Tek-Gnostics

Yankee/Cowboy War – 2012 Presidential Campaign

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Thu, 31 May 2012 16:48:33 PDT

Find below a list of the top 10 financial donors to the presidential campaigns of current president Barak Obama and the recently cinched GOP nominee Mitt Romney, according to statistics gathered by OpenSecrets.org.

Mitt Romney

1) Goldman Sachs

2) JPMorgan Chase & Co

3) Bank of America

4) Morgan Stanley

5) Credit Suisse Group

6) Citigroup Inc

7) Kirkland & Ellis (Global Law Firm from Chicago)

8) Barclays (Multinational Banking)

9) PricewaterhouseCoopers (Professional Services)

10) Wells Fargo

Note: #14 is Bain Capital

Barak Obama

1) Microsoft Corp

2) DLA Piper (Global Law Firm)

3) University of California

4) Sidley Austin LLP (Chicago Law Firm)

5) Google Inc

6) Harvard University

7) Comcast Corp

8) Skadden, Arps et al (Lobbyist Law Firm)

9) Morgan & Morgan (Law Firm)

10) US Dept of State

Note: #11 is Time Warner, #13 is Stanford University

Per this list, it seems clear that the GOP candidate falls into the classic “Yankee” cabal of mainly East Coast, Big Banker and Financial Services corporations. It is also clear who’s pocket Mitt will be in, should he be elected in November. Likewise, Obama falls into the “Cowboy” cabal of mainly West Coast, Silicon Valley and the Entertainment Industry, with University and Law Firm monies thrown in. He too will be beholding, should he win a second term.

This November is shaping up to be another knock-down, drag-out brawl between the Yankees and the Cowboys. This matchup promises to be a “bare-knuckle” no-holds-barred fight, with no mercy given on either side. Regardless of whether the election results favor the Democrats or Republicans, there will be some big players standing in line with their hand out, expecting a return favor.

It just goes to show that American politics is the best politics money can buy!

We did a related article on the Yankee/Cowboy (Psychedelic) War theory back in January. It is curious that two of the main players from our earlier article, show up on Obama's contributors list...

The Yankee and Cowboy Psychedelic War

AAT: Fungus Amongus (pt 3)

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:25:55 PDT

Pt 1: Are the World’s Religions Cargo Cults? Pt 2: Deeper… Weirder…

In parts one and two of our Ancient Astronaut Theory (AAT) series, we highlighted the basic premise that humanity was either “seeded” in its cultural infancy by highly advanced extra-terrestrial beings… or guided by a highly advanced and undetectable, co-existing earthling culture. A culture so advanced that it demonstrates Arthur C. Clark’s third law that states:

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Skeptics consider such theories to be too outlandish… too “tin-foil-hat-ish” to be taken with any measure of seriousness. However, the theories examined in parts one and two may in fact, be too mundane… too comfortable in their vision. These anthropomorphic explanations conveniently feature human or bi-pedal humanoid extra-terrestrials that look just like us. These theories fit quite nicely in our earth-centric view of universe. The true origins of extra-terrestrial intelligence on earth may be far stranger… far more unfathomable and fantastic than some metal hulled ship… careening through space… carrying humanoid visitors to our planet.

Extra-terrestrial Extremophiles

It is likely that life in universe is far more plentiful, diverse and truly “alien” than our imaginations are normally willing to wrap around. Entities that bear little resemblance to life as we define it on earth (let alone bipedal humans) may fill the cosmos. A fascinating hypothesis suggests that the void of space, conventionally considered lifeless, is teaming with life. The term used to describe this theorized life-form is “extra-terrestrial extremophile.” An extremophile is defined as an organism that thrives in physically or geochemically extreme conditions… in this example, the absence of a gravity-bound atmosphere.

“Research has proven that extreme organisms can live in very harsh environments. Such extremophiles can survive almost everywhere, including in outer space” …says Dr. Rhawn Joseph, who has investigated NASA footage that shows what he believes to be living alien organisms in the vicinity of the space shuttle, during NASA’s 1996 broken tether incident. According to Dr. Joseph, many of these objects are huge in size and have a pulsating nucleus, which could be an indication that they are living life-forms. The objects are able to suddenly change direction and speed of movement.

Thousands of these creatures observed by NASA appear to be exceedingly similar to a species of algae known as Eudorina elegans, but had to be many kilometers in size. In other words, there are millions of strange objects in space which could be living extraterrestrial organisms. Astronauts could see these objects outside the space shuttle, travelling along side the shuttle and have described some of these objects as "definitely not solid", "plasma-like", "tissue paper thin", and engaging in unusual movements. - (source)

The implication here is that biological life may exist throughout the vastness of space. Biological life may traverse not only within solar systems, but between the stars… possibly between galaxies. Terrestrial life may be seeded by these life-forms getting caught in the gravity well of a planetary system and metamorphosing into a terrestrial-based life-form. Perhaps parasitic forms of life “catch a ride” on these entities, thereby increasing the possibility of inter-stellar migration of biological life…

The Magic Mushroom

Still, the question of the inter-stellar seeding of intelligent life remains. This leads to a psychedelic variation on the biological inter-stellar migration theory. The life classification of interest comes from the fungi kingdom (taxonomic rank, ie: plant kingdom, animal kingdom, etc). A fungus is a member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as our species class of interest, mushrooms. The name "mushroom" typically refers to those fungi that have a stem, a cap and gills (or pores) on the underside of the cap. The mushroom reproduces via the dispersal of microscopic spores, capable of surviving for extended periods of time in unfavorable conditions.

The following is from Terrence McKenna (Nov. 16, 1946 - April 3, 2000), on the subject of extra-terrestrial life:

"My candidate for that kind of an intrusive extra-terrestrial would probably be a mushroom of some sort, or a spore-bearing life form, because spores are very impervious to low temperatures and high radiation… the kind of environment met with in outer space. There's no question that through what's called Brownian motion, which is sort of random percolation, spores do reach the outer edge of our atmosphere, and there, in the presence of cosmic rays and meteors and rare, highly energetic events, occasionally a very small percentage of these biological objects are wafted into space. We even possess meteorites that are believed to be pieces of the Martian surface, thrown out by impacts on the Martian surface of asteroidal material.

In fact I think part of the grappling with the (extra-terrestrial) mystery is going to lead to the conclusion that space is not an impermeable and insurmountable barrier to biology… that in fact planets are islands, and life does occasionally wash in from distant places, and if conditions are correct, can take hold. However, let me say we are dealing, not simply with the phenomenon of extraterrestrial biology, but with the phenomenon of extra-terrestrial intelligence, and this is a hackle-raising notion.”

Certain species of mushroom commonly referred to as “Magic Mushrooms” when ingested, have a psychedelic effect on the nervous system of humans. This effect is characterized by hallucinogenic perception, often revelatory and insightful in nature. This psychedelic experience is so profound, it is often considered to be a form of communication between the ingested mushroom and the human host. Communication infers intelligent interaction between two entities.

The crux of Magic Mushroom Theory presumes that the intelligence of the mushroom is a form of cognizance and consciousness, in a state of suspended animation.

Here is the scenario: An alien mushroom spore, drifting in space, is caught in Earth’s atmosphere. It floats to the surface of the planet, where it germinates and grows into a mushroom. An unsuspecting earthling (human) finds and eats the mushroom. As it is digested, the mushroom’s psycho-active properties course through the earthling’s bloodstream, ultimately reaching the brain. As the psycho-active properties take effect… contact.

This is a symbiotic relationship. The alien symbiont, or mushroom, requires the interface with a biological nervous system, in order to access and activate it’s consciousness. It also requires a nervous system’s perceptive and motor function capabilities in order to perceive and manipulate it’s new environment. In other words, the mushroom needs a body to move around in, a brain to “think” in, and eyes with which to see. Once it enters into a symbiotic relationship with our earthling, it is free to interact and explore in this strange new world, by co-operating or sharing the host’s body.

In return, upon entering (via ingestion) into symbiosis, the earthling host gains access to the mushroom’s molecular data-base. The intelligence that has been in stasis (bio-bit-rate reduction) within the spore, decompresses during the growth cycle of the mushroom, and becomes readable upon interface with the host’s nervous system. Both entities now have access to this data. The information that is transmitted to the earthling takes the form of revelation and insight… thereby increasing the earthling’s knowledge base and subsequent intelligence.

In this manner, the alien intelligence that is the mushroom makes contact with humanoid earthlings in a mutually advantageous, win-win, close encounter. No spacecraft necessary.

Regardless of the above, there is no doubt that fungi are a (forgive the pun) trippy life-form. A giant Armillaria solidipes fungus, a species of honey mushroom in the Malheur National Forest in Oregon, was found to span 8.9 km2 (2,200 acres), which would make it the largest organism on earth, by area. Talk about a space colony.

Human history is full of cosmologies with “deified” mushrooms included in their iconography. The oldest artistic representations of hallucinogenic mushrooms in the world are found in the Tassilli Mountains in the Sahara Dessert. These rock paintings, created by pre-neolithic hunters and gatherers are between 7,000 and 9,000 years old. They might be the most ancient human culture as yet documented in which the ritual use of hallucinogenic mushrooms is explicitly represented. It is fitting that Africa, considered the cradle of humanity, is also home to the oldest known mushroom cult.

Some scholars believe that the deified plant “soma” mentioned in the ancient Hindu text, the Rigveda, was in fact the hallucinogenic mushroom Amanita muscaria. Out of the ten Rigveda books, the ninth hymn book, Soma Mandala, is devoted entirely to Soma. The Vedas state that the god-plant Soma was found in the mountains and that the intoxicating juices from Soma were expressed from the flesh of the plant using so-called "Soma-stones." In the text it is stated that drinking soma produces immortality.

Rigveda (8.43.3): We have drunk Soma and become immortal; we have attained the light, the Gods discovered.

The Sanskrit word for immortality is Amrita. Amrita is phonetically and conceptually very similar to the Greek ambrosia; both are what the gods drink, and what made them deities. Ancient Greece was home to a ritual cult that lasted for 2,000 years until it was suppressed by Christianity. This cult, known as the Eleusinian Mysteries, consisted of initiates who, once a year in September or early October, came to the Eleusian plains for worship of the Gods. September through October is the season of the mushroom in Europe and it has been proposed by some scholars that this Mystery cult was associated with some manner of hallucinogen.

Historical use of the Psilocybin mushroom has strong evidence in Central America. Mushroom use was prevalent in Mexico prior the Spanish conquest and an important aspect of Mexican religion and life. The fungi were sacred and used in divination and healing. Mushroom stones have been unearthed from as far back as 1000 B.C.E. The mushroom using peoples of the Americas held on to their traditions from antiquity and through the violent persecution of the Spanish, until it was rediscovered in the early 1950's. - (source)

"When we look at the mushroom stones we must always remember that in pre-Conquest times most art, if not all, was religious, as it once was in Europe. And we must remember that the hold on the inner life of the Mesoamerican peoples of the ethnogeny, notably the entheogenic mushrooms, was all-powerful, as it is to this day in remote corners of highland Mexico. Those who have not explored the role of the entheogens in the cultural past of Mesoamerica easily overlook that role or assume that it was of minor importance, solely because for us it is of no importance”.

– R Gordon Wasson

The myriad of mushroom cults throughout history and from around the world, make a compelling case for the integral role that psycho-active substances played in humanity’s remarkable intellectual development over the last 10,000 years. The ingestion of the psilocybin cubensis mushroom, as an agent of human evolution, was strongly argued by Terence McKenna in his book, Food of the Gods. He theorized that the consumption of these mushrooms, as a component of early man’s daily diet, triggered the expansion of human consciousness. This expansion was directly responsible for the intellectual and cultural development of modern man. The mushroom, according to McKenna, had also given early humans their first truly religious experiences, which were the basis for the foundation of all subsequent earthling religions.

Cosmic Cargo Cult

Given the above, the globally present mushroom cult in all probability co-evolved with humanity over the last 10,000 years… the era of man. As an agent of change, the magic mushroom and its organizational structure, or cult that developed around it, was instrumental in humanity’s strategic thinking and tool building. Add to this theory the possibility that mushroom spores wafted into our atmosphere and hence our biosphere, from outer space… and the theory gets more… fascinating.

Mushroom spores from outer space are, de facto, extra-terrestrial. For purposes of our Magic Mushroom Theory, humanity’s discovery and ingestion of the magic fruit of the spore is the close encounter… contact… with alien life. Humanity’s explosion of intelligence has been driven by the revelatory and insightful nature of the effect that magic mushrooms have on the human nervous system.

Perhaps the mushroom cults that have existed around the world, for the last 10,000 years, are the ultimate Cargo Cult. In the context of the Magic Mushroom Theory, the cargo was not delivered by any sea faring or space faring vessel, but was delivered to earth in the form of a tiny spore. This delivery was not initiated by exploration… rather it was delivered by migration. A migration of microscopic mushroom spores… drifting through space… across the unimaginable distances between stars… over unimaginable periods of time. Just as the coconut washes ashore upon a South Pacific archipelago, so does the extra-terrestrial agent of change "wash ashore” upon spaceship earth, carrying within its tiny spore, the precious cargo of intelligence.

Post Script: In contemplating our Magic Mushroom Theory, please keep in mind the fact that the truth is stranger than fiction.

Alan Moore, V (for vendetta) & Anarchy in the UK

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Thu, 17 May 2012 10:02:30 PDT

From comic strip to symbol of world rebellion, the V for Vendetta mask is an iconic images of our times. Channel 4 News takes author Alan Moore to meet some of the protesters he inspired...

- from Jan 11th by Channel4news

Occupy 2012

The May 12, 2012 occupy events marked the first anniversary of the Indignados movement in Spain (the precursor to Occupy) & signify a relaunch for the coalition of campaigners whose protests created huge attention in London, New York and elsewhere in 2011.

"It's time to hit the financial targets," said Ronan McNern from Occupy London. "If we're evicted, fine, but we'll come back. There will be comparison with what happened before, but we're in a different time and a different place."

It seems that those rascally London Occupiers are at it again! 2012 is gearing up to be a busy year. Here's what's next:

On the 22nd of May, 2012 #OccupyOil will be holding a funeral procession for Dutch Shell Oil. In a turnaround they are calling for the end of Shell’s destructive behavior throughout the world, from the west coast of Ireland to the Niger Delta.

Ten Things You Can Do to Sustain the Occupy Movement

Mother Earth Sentience

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:50:47 PDT

Earth Sentience?

surprise, surprise...

The Hunger Games Mythos

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Sun, 13 May 2012 10:07:48 PDT

Humans are many things, both fair and foul, but in our heart… at the core… we are essentially story tellers. The art of story telling has evolved with humanity. It arguably is the driving force of civilization. A good tale brings us together, illustrating our commonalities as a tribe or culture. It is what brought us around the campfires of old… it is what gathers us around luminous screens today. The ancient tales, the good ones, have stayed with and evolved with us.

In modern times, television and film producers wrack their brains trying to predict and produce a good tale… a tale that resonates with the public… a tale that “enchants” their target audience. In their minds, this equates with a box-office or Neilson Ratings hit… a financial success. They know that they need the right formula… the right ingredients (ie: sex, violence, product placement, storyline), in the right proportions… for commercial success.

But when does a film or series go beyond covering costs? Not in the sense (cents) of turning a profit, but in a deeper, more profound way. When does a story resonate with the heart and soul of a “critical mass” of the population, speaking to their psyche so that the true value of the story moves beyond profit, to act as a prophet? Again… the good tales, the ones that really matter, have stayed with and evolved with us. They may modernize periodically… trading in a leprechaun for an almond-eyed alien… to keep the magic fresh… but the good tales tell us who we are and where we’re going.

Based upon a young adult book by Suzanne Collins, the movie “The Hunger Games” became box office gold because it met all the criteria for being a good tale… one that really matters. First and foremost, The Hunger Games is good Science Fiction, touching upon several current hot-button trends. It is a cautionary tale of what might come to pass if these current socio/political trends, including trends in media, play out to their extreme conclusion.

Set in post-apocalyptic North America, the totalitarian nation “Panem” has risen from the ashes of the “Dark Days.” Ruling over Panem’s 12 districts, the Capitol district holds all the economic and political power. The annual event known as The Hunger Games serves as entertainment and tribute to the Capitol district, where one boy and one girl are picked from each district, to compete in a last man standing “reality show run amok” televised death match.

Public interest is peaked for each contestant via interviews and gala events, leading up to the actual game itself. Citizens of the Capitol, should they favor a contestant, can gift them with food and supplies during the game. In a future where the subjugation of the 12 districts (who act as resource extractive colonies to the Capitol) is not only televised but is required viewing… imperialistic exploitation, Big Brother and media manipulation is the inevitable outcome that this cautionary tale warns us of. Our contemporary 24 hour news cycle, that treats war as entertainment, has started down the road that leads to Panem.

The Hunger Games goes beyond Sci Fi, delving into the realm of mythology and archetypical imagery. Although the original idea for the Hunger Games came from “channel surfing” between news programs and reality TV, the story’s author, Suzanne Collins has indicated that she was inspired by Greek mythology, particularly by Theseus, the half god half human founder-king of ancient Athens. Collins described her story’s heroine, 16 year old “Katniss,” as a futuristic Theseus. It was Theseus who slew the Minotaur within the labyrinth built by Daedalus on the Isle of Crete, ruled by King Minos.

The story, steeped in Greek Mythology, conjures up still deeper, archetypical imagery. The indirect reference to the Minotaur suggests Taurus the bull, second astrological sign of the zodiac. The zodiac is an ancient celestial coordinate system that tracts the ecliptic, or apparent path of the Sun across the sky, over the course of the year. This ecliptic is divided into 12 distinct regions, whose dominant constellation was assigned a symbolic attribute or sign, by ancient astronomers. Katniss, whose weapon of choice in the Hunger Games is the bow and arrow, could be taken to depict Sagittarius the archer, ninth sign of the zodiac. Continuing on this thought, the 12 districts could be analogous to the 12 signs of the zodiac, encircling the Capitol district in their servitude.

Another interesting plot device in The Hunger Games is the vast discrepancy in wealth, technology, superfluous culture, etc. between the citizens of the Capitol District and that of the other districts. Watching the games from the overview of their technological Mt Olympus, the citizens of Capitol are as gods, watching the heroes who have journeyed to their realm… for their entertainment… partake in a battle to the death. Should they favor a specific hero, Capitol citizens can gift them with needed items, which magically appear before the hero, through technological wizardry. Thus do the bemused Gods provide boons to the intrepid combatant.

Katness the archer, the reluctant hero, wears many archetypical hats. She is both healer and warrior… the goddess Libertas… the great and fearful Kali, bringer of life and death. She can also be viewed as the sacrificial child… sent to the slaughter to appease the angry gods. As Sagittarius, she represents our dualistic nature… half human, half beast (Sagittarius is commonly depicted as a Centaur). Interestingly, Sagittarius is governed by the planet Jupiter within astrological cosmology. In Roman mythology, Jupiter is the ruler of the gods and their guardian and protector, and his symbol is the thunderbolt.

Much has been written concerning the symbolism in The Hunger Games trilogy. The curious need only google it to continue their investigations. Given the synchronistic power of the internet, there is no telling where such a search might lead. What is worthy of consideration is the relation between modern myth and the ancient ones. These stories are modernized and retold because they resonate with humanity. The characteristics and the moral of these tales reveal much about where we came from.

One thing for certain… the components of these retold mythologies… the gods and heroes… did not originate with the ancient Greeks. The Greeks, in turn modernized and re-packaged still more ancient tales that were handed down to them by their ancient predecessors… and they in turn by theirs… ad infinitum.

Radio Free Albemuth

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Fri, 04 May 2012 23:28:49 PDT

A Long Time Ago

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Wed, 02 May 2012 19:25:16 PDT

And in the land where I grew up
Into the bosom of technology
I kept my feelings to myself
Until the perfect moment comes

Then into your bloodstream I will go
Until I turn into a part of you
Flooding the garden of delights
That was a long, long time ago…
That was a long, long time ago...

And that roaring that you hear
Is only the blood that circles constantly
No it is not applause my dear
No, that was a long, long time ago…
That was a long, long time ago...

In between stations I can hear
A million possibilities
It's only the singing of the stars
That burned out a long, long time ago…
They burned out a long, long time ago.

- David Byrne

Apocalyptic Daze

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 13:06:10 PDT

L’Étoile Mystérieuse

As an asteroid hurtles toward Earth, terrified citizens pour into the streets of Brussels to stare at the mammoth object growing before their eyes. Soon, it will pass harmlessly by—but first, a strange old man, Professor Philippulus, dressed in a white sheet and wearing a long beard, appears, beating a gong and crying: “This is a punishment; repent, for the world is ending!”

We smile at the silliness of this scene from the Tintin comic strip L’Étoile Mystérieuse, published in Belgium in 1941. Yet it is also familiar, since so many people in both Europe and the United States have recently convinced themselves that the End is nigh. This depressing conviction may seem surprising, given that the West continues to enjoy an unparalleled standard of living. But Professor Philippulus has nevertheless managed to achieve power in governments, the media, and high places generally. Constantly, he spreads fear: of progress, of science, of demographics, of global warming, of technology, of food...

by: Pascal Bruckner… Read on @ City Journal.

Note: The above article’s opening paragraphs refer to a TinTin story by Belgian author Hergé. In researching this, we were synchronisticly surprised to find “L’Étoile Mystérieuse” or “The Shooting Star” to be a tale that originates off-world. The story begins with TinTin observing an “extra star” in the constellation Ursa Major. The star turns out to be a meteor, which sparks the messianic prophecy referenced in Bruckner’s article.

We were doubly surprised to find the cover of “The Shooting Star” to feature a gigantic Amanita muscaria mushroom sprouting out of the meteorite that reached earth, causing Earth’s flora and fauna to magically grow to incredible proportions. Once again we see the imagery of extra-terrestrial intelligence, in the form of a Magic (psychoactive) Mushroom… seeding Earth and interacting with earthling DNA to produce amazing terrestrial mutations.

Curiouser & Curiouser…

This article was brought to our attention by our friend and colleague, Dennis (aka: Agent 87).

She’s a Witch… Burn her!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:10:55 PDT

History has a way of repeating itself… Once again the Catholic Church is persecuting women for the heretical nature of how they practice their faith. Recent actions taken by the Holy See bring up metaphorical connotations of medieval and colonial witch hunts. The historical search for witches or evidence of witchcraft (often involving moral panic and mass hysteria) resulted in the infamous witchcraft trials, sanctioned by the Holy Roman Catholic Church. Witch hunts in Europe and North America occurred between 1480 and 1750… culminating in an estimated 45,000 executions of women, accused of witchcraft.

This time around, the Vatican is sanctioning the largest organization of nuns in the US… the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. The LCWR is a canonically approved membership organization which exists as a support system and corporate voice for leaders of institutes, or congregations, of women religious (Roman Catholic sisters) in the United States. This is by far the largest organization of nuns in the US, with a membership of over 45,000 women.

The Vatican has decreed that the nuns' organization “had 'radical feminist' tendencies and had not taken a strong enough stance in support of Catholic doctrine against women's ordination, ministering to homosexuals, and abortion and contraception.” The Vatican's Suspicions against the Conference date as far back as 1979 when its former leader, Sister Theresa Kane, appealed to Pope John Paul II to consider women's ordination.

In a statement, the presidency of the LCWR, which represents most of the US's 55,000 nuns, said it was ''stunned'' by the findings of the assessment, conducted by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Pope Benedict led before his election.

The LCWR announced this afternoon that the board of the group will meet in an "atmosphere of prayer, contemplation and dialogue" in May to discuss news that the Vatican has ordered it to revise its statutes and has appointed an archbishop to oversee the revision.

The announcement comes on the website of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which was the subject of the April 18 order from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and is signed by the group's president, president-elect, and past-president.

The statement says the national board of the group will meet from May 29-June 1 to "begin its discussion" on the matter… "The board will conduct its meeting in an atmosphere of prayer, contemplation and dialogue and will develop a plan to involve LCWR membership in similar processes," the statement continues. "The conference plans to move slowly, not rushing to judgment. We will engage in dialogue where possible and be open to the movement of the Holy Spirit. We ask your prayer for us and for the Church in this critical time."

...cooler heads.

Although no one has been burned at the stake… yet… the U.S. bishops appear to have become completely identified with right wing Christian politics in recent years. Now the Vatican has joined the current "war on women" that also is dominating the presidential race on the Republican side… shades of the Spanish Inquisition. As readers of this blog (and any scholar of tekgnostic literature) knows well… “Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition!” Amongst their weaponry are such diverse elements as fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope… and nice red uniforms!

Earth Day 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 09:47:38 PDT

Buckminster Fuller & Maharishi

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 11:47:27 PDT

Back in 1971, the University of Mass at Amherst was the site of a remarkable meeting between Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and R. Buckminster Fuller. “Bucky” Fuller was one of the key innovators in 20th century America. He was a celebrated and award-winning philosopher, visionary, inventor, architect, engineer, mathematician, poet, cosmologist, and was one of America’s first futurists and global thinkers.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, developed the Transcendental Meditation technique and was the leader and guru of the Transcendental Meditation movement.

Maharishi and Mr. Fuller came from different traditions of knowledge, but both talked about the universal basis of the life of the individual and cosmos. The following video provides precious archival footage of their meeting with the press...

More on Bucky Fuller here

Babylon Bandwidth

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:36:04 PDT

The human experience is, to an ever increasing extent, being mediated by various information technologies. Indeed, the last 500 years of human history has been defined by breakthroughs in media. The printing press, the telephone, motion pictures, television, personal computing & the internet, cell phones & wireless devices... and most recently social media... have all “come between” humans and their desired data. These information platforms deliver our “content” with ever increasing immediacy. As this content is now instantly made available, our attention turns to those in control of content and its flow.

Modern media, defined here as the communications, entertainment and advertising industries, are suspect in that they dictate the content being delivered to the public. Media moguls within the entertainment industry control content, who in turn are influenced by advertising agencies that (along with their clients) bankroll the production costs of entertainment programming. Communications companies deliver, via their networks and a tech-driven array of wireless gadgetry, data rich content, created to a great extent by the entertainment industry.

This powerful media triad... communications, entertainment and advertising... secure political favor through the power of the lobbying industry, which controls our government. As opposed to other powerful industries seeking influence over our government such as Big Oil, the media triad's commodity is essentially the manipulation of the content of people's minds. Seeing an opportunity, our government seeks a “Quid pro quo.” As such, these industries wield enormous power and influence and cannot be trusted by virtue of the age-old adage that absolute power, corrupts absolutely.

Take television. There is a reason why TV executives refer to shows they produce as “programming.” There is a reason why advertisers pay small fortunes for commercials and for product placement in films. Their intention is simple. They desire to program the masses to do their bidding. Overtly, they want the masses to buy their products... but covertly... they want the masses to think the way they want them to think. They want people to think like good consumers. These masters of the airwaves will stop at nothing to broadcast their disinformation... to impose their version of reality to suit their nefarious agenda. This deceptive content of control we label “Babylon Bandwidth.” Here is a subtle and formidable adversary.

There is, however a major outcome of this “content” that is not completely controlled by the media masters. This is the all-important phenomena known as “popular appeal.” Although each agency controls their individual output, it's relative success or failure is dependant upon how it is received by the public. To be effective, output must be popular. To be popular, it must resonate on a deeply emotional (perhaps even spiritual) level with the masses. Try as they might, the media masters cannot consistently predict or control popular appeal. Consequently, each individual media mogul is forced to react... to constantly re-adjust their messaging, in response to popular sentiment.

Popularity is an intangible and more importantly, an ineffable commodity. If enough people are enamored with a media phenomenon... for a long enough period of time... it becomes a trend. This is of course the “holy grail” of the media industry. Since advertising effectiveness and hence advertising revenue is dependant upon mass appeal, significant research and development resources are budgeted to study such trending. For this reason, the collective output of the media industry is significant on a cultural level, as it mirrors the culture being targeted.

Close examination of the combined collective output of modern media tells us much about our global citizenry. By virtue of what is being marketed to us, modern media reveals perceived trends in how we think, feel and react to events of consequence in our world. Indeed, it illuminates collective characteristics of our consensual reality… our collective consciousness, as reflected by the manipulations of the above mentioned media masters. In this regard, popularity of media output becomes an indicator of what resonates, what “grabs the attention” of specific, or in the words of the marketing magicians... “target” populations. By scrutinizing how we are being marketed to, we gain more insight into who we are as a culture.

By waking up to Babylon Bandwidth, we begin to understand the extent of media manipulation... we begin to realize “how deep the Rabbit-hole goes.”

Today, as information technology evolves more rapidly, the media masters begin to lose control of the medium. Social media has to a certain extent, de-centralized modern media, diluting Babylon Bandwidth's hypnotic power. The perceptive and vigilant citizen can, in effect, use modern media to their advantage by gleaning trends in the media-stream. In considering trends, specific pieces of media content lose importance. In the words of Marshall McLuhan... the medium is the message… a medium itself, not the content it carries, becomes the focal point of significance. Realization of these trends allow us to sharpen our predictive faculties in contemplating the future.

With this knowledge, we look for ways to “break the spell” that the black-media-magicians have cast upon a largely unsuspecting public. We look for the tools and opportunity to push back against mass media programming, while developing strategies to better prepare for an uncertain future. Given the revolutionary and game-changing potential that information technologies put in the hands of the individual, the outlook is increasingly in our favor... if we are willing to fight for it. We move to take personal responsibility for building a better tomorrow.

We do not expect assistance from institutions of the old paradigm. The old guard will hold on to power as tightly as they can… as they always do. Maybe this is the way it should be. For it is the responsibility of each generation to wrestle the ring of power from the gnarled hand of the old guard.

Come we go burn down Babylon one more time…

Men see their dreams and aspiration… a crumble in front of their face.
And all of their wicked intention… to destroy the human race.

With music… mek we chant down Babylon…

So come we go chant down Babylon…

Come we go chant down Babylon… one more time.

- Robert Marley

Eastre - kristos anesti!

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 11:28:49 PDT

Many, perhaps most, Pagan religions in the Mediterranean area had a major seasonal day of religious celebration at or following the Spring Equinox. Cybele, the Phrygian fertility goddess, had a consort, Attis, who was believed to have been born via a virgin birth. Attis was believed to have died and been resurrected each year during the period March 22 to March 25.

Cybele originated as an earth goddess worshipped in Asia Minor, primarily at Çatal Hüyük. She was known as Kubaba and was earliest depicted as an earth mother… in plump and heavy forms. The name may be derivative of the local word for cube and may refer to a black meteorite that was associated with her, giving Cybele a distinct extra-terrestrial origin. The black meteorite was adapted as the head of the cult statue. Cybele, like Artemis of Ephesus, was a "black virgin".

She was primarily associated with the concerns of women, protection against one's enemies, the healing of grave illnesses, guardianship of the dead, a granter of boons and a giver of the gift of prophecy.

"About 200 B.C. mystery cults began to appear in Rome just as they had earlier in

Greece

. Most notable was the Cybele cult centered on Vatican hill ...Associated with the Cybele cult was that of her lover, Attis (the older Tammuz, Osiris, Dionysus, or Orpheus under a new name). He was a god of ever-reviving vegetation. Born of a virgin, he died and was reborn annually. The festival began as a day of blood on Black Friday and culminated after three days in a day of rejoicing over the resurrection."

- Gerald L. Berry, author of "Religions of the World

Many religious historians and liberal theologians believe that the death and resurrection legends were first associated with Cybele’s consort, Attis… many centuries before the birth of Jesus. They were simply grafted onto stories of Jesus' life in order to make Christian theology more acceptable to Pagans. Later images of Attis show him as a shepherd, holding a shepherd’s crook or playing the panpipes.

Others suggest that many of the events in Jesus' life that were recorded in the gospels were lifted from the life of Krishna, the second person of the Hindu Trinity.

Ancient Christians had an alternative explanation; they claimed that Satan had created counterfeit deities in advance of the coming of Christ in order to confuse humanity. Modern-day Christians generally regard the Attis legend as being a Pagan myth of little value with no connection to Jesus. They regard Jesus' death and resurrection account as being true, and unrelated to the earlier tradition.

The early Christians were determined to destroy the cult and St Augustine condemns her as a "demon" and a "monster" and the Gallae were "madmen" and "castrated perverts". In the 4th century CE, Valentinian II officially banned the worship of Cybele, and many of her followers perished at the hands of zealous Christians.

Justinian continued the persecution of the cult and the Gallae. Under his reign, transgendered persons, and those indulging in same sex eroticism had their property confiscated, sacred texts burned, temples raised; they were tortured, forced to commit suicide, or burned alive. By the start of the 6th century CE, the Cult and the ancient Gallae were extinct. Elements of the cult were assimilated into Christianity in a manner similar to that of Isis. There is a much of Cybele and Isis in the Virgin Mary.

According to Gerald L. Berry, author of “Religions of the World” …the original “sacred site” of the Cybele Mystery Cult was located on what was to become The Vatican. It seems that the master of assimilation, the early church, saw fit to appropriate the sacred site for their Holy See, later to build the Vatican City right on top of the Pagan site. Apparently attempting to “steal the mojo” of the earlier mystery religion.

Wherever you go... there you are.

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 11:30:31 PDT

by Dave Coverly

Palm Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 12:41:44 PDT

The Sacred Palm

Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, riding upon an ass. In many lands in the ancient Near East, it was customary to cover in some way the path of someone thought worthy of the highest honour. Because of this, the scene of the crowd greeting Jesus by waving palms and carpeting his path with them and their cloaks has become symbolic and important.

The symbolism of the ass or donkey may refer to the ancient Eastern tradition that it is an animal of peace, versus the horse, which is the animal of war. Therefore, a king rides upon a horse when he was bent on war and rides upon a donkey when he wanted to point out he was coming in peace. Therefore, Jesus' entry to Jerusalem symbolized his entry as the Prince of Peace, not as a war-waging king.

The sacred tree in Assyrian mythology is a palm that symbolizes Ishtar connecting heaven, the crown of the tree, and earth, the base of the trunk. Palm stems represented long life to the Ancient Egyptians, and the god Huh was often shown holding a palm stem in one or both hands. The Kingdom of Nri (Igbo) used the "omu", a tender palm frond, to sacralize and restrain. The palm tree was a sacred sign of Apollo in Ancient Greece because he had been born under one in Delos. In ancient Mesopotamia, the date palm may have represented fertility in humans. The Mesopotamian goddess Inanna, who had a part in the sacred marriage ritual, considered herself the one who made the dates abundant.

Before the advent of paper, an early book form in the Indian subcontinent was the palm-leaf manuscript, known as pothi. It had a long and narrow horizontal format and was seldom more than 60 cm long and 6 cm high. Despite its diminutive size, it was a durable instrument for communicating Indian religious thought for over 2,000 years. The manuscript was intended to preserve and disseminate Indian sacred texts in the service of religion, as well as the great literary epics.

At one of the Fourth Buddhist Councils, convened in Sri Lanka in the 1st century BCE, the Tripitaka was written out on palm leaves. After centuries of being memorized and chanted, the Pali Canon finally existed as written text.

In 16th century Europe, Palm Sunday was marked by the burning of Jack-'o'-Lent figures. This was a straw effigy which would be stoned and abused. The effigy represented the hated figure of Winter whose destruction prepares the way for Spring.

The river so white, the mountain so red
and with the sunshine over my head
The honky-tonks are all closed and hushed

It looks like Palm Sunday again

The sky is so green, clouds of canary
Blood moon rise like a fat ripe cherry
Sunset quiet as a benediction
One true love, the rest is fiction

If I stay longer, trouble will find me
An epitaph and a sheet to wind me
A passable day for the least of men

It looks like Palm Sunday again

It must be Palm Sunday again…

- Robert Hunter

Cosmic Turtle

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:06:51 PDT

Some rise... some fall... some climb... to get to Terrapin.

A renowned philosopher was visiting the Tek-Gnostics temple. While he was admiring the abbey and surrounding grounds, he was granted an audience with the abbey’s headmaster, Sensei. After paying his respects, the philosopher asked the Holy Man the nature of the world, to which the old man replied…

"Oh, the world is a great big ball that sits on the great flat back of the Great World Turtle!"

The philosopher, who was prone to bouts of logic, thought a moment and then asked… "What does the turtle stand on?"

To this, Sensei replied… "Why on the back of an even larger turtle of course!"

Then the philosopher asked… "And what, pray tell, does this turtle stand on?"

The rascally old sage, taking pity on the philosopher, shook his head and sweetly smiled, saying:

"It's no use, my son; it is turtles… turtles… turtles… all the way out!"

In Hindu mythology, the terrapin, or turtle is nothing less than the foundation of universe. In the myth, the world is supported by four elephants that stand upon the shell of a great turtle…

Akupara is a tortoise in Hindu legends who carries the world on his back upholding the earth and sea.

In one Vedic myth, a great flood regularly occurs every four billion years and completely dissolves the earth. The god Vishnu then returns as his second avatar (or, earthly incarnation), the tortoise Kurma. On his back rests Mandara Mountain (the eastern mountain of the four buttresses of the World Mountain/Mt. Meru); it serves as the gods’ churning rod to remake the earth from the sea of milk.

Turtle Island is a term used by several Northeastern Woodland Native American tribes, especially the Haudenosaunee or Iroquois Confederacy, for the continent of North America.

The name Turtle Island is used today by many Native tribes, Native rights activists, and environmental activists, especially since the 1970s when the term came into wider usage. In a later essay, published in At Home on the Earth, Gary Snyder claimed this title as a term referring to North America that synthesizes both indigenous and colonizer cultures by translating the indigenous name into the colonizer's languages (the Spanish "Isla Tortuga" being proposed as a name as well). Snyder argues that understanding North America under the name of Turtle Island will help shift conceptions of the continent.

Referring to North America as Turtle Island suggests a view of North America not merely as a land "discovered" and colonized by Europeans and people of European descent, but as a land inhabited and stewarded by a collection of rich, diverse, and civilized peoples. a collection that may have room for both indigenous and colonizer cultures. This re-framing of the continent's identity is intended to bring about a better cohabitation of these two groups of people.

Finally... the term suggests to some interpreters a more holistic relationship between the continent's ecology and its human inhabitants, visualizing Turtle Island as an amalgamation of bioregions.

-from wikipedia

“I hold the most archaic values on earth ... the fertility of the soul, the magic of the animals, the power-vision in solitude.... the love and ecstasy of the dance, the common work of the tribe.”

“Find your place on the planet. Dig in, and take responsibility from there.”

- Gary Snyder

The Elephant in the Dark

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 15:03:54 PDT

The parable of the blind men and elephant is a perfect metaphor for the universe and for the physicists who try to grasp its larger shape: each man feels a part of the elephant and tries to visualize its overall essence: "It's a wall"; "It's a rope"; "a tree": they almost come to blows. The universe, even more than the elephant, is too big for any one perspective, and most of us are busy squabbling about some small part.

- Leonard Susskind

On the reconciliation of contrarieties

SOME Hindus had brought an elephant for exhibition and placed it in a dark house. Crowds of people were going into that dark place to see the beast. Finding that ocular inspection was impossible, each visitor felt it with his palm in the darkness…

The palm of one fell on the trunk. “This creature is like a water-spout,” he said.

The hand of another lighted on the elephant’s ear. To him the beast was evidently like a fan.

Another rubbed against its leg. “I found the elephant’s shape is like a pillar,” he said.

Another laid his hand on its back. “Certainly this elephant was like a throne,” he said.

The sensual eye is just like the palm of the hand. The palm has not the means of covering the whole of the beast. The eye of the Sea is one thing and the foam another. Let the foam go, and gaze with the eye of the Sea. Day and night foam-flecks are flung from the sea: oh amazing! You behold the foam but not the Sea. We are like boats dashing together; our eyes are darkened, yet we are in clear water.

- Rumi

Five Blind Men and an Elephant

- being by Reverend Loveshade,

(Episkopos of the Discordian Division of the Ek-sen-triks CluborGuild who ripped it off from the Hindus/Jainists)

One day five blind men, who knew nothing of elephants, went to examine one to find out what it was. Reaching out randomly each touched it in a different spot. One man touched the side, one an ear, one a leg, one a tusk, and one the trunk. Each satisfied that he now knew the true nature of the beast they all sat down to discuss it.

“We now know that the elephant is like a wall,” said the one who touched the side. “The evidence is conclusive.”

“I believe you are mistaken, sir," said the one who touched an ear. "The elephant is more like a large fan."

“You are both wrong,” said the leg man. “The creature is obviously like a tree.”

“A tree?” questioned the tusk toucher. “How can you mistake a spear for a tree?”

“What?” said the trunk feeler. “A spear is long and round, but anyone knows it doesn’t move. Couldn’t you feel the muscles? It’s definitely a type of snake! A blind man could see that!” said the fifth blind man.

The argument grew more heated, and finally escalated into a battle, for each of the five had followers. This became known as the Battle of the Five Armies (not to be mistaken for the one described by that Tolkien fellow).

However, before they could totally destroy themselves, a blind, self-declared Discordian oracle came along to see what all the fuss was about. While they were beating the crap out of each other, she examined the elephant. But instead of stopping after one feel, Eristotle touched the whole thing, including the tail, which felt like a rope. “It’s just a big animal with big sides, ears, feet, tusk teeth, nose and a skinny tail,” she thought. “What a bunch of fools these guys are.”

Then Eristotle said, “Stop! I have discovered the truth. I know who is right.”

She being an oracle and all, they stopped and listened and said, “tell us!”

“I have examined the elephant with mine own two hands,” she said, “and I find that you are all right.”

“How can this be?” they asked. “Can an elephant be a wall and a fan and a tree and a spear and a snake?” And they were sorely confused.

Eristotle explained “the elephant is a great Tree, and on this tree grow leaves like great Fans to give most wondrous shade and fan the breeze. And the branches of this tree are like Spears to protect it. For this is the Tree of Creation and of Eternal Life, and the Great Serpent hangs still upon it.

“Unfortunately, it is hidden behind a great Wall, which is why it was not discovered until this very day. It cannot be reached by normal means.

“However I, in my wisdom, have discovered a Most Holy Rope, by which the wall may be climbed. And if one touches the tree in the proper manner which I alone know, you will gain Eternal Life.”

They all became highly interested in this, of course.

Eristotle then named an extremely high price for her services (Eternal Life doesn’t come cheap), and made quite a bundle.

Moral: Anyone can lead blind men to an elephant, but a Discordian can charge admission.

Further Tales of Discordianism

AAT: Deeper… Weirder… (pt 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:25:40 PDT

Ultra-terrestrials

In part one of our Ancient Astronaut Theory series: AAT: Are the World’s Religions Cargo Cults? ...we “broke ground” on AAT by highlighting the basic premise of the theory that humanity was “seeded” in its cultural infancy by highly advanced extra-terrestrial beings. This seeding was achieved physically by actual contact and interaction by said beings… beings that were taken for “Gods” by our ancestors. We looked at evidence from around the world in support of this theory, as well as possible responses our ancestors may have had to such contact.

We examined more recent examples of an isolated culture that had made “first contact,” with a (supposedly) more highly advanced, interloping culture. The ritualized reaction of Polynesian natives toward the industrialized western world provides insight as to how we might react to extra-terrestrial contact. In considering the Polynesian response, we have the luxury of examining an instance of clashing cultures… both of terrestrial origin. It has not been until the modern era that such a vast disparity in technologies has allowed for such a perspective.

But what if such a great disparity between earthling cultures and technologies did exist in our distant past? What if an even greater technological discrepancy exists today, not between us and some isolated indigenous tribe, but between us and a highly advanced, globally intact yet undetectable earthling culture? A culture so advanced, that it demonstrates Arthur C. Clark’s third law that states: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Such is the concept of ultra-terrestrial theory (UTT).

The idea of a pan-global, millennia old, technologically advanced civilization that has for reasons of their own remained hidden from most, if not all of humanity, seems unlikely at first glance. But in comparison to AAT considered in part one, UTT would answer or “fit” all of the same criteria concerning humanity’s amazing feats of antiquity and mythological similarity, as well as solve the insurmountable challenges of physical inter-stellar space travel. UFOs of earthly, ultra-terrestrial origin would not have to contend with the unfathomable distances between star systems.

In light of UTT, mythological and religious accounts of contact with “The Gods” are still within the realm of logic, albeit slightly weirder. Consider the biblical Nephilim, referenced in part one…

The Nephilim (plural) are (1) the offspring of the "sons of God" and the "daughters of men." or (2) “giants” who inhabit Canaan. Etymology: "Nephilim" (נְפִילִים) probably derives from the Hebrew root npl (נָפַל), "to fall" which also includes: "to cause to fall" and "to kill, to ruin."

The “sons of God” who fathered the hybrid Nephilim, are referred to as “fallen ones” throughout ancient biblical literature. In difference to the connotation that the fallen ones are analogous to “fallen angels” (AKA; Lucifer, et al), a more literal interpretation can be considered. Use of the term the fallen ones, or simply “the fallen” by our ancestors may have actually been referencing a fallen empire or civilization, similar to how we refer to the fall of the Roman Empire today. Additionally, the Book of Enoch connects the Nephilim directly to the egrḗgoroi, translated as “the watchers.”

In the Book of Enoch, the egrḗgoroi are originally assigned to watch over humanity, but become covetous of earth women. They eventually proceed to not only procreate, but illicitly instruct humans, teaching them in arts and technologies such as weaponry, sorcery, and other techniques, thereby greatly accelerating humanity’s technological development. In light of this, the watchers can be viewed as part of a “mother culture” of terrestrial origin… representatives or perhaps remnants a pan-global, technologically advanced civilization.

This concept raises similarities to other ancient mythologies such as tales of the lost continent of Atlantis and/or Lemuria. In an earlier post, we examined the Lemurian mythos as it pertained to their secret base, hidden deep inside Mount Shasta, located in northern California. The notion of a technologically advanced, remnant group of “watchers,” living within snow-clad mountains is repeated around the globe. Madam Blavatsky’s 19th century Theosophical Society had their Masters of the Ancient Wisdom, a highly evolved body of teachers (Mahatmas). Blavatsky’s Mahatmas were not considered disembodied beings, but highly evolved earthlings involved in overseeing the spiritual growth of individual humans and the development of civilizations.

Other spiritualist luminaries of the era who incorporated the concept of “ascended masters” in their mythic systems include: Aleister Crowley (Thelema), Alice A. Bailey (New Group of World Servers), Geraldine Innocente (The Bridge to Freedom), Elizabeth Clare Prophet (Church Universal and Triumphant), Benjamin Creme (Share International) and last but not least: Guy Ballard. In 1930, Ballard was hiking on Mount Shasta when he encountered a being that identified himself as the ascended master, Saint Germain, resulting in the creation of the “I AM” Activity. All of the spiritualists listed above share the “adepts residing within high-mountain sanctuaries” motif.

The ascended masters mythology “blurs” the boundary between technology and magic… between science and spiritualism. But, given Clark’s third law, mentioned above, perhaps the distance between the two are not that great… perhaps there is no boundary.

A highly advanced “mother culture” civilization, having “fallen” from it’s height of power, covertly watching and assisting a more primitive population… technologically answers the questions concerning the rapid development of prehistoric cultures, raised in ancient astronaut theory. A spiritually advanced counsel of ascended “Mahatmas” or masters, guiding early humanity, may answer the same questions… from a different perspective. Perhaps a pan-global, millennia old, technologically advanced civilization as opposed to an ancient world-wide order of illuminated mystic masters… are, in reality, one and the same entity. The perceived differences only reflect the different world views and sophistication of understanding of those who came in contact with said entity. After all… reality is in the eye of the beholder.

In our next installment, we will examine more closely one of our favorite mythologies of extra-terrestrial contact and communication… microbial interstellar migration and intelligence seeding. Until then… keep your eye on the sky and… don’t believe everything you think!

The Eight Ox Herding Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 14:48:30 PDT

One – In search of the Ox

Alone in the wilderness, lost in the woods, the tekgnostic is searching… searching!
The swelling waters, the far-away mountains, and the unending path.
Exhausted and in despair, he knows not where to go,
he only hears the evening cicadas singing in the woods.

Two – Discovery of Footprints

By the stream and under the trees, scattered are the tracks of the mystery.

The sweet-scented grasses are growing thick… did he find the way?
However remote over the hills and far away the beast may wander,
his nose reaches the heavens and none can conceal it.

Three – Perceiving the Ox

On a yonder branch perches a nightingale cheerfully singing.
The sun is warm, and a soothing breeze blows, on the bank the willows are green.
The ox is there… solitary, nowhere can he hide himself.
The splendid head decorated with stately horns… what artist could reproduce him?

Four – Taking the Ox by the Horns

With the energy of his whole being, the tekgnostic has at last taken hold of the ox.
But how wild his will, how ungovernable his power!
At times he struts up a plateau...
When lo! he is lost again in a misty impenetrable mountain-pass.

Five – Taming the Ox

The tekgnostic is not to separate himself from his tether,
lest the animal should wander away into a world of defilements.
When the ox is properly tended to, he will grow pure and quiet.
Without a chain, nothing binding, he will by himself follow the tekgnostic.

Six – Riding the Ox Home

Riding on the animal, the tekgnostic leisurely wends his way home.
Enveloped in the evening mist, how tunefully the flute vanishes away!
Singing a ditty, beating time, his heart is filled with a joy indescribable!
That he is now among those who know, need it be told?

Seven – Ox and tekgnostic Transcend

All is empty… the tether, the tekgnostic and the ox.
Who can ever survey the vastness of heaven?
Over the furnace burning ablaze, not a flake of snow can fall.
When this state of things obtains, manifest is the spirit of the ancient master.

Eight – The Source

To return to the Origin, to be back at the Source… already a false step this!
Far better it is to stay at home… blind and deaf… and without much ado.
Sitting in the hut, the tekgnostic takes no cognizance of things outside.
Behold the stream flowing… whither nobody knows…

and the flowers vividly red… for whom do they bloom?

There is no need for the miraculous power of the gods…
For the ancient master touches, and lo! …the dead trees are in full bloom.

The Illuminati vs. the Gnostics

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 11:11:04 PST

The very mention of the term Illuminati conjures up a broad spectrum of speculative imagery. Depending on the world view or the “eye of the beholder” such imagery could be anything from… a sinister cabal, hell-bent on world domination… to an ancient order of illuminated mystics… to a wing-nut’s delusional phantasm.

The following excerpt was written by Uri Dowbenko. There are those who would question Uri’s ability to objectively report on the clandestine activities of those dastardly evil-doers. In fact, those same detractors question Uri’s very grasp on reality. They dismiss and marginalize him as a crackpot Mad (tinfoil) Hatter, not to be taken seriously… which is precisely what “they” want you to think!

We realize that the subject of the illuminati is taken very sirius-ly in some circles. With that said, we found Uri’s hypothesis of a schism between the ancient Gnostic Mysteries and The Illuminati is an intriguing proposition that is of immense entertainment value… which is how we approach conspiracy theory in general and the illuminati in particular… as entertainment.

The word “illuminati” has become a catch-all term for the de-facto Rulers of Planet Earth. Illuminati originally meant "the enlightened ones" in Latin, and it refers to those who vie to control the political, economic and social infrastructures of the planet.

Comparative mythologist John Lamb Lash, a self-described authority on Gnosticism and esoteric traditions, is the author of the book "Not In His Image: Gnostic Vision, Sacred Ecology and the Future of Belief." The Mystery Schools were pre-Christian mystical communities that were in effect educational centers with libraries and workshops amid a vibrant cultural life. According to Lash, Mystery School adepts (so-called Gnostics) were originally members of the Magian order of shaman-initiates whose purpose was to guide humanity as teacher-mystics in pursuit of spiritual/ human evolution.

The controversy began when certain initiates of the Mystery Schools began to abuse their mystical knowledge and redirect it into behavioral manipulation, psychological programming and mind control technology. In essence, the Illuminati gave up their role as teachers to become social engineers and advisors to the Ruling Class. This coincided with the rise of the patriarchal Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Islam and Christianity, which also required techniques of mind control to keep their followers ("believers") in line.

"Around 4000 BCE with the rise of urban civilization in the Near East, some members of the Magian order chose to apply certain secrets of initiation to statecraft and social engineering," writes Lash, describing the spiritual devolution of the Kali Yuga. "They became the advisors to the first theocrats of the patriarchal nation-states, but in fact the advisors were running the show. Their subjects were systematically programmed to believe they were descended from the gods," continues Lash. "The Illuminati inaugurated elaborate rites of empowerment, or kingship rituals. These rituals were in fact methods of mind control exercised on the general populace through the collective symbology and mystique of royal authority."

Civilization -- the Civil Lie in Action -- needed an iron fist in a velvet glove from the beginning, and the Illuminati were there to ensure compliance. "Kingship rituals were distinct from the rites of initiation that led to instruction by the Light and consecration to the Great Goddess," writes Lash. "Their purpose was not education and enlightenment but social management."

The control freak tendencies of the Illuminati are evident everywhere now, as their failure in managing the world financial system is rushing the planet headlong into economic collapse.

"Gnostics refrained from assuming any role in politics because their intention was not to change society, but to produce skilled, well-balanced, enlightened individuals who would create a society good enough that it did not need to be run by external management," Lash continues. "The intention of the dissident Magians (Illuminati) to run society by covert controls was based on their assumption that human beings are not innately good enough, or gifted enough, to create a humane world." Of course Lash is being too "liberal" in labeling the Illuminati as "dissident" since their spiritual betrayal in the Mystery School was more of a bitch slap to Gaia, than the red flag of a covert rebellion.

"The difference in views of human potential was the main force that precipitated the division of the Magians," writes Lash, meaning that the judgmental arrogance of the Illuminati who believed they were indispensable, even as they think they're nothing less than "God's gift to mankind.: "It's simple enough to see that this mind set would develop the hierarchal structures in society today," Lash continues.

True enough. The so-called Global Elite keep the planet under control utilizing Illuminati Gofers… AKA: politicians, military personnel, police officers, and religious leaders… whose function is to be the shepherds of society, guarding the sheep... until they're ready for slaughter in their endless wars and intertribal rivalries.

People who behave as sheep, or so-called "sheople," are always the ones who suffer the most because of their programming. Meanwhile the Illuminati Gofers pretend that this is the way it's supposed to be. This long-standing ideological disagreement in the Mystery Schools has, it appears, resulted in the gross inequities of life on Planet Earth. "The Illuminati program was (and still is) essential to patriarchy and its cover, perpetrator religion," writes Lash, describing the global conspiracy which has conquered the world.

"While it cannot be exactly said that the deviant adepts known as Illuminati created patriarchy, they certainly controlled it," continues Lash. "And still do. The abuse of initiatory knowledge to induce schizophrenic states ('entrainment'), manipulate multiple personalities in the same person ('platforming'), and command behavior through post-hypnotic suggestion (The Manchurian Candidate technique) continues to this day, with truly evil consequences for the entire world."

Attempting to disentangle the erroneous idea that Gnostics and Illuminati refer to the same characters, Lash writes: "If we accept that the Mysteries were schools for Gaian co-evolution dedicated to the Goddess Sophia, they could not have been run by the Illuminati, as some contemporary writers (who believe they are exposing the Illuminati) have supposed. Everything the Gnostics did in the schools was intended to counterbalance and correct the machinations of the deviant adepts."

Right intent once again becomes critical and the radical difference in ideology between the Gnostics and the Illuminati become self-evident. "Initiation involved melting ego boundaries in preparation for deep rapport with nature, not lowering the ego consciousness, so that the subject could be behaviorally programmed using the power of suggestion, imprinting and other psycho-dramatic methods. These behavioral modification tools of the Illuminati were strictly forbidden in the Mysteries overseen by the Gnostics."

The metaphysical perverts known as the Illuminati have structured today's society to reflect the manipulation of humankind through religious belief systems, political affiliations as well as the non-stop onslaught of media programming known as "news" and "entertainment."

The Defeat of the Illuminati
As renegades from the Mystery Schools who betrayed the Mysteries and subverted Gnosis ("Knowledge"), the Illuminati’s plan to divide, conquer and rule the world has worked quite well because people are easily programmed into belief systems contrary to their own welfare. As Lash notes, "Skilled in theology and dialectical argument, the Gnostics were able to refute fanatical beliefs, but unable to protect themselves against the violence driven by those beliefs." In other words Judeo-Christian Annihilation & Apocalyptic Theology sponsored by the Illuminati was responsible for the destruction of the Mystery Schools and the murder of the Gnostics, who were no match for those who perceived the Gnostics as a threat to their planetary dominion.

"Not only were the gnostokoi like [the female philosophy teacher] Hypatia [who was murdered by the Church] apolitical, they deliberately refrained from involvement in politics in order to dissociate themselves from the other type of initiates, the Illuminati who had been enmeshed in patriarchal and theocratic power games from their outset," Lash concludes.

The Illuminati may be considered to be apostate Gnostics who abandoned their role of enlightening humankind in order to reap the benefits and entitlements of the Ruling Class. Now as before… the Illuminati continue to move towards their goal -- a feverish dream of world domination culminating in the so-called New World Order (One World Government), which simply means Global Techno-Feudalism. This has always been Metaphysical Warfare. And humankind's choice is once again -- Freedom or Slavery.

- written by Uri Dowbenko, originally published here: http://www.newdawnmagazine.com/articles/the-illuminati-renegades-of-the-mystery-schools

AAT: Are the World’s Religions Cargo Cults? (pt 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:25:21 PDT

Cargo Cult

After the Second World War, Western anthropologists began investigating a strange religion that had developed on numerous archipelagos in the South Pacific. Island populations that had come in contact with technologically advanced cultures (sea-faring Europeans), had developed elaborate religious ritual intended to magically procure the power and wealth of these intruding cultures. This power and wealth was evidenced by the cargo that emerged from the holds of the European ships anchored off-shore.

These island religions became known to western anthropologists as Cargo Cults. The cargo cults held the belief that if the proper rituals were performed, if the proper rites were observed, shipments of wealth would be delivered to them… from the west… the land of the dead.

The islanders believed that the Cargo in the holds of the European ships was rightfully theirs and had been sent by their ancestors. Such beliefs were consistent with the islander’s folklore and mythologies.

“First Contact” with Westerners began in the 1800’s. From the perspective of the islanders, arriving trading ships seemed to verify ancient tribal legends. These legends spoke of distant ancestor-gods who had journeyed to the west. Island prophecy held that they would someday return. The West was thought to be the land of the dead... the land of their ancestors. When the trading ships first sailed into the South Pacific, they came from the west… and they were pale skinned… just as the islanders would expect of emissaries coming from the land of the dead. The pre-existing indigenous tradition of the inter-tribal exchange of objects of wealth was integral to the evolving belief that the ancestors and deities were responsible for the arrival of cargo ships.

The wide-spread popularity of the cargo cults peaked after World War II when the military presence of Japan and the United States faded. By this time, airplanes replaced ships as the vehicles of cargo delivery. Island populations, who had experienced the massive influx of the advanced cultures and their associated cargo, sought ritualistic means to re-establish the flow of cargo that disappeared with military withdrawal. The Cargo Cult practitioners built replicas of airplanes and landing strips, even radio equipment… imitating sounds associated with airplanes… in their attempt to re-activate the shipment of cargo.

The cargo cult phenomenon, as a religious practice, has appeared in many traditional pre-industrial tribal societies in the wake of interaction with technologically advanced cultures. Although not as well documented, similar behaviors have appeared elsewhere in the world… elsewhere in the distant past.

Earth’s history of empirical expansion tells us that when one culture is significantly more technologically advanced than the other, the more advanced culture will be favored by the inevitable disruptive nature of first contact, often with dire consequences for the less technologically advanced society. And so it goes…

Ancient Astronaut Theory

Just as with the archipelagos of the South Pacific, speculative alt-history theorists such as Erich von Däniken have proposed that highly advanced extraterrestrial beings have visited Earth in its antiquity and made “first contact” with our distant ancestors. Such visitors have been popularly labeled ancient astronauts. Proponents suggest that this contact influenced the development of human cultures, technologies and religions. Central to this theory is the assertion that the myriad deities from most (if not all) religions actually were extraterrestrials and that their advanced technologies were interpreted as evidence of their divinity.

According to ancient astronaut theory (AAT), the apparently miraculous achievements of antiquity… such as the construction of the great pyramids in Egypt and Central America, the Moai stone heads of Easter Island and the Nazca lines of Peru… are remnant examples of this ancient intervention. Per this theory, all prehistoric knowledge, religion, and culture either came directly from extraterrestrial visitors, or were developed as a result of the influence of a cultural incubator or “mother culture" of extra-terrestrial origin.

In regard to scientific rigor, ancient astronaut theorists rely primarily on circumstantial evidence of ancient art, craftwork and legend, which they interpret as depicting extraterrestrial technologies and/or contact. Certain curious artifacts of prehistory have been identified as part of the body of evidence in support of AAT… such as the “Saqqara Bird” excavated in the Pa-di-Imen tomb, in Egypt in 1898. This bird-shaped artifact has been carbon-dated to 200 BCE and is speculated to demonstrate that the ancient Egyptians possessed knowledge of advanced aviation principles.

Artifacts from the Americas are also popularly sited by proponents of AAT as having been inspired by extra-terrestrial contact. Multiple Pre Columbian Inca artifacts that were unearthed in excavations in Central and South America look surprisingly similar to modern space shuttles. These tiny gold-carved amulets are estimated to belong to a period between 500 and 800 CE… well over 1000 years old. Traditional archaeologists initially assumed these figurines to be zoomorphic or animal shaped talismans.

These artifacts are compelling in that they spark imaginative speculation as to the purpose or intent of those who created them over a millennium ago. As compelling as these objects are… it is the legends and mythologies of the ancients that provide true insight into their world view. Much of this evidence focuses on descriptions of interaction with “the gods” as told through key passages of early religious texts. Ancient creation myths of gods descending from the heavens… interacting or even interbreeding with early humans, reveals intriguing aspects of how early humans viewed themselves, their world and their place in the grand scheme of the cosmos.

Ancient Mythologies

The 5th Century BCE Sanskrit text, the Ramayana, is one of two great itihāsa, or historic narrative/teaching epics from India and Nepal. Throughout this epic, the gods routinely travel in transport craft called Vimanas. It is not much of an intellectual stretch to compare these “flying cars” or “chariots of the gods” with modern depictions of aircraft, spacecraft or UFOs. Here is a passage from the Ramayana:

“The Pushpaka (flowery vimana) chariot that resembles the Sun and belongs to my brother was brought by the powerful Ravana; that aerial and excellent chariot going everywhere at will… that chariot resembling a bright cloud in the sky... and the King (Rama) got in, and the excellent chariot at the command of the Raghira, rose up into the higher atmosphere.”

Such verbiage, from a modern perspective, certainly seems to describe advanced aircraft, if not spacecraft. What is intriguing however, is the etymology of the word vimana. In addition to meaning a flying chariot, vimana also refers to… (a) God’s flying palace… (b) the palace of the supreme monarch… (c) a pyramid shaped temple. And finally, vimana refers to… the science of correct or proportionate measurement of remedies and medicines. The original Sanskrit: vi-māna literally translates to: traversing or having been measured out. Chariots of the gods… abode of the gods… ancient medicinal metric systems… all could be associated with an extra-ordinary if not divine source or "mother culture."

No discussion of AAT is complete without mentioning the Biblical Old Testament… Book of Ezekiel, chapter 1, in which Ezekiel exclaims:

“And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.”

Ezekiel goes on to describe four winged humanoids, each with four faces (man, lion, ox and eagle) who emerge from a vehicle (or vehicles) that Ezekiel famously describes as wheels within wheels:

“The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.”

“As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them. And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.”

Particularly interesting is Ezekiel’s description of the “rings of eyes” which, if taken as a literal description, conjures up all sorts of imaginative visuals. The Book of Genesis refers to the ancient hybrid “Nephilim”, or offspring of the "sons of God" and the "daughters of men" …which raises the notion of extra-terrestrials having sex with earth women… imaginative visuals indeed.

The Abrahamic religion’s mythologies are chuck-full of such lusty imagery… lusty and violent. It was Abraham… the legendary founder of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, who made “first contact” with other-worldly voices… voices who commanded him to kill his son, Isaac. As Abraham prepares to do the deed… the voices (God) stops him at the last moment, declaring… “Now I know you fear God.” Kill his son, for Christ’s sake! No wonder the ancient Gnostics thought that the God of the Bible was crazy.

Alien Cargo

There are many more such examples of ancient artifacts, megalithic sites or structures and mythologies that, despite main-stream scientific scrutiny and repudiation, lend themselves quite nicely to circumstantial support of AAT. Taken as a whole, AAT paints an intriguing and somewhat logical narrative concerning the origins of human technology and cosmology. If we hypothetically accept the theory of a global mother culture of extra-terrestrial origin, then all the diverse creation myths around the planet, all the interaction with the gods, take on an eerie commonality. As wildly different as the myths of the various cultures of antiquity are, they could all “fit” within AAT’s global premise.

From this perspective… all of Earth’s ancient cultures… Egyptian, Sumerian, Incan, Mayan, etc… take on the attributes of a cargo cult. All continents on the planet… China, Africa, the Indian sub-continent, the Americas… have myths and artifacts that could have literally come from the holds of an ancient interstellar spacecraft. Mythic objects like the “Ark of the Covenant” suddenly become ancient alien technology… in the hands of the natives. Precious cargo and contact, that inspired “tales of wonder” in the minds of the locals. Over time, tales became legend, legends became myth, myths were collated and categorized into religions.

The trouble is, this theory is too convenient… too simplistic a solution to, not only humanity’s origins, but the very real question of pre-historic extra-terrestrial interaction on Earth. There are other, exotic and creative (both literal and figurative) theories that seek to answer the question of the explosion of intelligence and technology that occurred on Earth 10,000 years ago. Theories such as the concept of “Ultra-Terrestrial” interaction and guidance… microbial interstellar migration and seeding… just to give two examples.

In part two of this series, we shall delve a little deeper into these and other options as they pertain to mankind, as well as planetary evolution. Feel free to make suggestions, offer other examples, alternative theories or otherwise leave comments. Your input, dear reader, is always welcome. Stay tuned…

Instructions for the Kali Yuga

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:10:32 PST

Kali Yuga (Devanāgarī: कलियुग, lit. "age of the demon” or "age of vice") is the last of the four stages the world goes through as part of the cycle of Yugas described in the Indian scriptures. Yugas are vast periods of time… epoch’s that relate to the Earth’s journey around a cosmological central sun. The other ages are Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga and Dvapara Yuga. According to Hindu cosmology, all life in universe is created, sustained and destroyed once every 4.1 to 8.2 billion years, which is one full day (day and night) for Brahma, God of Creation.

One of the most interesting “harmonic coincidences” in relation to the Kali Yuga, is the similarity between the start dates of the fourth and final Yuga and the last long count cycle of the Mayan Calendar system.

Most Mayan Calendar researchers are aware of the 3114 BCE start date of the current long count cycle, less people are aware however that the Kali Yuga, a predicted era of moral decent and spiritual bleakness, began in the year 3102 BCE... a startling similarity. There is a mere 12 years difference for systems on different sides of the planet. The Brahma Vaivarta Purana Sutra, from ancient India depicts a period which has many of the failings visible in our modern society. Such is the backdrop of the spiritual decline in the Kali Yuga… and the following excerpt from that great Tek-Gnostic Saint, Hakim Bey.

(sourced from Wikipedia & 2012 Rising dot com)

Instructions for the Kali Yuga

Annotated Edition – written by Hakim Bey

The Kali Yuga still has 200,000 or so years to play--good news for advocates & avatars of CHAOS, bad news for Brahmins, Yahwists, bureaucrat-gods & their running-dogs.

I knew Darjeeling hid something for me soon as I heard the name--dorje ling--Thunderbolt City. In 1969 I arrived just before the monsoons. Old British hill station, summer headquarters for Govt. of Bengal--streets in the form of winding wood staircases, the Mall with a View of Sikkim & Mt. Katchenhunga--Tibetan temples & refugees--beautiful yellow-porcelain people called Lepchas (the real abo's)--Hindus, Moslems, Nepalese & Bhutanese Buddhists, & decaying Brits who lost their way home in '47, still running musty banks & tea-shoppes.

Met Ganesh Baba, fat white-bearded saddhu with overly-impeccable Oxford accent--never saw anyone smoke so much ganja, chillam after chillam full, then we'd wander the streets while he played ball with shrieking kids or picked fights in the bazaar, chasing after terrified clerks with his umbrella, then roaring with laughter.

He introduced me to Sri Kamanaransan Biswas, a tiny wispy middleage Bengali government clerk in a shabby suit, who offered to teach me Tantra. Mr. Biswas lived in a tiny bungalow perched on a steep pine-tree misty hillside, where I visited him daily with pints of cheap brandy for puja & tippling--he encouraged me to smoke while we talked, since ganja too is sacred to Kali.

Mr. Biswas in his wild youth was a member of the Bengali Terrorist Party, which included both, Kali worshippers & heretic Moslem mystics as well as anarchists & extreme leftists. Ganesh Baba seemed to approve of this secret past, as if it were a sign of Mr. Biswas's hidden tantrika strength, despite his outward seedy mild appearance.

We discussed my readings in Sir John Woodruffe ("Arthur Avalon") each afternoon, I walked there thru cold summer fogs, Tibetan spirit-traps flapping in the soaked breeze loomed out of the mist & cedars. We practiced the Tara-mantra and Tara-mudra (or Yoni-mudra), and studied the Tara-yantra diagram for magical purposes. Once we visited a temple to the Hindu Mars (like ours, both planet & war-god) where he bought a finger-ring made from an iron horseshoe nail & gave it to me. More brandy & ganja.

Tara: one of the forms of Kali, very similar in attributes: dwarfish, naked, four-armed with weapons, dancing on dead Shiva, necklace of skulls or severed heads, tongue dripping blood, skin a deep blue-grey the precise color of monsoon clouds. Every day more rain--mud-slides blocking roads. My Border Area Permit expires. Mr. Biswas & I descend the slick wet Himalayas by jeep & train down to his ancestral city, Siliguri in the flat Bengali plains where the Ganges fingers into a sodden viridescent delta.

Headwaters of the Ganges River

We visit his wife in the hospital. Last year a flood drowned Siliguri killing tens of thousands. Cholera broke out, the city's a wreck, algae-stained & ruined, the hospital's halls still caked with slime, blood, vomit, the liquids of death. She sits silent on her bed glaring unblinking at hideous fates. Dark side of the goddess. He gives me a colored lithograph of Tara which miraculously floated above the water & was saved.

Downriver...

That night we attend some ceremony at the local Kali-temple, a modest half-ruined little roadside shrine--torchlight the only illumination--chanting & drums with strange, almost African syncopation, totally unclassical, primordial & yet insanely complex. We drink, we smoke.

Alone in the cemetery, next to a half-burnt corpse, I'm initiated into Tara Tantra. Next day, feverish & spaced-out, I say farewell & set out for Assam, to the great temple of Shakti's yoni in Gauhati, just in time for the annual festival. Assam is forbidden territory & I have no permit. Midnight in Gauhati I sneak off the train, back down the tracks thru rain & mud up to my knees & total darkness, blunder at last into the city & find a bug-ridden hotel. Sick as a dog by this time. No sleep.

In the morning… bus up to the temple on a nearby mountain. Huge towers, pullulating deities, courtyards, outbuildings--hundreds of thousands of pilgrims--weird saddhus down from their ice-caves squatting on tiger skins & chanting. Sheep & doves are being slaughtered by the thousands, a real hecatomb--(not another white sahib in sight)--gutters running inch-deep in blood--curve-bladed Kali-swords chop chop chop, dead heads plocking onto the slippery cobblestones.

When Shiva chopped Shakti into 53 pieces & scattered them over the whole Ganges basin, her cunt fell here. Some friendly priests speak English & help me find the cave where Yoni's on display. By this time I know I'm seriously sick, but determined to finish the ritual. A herd of pilgrims (all at least one head shorter than me) literally engulfs me like an undertow-wave at the beach, & hurls me suspended down suffocating winding troglodyte stairs into claustrophobic womb-cave where I swirl nauseated & hallucinating toward a shapeless cone meteorite smeared in centuries of ghee & ochre. The herd parts for me, allows me to throw a garland of jasmine over the yoni.

A week later in Kathmandu I enter the German Missionary Hospital (for a month) with hepatitis. A small price to pay for all that knowledge--the liver of some retired colonel from a Kipling story!--but I know her, I know Kali. Yes absolutely the archetype of all that horror, yet for those who know, she becomes the generous mother. Later in a cave in the jungle above Rishikish I meditated on Tara for several days (with mantra, yantra, mudra, incense, & flowers) & returned to the serenity of Darjeeling, its beneficent visions.

Her age must contain horrors, for most of us cannot understand her or reach beyond the necklace of skulls to the garland of jasmine, knowing in what sense they are the same. To go thru CHAOS, to ride it like a tiger, to embrace it (even sexually) & absorb some of its shakti, its life-juice--this is the Path of Kali Yuga. Creative nihilism. For those who follow it she promises enlightenment & even wealth, a share of her temporal power.

The sexuality & violence serve as metaphors in a poem which acts directly on consciousness through the Image-ination - or else in the correct circumstances they can be openly deployed & enjoyed, embued with a sense of the holiness of every thing from ecstasy & wine to garbage & corpses.

~ Fin ~

Eight Easy Steps - Part One

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:15:08 PST

Tek-Gnostics Media, in association with our fledgling animation production company, Paxar Animation Studios, is pleased to present our first animated short… How to Achieve Cosmic Consciousness in Eight Easy Steps.

In this four-part video series, Paxar’s animators illuminate the ancient Hindu Tantra known as the "Eight Circuit Model” of neurologic development. This system was popularized in the West by Timothy Leary, Ph.D and (one of our favorite authors) Robert Anton Wilson. Part one of this series provides an introduction to this curious and enigmatic artifact.

Presented by Tek-Gnostics’ rascally avatar, Sensei… the path to understanding the Eight Circuit model of consciousness has never been simpler… Now you too can achieve Cosmic Consciousness in eight easy steps!

Mardi Gras 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:46:04 PST

Fat Tuesday - New Orleans, Louisiana USA

Laissez les bon temps rouller!!!

Mardi Gras & the Illuminati

The Idiot

noreply@blogger.com (Sensei) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 16:10:31 PST

Eliminate logic and watch Earth’s problems disappear.

Must we fear what others fear? Must we be content with the map, without having explored the territory?

How much difference is there between yes and no? …between light and dark? …between success and failure?

I observe other people… the mainstream… and see that they are exuberant… joyous… clearly they are living the good life. I alone am drifting… I alone am expressionless… like a new born babe before it has learned to smile.

Other people have all that they need… wondrous possessions… I alone possess nothing.
I alone seem to drift about… homeless like a vagabond. What a fool I am… my mind is… so empty.

I look about me in the blog-o-sphere… Other people are clever and bright…their reason shines… I alone am dark. Other people are full of wit… their minds sharp… I alone am dull. Other people have a purpose… possess eloquence… I alone have been eluded by intelligence.

I seem to drift with the changes… like a rowboat on the ocean, I seen to rise and fall with the tides.

Different from ordinary people… I find value in seeking the mysterious matrix… and drink from the Great Mother's breasts.

- adapted from the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

How to keep an Idiot busy