The Failed War on Drugs

The War on Drugs has cost us billions of dollars.  Many lives have been ruined.  Little, if any, good comes from this policy towards psychotropic substances.

My man Graham Hancock says it very well on his website.  Calling it, " The War on Consciousness".

Graham Hancock's The War on Consciousness

Culture in Decline (Video)

Cool Video by creator of Zeitgeist films, Peter Joseph

Has alot of poignant points.  I thought the bit about wants being engineered into desires to serve advertising and consumption was really interesting and obvious once one thinks about history.

It was the third in the series here are the first two.

Culture in Decline Episode 1

Culture in Decline Episode 2

Parental Resistance to Transcendance

When a child leaves the home for the first time they truly begin to know how the relate to the world as a whole, rather than, their nuclear family.  This is an intense and defining experience.

As a child grows they come to eventually see their parents as real people with all their faults and shortcomings.  This supplants their childhood view of their parents as the omnipotent big people who know how to do things.

Finding out your parents have faults is a large turning point in any child's life.  At this point children may begin to define themselves in opposition to their parents.  They wish to not embody the bad character traits that their parents make evident.

When a child returns from their first extended sojourn into the world. (extended job, military, college, etc.)  They may find that they have transcended much of the neuroticisms that their parents imparted on them.  Being away from their parents for this extended period of time has made their own adoption of their parental attitudes clear and reminds them that, as children, they wished to transcend what they saw wrong in their parents' behavior.

When they return home, the former children, now individuals, may attempt to change their parents' behavior with their newfound knowledge and world experience.  This is almost ALWAYS met with resistance from the parents.

Parents are not about to let the people they raised tell them how to change their lives, even for the better.  The ego resistance to advice from children is highly evident and is detrimental to the parents.  Because who knows their faults, and how to fix them, better than their own children.

If only parents could swallow their pride and see that their children can help them transcend themselves through the insight they have gained through being raised by them.

The Pain of Separation and Duality

When one is involved in a spiritual practice, such as: hallucinogens, meditation, yoga, tantra, etc.  One will come to a difficult point in their practice where they begin to see wrong throughout all aspects of their normal life.

One may have trouble relating to friends, parents, teachers, romantic partners or neighbors.  It may feel like all of these people are against one's self and are hindering one from progressing spiritually.

One may find fault in their daily routine such as their job or usual pleasurable habits.

The desire to "renounce the world" and go practice in seclusion may begin to enter one's mind.

This part of the spiritual path is often referred to as, "The Dark Night of the Soul."  It can be a dark time indeed and can truly feel like all is wrong in one's life.  One may question their whole spiritual practice, as they believed spiritual practice would help them feel, "good".  At this point one may feel anything but good.

The thing to do when one hits this wall is not to cut-off contact with all personal relationships, quit their job, or renounce the world.  But, rather, realize that the pain one is experiencing stems from their inner-realization of separateness and duality within their experience of reality.

One is actually just realizing how painful the false duality we impose on reality is, but, the mind tries to blame this intense feeling on aspects of our daily life.

The only remedy for this is trudge through the pain, not make any hasty decisions or lash out at others, but, to continue practicing and see through the false duality binding us to a world of pain.

KEEP PRACTICING and you will come out the other side.

Culture as an Enabler

Cultures of all kinds enable us to do different things we would be unable to accomplish through our own personal will and physical ability.

The !Kung, of the Kalahari desert in Africa, tribe's culture enables human being to live and thrive in the harsh environment of the Kalahari.  A single human being would have a much harder time scratching out an existence in that environment than the millennia tested and tribally supported !Kung culture.

Cultures, (or sub-cultures), don't have to be beneficial though; there are numerous examples of cultures that permit their members to partake in things that are painful or dangerous to the individual.  A crack-house is a good example.  All the members in a crack-house form up a specific sub-culture, based on, obtaining, dealing, and using crack cocaine.  The users in the house have their desire for crack enabled and put on a pedestal within their own sub-culture.  In a sub-culture like this, even a distracting and life-draining habit like crack is accepted and made as the norm.  Humanity's herd mentality need not always be used beneficially...

On a lesser degree of destructiveness individually, but, more so, globally, Western consumerist culture enables people to feel accepted working 40+ hours a week in order to purchase lots of goods and services that they don't really need.  People accept 5+ hours of mind-numbing TV as normal and wonder little about the effect advertising is having on their life.  These people's workaholism and product fetishism is accepted as the norm even though working most jobs provides little good for the individual or society other than enabling them to partake in being an avid consumer.  

Although the crackhead culture enables individuals to harm themselves; consumer culture enables individuals to piddle their life away in trivial pursuits, while, focusing on distractions or apathy towards the damage their culture is causing to Earth and its biosphere.

Big Ol' Page on Alexander "Sasha" Shulgin

Alexander Shulgin creator of thousands of psychedelic compounds which he compiled in his opuses, PiKHal and TikHAL, is an interesting man to say the least.  He also rediscovered MDMA and popularized its use for psychotherapy leading to it later becoming a popular club drug.  He was truly a visionary and an evolutionary agent for our species.

                                                           young Shulgin in the lab

I have personally tried a few of his novel psychedelic compounds and they are unbelievable to say the least.  It is amazing to think that a man created these substances on purpose. My personal favorites...

4-ACO-DMT
-Similar to psilocybin mushrooms with alot of personal insight and pure absurd fun.  Has a 3 hour peak compared to mushrooms' almost instantaneous peak.  Visuals reminiscent of DMT.

2-CE
-UNBELIEVABLY visual.  The sky was a morphing visualizer, my posters came off the walls and conversed with me, I could see individual bugs upon all the individual blades of grass in my lawn, with eyes closed felt like I was riding a train through alien beings' living rooms, they were not pleased.  Also with eyes closed felt like I was experiencing periods of evolution from the past.(becoming a slug, gorilla, etc.)  Has to be experienced to be understood, changed my life.

Here are some collections of interviews with Sasha Shulgin and sometimes, his wife Anne, on a range of topics.

Shulgin 1995 in LA Times on Psychedelics, Government Interference and his life

Vice Magazine visits Aging Shulgin's House, listens to him Rant

Shulgin, YouTube, "Why I Discover Psychedelic Substances"

and my personal favorite...

Terence McKenna and Sasha Shulgin walk and Converse

MMMMM.....new psychedelics

Who cares how you're doing

In modern America, a popular greeting in business, pleasure, or home life is: "How [are] you doing?"

99% of people will respond "Good. You?"

That other 1% of responses is usually someone telling you that their car broke down, they just got diagnosed with cancer, lost their job, or they're having a psychotic break and telling you the Reptilians have arrived.

So...one usually hopes to just hear, "Good".  No person you're having a formal greeting with at work, while paying for services, or at a club/bar really wants to hear about your personal trials and tribulations.  This greeting has become a sort of vestigial formality from small-town periods when everyone really wanted to know what the rest of their neighbors were up to.

It kind of strikes me as weird in today's fast paced techno-urban society.  People usually just mumble it quickly and continue with their business.  What other humanistic formalities still exist that don't make sense in modernity?

Presidential Accountability

Here's an idea, what if our leaders lives where in our hands just like we put our lives in their hands?  The president makes decisions that effect everyone for better or worse and we think he feels responsible through the gravity of his position but, what if he was held accountable for his actions through regular, "votes of confidence" from the population.

People could vote to punish him in small ways such as taking away his vacation or through mitigating a portion of his power that he had mis-used.  A president that makes a bad foreign policy decision could have his ability to make calls on policy either taken away, or, voted on piecemeal by the population during every decision.

President could have their personal lives watched if they abuse their power ( like Clinton).  Why not? They watch and record all of our lives through surveillance, so, why shouldn't the man at the head of this governing body be highly surveyed as well.

The president needs to feel that there will be penalties for wrong decisions or mis-use of power.  President Bush was a gross example of a man who abused his power and got away with murder.(and more)

The horror, the horror

 Sometimes thats life

Fun Story from Osho

The Donkey's Common Sense

One day a farmer lost his donkey. While searching for the donkey he heard loud cries coming from a well. He looked down the well and found his old donkey crying piteously.
He thought the Old donkey must have received a lot of injuries. Its better to bury the Donkey in the well and close the well to prevent the future calamities.
So the farmer called his neighbors for help and they all started throwing mud inside the well.
As the farmers were throwing Mud into the well, the donkey was shaking the mud from its back and was taking one step up. This way the donkey was gaining height in the well and was coming closer to edge of well and soon it was out from the calamity.
As the farmers were throwing Mud into the well, the donkey was shaking the mud from its back and was taking one step up. This way the donkey was gaining height in the well and was coming closer to edge of well and soon it was out from the calamity.
Initially one could hear the loud cries coming from well but slowly the cries stopped coming. After some time they looked down the well. To their amazement the donkey was still very much alive.
All challenges in our life are like the mud which life throws at us. We just need to shake off the mud and take one step up. All challenges are opportunities to rise high.

Artist Page - Larry Carlson

This guy, Larry Carlson, has some real trippy flash videos and other art.  His sit is definitely worth a visit.

Wonderful World of Larry Carlson

Yup

The plain fact is that if you don't have a problem, you create one. If you don't have a problem you don't feel that you are living.-UG

UG's Books (Guy is quite a mind opener)

Interview with the Rascal Guru Christopher S. Hyatt

Awesome interview with the Author of Undoing Yourself .  If you don't know about that book I think you'll still find this man's ideas and self quite interesting.

The Dream Machine

"The Dreamachine was conceived by artist painter and writer Brion Gysin, along with his friend Ian Sommerville, in the early sixties. It is the first object in history designed to be viewed with closed eyes.

The Dreamachine simply consists in a cylinder with holes cut into his sides and placed on a turntable. A lightbulb is suspended on the center of the spinning cylinder, and the rotation lets the light to pass through the holes at a constant frequency, situated between 8 and 13 pulses per second. This frequency range corresponds to the 'alpha waves', electrical oscillations naturally present in human brain when the eyes are closed and no stimuli are processed, e.g., when there's a relaxed and effortless alertness, and while meditating."(importantrecords.com)

Created in the 1960's they were used by William S. Burroughs and thousands of other psychedelic pioneers to induce visionary states without chemicals.

Dream Machine Plans

Buy One Premade

Manic Monkey Mind

I believe the most obvious individual and societal problem in America today is the fact that most people cannot control their minds.  While it is impossible to STOP thinking most modern people live within a never-ending chain of vaguely connected thoughts that are hardly under any form of control.  Sometimes it is referred to as "monkey-mind" by those individuals who have succeeded in achieving gaps within the mind.  If you stop for a second and just watch your mind, without judging, you will see that it goes on and on, at random, often with little input or directions from yourself.

This endless inner chatter is why many of us feel trapped within ourselves and why the pursuit of happiness becomes a fruitless effort for most of us.

The mind is first and foremost, a problem solving mechanism.  It solves deductive problems such as math problems, mechanical problems, or the most obvious, how to communicate through language with other humans.  When the mind goes on "broken record" and its functioning cannot be stopped willfully without the use of drugs or technological distractions we are trapped in an endless loop of trying to solve our problems while also creating more and more for ourself.

The paradox is, that mind is not helpful in fixing the problem of the mind.  We must go outside or around the mind to short-circuit its overactivity.  No amount of reading, study, TV, or conversing will solve the problems of the mind.  We must stop feeding the hungry monkey-mind.  Only through activities that make the disfunction of the mind evident can we begin to see gaps within our train of thoughts.  This problem is not old and has been discussed by many great thinkers such as Plato, the 6th century BC Greek, in his allegory of the Cave.

There are many techniques gathered over the centuries to combat the mind.

Psychedelic drugs help one experience mindlessness temporarily and aid in reprogramming the mind to further accept existence without its constant use  They have been in use longer than agriculture or city-building...website for info on all drugs Erowid

Yoga helps one to allow the mind to subside through the use of bodily postures..Yoga

Zen meditation helps one to merge with the experience in front of one's eyes and helps to convince one that constant thinking is unnecessary for a full life Zen Intro.....Zen Habits

Art allows one to empty out the mind through abstract communication.  Music, painting, dance, singing, sculpting, writing all help to clear away excess thought.

The funny thing is once you gain some gaps between thoughts you begin to see the world without a filter, as it is, for the first time.  This is a great realization.  Also, since the mind is used only when you need it, it gains energy and becomes more powerful when you do put it to task.  Stop the chattering Monkey Mind today.

Interview with Albert Hoffman, inventor of LSD

Albert Hoffman Interview

Insightful questions with the man behind the molecule.  Goes into the problems that occurred in the 60's and the recent resurgence of research on hallucinogens.

Awesome Interview Program on YouTube

I found this the other day on YouTube, this psychologist, Jeffrey Mishlove, interviews some of the best minds from this half of the century and asks them some really deep questions.  People such as, Terence McKenna, John C. Lilly, Ram Dass, and Nick Herbert.  Awesome...check it out.

Thinking Allowed

A Great Book by Ram Dass

This book is a great read and can be finished in less than 2 hours.  Makes one happy to be alive.

Be Here Now

Fighting the Good Fight

It is obvious that Western Society is sick.  And in no country is this sickness more apparent that the USA.  Most of our populace is drugged out, either on prescriptions that fill pharmaceutical company coffers, or through their own effort to use whatever drugs are at hand to escape.  The average USA citizen watched 5+ hours of TV.  While drugs or TV are not bad in of themselves, there can be no excuse for this mass numbing of the American populace.  It is obvious that the populace is allowed, even encouraged, to remain this way because it allows those in control of government and money to do what they wish with little opposition.  I myself often feel trapped by this system, and, although, I have given up TV and drug addiction I find it hard to fight back without feeling hopeless.  Much like a fly caught in a giant web of a much larger spider; the harder we fight the system the more easily it absorbs us.  So I have assembled a small list of things that don't feed into the system and fight FOR positive things, rather than, against the negative.

Dropping Out
Leaving greater society to join various countercultures, either permanently or temporarily, helps one feel free to live without feeding into the machine.

• Attending music festivals such as Burning Man help one to see how humans can create culture in new ways even if its for as little as a week....A video on the meaning and effect of festivals...Transformational Festivals
• Joining communities which attempt to be as self-sustaining as possible and have different cultural values....List of intentional communities of this nature Intentional Communities Network

New Media

Find, create, and support new modes of expression

• Create more media than you consume.  A great way to generate your own media and opinions and make sure you are an individual person with their own artforms
• Use the internet more than TV...Internet, although not free from it, has much less brainwashing propaganda and advertising than TV
• Don't go with the crowd trends...seek out community arts that YOU enjoy...
• Local theatre and music
• Support local visual artists by buying their productions rather than factory made object
• BLOG!...it is free and is a great way to verbalize your views and get them out into the public.  Some people even make a living off their Blog

Avoid Corporate Entanglements

Certain things are offered my big business to make your life easier yet swell their profits and end up hurting you in the long run

• Give up credit cards, or use them minimally.
• Make your own fun through support of local arts or by exploring nature
• Try to avoid big debts of all kinds
• Get only the insurance and other monthly expenses you need
• Don't pay for music make or find your own
• Most books are available free online

Self-Improvement

Be the person you always dreamed of

• Learn something new everyday, go to the library, use the internet, or talk to someone knowledgeable
• Exercise!  Just ten minutes of walking or running a day can make a huge difference in quality of life
• Give up addictions...don't let a chemical run your life more than your own willpower...You are always stronger...The internet has tons of methods and support groups for dropping any addiction
• Create your own art...every person is an artist even if you start small...if you do something you enjoy it will snowball into something bigger and better
• Organized religion does little for people but make them Sheep to a belief system(Just look at history to see the evidence)...Give up BS(Belief systems) and form your own opinions of the world.  Pick and choose from the thousands of religions on earth and create your own  cut and paste view of reality.
• Use yoga, meditation, and psychedelic drugs as a personal practice of self-discovery and relationship with spirit.  These methods are much older than any organized religion and their belief in Dogma from written word

Don't try to change society, that's impossible, just CHANGE YOURSELF!

Camp Bisco XI

I have been meaning to write this for the last two weeks, yet, recovering from the festival itself and other obligations have kept me from diving into sharing what I witnessed at Camp Bisco XI.

This was my second Camp Bisco I have already written about Camp Bisco X from last year.  This year I believe the Disco Biscuits and everyone who put together the festival really outdid themselves.  I had a lot more fun than last year and the crowd seemed to be a much better fit than the motley crew of wookeys, biscuit heads, and fiends that attended last year.  This year the crowd did consist of mostly 18-24 year olds that were interested in ecstasy, LSD, weed, and even DMT and Ketamine.  Although I did see a few odd old heads creeping about or 16 year olds chugging beers and screaming how wasted they were.  Most of the people there seemed to fit a certain mode well enough and I didn't have any problems fitting in or making new friends.

A couple things make Bisco different than other festivals.  First of all it has a much higher percentage of women than most festivals.  Anyone who has been to the sausage fests that are Grateful Dead or Phish related festivals and shows would be relieved to see that Bisco seemed to be almost 55-60% women.  And beautiful and down to party women at that.  I didn't see too much jailbait either most of the girls seemed to be in the 18-22 year old range.  The girls had all different kinds of styles from pacifier in mouth ravers to dreadlock sporting hippies but they were all friendly and happy to be hit on by male party goers.  I myself was too locked in pure mental hedonism to worry about pussy and this year I barely did any molly which is what usually leads to in the moment hookups.  All the music went well although I was present for a few technical hiccups including Bassnectar on Saturday which seemed to anger those who had only purchased Saturday only tickets.  Those who had been there for 3-4 days already didn't seem to mind as their minds were fried enough and they had already had enough fun that they were OK with waiting the ten minutes it took Bassnectar to fix his mixer hookups.  One other general observation before I get into the personal story of my trip.  ALOT of people seemed to be headed to hospital building, why?, I don't know I'm guessing dehydration mixed with the over 90 degree temperatures each day but DAMN people a festival isn't fun if you DIE.....Drink some water...Now onto the tales of my adventure...

     This year we decided to go on Tuesday night and get a camping spot early.  I'm not sure if they allowed this in previous years but it was definitely an advantage over waking up early Wednesday morning and waiting in line all day for 6 hours.  I did that last year and I ended up missing 3 hours of music before we got inside and set up our camp.  So I set off with my old college buddies Keith and Travis along with their two girlfriends Linds and Sara.  Sara brought her 18 year old sister and a male friend Dylan, also 18.  We met up with some friends from Bucknell 3 dudes and 2 girls in upstate New York suburbs and we were off to Massapequa and the Indian Lookout Country Club for Camp Bisco XI.  The drive was easy and we laughed as we saw a few cars on the highway that were obviously also headed for Bisco.
     We got to the ticket pickup point around 10:30pm and we picked up the tickets for the few in our party who had will-call tickets and we were off to wait in line for a few miles as the cars slowly crawled into Bisco.  We were in line about 3 hours and when we got to the car searching point we wondered why it seemed they were searching cars significantly harder than last year.  Maybe because we had showed up early...The Bucknell boys in the car ahead of us were good and drunk and they searched their car especially hard and ended up confiscating an 1/8th of weed and 1/8th of shrooms...not so bad but damn whatsup with that Bisco?  We got in without a hitch and continued to the campsite.  We got a place and set up shop smoked some bowls of mary jane and went to bed, tired from the day of traveling.  During the night it seemed some Bisco goers were not OK with waiting and were screaming, "WAKE UP AND RAVE!" This was funny but I wasn't gonna wakeup...
     The next day we awoke, blazed, and began to look at the schedule as to what music was coming up.  Keith made eggs on a small propane grill and we waited around.  Skrillex was up today and we were set to go to that.  Me and Keith got left at camp as we were not gona roll on Molly yet and the others had jumped in.  Some fat dude came by and read my mind saying who needs K?!  I bought two grams of I must say fantastic K and me and Keith snorted a few bumps and took a small bump of Molly each from the filter of a P-funk cig.  We walked over to Skrillex and the shear intensity of the K and molly put us on the ground we watched the show and had strong mental trips with onslaughts of strange thoughts.  It was fun but I came to Bisco to dance and wild out, not to K-hole and sit down.  That night ended and we retired to bed.
    The day before we had gone around procuring atleast three kinds of supposed LSD in order to circumvent any bunk doses we got.  I had talked to the people we got it from extensively and it looked like I had more than enough to get really really SPUN.  So the next day(Thursday) we woke up and decided to go swim in a nearby lake before the shows started.  We made it to the lake and some old guy in a trailer(Bill) allowed Bisco peeps to swim off of his landing on the lake.  The lake felt great as we had bumped K before going and it rejuvenated everyone who went.  On the way back we were stopped to check our wristbands and the old dude at the gate was checking bags..."SHIT!" I thought, as I brought all my drugs in my backpack to walk to the lake.  I hid the K but I didn't have time to hide my LSD or DMT.  And he confiscated it all, although he allowed me to keep my bud.  This sucked, was probably $200 worth of shit and he just took it and pocketed it or threw it out...I don't know which.  This put me in a bad place for a while but I ended up scoring a few more hits of L for the next day anyway and I resolved to have fun anyway.  I saw the shows bumpin K the whole time melting into the crowd and forgetting who I was or where I was.  K at a concert is nuts compared to being at your house or a party.  Although I couldn't hole because my tolerance was too high and I didn't wana do that much because I knew it would have me pissing every 10 minutes which isn't fun at a festi.  So that night petered out and I was ready for friday the day of LSD.

    I woke up ate some eggs and hotdogs and dropped my L and decided to go with the Bucknell boys rather than my old friends in order to venture into the unknown.  I ate two sour patch kids dips in supposed L and went to the label tent to see Orchard Garden.  Those guys were Sooooooo Chill real nice downtempo beats, especially for comin up on L, after that we saw some little short white dude who was playing some super badass dark shit...I forget his name but it was wild.  At this point I realized the two hits I ate were not LSD, probably DOC or some other shitty RC.  So I ate two hits from our neighbor at the campsite.  These kicked in and I was on alot of DOC and LSD as Blockhead came on.  He was chill but his trip-hop beats were not sitting well with me and I had to dip out without even telling my friends I was headin back to camp.  I came out of the dance tent and I was tripping ballsacks.  I mean HARD everything was wavering and my mind was having thoughts of the cosmos and the space-time continuum.  I also felt like I was reading everyone's mind that I made eye contact with and they all seemed to be thinking daaaamn that guy is tripping hard.  So I made it back to camp without going psychotic or losing my shit and went into my tent to wait it out.  I still felt like I was feeling anyone who was on LSD around me in my head and it began to feel pretty good in the safety of my tent.  Sitting in a tent tripping as everyone has fun outside kinda brings you back to a good place and I got out of there after like 20 minutes and sat at camp waiting for friends to return.  They got back and asked me where I went...we laughed about it and tripped at camp for a while until the night shows camp up and we went out.  Amon Tobin was supposed to have some crazy visuals but they were some lame boxes with lights on them and DAMN even still trippin Amon Tobin's set was too artsy for me it was like some sound art shit and didn't have any kind of beat to dance to.  I did see a hilarious totem pole in the crowd, some guys had impaled a life size sex doll and were shaking it around haha that was just the funniest of many totems.
     That LSD trip was real deep and gave me a good feeling of being home at Bisco that lingered throughout the remaining 2 days or so.  The next day I bought 5 grams of shrooms trading a G of Ket and planned to eat them possibly that night.  I went to a show with my old college roommate Trav who had lost his gf in the course of the day and we bumped some K until some dude came up and offered us Mescaline. It looked legit so I bought a hit for each of us.  We asked what it was like and the dealer's friend claimed, "It made him feel like an owl."  Haha, that was enough of a review for me and we each dropped a hit.  It was subtle and I wish I took more but daaaamn that was a great festival drug.  Would definitely do again.  It was somewhere in between LSD and Molly with a pleasurable bodyload and a real organic rather than chemical signature on the mind.  People were asking me what I was on during Bassnectar because my dance moves were rather impressive and I was doing handstands; they were jealous when I told them I found Mescaline.  Bassnectar recovered nicely from his technical hiccup and said, "I love you guys, and this is for you, except that guy who threw the big glowstick at me, FUCK YOU."  Haha goodstuff.  His set really got the crowd moving in the best way possible it was his 5th Bisco so he knows how to treat that extremely "OUT THERE" crowd.  Then came my favorite part of the trip the last night  in the dance tent.
     Most of the show was dubstep or electro house and the Dance tent was playing some straight fun ass  old school house and everyone there seemed to be having a ball.  I ended up dosing on Molly and eating a 1.5gram hit of shrooms and boy I felt fucking great.  The dancing was so smooth and I was pure happiness.  The shrooms made all the colors pop and all the personal problems in my mind seemed so obviously fixable.  I stayed out till around 4 that night hitting up campsites with music after the official sets closed down and had a blast.  Bisco is definitely made to be seen tripping if you can handle the intensity.  Next year I honestly wouldn't do K or molly but would rather do Mescaline, Mushrooms, and LSD the whole time.  This lead to the funnest dancing and the best interpersonal interactions.
    I will likely be attending next year and will be sure to avoid those stupid bag searches....all in all a great trip fun-wise and learned alot in my trips.

Propaganda about Propaganda

Very interesting video supposedly made in North Korea as propaganda about Western culture and it's use of propaganda to control the populace.  The video talks about what is wrong with the West and obviously exaggerates things in order to support its North Korean point of view, yet, it is eerily true in its portrayal of Western sociological problems and hierarchical control...You decide how true it is

The Chillest Song Ever.....

Like Surf Music from Venus

Cyber Nomads

Mankind began as nomads.  We left Africa for continents unknown in small roving bands of a few families.  Mankind went where food was available which usually meant following hoofed grazing animals during their migrations.

As civilization came to bear humans settled down into stationary lives where only a few elect individuals(Royalty, soldiers, merchants, adventurers, and explorers) Were able to travel more than a few miles from their place of birth.

Now travel has been brought to the masses in the form of planes, trains, and automobiles.  Even the poorest of the poor can pick up and move to another area if they deem it necessary.  Although, the richest among us in their private jets enjoy the ability to travel more easily.

With the rise of the internet and the straining of natural resources it seems humans are on the verge o becoming sedentary again.  People and the powers at be are beginning to see our society of mass transit is putting a strain on the earth through use of resources and pollution.  Telecommuting through computers is becoming a desirable alternative to commuting in traffic to an office.

Although face to face social interaction will always hold importance it seems like more and more jobs could be done from home through an internet connection.

Maybe we will be left to satiate our nomad spirits through virtual realities...

Awesome Meditative Song

The Final Frontier

During the 1950's and 60's Outer Space was being heralded as the final frontier for man to conquer.

We had emerged out of the trees and onto the grasslands.

We had left the grasslands of Africa for lands unknown.

We had built sea-sailing vessels to cross the great oceans.

And we had mastered aeronautics and created airplanes, blimps, and helicopters.

The next logical step was outside of our planet's atmosphere and into the great black abyss.

Baby steps were made, we landed on the moon and sent out hundreds of probes.

But, unlike all other arenas of human technology, space exploration did not have an explosive acceleration, but rather, withered and came to a virtual halt.  Why was this?

Some say it was lack of competition with the Russians, or, impossibly large budgets.  My bet was that the engineers and scientists along with the upper echelons of American government realized that Space travel had little to offer present day man.  The ships and programs were prohibitively expensive and the programs themselves seemed to produce little of scientific or material value.  A combination of these drawbacks caused man to withdraw his full effort from space.  Technology and resources went towards communications(The Internet, TV, music) and to an ever more powerful military technologies.  Leaving man without an [obvious] frontier.

The hidden frontier is within our own minds.  The same hyperspatial reality that was plumbed by Shamans, medicine men, and mystics throughout history.  It can be accessed with meditation, yoga, breathing, and any number of hallucinogenic substances.  Isn't it strange that the very government that was so for Space Travel is against this other alien frontier?
     In Space Travel they saw possible material gain and strategic military advantages.  The only treasures that one can plunder from the interior of the mind are new ideas or modes of being.  These are of no interest to those who hold our material lives in check.  This is why they have begun an inquisition and repression of the exploration of this new interior frontier.

Good luck psychonauts.

Godfather of Molly(MDMA) Interview

An interview with, "The Godfather of Ecstasy", Alexander "Sasha" Shulgin. Summer show/festival season is starting up.....

Shulgin Interview

Awesome Discussion between Two Mental Giants(Ram Dass and Terence McKenna)

This video shows Terence and Ram Dass discussing all manner of topics during a lunch in Prague.  The video exemplifies both men's mental and spiritual views and is a stunning example of two men meeting for the first time and communicating effortlessly.

Why Don't We Walk Away?

“If the world is saved, it will not be saved by old minds with new programs but by new minds with no programs at all.”
― Daniel Quinn

Our society is not working, most of the world will agree.  No matter how many more police we hire, gadgets we create, or TV shows we watch nothing improves.  The programs those who wish to control enact upon us only plunge us deeper into collective apathy and ennui.

Most of America is populated by homeowners with several children who are vaguely aware of the fact that our way of life is not sustainable, keeps billions in poverty, and is poisoning the very planet we live on.  Most of these people just continue to watch TV and hope that someone smarter than them is solving the problems.

Is this a world we want to leave our children with? A big crowded and polluted mess of a planet.  Where the rich live like they are apart from the rest of the world in their pleasure dome fantasy houses.  The middle-class is educated enough to be aware of these facts but feels powerless to help.  Not to mention the poor who live in such a state of despair that the intensity of deprivation can not even be fathomed by the rich who pay thousands for therapists because they are not happy in their mansions.

What is this great social machine we are all apart of?  Why do we feel locked into its mechanisms?

This social machine is much like every other government/economy in history, a method to funnel wealth from the masses, to those in power at the top of the pyramid.

While certain parts of the society are integral to keeping the world fed most of the jobs within the social construct are extraneous and harmful.

Think, does your job help other people to enjoy their lives?

Does your job help to advance the consciousness of humanity?

Does your job atleast help to advance your own consciousness?

If not, then why do you continue to show up?

Because the food in this society is under lock and key.  And if you don't feed your productive value into the system you will struggle to find food or end up hungry.  This method of keeping food protected against all those who don't contribute to the system causes despair in the poor and obliges everyone else to continue in the jobs they hate.

There is only one sane solution, walk away.  We don't need any of this.  Mankind was not made to slave away for another man in order to survive.  Work is a part of life but life isn't work.  Life is about interpersonal relationships and raising your own and others' consciousness.  Obligatory work in meaningless fields and positions arises from the greed of those at the very top.  This "1%" has risen to the top because of a combination of old money and sheer disregard for the well being of fellow people.  The most ruthless and psychotic among us rule us.  Does this society have any kind of long-running future?  I hope not.

Gender Ratios Create a New Dating Game

Sexual morals in today's American society are created in such a way that men and women expect each other to behave quite differently than DNA and evolution designed us to. 

Women long for a prince charming character who loves them unconditionally forever.

Men long for an insatiable whore that satisfies their every sexual demand.

These desires are largely manufactured through early childhood gender roles and television's examples of gender roles.

This dichotomy creates a chasm of expectations between men and women which leave both sexes unsatisfied and jaded with current dating habits.

As a resident of a predominantly female college town I am in a position to observe and participate in the dating game.  The overabundance of females makes the dating scene different from any other locale I've lived in.  Women have begun to loosen up sexually and no longer fear the "slut" label.  The women of this town know that if they play the tease and delay sexual gratification for the male they will be passed over as there is plenty of women for each individual male. 

At the same time men of the town hunt for their sexual release while also understanding that the women's gossip underground will quickly label them as a womanizer if they play that role.  With the large and closely connected female population this label is hard to escape once it is connected to a certain individual.  So most men that are successful in the dating game hold relationships with women that pertain to more than sexual intercourse.  Even in short multi-week or multi-month relationships the man is quick to introduce the woman to his friends and integrate her into his everyday life.  They partake in many activities out of the bedroom before the relationship contains any kind of serious slant.

This movement of sexual roles feels more natural to both parties as the two genders' desires are both satisfied when both partners agree to meet in the middle.  I feel like this more relaxed and enjoyable sexual playing ground stems mostly from the ratio of 65% women to 35% men.  Some ancient historians and anthropologists have claimed that in ancient pre-civilization times the ratio was closer to this than the 51% 49% ratio we now experience.

Could dissatisfaction with current dating roles stem from this ratio imbalance?

Hoffman Interview

With LSD hard to obtain recently here is an interview with the discoverer of LSD, Albert Hoffman, from High Times magazine.  Hoping it whets all you acid-heads appetites till the next round of doses comes around.

Albert Hoffman Interview

Abstract Goals

In our polluted constantly industrializing modern world what kind of goals can young people set their sights on?

The future appears as a precarious possibility that defies predictability.

The only  worthwhile goals people can set are personal, general, and unprecedented. 

The consumerist culture continues to box in desires within its easily controllable confines of material want fulfillment.  Those with higher spiritual or conscious aspirations are left to forge their own path.

Heres to those who don't contain themselves within the narrow confines of normalcy.

Those who strive after something abstract and even unattainable.

These are the people driving forward the rest of society consisting mostly of sheeple.

An End to Climbing

Let go all your restrictions

Let go all of your rules

Let go of your mind, let it slow to a stop.

Then only your self will be left.

Let go of yourself and only freedom will be left.

So This is It?

The car is on fire, and there's no driver at the wheel...And we're all on so many drugs with the television on and the curtains drawn.  We are trapped in the belly of this horrible machine, and the machine is bleeding to death.

This is how it is when the west falls.

American's are drowned in a deep abyss of technological apathy.

Young people pay more attention to the short and pointless messages on their mobile phones than the actual live humans who surround them.

Text messages have sucked the intensity and reality out of conversation and make people believe that their feelings are reducible to curt messages of internet slang.

TV commercials have higher and higher production values all in an attempt to brainwash the populace into buying more crap they don't need.

Who needs a new car every year?

Or that new prescription pill that has worse physical and mental side effects than any disease it treats.

As children starve for both food and education our tax dollars go towards more bombs and tanks in order to secure the American Empire.

America's armies secure opium fields in Afghanistan in order to sedate the already apathetic masses into a downward spiral of drug addiction.

The bright and hopeful youth of the middle class, seeing no good future in sight turn to addiction in an effort to escape this soulless society.  And in so doing, become soulless themselves.

Xanax a mind-numbing and addictive substance is the number one prescribed medicine in the USA.
It helps to keep people's minds off the rising tide of shit that continues to surround them.

Cannabis, a drug used by humans for thousands of year, is illegal and heavily enforced with millions going to prisons every year for being involved with this substance which is perhaps the most benign drug on Earth.

The prison system swells with the casualties of the drug war.  And has use of hard drugs gone down?....No it has only escalated.  Stranger still, these prisons are run as businesses!

The prisons are just another appendage of the ruthless capitalist fat cats that the rest of us call, The 1%.

Why do these people feel the need for more and more wealth?  In the end when we die is it really a contest over who has the biggest pile of shit accumulated in their mansion?

The Northeast is full of "climbers" the members of the middle class who are never happy with their status and continue to strive to become the capitalist big wigs that they both loath and envy.

When will this all end? Hopefully soon.

Space in the Mind

In our culture most people remain trapped in their logical, mechanical, and concept based mind.  Allen Ginsburg said, "Recent history can be seen as a vast conspiracy to force all of mankind into one mechanical mode of consciousness."  This mode of consciousness is that of the problem-solving(or problem creating) rational mind.  The mind is used to solve problems but since most people attempt to employ their mind constantly it runs out of actual problems and begins creating self-made problems.  This puts the mind into a spiral of trying to solve its own self-created problems.  The mind can never transcend it's own interior concepts because its very foundations are built upon these concepts.  Words, images, and memories.  Experience itself is always beyond the mental concepts that attempt to encapsulate it.

The cure for this endless mental drilling is to begin witnessing the space between thoughts that exemplifies our essential being.  This silent space allows our mind to be receptive rather than constantly trying to "solve" the "problem" of reality.  As the space grows larger eventually we are swallowed up by the space and we become one with it.

The drop falls back into the ocean.

Solipsism

One can never be sure how alone they really are in this universe.  The only being that we may truly be sure is real an exists is ourself.  This fact may make social interaction seem even more like a guessing game.  Social awkwardness can be overcome by acting through reflex and our natural personas responses.

Facing solipsism within oneself is the real challenge.  No matter how long we run from our inner-self we will have to face it before we leave our bodies and move on to the next dimension.  Since you are completely alone in your aloneness you might as well become your own best friend.  Accomplishing this will make it easier to become friends with others.  Embrace the inner-self so that you may have a self to share with others.

Trippy Song of the Day

Women and Society

I believe that women are naturally the initiators of sex.  Although men may feel that they are in control of the courting game it is really the women that put out the sexual signals that lure men into approaching them.

Since the "Slut" term and all the baggage that comes with it is used in American society women hold back their natural inclination towards sexual activity and repress it within themselves.  This frustrates both the women and the men who are unable to engage in sexual acts because of women's fear of stigma.

If women were more comfortable engaging in the mating game and men were not so quick to put women who are empowered down as "sluts" this country would be a sexier and happier place.

Work or Struggle

Is it better to work 40+ hours a week at a job that is not rewarding and leaves little time for you to enjoy life yet, it provides wealth.  Or is it better to work a bullshit low-paying job 20-30hours a week and scrape by with less money???

The one option seems to take time and compensate this fact by giving you more money in the little leisure time you have.  While the second option leaves you with a lot of time but little money to spread around this free-time.

This is an internal struggle I am currently facing.

Trippy Song of the Day

x0xb0x Acid

I have recently purchased a x0xb0x analog synthesizer and it puts out a real fat and punchy bass sound sequenced by analog circuits.  The b0x is an MIT created clone of the famous later 80's base synthesizer, the Roland tb-303.  It can be utilized in all kinds of electronic music yet, is most famous for its use in acid house.

Living without Meaning

After realizing our self's inherent nature as the void or nothingness a gap begins to form between our mind full of desires, and our actual mystical experience.  Our whole life is spent chasing different desires down numerous paths that all eventually bring us back to our naked empty self.  Once one sees that meaning in life is self-created then we can begin to direct and star in an epic of our choice.  The despair that may occur once one realizes that there is no inherent meaning in life can be filled with self-created meaning that benefits both our self and others.

I know I've spent months paralyzed by the lack of meaning or direction in my life but these downs have slowly transformed into ups.  I no longer utilize effort to achieve my goals but rather, I get out of the way and life happens.  This new mode of living frees up willpower from its usual occupation as a controller of self and allows me to use the will for creative endeavors.

Rather than an all encompassing meaning overlaid over my life each moment presents its own unique meaning to my self.

Ups and Downs

Emotional stability seems to be a myth in my experience.  The self fluctuates from experiences of euphoria towards the opposite end of the spectrum of severe depression.  Although the self can remain aloof to these emotions it must learn to accept the passing lows while also, not clinging to the  ephemeral highs.  A lesson on the impermanence of any state brings the true emotional reality to bear.

Trippy Song of the Day

Chinese Memory

I work for a Chinese couple who are about 45 and I guess have been in the USA about 20 years.  They speak good English, the woman with an accent and a slight brokenness, the man with a great accent that almost resembles the slow drawl of an old dubbed Kung Fu film.  They have amazing memories usually remembers customers, order numbers, and every little detail about their restaurant.  I consider myself above average intelligence yet my memory cannot compete with their almost photographic capability.

I wonder if they are unique or if  many Chinese truly do have a better memory of details.  Especially numbers?

We're in Heaven

The only thing not there yet is your mind. Which has yet to realize that the struggle it is making towards a goal or goals and the progress that it experiences are all happening outside the mind.  Once the mind doesn't involve itself in trying to figure out where we are it becomes obvious.

Losing your Mind and Coming to our Senses

The mind is often called the final obstacle to enlightenment by many mystics and masters.  Attempting to fight the mind into submission only brings a stronger mind to bear.  The actual path towards freedom from uncontrollable chatter of the mind is a letting go of effort to subdue the mind and the allowing of the natural mystic merging that existence permits.  Osho, as always, describes the slipping into no-mind clearly...

When satori happens or when drilling stops and mind functions no more you may feel for a single moment that you have gone mad, but in fact there is now no possibility of going mad because only a mind can go mad. Now that the mind is no more you cannot go mad. For a moment the idea of madness may come to you -- because you have lived with the mind so long and suddenly it has stopped. You will be in an emptiness. That emptiness is very, very scary. It is like death. You are disappearing, losing identity. It is very paralysing -- for a single moment.- Osho

Thinking of this experience I am reminded of the scene in Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey near the end of the film where dave shuts down Hal-9000's mainframe slowly but surely.  Hal slowly loses mental capacity before finally regressing into a childlike memory.  "I'm Afraid, Dave...I'm Afraid."  The fear that occurs during this experience is extraordinary yet coming out upon the other side, like Dave, we become something else...

A Change of Heart

This Blog has helped me reach a catharsis in my thinking along with self-therapy and I have come to the realization that this blog was built on an idea that has no real bearing in my inner-self.  The Blog will now be more free fun and random and will not try to achieve any idea, but rather, will continue to example my individual self for the internet to witness.

Ketamine and Imprinting Zen

The art of Zen is ancient and derives from mainstream Buddhism.  It focuses less on doctrine and practice and puts the focuses directly in the present on normal actions and through increased consciousness of one's normal actions one's self begins to see reality for what it really is.  The stages of Zen are well communicated in this Zen haiku.

First there is a mountain
Then there is no mountain
Then there is

One first becomes conscious of their interior verbalization and categorization of the outside world.  Then one slowly comes to realize that they are in control of their interior response to the outside world and may reduce it to nothing if they wish.  Finally one realizes the inherent intercourse between these two perspectives then, the objective outside world and reality can then be seen as an alchemical union between the inner creative subjective experience and the objective material experience.

Ketamine is a dissociative analgesic that has long been used in surgery yet in the last few decades has gained prominence as a meta-programming chemical.  Meta-programming refers to the self-directed programming of mind that occurs when one is able to abstract their thinking processes above their normal consciousness in order to re-arrange and streamline one's conscious train of thought.  Ketamine numbs the self from the signals sent from the body and in doing this stretches out time as the mind attempts to fill in the holes of sensory information that the body is numb to.  In relation to the dose of Ketamine administered one may enter a reality that is more their own mind coupled with reality or they may experience a "K-Hole" where they are completely physically incapacitated yet their mind remains active within their own imagination.  These peak K-hole experiences feel as is they last for an eternity as time breaks within the subjective inner realm.  In reality the experience rarely lasts more than 45minutes to an hour.
In order for Ketamine to aid in Zen practice one must have a working Zen practice before dosing Ketamine.  During the experience the mind will not be able to control the body.  The mind and body will operate independently yet autonomously.  Any attempt to use top-down control of mind over body will result in a comical OCD-like repetitive physical action.  A friend of mine on his first Ketamine experience attempted to climb over the railing on his porch, an action he performs several times each day.  Because he had no knowledge of Zen and still operates from a mind controlling body perspective he hilariously attempted to move his leg over the railing a dozen times before he was aided by nearby onlookers.
My first experiences of K I was paralyzed but as I became acclimated to my mind and body operating independently I realized the body's inherent knowledge in navigating the environment only needed directions from the mind, not constant guidance.  The dissociative properties of K also aid in one realizing the Is-ness of the world without relation to thought patterns or preconceived notions.  When one returns from the hour long sojourn into the imagination they find that the world is more beautiful and complete than when they left it.  Goes to show that one cannot appreciate something until they lose it.  In this vein Ketamine is an aid to die before you die so that upon your return you may appreciate the world for what it is in all its glory without covering it in ideas.  Ketamine also gives one time to organize information from more conventional mushroom or acid trips because when removed from the body and embedded in the mind absorption of this information is more easily performed.  A truly interesting chemical.  The most famous K-head ever was an extremely interesting man, John C. Lilly. 

Are we Having Fun Yet?

When gauging the wellness of the world media and governments use ridiculous abstractions such as GDP or National Indexes.  I believe the much simpler question of, "Are you having fun?" would be a better method of discerning how people are feeling.  Art, community, and all the higher human aspirations appear once people are satisfied with their lives and are living in the moment.  So without people having fun who cares about national product or indexes.  Isn't fun and other people what we are really all here for? 

Witnessing the Soul

Everything is happening automatically.  Choice exists only in the fleeting moment and can only be utilized to change the direction of our self and its desires.  Once the self is changed it operates autonomously until another change is made in the present.  We are not the doer but are rather witnessing the experience changer(soul) from an even higher perspective.  When one isn't changing experience consciously but is allowing their experience to change naturally as it progresses they are sitting outside the soul as a witness.  Most people never even become consciously aware of their soul's power to change their experience and live life like a plastic bag caught in an updraft.  Many homeless people live the life they do because it is the only life where the self(soul) can be free to transform experience according to its will by constantly traveling, using drugs, seeking food and comfort, and meeting new people.  Much of modern society prevents the soul from coming to prominence since people live in a state of comfortable apathy they never seek to change their experience.  To awaken the soul one must find their self in a disagreeable experience and will to change it.(Career change, kicking addiction, changing locales)  Once the soul is activated people  then seek to "come home" to non-duality which is achieved after a time once the self is completely understood and transcended.

Obsession versus Self-Realization

What keeps most people mired in worldly pursuits without ever paying heed to the spiritual side of life is obsession.  In order to better the self-consciousness one must train and better the organism holistically, body, heart, mind, and soul.  Most people's obsessions are a misdirected attempt to better their own consciousness by only heeding the desires of one part of their psyche.  Heeding one aspect of the self over all others always causes problems for the self.  For example, an alcoholic seeks happy emotions and escape from his mind while at the same time poisoning his mind and body.  A collector of objects amasses toys yet languishes in the areas of interpersonal relationships and personal growth. 
Because our society considers true self-infatuation narcissistic people divert their natural obsession to better themselves into activities society deems appropriate such as entertainment addiction(TV, internet, and videogames)  These single track obsessions do not serve to better the person as a whole spiritually.  There is nothing wrong with TV, alcohol, or collecting inherently but, pursued single mindedly they eventually lose their luster and begin to instill more unconscious compulsions in the self. 
If people could realize the futility of narrow-minded obsessions and would rather, seek to better their selves in every conceivable aspect then society would begin to spiritually grow.  Obviously those who amass wealth and power do not wish people to grow holistically but would always rather them pursue paths that lead to more purchasing and economic growth.