Eric's Esoterics

The Five Most Important Questions

2012-01-16T20:28:00.000-08:00

Stefan Molyneux of Freedomain Radio asks and answers 5 of the most important philosophical questions everyone should consider.

Wordsmith Austin Brien Poetry

2012-01-12T23:53:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Austin Brien for sharing these fascinating poetic observations:

Waterfall

When I feel the dragging of the world on my edges I tend to look deeper inside to find something calming there where the silence of waterfalls rush through my ears and all the distant persistent talking disappears. The world just melts like marshmallows in the microwave while purple kittens paw at the glass. It is not half empty or half full, because as you sip on it, the rim lowers with the liquid always right on the edge. Cliff top view of the world below, so far away it all looks so small but I am just a giant in the mind of my own little fantasy. And now I see all these paths in front of me endless choices of possibility, veritable yellow bricks, on the road again…. I can see things clearer now then they have ever been. White sky fades to blue so bright that it shines through you. Iridescent like an angel flying through the sky about 3 cloud banks past the rainbow you’ll see a Pegasus resting on a storm front. Ask him for directions but avoid following them because the true magic is not in the words but where they try to take you. That mix match melody of pleasantry, perfectly balanced on the nose of a seal, barking for tomorrow and waiting for the repeal so that someday people will realize just because the world is your home, doesn’t mean it belongs to you. Nothing belongs to you, not the water you drink, not the food you eat, not even the air you breathe belongs to you. The entire world is only temporary and possession means nothing. Money is imaginary, the paper is real, but the worth is inflated to be valued by the masses to keep us under control like a carrot on the end of the stick. Pointed like a needle for the injecting of some feeble twitter, brittle as melting icicles cause I’m hotter then a fever. Sliding through visions - of skin over ribbons - of silk in the hair of swimming - maidens. The truth has rotten through, stinking of garbage the piles of sewage ooze out of the bag that is our world. The only saving truth is the commonly known as the vanishing point. I dream that maybe there is a point so far away that nothing in this world can be noticed observed or even detected. Electing the defective and protecting them expecting not to get stuck in the eye when the stick of reality needs to get put somewhere, I will tell you where to put it right in your own backyard. Not miles away in some foreign country robbing precious lands of all of the natural resources. Still watching the jackals - as they are hacking on yaw - in the African backswing. Then global slavery as a result, in every person’s taxing, progressing to a possession of people all paying the important people that live in the steeple. Love the people and use things, not love things and use the people. It is hard to see through all the malformed thoughts to a truth worth fighting For-word after word sentence after sentence beating on the door of your mind trying to get something to open up. Still no one offers shelter because there is no quarter here. This is all temporary the world is only an illusion that occurs when light makes contact with anti-matter. No matter what, the image is blunt. What occupies your mind is the matter you find, right in front of you, they do what you don’t want them to do, then they front popularity so you think you’re the outsider. You are not outside, your right in the place you should be soaking up the truths they let you see right on the TV. That is the point of the distraction machine. It is corrupting yet another generation of youth glued to the tube, be it the tele or the compu. Terminate the glow box and get out on the block. Make the boat rock we should all go for a swim in the thought of turmoil being brought up on us.

Warning

This is a warning, to anyone listening, whether you’re whoring or christening. There is just this little point that you seem to be missing. The war for the future has begun; if you’re not going to fight then it is time that you run. The media onslaught keeps your mind caught in a tangent side-plot. Instead of enjoying what you’ve got, you opt for a trashy trinket trot. The knowledge of ‘growing’ is a crop that’s worth knowing, but how many people know that? We the people have become the victims of this communal capitalist crap. Predatory lending lined up with the governments deficit spending. They use this as a tool to invoke your imitations. Not every fool knows his own limitations. They are lighting the road paved with good intentions. Good as gold like the hands you hold. The people you know are the roots that you grow. These politics have taken root, leaving the average man underfoot. The rules are being written by a crowd full of crooks. As they prepare the next curriculum and tell you to follow the books. Just like the fishes are careful of hooks. So too should our spawn, in our schools, or so it looks. With a majority drop out as the metropolitan cop-out failure is expected as the kids sit being neglected. This makes them easily misdirected, connecting with the disconnected. Be it a fantasy, or something more virtual, these synthesized connections are ethereal. While that is half of the deal the problem is the lack of real. Truth is substituted for something with more appeal. Then fact is forgotten, lost and broken. The dreaded is shredded and disposed. While the fate of the world is written and composed in prose, right beneath your nose.

Inevitable

Just a note to the inevitable, I saw you coming and since I knew nothing would stop you I started preparing for everything I could imagine. While I figured there would be some things that were unpredictable, I wanted to be ready for as much as possible. As we all learn distance can make everything look small even when that distance is really just time. Time has a way of turning even the best plans into less then adequate anecdotes. Still I wanted to persevere, so I strove to come up with ideas to confront any issue that arose. Unlike the tides I could not grasp the power that drove the waves. Oblivious to the obvious lack of control, but control is not a solution. Some systems self correct, others fail creating a ripple of repercussions. I fear not knowing enough to recognize the commotion till its conclusion. Nothings wrong till its over and gone. Then when you’re expecting it to be all over, it is, it’s ALL OVER. This nothing has been absorbed into everything. Right in the middle of a vortex of vacuumed vacant space is everything we know. All so tightly sealed that, each little thing comes in “single” serving size. No free choice in this economically automated ‘dog pile of capitalist’ democracy. We can’t see past ourselves, who tries to plan a future that doesn’t include them? This is not the future that was planed by the people who are living it. I am not trying to say that what we have is not great but I am seeing a crust of corporations feeding on our neighborhoods, our neighbors and our neighbor’s neighbor too. That means you. I can understand feeding your family but who really needs a 100 million anything? I want to welcome the relief that seems so desperate to flee, with open arms of needed company. Sit down with me and let me explain what I see when I look at our reality. Life that we live, breath, and many have been laid to rest. The epitome of irony is not without its jest. The funny part is we’re at the butt of this joke. You would choke at the scope of this hoax. No matter how you prepare or, who you promote. As the words you spoke like smoke just vanish in the air. It is futile to provoke more from a bloke then a simple mindless stare. As I forge my words with absurd verbs it is the point that takes effort to pound out. With this blade of fog, in the soot I log the endless treasures of my job, as a wordsmith..

Practicing the Highest Compassion

2011-12-03T20:17:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Druv for sending me this excellent video from Dharma Central elucidating the true meaning of compassion/love, and the Asuric demonic psychopaths who lack these genuine emotions.

Be Careful

2011-11-22T00:56:00.000-08:00

"No heart, selfishness and no consideration for the next man or woman but why? Only focused on our own situations, see somebody suffering and we walk by. They might approach you in need of assistance at a time when their fortunes are low. You look down on them like you're better than them but the truth is you just don't know. We got angels among us dwelling in our presence. God will bless us then place someone in front of us to test us. You can't get a large sum of money or a new car then look down on people because they might not be where you are. Drunk off possessions in the root of all evil but no man can rise above the condition of his people. Don't be arrogant, erring, patience is perseverance. Learn to look inside someone instead of judging by appearance.

Be careful how you treat strangers. You may be entertaining angels who came to protect you from hidden dangers. In disguise studying your ways is what they do. The deed you neglect to do could be the one that saves you.

When trials fall on us we don't look into them deep enough. We feel them through a real small lens. Instead of understanding that it's all a part of living we resent God and turn our friends. Then help comes to you one day in the form of a person that you might not know. But out of deep ignorance and lack of understanding we ignore signs and let help go. See? Have you ever met a stranger and had a conversation and it seems like he's familiar with your life's situation? And you know you never told him but his knowledge is surprising you, speaking wise words giving guidance and advising you. Striking mental chords, blood in your veins coursing, giving you the comfort and positive reinforcements, and you start to question in your mind how it's being done. I'm not saying it's for sure but you might be seeing one.

Be careful how you treat strangers. You may be entertaining angels who came to protect you from hidden dangers. In disguise studying your ways is what they do. The deed you neglect to do could be the one that saves you.

See? You gotta be aware of your surroundings at all times. Everything is not what it appears to the eye. The thing you look down on could be the thing that saves you. These marvels are far beyond carnal. They warn you of unseen forces that might harm you. Alert you of people and things that could hurt you and unknown to you from wrong steps they divert you. The place you started to go but then decided not to. And then disaster struck, if you were there they might have got you. The time when your finances couldn't last a month more and now the left field are blessing landing on your front door. Someone you never met just approaches and starts talking, touches you saying it's going to be alright and keeps walking. It happens quite often in weakened attitudes, being rude when someone exudes a caring mood. Angels all around probably see them all the time not to mention the personal one that lives in your mind keeping you from falling and guiding you on the low. That's why it's wise to respect all people. You never know."

Peter Russell - What is the Self?

2011-10-26T19:49:00.000-07:00

In this great short clip Peter Russell tackles the ultimate introspective question - Who am I?

Best Rant Ever

2011-10-11T23:31:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Ravi for passing along this hilarious and spot-on rant about the US government by comedian Felonius Munk. Enjoy!

Freedom is Anarchy

2011-10-04T01:07:00.000-07:00

All governments use violence (in the form of police/militaries) and coercion (in the form of forced taxation) against their populous. Like a world-wide inescapable mafia, all the governments on Earth force us to pay their multitude of taxes, and if we don't, they seize our assets/asses and throw us in jail. As Stefan Molyneux puts it, "the state is a monopoly of individuals with the legal right and obligation to initiate the use of force against others in a given geographical area." But of course if all humans are indeed free and equal then none should have the right to initiate the use of force against others. The videos above are for all you government-apologist, Stockholm syndrome, invertebrates who constantly cry out "but what about schools and roads Eric!? If governments don't steal our tax money, what will we do about schools and roads and national defense??" I know you think freedom is scary, anarchy sounds negative, and it's radical and extremist to point out the utter illegitimacy and immorality of the state... but... I'm just calling a spade a spade. Government is violence. Government is coercion. Freedom is anarchy.

All governments are violent and coercive, thus no governments provide or ensure "freedom" (as they constantly claim). Their laws, police, militaries, courts, judges, taxes, prisons, and debt-based money systems are all antithetical to freedom, and prevent true freedom from ever occurring. A bit of honest introspection will reveal that government is the problem, and it cannot and will not ever be the solution.

Government doesn't really even exist if we don't believe in it. The problem is that "govern-mental" means "mind-control" and everyone who isn't an anarchist, I'm sorry to say, is under government mind-control.

Laws are just propositions written by crafty wordsmiths and enforced by uniformed and robed agents of the matrix. Fiat is just "legal" counterfeiting that benefits the central bankers. Taxes are just money stolen, then poorly re-distributed. Politicians are just mafia figureheads campaigning to spend your stolen money. The whole thing's a farce and will slowly fade away when people stop believing that egoistic bullies in blue uniforms have any authority and that silly rules written on legal pads are "law."

Gravity, now that's a law. Inertia, that's a law. But the IRS claiming authority to steal a third of my income every year... that's not a law. That's a crafty piece of violently enforced legislation written by mafiosos.

Native American Cherokee Legend

2011-09-19T03:01:00.000-07:00

Thanks to 12 Realms Media for posting the following story:

A grandfather and grandson were out hunting one early morning, and they came upon a ridge on the mountain they were walking on. Over the ridge was a large clearing below where, at a distance, they could see two wolves - a black one and a white one - fighting furiously. They watched as the wolves attacked each other in battle.

The grandfather narrowed his eyes and said slowly, "Ah yes... this is the way with all of us human beings, within our hearts, each and every day." The grandson asked, "What do you mean grandfather?" The old one replied, "Always in our hearts, every day, there is a struggle going on like those two wolves down there... The dark wolf, he wishes to do harm. He is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The white wolf, he wishes to do good and honorable things. He is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. He looked down at his grandson and said, "The same struggle is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."

The Grandfather went on, "Sometimes, the dark one seems to win. Other times, the light one seems to take a stronger lead. When we see honorable people who do great deeds, make sacrifices for the good of others, we know that the white wolf's spirit is strong within their hearts and is the winning spirit in those human beings. Each good and honorable deed they do gives this spirit more power within them. This in turn empowers a human being to be even more honorable." The white wolf does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him, and does not take offense when no offense was intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way.

The boy smiled as the grandfather continued to speak... "But the black wolf, ah! He is full of anger. The littlest thing will set him into a fit of temper. He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger is so great. It is helpless anger, for his anger will change nothing. When we see people who turn to badness, doing terrible and dishonorable things, we can know that the dark wolf within them is strong. Each wrongful deed they do gives the dark one more power over them, until it has won and has utterly consumed them.

The young one's face fell with a look of deep concern. So the boy thought long and hard on these things and he continued to watch the wolves battling below. They both were fierce, giving no quarter - neither backing down. Seeing this, the boy looked within himself and saw the truth of his wise grandfather's words, and it made him very worried for himself. And a great, deep fear fell upon him.

The boy looked intently up at his grandfather. With a trembling voice, he asked, "But grandfather, how will I know which wolf will win within me?" The grandfather smiled, gazed at his grandson with love, compassion and understanding and after a moment, he answered him.

In a quiet yet firm voice, he said, "The one that you feed."

Advaita Tao

2011-09-13T19:54:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Tawan for writing the following article:

Advaita, all that can be, and yet, what every I can not see. Unless you have directly burned through and detached from I-in-the-world then you’ll find this next statement seems to be conceptual, far-fetched, meaningless nonsense.

'I can not die, I have lived every life, I have been the environment in which that life was lived and I have been that living natural world.'

You are nothing but what I am also, except for group reinforced mistaken identity. A clothes line is no longer a clothes line when the string is cut. 48 strings and a stick are 48 strings and a stick but using one string to tie 47 to the stick it is a mop. One piece of string and a stick could be a fishing pole, bow, whip, or a way to hang a basket. A heap of sheet metal and rivets could be made to float you over the ocean. The arrangement of parts calls for a name. Disassembled or reassembled the name must be changed.

No matter your view or understanding of science, even if you deem it fanciful guesswork or if you are sold down the line as to how it holds the answer to every question, then either way or any other way you say: “The universe is made of parts”. The arrangement of parts would have you say that you are you and a tree is a tree. Why not indeed? This forms a very practical situation.

Given your own version of science, the universe will be constructed of anything from the five elements to the 7 flavours of Quark or some other similar or far-fetched theory. Analyzing these parts then you or the scientists you depend upon will find parts, they will do this ad infinitum but convinced at each step they have reached the indivisible atom. Of course the atom was only literally atomic, indivisible, until it was divided. Then the mop became a stick and string theory.

Science aims to prove and some people agree without looking that there will eventually be a true atom, a point where division is impossible. How their logic allows for this I have no idea as 1) If unsplittable, then what is it made from? 2) Where is it? ‘Where’ is very important a question when you are looking at ‘what’ as the ‘what’ and the ‘where’ seem to be two things and thus disproving that the ‘what’ is elementary. This is saying nothing even of what is observing the what.

Besides the actual searching and various descriptions we have come up with for ‘what stuff is made of’ the generally held idea is that arrangements of this ‘what’ goes to make the independent separate entities, person and tree.

You will be in one of many schools of thought then but clustered into one of only two groups; They who see that one elementary part arranged in various ways forms the world described by language, and They who see that language induces the very idea that there must be some base part.

Those who say that the universe is merely arrangements of one core part -must- now see that there is no true division one thing to another, and those who see that language infers parts from what is truly One, have already seen this. A consensus. Now that all parties hold a similar consensus, that the universe is One but for labels, then we have what Advaita says. One, not Two. Tao.

The Two that is so strongly denied by Advaita is rendered in so many ways from Me and You, to Friend and Foe, Life and Death, Good and Bad, Heaven and Hell, God and Devil, object and subject, thing and observer, to any duality and any entry into the world of conceptual thought and labels, life as we “know” it.

Advaita is not though to deny life as we know it, but to affirm it, just as it IS and not as it seems to be. When you can exist with a consistent background of peace, you can see all life as is, living forever deathless, then you are being what you truly are. When you question or compare this to that, affirm or deny, seek, think, then you are pretending to be a conceptual part 'I-separate'.

Jim Carrey explains Consciousness and Oneness

2011-09-06T21:29:00.000-07:00

This is a great compilation of Jim Carrey and others talking about consciousness, oneness, mental suffering, and happiness.

What is Advaita or Non-Duality?

2011-08-28T22:30:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Tawan for sending me this excellent article which articulates the inseparability of all things in existence, Advaita, the non-dual nature of truth. All pictures taken from Bob Seal's Non-Duality Cartoons:

"So, Swami-ji, what would you say that Advaita is?" The eager young woman crossed her legs and sat expectantly, pencil poised above a pristine pad of paper.

"It simply means ‘not two' - the ultimate truth is nondual," replied the Sage, reclining in a large and comfortable-looking armchair and not sitting in an upright lotus position, as he ought to have been, for the sake of the photograph that she had just taken, if nothing else.

She continued to wait for further elucidation before beginning to write but it soon became apparent that the answer had been given. "But is it a religion? Do you believe in God, for example?"

"Ah, well, that would depend upon what you mean by those words, wouldn't it?" he responded, irritatingly. "If, by ‘religion', you mean does it have priests and churches and a band of followers who are prepared to kill non-believers, then the answer is no. If, on the other hand, you refer to the original, literal meaning of the word, namely to ‘bind again', to reunite the mistaken person that we think we are with the Self that we truly are, then yes, it is a religion. Similarly, if by ‘God' you mean a separate, supernatural being who created the universe and will reward us by sending us to heaven if we do what He wants, then the answer is no. If you use the term in the sense of the unmanifest, non-dual reality, then yes, I most certainly do believe in God."

The pencil raced across the paper, recording the answer for the benefit of the magazine's readers but, as the words clashed with previous ideas in her memory, the lack of a clear resolution of her questions was reflected by an increasing puzzlement in her expression.

He registered this with compassion and held out his hand towards her. "Give me a piece of paper from your pad." She looked up, mouth slightly open as she wondered why he could possibly want that. But she turned the pad over, carefully tore off the bottom sheet and placed it in his outstretched hand. He turned to the table at his right and deftly began to fold and refold the paper. After a few moments, he turned back and, before she had had time to see what he had done, he held the paper aloft and launched it into the air. It rose quickly and circled gracefully around the room before losing momentum and diving to meet a sudden end when its pointed nose hit a sauce bottle on the dining table. "Could you bring it back over here do you think?" he asked.

"So, what would you say that we have here?" he asked, as she handed it back to him.

"It's a paper aeroplane," she replied, with just a hint of questioning in her voice, since the answer was so obvious that she felt he must have some other purpose in mind.

"Really?" he responded and, in an instant, he screwed up the object and, with a practised, over-arm movement, threw it effortlessly in a wide arc, from which it landed just short of the waste paper basket in the corner of the room. "And now?" he asked.

"It's a screwed-up ball of paper", she said, without any doubt in her voice this time.

"Could you bring it back again, please", he continued. She did so, wondering if this was typical of such an interview, spending the session chasing about after bits of paper like a dog running after a stick. He took the ball and carefully unfolded it, spread it out on the table and smoothed his hand over it a few times before handing it back to her. "And now it is just a sheet of paper again," he said, "although I'm afraid it's a bit crumpled now!"

He looked at her, apparently anticipating some sign of understanding if not actual revelation but none was forthcoming. He looked around the room and, after a moment, he stood up, walked over to the window and removed a rose from a vase standing in the alcove. Returning to his seat, he held the rose out to her and asked, "What is this?"

She was feeling increasingly embarrassed as it was clear he was trying to explain something fundamental, which she was not understanding. Either that or he was mad or deliberately provoking her, neither of which seemed likely, since he remained calm and open and somehow intensely present. "It's a flower," she replied eventually.

He then deliberately took one of the petals between his right-hand thumb and fore-finger and plucked it. He looked at her and said, "And now?" She didn't reply, though it seemed that this time he didn't really expect an answer. He continued to remove the petals one by one until none remained, looking up at her after each action. Finally, he pulled the remaining parts of the flower head off the stem and dropped them onto the floor, leaving the bare stalk, which he held out to her. "Where is the flower now?" he asked. Receiving no reply, he bent down and picked up all of the petals, eventually displaying them in his open hand. "Is this a flower?" he asked.

She shook her head slowly. "It was a flower only when all of the petals and the other bits were all attached to the stem."

"Good!" he said, appreciatively. "Flower is the name that we give to that particular arrangement of all of the parts. Once we have separated it into its component parts, the flower ceases to exist. But was there ever an actual, separate thing called ‘flower'? All of the material that constituted the original form is still here in these parts in my hand.

"The paper aeroplane is an even simpler example. There never was an aeroplane was there? And I don't just mean that it was only a toy. There was only ever paper. To begin with, the paper was in the form of a flat sheet for writing on. Then, I folded it in various ways so that it took on an aerodynamic shape which could fly through the air slowly. The name that we give to that form is ‘aeroplane'. When I screwed it up, the ball-shape could be thrown more accurately. ‘Aeroplane' and ‘ball' were names relating to particular forms of the paper but at all times, all that ever actually existed was paper.

"Now, this sort of analysis applies to every ‘thing' that you care to think of. Look at that table over there and this chair on which you are sitting. What are they made of? You will probably say that they are wooden chairs?"

He looked at her questioningly and she nodded, knowing at the same time that he was going to contradict her. "Well, they are made of wood certainly, but that does not mean that they are wooden chairs! On the contrary, I would say that this, that you are sitting on, is actually chairy wood, and that object over there is tably wood. What do you say to that?"

"You mean that the thing that we call ‘chair' is just a name that we give to the wood when it is that particular shape and being used for that particular function?" she asked, with understanding beginning to dawn.

"Exactly! I couldn't have put it better myself. It is quite possible that I could have a bag full of pieces of wood that can be slotted together in different ways so that at one time I might assemble them into something to sit upon, another time into something to put food upon and so on. We give the various forms distinct names and we forget that they are ONLY names and forms and not distinct and separate things.

"Look - here's an apple," he said, picking one out of the bowl on the table and casually tossing it from one hand to the other before holding it up for her to examine. "It's round or to be more accurate, spherical; its reddish in colour and it has", he sniffed it, "a fruity smell. No doubt if I were to bite into it, I would find it juicy and sweet.

"Now all of these - round, red, fruity, juicy, sweet - are adjectives describing the noun ‘apple.' Or, to use more Advaitic terms, let me say that the ‘apple' is the ‘substantive' - the apparently real, separately existing thing - and all of the other words are ‘attributes' of the apple - merely incidental qualities of the thing itself. Are you with me so far?"She nodded hesitantly but, after a little reflection, more positively.

"But suppose I had carried out this analysis with the rose that we looked at a moment ago. I could have said that it was red, delicate, fragrant, thorny and so on. And we would have noted that all of those were simply attributes and that the actual existent thing, the substantive, was the rose. But then we went on to see that the rose wasn't real at all. It was just an assemblage of petals and sepals and so on - I'm afraid I am not a botanist! In the same way, we could say that the apple consists of seeds and flesh and skin. We may not be able to put these things together into any form different from an apple but Nature can.

"If you ask a scientist what makes an apple an apple, he will probably tell you that is the particular configuration of nucleotides in the DNA or RNA of the cells. There are many different species of apple and each one will have a slight variation in the chromosomes and it is that which differentiates the species. If you want to explain to someone what the difference is between a Bramley and a Granny Smith, you will probably say something like ‘the Bramley is large and green, used mainly for cooking and is quite sharp tasting, while the Granny Smith is still green but normally much smaller and sweeter'. But these are all adjectives or attributes. What is actually different is the physical makeup of the cell nuclei.

"But, if we look at a chromosome or a strand of DNA, are we actually looking at a self-existent, separate thing? If you look very closely through an electron microscope, you find that DNA is made up of four basic units arranged in pairs in a long, spiral chain. And any one of these units is itself made up of atoms of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, again arranged in a very specific way. So even those are not separate ‘things-in-themselves'; they are names given to particular forms of other, more fundamental things.

"And so we arrive at atoms - even the ancient Greeks used to think that everything was made up of atoms. Are these the final ‘substantives' with all of the apparent things in the world being merely attributes? Well, unfortunately not. Science has known for a long time that atoms mainly consist of empty space with electrons spinning around a central nucleus of protons and neutrons. And science has known for somewhat less time that these particles, which were once thought to be fundamental, are themselves not solid, self-existent things but are either made up of still smaller particles or are in the form of waves, merely having probabilities of existence at many different points in space.

"Still more recently, science claimed that all of the different particles are themselves made out of different combinations of just a few particles called quarks and that those are the ultimately existing things. But they have not yet progressed far enough. The simple fact of the matter is that every ‘thing' is ultimately only an attribute, a name and form superimposed upon a more fundamental substantive. We make the mistake of thinking that there really is a table, when actually there is only wood. We make the mistake of thinking that there is really wood, when actually there is only cellulose and sugars and proteins. We make the mistake of thinking there is protein when this is only a particular combination of atoms. Ultimately, everything in the universe is seen to be only name and form of a single substantive.

The journalist was transfixed; not exactly open-mouthed but her pencil had not moved for some time. Eventually, she asked in a small voice: "But then where do I fit into all of this?"

"Ah", he replied. "That again depends upon what you mean by the word ‘I'. Who you think you are - ‘Sarah' - is essentially no different from the table and chair. You are simply name and form, imposed upon the non-dual reality. Who you really are, however... well, that is quite different - you are that nondual reality. You see, in the final analysis, there are not two things; there is only nonduality. That is the truth; that is Advaita."

The Decline and Rebirth of Dharma

2011-08-22T21:45:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Druv for recommending the DharmaNation videos of Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya, a wise teacher and follower of the Vedic tradition Sanatana Dharma. In this video he speaks about the 2000 year history of the systematic repression of Dharma civilization and about its inevitable rebirth in our time.

Ego, The Enemy of Self - How to Reclaim Your True Power

2011-08-10T20:15:00.000-07:00

While researching about the Ego and True Self I came across the following article which puts things into perspective quite well:

Do you really understand just how abusive your ego is? Let’s look at the analogy of your ego – as if this part of you was a separate individual.

Would you stand in front of someone while they were delivering a whole heap of unhealthy, insane, abusive, damaging and disgusting versions of you and your life and listen to it? The healthiest thing you could do is say, ‘I’m not listening to you’, disconnect and carry on with whatever you’re doing in the now.

There is absolutely no need for you to accept another’s version of you and your life unless you choose to stand there with them and take it on. If you know who you are, there’s no need to try and convince another person who you are and what you stand for. If they don’t get it and don’t want to, it really is none of your business.

Understand if you stand there and argue with an abusive individual, you get damaged. If you do this, you have serious problems with setting boundaries. Know that your ego is every bit as abusive as another damaging individual.

If you have a ‘fight with yourself’ you’re trying to justify yourself to your ego and convince it you aren’t this person, you don’t have these fears, you don’t have doubts and you really are capable. Your ego loves this because it will trick you into thinking that you can win the argument, that you can convince it and resolve the issue, and that you’ll receive peace after having this struggle with yourself. This is so untrue!

Your ego will keep coming back at you again and again, and just like any abusive person who simply won’t get it, wants to project fears and doubts, and not find peace within. The argument will continue to resurface and never be healed.

Think about this – how exhausting is it trying to argue and justify yourself with a person who is continually abusing you? If you don’t disconnect and get away from them, you eventually give in and start agreeing with their version of you just to get some peace.

Inevitably if you keep hooking into your ego you’ll end up doing the same thing. Eventually you’ll be so worn down that you’ll accept and agree with the inner dialogue of ‘I’m worthless and a failure’. This is what depression is. Society’s concept of ‘ego’ has often been recognition of arrogant and bombastic behaviour. How many people realise this constructed false self is a cover-up for the painful torturous thoughts and feelings of unworthiness that the world doesn’t see?

Be very clear that the ego is also responsible for people who display insipid and power-less behaviour. The ego creates all ‘less than’ human behaviour. Your ego is your greatest problem in life. There truly is no fight going on outside of you. The only enemy is within.

Read This Entire Article Here

Bill Hicks on Marijuana

2011-07-31T04:43:00.000-07:00

My favorite comedian discussing one of my favorite subjects. Does everybody agree with Bill? If you don't then "just shut up and smoke that! ... it's the law."

Positive Effects of Magic Mushrooms

2011-07-10T23:25:00.000-07:00

When used properly in positive settings and in correct doses, so-called "magic" mushrooms have proven to have lasting spiritual and health benefits. I say this from personal experience as well as documented scientific research:

Taking just the right amount of a substance found in "magic mushrooms" can help to positively improve attitude, mood, behavior, and happiness levels, according to new study published in the peer-reviewed journal Psychopharmacology. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Md., determined that psilocybin, a psychedelic substance found in certain mushrooms, can help improve a person's general well-being for up to a year after taking it -- and it allegedly does not cause any known negative side effects

Natural News.com Article

The Search For Beauty

2011-07-09T23:00:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Edelweiss Pirate for writing the following article. I have felt many of the things he pointed out here, but haven't been able to put them into thought/words so eloquently:

The search for beauty is the preoccupation of every human and living creature in this material world. We search for beauty outside of ourselves for what is within we fail to appreciate and generally take for granted. It seems for most of us, that we must seek personal happiness and validation outside of ourselves. And so we venture further into materialism and further from the source of personal wisdom. We can never ‘know’ another person as we know ourselves. We can never achieve wisdom from another person because knowledge and awareness lies within our own consciousness. Some of us corrupt what is within, due to a lack of insight or personal damage of some kind, and what is within themselves appears rank and poisoned and the inner beauty is lost.

So we project our love and desire outside of ourselves, like plants reaching their leaves to the sun, we hope to find sustenance and a purpose for living in someone else.

This makes no sense spiritually because the person in whom you are trying to find this beauty is also looking for the same thing in you, yet the fact that both of you are looking for something which you lack, in someone else, means neither of you possess what you are searching for, because if you did you wouldn’t have to look for it in others.

Superficially, women are attractive and men are handsome, yet this only appears to be the beauty they are searching for, but it is only a configuration of physicality, it is more materialism. It has no deeper meaning and is only a cipher for beauty but not the real thing. The attractiveness and charm which some see in others is often enough to make them love them, but rarely is it enough to make the person possessing these qualities love themselves to the point of self completion.

The person having the qualities of attractiveness or charm knows that these things are not the real person they are, yet they seem sufficient to make the other person love them. These things are merely tools to enable the person to obtain emotional, sensual, material or financial security. But love is the dream, but it comes from within the self. Why is another person needed to produce a feeling which originates within the self. What is love?

Love is a form of attention. Love takes the attention from ones own personal inner problems and gives one something to focus on outside of the self. But what happens when attention goes outward? The material world expands and grows as the all knowing inner being reaches out into the void. The reality is short lived because true love requires timeless understanding and a still mind. Within a human relationship these things are unobtainable in this world which by definition is constantly in flux and full of a thousand distractions. There are financial pressures, communication failures, misunderstandings. It is easier to find love in yourself and keep it there than it is to search for it in someone by reaching across the void to another consciousness. Why reach across the void at all?

So we all reach out of ourselves because we feel dissatisfied with our own inner beings, and we seek to expand our inner light into the darkened void. The consequence of this is human reproduction, which is actually a form of entropy, or widening chaos. Materially, having children is natural, from a spiritual perspective however it is not.

Reproduction is the consequence of our failure to find God, it is a consequence of a spiritual hunger for completeness which we think the material world can solve for us. But it cannot, it can only offer the temporary excitement of desire followed by a slow loss of the self at the expense of assuming a role as head of a family.

We fracture and divide ourselves. And so from the original harmony we have ‘difference’, we have tribalism, peoples, nations, conflicts, wars which are inevitable when different universes occupy the same world. Reproduction is shattering the hologram into a thousand more holograms. Marriages are not easy and often fail because eventually we realise that we can never really find love outside of ourselves, except as a kind of dozing domesticity, but if we really look into ourselves we will realise that what we were looking for was inside us all along.

Dan the Man with the Master Plan for Peace

2011-07-07T04:10:00.000-07:00

Dan McDonald is a raw vegan man on a mission trying to bring the message of fruits, vegetables and love to the world. In these great videos above Dan "the man with the master plan" talks about how to bring about true, lasting inner-peace.

Amazing Message For Mankind

2011-06-29T23:46:00.000-07:00

This is 12 year old Servern Cullis giving a speech at the 1992 UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Her powerful words serve as a reminder to humanity of how far we've fallen as a species, and as a call towards personal responsibility (partial transcript below).

"I'm here to speak for all generations to come. I'm here to speak on behalf of the starving children around the world whose cries go unheard. I'm here to speak for the countless animals dying across this planet because they have no where left to go. I'm afraid to go out in the sun now because of the holes in our ozone. I'm afraid to breathe the air because I don't know what chemicals are in it. I used to go fishing in Vancouver, my home, with my dad, until just a few years ago we found the fish full of cancers. And now we hear of animals and plants going extinct everyday vanishing forever. In my life I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles, and rainforests full of birds and butterflies, but now I wonder if they will even exist for my children to see. Did you have to worry of these things when you were my age? All this is happening before our eyes and yet we act as if we have all the time we want and all the solutions. I'm only a child and I don't have all the solutions, but i want you to realize neither do you. You don't know how to fix the holes in our ozone layer. You don't know how to bring the salmon back up a dead stream. You don't now how to bring back an animal now extinct. And you can't bring back the forest that once grew where there is now a desert. If you don't know how to fix it, please stop breaking it. Here you may be delegates of your government, business people, organizers, reporters, or politicians, but really you're mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles, and all of you are someone's child...

I am only a child yet I know if all the money spent on war was spent on finding environmental answers, ending poverty, and finding treaties, what a wonderful place this Earth would be. At school, even in Kindergarten, you teach us how to behave in the world. You teach us not to fight with others, to work things out, to respect others, to clean up our mess, not to hurt other creatures, to share, not be greedy. Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do!? Do not forget why you are attending these conferences, who you are doing this for. We are your own children. You are deciding what kind of a world we are growing up in. Parents should be able to comfort their children by saying everything's going to be alright, it's not the end of the world, and we're doing the best we can. But I don't think you can say that to us anymore. Are we even on your list of priorities? My dad always says you are what you do, not what you say. Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown-ups say you love us, but I challenge you, please make your actions reflect your words."

Lee Evans Truth Through Comedy

2011-06-21T01:31:00.000-07:00

Here's a good compilation of Lee Evans' material disguising important messages in humor.

Breaking the Illusion of Limitation

2011-06-16T20:51:00.000-07:00

“I seldom think about my limitations, and they never make me sad. Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times; but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers.” -Helen Keller

“Our demons are our own limitations, which shut us off from the realization of the ubiquity of the spirit. Each of these demons is conquered in a vision quest.” -Joseph Campbell

“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and your discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.” -Patanjali

Thousand-Hand Guan Yin

2011-06-15T21:14:00.000-07:00

As long as you are kind and there is love in your heart
A thousand hands will naturally come to your aid
As long as you are kind and there is love in your heart
You will reach out with a thousand hands to help others

Leija and Felipe

2011-05-30T22:30:00.000-07:00

Leija Turunen and Felipe Sparx both had their own very interesting YouTube channels about raw food, vegetarianism, energy healing, spirituality etc. when they happened across each others' material February, 2010. After getting to know each other through videos and emails for a couple months, they met, fell madly in love, and on August 4th, 2010 got married. Now they make beautiful videos together under their new channel, The Schmoopies2012. I recommend subscribing to all of their channels for some great inspirational and positive videos.

Guru Om

2011-05-18T19:11:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Michelle for introducing me to the work of Guru Om. A very interesting and eccentric character, Guru Om has lots of artwork, poetry, and videos available on his Mercurial World blog. He claims to have "tattooed the truth" on his head but only 3 people in his life have ever asked him what it meant. I'd like to be the 4th, but he doesn't have a Skype connection yet.

At 16 years of age, in the Outback of Australia, a man once asked me if I believed in God. My reply was, "yes". He then asked me how much money I had. I replied, "500 dollars". He then asked me why I saved money. My reply, at the time was, "just in case!" The man replied, "Just in case, what? That God lets you down?" I had no reply. That night, I pondered the mans' questions and discovered my lifes' work. -Guru Om

Interview with Reiki Master

2011-05-04T20:50:00.000-07:00

This is a great interview with one of my best friends here in Thailand, a writer, Reiki Master, and all around awesome guy, Tom Radzienda.

Animals that are Better than You

2011-04-25T20:44:00.000-07:00

Some animals are more equal than others :)

Near Death Experience Documentary

2011-04-19T04:46:00.000-07:00

What do you think happens when we die? The congruency of stories from various Near Death Experiencers is quite telling. Throughout history people who have died and later been resuscitated report the same story of consciousness leaving their physical body, entering a realm of love and light, meeting angelic beings, and watching their entire lives flash before their eyes. Slight differences exist in various accounts, but these pale next to the incredible universal similarities. The typical NDE is as follows:

“A man is dying and suddenly finds himself floating above his body and watching what is going on. Within moments he travels at great speed through a darkness or a tunnel. He enters a realm of dazzling light and is warmly met by recently deceased friends and relatives. Frequently he hears indescribably beautiful music and sees sights – rolling meadows, flower-filled valleys, and sparkling streams – more lovely than anything he has seen on earth. In this light-filled world he feels no pain or fear and is pervaded with an overwhelming feeling of joy, love, and peace. He meets a ‘being (and/or beings) of light’ who emanates a feeling of enormous compassion, and is prompted by the being(s) to experience a ‘life review,’ a panoramic replay of his life. He becomes so enraptured by his experience of this greater reality that he desires nothing more than to stay. However, the being tells him that it is not his time yet and persuades him to return to his earthly life and reenter his physical body.” -Michael Talbot, “The Holographic Universe” (240)

“A man is dying and, as he reaches the point of greatest physical distress, he hears himself pronounced dead by his doctor. He begins to hear an uncomfortable noise, a loud ringing or buzzing, and at the same time feels himself moving very rapidly through a long dark tunnel. After this, he suddenly finds himself outside of his own physical body, but still in the immediate physical environment, and he sees his own body from a distance, as though he is a spectator. He watches the resuscitation attempt from this unusual vantage point and is in a state of emotional upheaval. After a while, he collects himself and becomes more accustomed to his odd condition. He notices that he still has a ‘body’ but one of a very different nature and with very different powers from the physical body he has left behind. Soon other things begin to happen. Others come to meet and to help him. He glimpses the spirits of relatives and friends who have already died, and a loving, warm spirit of a kind he has never encountered before - a being of light - appears before him. This being asks him a question, nonverbally, to make him evaluate his life and helps him along by showing him a panoramic, instantaneous playback of the major events of his life. At some point he finds himself approaching some sort of barrier or border, apparently representing the limit between earthly life and the next life. Yet, he finds that he must go, back to the earth, that the time for his death has not yet come. At this point he resists, for by now he is taken up with his experiences in the afterlife and does not want to return. He is overwhelmed by intense feelings of joy, love, and peace. Despite his attitude, though, he somehow reunites with his physical body and lives.” –Dr. Raymond Moody, “Life After Life” (34)

I just finished watching the above Near Death Experience mini-documentary which I think was very well done and essential viewing for all. Have a watch through and if you're interested in researching further check out my other Near Death Experience posts and this YouTube channel full of NDE accounts, Bill's NDE Videos.

Blind Near Death Experiencers See Out of Body

2011-04-10T20:16:00.000-07:00

To date there are hundreds of independently verified and documented cases in which NDErs have come back to life accurately reporting events that happened in other rooms/buildings/places while they were “dead.” Even more astonishing, there are several cases in which blind NDErs have gained sight while out of body and given detailed visually accurate accounts of their surroundings! NDE researcher Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross interviewed many such clinically blind patients who were able to see perfectly while “dead” and out of body. She wrote that, “to our amazement, they were able to describe the color and design of clothing and jewelry the people present wore.”

“Raymond Moody, Kenneth Ring, Michael Sabom, Elisabeth Kubler- Ross, and other highly respected researchers, have repeatedly confirmed that people in near-death situations have had out-of-body-experiences (OOBEs), during which they were able to witness events happening in other rooms or even distant places. These accounts have been objectively verified by independent observers. The ultimate challenge to Newtonian science in this area of research has been the discovery that clinically blind people experiencing OOBEs describe scenes that are visually accurate, though after recovering from the disease or trauma that caused the near-death experience they are not able to see.” -Stanislav Grof, “The Holotropic Mind” (133-134)

Revolver and the Ego

2011-04-03T20:53:00.000-07:00

Has anyone seen the Guy Ritchie film "Revolver" starring Jason Statham and Ray Liotta? I saw it on DVD and thought it was one of the most underrated Hollywood movies ever. Then just recently I saw this excellent break-down of Revolver's main theme which is dissolving the ego. These videos do a great job explaining.

Eckhart Tolle - What is Meditation?

2011-03-27T22:31:00.000-07:00

This is an excellent explanation of the question "what is meditation?" In the process of explaining this, Eckhart Tolle also answers the deeper question, "who am I really?"

Lion Luvin

2011-03-21T19:55:00.000-07:00

I love to see people showing love and respect for all living creatures. Animals know that us despotic humans need more hugs and cuddling, but they're usually so put off by our lack of compassion that they'd rather just keep their distance.

The Wayseer Manifesto

2011-03-20T17:13:00.001-07:00

ATTENTION: All rule-breakers, misfits & troublemakers, all you free-spirits & pioneers. Everything the establishment has told you is wrong with you - is actually what's right with you!

Free Thinkers Comedy

2011-03-07T20:10:00.000-08:00

Here's a great compilation of conscious comedians enlightening through laughter.

The Meaning of Life Documentary

2011-03-06T19:30:00.000-08:00

I really enjoyed this simple yet deep look into various people's personal meanings of life. What do you think is the meaning of life? Leave a comment below. I'd say "meaning" is not some mystical objective truth beyond our comprehension but rather something we create and ascribe to life. As I said in Asbestos Head:

“You know what I’ve been thinking? What supreme purpose could God impose on humankind that could magically de-trivialize Our existence? What possible reason would God have Us exist rather than not exist that would give genuine meaning to Our lives? I find it a much more hopeful notion that the derivation of meaning in life is Our choice and not pre-determined. Learning and appreciating your own purpose becomes the perfect existential challenge.”

A Short Story of Love, Tragedy, and Forgiveness

2011-03-02T21:37:00.000-08:00

This is a great video reminder to be mindful, peaceful, compassionate, forgiving, and unconditionally loving at all times.

Leonard Orr on Yogi Immortality

2011-02-27T22:15:00.000-08:00

Leonard Orr is an author and longevity researcher who claims to have met "immortal" yogis in India who were currently 300, 800, and up to 2,000 years old. He says the thing they all had in common was an intimate relationship with Earth, Air, Fire, and Water in their daily lives. For instance they all bathed twice a day and drank plenty of pure water to maintain the balance of water in the body. They were all vegetarians eating simple mostly raw food diets and spent time "grounding" to balance their earth energy. They all practiced pranayama deep breathing and regular fasting for air purification. And they all performed sun or fire gazing and yogic exercise to vitalize their fire energy.

I Met the Walrus

2011-02-15T22:53:00.000-08:00

In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatles fanatic named Jerry Levitan snuck into John Lennon's hotel room in Toronto and convinced him to do an interview. 38 years later, Levitan, director Josh Raskin and illustrators James Braithwaite and Alex Kurina have collaborated to create an animated short film using the original interview recording as the soundtrack. A spellbinding vessel for Lennon's boundless wit and timeless message, I Met the Walrus was nominated for the 2008 Academy Award for Animated Short and won the 2009 Emmy for 'New Approaches' (making it the first film to win an Emmy on behalf of the internet).

A Short Love Story in Stop Motion

2011-02-12T03:11:00.000-08:00

Here's a great clip from Stefan Molyneux's Freedomain Radio show put to video an awesome segment about love, living a life that matters, and dying a noble death.

What's Really Going On?

2011-02-02T04:59:00.000-08:00

Danny Shine, Charlie's former partner from the Love Police, has been going around Tel Aviv and England with his camera asking people the very open and intriguing question, "What's really going on?" Some of these answers are really encouraging. It's good to see so many wise everyday folks clued in and providing some really great answers.

How to Free Yourself From Self Abuse

2011-01-30T06:42:00.000-08:00

This is an awesome segment from Stefan Molyneux's Freedomain Radio show about the origins of self abuse, why it happens, and how to stop it.

Beyond Duality Thinking - Pedagogy of Interiority

2011-01-28T04:36:00.000-08:00

Here's a great clip of David Icke, George Carlin, Basho, J. Krishnamurti and others explaining the nature of self, and knowing one's self.

Joe Rogan - Explosions in the Sky

2011-01-26T03:56:00.000-08:00

Another one of Joe Rogan's excellent rants on life, quantum physics, mushrooms and everything in between.

The Custodians of Freedom

2011-01-23T17:34:00.000-08:00

Max Igan had a particularly great episode about freedom and self-empowerment this week on his Surviving the Matrix show. Watch parts 1 and 2 above, 3 and 4 here. Enjoy!

Media Control .Org

2011-01-21T02:11:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, we're starting up a new website and need your help to make it a success! MediaControl.org will be a completely user-generated independent media pool. The idea is to create an archive of truly free/independent media, promote your work to the widest audience possible, and build a community of like-minded writers, researchers, artists, musicians and filmmakers. Have a look at the site here, and start sending in your entries to mediacontrol@hotmail.com We're dedicated to making this a success. Please help us make this vision a reality. Peace.

Joe Rogan - The American War Machine

2011-01-20T08:04:00.000-08:00

This is a humorous and powerful compilation of Joe Rogan clips talking about various political subjects such as the Iraq War, Operation Northwoods, 9,/11 and the Military Industrial Complex.

Born an Original, Die a Copy

2011-01-19T00:05:00.000-08:00

Here's a great compilation of clips from Alan Watts, David Icke, Alex Collier and the movie Inception themed around living an authentic, unique life.

A Life of Significance

2011-01-18T20:29:00.000-08:00

This is a great little emotional/inspirational video about the inevitability of death and living a life that matters.

Labyrinth of the Psychonaut - Soundless Dawn

2011-01-16T00:13:00.000-08:00

Steve Wilner at the Labyrinth of the Psychonaut blog has a great YouTube channel called Soundless Dawn full of trippy, interesting, artistic, mind-expanding videos including these most recent shown above.

The Tibetan Book of the Dead Documentary

2011-01-07T06:34:00.000-08:00

An ancient source of strength and guidance, The Tibetan Book of the Dead remains an essential teaching in the Buddhist cultures of the Himalayas. Narrated by Leonard Cohen, this enlightening two-part series explores the sacred text and boldly visualizes the afterlife according to its profound wisdom.

Part 1: A Way of Life reveals the history of The Tibetan Book of the Dead and examines its traditional use in northern India, as well as its acceptance in Western hospices. Shot over a four-month period, the film contains footage of the rites and liturgies for a deceased Ladakhi elder and includes an interview with the Dalai Lama, who shares his views on the book's meaning and importance.

Part 2: The Great Liberation follows an old lama and his novice monk as they guide a Himalayan villager into the afterlife using readings from The Tibetan Book of the Dead. The soul's 49-day journey towards rebirth is envisioned through actual photography of rarely seen Buddhist rituals, interwoven with groundbreaking animation by internationally acclaimed filmmaker Ishu Patel.

Asserting Your Freedom

2010-12-28T00:39:00.000-08:00

Did you know there are millions of laws (anti-freedoms) in effect and many more being written daily by unelected, unaccountable lawyers and politicians? Did you know that ignorance of these laws is no defense against breaking them!? The worldwide erosion of civil liberties is a real and tragic on-going issue. Wouldn't it be empowering then to know that "civil" liberties only apply to government employees and corporations? These millions of anti-freedoms being written daily are in fact NOT law or even lawful. They are "legal" and only given the force of law by YOUR consent. Unfortunately the entire legal system is designed to trick you into consenting to it, and thus it takes a solid education in civics/law to be able to effectively assert your freedom in the face of ever-increasing state tyranny. I doubt it was an accident that civics has slowly been taken out of public schools. If you're interested, as I am, in reclaiming your sovereign citizenship and asserting yourself as a freeman on the land, I highly recommend clicking here and checking out the Freeman/Sovereignty/Redemption movement. Peace.

DMT - The Spirit Molecule

2010-12-15T17:48:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago I read and thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Rick Strassman's clinical research on DMT in his book, DMT - The Spirit Molecule. This week I had the pleasure of watching Strassman's new documentary of the same name. The book is certainly much more in-depth, but the documentary is a great and informative introduction to the subject. Parts 1 and 2 above, here are parts 3, 4, and 5.

Amongst White Clouds

2010-12-04T02:19:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Mark for recommending this great documentary, Amongst White Clouds. An American film-maker and seeker of enlightenment goes to the Chinese mountains, encounters and lives with various ascetic Buddhist hermits and catches some beautiful moments and inspiring insights on camera. I highly recommend it for all spiritual seekers. Peace.

Infinite Tao

2010-12-01T23:42:00.000-08:00

I just posted from Chris' TaoWow blog a couple weeks ago, but he's written two more articles that are too good not to post, so here they are:

Whoops I Broke Space-Time

To encourage a person out of their awful addiction to facts I drew a line on a piece of paper and said "look: Look at the line. See how the mark is a line but get closer, it wobbles, closer still and it has breaks. You piece together these marks and say there is a line but closer in the line is not even joined. Close enough and I can pass through the line and start following the paper in an entirely new direction. Closer I may become fascinated by the texture of the paper, I may get into the fibers and start to see how they are not a flat piece of paper but a whole new 3D world with new paths in every direction. What of the line now? No interest, I follow these fiber threads and go where I like. But closer still... Now, closer, I decide to move between the fibers and I go through holes in between them, through the paper and I see currents of air flowing through there too. Obsessed I grab hold of a bit of air and I ride it, flowing, madly in every direction. I go in deeper and I see different patterns, I see parts of air, different gases of different patterns of different behaviors, I grab the spinning boundary of one and I whiz deeply towards an apparent center. Deeper I go and I find powerful energies of great binding and great repulsion, existing by both their power to hold form and their resistance against other great forces. I think back to the ink. Onward. Now in a world of forces I brave it and push into something invisible but beyond measure in force. I push in deeper and deeper determined to see what this force has to offer. I break through what I used to know as time. Now I exist in no-place and at no time. I venture on but as expected I can no longer relay my story back to you. There is no such thing as a straight line my friend, your equations bore me, I'm breaking barriers you can only measure the meta dynamics of.

Large Hadron Collider

I can not accept a finite universe as, if finite, it must be held by something and so then it was not finite at all but given a boundary. Most of us agree for some reason or another that there is an infinity. What then are we doing trying to measure or describe that? Only a lunatic could set about trying to measure or break infinity into constituent finite parts - Mad as it is, that is science and we as tax-payers fund that lunacy even though we believe in infinity. I want my money back. Large Hadron Collider - I'd rather spend my tax money on a meal a day for all of humanity for life. Then. If reality is infinite and so indescribable, immeasurable, unknowable and far and away beyond the limits of our senses and minds, science, religion and any form of explanation is farcical. What is worth our ink if all of the big questions are struck off the record? Perhaps we are left with philosophy, deciding what is right and what is not, this though is just as mad. As who is deciding, who is in any position to say what any other may or may not do? What else then? I would say the only thing worth any thought: (science is out, philosophy is out) all we have left is the human condition and working for global happiness. Now we have a very special start point here. We are all human and very similar by that core fact. We can not know infinity and we can not decide what is right and wrong for others but we can relate to suffering and we can, by being human, recognize in others when they are happy, sad or pretending to be happy. We can know real happiness and we can point others towards it. This is perhaps the only thing worth your heart beats.

Read Original Articles Here

Asbestos Head on Religion

2010-11-30T19:47:00.000-08:00

Asbestos is very concerned about religion so he tries attending the local God’s Anonymous meetings every week where every weak soul sits in rows, mouth closed, listening to some guy’s interpretation of twelve guy’s interpretations of some guy’s metaphorical teachings from two thousand years ago. He finds this as useful as a hole in the head only more damaging to his brain, so he starts studying theology, philosophy, and the history of metaphysics for himself and finds that it’s this manner of introspection, this questioning of the unanswerable that expands his spiritual awareness and fills him with what some call God’s love, some call peace of mind, and others call crawling from the allegorical cave and seeing the light.

For him the light manifests as a series of realizations regarding the nature of knowledge. Mainly that he knows nothing, and neither does anyone else; including priests, mathematicians, scientists, and all other people using God, Numbers or Formulas to magically boost their ideas from subjective interpretations to Objective Truths.

Asbestos decides it’s his spiritual responsibility to study the thoughts and beliefs of everyone around him and throughout recorded history, because arbitrarily choosing a church or simply inheriting religion is lazy, limiting, and inconsiderate. It’s lazy because you leave spirituality up to genetics or geography. It’s limiting because you loose faith in anything outside your pre-packaged box of beliefs. And it’s inconsiderate because by choosing any exclusive religion you make the decision that all others are wrong.

Even members of the few religions that encourage open practice of other religions are bound to their group identity like poster-children, constantly defending the individuality in their collective faith. But that’s like bragging how modest you are. If you wish a collective relationship with some group’s conception of God, go find the next Holy place, read it’s Holy text, perform some Holy rituals then go home alone feeling like Holy shit, spitting out someone else’s existential excrement. If you wish a personal relationship with God, there’s no religion to follow, no group to join, and no book to read. There’s nothing to do but wander the world ever wondering why, and never decide.

Ultimately, any system that gives answers to metaphysical questions is suspect because it grants Truth to things We can’t know through experience. A more educated approach to the unknown is utter agnostic apostasy: accept you don’t know and couldn’t even know you’re right if you knew it. Spiritual questioning is best left unanswered and simply explored throughout Our lives as We all exist in the mystery.

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Shift Into One

2010-11-19T03:47:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Michael Jenkins for sending me this excellent hour-long Web TV show called "Shift Into One" featuring Michael himself, Sandra Kyrzakos, and Natalie Filippelli. There were some incredibly important ideas about Oneness and Karma shared here that I highly recommend as essential viewing for everyone.

Tao Wow Wisdom

2010-11-11T20:17:00.000-08:00

My good friend Chris at the TaoWow blog has been a continual source of ideas and inspiration for me. Have a look at some of his excellent recent entries:

The Next Phase

As we globally simplify so too the worlds greedy will be forced to do so, their ways of strangle holding markets for their gain will be weakened by unwilling markets and less profitable ventures - gradually we will all move the way of simplicity. As this occurs the poor of the world will move up to meet the rich in a state of balance and all will be richer in spirit. Information carried by the oldest of traditions will become highly important as we, more in-tune with nature, feel new direction in our hearts. More in-tune with nature our ideas will be to live at one and from this there will be great rewards. Natural fruits taste better, natural lands allow species to flourish and diversify, nature will shine with a billion colours. After this move back to nature we will discover nature based technologies, qualities of stone, plants, land, peace in our hearts and minds and we will move in directions unseen by our self-centered materialist past. All of this is just a dream as is reality right now. One way or another we dream a reality and sleep-walk the dream, convinced we can not alter it. We are though the root to the dream, we are not the sleep-walker. This life of me and you is the dream we the unified root are manifesting. Time to dream a little deeper, a dream less self-centered, a dream where love is the law.

Read the Original Article Here

End Times 2012

Christian cosmology supposedly has end times, apparent ends of days, ends of lives, and so on. What happens at the end of one era though is the beginning of another. Taoist, Hindu, Mayan and Egyptian cosmologies all have cyclic time and not linear time, we alter form one era to another and on until repetition. The Hindu cosmology is the most adventurous and pictorial, it has a golden age of perfection followed by the seed of imperfection which gives rise to the silver age, as man worsens and becomes more self centered we have a bronze age and finally iron, the worst, yet also shortest time-frame where there is nothing but bad. People say we are there now. This cosmology and epic time-frame is also mirrored by Mayan and Egyptian ideas which may well have shaped the Hindu thought via the Vedas. Taoism is a little different, we are all aware of the great Tai Chi, often referred to as the Yin Yang and the two small dots that live within the signature. These dots are the seeds signifying that when one thing is at its peak then the seed of the opposite is set, so in times of total Yang -the seed of Yin is set to burst through - what we have here is a cyclic version of time which does not signify time-frames or that one end of the spectrum is any better or worse than the other. It is all change one way or another and that is the life and beauty of the universe, not something to fear or to egotistically feel one should take control over. So these end times supposedly seen by the Mayan civilization and now feared and theorized over by many are certainly nothing to worry about. After all midsummer and midwinter are far more of a big deal than the subtle transition of spring to summer and in all of these there is gradual change, not chaos. Nature and the universe operate on time scales we don't fathom and they don't jump and start, they smoothly and regularly rotate. If we are convinced that 2012 is a turning point then we must accept that 2014 will be very similar to 2010 and that 2012 is just the middle of this minor shift. Large differences will be seen between years 1800 and 2200 but the differences come about gradually and not in a big jump. Just watch the seasons rotate, also look at the difference between 23:59 tonight and 00:01 or even the wheel of a bicycle - note how cyclic motion is smooth, it has no jumps or catastrophe, it continues on and on because it is smooth and free from the binary and linear traps of the human mind. As one thing reaches climax so the seed of the opposite is set to return. No part of the rotation is better or worse than any other and this particular cyclic motion, that where 2012 is a supposed turning point, is one far and beyond the limited human life span, so nothing to fret over.

Read the Original Article Here

I Care Because You Do

The only worth in humanity is the peace of all humanity and all else I do not care for. We are well aware as humans that the mind is a tricky tool to have at our disposal. Very often we become fixated on one thing, we project 'what-if's' and we induce stress in our system. Stress is a part of the human condition and so then the only medicine worth making is one which combats this stress, leaving peace. The only form that medicine can come in is no-form as to have a medicine made of TV shows, alcohol, beliefs, and other releases and veils only forms new dependences. Stress is the upset in our system, it is the ageing agent, the ill-health agent, the grease to the slippery slope and the wax to the candle of burning out. Stress is part of the human condition and we can all imagine a world free from it. It sits for us in the realm of idealism and wishful thinking yet it is a condition required, the only condition required by humanity - so then the only thing worth time and effort. What does the world put effort into? Producing food, medicine for the sick, support for the needy, education for the youth, fashion for the flamboyant, protection for the rich, toys for the boys, statues to the dead, war on the poor, division on religion, politics, laws, controlling control, patrolling borders, making orders, TV for release, drugs for the obese, and ways to gain and take power. As a travelling monk in India I stood in a small Himalayan village at perfect peace realizing fully how all we need is good air, water, shelter, medicine when needed and a little good food. That was peace and happiness and to give that to the world would take far less effort than it does to make all the mischief we do make, all the excess and wasteful crap that makes for a world where the rich exist on a blanket of suffering poor. The nature of stress that is a condition of humanity has forced out another human condition, one of greed. The idea behind greed is that you have so much at your disposal that you may never need be stressed, you can have all you need forever and not have to worry. So the idea is that you have a place to live that is yours, you have savings in excess that you could never quite spend, you are free to do as you please never concerned for tomorrows bread. The desire for this condition is almost epidemic. From the initial stress over tomorrow and personal protection comes the greed and from this the need to control all who are not you. To form laws that protect you and weaken all others, to take more than can be given so that in making your wealth you make the other poor. This is a disease, not a human disease but the disease infecting humanity as a whole. All of the politics, the material excesses, the TV, the operations of banks, the control of nations and people I can not care for one bit as it does nothing for the happiness of all. Only those who choose a simple life so that in reducing their desire they free up enough for everyone else to have the same are doing right. And only they can be truly happy in their heart. If there is one thing worth time it is peace for all. Obtained simply by realizing your true needs and living there and not living in control caused by desire induced by stress.

Read the Original Article Here

Raising Your Manifestation Powers

2010-11-01T23:35:00.000-07:00

This guy StreetMUNKdotCOM makes some really interesting videos like this one. There's something about watching him that refreshes me. I guess it's his disarming and open persona. He seems quite comfortable with acting retarded on camera. I think it's that and his little tidbits of wisdom that keep me coming back to his channel.

Alan Watt - The Manipulation of the Human Psyche

2010-10-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

Alan Watt gives an excellent break down of the mainstream media's "culture creation" and manipulation of the human psyche, exactly how and why it's done.

Forgiving Yourself and Others

2010-10-17T19:47:00.000-07:00

Here are some great videos by Rich2150x demonstrating in real-time an example of forgiving self and others. Think of what needs to be forgiven and keep re-wording it until it makes you laugh. Laughter is the release necessary for true forgiveness to take place - anything less is mere platitude. Also check out this great forgiveness video by Dan the Man.

The Way of the Superior Man

2010-10-07T19:51:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Yolanda for sending me this excellent free ebook, "The Way of the Superior Man" by David Deida. This book has really opened my eyes to many important truths about relationships, spirituality, masculinity/femininity, and love. Even though it's called "The Way of the Superior Man," I highly recommend it for both men and women, as the wisdom transcends gender. Click the link above or have a look at some of my favorite quotes below. This post is dedicated to my #1 fan for 18 months :D Love you

"This book is a guide for a specific kind of newly evolving man. This man is unabashedly masculine—he is purposeful, confident, and directed, living his chosen way of life with deep integrity and humor—and he is sensitive, spontaneous, and spiritually alive, with a heart-commitment to discovering and living his deepest truth. This kind of man is totally turned on by the feminine. He loves to take his woman sexually, to ravish her, but not in some old-style macho fashion. Rather, he wants to ravish her with so much love she is vanished, they both vanish, in the fullness of loving itself. He is dedicated to incarnating love on this earth, through his work and his sexuality, and he does so as a free man, bound neither by outer convention nor inner cowardice. This newly evolving man is not a scared bully, posturing like some King Kong in charge of the universe. Nor is he a new age wimp, all spineless, smiley, and starry-eyed. He has embraced both his inner masculine and feminine, and he no longer holds onto either of them. He doesn't need to be right all the time, nor does he need to be always safe, cooperative, and sharing, like an androgynous Mr. Nice Guy. He simply lives from his deepest core, fearlessly giving his gifts, feeling through the fleeting moment into the openness of existence, totally committed to magnifying love ... It is time to evolve beyond the macho jerk ideal, all spine and no heart. It is also time to evolve beyond the sensitive and caring wimp ideal, all heart and no spine. Heart and spine must be united in a single man, and then gone beyond in the fullest expression of love and consciousness possible, which requires a deep relaxation into the infinite openness of this present moment. And this takes a new kind of guts. This is the Way of the Superior Man." -David Deida, "The Way of the Superior Man" (Intro)

"If a woman suggests something that changes a man's perspective, then he should make a new decision based on his new perspective. But he should never betray his own deepest knowledge and intuition in order to please his woman or "go along" with her. Both she and he will be weakened by such an action. They will grow to resent each other, and the crust of accumulated inauthenticity will burden their love, as well as their capacity for free action. You should always listen to your woman, and then make your own decision. If you choose to go with your woman's suggestion even when deep in your heart you feel that another decision is more wise, you are, in effect, saying, "I don't trust my own wisdom." You are weakening yourself by telling yourself this. You are weakening your woman's trust in you: why should she trust your wisdom if you don't? When you deny your deep truth to please your woman, everyone will feel your lack of authenticity. They will sense that your false smile hides an inner division. Your friends, children, and business colleagues may love you, but they won't trust you, since you don't trust your own core intent. And, more importantly, your own sense of inauthenticity will burden your capacity to act with clarity. Your actions won't jibe with your core. However, if you listen to your woman, taking everything she says into account and making your own best decision, then you are acting in accordance with your core. You are saying, in effect, "My deepest wisdom is leading me to this decision. If I amwrong, I will learn from it, and my wisdom will have deepened. I'm willing to be wrong, and grow from it. I trust this process of acting from my deepest wisdom." This attitude of self-trust engenders others' trust in you. You may be wrong, but you are willing to find out, and thus grow from the experience. You are open to listening to others, but in the end, you will take the responsibility for making your own decision. There is nobody else to blame. However, if you give up your real decision to follow your woman's, then you will blame her for being wrong if she is wrong, and you will feel disempowered if she is right, having denied yourself the opportunity to act from your core and grow from your mistakes. Be open to changing your feeling based on whatever your woman might reveal to you—through her words or her body language—and then make your own decision, based on your deepest intuitive wisdom and knowledge. You may make the right decision or the wrong one, but whatever happens, it is your best shot, and you will strengthen your capacity for future action." (15-17)

"A woman often seems to test her man's capacity to remain unperturbed in his truth and purpose. She tests him to feel his freedom and depth of love, to know that he is trustable. Her tests may come in the form of complaining, challenging him, changing her mind, doubting him, distracting him, or even undermining his purpose in a subtle or not so subtle way. A man should never think his woman's testing is going to end and his life will get easier. Rather, he should appreciate that she does these things to feel his strength, integrity, and openness. Her desire is for his deepest truth and love. As he grows, so will her testing." (47)

"Every moment of your life is either a test or a celebration. The same is true about every moment with your woman, only doubly so. Not only is her simple existence a test for you, but one of her deepest pleasures in intimacy is testing you, and then feeling you are not moved off course by her challenge. The most erotic moment for a woman is feeling that you are Shiva, the divine masculine: imperturbable, totally loving, fully present, and all-pervading. She cannot move you, because you already are what you are, with or without her. She cannot scare you away, because you already penetrate her in fearless love, pervading her heart and body. She cannot distract you, because your one-pointed commitment to truth will not bend to her wiles. Feeling this hugeness of love and freedom in you, she can trust you, utterly, and surrender her testing in celebration of love. Until she wants to feel you as Shiva again. And then the testing will begin anew. In fact, it is precisely when you are most Shiva-like that she will most test you. Perhaps you have been working toward some financial goal, and finally you have succeeded. After months or years of effort, you have creatively earned a large amount of money. You feel happy, full, successful. You feel great. You come home to your woman and want to share the news with her.

"I just made a million dollars today."

"That's nice."

"That's nice!!?? You know how hard I've been working for this."

"I know. It feels like I haven't seen you in months. Did you remember to pick up the milk on the way home?"

"Oh, sorry. I forgot. But who cares? We could buy a dairy farm now!"

"I asked you to pick up the milk three times this morning, and I put a note on your briefcase. How could you forget?"

"I said I'm sorry. Look, I'll go get the damn milk...."

Why is she being this way? Because she simply wants to deflate your success? No. She is challenging you because your success doesn't mean shit to her, unless you are free and loving. And if you are free and loving, nothing she says can collapse you. She wants to feel you are uncollapsable, so she pokes you in your weak spot. Of course she knows how much this moment of success means to you. This is precisely why she is negating it. Not because she wants to hurt you. But because she wants to feel Shiva. She wants to feel your strength. She wants to feel that your happiness is not dependent on her response, nor on you making a million dollars. She wants to feel you are a superior man." (47-49)

"Keeping your word" is a masculine trait, in men or women. A person with a feminine essence may not keep her word, yet it is not exactly "lying" In the feminine reality, words and facts take a second place to emotions and the shifting moods of relationship. When she says, "I hate you," or "I'll never move to Texas," or "I don't want to go to the movies," it is often more a reflection of a transient feeling-wave than a well considered stance with respect to events and experience. On the other hand, the masculine means what it says. A man's word is his honor. The feminine says what it feels. A woman's word is her true expression in the moment… Whenever you are surprised by your woman's actions, and you say to her, "But you said...," you are forgetting that she has a feminine essence. What your woman says is like a cloud passing in the sky: well-formed, coherent, and unrecognizable moments later. The cloud is an expression of the precise physics of water, wind, and air. Your woman's words are expressions of the physics of her feelings, your relationship, and the nuances of the present situation, seen and unseen. A moment later, these factors will change, and so will your woman's expressions. You might ask her, "Do you want to go to the movies?"

She might reply, "Not really."

Then you hug her and spin her around and say, "Let's go to the movies!"

And she says, "OK!"

She is not talking about her desire to go to the movies. She is talking about the feeling of your relationship in the present moment. If after she said she didn't want to go to the movies, you said fine and sat down to watch TV, you would be missing the point. She is not really saying she doesn't want to go to the movies, even though that is what she's saying. This is not lying. For a man, or for anyone speaking in the masculine style, to say something that is not true is lying. But, for the feminine, truth is a thin concept compared to the thickness of her flow of feelings. The "truth" of the feminine is whatever she is really feeling, in this present moment." (56)

"When a woman gets emotionally intense, a mediocre man wants to calm her down and discuss it, or leave and come back later when she is "sane." A superior man penetrates her mood with imperturbable love and unwavering consciousness. If she still refuses to live more fully in love, after a time, he lets her go. If you are like most men, you probably aren't too fond of feminine bad moods and hysterical emotions. You may find yourself wondering, why is she so complicated? What's her problem? You may find yourself saying, "Just calm down and take it easy." The feminine bad mood is so foreign and dark to you that you may actually find it somewhat repulsive. And when your woman really goes wild, a part of you is afraid of the damage she might do. Her emotions are so much more wild and less predictable than yours that you'd rather not be around them. Basically, most men are afraid of, or disgusted by, feminine emotions. That's why you try to fix them or escape from them. "I'll come back later when you can act like a reasonable human being," you might say. One of the deepest feminine pleasures is when a man stands full, present, and unreactive in the midst of his woman's emotional storms. When he stays present with her, and loves her through the layers of wildness and closure, then she feels his trustability, and she can relax. The way you relate to your woman's chaos reflects the way you react to the chaos of the world. If you are the kind of man who needs everything placed neatly in its nice little box, then you will also try to box your woman's emotions. If you are the kind of man who would rather hire other people to take care of the chaos in your attic, or the chaos of your finances, you would probably also rather leave it to someone else to take care of the chaos of your woman. You can, however, train yourself to master the world—financially, creatively, spiritually—by learning how to be free and loving in the chaos of your woman's emotions. And you do so by standing your ground and loving so strongly that only love prevails. You can't quit when you seem to fail, but rather, you must learn from your failures and return to love. Give your gift. Like wrestling a steer or surfing ocean waves, mastery involves blending with your woman's powerful energy and feeling the rise and fall of the moment, without lapsing in presence for a second." (73-74)

"Your woman says, "How can you spend so much time in front of the TV when our rent is due in a few days, we're behind on car payments, and you just lost your job?"

"Don't worry about it. I have a job interview tomorrow."

"Well, why don't you get off your butt! You said you were going to clean out the garage weeks ago. I can hardly get to the car!"

"OK. OK. I'll clean the garage this afternoon."

Your woman stops talking and goes about her business, but you can feel her simmering anger and tension. You don't like to be around her when she's like this. You want to get out of the house. "I'll be back in a few hours and I'll clean the garage," you say, as you grab your coat and head for the door. You hear a glass break in the kitchen, so you go in and find your wife furious. "I can't take this any more!" she wails.

"What? I said I'd clean the garage. What's going on?" you wonder.

"I just can't take it!" she cries out, pulling away from you, closing up, and not letting you touch her.

"I don't get it. I said I'd clean the garage. I have a job interview tomorrow. Everything is going to be fine. What do you want?"

You've probably had some version of this conversation with your woman. It holds a key to masculine growth in freedom. And it reveals a common mistake men make with their women. The thing your woman is complaining about is rarely the thing she is complaining about. It is a mistake to believe the content of what she is saying, and then respond to her complaints, point by point. When she complains about financial issues, she is usually feeling a lack in your masculine capacity to direct your life with clarity, purpose, integrity, and wisdom. The money itself is secondary. If you were poor but totally conscious, happy, full of integrity, fearless, humorous, loving and giving your fullest gift to the world and to your woman, she wouldn't complain about lack of money. When you say you will clean the garage, and then weeks pass by and you haven't, her complaint isn't really about the garage. Sure, she'd like a clean garage, but this is a superficial issue. The deeper issue is that you didn't do what you said you would. You gave her your word, and you didn't follow through. She can't trust what you say. And this hurts her, deeply. She might seem to be overreacting to you. Why is she so hysterical? It's only a garage. But she can feel your lack of integrity. Not having cleaned the garage yet seems like a small thing to you, but it shows that you don't follow through with your word, with your purpose. Your word is a demonstration of your purpose, of your masculine core. When you don't follow through with what you say you are going to do, she feels that your masculine core is weak. She feels let down. She can't trust your masculine direction. And so she feels a great loss. Over time, she will begin to build up her own masculine protection against your lack of integrity. She will begin to guard herself against the hurt that your lack of carry through causes. She will harden herself, becoming angular and tense. To you, the garage seems trivial. To her, you have failed at your word. She can't trust you." (118-120)

"If she can't trust you with living your life from your deepest wisdom and fullest capacity, she can't trust you with her life. She can't trust your masculine impeccability, so she naturally will compensate by overdeveloping her own. She is not only being masculine for herself, now she's being masculine for you. If she's got to remind you of the job interview or the mess in the garage, she's supplying the masculine direction for the both of you. And this results in stress. Her body will begin to show it. She will become less radiant and less relaxed in her feminine power and glory because she has to compensate for your failure." (122)

"A man's track record means nothing to the feminine. A man could be perfect for ten years, but if he's an asshole for 30 seconds his woman acts like he's always been one. The feminine responds to the moment of energy, forgetting her man's history of past behavior. A man's past behavior is irrelevant to his woman's feeling in the moment. But men base much on another man's history of behavior, so they think their own track record should count for something. But to a woman, it doesn't. For you as a man, it is probably easier to forgive and forget an occasional mistake made by another man who has a great track record. What pisses you off is when a man lacks integrity and continually fails at his word. But even big mistakes are fairly easy to let go of when made by a man who is otherwise impeccable. You know he really does his best, and this mistake was a rare exception. But, for the feminine, the past is entirely irrelevant. One wrong word in the midst of a five hour lovemaking session that was otherwise perfect could collapse your woman as completely as if you had spent two hours making mistakes. Instead of getting angry because she's so upset that you made one little mistake in a long series of successes, instantly shift the energy between you. Remember, history is irrelevant to the feminine, so your mistake is as easily forgotten as your successes. As soon as you see she's upset, immediately assume happiness. Shock her with your love." -David Deida, "The Way of the Superior Man (127-8)

The Story of the Baboon and Tiger

2010-09-26T19:40:00.000-07:00

This segment from a National Geographic documentary is really touching and thought-provoking. If we think animals' internal worlds of thought, emotion, and morality are any less than humans', we may be deluding ourselves.

Big John Lipscomb on Consciousness/God

2010-09-15T23:07:00.000-07:00

In these clips Big John Lipscomb explains so perfectly the nature of reality, consciousness, and God.

No Arms, No Legs, No Worries

2010-09-11T06:11:00.000-07:00

Interesting and inspirational. Check it out.

Please Drive Carefully

2010-09-01T20:07:00.000-07:00

Car accidents are the #2 leading cause of unnatural death. Governments are #1. Please be careful on the road of life.

“They interviewed me for a magazine once and called me a radical environmentalist - I like that. They said I’m like Johnny Appleseed without the prejudice. I plant trees, flowers, weeds, berries, fruits, vegetables - wherever there’s dirt, private, public property, I don’t care. My mission is to overrun roadsides with roots until pavement all over the country crumbles, cars become useless and all that’s left is sustainable mass transportation in harmony with nature. Nothing but boats, planes, trains, and monorails. Can you imagine the beauty of cities without streets or cars? Imagine New York City with roads made of grass! Instead of huge cities containing little parks, they’ll feel like huge parks containing little buildings and people. Every walk to work or the train station will be a stroll through the park. Architecture is art, roads aren’t. They represent laziness and selfish indulgence, ease of transport at the expense of nature. The way I see it , We can travel anywhere Now but there’s no road leading anywhere without roads. I long for a world with no exhaust, no horns, no traffic, traffic lights, street signs or road names. No car accidents, no gas stations, no bus stops, no parking lots, no garages, no greasy mechanics or salesmen, dealerships or advertisements. No car payments, insurance, registration, reparations, lube-jobs, fill-ups, or top-offs. No highways, no truck stops or drivers, no more bums or hitchhikers, only nomads and drifters like me." -Eric Dubay, "Asbestos Head"

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False Shepherds - The Spiritually Inept Leading the Masses

2010-08-24T21:52:00.000-07:00

These last two articles by Thaddeus Griebel at the Mind Unclouded blog are excellent and so important. He exposes false teachers and false doctrines of New Age Gurus, Mainstream Media Pundits, Anti-Religious Conspiracy Theorists, Integral Spirituality Gurus, Christian Televangelists, and so-called ‘Enlightened’ Gurus of the East, focusing on David Icke, Peter Joseph, Rhonda Byrne, Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, Ken Wilber, Andrew Cohen, J. Z. Knight, Joel Osteen, and Shri Mataji . Please read through and comment below. Peace

False Shepherds (part 1)

False Shepherds (part 2)

Bread and Circuses - Opium of the Masses

2010-08-10T09:55:00.000-07:00

This is a great little video mixing stunning trippy visuals with a demonic-sounding narration about modern-day bread and circuses.

Terrence McKenna - We are the Generation Responsible

2010-07-28T23:24:00.000-07:00

Here's a great clip from Terrence McKenna on psychedelics, the psychedelic community, government control and oppression.

Rene Guenon on Civilization and Progress

2010-07-26T22:20:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much to fellow blogger Thaddeus Griebel at MindUnclouded for introducing me to metaphysician Rene Guenon. The above video is a great introduction to his work, and here's a link to some of his books/transcripts.

23 Minutes in Hell

2010-07-14T22:31:00.000-07:00

23 Minutes In Hell Reference Edition - Watch today’s top amazing videos here

Thanks to NatureBoy for recommending this very interesting NDE account of one man's visit to hell.

A World Where Anything is Possible

2010-07-12T20:31:00.000-07:00

A nice little bit of Matrix mixed with Native American wisdom and David Icke's ayahuasca experience.

The Secret to Happiness

2010-07-08T20:33:00.000-07:00

This is a nice video about one man's secret to happiness: following the soul, not the mind, at every moment. For more great videos check out his channel StreetMUNKdotCOM

Bruce Lee - Commentaries on the Martial Way

2010-07-05T04:27:00.000-07:00

All knowledge ultimately means self knowledge, said Lee in an interview. For Lee, to be a martial artist means also to be an artist of life. In Lee's pursuit of personal perfection, he walked a life of deep philosophy that urged him to seek answers and improvement. Bruce Lee was perhaps the best martial artist because he made himself that way, because he sought answers and resolutions. What set him apart from other martial artists was his understanding of the human dynamics of change. Most traditional martial artists taught a style of fighting that was set in stone—they gave a fixed set of moves and attitudes that defined their specific form of fighting. It reflects a very old form of thought given in Western philosophy in the words of Plato who believed in another realm of eternally static perfection to which we must mold ourselves. In the traditional view, change is imperfect; perfection is sought by denying change any relationship to the deeper, metaphysical reality.

Love Wins

2010-06-24T18:23:00.000-07:00

What happens when humans raise a lion cub, set it free in the wild's of Africa, then come back years later for a reunion?

Dan the Man

2010-06-21T23:03:00.000-07:00

This is a great video game parody about couples, greed, and materialism.

The Secret Powers of Time

2010-06-16T21:59:00.000-07:00

In this wonderfully animated video, Professor Philip Zimbardo conveys how our individual perspectives of time affect our work, health and well-being. Time influences who we are as a person, how we view relationships, and how we act in the world.

Mystical Conversation

2010-06-08T20:23:00.000-07:00

Here is an enlightening conversation between Ozay Rinpoche and Craig Hamilton Parker about free will, reincarnation, consciousness, and self-knowledge. Parts 1 and 2 above, here are Part 3 and Part 4.

Terrence McKenna - Reclaim Your Mind

2010-05-25T20:51:00.000-07:00

"Catalysts to say what has never been said, to see what has never been seen. To draw, paint, sing, sculpt, dance and act what has never before been done. To push the envelope of creativity and language. And whats really important is, I call it, the felt presence of direct experience. Which is a fancy term which just simply means we have to stop consuming our culture. We have to create culture. Don't watch TV, don't read magazines, don't even listen to NPR. Create your own roadshow. The nexus of space and time, where you are now, is the most immediate sector of your universe. And if you're worrying about Michael Jackson or Bill Clinton or somebody else, you are disempowered. You are giving it all away to icons. Icons which are maintained by an electronic media, so that you want to dress like X or have lips like Y. This is shit-brained this kind of thinking. That is all cultural diversion. And what is real is you and your friends, your associations, your highs, your orgasms, your hopes, your plans, and your fears. And we are told no. We're unimportant, we're peripheral, get a degree, get a job, get a this, get a that, and then you're a player. You don't even want to play in that game. You want to reclaim your mind and get it out of the hands of the cultural engineers who want to turn you into a half-baked moron consuming all this trash that's being manufactured out of the bones of a dying world. Where is that at?" -Terrence McKenna, "Reclaim Your Mind"

Words of Wisdom

2010-05-18T02:33:00.000-07:00

People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Be good anyway.

Honesty and frankness will make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People need help, but may attack you if you try to help them.
Help them anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway.

-Mother Teresa

Abraham-Hicks: Learning to Allow

2010-05-13T13:30:00.000-07:00

Here's a great clip from one of Esther Hick's talks which covers a lot of ground explaining her spiritual philosophy.

A Dangerous Book

2010-05-09T20:02:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Ant for recommending this excellent work by Roger Stephens, "A Dangerous Book," which covers almost every subject I delve into on this website:

Read or Download "A Dangerous Book" Here Free

Ego

Since we take our own egos so seriously, we take everyone else's seriously as well. We have become convinced that these egos are real and are who and what we really are. We learn to take things personally: we get angry whenever our egos are questioned or misunderstood, and we get disappointed when other egos turn out to be something other than what our egos thought they were. Based on a false understanding of the players, the dynamics of human interaction quickly become bewildering and frustrating, giving rise to whole generations of psychologists, counselors, and advisors to provide our egos with excuses for why things are not right in our lives. (12)

Consciousness

With my index finger, I can touch lots of things--the keys on my computer, my nose, and so on. I can do this only because these things are not the tip of my finger. The one thing I cannot touch with the tip of my finger is the tip of my finger. In the same way, I can touch, look at, or perceive many things with my consciousness: I can objectify my surroundings, my fingertip, my thoughts, even who I think I am (my ego). I can do all this because these things are not my consciousness. I cannot, however, objectify that same consciousness which is aware of these things. It is, as Alan Watts once remarked, like trying to bite your own teeth or sniff your own nose. We can't be aware of consciousness in the same way we are aware of the objects of consciousness, just like we can't be aware of our fingertips in the same way as we are aware of the things we touch with our fingertips. Consciousness can never be made the object of its own inquiry because it is beyond the polarity of objectivity and subjectivity. (20)

Spirituality

Here's a parable, an analogy, which comes from India, from the Upanishads, and is thousands of years old. It presents a parabolic answer to the root question of all religion and philosophy (Who am I and what is this?), and does so in a way which everyone can relate to. In the beginning of the world (and though it probably had no ultimate "beginning" as we think of them, you have to start somewhere), there was only Brahma. Being all there was, and therefore totally known to himself, Brahma soon realized that this totality of awareness would eventually become extremely boring . . . after all, when you know everything there is to know, then there's no surprise, nothing to keep you interested. It's like reading the same book for the seventy-eight millionth time. Anyway, since he was omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnipresent (all-everywhere), Brahma decided to create a diversion for himself, a way of introducing the elements of surprise, intrigue and drama into his experience. He thought, "What would it be like to forget who I really am?" So, he invented the game of cosmic hide-and-seek. According to the rules of this game, Brahma would pretend to break pieces of himself off from the whole so that to all appearances they would seem separate. That's the "hide" part. Then, as the apparently separate consciousness at the center of each of those apparently separate pieces, and through their apparently separate and unique perspectives, he would "seek" to rediscover who he really was, which was, of course, everything. Imagine seeing yourself from an infinite number of different perspectives, each one initially ignorant of its relationship to all the rest. Imagine going to sleep and dreaming a different lifetime each night, each lasting for more or less years, each complete with the full range and variety of emotional life and death details. Imagine having the same dream but playing a different role in it each night, seeing it through different eyes each time. Well, guess who those apparently separate pieces are? Since there is only one I Am in the universe, one consciousness, it's all a game of hide-and-seek, and each one of us is in the same state: I'm IT AND You're IT! (22-23)

After I shook the dust of organized religion from my sandals, I learned that the link between big 'ol God and little 'ol me was no more and no less than consciousness. And each of us, at and as the very center of us, have this same feeling of I Am, for the not-so-obvious reason that each one of us is really God (Brahma) pretending to be each one of us. There is only one I Am, there is only one God, one Brahma, one Tao, one beingness ... we both see the same world, because we both are the same world. But we have so cleverly and convincingly hidden ourselves from ourselves that we really believe that we are separate entities. That's the hide part of hide-and-seek. Humanity has become hide-bound. (56)

Happiness

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.

-Henry David Thoreau

Most adults suffer a dull, indistinct unhappiness which is so habitual that it has become inseparable from their daily lives, however they may smile to mask it. They have been talked out of themselves. From the earliest age they have been brainwashed into the belief that as they were born, and as who they were born, they aren't good enough, that they must continually prove their worth, that their bodies are fallible and liable to disease, that their passions are unnaturally sinful and must be harnessed and suppressed, that their duty is to serve the aims of the majority. Down deep, they are convinced that they aren't good enough. Their consciousness started out cosmic, attuned to the oneness of all existence, but has since been pared down to a strictly utilitarian fraction of its totality. That naturally universal attunement has been filtered and reduced to a trickle, which is then called normal or ordinary consciousness. After decades of propaganda and worldly and/or other worldly teachings, the vast majority of adults have resigned themselves to trying endlessly to be what they are not, and the frustration they quite naturally feel is expressed as fear, hatred, intolerance, greed, and all of the other social maladies we see around us. Look at almost anyone when they don't know they are being watched, when they are not performing . . . what sort of a face are they wearing, what does their expression convey about their prevailing thoughts? Their faces cannot help but mirror how they feel about themselves. Even professional actors cannot maintain a false persona indefinitely, and habitual worry lines are telling. (32)

We all want to be happy. We all want to recreate the state we existed in when we first arrived here, we all remember the feel of it, even though we may not be able to recall the details. Having been kicked out of the garden, we spend the rest of our lives trying to get back in, and having been talked out of our true purposes in life, we have little alternative but to try our best to recreate that happiness from the paltry tools available through religion, or power, or worldly possessions. But happiness is not a commodity, it is not a noun. Neither is real happiness a state of mind, because happiness is, eternally, while the mind can deal only with things temporal. The words "happy" and "happen" both come from the same root, and for a good reason: happiness happens when we have gotten out from behind the yearnings and frustrations of the mind, which keeps it hidden from us. Happiness is not conditional on circumstance, because happiness eternally is, while circumstances come and go. When you base your happiness on the right job, or the right mate, or having lots of money, then you are as much as saying that your happiness depends on things you once didn't have and which you one day will again not have. That may be called pleasure, but it is not happiness. Nothing that can be taken away from you is yours, including your possessions, your reputation, your body, even your mind. None of these is the source of true happiness. (82)

Meditation

Meditation, as both a practice and a way of life, has emerged in recent times to offer a workable, if not vital alternative to people who are fed up with living frantic, anxious lives, and who have found no solace in the worn out mantras of organized religion. Meditation is a way to get reconnected with who you really are and what you are really here to do and be. Meditation is like catching a glimpse of the backstage props to remind you that the play is really a play, that the so-called worldly realities are also part of the play, and that you are really the actor, not the role. For only then will you be able to play your role, to dance it instead of working it to death. (57)

Therefore, meditation, as a practice, presents us with a very curious problem. It is not an end in itself, but more of a means, a reconditioning which allows us to really live, sort of a process of retuning ourselves. An orchestra in which all the players are out of tune is a cacophony, not a symphony; being in tune is essential to harmony. But neither would we think much of an orchestra in which the players spent all their time just tuning up; they are tuning up so that they can play in tune. If you practice meditation for its own sake, as an end in itself, and unless your meditation serves merely to clear the screens, then you never end up playing anything. You become a meditation junkie. Meditation doesn't get you anywhere; it shows you where you are. And in this sense, meditation is medicinal, not dietary. Its only purpose is to get you back in tune when you are out of tune. When you are stressed out, and can remember that being stressed out is not what you are here to experience, then meditation is very helpful in getting you back to your center, back to the point where you realize that you are not your thoughts, you are not your ego; you are that which is conscious of these things. (60)

Entheogens

Although you won't hear it in public very often, and certainly not from organized religions, recreational medicines make available certain perspectives and descriptions of life behind the veil which are uncannily similar to those recorded by mystics and prophets from all cultures, from the Tibetans and the Taoists to the early Christian mystics and nearly all indigenous cultures, descriptions which are far too similar to be dismissed out of hand. The mystical state is the direct experience of reality without the filtering and objectifying processes of the socialized mind getting in the way. While this state seems to be available to the devotees only after years of meditation and/or other rigorous ascetic practices, it is becoming clear that there are other paths up that particular mountain. How do we get beyond the curtain of maya ? What might we find if ever we should momentarily slip into an altered state of awareness. (104)

Read or Download "A Dangerous Book" Here Free

Alan Watts on Drugs

2010-05-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

Alan Watts discusses the pros and cons, ups and downs of drug use.

Vivek - The Homeless Prophet

2010-04-28T22:49:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite clips I've ever found on YouTube. It is a unique and fascinating video of a homeless man called Vivek, a truly sincere and free-thinking individual with some interesting ideas on spirituality, virtue and the nature of reality.

Ownage Pranks

2010-04-19T11:51:00.000-07:00

This guy has a live prank call show which I find hilarious. I hope you all enjoy it as much as me.

Alan Watts - Wholeness

2010-04-05T10:13:00.000-07:00

Alan Watts on the true meaning of yoga

Puppetji

2010-03-23T11:05:00.000-07:00

Puppetji is a fun little puppet guru with dozens of YouTube videos and his own website.

Get Happy - Esther Hicks

2010-03-10T13:38:00.000-08:00

I enjoyed this clip where Esther boils down the contents of her writings to two words: "get happy."

Individualism: A Guide on How to Achieve It, And How to Deprogram the Collectivism in Others

2010-03-08T02:32:00.000-08:00

I found this great article today regarding individualism vs. collectivism. Here an excerpt about the portion of the psyche termed the Persona:

A Persona is a fake personality that we display for others. It is a mask, a character we play in public in order to either fit in with the group, or to make ourselves “appear” different from the group, even though fundamentally we have not grasped true individualism at all. Jung despaired at the problems of Persona, because not only does it keep people from knowing their true selves, it also makes them incredibly susceptible to mass manipulation. In a sense, it is a form of self-hypnosis. People who are slaves to Persona are constantly fixed on the tides of mainstream thought, always changing their views to match the predominant ideas of the time. By default, whoever controls the predominant ideas of the time (mass media) also controls those who are dependent on Persona.

Even men who use Persona to make themselves appear different from the group are ruled by the mainstream, because often these men automatically choose the exact opposite position of whatever view the mainstream holds. To use as an example once again, Atheism was created as a direct and opposing reaction to the widely held views of Western Religion, which are based on faith. But at its foundation, Atheism is just another belief system based on faith, for how can one know for certain that there “is no god”. The wise man who has issues with the idea of faith would simply say, “I don’t know if there is a god”, but many Atheists make the mistake of choosing their beliefs out of Persona and projection, blindly reacting to the mainstream, instead of developing their perspective through self awareness and individualism. The only way to break a Persona is through the act of self awareness. Jung called the act of breaking a persona “Individuation”. He believed that a deep understanding of Archetypes; the inborn qualities of our own psyches, could help people to become individuated.

The writer of this article has also made an interesting 30 minute documentary on the same subject matter called Sons of Darkness, Sons of Light:

Terrence McKenna - Cannabis Culture

2010-02-27T23:07:00.000-08:00

This is a nice clip of the immortal Terrence McKenna talking about our accepted "coffee culture" and the underground "cannabis culture."

The Deep Joy of De-Normalizing

2010-02-26T23:00:00.000-08:00

Neil Kramer's most recent post over at The Cleaver blog is a great read. Here's an excerpt on "normality":

You can see it in people’s faces. They settle for that which they know to be deficient and unfulfilling. The rationale is that some contact is better than no contact. This is particularly prevalent in intimate relationships. When humans are fundamentally disconnected from themselves and each other, they are vulnerable to the insidious gravitational pull of the mainstream cultural paradigm. They get all normal.

At the primary level, those who choose not to be the architect of their own consciousness, and therefore disclaim their own daily existence, are anchoring the density of the construct with every recycled meme that passes their lips and every electro-chemical notion that fires across their frontal lobe. They are hungry pacman ghosts roaming the sepulchral corridors of unreality, forever repeating the same corrosive patterns, unable to satiate themselves on any level. The virus of renunciation consumes its own host. The only way to offset the muted but incessant background pain derived from this way of living, is to embrace normality. To watch TV and resonate along with its frequency of ordinariness and indifference. To consume. To buy fake products, fake food, fake music. To wear cheap clothes and running shoes that are derived directly from the blood of economic slaves. This is a karmic declaration. And should the inner self spontaneously break through and find its voice amid this toxicity, then with the utmost urgency, the mind must be immersed in the low-resonance, high-density media swamp. When the mind sucks in vulgarity, regression and ignoble deeds, the psychological pain momentarily subsides as the spirit retreats far from the centre of our being.

For those who walk the path - normality is fake, it does not exist. For construct dwellers, the roots of normalcy do not emerge from any particular socio-economic class. It is spread equally across all demographic classifications of A, B, C1, C2, D and E social grades (this is the UK mapping). Normals, as we might call them, are in fact characterized largely by their negative aspect, by what they do not do. For example, normals create little or nothing. True innovation, spontaneity, risk taking and courage are barely perceptible in the course of their lives. They demonstrate the appalling trait of obviousness in most thoughts and deeds. They tend not to question the authoritative hierarchies that control their lives. They certainly prefer not to discuss matters of substance. Contemplations on the mysterious nature of existence within the astonishing elegance of the universe is unthinkable. They’re just not into any of that stuff. It’s not perceived as a worthwhile or rewarding activity, as it does not advantage them within the mainstream paradigm. What is to be had from being contemplative or philosophical? There is no commercial value and such things bring only existential unrest. So they avoid it. Disown it. Replace it. Fear it. Whatever. Watch television.

Read the Entire Deep Joy of De-Normalizing Article

Walking Zombie Nations - Psychology, Consciousness, and the Egoic Mind

2010-02-17T22:34:00.000-08:00

I came across this interesting article today and a lot of its analysis of the ego resonated with me:

In this article, I’ll describe how I see myself, the world and the people who live in it. By doing so, the reader will be looking over my shoulder at the workings of the human psyche, or at least my interpretation of the psyche. What you will not find is the consensus view on this subject. For that, all you need do is pop open a standard psychology 101 text book and dive in. The reason I leave the beaten path is simple. The really interesting ideas are usually found way out on the fringe and deep in the weeds. That’s not to say you can’t find “truth” or accurate knowledge within the consensus, just that cutting edge ideas and concepts aren’t tolerated well among the establishment. In my opinion, the established leaders rarely go into areas that aren’t well traveled and seldom stray from their own fields of expertise. Ironically, in a discipline that devotes much ink to the discussion of the ego, the principal players’ egos prevent little more than incremental forward progress. When you’re sipping from government and corporate grants, you don’t often make waves.

Read the entire article here

It's Just a Ride

2010-02-10T07:52:00.000-08:00

This is a nice video compilation of David Icke, Bill Hicks, George Carlin, Alex Jones, Leonard Horowitz and other spiritual/political thinkers.

Quantum Mechanics - The Measurement Problem

2010-02-02T00:32:00.000-08:00

The quantum measurement problem ultimately shows the inseparability of the observer from the observed. There is no measurable, solid reality “out there” independent of the measurer. What is “out there” when we’re not looking is an infinite wavy cloud of criss-crossing possibilities. Then when we focus our attention on something, the wave function collapses into a defined particle in a definite location for us to observe.

“This rather simple experiment raises a central question about the role of the observer in quantum reality. This is known as the quantum measurement problem: We infer that the photon acts like a wave when we’re not looking, but we never actually see those waves. So what causes the photon to ‘collapse’ into a particle when we do decide to look at it? In classical physics, objects are regarded as objectively real and independent of the observer. In the quantum world, this is no longer the case.” -Dean Radin, “Entangled Minds” (218)

Physicist Fred Alan Wolf uses the term “popping the quiff” (QWF for Quantum Wave Function) to describe the role of the observer in creating reality. Before being consciously observed, quanta (the building blocks of all matter) exist only as a boundary-less wave of undifferentiated quantum energy. In this state there is no matter as such, no particles or “things” with attributes and definite locations - just an infinite expanse of energy, Zero-Point, The Field. However, when a conscious observer focuses attention, they “pop the quiff,” collapse the quantum wave function into a solid particle of experience with definable attributes and location.

These findings are so significant because they prove that the classical Newtonian model of physics (now being termed “the old physics”) is fundamentally flawed. The old physics described a mechanistic material universe “out there” existing regardless of whether or not there was a conscious being alive to perceive it. The new physics shows that matter doesn’t even exist without consciousness. Without a conscious observer to “pop the quiff,” there is no substance, no “materiality” to that which is – just an unlimited, undifferentiated field of energy.

“If you want to see fear in a quantum physicist’s eyes, just mention the words, ‘the measurement problem.’ The measurement problem is this: an atom only appears in a particular place if you measure it. In other words, an atom is spread out all over the place until a conscious observer decides to look at it. So the act of measurement or observation creates the entire universe.” -Jim Al-Khalili, Nuclear Physicist

Howard Storm's Near-Death Experience

2010-01-25T21:40:00.000-08:00

This is a wonderful interview with a former atheist, professor and chairman of the art department at the Northern Kentucky University. Howard Storm died and found himself in hell before being lifted out by angels and shown the typical near-death experience with tunnels of light, telepathic loving angels, a life review containing every thought and feeling he'd ever had as well as every thought and feeling of those he'd ever interacted with. Today Howard Storm is a Senior Pastor of Covington United Church of Christ.

Bashar - Spiritual Messages

2010-01-21T06:02:00.000-08:00

Bashar is supposedly an other-dimensional entity channeled by Darryl Anka. While I remain suspicious of the concept of channeling, I often find what channels say to be fascinating. It's also interesting that most of the information gleaned through channels like Seth, Ra, Abraham and this Bashar is all quite complementary. These two videos resonated with me, what do you think?

Osho - Strange Consequences

2010-01-14T23:25:00.000-08:00

In this humorous video, Osho explains the multi-faceted word: Fuck.

Alan Watts & Michael Tsarion - Teachings on the True Nature of Self

2010-01-13T02:23:00.000-08:00

Here is a compilation video of Alan Watts and Michael Tsarion talking about enlightenment and the true nature of the self. It is very engrossing and fast-paced, filled with mind-bending wisdom from two greats.

Michael Beckwith - What's Your Pissocity Level?

2010-01-11T20:44:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Teye for sending me this uplifting video. Michael Beckwith (from The Secret) gives an inspirational talk with all the energy of a Southern Baptist preacher, but with a spiritual (not "religious") message. How pissed off are you? What is your "Pissocity Level" and what are you willing to do about it? Are you like the majority of the population - living life on the lay away plan, pining for some better future existence? Have you developed intricate coping and defense mechanisms to - kind of - make it through your human experience; hoping that in the future you'll somehow be different? Have you come just to hang out and exist between birth and death, and live a life that you read about in an insurance actuary column? If you are upset about your current situation or condition in life; then that is an indication that you are not planning or working on changing it!

Michael Beckwith - What's Your Pissocity Level?

More of Bruce Lee's Philosophies

2010-01-07T23:59:00.000-08:00

Here's another musical montage video overlayed with great philosophical Bruce Lee quotes. If you're a martial artist or an armchair philosopher I highly recommend Bruce Lee's writings. Thanks in part to the influence of Bruce Lee's books and movies, I'm now a 2nd degree black belt in Taekwondo, and have a B.A. in Philosophy.

Peter Russell - From Science to God

2010-01-03T00:04:00.000-08:00

The above is an abridged DVD presentation of Peter Russell's latest book on consciousness research, "From Science to God." I highly recommend both the video and his book which is available to read in full for free on his website. Read Peter Russell's "From Science to God"

“Nothing in Western science predicts that any living creature should be conscious. It is easier to explain how hydrogen evolved into other elements, how they combined to form molecules, and then simple living cells, and how these evolved into complex beings such as ourselves than it is to explain why we should ever have a single inner experience.” -Peter Russell, “From Science to God”

Terrence McKenna - Culture is Your Operating System, Culture is Not Your Friend

2009-12-30T01:08:00.001-08:00

Terrence McKenna's wisdom on the subjects of culture, art, and shamanism. Above is "Culture is Your Operating System," below is "Culture is Not Your Friend."

Perception - The Reality Beyond Matter

2009-12-22T19:28:00.000-08:00

This is a good introduction into the subject of how/why we perceive the world and ourselves as we do, beginning with neuroscience, and ending up with philosophy and mysticism.