Doomsday

In 19th Century China, one man claiming to be the brother of Jesus Christ started the Taiping Rebellion ..a bloody civil war, which led to the fall of the last Chinese dynasty. More recently, a fellow by the name of Zhao Weishan founded a movement known as The Eastern Light, which has evolved into a group called The Almighty God. They have over 1 million members and prophesize the end of the world on December 21, 2012. Because China has no established religion, people tend to believe in wild rumors. Sales of survival pods have been brisk. Last Friday, one of their members ran through a schoolyard and slashed 23 schoolchildren with a machete. They attribute this act to someone “ ..under the influence of doomsday beliefs.”  I guess delusion knows no boundary.

Hopi prophecy

“A sign of the end of time is when people mistake the work of man for the work of nature”

When I first heard this, it made me think of things like processed foods, formica counter-tops and modern highways. Today it struck me how this prophecy also covers what I believe is going on inside my head. I often mistake artificial rules of logic for native brain waves. However, my thoughts don’t follow rules of logic. Left to their own device, they act more like heuristics .. and a heuristic is more like a convenient rule-of-thumb. The arrogance of believing that mental processes are logical processes puts me in a position of feeling overconfident and defensive about my ideas. I mean, after all .. I arrived there by commonly accepted principles. Disagree with me and you must not be clear on the fundamentals of rational thought. Needless to say, I don’t often get it right.

On authority

About this time last year my father and I were discussing the Arizona law giving police authority to detain individuals suspected of being illegal immigrants. SB 1070 gives law enforcement officers the right to do this, but only in cases of “..lawful stop, detention or arrest.” My father is a Tucson resident and agrees, saying, “the law is the law.” I can’t argue that. It’s just that the police have a history of abusing authority, especially when it targets members of an ethnic minority. So, I have a theory that says whenever you give anyone that kind of authority, it will be abused. My father thinks I’m being overdramatic.

Turns out the Maricopa County Sheriff’s department did not disappoint. They interpreted the new law to mean it’s OK to launch sweeps of Phoenix communities in search of illegal immigrants ..with or without probable cause. Forget the part that says “during lawful stop, arrest or detention.” They essentially made foreign-looking sufficient cause for police action, which oversteps their bounds and violates our constitution rights. My father believes I come from a generation that doesn’t respect authority. I believe I come from a generation that doesn’t trust authority. So, way to go Maricopa ..you have helped make my case, and reinforced my distrust in authority, especially in cases where it’s based on fear and discrimination.

Future shock

During a 70’s era college course in social psychology, we were each given the assignment of predicting possible future events in society and presenting them next time we met. I predicted technology would make fixed workplaces obsolete. I’d be able to do my job while at the beach or in a coffee shop and transmit it over telephone lines to an employer at another beach or coffee shop anywhere around the world. I predicted fixed residences would also become obsolete. I figured if I weren’t tied to a workplace I would become geographically un-tethered. I could travel on motorcycle, or recumbent bicycle across the US and either camp or stay at youth hostels along the way. I predicted the same would be true of relationships ..I would form them as I went. Everyone would. The idea of marriage or monogamy wasn’t in the cards ..and I considered the possibility that they may not even be compatible with who we are as a species. I admit, I got a lot of my ideas from the book ‘future shock’, the ‘whole earth catalog’ and a broken home. I remember the girl sitting beside me going “Man, ain’t no way you got a girlfriend, cuz if you do I sure feel sorry for her..!” However, the guy sitting on the other side was in shock. He looked like ‘preppie’ from the movie Love Story. He started out by saying his forecast was definitely more reality-based than mine ..and went on to talk about marrying his high school sweetheart and making partner at a precedent-setting law firm. Senator Edward Kennedy would be president. Decency and Christianity would prevail ..student protest wouldn’t be tolerated ..we’d win the war in Vietnam ..and defeat communism wherever it appeared. The standard of living would soar in the US ..Monsanto would make life better through advances in chemistry (making me think of Tomorrowland at Disneyland). And they’d live in a Mediterranean-style house in Benedict Canyon where his wife would stay home raising their two and a half children. He got a laugh out of that and for a moment I thought I had misunderstood the assignment. Looking back, I admit ..my ideas may have been offbeat ..but I was only eighteen years old. Now I’m not so sure they were any more or less ‘reality-based’ than preppie’s.

Superstitious behavior

Apparently the American public believes in superstitions that are no less primitive than those of natives living in the rainforest or suicide bombers of radical Islamic sects. Members of a Midwest Baptist church claim that U.S. service men are dying overseas “..in divine retribution for American decadence and tolerance of homosexuality.” Now, I don’t have a problem with the Supreme Court defending their right to free speech. What bothers me is when Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. goes on to imply that their beliefs represent those of American society. According to Roberts: “The content of Westboro’s signs plainly relates to broad issues of interest to society at large regarding the moral conduct of the United States and its citizens, and the fate of our nation.” In addition, he says their beliefs “reflect matters of public import” [link]. Now if I’m to believe what I’m hearing from the highest-ranking justice in the land, then Americans are indeed a superstitious group of people. “Thank God for IEDs ..Thank God for dead soldiers” .. (!?) Forget federal funding for schools. No amount of education in the world is going to counter that type of savage thinking.

the metaphysics of inception

The ability to enter or share other people’s dream-space is something I’ve read about in philosophy books. When the movie characters collaborate in a dream ..they have left the domain of science and entered the realm of metaphysics. There is, however, consensus among mystics regarding this sort of thing. An expert on the Kabbalah (the mystical branch of Judaism) once explained it to me like this:

“Imagine you’re dreaming that you’re walking down the street and you suddenly become aware you’re in a dream walking down the street (in other words, you’re having a lucid dream) ..so you walk into a bar and order a beer. Someone sits next to and asks what you are doing in his dream .. and you ask “What are you doing in my dream ..?” Now you know you are sharing a dream-space with another lucid dreamer and not just some other subconscious entity. This affords you some degree of freedom from the subconscious ..however, you still don’t know whose subconscious your experiencing. You tell him to get out of your dream and ‘poof’ ..he disappears. Now you have ownership of the dream and you are in a position to rid yourself of some unwanted experiences stored in the subconscious. One by one, you make the other people in the bar disappear until you’re the only one left. So, you turn-off the lights and the bar disappears ..putting you back out on the street. You’re tired of the space you’re in so you decide to quit participating in its construction. ‘Poof’ ..there goes the street, then ‘poof’ the town and the rest of the world. You’ve managed to pull the rug out from under yourself. When you look down, all you see is an abyss. Nothing left to hang on to. If you’re OK with that ..you’ve reached Nirvana. However, most people get a falling sensation and panic. At this point they either wake up or frantically begin re-populating the dream with instances of subconscious experience. This could either be heaven or this could be hell. Kinda’ depends on what’s in there ..or what Buddhists call karma.”

What the mystics call an abyss ..DiCaprio’s character calls ‘limbo’ “..a lower world of dreams which could mean eternity to a mind stuck in there.” He ought to know, he and his wife spent 50 years in a limbo-world of their own construction. The experience is what makes him a master of the multi-level .. shared ..lucid ..dream-space in the movie.

The speculative fiction of inception can be found here ~>[link]

Mental barrier

The reverend Jisho Perry just returned from a monastic retreat in Japan. He told me a story that, I think, is a good example of how the mind imposes order on what we see. At the foot of Mount Omine there is a ‘gate’ made up of little more than three tree stumps in the ground. It means: “Off Limits to Women.” It doesn’t actually say that. Women can go there and step right over them if they wanted to ..there is nothing stopping them. There are no guards ..no one to tell them that they can’t. But these three logs have kept women out for over 1,300 years. In a culture where conformity rules, few dare cross the invisible lines. To these women, the gate is a psychological barrier. The sight of a few sticks, and a little cultural background, is enough to create a ‘no trespassing sign’ on an open mountain trail.

Catastrophe theory

I’m always fascinated by the way people explain events to themselves ..especially when the cause is obscure and not directly observable. In Haiti, for instance, the local population believes that the earthquake was caused by angry mystical entities known as ‘gedes’ ..or spirits of the dead. Evangelical Christians, arriving on the scene, say the earthquake was caused by exactly that kind of superstitious thinking .. if only they had switched their beliefs, none of this would have happened. According to Pat Robertson (no relation) “ ..they made a pact with the devil” when they won independence from the French (and Christian rule) “.. and now they’re paying for it.” No one talks about fault lines or tectonic plates, I guess that sounds way too much like scientific ideology. So now I’m going to say that the mudslides in LA this week were brought about by the kind of decadent behavior LA is known for, and has nothing to do with the fires last summer ..those happened way too long ago.

Workshop

Soo is from Singapore. She tells us that it is not part of her culture to express feelings and opinions so open and freely. Since they’re ‘insubstantial’ and not ‘factual’ ..they’re easy to contradict ..and that makes her feel afraid of looking foolish all the time. She says this workshop was good for her .. hard, but good. Helped her feel that it’s OK to open up. The instructor says that feeling unhurried to speak makes you more receptive to what other people are saying. Artful response I’m thinking. After workshop, Kitty tells me that the instructor feels like the workshop was a failure. I go “..really, she told you that ?” (I certainly didn’t feel like it was a failure) “No” she says “.. but you heard her .. she said she may not give this workshop again.” Yeah, I heard her say that ..but I took it to mean that she was moving on ..and letting us know she’ll be doing something different in the future. I’m suddenly reminded of what Soo said ..opinions are easy to contradict. However, I don’t think that contradictions are so bad ..we often express opinions to solicit other people’s point of view and see if what we think has any validity ..I guess that way we don’t have to wait around until all the ‘facts’ are in. But, hey .. that’s just my opinion.

It’s a friggin’ cold and foggy day! I’m heading directly to the hot springs after lunch.

Shade grown

My friend Joey spends a lot of time in Indonesia helping coffee growers organize co-ops. Says he's surprised whenever he sees nature taking matters into it’s own hands. Tells me if a coffee grower isn’t practicing ‘shade-grown’ farming techniques ..elephants will actually appear at the edge of his plantation and eat whatever coffee bushes are growing outside the shady area. Occasionally he hears stories about tigers killing farmers who inadvertently cross into federally protected forestland. When he mentioned this to the National Park Service in Sumatra, they told him it’s the law of the jungle ..when wild animals sense that their habitat is shrinking ..they begin defending their territory more aggressively. When he talks to the encroaching farmers however ..he gets another story. They believe that the tiger is a deity enforcing proper human behavior. They tell him the killing was more likely a punishment for breaking a tribal taboo such as adultery. “Maybe the victims did something bad, like sleeping with someone who was not their wife. Cutting the trees is OK. There's no problem with that.” They cannot conceive of the notion that the attacks are related to the destruction of the animal’s habitat.

Oral transmission in post-apocalypse sects

Savannah ..! Finn ..! look.It's him. I finded him ..It's Captain Walker.
-What's his talk?
-He ain't made any wordstuff.
-It's a long track. Maybe he's burned out.
-Maybe.
-Maybe he's just listening.
-Walker? Hello?
-Maybe he's talking, but we ain't hearing.
-You see ..his lips ain't moving.
-Not with wordstuff, but maybe with sonic.
-This is Delta-Fox-X-Ray. Can you hear me? Delta-Fox-X-Ray. Come in. Is anybody out there? Can you read me, Walker? What's up, Doc? Can you hear me?

Yeah, I can hear your ..who are you?
-Quiet!
-Shut up!
-Enough!
Who are you?
-We are the waiting ones.
Waiting for what?
-Waiting for you.
And who am I?
-I think he be testing us .. this a testing, Walker? …you reckon we been slack?
I don't know ..maybe you've been slack.
-We ain't ..we kept it straight. It's all there. Everything marked ..everything 'membered. You wait, you'll see. This you knows. I be First Tracker. Times past count I done the Tell. But it weren't me that tumbled Walker. It was Savannah. So it's only right that she tell the Tell.
This ain't one body's story. It's the story of us all. We got it mouth-to-mouth. You got to listen it and 'member. 'Cause what you hears today ..you got to tell the birthed tomorrow.
I'm looking behind us now. ..across the count of time . .down the long haul, into history back. In the end what were the start. It's Pox-Eclipse, full of pain! And out of it we were birthed ..from crackling dust and fearsome time. It were full-on winter ..and Mr. Dead chasing them all. But one he couldn't catch. That were Captain Walker.
He gathers up a gang, takes to the air and flies to the sky! So they left their homes,said bidey-bye to the high-scrapers . .and what were left of the knowing, they left behind. Some say the wind just stoppered. Others reckon it were a gang called Turbulence. And after the wreck, some had been jumped by Mr. Dead . .but some had got the luck,and it leads them here. One look and they's got the hots for it. They word it "Planet Earth. " "We don't need the knowing.We can live here. "
Time counts and keeps counting.They gets missing what they had. They get so lonely for the high-scrapers and the video. And they does the pictures so they'd 'member all the knowing that they lost.
'Member this?
-Tomorrow-morrow Land!
'Member this?
-The River of Light!
'Member this?
-Skyraft!
'Member this?>
-Captain Walker!
'Member this?
-Mrs. Walker!
Then Captain Walker picked them of an age and good for a long haul. They counted twenty, and that were them. The great leaving. The rescue party departed at first light ..led by Flight Captain. Walker. "May God have mercy on our souls. " They said bidey-bye to them what they'd birthed.And from the nothing ..they looked back ..and Captain Walker hollered:
"Wait, one of us will come."
"Wait, one of us will come."
And somebody did come. .Walker! We's heartful to you, Captain Walker. We's ready now.
That ain't me ..you got the wrong guy.
-Quit joshing!
-Catch the wind.
-We got to see Tomorrow-morrow Land!
-Home! Tomorrow-morrow Land!
There were places like these.Cities. They were called cities.They had lots of knowing. They had skyscrapers ..videos and they had the sonic.Then this happened. This Pox-Eclipse happened, and it's finished. It isn't there anymore. You got to understand that this is home.And there ain’t no tomorrow Land ..and I ain't Captain Walker.
This is it!We's loaded and waiting, Captain. We got the wind up our arse, Captain. Let's go!Who's coming? We's pulling a leaving.
There ain't gonna be no leavings. All that's just jerking time.We's working it different. Ain't you seen nothing? He couldn't catch the wind. There weren't no skyrafting. There won't be no salvage-shun. This is our Tomorrow-morrow Land. He's proof of that.
Programmed! All of you programmed. If he ain't Captain Walker, who is he? He ain't no different to us. He slogged it on foot. If he can get here, we can get back.He ain't much bigger than us. Copilot did it. So why can't we? That's the trick of it. Who's coming? Across the nothing? Don't you 'member? When you finded him, he were half jumped by Mr. Dead. Nobody's saying it ain't a hard slog. If we wants the knowing, it ain't an easy ride.
Look ..! There ain't no knowing! There ain't no skyraft and no sonic. You slog out there to nothing! Worse than nothing. The first place you'll find is a sleaze pit called Bartertown. If the earth doesn't swallow you up,that place will.
Don't listen to im ..! He's got wordstuff out his ass! Whoever's got the juice, track with us.
Now listen good! I'm not Captain Walker. I'm the guy who keeps Mr. Dead in his pocket. I say we're gonna stay here. And we'll live a long time and we'll be thankful. Right?
Yeah right .. whoever's got the juice, track with us.

The vedas

India and Indian scholars are bypassing the US in the field of biotechnology. They don’t have a history of division between the religious establishment and the scientific community. Indian religious culture has always been in harmony with scientific inquiry. Ancient Hindu texts (like the Vedas) prefigure modern-day cosmology by almost 3,000 years. Christianity, on the other hand, abhors developments in many fields of science ..especially biotech. The influence of evangelical Christians in this country has set medical science back decades. In the meantime, Indian researchers have developed non-toxic ways of battling cancer (using monoclonal antibodies) ..and safer methods for treating hemophilia (factor IX proteins). I wonder what else can be accomplished in a religious culture more in-tune with enlightenment and compassion ..than with ignorance and fear.

John Fogerty

Tonight I caught part of the John Fogerty concert that I missed last week while I was at the KT Tunstall concert. He’s on KCET soundstage ~ which I will put down whatever I’m doing to go and watch whenever it comes on. I never saw a ‘Credence’ concert when I was a kid ~ but friends of mine who did always came back and told me they were hot. “Wish someone had told me before the show” I remember Gil say “..they blew me away.” This was before the era of readily available information ~ so, we all thought they were a bunch of Arkansas hillbilly kids who went to the big city and became successful playing the kind of music they grew up with ~ songs like ‘Born on the Bayou’ or ‘Proud Mary’ ~ that is until I started reading Rolling Stone magazine and found out that they were a group of California kids raised in San Francisco. Didn’t matter ..it just went to show me how easy it is to believe my own bullshit ..especially when a couple more people agree.

Divinity rules

I was raised to believe that America is the land of the free ~ and a sanctuary from religious persecution. So naturally I was alarmed to discover that it all depends on which church I go to. The Republican Administration has chosen to identify itself with the religious right ..primarily Evangelical Christians. The evangelical community has arrogantly staked the moral high-ground ~ and declared themselves the only legitimate believers entitled to hold power. They have adopted their own form of religious persecution by creating a test to discriminate against public office holders. It goes something like this: 1) do you follow divine guidance and 2) do your prayers get answered by the same God as ours. Mormonism is a cult ..that speaks in code ..Catholics seek world domination ..Jews aren’t even Christian ..and Muslims are fanatics. I’m afraid that If I met up with a Christian conservative in some rural backwater ~ I wouldn’t stand a chance ~ I practice zen buddhism ~ there’s no place for me in their world order. In the past, I have been accused of:

1) following false prophets
2) pagan idolatry
3) being a California nutcase
4) belonging to an anti-American terrorist group
5) being a member of a fringe religious cult from the East that holds life in low regard

I mean, wasn’t it the Buddhists who set themselves on fire to protest the war in Vietnam ~ how different is that than a suicide bomber in Afghanistan ~ how many virgins were they promised in heaven ..? (someone actually said this to me)

Do I feel protected by the constitution ..? not really, certainly not with a Republican Administration that is slowly relieving me of my constitutional rights ~ while turning around and accusing me of being ‘anti-Christian’ whenever I say I want leaders who are ‘pro-constitution’. The constitution clearly states that power and liberty are a ‘human right’ ~ not a ‘god-given privilege’ ~ there was a reason our founding fathers called for ‘separation of church and state’. It’s real easy for someone to pass laws ~ based on the whim of their particular beliefs ~ that hurt or destroy people’s lives. I find the current state of affairs appalling and downright frightening. My sister wants to move back to the United States after living in Toronto for 20 years. I tell her it’s not the same place anymore. I want to pack my bags and leave for Canada tomorrow. About the best I can hope for is that the religious right will divide itself into so many factions ..they’ll be easier to conquer in next year’s elections.

Esalen

I’m floating in a pool of hot water ~ gazing out across the surface where the edge seems to blend seamlessly into ocean water ~ I lift my gaze, look out over the ocean and see the horizon ~ where a sunset is turning the sky burnt orange and ultraviolet ~ I’m feeling no pain ~ thinking “there’s some things no one can explain” ~ when suddenly somebody says “hey, you’re from Santa Barbara ..aren‘t you?” I roll over ~ turn around ~ and there’s a boy ~ no older that 20 ~ who, I swear, I’ve never seen before ~ he goes “you’ve been here for a while ..haven’t you ?” “ummm, yea, kinda’ ..I left and came back” “you were in Santa Cruz ..right?” “uh huh ..” and I’m thinking I’m about to be told my astrological forecast or something ~ he goes “you work in an academic field ..don’t you ?” “Yeah, sorta ..” and he goes “See, I remember” ~ me, I have no clue ~ but I recognize the accent ~ “you’re from Boston ..aren‘t you ?“ “yes I am ..” “south side ..right?” “yea ..how did you know ?” Now I feel like I caught up (!?) and he goes “what’s your field again ..?” “umm, cognitive psychology” immediately realizing I said to much ~ “what’s that ?” “umm, study of how people process information” hoping that clears it up ~ “exactly how do people process information ..?” I detect a faint trace of sarcasm ~ “uhh, different ways ..” not sure I want to go any further ~ he says “isn’t that the problem, you dice it up like that ..and lose sight of the big picture” ~ seeing that he wants to have a serious discussion ~ I gather up my wits and say “I agree ..we’re just chipping away at it ..I’m not sure we’ll ever get the big picture ..not in my lifetime anyway” ~ and I start to chuckle ~ “no no no no no no ..you do get the big picture when you stop analyzing it that way ..don’t you think we all share the same mind ?” first, I think of Jung’s principle of ‘collective unconscious’ ..then Buddhist principles of ‘interdependence’ ~ and go “you’re right ..I believe we share a higher consciousness ..just kinda’ hard to approach it intellectually” ~ and I think ~ now maybe if we both shut up and watch the sunset we’ll catch a glimpse of it ~ and he goes “no no no no no no .. doesn’t matter how you approach it ..we are all instruments of God ..and when we speak his word ..we all share his presence.” Now I’m thinking of a tactful way to escape ~ I really don’t want to spend my last night at Esalen like this ~ I go “hey man, I gotta’ go see if there’s any dinner left” and he goes “yeah, me too.”

Chatter bots

A programmed ‘chatter bot’ opens Yahoo’s messenger service ..goes into the member directory ..looks up user ids ..and, for each one it finds ..opens a Yahoo message box and fills it with canned chat ..sending out invitations for people to look at them on a website where the number of page-views gets tallied ..giving someone the numbers they need to command higher fees for the banner ads you see. I usually respond by inviting them to look at my website first ..knowing full well that chatter bots are not programmed to listen. My college roommate used to do something similar when people came to the door handing out religious pamphlets. He always acted so delighted, telling them how much he loved these. He would ask them to wait at the door ..while he went into a hallway closet where he kept boxes full of pamphlets that other people had given him ..he’d select one at random ..and return saying: “I would like to show my gratitude by giving you one of mine to read.” Turns out those religious messengers weren’t programmed to listen either ..they usually just handed them back saying: “Sorry ..I can’t do that.” My roommate responded by acting hurt ..taking the pamphlet back ..and saying: “Well, if you won’t read mine ..then I’m not going to read yours.” ..and close the door. However, once in a while, someone would come to the door ..and actually sit on the steps and read one. My roommate didn’t mind inviting them in for a chat. So, who knows, maybe one day I too will find an IM waiting in my box from a ‘chatter bot’ who actually took the time to listen.

Sex education

When I was about twelve, my parents put a book on the shelf titled ‘Human Sexuality’. They knew that I would read everything I could get my hands on ..so, I guess they figured I’d stumble across this soon or later. When I took it upstairs, I found out it was really a book of ‘erotica’ thinly disguised as a ‘sex-ed’ book. Very thinly. Must of slipped by my folks. I went to the section titled ‘Preventing Pregnancy’. The first chapter covered the proper use of a condom. It was an excerpt from a Mae West biography. She describes having sex with a stranger she meets in a hotel elevator. They fuck from dinner time that evening ..to way past lunch time the next day ..without sleep. They went through 31 condoms ..31. She had room service deliver them. She says it was the most incredible sex she ever had. So, what did I learn. Thirty-one orgasms was probably not what I could normally expect ..but it was possible. The next chapter, appropriately titled ‘chapter 69’ ..explained what to do if contraceptives weren’t an option. A newlywed couple couldn’t afford to have children right away ..but they were catholic and contraceptives weren't allowed. They try abstinence but the husband is going crazy ..dry humping every piece of furniture in the apartment. After a couple glasses of wine one night he tries putting it in her ass while she’s bending over to pick something up off the bedroom floor ..she goes ballistic ..screaming incoherently ..he winds up sleeping on the couch for a week ..and now has to give up alcohol as well. The wife confides their situation to a female co-worker ..who gives her a French book on the delicacies of oral sex. Liberation!!! (This was before the American sexual revolution). Now they’re eating each other with wild abandon ..on every surface ..in every room ..on the table ..under the table ..licking wine off of each other ..calling in sick ..and ordering Chinese a lot. What did I learn from this. Anal sex was like being reamed with a hot poker ..and can lead to insanity ..(?) but more importantly ..I needed to learn as much as possible about oral sex.

Mystical experience

All religions are based on ‘mystical experience’ ..that's their narrative ..science can’t weigh the evidence of mystical experience ..it’s out of scope. I like the story of Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon church ..he had a ‘mystical vision’ where an angel appears and shows him where a set of golden plates are buried ..then God gave him a pair of ‘mystical glasses’ and ‘seer stones’ so he could read Egyptian and translate these plates into the ‘Book of Mormon’.. which is a modern day testament to the life of Jesus. Now, I’m not advocating the teachings of the Mormon church or anything ..but what I am trying to say is that nobody else can certify or deny the visions of Joseph Smith. They’re his ‘intellectual property’ ..as well as the ‘collective narrative’ of the Mormon community. In a way, they're no different than any new scientific theory in the stacks. Any objective scientist would agree with me ..for every scientific theory there are countless ‘alternative hypotheses’ ..each one just as worthy of exploration as the next. Scientists accept this as part of their investigation ..they know that they are just chipping away ..a long way away from what’s really going on. Scientific theories are also narratives ..they help explain empirical data.

Politics of experience

The second rule of exploration is to recognize that everyone has sovereignty over his or her own consciousness. De-commission the ‘mind police’ ..no one can enter or change your consciousness uninvited ..and no one can prevent you from entering and changing it yourself for that matter. I believe that we have the right to chose the narratives we live by. The mind is a story making device ..that’s it’s nature ..and we are the owners and editors of the narratives it creates.

Exploring

My first rule of exploration is to have respect for the ‘visions’ of others ..the most valuable information I ever got came from other people. I believe that each one of us is a storehouse of ‘unlimited realities.’ Our thoughts and memories are the most apparent ..but there are others ..the ‘extra-ordinary’ states of consciousness reported by mystics from both western and eastern cultures. So ..my first rule of exploration: the visions of one person are just as valid as the visions of any one else. Who’s to say that the visions of Buddha were any different than those of Jesus ..Lao Tsu ..Socrates ..or Krishna. I like to begin exploring with an open mind.