“The psychedelic ‘hook’ goes in way deeper than anything merely addictive. It’s a ‘conversionary’ stimulus of overwhelming personal ‘inspiration’ induced in many (not all) that ‘changes everything’ for those now exalted as ‘touched’ by that ‘angel’ – igniting a compulsion every bit as consuming and destructive as any addiction. But where an addict is driven […]
“[Life] sums itself up for me as a lucid invitation to live and to create, in the very midst of the desert.” Albert Camus What does it mean to embody freedom? An interview with no self, for the sake of no self. Dear self, you are hard to pin. When I think I’ve found you, […]
“A human being is a spatially and temporally limited piece of the whole, what we call the ‘Universe.’ He experiences himself and his feelings as separate from the rest, an optical illusion of his consciousness. The quest for liberation from this bondage [or illusion] is the only object of true religion. Not nurturing the illusion […]
The last of three essays regarding (apparent) aimless chaos of the human species. It is mystifying to watch humanity, seemingly, shoot itself in the foot. Meanwhile, it is simultaneously awesome and bewildering to watch culture become increasingly complex. These two forces seem to collude with one another… traditional governance and information spaces are in disarray. […]
A human mind is a miraculous survival tool. An idle human mind, bored, freed from the wilderness, hallucinates all sorts of reasons to be worried, anxious, creative, frustrated, driven absolutely wild. A billion idle human minds, hooked up to the internet with AI chatbots. Yuh oh. Fear not, buckle up. “Everybody is sort of living […]
This phrase – “spontaneous celibacy” – isn’t a “thing”. It’s an imperfect label that arose while trying to describe my life, to a someone. It’s the best I can conjure – bearing in mind the utter failure of “labels” to ever actually fulfill their obligation. “Spontaneous celibacy? Oh, you poor thing…” Imaginary reaction from the […]
“YOU CAN’T EAT DONUTS UNTIL 1 HOUR AFTER COMMUNION!” My mom, to the nun: “F Off”. 7-year-old me: [watching… donut-in-hand — bewildered] I cherish this memory – the precise moment Catholic dogmatism collided spectacularly with my mom’s veteran pragmatism. There I was, just completed my “first communion” ceremony, in the church basement for coffee and donuts […]
The title says all. Go on – spend the rest of your life finding a better friend and guide than your inner one. [Shortcut: don’t. Look in the mirror]. I am no Potterhead, but there is one scene permanently etched into my memory. Harry has a premonition, looking across a lake, that his deceased father […]
Common sense might have you assume psychedelics are terrifying, and meditation is rather pointless. Rigorous science, on the other hand, is excavating another story- the emphasis being neither psychedelics nor meditation, but instead, the “important and transformative” question they irrevocably illuminate: Who the F, Are You? Below is one the most beautifully articulated 5-minute clips I’ve […]
“All our inventions are but improved means to an unimproved end.” Henry David Thoreau “We work so damn hard just to simply be alive. There’s no need to strive toward a place you already are.” What is “progress”? Humanity’s been at it a while. We’re roughly ten thousand years beyond agricultural abundance, written language, the […]
The implicit or explicit TLDR of spirituality is Let Go. Let go of what? Everything. And, OK, fine, but does that mean, give up on life? No! It means moving artfully, skillfully. In alignment with the flow of things. Not forcing it. This is beautifully captured in the concept of Wu Wei, as articulated here […]
What if the greatest companion you will ever discover is actually yourself? What if, upon discovering this, any other time with any other human in any capacity, was pure bonus?
For reasons shared previously, I don’t enjoy using the word “spirituality”. It’s fraught with misunderstanding… hocus pocus and religion. But there is something simple and legitimate at its core – I see it as the following: Spirituality, in short, is embarking upon the never-ending journey to understand who you are and why you do everything […]
The word “spirituality” is loaded. Typically it suggests religion, which misses the mark. While some religions can be spiritual, spirituality is NOT: religion, blind faith, belief in magic, mysticism, rules, or woo woo. Spirituality, in short, is embarking upon the never-ending journey to understand who you are and why you do everything you do. If […]
“At certain moments, when alone, we feel a great lack deep within ourselves. This lack is the central one giving rise to all the others. The need to fill this lack, quench this thirst, urges us to think and act. Without even questioning it, we run away from this insufficiency. We try to fill it […]
“The false needs time and what needs time is false. If you need time to achieve something, it must be false. You need not wait to be what you are. You must not allow your mind to go out of yourself in search.”– Nisargadatta Maharaj What is home? I don’t want to die tomorrow. But […]
My life has unquestionably changed over two years, leaving me simultaneously comforted and puzzled. Familiar desires, goals, and sense of identity, have melted away. While trying to explain this shift, I found Buddhism. I don’t mean becoming a Buddhist – I mean – discovering my own epiphanies apparently already laid-out in Buddhist precepts. “How bizarre.” […]
And so Castles Made of Sand Fall in The Sea Eventually I’ve heard Jimi’s lyric countless times over many years. Today is the day I truly heard it, unlike any time in the past. As one commenter notes: “This is the inevitability of death, but also the beauty and fragility of life represented by a […]
What does it mean to be Buddhist? All I’ve ever done is study it casually – no monkhood, no monastery, no meditation retreats. At the very least, I AM a sincere admirer and explorer of its ideas. And if Buddhism were somehow wiped from the human record tonight, I am convinced something like it would […]
Note-to-self: While orienting to this absolutely wild shift in perception, heed the following. One hazard of “perceiving reality for what it is”… is the ego coopting the experience – resting in some enclave of detachment and retreat. In other words, an identity of non-identity, which, undermines embodiment, or, the integration of insight with everyday life. […]
The future is rad and all, but it’s never here, so if we can’t be cool now, why defer? Our Future Fetish Just wait, until we land on the moon. How great everything will be! [producer whispers… off camera] Oh fuck me, sorry folks. I’m being told — we’ve done that. And it was indeed…
To anyone with pronounced empathy, I suspect observing humanity causes great pain? Which you are either living with — or — you developed a strategy to insulate yourself from. Put another way: Being alive begets knowing the majority of the human population is suffering. Further, it may (or may not), lead one to question the…
My optimism:pessimism ratio is solid 9:1. Hence why my editor finds this essay abhorrent. Very off-brand. It may beget our undoing… I’m publishing this while they’re on holiday. As pioneer Grace Hopper once imparted: ’tis easier to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission. What’s the problem? Me concluding – with suspiciously unshakable certainty -…
“[Life] sums itself up for me as a lucid invitation to live and to create, in the very midst of the desert.” Albert Camus What does it mean to embody freedom? An interview with no self, for the sake of no self. Dear self, you are hard to pin. When I think I’ve found you,…
“A human being is a spatially and temporally limited piece of the whole, what we call the ‘Universe.’ He experiences himself and his feelings as separate from the rest, an optical illusion of his consciousness. The quest for liberation from this bondage [or illusion] is the only object of true religion. Not nurturing the illusion…
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