There are always those girls/guys on the bus, you all know what I mean, the ones that allow you to create and imagine a whole communication and relationship in that single blink of an eye. The tender moments, the rough lust, the expression of their inner thoughts and motives that make your existence pure and unique. HA! Yet, there is no resilience in those eyes.
Quite an odd time within eyes that glitter whenever the topics of controversy are raised and heated opinions arise. Taking this and using it to one's own advantage. The how to is curious?
"The particular behavior that an animal might learn is not the direct product of natural selection, but an appreciation of natural selection and the species' evolutionary history is critical none the less. The goal in an evolutionary approach to animal learning is to understand how natural selection has shaped the mechanisms by which the animal processes information from experience and files memory adaptively. We should expect species-specific biases and limitations that reflect the species' evolutionary history. " - Animal Cognition in Nature The Convergence of Psychology and Biology in Laboratory and Field 1998, Pages 411-434
February 19, 2008
February 11, 2008
What you say during an election is not legally binding.
Leadership is that step above meditation. Similarly using the same methods. Turning the inward attention outwards and actively shaping the collective attention, to a tune which is deemed important by the leader. His aims towards the control and influence upon the publics lifestyles.
Within this broad political landscape we have become expectant that those that assume the role of representation have our best interests involved. Truthfully though, how many genuine philanthropists are actually out there, let alone running for office. Going forward with regulated eyes towards the forces of intrinsic dignity and nobility (not in the blood sense) is lacking within this society, maybe all western and developed societies.
There are a few who campaign for the betterment of all, those leaders maybe are on the right path, but what they follow and establish is only just still their beliefs, their map of their goals. A map though is not really how things are, the only true exact map is the 'plane' which it is based off.
Take this graph for example.
Within this broad political landscape we have become expectant that those that assume the role of representation have our best interests involved. Truthfully though, how many genuine philanthropists are actually out there, let alone running for office. Going forward with regulated eyes towards the forces of intrinsic dignity and nobility (not in the blood sense) is lacking within this society, maybe all western and developed societies.
There are a few who campaign for the betterment of all, those leaders maybe are on the right path, but what they follow and establish is only just still their beliefs, their map of their goals. A map though is not really how things are, the only true exact map is the 'plane' which it is based off.
Take this graph for example.
Focused on A and B (like the skeptics of global warming's existence most often do) it seems that natural and anthropogenic factors as individuals do not explain the results we are experiencing within the global climate. Yet when one blends the two together the points seem to connect. For another clear example check out the Inconvinent Truth, it may be political but damn Gore has some good focused issues that he tends to shape quite well collectively. Or in hindsight, it was that he realized what the collective focus was and fed upon that to utilize the populations attention.
It is more definitive. But again, only a map. Professionals within all the diverse topics involved admit that there is still much missing from the overall picture. That is because the full picture is truly not attainable. The main objective should be to the effects of choosing a direction that we are going to take and follow through with it. As long as we are attempting something full of dignity and nobility.
"Head up my boy, Look forward."
February 9, 2008
The Wilmot Clan Loves Dildos
The world seems to be getting smaller and more interesting every day. As an English student, I have the lovely honour of sitting in a small classroom in the basement of a building built around the turn of the 19th century...chalk board and drafty windows still intact. This would be the site of the 4th year seminar I must endure every Friday at the ungodly early hour of 9:30am.
Anyway, we were all discussing the Earl of Rochester's satiric poem, "Satyr Against Reason and Mankind", when out of the blue a friend of mine exclaimed "Oh yeah! I'm related to him!". This sparked a lengthy debate as to the validity of such a claim...but as Brandon explained his impressive lineage, I became convinced that he was telling the truth. Imagine! A descendant to the Earl of Rochester!
For all those who don't know this historically quirky courtier, here is a brief synopsis: He was thrown out of the English court a number of times in the late 17th and early 18th century, yet was always ushered back in since he was oh! so charming and charismatic. He was notoriously promiscuous, a regular Casanova of his time, bedding both men and women (he was a nobleman after all). His poems were as expressive and quirky as his antics in court, and he was quite outspoken with issues relating to religion, literature (pose), mankind's place in the universe, government, and of course...sex. One poem in particular, entitled "Signor Dildo" was first written in 1673, and published in 1703. I have copied it here for your enjoyment:
Signior Dildo
John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester
Edited by Jack Lynch
You Ladyes all of Merry England
Who have been to kisse the Dutchesse's hand,
Pray did you lately observe in the Show
A Noble Italian call'd Signior Dildo?
The Signior was one of her Highness's Train [5]
And helpt to Conduct her over the Main,
But now she Crys out to the Duke I will go,
I have no more need for Seignior Dildo.
At the Signe of the Crosse in Saint James's Street,
When next you go thither to make your Selfes Sweet, [10]
By Buying of Powder, Gloves, Essence, or Soe
You may Chance get a Sight of Signior Dildo.
You'l take him at first for no Person of Note
Because he appears in a plain Leather Coat:
But when you his virtuous Abilities know [15]
You'll fall down and Worship Signior Dildo.
My Lady Southesk, Heav'ns prosper her for't,
First Cloath'd him in Satten, then brought him to Court;
But his Head in the Circle, he Scarcely durst Show,
So modest a Youth was Signior Dildo. [20]
The good Lady Suffolk thinking no harm,
Had got this poor Stranger hid under her Arm:
Lady Betty by Chance came the Secret to know,
And from her own Mother, Stole Signior Dildo:
The Countesse of Falmouth, of whom People tell [25]
Her Footmen wear Shirts of a Guinea an Ell:
Might Save the Expence, if she did but know
How Lusty a Swinger is Signior Dildo.
By the Help of this Gallant the Countesse of Rafe
Against the feirce Harris preserv'd her Self Safe: [30]
She Stifl'd him almost beneath her Pillow,
So Closely she imbrac'd Signior Dildo.
Our dainty fine Dutchesse's have got a Trick
To Doat on a Fool, for the Sake of his Prick,
The Fopps were undone, did their Graces but know [35]
The Discretion and vigor of Signior Dildo.
That Pattern of Virtue, her Grace of Cleaveland,
Has Swallow'd more Pricks, then the Ocean has Sand,
But by Rubbing and Scrubbing, so large it do's grow,
It is fit for just nothing but Signior Dildo. [40]
The Dutchesse of Modena, tho' she looks high,
With such a Gallant is contented to Lye:
And for fear the English her Secrets shou'd know,
For a Gentleman Usher took Signior Dildo.
The countess of the Cockpit (who knows not her Name) [45]
She's famous in Story, for a Killing Dame:
When all her old Lovers forsake her I Trow
She'l then be contented with Signior Dildo.
Red Howard, Red Sheldon, and Temple so tall
Complain of his absence so long from Whitehall: [50]
Signior Barnard has promis'd a Journy to goe,
And bring back his Countryman Signior Dildo.
Doll Howard no longer with his Highness must Range,
And therefore is profer'd this Civill Exchange:
Her Teeth being rotten, she Smells best below, [55]
And needs must be fitted for Signior Dildo.
St Albans with Wrinkles and Smiles in his Face
Whose kindnesse to Strangers, becomes his high Place,
In his Coach and Six Horses is gone to Pergo,
To take the fresh Air with Signior Dildo. [60]
Were this Signior but known to the Citizen Fopps
He'd keep their fine Wives from the Foremen of Shops,
But the Rascalls deserve their Horns shou'd Still grow,
For Burning the Pope, and his Nephew Dildo.
Tom Killigrews wife, North Hollands fine Flower, [65]
At the Sight of this Signior, did fart, and Belch Sow'r,
And her Dutch Breeding farther to Show,
Says welcome to England, myn Heer Van Dildo.
He civilly came to the Cockpitt one night,
And profer'd his Service to fair Madam Knight, [70]
Quoth she, I intrigue with Captain Cazzo
Your Nose in myne Arse good Seignior Dildo.
This Signior is sound, safe, ready, and Dumb,
As ever was Candle, Carret, or Thumb:
Then away with these nasty devices, and Show [75]
How you rate the just merits of Signior Dildo.
Count Cazzo who carryes his Nose very high,
In Passion he Swore, his Rivall shou'd Dye,
Then Shutt up himself, to let the world know,
Flesh and Blood cou'd not bear it from Signior Dildo. [80]
A Rabble of Pricks, who were welcome before,
Now finding the Porter deny'd 'em the Door,
Maliciously waited his coming below,
And inhumanely fell on Signior Dildo.
Nigh weary'd out, the poor Stranger did fly [85]
And along the Pallmall, they follow'd full Cry,
The Women concern'd from every Window,
Cry'd, Oh! for Heavn's sake save Signior Dildo.
The good Lady Sandys, burst into a Laughter
To see how the Ballocks came wobbling after, [90]
And had not their weight retarded the Fo
Indeed 't had gone hard with Signior Dildo.
Notes:
Train - "Entourage."
Soe - "So," "such."
Virtuous - "Powerful." Medicines in particular were noted for their virtues (powers).
Guinea an Ell - Guinea, twenty-one shillings (or one pound and one shilling); an ell is forty-five inches. Fabric that cost a guinea an ell would be fabulously expensive.
Gallant - "1. A gay, sprightly, airy, splendid man; 2. A whoremaster, who caresses women to debauch them" (Johnson).
Cazzo - Italian for "prick."
Pallmall - Pall Mall, a fashionable walk in london.
References:
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/dildo.html
Seminar invigilated by Dr. Julie Park, McMaster University, 8 Feb. 2008
- Sara Law
Anyway, we were all discussing the Earl of Rochester's satiric poem, "Satyr Against Reason and Mankind", when out of the blue a friend of mine exclaimed "Oh yeah! I'm related to him!". This sparked a lengthy debate as to the validity of such a claim...but as Brandon explained his impressive lineage, I became convinced that he was telling the truth. Imagine! A descendant to the Earl of Rochester!
For all those who don't know this historically quirky courtier, here is a brief synopsis: He was thrown out of the English court a number of times in the late 17th and early 18th century, yet was always ushered back in since he was oh! so charming and charismatic. He was notoriously promiscuous, a regular Casanova of his time, bedding both men and women (he was a nobleman after all). His poems were as expressive and quirky as his antics in court, and he was quite outspoken with issues relating to religion, literature (pose), mankind's place in the universe, government, and of course...sex. One poem in particular, entitled "Signor Dildo" was first written in 1673, and published in 1703. I have copied it here for your enjoyment:
Signior Dildo
John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester
Edited by Jack Lynch
You Ladyes all of Merry England
Who have been to kisse the Dutchesse's hand,
Pray did you lately observe in the Show
A Noble Italian call'd Signior Dildo?
The Signior was one of her Highness's Train [5]
And helpt to Conduct her over the Main,
But now she Crys out to the Duke I will go,
I have no more need for Seignior Dildo.
At the Signe of the Crosse in Saint James's Street,
When next you go thither to make your Selfes Sweet, [10]
By Buying of Powder, Gloves, Essence, or Soe
You may Chance get a Sight of Signior Dildo.
You'l take him at first for no Person of Note
Because he appears in a plain Leather Coat:
But when you his virtuous Abilities know [15]
You'll fall down and Worship Signior Dildo.
My Lady Southesk, Heav'ns prosper her for't,
First Cloath'd him in Satten, then brought him to Court;
But his Head in the Circle, he Scarcely durst Show,
So modest a Youth was Signior Dildo. [20]
The good Lady Suffolk thinking no harm,
Had got this poor Stranger hid under her Arm:
Lady Betty by Chance came the Secret to know,
And from her own Mother, Stole Signior Dildo:
The Countesse of Falmouth, of whom People tell [25]
Her Footmen wear Shirts of a Guinea an Ell:
Might Save the Expence, if she did but know
How Lusty a Swinger is Signior Dildo.
By the Help of this Gallant the Countesse of Rafe
Against the feirce Harris preserv'd her Self Safe: [30]
She Stifl'd him almost beneath her Pillow,
So Closely she imbrac'd Signior Dildo.
Our dainty fine Dutchesse's have got a Trick
To Doat on a Fool, for the Sake of his Prick,
The Fopps were undone, did their Graces but know [35]
The Discretion and vigor of Signior Dildo.
That Pattern of Virtue, her Grace of Cleaveland,
Has Swallow'd more Pricks, then the Ocean has Sand,
But by Rubbing and Scrubbing, so large it do's grow,
It is fit for just nothing but Signior Dildo. [40]
The Dutchesse of Modena, tho' she looks high,
With such a Gallant is contented to Lye:
And for fear the English her Secrets shou'd know,
For a Gentleman Usher took Signior Dildo.
The countess of the Cockpit (who knows not her Name) [45]
She's famous in Story, for a Killing Dame:
When all her old Lovers forsake her I Trow
She'l then be contented with Signior Dildo.
Red Howard, Red Sheldon, and Temple so tall
Complain of his absence so long from Whitehall: [50]
Signior Barnard has promis'd a Journy to goe,
And bring back his Countryman Signior Dildo.
Doll Howard no longer with his Highness must Range,
And therefore is profer'd this Civill Exchange:
Her Teeth being rotten, she Smells best below, [55]
And needs must be fitted for Signior Dildo.
St Albans with Wrinkles and Smiles in his Face
Whose kindnesse to Strangers, becomes his high Place,
In his Coach and Six Horses is gone to Pergo,
To take the fresh Air with Signior Dildo. [60]
Were this Signior but known to the Citizen Fopps
He'd keep their fine Wives from the Foremen of Shops,
But the Rascalls deserve their Horns shou'd Still grow,
For Burning the Pope, and his Nephew Dildo.
Tom Killigrews wife, North Hollands fine Flower, [65]
At the Sight of this Signior, did fart, and Belch Sow'r,
And her Dutch Breeding farther to Show,
Says welcome to England, myn Heer Van Dildo.
He civilly came to the Cockpitt one night,
And profer'd his Service to fair Madam Knight, [70]
Quoth she, I intrigue with Captain Cazzo
Your Nose in myne Arse good Seignior Dildo.
This Signior is sound, safe, ready, and Dumb,
As ever was Candle, Carret, or Thumb:
Then away with these nasty devices, and Show [75]
How you rate the just merits of Signior Dildo.
Count Cazzo who carryes his Nose very high,
In Passion he Swore, his Rivall shou'd Dye,
Then Shutt up himself, to let the world know,
Flesh and Blood cou'd not bear it from Signior Dildo. [80]
A Rabble of Pricks, who were welcome before,
Now finding the Porter deny'd 'em the Door,
Maliciously waited his coming below,
And inhumanely fell on Signior Dildo.
Nigh weary'd out, the poor Stranger did fly [85]
And along the Pallmall, they follow'd full Cry,
The Women concern'd from every Window,
Cry'd, Oh! for Heavn's sake save Signior Dildo.
The good Lady Sandys, burst into a Laughter
To see how the Ballocks came wobbling after, [90]
And had not their weight retarded the Fo
Indeed 't had gone hard with Signior Dildo.
Notes:
Train - "Entourage."
Soe - "So," "such."
Virtuous - "Powerful." Medicines in particular were noted for their virtues (powers).
Guinea an Ell - Guinea, twenty-one shillings (or one pound and one shilling); an ell is forty-five inches. Fabric that cost a guinea an ell would be fabulously expensive.
Gallant - "1. A gay, sprightly, airy, splendid man; 2. A whoremaster, who caresses women to debauch them" (Johnson).
Cazzo - Italian for "prick."
Pallmall - Pall Mall, a fashionable walk in london.
References:
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/dildo.html
Seminar invigilated by Dr. Julie Park, McMaster University, 8 Feb. 2008
- Sara Law
February 8, 2008
Shamanism, Sacred Plants, and Altered States of Consciousness.
Essay for Anthropology of Religion
Shamanism has been around for millennia and is currently experiencing a resurgence in modern Western societies. Often known to us ‘civilized ones’ as ‘witch-doctors’ and ‘medicine-men’; in anthropological terms, a shaman is a religious specialist that deals directly with the supernatural or the transcendent present. Doing this involves the shaman going through a state of trance to reach the altered state of consciousness necessary to meet with the supernatural. Although there are many catalysts and tools that may be used to achieve trance, such as drumming, dancing, fasting, meditation and sensory deprivation; one ancient tool that is sometimes perhaps underrated and underappreciated in their importance to certain shamans and whole societies, are the sacred psychoactive plants.
Firstly, it is important to understand exactly what shamanism is and the role a shaman plays in their societies. The term shaman (usually pronounced SHAW-MEN) derives from the Tungus speaking people of Siberia, where shamanism had been first encountered and documented in modern times. Although there is significant evidence that shamanism has existed for millennia and has been found in many cultures and societies all over the world. A shaman is a type of specialist, usually in smaller-scale societies, who unlike priests and clerics who serve as intermediaries or middle-men between the laity and the supernatural having direct contact with the transcendent present. Shamanism usually encompasses multiple functions such as healing, illnesses, divination and clairvoyance; such as the power to see into the future and retrieve answers about future events; influencing natural events such as the weather and also causing illnesses to others, more commonly referred to as sorcery. Shamans are usually male, but there are also known female shamans. Typically, the position of a shaman is inherited, but there are also individuals who have received a calling to become one, depending on the specific culture.
In engaging in the supernatural realm, the shaman goes between what the anthropologist and great authority on shamanism, Micheal Harner, calls an 'ordinary state of consciousness' and a 'shamanic state of consciousness'[1]. The famous writer, Carlos Castaneda, would also similarly distinguish this as a move from 'ordinary reality' to 'non-ordinary reality' [2]. In more mainstream anthropological terms, this could be understood by the transfer between the world of humans and the transcendent present. The shaman enters a trance which gives them the essential altered state of consciousness needed for them to conduct their work. Unlike the controlled forms of altered states accessed through meditative acts and yoga in the Hindu and Buddhist religions, shamanic trance is considered an uncontrolled altered state of consciousness in that it is not as manually accessed through meditation and through concentration of one’s breath, but usually involves an external tool such as drumming or repetitious music which then produces trance that is sometimes seen as possession as an outside spirit or forces may be involved.
One of the most ancient methods of altering consciousness among shamans and the human race in general has been through the use of psychoactive plants. Psychoactive meaning that it contains certain chemical substances or 'drugs' that can alter ones consciousness upon ingestion. This method seems to make sense as for millennia; humans lived as one with natural world, particularly among hunter-gatherer societies. In Siberia, home of "classic" shamanism, there has been a close relationship between the psychoactive fly-agaric mushroom (Amanita muscaria), shamans and peoples of the Koryak, Ostyak and Kamachadal tribes among others [3].
Among the Koryak, before conducting their séances, shamans eat fly-agaric to get into a state of ecstasy, where the senses become deranged, objects change in size and visions involving entities are experienced. To prolong this state, more fly-agaric is consumed and even the urine of those intoxicated on the mushroom is saved and drank. In this powerful state of trance, shamans typically encounter spirit entities that may help them heal other members of the community, teach them certain knowledge and to communicate with spirits of the dead. For the Bwiti, a tribe located in Gabon, in Western Africa, their plant sacrament ibogaine ( Tabernanthe iboga) is more than just a tool of the shaman, it is a super-conscious entity that guides all mankind. Iboga is not just restricted to their shaman, but is of importance to their whole community. The Bwiti believe that before one is initiated into an iboga ceremony, they are nothing and that only through contact with the spirit of iboga through initiation, do they become something. Once initiated, one becomes a baanzi, one who knows the 'other world'. Recent research on ibogaine has proven to be very effective in treating drug addictions and alcoholism.
In the rainforests of the Upper Amazon in South America, the strongly psychoactive brew made from the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and other plants, is central in shamanic practices and lives of aboriginal Indian tribes of the area. The brew, commonly known as yagé or ayahuasca ("vine of the dead" in Quecha, pronounced AYA-WASKA), combines the Banisteriopsis vine, which contains the psychoactive beta-carbolines harmine and harmaline and other species of plants, usually psychotria viridis or chakruna which contain what is considered one of the most powerful psychoactive substances, DMT ( N, N-dimethyltryptamine) [4]. DMT is also thought to be contained in the human brain, within what French philosopher René Descartes called the 'seat of the soul', the pineal gland, also known as the area of the third eye and crown chakra in certain eastern traditions. Although the role DMT plays in our bodies is not yet fully understood, it has been linked to being involved in dreaming, mystical and near-death experiences [4]. Ironically, we are all by default carrying what is considered an illegal Schedule I drug within our own brains, which also exists among many plants in the natural world.
When DMT is ingested orally in its plant form, it is rendered inactive by the monoamine oxidase enzyme within the human digestion system, which breaks down and metabolizes the substance before it can reach the blood-brain barrier. What is fascinating, is that the Banisteriopsis vine, besides containing its own psychoactives, also works as a monoamine oxidase inhibitor, therefore allowing the DMT of the psychotria viridis or chakruna to bypass the breakdown process of the enzyme and effectively subject whoever drinks it to its intensely powerful effects.
Considering the millions of different plant species within the richly dense 'lungs of the Earth' that is the Amazonian rainforests , it's quite extraordinary that these people have found and utilized this pharmacological knowledge, especially considering MAO inhibition was not discovered or mentioned in Western science until the 1950's. When questioned by anthropologists and scientists about how this knowledge was discovered, the typical response that they receive tends to be that the ayahuasca spirit herself taught them about it. Although this may be waved off as nonsense to the empirical and rational worldview of Western science, an alternative explanation may be that these people, like scientists themselves, went through numerous experiments of trial and error that eventually produced some interesting and meaningful results. Regardless of which perspective one takes to account for this elixir, we must be able to at least appreciate that these people, who have lived directly with the land for thousands of years, have accumulated an immense amount of botanical knowledge and increased awareness of the natural world. This is somewhat negatively acknowledged in the present day by pharmaceutical companies taking an interest in finding out about traditional organic knowledge and exploiting it for profit in the West, without any given attention to the ritualized, reciprocal and respectful relationship and context traditionally used with these plants.
The ayahuasca experience tends to last four to six hours, often with themes and visions revolving around the natural world and animals such as jaguars and the great archetypal cosmic serpent. From a shamanic perspective, these animals may represent separate entities and spirit helpers or may be another shaman in shape shifted form. For shamans and cultures that practice the darker side of shamanism sometimes known as sorcery, hostile spirits and members of rival communities may send magical darts to bewitch and harm each other within the ayahuasca trance. In general however, ayahuasca seems to be considered a magical elixir, whose gentle feminine spirit generally teaches and heals. Often during the onset of the experience, many will go through la purga, the purge which usually includes intense vomiting and sometimes diarreah. This is typically seen as a normal process of the ayahuasca spirit cleansing the body of physical toxins from the body, before proceeding to cleanse and heal psychic tension and problems. Interestingly, research on this purging process has shown to be effective in combating intestinal parasites [4].
Typically when conducting a healing ceremony among ayahuasca using cultures, the shaman and patient both ingest the bitter tasting brew. The shaman is sometimes known as an ayahuasqueros, one who has memorized a large number of icaros or magical songs that are sung during the ceremony and experience. Among the Shipibo-Conibo people of Peru, these songs are vital to healing ceremonies. They have realized that the ayahuasca experience, with its intense visual nature, is quite susceptible to being driven and directed by sound, in this case the vocal sounds of the various icaros. The ayahuasqueros uses the icaros to guide the patient through the experience and to direct healing energy into their body. The songs can at one moment lead the patient through ecstatic blissful states of experience with the ayahuasca spirit, when subtly the shaman may occasionally stop their singing, which typically results in quite the opposite experience; one involving terrifying visions and haunting themes. The Shipibo ayahuasqueros say that the darker side of ‘reality’ and oneself must be experienced to fully appreciate the true nature of ayahuasca and her blissful healing states.
From a psychological standpoint, shamans can be seen as a prehistoric type of psychotherapist, using sound and suggestion to heal a patient who is in a very open and vulnerable state of mind. Indeed the shared intense mental and emotional journey, where both patient and healer are involved, requires a high level of selflessness on the shamans part, as the patient is given an ally who together with the spirit helpers can overcome illnesses and misfortune. Shamans can run the risk of contracting the patients’ illnesses if they are not powerful or trained enough. This act of self-sacrifice creates a strong emotional and spiritual bond between them, which can only help on the path to healing and regeneration. The Shipibos beliefs about experiencing the dark side of the experience also shows very close parallels to Jungian psychology and Jung’s concept of the ‘Shadow’; the darker side of one’s personality that must be confronted to complete the process of individuation, leading to harmony and unity in the balanced human being.
From the anthropological view, it seems that there isn’t as much importance and emphasis on the symbiotic relationship of shamans and sacred plants such as ayahuasca. For the Jivaro of Ecuador, ayahuasca seems to be more than just a method of trance exclusive to a shaman, but central to all members of their society and cosmology. In certain tribes such as the Jivaro, the laity may have access to the brew to obtain its sacred knowledge or receive help from the spirits. The Jivaro are also known for partaking in violent battles in the spirit realm with other communities. They tend to take an individualistic approach to taking the brew to supernaturally fight their enemies. On the other hand, the Cashinahua of eastern Peru, do not involve themselves in similar individual aggressive acts under ayahuasca, but rather take it as a group to share and experience the journey together. And of course more commonly, it is used like the Shipibo, in more personal one on one healing ceremonies, where the shaman is viewed as a doctor, leader and ally. The preceding examples show that perhaps these powerful plants in addition to being methods of trance, can also serve as rites of intensification that create a strong sense of community or reinforce certain social behaviors, cosmologies and culture as a whole. The Jivaro have a high proportion of shamans due to their individual style and open access for any of them to achieve trance through ayahuasca, perhaps showing an influence on their social structures. Indeed for the Jivaro, reality is believed to only actually be seen and experienced when using ayahuasca. ‘Ordinary reality’ is seen as an illusion and a misleading lie. The Jivaro believe there is only one single reality and that is the supernatural one experienced on ayahuasca, which shows its power to reinforce cosmology and its central role in Jivaro culture.
From a Western perspective, it seems that shamanism in general with its claim to heal or journey to other ‘worlds’ and ‘realities’ is dismissed as acts of primitive peoples who are uneducated in science. However, thanks to fields such as anthropology, our collective ethnocentrism may slowly be lifting, as a cultural relativist point of view can help us first understand and learn what shamanism means through the eyes of these other cultures. Then we may see how it may apply to us, instead of ignorantly dismissing it all as ‘primitive and uneducated’. Regarding psychoactive plants such as ayahuasca, our culture seems to be poised with what Micheal Harner calls ‘cognicentrism’, the analogue in consciousness of ethnocentrism.
Altered states of consciousness seem to have little use in Western society, where we seem to be fanatically obsessed with empiricism and rationalism as the only ways to discover truth in our current paradigms, where reality is seen as mechanistic and completely material, nothing more. Altered states of consciousness in general seem to be thought of as pathological states and indeed a shaman, one who sees and experiences other realities, would be considered schizophrenic and quite insane within this worldview.
Our collective cognicentrism, our prejudice and narrow mindedness towards different states of consciousness would seem crazy to shamanistic cultures who value the sacred knowledge they gather from these states. Harner illustrates the difference between an ordinary state of consciousness (OSC) and a shamanic or altered state of consciousness (SSC) by referring to animals. Animals considered “mythical” to us in an OSC, such as dragons and griffins are “real” in an SSC. The idea that there are “mythical” animals may be a useful and valid construct in life within an OSC, but irrelevant in an SSC experience. A person in the OSC may use the term “fantasy” for experiences of the SSC and conversely, a person in the SSC may use the term “illusion” in SSC terms, to what is experienced in the ordinary state of consciousness [1]. Therefore to view this situation whilst suspending ones cognicentrism, one may perhaps view both perspectives as the right one as they are viewed from their own specific state of consciousness.
It may be argued that shamanism is a sort of a primordial spirituality, because of its direct relationship and gnosis of the mind and ‘Other’ that has withstood the test of time. It seems to be forgotten that the many spiritual teachers such as Christ and the Buddha received their teachings or enlightenment through an altered state of consciousness and direct contact with the transcendent present. In modern times, the value of these experiences have lost their meaning as they have been put into a secondary source through books and upheld by strict dogma. So perhaps Jesus and Buddha can be considered as a type of shaman in that they may have experienced higher states of consciousness and received knowledge from them, which they then tried to use to heal their fellow people.
Perhaps the 60’s and current experimentations with psychedelic drugs is an unconscious need or yearning for spiritual fulfillment and to once again experience direct contact with alternate ‘realities’ and states of consciousness and the transcendental present, which are not encouraged or emphasized in our society, perhaps rooted in a residue of Christian colonialism where these were seen as blasphemous and demonic acts. However, resurgence in interest in shamanism may back it up as more and more people of the Western world are starting to attend ayahuasca ceremonies in their traditional context with an actual shaman. Indeed it seems that there may be some hidden knowledge contained deep within the rainforests of the Third World, that may help us solve some of our present day problems and conditions we face, from global warming to depression, as in Jungian terms, it may help us reconnect with the lost and forgotten feminine Mother Goddess archetype and the wisdom and importance of the natural world we all belong to.
In the overwhelmingly intense ayahuasca experience, which directly confronts the Western minds obsessive ego attachment and its assumptions about reality; completely in the hands of these shamans who serve as our sole guide with beautiful icaros, it seems that we are the ‘primitive, uneducated savages’ and that they are the truly ‘civilized’.
-Pedram Kianzad
References
[1] The Way of the Shaman by Micheal Harner.
[2] The Teaching of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda
[3] Hallucinogens and Shamanism by Micheal Harner.
[4] Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge by Terence McKenna.
Breaking Open the Head by Daniel Pinchbeck
Higher Wisdom by Charls S. Grob and Roger Walsh.
http://www.erowid.org
Other Worlds by Jan Kounen - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8756441303971858561
Shamanism has been around for millennia and is currently experiencing a resurgence in modern Western societies. Often known to us ‘civilized ones’ as ‘witch-doctors’ and ‘medicine-men’; in anthropological terms, a shaman is a religious specialist that deals directly with the supernatural or the transcendent present. Doing this involves the shaman going through a state of trance to reach the altered state of consciousness necessary to meet with the supernatural. Although there are many catalysts and tools that may be used to achieve trance, such as drumming, dancing, fasting, meditation and sensory deprivation; one ancient tool that is sometimes perhaps underrated and underappreciated in their importance to certain shamans and whole societies, are the sacred psychoactive plants.
Firstly, it is important to understand exactly what shamanism is and the role a shaman plays in their societies. The term shaman (usually pronounced SHAW-MEN) derives from the Tungus speaking people of Siberia, where shamanism had been first encountered and documented in modern times. Although there is significant evidence that shamanism has existed for millennia and has been found in many cultures and societies all over the world. A shaman is a type of specialist, usually in smaller-scale societies, who unlike priests and clerics who serve as intermediaries or middle-men between the laity and the supernatural having direct contact with the transcendent present. Shamanism usually encompasses multiple functions such as healing, illnesses, divination and clairvoyance; such as the power to see into the future and retrieve answers about future events; influencing natural events such as the weather and also causing illnesses to others, more commonly referred to as sorcery. Shamans are usually male, but there are also known female shamans. Typically, the position of a shaman is inherited, but there are also individuals who have received a calling to become one, depending on the specific culture.
In engaging in the supernatural realm, the shaman goes between what the anthropologist and great authority on shamanism, Micheal Harner, calls an 'ordinary state of consciousness' and a 'shamanic state of consciousness'[1]. The famous writer, Carlos Castaneda, would also similarly distinguish this as a move from 'ordinary reality' to 'non-ordinary reality' [2]. In more mainstream anthropological terms, this could be understood by the transfer between the world of humans and the transcendent present. The shaman enters a trance which gives them the essential altered state of consciousness needed for them to conduct their work. Unlike the controlled forms of altered states accessed through meditative acts and yoga in the Hindu and Buddhist religions, shamanic trance is considered an uncontrolled altered state of consciousness in that it is not as manually accessed through meditation and through concentration of one’s breath, but usually involves an external tool such as drumming or repetitious music which then produces trance that is sometimes seen as possession as an outside spirit or forces may be involved.
One of the most ancient methods of altering consciousness among shamans and the human race in general has been through the use of psychoactive plants. Psychoactive meaning that it contains certain chemical substances or 'drugs' that can alter ones consciousness upon ingestion. This method seems to make sense as for millennia; humans lived as one with natural world, particularly among hunter-gatherer societies. In Siberia, home of "classic" shamanism, there has been a close relationship between the psychoactive fly-agaric mushroom (Amanita muscaria), shamans and peoples of the Koryak, Ostyak and Kamachadal tribes among others [3].
Among the Koryak, before conducting their séances, shamans eat fly-agaric to get into a state of ecstasy, where the senses become deranged, objects change in size and visions involving entities are experienced. To prolong this state, more fly-agaric is consumed and even the urine of those intoxicated on the mushroom is saved and drank. In this powerful state of trance, shamans typically encounter spirit entities that may help them heal other members of the community, teach them certain knowledge and to communicate with spirits of the dead. For the Bwiti, a tribe located in Gabon, in Western Africa, their plant sacrament ibogaine ( Tabernanthe iboga) is more than just a tool of the shaman, it is a super-conscious entity that guides all mankind. Iboga is not just restricted to their shaman, but is of importance to their whole community. The Bwiti believe that before one is initiated into an iboga ceremony, they are nothing and that only through contact with the spirit of iboga through initiation, do they become something. Once initiated, one becomes a baanzi, one who knows the 'other world'. Recent research on ibogaine has proven to be very effective in treating drug addictions and alcoholism.
In the rainforests of the Upper Amazon in South America, the strongly psychoactive brew made from the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and other plants, is central in shamanic practices and lives of aboriginal Indian tribes of the area. The brew, commonly known as yagé or ayahuasca ("vine of the dead" in Quecha, pronounced AYA-WASKA), combines the Banisteriopsis vine, which contains the psychoactive beta-carbolines harmine and harmaline and other species of plants, usually psychotria viridis or chakruna which contain what is considered one of the most powerful psychoactive substances, DMT ( N, N-dimethyltryptamine) [4]. DMT is also thought to be contained in the human brain, within what French philosopher René Descartes called the 'seat of the soul', the pineal gland, also known as the area of the third eye and crown chakra in certain eastern traditions. Although the role DMT plays in our bodies is not yet fully understood, it has been linked to being involved in dreaming, mystical and near-death experiences [4]. Ironically, we are all by default carrying what is considered an illegal Schedule I drug within our own brains, which also exists among many plants in the natural world.
When DMT is ingested orally in its plant form, it is rendered inactive by the monoamine oxidase enzyme within the human digestion system, which breaks down and metabolizes the substance before it can reach the blood-brain barrier. What is fascinating, is that the Banisteriopsis vine, besides containing its own psychoactives, also works as a monoamine oxidase inhibitor, therefore allowing the DMT of the psychotria viridis or chakruna to bypass the breakdown process of the enzyme and effectively subject whoever drinks it to its intensely powerful effects.
Considering the millions of different plant species within the richly dense 'lungs of the Earth' that is the Amazonian rainforests , it's quite extraordinary that these people have found and utilized this pharmacological knowledge, especially considering MAO inhibition was not discovered or mentioned in Western science until the 1950's. When questioned by anthropologists and scientists about how this knowledge was discovered, the typical response that they receive tends to be that the ayahuasca spirit herself taught them about it. Although this may be waved off as nonsense to the empirical and rational worldview of Western science, an alternative explanation may be that these people, like scientists themselves, went through numerous experiments of trial and error that eventually produced some interesting and meaningful results. Regardless of which perspective one takes to account for this elixir, we must be able to at least appreciate that these people, who have lived directly with the land for thousands of years, have accumulated an immense amount of botanical knowledge and increased awareness of the natural world. This is somewhat negatively acknowledged in the present day by pharmaceutical companies taking an interest in finding out about traditional organic knowledge and exploiting it for profit in the West, without any given attention to the ritualized, reciprocal and respectful relationship and context traditionally used with these plants.
The ayahuasca experience tends to last four to six hours, often with themes and visions revolving around the natural world and animals such as jaguars and the great archetypal cosmic serpent. From a shamanic perspective, these animals may represent separate entities and spirit helpers or may be another shaman in shape shifted form. For shamans and cultures that practice the darker side of shamanism sometimes known as sorcery, hostile spirits and members of rival communities may send magical darts to bewitch and harm each other within the ayahuasca trance. In general however, ayahuasca seems to be considered a magical elixir, whose gentle feminine spirit generally teaches and heals. Often during the onset of the experience, many will go through la purga, the purge which usually includes intense vomiting and sometimes diarreah. This is typically seen as a normal process of the ayahuasca spirit cleansing the body of physical toxins from the body, before proceeding to cleanse and heal psychic tension and problems. Interestingly, research on this purging process has shown to be effective in combating intestinal parasites [4].
Typically when conducting a healing ceremony among ayahuasca using cultures, the shaman and patient both ingest the bitter tasting brew. The shaman is sometimes known as an ayahuasqueros, one who has memorized a large number of icaros or magical songs that are sung during the ceremony and experience. Among the Shipibo-Conibo people of Peru, these songs are vital to healing ceremonies. They have realized that the ayahuasca experience, with its intense visual nature, is quite susceptible to being driven and directed by sound, in this case the vocal sounds of the various icaros. The ayahuasqueros uses the icaros to guide the patient through the experience and to direct healing energy into their body. The songs can at one moment lead the patient through ecstatic blissful states of experience with the ayahuasca spirit, when subtly the shaman may occasionally stop their singing, which typically results in quite the opposite experience; one involving terrifying visions and haunting themes. The Shipibo ayahuasqueros say that the darker side of ‘reality’ and oneself must be experienced to fully appreciate the true nature of ayahuasca and her blissful healing states.
From a psychological standpoint, shamans can be seen as a prehistoric type of psychotherapist, using sound and suggestion to heal a patient who is in a very open and vulnerable state of mind. Indeed the shared intense mental and emotional journey, where both patient and healer are involved, requires a high level of selflessness on the shamans part, as the patient is given an ally who together with the spirit helpers can overcome illnesses and misfortune. Shamans can run the risk of contracting the patients’ illnesses if they are not powerful or trained enough. This act of self-sacrifice creates a strong emotional and spiritual bond between them, which can only help on the path to healing and regeneration. The Shipibos beliefs about experiencing the dark side of the experience also shows very close parallels to Jungian psychology and Jung’s concept of the ‘Shadow’; the darker side of one’s personality that must be confronted to complete the process of individuation, leading to harmony and unity in the balanced human being.
From the anthropological view, it seems that there isn’t as much importance and emphasis on the symbiotic relationship of shamans and sacred plants such as ayahuasca. For the Jivaro of Ecuador, ayahuasca seems to be more than just a method of trance exclusive to a shaman, but central to all members of their society and cosmology. In certain tribes such as the Jivaro, the laity may have access to the brew to obtain its sacred knowledge or receive help from the spirits. The Jivaro are also known for partaking in violent battles in the spirit realm with other communities. They tend to take an individualistic approach to taking the brew to supernaturally fight their enemies. On the other hand, the Cashinahua of eastern Peru, do not involve themselves in similar individual aggressive acts under ayahuasca, but rather take it as a group to share and experience the journey together. And of course more commonly, it is used like the Shipibo, in more personal one on one healing ceremonies, where the shaman is viewed as a doctor, leader and ally. The preceding examples show that perhaps these powerful plants in addition to being methods of trance, can also serve as rites of intensification that create a strong sense of community or reinforce certain social behaviors, cosmologies and culture as a whole. The Jivaro have a high proportion of shamans due to their individual style and open access for any of them to achieve trance through ayahuasca, perhaps showing an influence on their social structures. Indeed for the Jivaro, reality is believed to only actually be seen and experienced when using ayahuasca. ‘Ordinary reality’ is seen as an illusion and a misleading lie. The Jivaro believe there is only one single reality and that is the supernatural one experienced on ayahuasca, which shows its power to reinforce cosmology and its central role in Jivaro culture.
From a Western perspective, it seems that shamanism in general with its claim to heal or journey to other ‘worlds’ and ‘realities’ is dismissed as acts of primitive peoples who are uneducated in science. However, thanks to fields such as anthropology, our collective ethnocentrism may slowly be lifting, as a cultural relativist point of view can help us first understand and learn what shamanism means through the eyes of these other cultures. Then we may see how it may apply to us, instead of ignorantly dismissing it all as ‘primitive and uneducated’. Regarding psychoactive plants such as ayahuasca, our culture seems to be poised with what Micheal Harner calls ‘cognicentrism’, the analogue in consciousness of ethnocentrism.
Altered states of consciousness seem to have little use in Western society, where we seem to be fanatically obsessed with empiricism and rationalism as the only ways to discover truth in our current paradigms, where reality is seen as mechanistic and completely material, nothing more. Altered states of consciousness in general seem to be thought of as pathological states and indeed a shaman, one who sees and experiences other realities, would be considered schizophrenic and quite insane within this worldview.
Our collective cognicentrism, our prejudice and narrow mindedness towards different states of consciousness would seem crazy to shamanistic cultures who value the sacred knowledge they gather from these states. Harner illustrates the difference between an ordinary state of consciousness (OSC) and a shamanic or altered state of consciousness (SSC) by referring to animals. Animals considered “mythical” to us in an OSC, such as dragons and griffins are “real” in an SSC. The idea that there are “mythical” animals may be a useful and valid construct in life within an OSC, but irrelevant in an SSC experience. A person in the OSC may use the term “fantasy” for experiences of the SSC and conversely, a person in the SSC may use the term “illusion” in SSC terms, to what is experienced in the ordinary state of consciousness [1]. Therefore to view this situation whilst suspending ones cognicentrism, one may perhaps view both perspectives as the right one as they are viewed from their own specific state of consciousness.
It may be argued that shamanism is a sort of a primordial spirituality, because of its direct relationship and gnosis of the mind and ‘Other’ that has withstood the test of time. It seems to be forgotten that the many spiritual teachers such as Christ and the Buddha received their teachings or enlightenment through an altered state of consciousness and direct contact with the transcendent present. In modern times, the value of these experiences have lost their meaning as they have been put into a secondary source through books and upheld by strict dogma. So perhaps Jesus and Buddha can be considered as a type of shaman in that they may have experienced higher states of consciousness and received knowledge from them, which they then tried to use to heal their fellow people.
Perhaps the 60’s and current experimentations with psychedelic drugs is an unconscious need or yearning for spiritual fulfillment and to once again experience direct contact with alternate ‘realities’ and states of consciousness and the transcendental present, which are not encouraged or emphasized in our society, perhaps rooted in a residue of Christian colonialism where these were seen as blasphemous and demonic acts. However, resurgence in interest in shamanism may back it up as more and more people of the Western world are starting to attend ayahuasca ceremonies in their traditional context with an actual shaman. Indeed it seems that there may be some hidden knowledge contained deep within the rainforests of the Third World, that may help us solve some of our present day problems and conditions we face, from global warming to depression, as in Jungian terms, it may help us reconnect with the lost and forgotten feminine Mother Goddess archetype and the wisdom and importance of the natural world we all belong to.
In the overwhelmingly intense ayahuasca experience, which directly confronts the Western minds obsessive ego attachment and its assumptions about reality; completely in the hands of these shamans who serve as our sole guide with beautiful icaros, it seems that we are the ‘primitive, uneducated savages’ and that they are the truly ‘civilized’.
-Pedram Kianzad
References
[1] The Way of the Shaman by Micheal Harner.
[2] The Teaching of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda
[3] Hallucinogens and Shamanism by Micheal Harner.
[4] Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge by Terence McKenna.
Breaking Open the Head by Daniel Pinchbeck
Higher Wisdom by Charls S. Grob and Roger Walsh.
http://www.erowid.org
Other Worlds by Jan Kounen - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8756441303971858561
February 7, 2008
February 6, 2008
Ron Paul’s missed function.
According to Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, the most important aspect of Hugo Chavez's political legacy is his inclusion of Venezuela's enormous, poor, displaced, slum-dwelling population into the political realm. Regardless of one's opinions on the policies championed by the Chavez administration this fact cannot be downplayed. Millions of people who previously had no political voice are now an enormous factor in Venezuela's democratic process. During the first three years of the Chavez administration the government created a new constitution that was put out to popular vote. In Venezuela's poorest communities an unprecedented degree of political consciousness erupted. Chapters and clubs started popping up everywhere called "Bolivarian circles." The meet-ups and groups are run by citizens of Venezuela with the purpose of informing and educating people about their rights and their constitution.
Concrete proof that political consciousness and activism had reached a historic high was displayed in 2002 when a U.S. backed coup briefly threw Chavez out of power. As the self-proclaimed interim government took power and announced to Venezuelan's that their institutions where being dissolved, hundreds of thousands of people poured out of the Caracas slums and stormed upon the capital. People demanded that their president be put back in power. Film of the event showed people, from sects of society that were previously excluded from political activity, telling camera men that the president could only be taken out of office with a referendum. What more proof is needed to show that the most important aspect to maintaining a free and fair society is education and awareness?
As the 2008 U.S. presidential race approaches we should keep this in mind. Knowledge of our constitutional rights and our founding principles are at a seemingly all time low. The current mainstream national discourse is the only thing that needs to be examined to know that today's most disastrous trends will continue regardless of which “front-runner" ends up in the White House. The key issues that are affecting America and the world as we know it are not being discussed by any of the candidates. The inflationary spending and massive debt that is destroying the U.S. dollar and economy is not something that the mainstream candidates will address. State sovereignty is all but disappearing and being replaced by centralized federal policy. America's foreign policy has become more openly hostile and unprincipled than ever before and American citizens are not nearly as safe today as they feel because of it.
The American constitution is truly a revolutionary historical document. It is truly the only thing that binds Americans together. We do not share a common cultural or ethnic identity/history, we share the constitution and a belief in the principles it puts forth. Unfortunately the American constitution has been forgotten for all practical purposes. Today it functions in a similar fashion to that of Britain's Queen; People love to pay lip service to it but for political purposes it has become irrelevant. The size and power of the current federal government would be an impossible nightmare to the architects of the constitution. The constitution provides a system of checks and balances to keep any one branch of government from becoming too powerful but today we no longer have de-centralized state and local power, we have an unconstitutional income tax, we have unconstitutional undeclared wars that have thousands and thousands of innocent victims. We have a monetary and economic system that makes life harder on Americans every year. The founders of the constitution stated that the dollar must be backed by gold and silver so that the money supply could not be inflated and manipulated and today inflation is wiping out America's middle class and making the price of living skyrocket. I could keep going.
This brings me to Ron Paul. This presidential candidate is honest, principled, and still believes that the constitution should guide policy making in America. For these reasons as well as others, the 72 year old representative from Texas has no chance of being America's next president. The constitution was put in place to guarantee that no person or class of people have more influence on exercising power in America than the next one of us. Since the constitution went out the window years ago a power structure has taken control of American policy making that remains invisible to most Americans. This class of people benefit hugely by controlling American foreign and domestic policy. The same group of people also controls media and communications so that this takeover of our government remains unknown to most of us even though it’s been going on for years. Ron Paul challenges this fact not by accusations and rhetoric but by asking people to read our constitution and by pointing out the blatant and obvious contradictions of power that may have not have always been so obvious to us. Ron Paul will not be in the White House next year but his campaign is still of the upmost importance. As demonstrated in Venezuela, the only thing that can save the democratic process is knowledge and education.
A huge movement has come under way with the Ron Paul campaign. He is drawing crowds by the thousands all over the country despite being shunned by the mainstream media and people are waking up everywhere. People who had no intention of voting in America's sham elections have all of the sudden found a voice, Democrats and Republicans are uniting behind Ron Paul. America will continue down its disastrous path but finally there are seeds of hope. He is gaining popularity by the second as people discover him and his message and the consciousness that is so desperately needed to save America from oblivion is spreading. This will be Ron Paul's political legacy and hopefully one day historians will look at what is happening right now as the start of a huge and important movement that developed into a national phenomenon of Americans re-asserting their political legacy of freedom and responsibility.
Every nation is currently seeing sects of its society resisting globalization in favor or reasserting national sovereignty. This can be seen as the beginning of America's movement against the erasing of our borders and the erosion of our freedoms and when things get really bad, which they will, it will be the ideas that we remembered from now that will act as a platform for the resistance.
- Matt Owens
Concrete proof that political consciousness and activism had reached a historic high was displayed in 2002 when a U.S. backed coup briefly threw Chavez out of power. As the self-proclaimed interim government took power and announced to Venezuelan's that their institutions where being dissolved, hundreds of thousands of people poured out of the Caracas slums and stormed upon the capital. People demanded that their president be put back in power. Film of the event showed people, from sects of society that were previously excluded from political activity, telling camera men that the president could only be taken out of office with a referendum. What more proof is needed to show that the most important aspect to maintaining a free and fair society is education and awareness?
As the 2008 U.S. presidential race approaches we should keep this in mind. Knowledge of our constitutional rights and our founding principles are at a seemingly all time low. The current mainstream national discourse is the only thing that needs to be examined to know that today's most disastrous trends will continue regardless of which “front-runner" ends up in the White House. The key issues that are affecting America and the world as we know it are not being discussed by any of the candidates. The inflationary spending and massive debt that is destroying the U.S. dollar and economy is not something that the mainstream candidates will address. State sovereignty is all but disappearing and being replaced by centralized federal policy. America's foreign policy has become more openly hostile and unprincipled than ever before and American citizens are not nearly as safe today as they feel because of it.
The American constitution is truly a revolutionary historical document. It is truly the only thing that binds Americans together. We do not share a common cultural or ethnic identity/history, we share the constitution and a belief in the principles it puts forth. Unfortunately the American constitution has been forgotten for all practical purposes. Today it functions in a similar fashion to that of Britain's Queen; People love to pay lip service to it but for political purposes it has become irrelevant. The size and power of the current federal government would be an impossible nightmare to the architects of the constitution. The constitution provides a system of checks and balances to keep any one branch of government from becoming too powerful but today we no longer have de-centralized state and local power, we have an unconstitutional income tax, we have unconstitutional undeclared wars that have thousands and thousands of innocent victims. We have a monetary and economic system that makes life harder on Americans every year. The founders of the constitution stated that the dollar must be backed by gold and silver so that the money supply could not be inflated and manipulated and today inflation is wiping out America's middle class and making the price of living skyrocket. I could keep going.
This brings me to Ron Paul. This presidential candidate is honest, principled, and still believes that the constitution should guide policy making in America. For these reasons as well as others, the 72 year old representative from Texas has no chance of being America's next president. The constitution was put in place to guarantee that no person or class of people have more influence on exercising power in America than the next one of us. Since the constitution went out the window years ago a power structure has taken control of American policy making that remains invisible to most Americans. This class of people benefit hugely by controlling American foreign and domestic policy. The same group of people also controls media and communications so that this takeover of our government remains unknown to most of us even though it’s been going on for years. Ron Paul challenges this fact not by accusations and rhetoric but by asking people to read our constitution and by pointing out the blatant and obvious contradictions of power that may have not have always been so obvious to us. Ron Paul will not be in the White House next year but his campaign is still of the upmost importance. As demonstrated in Venezuela, the only thing that can save the democratic process is knowledge and education.
A huge movement has come under way with the Ron Paul campaign. He is drawing crowds by the thousands all over the country despite being shunned by the mainstream media and people are waking up everywhere. People who had no intention of voting in America's sham elections have all of the sudden found a voice, Democrats and Republicans are uniting behind Ron Paul. America will continue down its disastrous path but finally there are seeds of hope. He is gaining popularity by the second as people discover him and his message and the consciousness that is so desperately needed to save America from oblivion is spreading. This will be Ron Paul's political legacy and hopefully one day historians will look at what is happening right now as the start of a huge and important movement that developed into a national phenomenon of Americans re-asserting their political legacy of freedom and responsibility.
Every nation is currently seeing sects of its society resisting globalization in favor or reasserting national sovereignty. This can be seen as the beginning of America's movement against the erasing of our borders and the erosion of our freedoms and when things get really bad, which they will, it will be the ideas that we remembered from now that will act as a platform for the resistance.
- Matt Owens
February 5, 2008
Thoughts of a forgotten night.
…And as the sun rises on a lazy Sunday morning, the sounds of the heavy headed ring out. The knowledge of the alcohol drank the previous night slowly becomes apparent, as the familiar yet discomforting feelings of a hangover takes over once again. Your brain struggles to retrieve memories, based half in dream and half in a hazed reality. Unable to decipher the cruel codes that are needed to retrieve last nights memories, you struggle to stand and consume the one liquid, that given time will slowly bring you back to the land of the living. The cool water sliding down your throat is a minor consolation and your only comfort as the overbearing hangover makes its presence felt again. Your options for the day are diminished as you have delayed cognitive abilities, and the reflexes of a new born three toed sloth. As you slowly realize you've made commitments for the day, the thought of moving off the couch is physically felt by your drained and badly abused body. You conjure your beaten body off the couch and slowly collect the few remaining beers you have left. As you make your exit, the long road to recovery seems more like a superhighway.
- Jordan Wilson
- Jordan Wilson
February 1, 2008
In your face Evolution!
Mom always said that the key to a woman's heart was through those tender moments. Now it seems that the key to humanities heart is also within those tender moments.
We have been constantly exposed within the last few years to the ideas that humanity is on that cusp of evolutionary development, from our mutant hero's in X-Men, to Will Smith taking on genetic vampires in I Am Legend.
"In 2005, Stefansson's group at deCODE found that women with higher recombination rates had more children, suggesting that evolution has selected for molecular mechanisms that create diversity."
Wow! That's interesting. More and more I read that women are becoming a source for those natural solutions to a genetic exploration of creating the next branch outwards on the tree of Homo sapiens. It is true, super-humans are among us.
"We conclude that a small proportion of highly exposed individuals, who may have natural protective immunity to HIV-1, are resistant to HIV-1." This interpretation was found in a study done by the Department of Medical Microbiology at the University of Manitoba (Fowke et al. 1996).
There seems to be a push now towards utilizing the aspects of nature, from vegetations' chemical properties to the whole field of Biotechnology taking notes from the processes that have pushed organic life this far through earth's existence.
Of coarse, if there is anyone we should be taking notes from it should be that Mother Goddess, who as Dr. Ian Malcolm once so eloquently stated "I'm simply saying that life, uh... finds a way.".
On an ending note, even with these inclinations towards an ethical use of advanced science, with it's ability to further allow society to solve some of the most complex problems people have ever had to endure, we have this, porn on our cell phones.
References:
Fowke KR, Nagelkerke NJ, Kimani J, Simonsen JN, Anzala AO, Bwayo JJ, MacDonald KS, Ngugi EN, Plummer FA. Resistance to HIV-1 infection among persistently seronegative prostitutes in Nairobi, Kenya. Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. Lancet. 1996 Nov 16;348(9038):1347-51
We have been constantly exposed within the last few years to the ideas that humanity is on that cusp of evolutionary development, from our mutant hero's in X-Men, to Will Smith taking on genetic vampires in I Am Legend.
"In 2005, Stefansson's group at deCODE found that women with higher recombination rates had more children, suggesting that evolution has selected for molecular mechanisms that create diversity."
Wow! That's interesting. More and more I read that women are becoming a source for those natural solutions to a genetic exploration of creating the next branch outwards on the tree of Homo sapiens. It is true, super-humans are among us.
"We conclude that a small proportion of highly exposed individuals, who may have natural protective immunity to HIV-1, are resistant to HIV-1." This interpretation was found in a study done by the Department of Medical Microbiology at the University of Manitoba (Fowke et al. 1996).
There seems to be a push now towards utilizing the aspects of nature, from vegetations' chemical properties to the whole field of Biotechnology taking notes from the processes that have pushed organic life this far through earth's existence.
Of coarse, if there is anyone we should be taking notes from it should be that Mother Goddess, who as Dr. Ian Malcolm once so eloquently stated "I'm simply saying that life, uh... finds a way.".
On an ending note, even with these inclinations towards an ethical use of advanced science, with it's ability to further allow society to solve some of the most complex problems people have ever had to endure, we have this, porn on our cell phones.
References:
Fowke KR, Nagelkerke NJ, Kimani J, Simonsen JN, Anzala AO, Bwayo JJ, MacDonald KS, Ngugi EN, Plummer FA. Resistance to HIV-1 infection among persistently seronegative prostitutes in Nairobi, Kenya. Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. Lancet. 1996 Nov 16;348(9038):1347-51
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