A Kind Of Ideological Catalyst

I had been planning to post a couple of links to interviews featuring John Lash and Paul Levy today, but something amusing occurred, which will end up being the subject of this post.  I was reading Clif High's latest post at HalfPastHuman and I couldn't help but think, "Wow, that's rather cryptic, Clif," when I clicked on the link in the upper left part of his post.  That link took me to a talk called "The Definitive UFO Tape," by one of the people whom I've admired most in recent years, the late Terence McKenna.  After listening to the talk, I believe I understand why Clif put it there.  Both McKenna and Joseph Campbell have influenced my spiritual path greatly.  Both were exceedingly brilliant men.  It's a very interesting talk, as is the one that auto-plays after it.

I had not heard this talk before, nor had I ever seen the picture used for the duration of the video, which is where it gets weird for me.  If I had come across the video in the past, based on the title, I probably would have opted to choose another McKenna talk, however, the talk / lecture presents the subject matter in a way that I had never comprehended before.  All I'll say is it has to do with the self, individually and collectively.  It reminded me of my Year Zero post a couple of months ago, where I asked whether we are all running from something inside of ourselves, individually and collectively, that is preventing us from evolving.  I wondered if we, as a race, are refusing to face or are blind to some greater truth.  Suffice to say, it is a powerful talk filled with insights.

But that's not the amusing part.  This morning, just before I woke up, I was dreaming and conscious of the dream.  I was on a hillside, at night, with two other people who were friends, but not from this life.  I often dream of strangers, at least strangers to this physical incarnation.  I knew I was close these two people somehow, but I don't remember who they were.  We were waiting for something, watching the sky.  They were both looking off in one direction.  As I stood on the slope of the hill, I turned around and looked up into the sky behind us.  "Look!" I exclaimed, as I pointed to a single glowing cross moving across the sky away from us.  I turned to my friends to see if they were looking, and when I turned around to look at the cross, the shape was a glowing cylinder with rings circling the outside.  It looked like a barrel or pipe.  Both the cross and the barrel glowed with a light orange hue.

The cross image confounded me.  Why am I seeing that shape in the sky?  Is it some echo from an earlier system of beliefs?  I questioned myself in the dream as I stood upon the hill.  I spent a moment wondering if it was supposed to mean something, because I felt it was out of the context of my dream.  I awoke moments later, still wrestling with what I saw.  I often dream of things in the sky, flying and stationary, but I don't remember seeing glowing objects in the night sky in a dream any time recently.  I continued thinking about the dream during the day, until I came across the video.  From my own dream analysis over the years, when I see objects appearing in the sky, they usually represent new ideas ready to be birthed.  At least that's how I've come to interpret them.  They don't represent the ideas themselves, they're just sort of 'coming soon' signs.

I realize I used the word amusing earlier, but the more I've looked at the picture used in the YouTube video (about which the uploader says he doesn't know the artist - in the comments), the more generally freaked out I am at the measure of coincidence.  It sends a fresh set of goosebumps across my body when I consider what in fact McKenna is talking about in the video, which is deep, heavy and resonates with me greatly.  To have arrived at this point via a link in one of Clif High's posts (another person whom I admire) just makes me laugh.  As I have said many times here, Universe can be as playful as a kitten when you are in the moment and connected.  Whether you arrive at a moment like that by chance or with focused attention, it doesn't matter.  The resonance afterward is the same, as you enjoy the aftertaste of synchronicity.

~ Namaste ~

Terence McKenna's Final Earthbound Interview

I came across this interview via Reality Sandwich shortly after reading "Science of Being" and had intended to post it here some time ago.  If you're a seeker and you're not familiar with the work of the late Terence McKenna, perhaps you should be.  If you already are and you haven't seen this interview, I'm confident you'll enjoy it.  Terence was one of the true modern pioneers of reality exploration and we were fortunate to have him with us for the time that we did.  In this interview by filmmaker John Hazard, Terence shares his thoughts, experiences and views about the nature of time and reality.  I'm thankful that John have chosen to share the interview online, finding it to be extremely interesting, and for Reality Sandwich making it availalble.

The following is from John Hazard via the Reality Sandwich website:

"In this last video interview before his untimely death, Terence McKenna describes Novelty Theory to director John Hazard with an elaboration of its core principles involving hyper-complexification and the compression of Time. He holds forth on the correspondences between the structure of the DNA molecule and the Chinese I-Ching, then shows how his notion of an Archaic Revival leads from the theories of mind and the art movements of the early 20th century to the Shaman as the quintessential figure of the 21st century, with psychedelic substances being the bridge between these worldviews...." [read more]

~ Namaste. ~

A Whole Other Level For My Mosaic

Each of us interprets the physical world in our own way.  Terence McKenna described this individual world view as our reality tunnel.  We each have one.  It is the construct through which we view and experience the world... a combination of all kinds of data, from sensory input to belief systems, from learned behavior to observations.  I call my reality tunnel my Mosaic.  Add atop your particular reality tunnel the concept of your culture as an operating system, which is another McKenna assertion.  In the mid-90's (prior to my in-depth introduction into McKenna) at the suggestion of a computer engineer friend, I was presented with the challenge of trying to deconstruct my reality tunnel, which my friend referred to as The Framework or The Construct at the time.  As a life-long seeker, I was fascinated at the proposition and where the search to complete such a task would lead me.

I had been initially raised Catholic and when I was about ten years of age my family converted to Pentecostalism.  During the latter Pentecostal years, I was exposed to a wide variety of spiritual experiences and teachings... being slain in the spirit, dancing, tongues, etc. and saw many healers of renown at the time in person.  During my teens and into my twenties I held those shared experiences and beliefs in my mosaic, although that mosaic is always changing based on new input.  What followed in the years after was a study of Tibetan Buddhism in the late 90's and eventually Kabbalah in 2003.  For several years in the late 90's, I listened to recordings of the Dalai Lama almost daily.  I began regular meditation and eventually expanded my meditation to include time in nature, rather than only meditating in my home.

It was during that time that I discovered a place in meditation that I called The Field.  The Field is a void, that to my perception didn't necessarily have a bottom per se, but a silver-grey mist, just above which I would find myself.  I could often sense the presence of others within the field, mostly at what seemed to be great distance, yet I never communicated with anyone directly there in terms of receiving a response.  I sensed that it wasn't about that type of communication as much as this was some kind of field of intention... that anything I put into it in terms of thought energy would ripple out from me like rings from a drop of water hitting a liquid surface.  My time actively going to the field resulted in what I believe were major breakthroughs in terms of my own spiritual growth and additions to my ever-growing mosaic.  The ensuing years led to me actively going back to the things that frightened me the most during my childhood and confronting them in the physical world.  More on that in some future post... I digress...

I've always thought that the arc of my life story was similar to that of Richard Dreyfus' character in Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", sans spaceships.  For most of my life, I have felt as if I am searching for something that is particularly connected with my soul, inner being or essence.  It's not so much a quest for meaning.  It's more of a quest to remember something... some things... that seem to be juxtaposed to my physical perceptions tightly... so close, yet just outside of my grasp in daily life.  As the years go by, I have found that levels of awakening come in many different forms, as in the Spiritual Wind phenomenon that I described in my last post.

What arrived last November and has been keeping me busy for the past couple of months was searching astral projection, soul journeys and life between lives. I have since read "The Presence of Other Worlds" by Wilson Van Dusen, which is a study of the works of Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish scientist, philosopher and theologian, which I found eye-opening to say the least, especially with my theology-heavy childhood.  So much of what was described in the book resonated with me.  Highly recommended for the seeker in terms of a greater understanding of reality. 

In addition to the aforementioned, I read a few books on astral projection, most notably two books by author and astral traveler Robert Monroe, "Far Journeys" and "Ultimate Journey", the second and third books in a trilogy.  After Van Dusen's book, Monroe catapulted me into another awareness... one that involves remembering.  Monroe is probably one of the best-known astral travelers in recent history, and during his physical time here did so much work in the astral plane and beyond that he left behind a virtual road map of other-worldly terrain that is accessible to each of us through our inner selves.  My mosaic has grown immensely.  So much of what Monroe described came as deja-vu to me, as if I knew that I had the same abilities, even if they hadn't been used in some time.

I had actively astral traveled as a child.  At various times I have also had dreams of flying.  Although I have never had deliberate astral travel experience in my younger years, I recall how sometimes the two would merge... I would be flying within a dream, become lucid, and the two experiences would merge as I would find myself flying over my house and neighborhood.  After reading some books on the subject recently, I have recalled various instances during my adult life that must have been, in hindsight, the oncoming of an astral projection experience.  The gateway experience as a child I have forgotten, although I remember it to be pleasant.  However, at least in the would-be oncomings of an astral experience in adulthood that I can identify now with hindsight, the gateway experience can be terrifying if you don't know what's happening.  Whether in rem-sleep at the time or just quietly sleeping or meditating, the beginning of an astral projection can feel like you're having a seizure.  Your body can begin to buzz, vibrate; you can hear crackling, cracking or pops in your ears and it feels like your nervous system is about to short circuit, yet there is no pain.  I realized after reading Monroe's books that I had several experiences like that in years prior that I had forced myself to awaken from instead of taking the ride.

I have started to set aside a time to get back in touch with this ability once or twice a week.  We'll see what happens, if anything.  I have gotten the feeling since last November that part of the information that I received is somehow coming from that realm or realms.  I had met friends in my astral travels as a child, whom I called Them.  They showed me things about myself, much of which I'm sure I've forgotten.  Spirit guides of some kind, yet so eerily similar to the types of energetic beings that Monroe described that it's sort of creepy, but not really.  Somehow they are familiar in ways I can't describe, at least not yet... or at least until the next spiritual wind blows in.