Sphere of Consciousness

E x p a n d

your sphere of consciousness

expand\ik-'spand\ vb 1 : to open up : UNFOLD 2 : ENLARGE 3 : to develop in detail syn amplify, swell, distend, inflate, dilate--

Altered states

Notes from Cuzco, Peru ~ April 1977

On the slopes of the Andes, in a yurt overlooking a sage-green valley, I’m participating in a peyote ceremony that has taken place here for over 1,000 years. I’m collecting data for my senior thesis: ‘The neurological basis of hallucinations’. However, none of my faculty advisers know I’m here, and if they did ..they would probably deny any involvement. I’m here because I want to experience, first hand, the psychological effects of a guided peyote session the way it’s practiced by South American Indians ..and not for purposes of recreation the way I used to. I have a theory that human nature follows a cycle; it fluctuates between the need for ‘order and stability’ ..followed by the need for ‘exploration and rebellion’ against order and stability. I arrived at this theory from reading books by Aldous Huxley, as well as personal experience. I’m hardly able to sustain a committed relationship for more than a few months. Anyway, I believe that early Indian cultures had less destructive ways to deal with this cycle that didn’t involve excessive alcohol, domestic violence or broken homes. The peyote ceremony is, in a sense, a ‘guided’ exploration into altered states of consciousness ..followed by a gentle period of ‘re-entry’ that allows participants to integrate their extra-ordinary experiences with the ordinary reality of everyday life. It satisfies the need for exploration in a way that is far less disruptive, and way more conducive, to the well being of the individual and the tribe.

Exploration: The session begins ..our Guide is waving a rope of burning incense ...intended to awaken our senses. A drum beat softly repeats ..intended to strengthen our bond to the present. Tea is poured and cups ceremoniously passed between participants sitting cross-legged around a low bronze table. The simple act of sharing also helps bring us back to the present. I feel grounded and eagerly await whatever forms my altered perception may take. After experiencing several waves of nausea ..followed by tea .. images of early childhood begin to appear ..rising and falling .. over and over .. leaving me clutching at something for security (later I find my shirt lying bunched-up and wet on the floor beside me). Our Guide gently reminds us to watch these images flow until they vanish. Next, the blows of adolescence appear ..rising and falling ..leaving me feeling bruised and vulnerable until I’m barely able to hold back my tears. Our Guide gently reminds us to watch these images flow until they vanish. Now I hear someone playing a flute. Sounds soothing. Now I feel alternating sensations of tea and mango splash down my throat. Sweet and refreshing. I pass the plate from one grinning face to another. Now I’m grinning. Now it looks like I’m sitting between two huge grinning masks ..suspended in space. One of them starts laughing ..then another ..and another ..until everyone is rocking with waves of laughter. I feel a grip loosening, and worries, stretching back as far as I can remember ..lift like fog. I feel euphoric. But it isn’t long before the feeling of euphoria turns into panic. I’m looking down and there’s nothing there ..it's like I’m hanging over an abyss. Without the customary sense of worry, my psyche collapses like a house of cards. I scream and lose consciousness. When I awake, I recall lying with my head in the lap of one of the female assistants ..while she wipes my face with cool water. I’m shaking.

Re-entry: I’m listening to our Guide give instructions for re-entry (we were also given a copy of these to take with us). It went something like this: “..as you return, remember ..a river comes out of the mountains ..flowing and cohesive. Its power comes from yielding .. overcoming what’s hardest with what’s softest. As you return, remember ..follow the watercourse way ..choose harmony over quarreling. As you return, remember ..follow the watercourse way .. throw the portals of your tent open and pay homage to what’s light in the world. As you return, remember ..follow the watercourse way .. the soft quality of your mind will overcome the hardness of the obstacles you face. Remember, follow the watercourse way …the watercourse way …the watercourse way ..” and I could hardly forget. I could still hear these words echoing in my head for weeks afterward while I finished writing my thesis and submitted it for a round of grueling final arguments. I think it helped. Either that or they just caved.

What's wrong here?

How can the light be off

if the switch is on?




















Because it's broken

it doesn't work

fix the broken thing

The Rose

The Rosette Nebula

NGC 2237 is a "long stem rose"

a stellar nursery 5000 light years away

with a central core of young hot stars

And What Of Man?

And what of man...

will he ever learn to fly?

Google Contest: Project 10 to the 100

I entered GlobaLove Think Tank in the
Google 10 to the 100th contest months ago.
I was expecting to get the results of the
contest in January but it seems the response was
so great it bogged down the process and the
announcement date is up in the air.
Here's Google's comment.

Thank you to everyone who submitted an idea.
We received over 150,000!

Due to the enthusiastic response we received,
it's taking us longer than we expected to review all the ideas.
Check back later, or sign-up to receive an email
update when we've announced the top ideas.

Link: project10tothe100

Sibling Rivalry

The color of my blood is red

the color of your blood is red

blood does not lie

it tells us that we are all

members of the same family

the Family of Man

Be Here Now

Do not dwell in the past

do not dream of the future

concentrate the mind on the present moment

...Buddha...

Perspective

Pretend that you know nothing

now imagine everything you thought was true, is a lie

now you are in the proper place [mind set]

now you can see clearly

The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania

Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain,
As in revenge, have suck'd up from the sea
Contagious fogs; which falling in the land
Have every pelting river made so proud
That they have overborne their continents:
The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain,
The ploughman lost his sweat, and the green corn
Hath rotted ere his youth attain'd a beard;
The fold stands empty in the drowned field,
And crows are fatted with the murrion flock;
The nine men's morris is fill'd up with mud,
And the quaint mazes in the wanton green
For lack of tread are undistinguishable:
The human mortals want their winter here;
No night is now with hymn or carol blest:
Therefore the moon, the governess of floods,
Pale in her anger, washes all the air,
That rheumatic diseases do abound:
And thorough this distemperature we see
The seasons alter: hoary-headed frosts
Far in the fresh lap of the crimson rose,
And on old Hiems' thin and icy crown
An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds
Is, as in mockery, set: the spring, the summer,
The childing autumn, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries, and the mazed world,
By their increase, now knows not which is which:
And this same progeny of evils comes
From our debate, from our dissension;
We are their parents and original.

(Act 2, Scene 1000)

(Art by, Joseph Noel Paton 1850)

Asshole

What's the difference between

an asshole, and a real asshole?

The asshole knows he's an asshole...

...the real asshole has no idea.

Imaginary Creatures

...there are more things

in heaven and earth Horatio

than are dreamt of in your philosophy

...Hamlet...

Premonition

Look at it

don't think

just look at it


Salvador Dali-1936
Soft Construction with Boiled Beans
(Premonition of Civil War)

Take Me

When asked if he were on drugs

Salvador Dali replied,

I am the drug, take me.

Reported comment

"There's a secret government,

inside the government...

and I don't control it."

...Bill Clinton...

Network

I'm as mad as hell,

and I'm not going to take this anymore!

War of the Gods

Religion must die.......so that reason may live.....Bill Maher-Religulous.

.....god is not religion.

.....i will not humanize god......i will not sexualize god......god is change.....god is a process......god is......not a giant old white guy with a long white beard sitting in the clouds.......god!

.....all religion is.....man made.

.....ignorance is the original sin.

.....our ignorance is the reason for.....faith.

.....all the major religions teach the golden rule......that works.

.....god made man in his image.....but then.....man made god in his image.

.....fear has perverted religion, turning the golden rule.....into the
war of the gods.

.....ignorance creates fear....fear creates intolerance....intolerance creates extremism....extremism creates hate....hate creates destruction.

.....intolerance is another word for.......extremism.

.....ignorance+fear+intolerance+extremism+hate=destruction.

.....faith is innocent....ignorance is not.

.....religion divides us, spirituality brings us together.

.....we cannot fault man for faith....we can however, hold man and religion, responsible for ignorance.

.....you must first define, "faith".

from the dictionary......faith 1: allegeance to duty or a person: LOYALTY 2: belief and trust in God 3: complete trust 4: a system of religious beliefs.

.....so the definition of "faith"...is what your trust is "in".....duty, a person, God, or a religion.

.....the word "trust" more deeply describes "the reliance on the truth of something"....or truth.

.....so you might say that faith boils down to what you "believe" is true......or "your belief."

.....and as i've said before.....

.....the "truth" has nothing to do......with what you "believe".

.....in other words......faith is not always founded on truth.

.....i have faith the sun will come up in the morning......i have no faith in war.

.....i'm not afraid of god....what reason could there be?

.....i don't believe in a god that needs to be worshiped.

.....i don't believe in a god that would doom me to burn in eternal pain.

......though god may be love, god is above all truth.......god is even the atheism of the atheists........mahatma gandhi.

sick of people...

who... psychologicaly captive of the system, using that fucking illusion veil they've bought and... in (an also) self inflicted blindness, keep lying hard to themselves, using to: think A, say B and act C ...thinking, pretending, playing or feeling as... independent, rebel, crazy, cool, special, better, smarter, different... only dumping out from their consciences all the shitness WE are causing to our world by being, at least, indiferent and/or silent to it, even if it's to keep some feeling of sanity or something like that but in fact as simple excuse to take part on their own illusion, not bothering themselves on thinking to much about what is quite clear and evident to everyone who wants to see, to understand, and if a good one, try to really grow a beautiful flower in the mud. to say the less! ...and no matter how this delusion came to their lives, nowadays deluded people just piss me off! as if they were so just because of their own mind lazyness, and this kind of lazyness is becoming, to me, not even possible to forgive. people would better actually be lazy to obey the masters, and get angry about this absolutely wrong system we live in. and make some good use of this beautiful anger! well... i know how thinking can be painfull, however, it should hurt a lot more when i feel that something is quite wrong and, just to keep in shape my own protection mask (the so called ego) well enough to go thoroughly unharmed throughout this life, to pretend everything is alright... come on, it's all wrong! ...but anyone can know that this system is designed to, somehow, work like this: for every time i use my debit/credit card to buy any stupid thing, at least a hundred childrem is dying by starvation and ameneable diseases. period! and it's simple like that! but we are mind manipulated, controlled and well encouraged to think that it's not our problem, we are not the saviours of our world, we can do nothing to change it ...and, in the end, i'm just one person and i can't go against the system, it's not my business and, no matter how bad it seems, the system is working as it is, and people have their own destiny, it's in the good hands of god, that's the way it is! those are the facts of life, c'est la vie!

p.s. well, ...despite my childrem swimming pretty happy in their pool, and all the happiness that my loved ones and i can have and achieve by our own means, ...as human beings we're all already fucked! and there are no heroes coming up to save us, and neither will any mercifull god show up to save the poor deluded souls on earth, and even exactly those who are pissing me off! so... it must be the duty of any good human being, barely or well aware of those facts, to wake any other good one up, at least wake them up, to step out of the box, think about and get aware of what actually MUST BE CHANGED, ...even if (at first) it can brings us to any chaotic situation... but then we will see what we can do! and i'm pretty sure it will be better to everyone, ...and to this beautiful planet we live on as well!