, he is responsible for outlawing it. Read more.
  

• Parties who endorse the illegality of cannabis and actually make money off of it (inspired from here):
  

• Chemical companies, like cotton industry, which requires large amounts of chemical fertiliser and pesticides, unlike cannabis which produces stronger and more durable fibers.

• People who make plastic, many plastic products could be made from natural cannabis without pollution.

• Timber industry - cannabis 'hurds' (the woody bits of stalk) can be used to make furniture as well as a higher quality paper than from wood (I already told you this)
  

• Tobacco and alcohol industries, who continue to make profit of these highly toxic and addictive substances with the only inconvenience of thousands of people dying because of it. Maybe if people had a better, safest, non-addictive alternative to past their friday nights? Mmh but I guess that wouldn't be so profitable since people can actually grow it themselves.
  

• Pharmaceutical companies who think they may profit less if ill people are able to grow their own medicine in preference to their many dangerous and addictive synthetic drugs which the same people claim are less effective than cannabis.

• The employees of the criminal justice industry and supportive industries, including police, lawyers, barristers, court officials, prison staff, probation services, drug counselors, forensic scientists, customs officers and security firms, who may suffer if 100,000 less prosecutions are brought each year.
  
  
• The fuel companies including fossil, nuclear and solar. The Report of the FCDA Europe - endorsed by Judges, Doctors & academics - reveals for the first time, the CANNABIS BIOMASS ENERGY EQUATION, which shows beyond doubt that cannabis-derived fuel, capable of providing almost all of our domestic and industrial energy requirements as well as running all of our cars without pollution, is easily a cheaper and safer form of viable energy. It is the huge oil and nuclear industries which have the main profit motivations for continued prohibition at any cost.
  

So remember kids, next time you're smoking a joint and someone comes to preach and quote lies and propaganda, literally say "FUCK YOU, I'M SMOKING MY WEED WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT" and proceed to show these and other fun facts. Don't be shy! In fact, print this whole post and shove it down their throat! saying "prohibit THIS, asshole!" But why stop there, make copies and paste them all over your neighborhood! graffiti it all over town! hey, that's not such a bad idea.

Brains

"The brain is the most complex organ in the human body. It produces our every thought, action, memory, feeling and experience of the world. This jelly-like mass of tissue, weighing in at around 1.4 kilograms, contains a staggering one hundred billion nerve cells, or neurons.

The complexity of the connectivity between these cells is mind-boggling. Each neuron can make contact with thousands or even tens of thousands of others, via tiny structures called synapses. Our brains form a million new connections for every second of our lives. The pattern and strength of the connections is constantly changing and no two brains are alike.

It is in these changing connections that memories are stored, habits learned and personalities shaped, by reinforcing certain patterns of brain activity, and losing others."

Holy shit the brain is some ultrasupercomplex shit. I'm fascinated with everything that attempts to explain how the fuck all that jelly makes us who we are and especially how consciousness is achieved. Read all about that in this special New Scientist article and check out other cool things they got there.

Get ready to read some crazy shit

There seems to be moments when a person finds something in their mind that he/she wasn't aware of. Like something goes "click" inside their heads and suddenly "Holy shit!" everything seems to fall in place. Well, you can call it epiphany, or enlightenment, realization, etc, but you got to acknowledge the phenomenon.

I've read of people going through this states. The infamous story of Archimedes jumping out of the bath, screaming eureka to an astonished wife, I presume, and running around naked through Syracuse because he found out how to guess the amount of gold in some king's crown, THAT'S the crazy shit I'm talking about. I've had my interesting thoughts in the bath myself. Probably the fact that you're not thinking too much about what you're doing, you know, you bathe EVERY day, your brain probably gets into auto pilot and starts the "Taking a Shower Subroutine" or something.

But sometimes it's more critical. Like in my case. I had a "brain click" thingy going on but it's more complex than that. It wasn't suddenly. More like a process. But I guess I can trace it back to a single event. Pay attention.

I was at a friend's house. She was pretty sad because she had broken up with the love of her life, apparently, and, you know, I felt like I was in a soap opera or something --tears, drama, everything-is-going-to-be ok-like commentaries (from my sister who was there also, not from me). Me? I was silent. I didn't know what to say. Actually I wanted to say those hollow words too, I wanted to calm her because she made me feel sad also... or did I? I now realize I was trapped in an internal monologue, a thing I used to do. I still do it but not when I have people around, not friends or people I want to talk to anyway.

The thing is, I wanted to say something but was trapped in this limbo of words, cause I thought whatever I could have said would have been wrong or inappropriate or silly. But I FUCKING WANTED to say something. Anything. Just some comforting words... And then it "clicked". Now, I don't know exactly how or why but I had a realization. I COULD NOT SAY something. Anything. I actually did not have control over myself, I couldn't bring myself up to say at least SOMETHING to my sad friend! THAT'S when everything got weird.

I always had thought I had the power; I certainly in many occasions wanted to say something but didn't because of thinking it was stupid. Well what if it was stupid? It IS what I have to say and, well, you just can't go through life not saying things because someone might not like what you have to say, FUCK IT. It is my/your opinion and if I/you were wrong hopefully there'll be someone to call your bullshit.

I realize all this now. Back then I was just starting to sacrifice the sacred plant to the fire gods and well, my brain was starting to operate in different frequencies, different sates of consciousness I had never dreamed of. I actually FELT something going "click" in my head. Why was I such a pussy? I couldn't say something as easy as hey come on, calm down or something you know, it's not the end of the world!

...

Later that day I made some confessions. I was in a low point in my life and felt depressed... If I didn't had control over what the fuck I had to say, well, maybe, you know, I didn't had control over lots of other things! It was a really rare and bizarre experience. I didn't feel like myself. I was a stranger seeing myself doing this crazy shit just like an spectator. An innocent bystander.

I did some pretty fucked up things that day. I wasn't thinking clearly and started doing whatever occurred to me, whatever came to mind. It was liberating. I felt like I had been playing a Ned Fladers repressive moron censuring myself 24/7. FUCK THAT! I was constraining myself without reasons!

I thought about all this while still in crazy naked Archimedes mode. I wasn't feeling normal also; not quite sick, but not in everyday normal state of consciousness. Until the headache.

I actually felt inebriated, and with a sudden risky behaviour attitude. I started to walk with no particular destiny, I thought of were to go as I wandered. I ended going to the house of a friend somewhat near my house -didn't want to go there. I asked him for the phone and generally acted weird for about 15 minutes. Then I left and eventually got home. To top it of I even started calling friends like a drunk guy. I felt a little drunk alright, I felt dizzy. But it felt good to hear some familiar voices that actually care about me. The feeling of someone giving shit about you is very important and under appreciated. After a while I got a REALLY FUCKING TERRIBLE HEADACHE. It came and went for a while. The fascinating thing is that I believe it was psychosomatic. My brain was in distress, confused, like in a system crash. After the emo crash I came to a conclusion.

Either I was fucking insane an needed therapy, or something was happening to me, an alteration. At the time I really thought I was crazy.

Now I KNOW I AM crazy.

:D

I see the world in a different way, different of EVERY people I know. But who does see everything exactly as others? Isn't people subjective individuals going through subjective experiences? Damn right they are. Everybody is fucking crazy. In your daily life you've probably come across a lot of lunatics who made you think "ok, what fuck it's going through their brains." But everyone operates in their own particular ways. High or low and all the in-betweens and out-betweens. And well, that's the beauty of it, isn't it? If everyone looked at the same things and made the same conclusions, well, what a boring and stupid world. That's how I came to sense, realizing everyone is just as crazy as the next one, every mind sees things in ways I couldn't even begin to imagine, and that's cool. What are we but our peculiarities? :)

Certainly, seeing though your own bullshit is no small feat. I'm sure there are people who live their entire life without ever questioning their own bullshit. They are probably egocentric assholes.

Depersonalization, looking at your own self, losing the ego and seeing that you're just a clueless creature wandering through existence bumping with things as they get to you its one of the best experiences you can have. It's no easy task, but thanks to some mind altering friends, we have some tools to aid in the mission. But there is an ample array of methods to achieve this mind-click. You can stop whatever you're doing right now and simply sit stubbornly until you find out what I'm talking about. Literally, without moving or eating or anything, ala Siddhārtha.

You can shut down all exterior stimuli with one of these wonders*. You can try lucid dreaming, or meditating. It works if you get one of those really crazy high fevers. Or try don't sleeping at all for a week, or don't eat. You can can be blessed/cursed with a near death experience. There are even some cases were people get beamed just because, spontaneously, out of fucking nowhere. There are many more forms. Some involve ingesting truly mystic substances; this topic by far exceeds the scope of this post. But to summarize, there are some compounds out there that when you experiment with can get up to your brain and twist and move shit about and make you think things you normally don't. Read THIS to know more about about what I'm saying. Hear THIS if you haven't already gotten a grasp of what I'm talking about. That guy knows how to express himself, say something really cool and meaningful and be funny at the same time. Or read THIS previous post.

So it's really just a matter of getting out and doing it.

I've never tried DMT or any other super potent psychedelic substance, like LSD or magic mushrooms. But I'm planning on doing it and hopefully I'll write about my experiences here.

···UPDATE {tried LSD, post in progress}···

Have you experienced an altered state of consciousness? If no, what's stopping you?

...

There are drugs that allow glimpses into this fascinating and mysterious experience; if you want to, fuck it, it's the most natural thing theres is, other earthlings get high, why shouldn't you?

Note: If you think you note different moods sometimes in some paragraphs, it might be that I added, besides the obvious one, small updates of style here and there 8 moths later ;)

*I was going to write a full post about this but Joe Rogan got ahead of me :/

Of Perception...

...to be enlightened is to be aware, always, of total reality in its immanent otherness - to be aware of it and yet to remain in a condition to survive as an animal, to think and feel as a human being, to resort whenever expedient to systematic reasoning. Our goal is to discover that we have always been where we ought to be. Unhappily we make the task exceedingly difficult for ourselves. Meanwhile, however, there are gratuitous graces in the form of partial and fleeting realizations. Under a more realistic, a less exclusively verbal system of education than ours, every Angel (in Blake's sense of that word) would be permitted as a sabbatical treat, would be urged and even, if necessary, compelled to take an occasional trip through some chemical Door in the Wall into the world of transcendental experience. If it terrified him, it would be unfortunate but probably salutary. If it brought him a brief but timeless illumination, so much the better. In either case the Angel might lose a little of the confident insolence sprouting from systematic reasoning and the consciousness of having read all the books. Near the end of his life Aquinas experienced Infused Contemplation. Thereafter he refused to go back to work on his unfinished book. Compared with this, everything he had read and argued about and written - Aristotle and the Sentences, the Questions, the Propositions, the majestic Summas-was no better than chaff or straw, For most intellectuals such a sit-down strike would be inadvisable, even morally wrong. But the Angelic Doctor had done more systematic reasoning than any twelve ordinary Angels, and was already ripe for death. He had earned the right, in those last months of his mortality, to turn away from merely symbolic straw and chaff to the bread of actual and substantial Fact. For Angels of a lower order and with better prospects of longevity, there must be a return to the straw. But the man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out. He will be wiser but less cocksure, happier but less self-satisfied, humbler in acknowledging his ignorance yet better equipped to understand the relationship of words to things, of systematic reasoning to the unfathomable mystery which it tries, forever vainly, to comprehend.

--Huxley

HAIL JOE ROGAN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grcqs9cDuN8

I don't know why I ended up reading about this guy but he speaks some trippy interesting shit. This is some radio interview where Rogan discusses DMT, WOW, that sounds like some MASSIVE TRIPPY experience, definitely something to tell the kids.