Seems like there's a war-on-everything these days. Unlike a lot of wars however, this one actually has the potential to benefit the human race in ways no war ever has.
As I mentioned in my previous blog post entitled "The Science Delusion", a so-called "war" has broken out between the old scientific guard and the new regarding advances in frontier science that threaten to undermine most of our basic Western understandings of body, mind, and cosmos.
The debate started with the censorship of two lectures at the prominent TEDx conferences by Rupert Sheldrake and Graham Hancock...their videos were removed from the official TEDx youtube channel after the usual complaints of "psuedo-science" and "quackery".
One of the censored speakers, Graham Hancock, said something in an online rebuttal to the TEDx blog that I had to post here. The way he explained "non-local" consciousness is almost identical to the way I explained how consciousness works in a blog post I wrote last year entitled "Is Your Brain God?". It was a relief to see someone with much more credibility and weight than I have espousing this emergent new world view to the masses, and to finally see it beginning to dawn on our collective (Western) psyche.
Here is what Graham said...
“This controversy has brought to light a fundamental fault-line that is emerging in the science of consciousness between the old paradigm of materialist reductionism (represented by people like Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett) and a new paradigm of non-local conscious. The new paradigm, represented by all the scientists who wrote to the Huffington Post on 19th Aprilis open to the revolutionary possibility at the centre of both my talk and Rupert’s talk, namely that consciousness may not be generated by the brain but rather “transceived” by the brain – i.e. that consciousness may be a fundamental “non-local” property of all dimensions of the universe and that rather than being an epiphenomenon of brain activity, it may instead be that the brain acts as an interface that allows consciousness to manifest ‘locally’ on the material plane.
“If the new paradigm proves to be correct, and it is intriguing to see these powerful voices raising that possibility, then the issue is by no means limited to consciousness but calls into question many of the fundamental assumptions on which Western science has been built for the past 400 years. It is a revolution in the making, spearheaded by quantum physics and consciousness studies, with implications for our understanding of reality that are likely to be at least as profound as the implications of the dismantling of the Ptolemaic model by the Copernican revolution from the 16th century onwards, ushering in a new age of science.”
I inhaled...or should I say, "this consciousness" inhaled
I can't think of a more succinct way of explaining this modern state of affairs. Not bad for a former Ganja addict who confesses he went from user to abuser (hear that kids?). But then again, it doesn't sound like weed killed any of his brain cells. Sounds like he might have even grew some - then again as he mentions in his presentation, that could all be Mother Ayuasaca's doing.
I can only hope more and more people take the time to understand what the implications of this really are - that being the merging of science and spirituality into a united cosmological world view that would indeed solve not only a lot of mysteries of the cosmos, but actual real-world problems that threaten our planet.
I'd hate to say it, but this is one war I hope keeps raging.
Chris Anderson, the head of TED, proposed certain "red flag" topics, among them health hoaxes and the medicinal value of food but also the general area of pseudoscience.
I'm sorry, but if the "medicinal value of food" is considered to be a red flag pseudoscience issue, than we really have some work to do. Jeez-louise...
I find it interesting that our predominant world view these days, a world view almost exclusively subscribed to by the "well-educated" masses of Western society, one informed by the infinite wisdom and infallible, irrefutable laws of the hard sciences, has come to resemble a modern inquisition not unlike its late religious predecessors. Though nobody has been actually crucified or burned at the stake for their alternative views on some long held beliefs by the scientific community (yet), the irony is not lost on those who recognize that the many tenants of modern science have taken on the same dogmatic qualities as any ancient religion.
A controversy has been brewing over the internet regarding the censoring and removal of two presentations given at the world-renouned TEDx conferences, where prominent scientist, thinkers, and innovators from around the world are given a platform to share their views and expertise. Rupert Sheldrake recently gave a talk entitled the "the Science Delusion" which called out ten very important discrepancies in the modern scientific world view. Apparently his heresy ruffled more than a few feathers, his video was pulled from the official TEDx youtube channel after an "anonymous scientific board" and "militant atheists bloggers" bombarded the TEDx organizers with the usual claims of psuedo-science and quackery.
This has led to quite a controversy, giving rise to great suspicion that advances in the fields of consciousness research by Sheldrake and others are beginning to undermine modern scientific notions on how our brains actually work, and that consciousness maybe "non-local" in nature, something that raises the hair on the back of any self-respecting atheist or scientist. And the only way to stymie the tide is to blacklist "frontier scientists" if their scientific inquiry is deemed too threatening to the established pervading paradigms - or dare I say, Dogma.
People in many different disciplines are beginning to realize that the dawn of a New Scientific Revolutionis upon us, yet many of our so called bigger minds seem to be more interested in preserving an increasingly irrelavent status quo than examining the data that bolder, braver minds are beginning to uncover.
After all, this threatens the whole belief system the Western world has subscribed to, its "High Priests of Science" being undermined substantially, many of who's research, funding, and established bureaucracies could be threatened if their theories turn out to be more theoretical than hoped for.
What gives rise to this almost systemic head-in-the-sand syndrome by the academic elite? What is the great fear that's driving all of this?
GOD.
Yes, the terrible fear we will all be sent back to Sunday school or worse, told we will burn in hell for letting Copernicus get away with his whole "pssst...the sun doesn't move, we do!" line. Is that really what studies in non-local consciousness will eventually prove?
I suppose burning early astronomy enthusiasts at the stake has left quite a legacy, and rightfully so. But I fear scientist now are more terrified of, in addition to losing their funding, losing their power over the collective psyche to yet another version of the "God" phenomena - A phenomena that has led to so much human suffering, the many religions of man killing each other for the exclusive rights to his name, all of which prompted a much needed Scientific Revolution in the first place.
But what's really happening is humans, because we are human, have a terrible time with change. We also extrapolate, A LOT, onto the universe. Hubris galore. I mean lets face it, even Michio Kaku admits we can only measure about 4% of the known universe. Considering that pathetically small number, we make a lot of bold claims as to how and what things are, whether we look at them through a scientific or religious lens. I also think we have a hard time letting go (see previous paragraph).
When Galileo first looked through the heavens with his telescope, he saw and measured things you could never find in a prayer. And when a Buddhist monk merges with his deep unconscious mind in meditation, he uncovers things no telescope, not even a Hubble telescope, is capable of finding. Yet the two are both measurements of the reality of our universe as a whole, from both the subjective and objective point-of-views, and guess what the common interface is between both?
YOUR MIND. YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS.
Hence then, we've arrived at a critical point in our evolution as a species. This research into "non-local consciousness" has the implication of evolving our understanding of ourselves and the universe into as yet uncharted territory, with a map that may explain both the reality of spiritual (not necessarily dogmatically religious, mind you) and scientific laws. Is that really so bad? You don't have to go back to Catholic school, promise. You just have to let evolution happen. And when I say evolution, I mean creation. Confused? You won't be if this research continues unfettered and is allowed its fair due process.
But unfortunately, many are unwilling to allow this scientific enquiry, because true scientific enquiry threatens their current belief system. What I find amusing is most atheists I know, despite their claims to the contrary, are extremely belief system based, many stuck in an us-versus-them mindset reminiscent of any two religions fighting one another. Their deep-seated fear of being forced to believe in a God as traditionally understood by our historical religions is totally unfounded, and this fear is blocking new attempts by man to understand "GOD" in a modern context. Many atheists assume they've stumbled upon some great realization that since religion, with all its glaring contradictions, can't be taken seriously. Suddenly however, science is being exposed for its own. Perhaps the contradictions are our fault alone, our "limited ability to understand the universe but yet our unlimited ability to be big, unfounded know-it-alls" the flawed common denominator encompassing all our ancient and modern belief systems.
But of course, religion will also have to update its belief structures as well, something that will be terribly difficult, if not outright impossible for some. I liken religion to a mother warning her 5 year old son not to touch a hot stove. Is it good advice? Yes, and necessary. But would she give the same advice to her son at 25? 50 years of age?
Obviously, the use of the stove, and their relationship in general has become more nuanced, just like our relationship to the Universe has. Religions around the world were founded by ancient cultures shaped by specific cultural circumstances and the times (often dangerous) they lived in. I do believe they were inspired by "God", but "God" doesn't want to talk to 5 year olds anymore. This "non-local consciousness", whatever it truly is and to whatever it connects to, obviously needs people to expand beyond their limitations and grow into something more expansive. Another inquisition isn't what's needed, what's needed is to allow this so-called "frontier science" to contribute in helping show us the next step in our own evolution, to save both ourselves and the planet from our own institutionalized insanity. Yes science has brought us great gifts in technology, medicine, and the humanities. It also given us nuclear and chemical warfare, a variety of toxic GMO food and pollutants, predatorial capitalism and economic enslavement, and worst of all - apathy and indifference by undermining the truth of our shared, and very real, cosmic connections to each other.
Perhaps the real and un-prejuduced study of "non-local" consciousness will change all of that. But like a famous herbalist once said; "There are no incurable diseases, only incurable individuals".
I've shared with many of my friends and family over the years a number of experiences of mine that do not fit within the standard consensus of reality. Perhaps they think I'm just eccentric, or worse, crazy. I suppose the day will come when everyone's consciousness will expand to the point where we realize not everything that exists can be found in a textbook. That life and reality don't really care what we think of it, what religions or sciences we come up with to try and explain it. Reality is what it already is, our human sensitivities and search for truth aside.
I've talked about my kundalini experiences in the past. I've learned over the years that people can not handle nor believe what they can not experience themselves. I think this is nature's way of making sure we do not believe everything simply because someone says it is so. I also think this forces us to "know" things on a level beyond just intellectual meandering. Think about it, there's a difference between knowing what skydiving is versus "knowing" skydiving because you've actually jumped out of a plane. Same could be said for a lot of things; driving cars, sex. Perhaps the lack of "proof" (this is actually no longer true, plenty of proof for the paranormal has existed for decades) that people so desperately want for the paranormal is really simply a matter of the universe forcing people to discover it in their own way, on their own evolutionary timetable, and without endangering their own free will.
Case in point - Easter eve 2013. I was driving back to Poulsbo, Washington along highway 3 with my girlfriend, her daughter, and mother around 10:30pm that evening. We were only a few miles away from home when I saw a figure standing on the side of the road.
We occasionally see people walking around at night. The lack of streetlights in this rural part of Kitsap County makes it kind of dangerous to be out, most people have reflectors on of some kind.
This guy had none, just a hoodie and jeans.
He was just standing there on the side of the road, uncomfortably enough into the street where I had to veer a bit to the left to avoid hitting him. I thought maybe he was just checking his mail, but at 10:30pm at night?
At that same time exactly my girlfriend turned and said to me "Somebody's out". I assumed she was referring to the hooded man on the side of the road. I responded with "Yeah, what an idiot", worried he'd be hit eventually by another car at some point if he didn't get off the side of the road.
"I'm talking about my mom" she said. Her mom had fallen asleep. She was "out", as in lights out.
"What"? I thought you were talking about that guy on the side of the road". She had not seen the hooded man at all, she had turned her head at the exact moment when she could have seen him, and her words, thought meant for her mom, strangely were also relevant to the hooded figure.
I found the synchronicity of that moment uncanny. I've often told people synchronicity is the first tap on the shoulder to a world unseen.
We finally turned down our street. It was only a few moments before I saw "another" hooded figure. This time the guy was walking away from us on the same side of the road, where the passenger would have the easiest chance of seeing him.
At this point, I was thinking too much of it. I casually blurted out:
"Geez, looks like everybody's out tonight". After all, it was unusual to see two people out this late at night just walking down the side of the road.
"Who"?
Kristine had not seen him. This was the second time I saw someone she didn't see on the same side of the road, dressed in the same attire. She had not had her head turned this time. The headlights lit this guy up easily, she couldn't have missed him.
LATER THAT NIGHT
I mentioned to Kristine that I thought something was going on. She blew me off, her atheism having had its limit of my woo-woo ramblings.
Sometime that night, I heard what sounded like a car crashing into the side of our house. It drove me out of bed. I checked out our window to make sure there wasn't a car crashed outside on our front lawn. It absolutely terrified me. It was the sound you hear the two seconds before you hit another car. Frightening. I believe the time was around 2am.
MORNING
Immediately upon awakening I asked Kristine "Did you hear a car crash last night"? I'm very, very lucky I got on the record as having asked this, it was the only thing that probably kept me from being homeless. Because as soon as I'd asked her, we exploded into our worst fight ever.
We had both reached our limit with each other. She had had enough of my psychobabble spirituality nonsense, and I had enough of not being heard. It was the ugliest fight yet. I said some things that were quite awful, but I felt this was something that needed to be investigated further. I was told that after Easter was finished, I would be needing to find other accommodations. We were done.
REDEMPTION
That was the low point. Realizing I should've probably kept my mouth shut, I left to go grab my coffee at the local drive thru called the Coastal Point Coffee, owned by my friend Dylan. I've been going here for years now. It was sometime after 12pm, not sure when exactly.
This would prove to be one of my most fateful coffee runs ever.
I realized as I was driving to his stand (which happens to be directly across from the second sighting of the hooded man the night before) that it was Easter, and he'd probably be closed.
That's why I was pleasantly surprised to see his car in the driveway. But when I pulled up, he opened the window to tell me he was just stopping in to grab some supplies.
That exchange took about a minute. But it saved me from what I think was a tragic fate.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
I decided I'd have to hit the Starbucks. Driving on highway 3, I saw the unimaginable.
At the very same spot I'd seen the hooded figure for the first time the night before, a two-car collision had just occurred. Ambulance and Fire were already there, and a state patrolman had just parked and was getting out of his car. Both cars were totaled, with a fender thrown across the street into a lawn.
I took the photo above and texted it to Kristine, just to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.
This was the very same spot I'd seen the hooded figure from the night before. The car that I had heard crashing into my mind at 2am was the sound of this accident happening the next day, BEFORE IT HAD ACTUALLY HAPPENED.
Like I said, I've experienced paranormal activity before. But this was a huge escalation. I had actually "seen" something in the real world (the hooded man), without being in any altered state. And when connecting the sound of the crash to the actual crash now having just occurred at the exact same spot I'd seen someone who apparently wasn't really there, well, it took my breath away.
But here's where it really gets weird. Who was this hooded man?
The next day I pulled into Dylan's coffee stand for a coffee (I needed it!). Then I saw something that made it all come together.
He was wearing a hoodie and jeans, the same outfit worn by my mystery man.
Dylan was my guy! Not the actual Dylan, nor his "spirit", but the fact that somehow, my clairvoyance had alerted me that by pulling into his coffee stand Easter day (the day of the accident) just for those few moments, I would avoid getting into an accident that would I later find out injured a young boy. The chances of Dylan coming in on his day off, and me pulling in at that same moment, are just astronomical, along with seeing a mystery man on the same side of the road as the accident, hearing it before it happened, etc...
That's why I also saw "him" a second time Easter eve walking outside where his coffee stand is. My subconscious, higher self, whatever is in charge of this phenomena, would help me retroactively link these connections together to allow my conscious mind to finally make sense of it all.
WOW.
Suddenly, I wasn't just the woo-woo weirdo anymore. Having gotten on record as reporting the sightings of the mystery man, along with the sound of the crash, quickly restored my standing with Kristine and her family.
At the same time, we were all a bit unnerved by it. I still am. I'm very thankful, on one hand. Had I been in that accident, my life would truly be ruined. I have no car insurance. Somebody, or something, is looking out for me.
Kristine is still an atheist of course, but I can tell the experience has opened some doors for her. Nobody who was with me those two days can blow it off, despite our mind's tendency to blow off what it doesn't understand. These events, facts, can not be blown off. They all happened, despite their unexplained nature.
Maybe this is all just due to Dylan spiking his coffee with some hallucinogens? Doubt it. And even if so, it wouldn't explain how I was able to see and hear things (now on record, at least with my close friends) before they actually happened.
I don't think time is what we think it is. Consciousness is not what we think it is. It is a lot more. I'm very thankful, and yet at the same time, a bit frightened by all of this. What gives me solace is it was a very positive experience, in that it not only validated my claims but perhaps validated me personally as well, that these experiences did not happen purely in my imagination.
I maybe a freak, but I'm an accurate freak.
Why the Donnie Darko reference? Well, I had hooded guys and bunnies (Easter) too. Thought it kinda fits.
Keep an open mind. And my best to the poor kid injured in the accident.
Carl Jung is probably the best thing that ever happened to the west. He was able to integrate a lot of eastern philosophy and wisdom into modern psychology, much to the chagrin of Freud.
Below are some great quotes worth remembering:
"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate."
"Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes."
"We cannot change anything until we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses."
"There is no coming to consciousness without pain."
"The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases."
"Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you."
"Our heart glows, and secret unrest gnaws at the root of our being. Dealing with the unconscious has become a question of life for us."
"Man's task is to become conscious of the contents that press upward from the unconscious."
"In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order."
"Follow that will and that way which experience confirms to be your own."
"Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better take things as they come along with patience and equanimity."
"A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them."
Today's the day we launch our IndieGoGo campaign for a film I wrote a few years ago. We shot a short film called "GodMachine" and we're now going to go for the big enchilada itself, a feature.
My buddy and co-writer Robert Leeshock will star alongside it along with his longtime friend Von Flores from Gene Roddenberry’s “Earth: Final Conflict” television series. Other notable sci-fi alumni include Jason Carter (Babylon 5), JG Hertzler (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), and Marina Sirtis (Star Trek: The Next Generation). It's pretty cool having these people attached. I never thought I'd get a chance to shoot a film with a former Klingon General in it. Not to mention Counselor Troi was instrumental during my formative years (uh-hum). I also liked her acting.
Anyone who knows me knows I've been hustling this movie for years now. We
got a great team of people, cast, script, etc...all we need is MONEY.
MONEY! MONEY! MONEY!
Instead of spending that $5 on food, why
don't you spend it on my film instead? It will leave you entertained
long after that meal you ate turns into a poopie and exits your body
forever, never to be seen or heard from again. You know what I mean?
What a waste of money? Food grows on trees and stuff, right? You can
find food anywhere if you look hard enough.
Of course you could spend more. Why? CAUSE I'll MAKE YOU FAMOUS. Check our perks.
OK, and last but not least, if you can't donate, please share the link on your FB page, or click like or tweet on the actual campaign page. I swear, those buttons are everywhere these days! And check us out on our indiegogo page asap!
An interesting article in The Atlantic highlights a growing debate among prominent neuroscientists regarding whether or not the brain itself is the origin of God, spiritual experience, and religious belief.
The article would like to instill in the reader that despite the contrary opinions of several top neuroscientists mentioned in the article, God and all spiritual revelations are nothing more than the result of physical phenomenon and chemical processes occurring in the brain. In other words, your out-of-body or near-death-experience was really nothing more than a feel good laser light show courtesy of your dormant epelipsy.
What the article fails to mention are some very important facts about the brain itself that science has yet to uncover, as well as some intriguing facts about the nature of consciousness that remain a mystery to most everyone.
A couple of the key points the article failed to address:
Is the brain itself the origin of consciousness?
What exactly is consciousness?
What exactly is a brain?
David Chalmers, an Oxford graduate and prominent Australian philosopher of mind and language, introduced the concept of the Hard Problem of Consciousness in 1995. A simple explanation of the theory goes like this:
All of the physical sciences (such as neuroscience) can indeed connect the dots between neurons firing in the brain and the corresponding physical actions that take place next - motor reflexes, certain thought patterns, bowel movements, etc. What these sciences can't explain is why the "qualia" of such experiences are what they are.
For example, the neurons in your brain can be stimulated by hearing a person play a minor key on a piano. Upon striking the notes, sound waves will emanate from the piano and hit your ear, causing synapses to fire and register appropiately in your brain.
That's the easy part. What can't be explained is why a minor chord feels like a minor chord as opposed to the way a major chord feels. As far as physics are concerned, it's just another note on a scale. Math. A sound wave. There's nothing in a neuron's "anatomy" that suggests why any feeling or emotion resonates with a particular note/sound wave whatsoever. Hence the assumption that consciousness is more than just the end result of a collection of physical processes, no matter how complicated they may seem (then again, we could all just be philosophical zombies).
This leads to the second question, what is consciousness? Is it really sensible to assume that the brain itself is the origin?
Our physical brains did not create the universe. They are products of the universe, something both an Atheist and Religious Follower could both agree on. One of mankind's greatest flaws (as well as the article's) is the hubris in thinking that we are somehow separate from the very reality we are trying to measure and understand. We are an independent consciousness (in a relative sense) trying to interpret consciousnessitself. No small feat. So no matter how much of a "controlled experiment" a neuroscientists may try to initiate, any experiment in consciousness is immediately subverted by the unknown variable of the very matter it is trying to understand - consciousness. Quite the mind fuck indeed.
Another hypothesis, shared by many philosophers and neuroscientists, is that the brain works as a "receiver" for consciousness. In other words, a "consciousness receptacle" that allows for an individual experience of the cosmos, something the body creates in order for the organism to "fine-tune" to reality and form its own version of it. Anybody who has a crazy uncle understands this concept quite well.
So what may happen then during these epileptic seizures the article mentions isn't so much that the brain "caused" a hallucination or religious experience, but that rather the seizure allowed for the brainto fail as a stable platform for maintaing an individual-focused awareness. This allows for a more direct experience of "consciousness" as it exists on a primal, universal level to flow into the receivers awareness. This "universal consciousness" could be then described as God or a religious experience, since it would suspend and transcend the recipient's normal awareness – efforts the brain maintains to limit the organism's reality to the needs of the day-to-day survival experience.
This could also explain why certain hallucinogenic drugs have the effect they do, that they "suspend" normal brain functioning to allow the receiver access to other levels of reality the brain normally tunes-out in its waking state. It's been proven that the chemical DMT, the main ingredient in Ayahuasca, is secreted by the pineal gland upon death. Why exactly is unknown, but it has been theorized by some this allows for a transition between "individual awareness" and "transpersonal consciousness" to occur. In other words, a literal "Heaven's Gate", minus the castration and complimentary UFO ride.
And finally, what is a brain? A brain is not an absolute reality. In fact, science is far from any universal theory of everything. One of the world's leading theoretical physicists Michio Kaku admits that "atoms" only make up "4 percent of the known universe". That's hardly an absolute understanding that would allow a definitive interpretation of what any physical mass truly is, especially something that fundamentally underlines our ability to interpret reality itself - our brains. We have a long way to go then before science can lay claim to "pure objectivity", especially considering that the notion itself of "objectivity" might not really even exist once a full understanding on consciousness is arrived at. If we indeed are both the observer and observed, expect things to only get more confusing.
So what is the answer? Is your brain God? Does God even exist?
I began embarking upon my spiritual journey about ten years ago, and experienced "India Syndrome" as well, along with my ex-wife Nhien. We were both thrown into what the article describes as a "Qi Gong Psychotic Reaction" or "Kundalini Syndrome". It's a pretty hardcore psychotic break, but something that has to be endured if you're going to move past neuroses and other painful memories that many don't realize limit your current psychological condition. The neural "re-arranging" that these "syndromes" initiate is part of an extensive mental, emotional, and spiritual housecleaning process, and yes, it sucks. But so does war, crime, greed, rape, child abuse, and host of other Western conditions that destabilize a fragile mind in the first place. No wonder things get messy.
If there's one thing I learned, especially after going through stage III testicular and lung cancer, is this: in this thing called life, nobody gets out alive. Everyone dies. But at least when you engage in meditation, or these so-called spiritual journeys, despite their risks, you can break through a lot of limitations and pain blocks. If you're really lucky, you might learn that death isn't an eternal condition. Unfortunately, if you're not willing to "surrender" to the process as the gurus say, it could all end miserably. I almost went crazy myself several times. In fact, I did go crazy. But those are the stakes. Life ain't easy, especially those with traumatic pasts. But if you can endure the "initiation" as these psychotic conditions often are, you can grow stronger and see life for what it really is. It is a rare sight for many. I wouldn't want to go through what is often called the "long dark night of the soul" again though. It was horrible. Truly. I really sympathize with the unfortunate seekers the article mentions who did not succeed in their spiritual journeys (or perhaps they did)?
The only thing more horrible though is the sheer lack of understanding our Western society has of the "psyche" in the first place; dispensing anti-depressants for conditions that require much more direct confrontation. It's our prejudices in the first place that pre-dispose us to not "allowing" psychotic breaks to be what they are; healthy re-arrangement. Don't get me wrong, they can end in complete insanity. But it's better to be realistic about it, thorough about it, and not ignorant of its true nature. Sanity doesn't care what you think about it. Like Jack Nicholson said: "You can't handle the truth". And that's precisely the problem. An anti-depressant pill isn't going to magically erase a rape. It can help, it can manage the symptoms, but it can't erase. That requires a purging of the soul. And how pleasant is any purging really going to be? Think about it. Your mind doesn't want you to remember, but your soul needs the healing. It ain't going to be a walk in the park.
The biggest problem is people think spirituality is about blessings, angels, love, and light. Well yeah, it is. There are amazing moments of clarity and redemption to be had for sure. But often before you'll see any angels, you've got to go through hell first and clear out all those demons first. Demons being any mental or emotional aberration that isn't part of your true self. Most people carry TONS of stuff that when directly perceived presents itself for what it truly is. You can't stuff emotions, especially painful ones, in a dark corner of your mind and expect them to shake hands with your rational mind the day it asks them politely to leave. What do you think those demons are going to do when they find you in there trying to clear them out? They don't want to leave, and it brings upon a lot of terrible psychosis and mental breaks. That's what happens when you houseclean the mind. It gets messy. What can you do? Either don't begin the journey or complete the journey. Those are your only two options.
A Tibetan Guru once asked a bunch of wannabe new agers how many had a regular meditation practice. After a show of hands he made a startling recommendation; if they hadn't yet started, DON'T! If they did, FINISH.
I think this says a lot about the stakes. Instead of worrying about psychosis, insanity, jumping off buildings, etc...people should instead realize that the journey of life is a journey of the mind. What's in it is what dictates your life path more than any external event. In order to understand ourselves, we have to understand our minds. And our minds are much more than we think they are. But it can be at times a dangerous labyrinth. But you must find your way through. I think it would help if we de-stigmatized mental illness and found a more holistic pathway through these so called "neurological breaks". They can lead to some profound healing once successfully navigated. Few people are prepared for such a journey. Our society surely isn't. We in the West are really quite pathetic in some ways. We hope some magic mushrooms or trip to the Amazon for a week and drinking Ayahuasca with the natives will lead to some great, profound spiritual realization. It might, but they also might go completely insane as the article suggests. Until people in the West learn to let go of what they think spiritual quests should be and accept them for what they are; journeys into the unknown that don't care what preconceived notions you've brought with you, expect to hear more of this. And for god-sakes, don't take a Kundalini Yoga class and be surprised if you start speaking in tongues and perform spontaneous Kriyas that will surely upstage your instructor. One one hand, that means the classes are working. On the other hand, it means the classes are working. Look out!
You can pull more than a hammie doing Yoga...be careful!
It can be a long dangerous road as well as a road that leads to everything we ever dreamed of, as every myth and fairy tell (all of which are analogies on surviving the unconscious mind) has ever told us. It is well worth traveling despite the risks if we ever hope to be free. Truly free.
