Ashes to Ashes

I don't know which way is up anymore, he thought.  I don't know where it begins, or where it ends.  The sun harnesses the ability to destroy everything on our planet.  One day we'll all be caught with our pants down in a glorious red and yellow fiery blaze.  The oceans will dry up.  Life will cease to exist.  Mind will cease to exist and all the knowledge we've come this far to savor about our universe will be lost, forever.  He looked up at the clouds through the spaces between the leaves of a nine-hundred foot tall tree.  Unless, of course, there is life out there.  There are too many stars not to be harboring other life forms.  Carbon is everywhere!  I hope we haven't come this far just to be erased.  What is our purpose?  What is...  Suddenly, the ground beneath him shook violently without moving a single molecule in his entire body.  The sky turned black and then white and then black again.  What the...  The sound that the shaking made was like no other.  Then everything went silent and he began to fall.  WHAT THE...  Falling, falling, falling, falling, falling, falling, falling, down, down, down, down, down, down, down.  Where is the bottom?  How much longer will I keep on falling?  Will it be a few more seconds?  A couple of minutes?  An hour?  Eternity?  Why can't I see the bottom?  He flipped over to look the opposite direction while in mid-air.  Why can't I see the top?  How long has it been?  I've lost all track of time.  I have no sense of it.  It's neither dark nor bright.  It just...is.  Falling, falling, falling, down, down, down, down.  If I keep falling like this and don't reach the end, I'll die of starvation or dehydration!  But if I reach the end soon, will it be a sudden stop killing me instantaneously, crushing all two hundred and six of my bones, and spreading my insides a hundred feet in every direction?  Or will it be a slow decent onto a pile of assorted  toss pillows?  It's so quiet.  I don't understand.  Why can't I hear the wind rushing passed my ears?  I'm clearly falling.  How fast am I falling though?  Why me?  How did I get here?  When did I start falling?  Where is this?!  His pupils expanded enveloping his eyeballs.  Where's the bottom?  I just wish I could stop fal

He got what he wished for.

99 Bottles of Beer on the Mind...

Life is like a bottle of beer.  

At the beginning, you are excited because you have this whole bottle of beer ahead of you.  

A few sips later, you're embracing its flavor and admiring how refreshing it is.  

Halfway through, it's not quite as cold and fresh as it was when you opened it.  

Now, you don't look forward as much to the rest of your beer, so you drink it faster.

You lose appreciation and you are no longer mindful of its flavor.

Before you know it, you're near the end and you think to yourself, where'd it all go?

Remember to drink your beer sip by sip.

Don't drink it too fast.

And never forget, that the end of a bottle is just the beginning of another.

Food for the Soul

Let us share some thoughts, feelings...

and meditate on life using the vehicle of universal music.  

Music is food for the soul.  

I hope each of us finds something special in this short journey together...

Existentialism

Being the semi-existentialist that I am, I found it necessary to explain the philosophy to those that are interested in gaining knowledge, or a new perspective.  Existentialism is a philosophy, or belief, that humans find themselves and the meaning of life through choice, personal responsibility, and free will.  People are searching to find out who and what they are throughout life as they make choices based on their experiences, beliefs, and outlook.  And personal choices become unique without the necessity of an objective form of truth.  Decisions are not without stress and consequences, society is unnatural, and a person is best when struggling against their individual nature.  If you google existentialism, you will find over 2 million hits.  If you at least agree with half of the philosophy, you should do a little more reading on it.  It's actually quite interesting, if not captivating, and pleasing to the soul.

Mystical Experiences

Mysticism is described in many ways, some of which are related to nature, others of which are related to religion or God.  Frederick Streng provides a particularly accurate definition: An interior illumination of reality that results in ultimate freedom.  Some say it's a way of seeing reality 'objectively.'  Even more profound, is the evidence supporting the validity of mystical experiences.  They are very real.  

We accept, that the mystical experience happens, and that it affects the whole man: if it affected only the non-empirical part (the spirit, or soul) then the mystic would have no memory of it, for memory depends on neuronal pathways in the physical brain, and he could give no account whatever of it; he would not even be aware that it had happened.  This is beautiful to me because I am a firm believer that materialism is bullshit.  Pardon my French, but it just seems really ignorant to deny the relationship between your body and your mind.  They are two separate entities, yes, but they are connected by some non-physical phenomenon.  We could not recall memories of mystical experiences if they weren't somehow connected physically to us.  

Science proved that memory depends on neuronal pathways, thus it proves that an altered state of consciousness (I prefer the term transcendental because the word altered leads to the unfortunate notion that all other states are deviations from the ordinary waking state) isn't any less real than 'reality.'  A personal experience is just as, if not more, real than a communal one.  Just because other people can't see or comprehend what is happening inside your own body and mind doesn't make it any less real.  It means you are the controller of your own reality.  

Obviously, the only evidence we have (that we can share with others about our experiences) is our memories.  And in the case that 'seeing is believing,' others may find the validity of your shared experience inadequate.  It is unfortunate, but at the same time those who can't open their minds are blind to mysticism anyway.  Thus, they don't posses that frame of reference.  To truly understand, one must experience.  And of course all of our experiences are quite different from each other.  

To sum it up, mystical consciousness is in fact, very real.  Your private experiences, or qualia, are just as real as the 'reality' that others around you perceive.  Take that journey through time and space whenever you can.  The mind is a beautiful thing.  It's a miracle.