Vivek - The Homeless Prophet

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

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

Alan Watts on the true meaning of yoga

Puppetji

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

Get Happy - Esther Hicks

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

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

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

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