Tantra-Induced Delusional Syndrome ("TIDS")

[American Dream]

Weatherman predicts the end-times




Here's a weather report for the apocalypse:

"On WTVR CBS 6 in Richmond, VA, weatherman Aaron Justus provides the last weather forecast you'll ever need."

[American Dream]

Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics

Badiner, Allan Hunt (Editor)(2002)
San Francisco: Chronicle Books.

Psychedelic Experience and Spiritual Practice, A Buddhist Perspective: An Interview with Jack Kornfield
Robert Forte

Kornfield / Many people who took LSD, mushrooms, and other psychedelics, often along with readings from the Tibetan Book of the Dead, or some Zen texts, had the gates of wisdom opened to a certain extent. They began to see that their limited consciousness was only one plane and that there were a thousand new things to discover about the mind. They saw many new realms, got new perspectives on birth and death, and discovered the nature of mind and consciousness as a field of creation, rather than the mechanical result of having a body, and even opened beyond the illusion of separation to the truth of the oneness of things.

But in order to maintain this vision they had to keep taking the psychedelics over and over. Even though there were some transformations from these experiences, they tended to fade for a lot of people. Following that some people said, "If we can't maintain the highs of consciousness that come through the psychedelics, let's see if there is some other way." And so they undertook various kinds of spiritual disciplines. They did kundalini yoga and bastrika breathing, or they did serious hatha yoga as a sadhana, raja yoga, mantra and concentration exercises, visualizations, or Buddhist practices as a way to get back to those profound compelling states that had come through psychedelics. (pages 52-53)

Kornfield / The point is to awaken to our natural inner freedom, our True Nature. To do this we must start where we are. In beginning to quiet the mind and open the heart you often encounter waves of desire, fear, anger, laziness, or restlessness. These are the preliminary hindrances to transformation. You learn how to use wise attention so that you don't become caught up or lost in them. As your body and mind become more open and purified, you take that ability to be balanced and less caught by these energies, and use this ability to enter other domains of consciousness.

Now, if you should enter a domain of pure light filled with love and ecstasy, you will have learned how to do it without getting too attached. You see it as part of the passing show. And you can go to the hell realms that arise within you with the same attitude. You become free in the realms of birth and death. You learn how to open to them without so much grasping and attachment. Here you learn not just the content of the various realms of consciousness, where psychedelics can also take you, but how to relate to it all wisely. If I were to put any sentence in this interview in capitals it would be that spiritual awakening is not about just visiting the many realms of heart, mind, and body, but learning how to relate to their content wisely, compassionately, and with real freedom. (page 57)

Psychoactivism
David Chadwick

Ministers, priests, psychologists, and various types of spiritual teachers back in the sixties had an interesting situation to deal with. Lots of people were coming to them who'd had psychedelic experiences and who were looking for an explanation of what they'd experienced, or seeking a more grounded and lasting way to meet the vastness of higher consciousness. Many of these counselors had no idea what to say or summarily dismissed these experiences as bogus. Some, like Shunryu Suzuki, were more helpful. Suzuki had a way that worked well with such seekers. He told us that enlightenment was not a state of mind, was not contained in any experience, arid he guided us away from trying to recreate past profound events and toward accepting ourselves as we were. He taught a disciplined life of zazen meditation, attention to the details of life, not wanting too much (especially another state of mind), and not getting too worked up. He said that people will have enlightenment experiences without spiritual practice, but only with such practice will their revelation continue and not come and go like psychedelic experiences. He made us feel confident that we could wake up to who we were without any chemical aids, and he did it without taking any strong stand against marijuana and LSD, though he really didn't want his students taking them. He appreciated psychedelics as an initial impetus, but not as a way of life.

In the Buddhist circles I'm familiar with, psychedelics are mainly seen as something to forget about and move on from, and a story like the one I just told might elicit a been-there-done-that type of response. But I remember these substances fondly because they gave me what I felt was empirical evidence of the perennial goal of religion and philosophy and helped me to get on the path. And to think that what I did is now illegal. To me, psychedelics are best used as a sacrament in an initiation ceremony which is what my experience seems to have been. It may be better for initiations to be conducted by elders or guides, but young people have for years been self-initiating because their elders or their society are not there for them in this way. (page 120).

The war on drugs can be seen as a power drug the government is addicted to. I think it's just old-fashioned persecution and the poor and disempowered are the main ones being persecuted. In the case of psychedelics, it's religious persecution. (page 122)

THE ZEN COMMANDMENTS
Lama Surya Das

The First Commandment is: "Take care. Watch your step. Be careful." But don't take these commandments too seriously-even stone is nothing but light, energy.

Zig zag reminds me of "roll your own," as in cigarettes. But there are perils as well as opportunities on a zig zag/roll your own spiritual path. I have experienced some of them myself. That is why I prefer to walk an integrated, well-rounded, tried-and-true path of spiritual transformation-the Buddha's Middle Way. (page 179)

…. As a meditation teacher, I feel that on a more subtle level: the instant access to extraordinary mind states that mind-altering drugs can provide-with the surprisingly swift onset of expanded consciousness, and the equally quick comedown-can addict us to thrill-seeking and make us greedy for, and more attached to, mere phenomenal appearances and temporary mind states. This creates a karmic conditioning that limits our infinite conscious potential. (pages 179 - 180)

… But now when I am asked about the use of drugs for spiritual purposes, especially by young people in public, I usually just say no, or just say maybe. Meanwhile I'm thinking: read between the lines. Just notice my initials, Lama Surya Das. What can I say? I "just said no" for decades. Yet there remains within me an inner smile, like the Cheshire cat's shit-eating grin.

So the Second Zig Zag Zen Commandment is: "Just say maybe." While I didn't have these initials in the sixties, I certainly had that experience. Drugs were an unexpected gateway to spirituality for me. But I found that it is far easier to have a genuine theophany, a breakthrough spiritual experience, than to develop an authentic spiritual life. (page 181)

The Third Zig Zag Zen Commandment: "Find a way to have your own spiritual practice and experience." Find a way to live in the sacred zone-not just visit.

Spirituality of all kinds requires honesty and sincerity, combined with curiosity, exploration. perseverance, questioning. and self-inquiry. Spirituality is a heroic journey, a grail quest. (page 183)

The Fourth Zig Zag Zen Commandment is: "Awaken your mind, open your heart; learn to see clearly and to love."

One problem with glimpses from drug trips is that it's easier to get enlightened than to stay enlightened. What you experience is not ultimate, final, unshakable, and irreversible. (page 184)

So the Fifth Zig Zag Zen Commandment is: "Go on this journey with a friend, even a guide, if possible." Otherwise, we may be blown away, rather than just blow our minds and experience our true self, which is closer to the true goal.

I stopped taking drugs decades ago. Being a Buddhist monk with vows made that part easier. I had continual access to extraordinary states of consciousness for some hours a day and I had guidance, with training, through the months and years of meditation practice. (pages 184 - 185)

The Sixth Zig Zag Zen Commandment is: "Lighten up while enlightening up. Cultivate joy. Don't take yourself too seriously, or it won't be much fun." …

I experienced my consciousness begin to radiate outward, dissolving, and then manifesting as infinite realms of light like Buddha-fields. All kinds of blessings, divinations, prognostications, Buddhas, dakinis, guardian angels, and Himalayan spirits came to life in my mind as I sat for hours under the shade of a tree. Upon my return to the monastery I was excited to tell Lama Yeshe what I had seen. He just said, "American boy's dream! You too much. Have some tea." He laughed, and we had tea.

So the Seventh Zig Zag Zen Commandment is: "See everything as impermanent and like a dream." (page 185)

Surely the attitude that most lamas and teachers have toward psychedelics is culturally based. I remember a lama in Darjeeling saying that drugs clog your psychic channels, energy paths, chakras, and nadis. On one occasion, he had everyone at his meditation center bring their stash and toss it into the campfire as an offering up of illusion. Yet, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche didn't mind alcohol. High-mountain Tibetans need their lung capacity, and smoking was not a good thing for them, so perhaps alcohol was more acceptable. Whatever substance is being used, it should be used consciously and intentionally, and not mindlessly.

So the Eighth Zig Zag Zen Commandment is: "Be mindful. Be vigilant and intelligent about your experiments." For if the wind changes, the altered state might stick, and you might never get home to Kansas again! (pages 186 - 187)

Allen Ginsberg once asked my late master Dudjom Rinpoche about his psychedelic visions and experiences, especially the terrifying ones. Dudjom Rinpoche said: "Whatever you see, good or bad, don't cling to it." Enlightened advice for all seasons!

So this is the Ninth Zig Zag Zen Commandment: "Don't cling to anything," (page 187)

... Words are just like mere finger-painting. All language is a weak translation of this ineffable experience. As the Buddha said, according to Zen tradition: "I never uttered a word; yet everybody heard what they needed to hear."

The Tenth Zig Zag Zen Commandment is: "Don't rely on mere words and concepts." (page 187)

After having a psychedelic opening, you have to come back and live in the here and now. Otherwise, psychedelic revelations might paralyze the impetus toward deepening that glimpse. I try to integrate the Absolute and the Relative in my body, my feelings, my work, and in my own relations by making authentic connection in every contact in daily life. One of the best ways to abide in the non-dual is by practicing the Six Paramitas of the Bodhisattva Path, or principles of enlightened living: generosity, virtue, patience, diligence, concentration, and transcendental wisdom. The Middle Way means not falling into the ditch on either side. But the Middle Way is not like a narrow yellow line down the center of the road. It has plenty of lanes on either side for us to enjoy at our different speeds and in our different ways. (pages 187 - 188)

So an extra commandment, for good measure, is: "Be good and do good. There are no enlightened individuals; there is only enlightened activity."

For some people, a psychedelic experience might be too much to handle, or out of the question. It might shake up an unstable ego structure too much, and therefore be unhelpful. You must develop a healthy, autonomous adult ego before you can genuinely transcend the ego. Or in Buddhist parlance, you must become somebody before you become nobody. It is not a commandment, but one would do well to realize one's true self. (page 188)

http://csp.org/chrestomathy/zig_zag_zen.html

[Joe Hillshoist]

06.19.2012

Taking a Leap of Faith

by by Vikram Gandhi

http://www.moviemaker.com/directing/art ... _20120619/


Vikram Gandhi, minus his Kumaré trappings.

Director Vikram Gandhi is not a guru. But he plays one in the documentary Kumaré, opening tomorrow, which sees him adopt the guise of an Eastern spiritual leader as way to explore the issue of why so many people flock to them. What starts out as a funny (sometimes cringingly so, as in the scene where Kumaré leads a group of New Age true believers in a ridiculous session of Sound Healing) and insightful look into the realm of New Age spiritualism takes a turn for the serious and insightful when the fake guru and his fake religion start attracting real followers—people who rely on the teachings of their Indian guru who, unbeknownst to them, is actually a moviemaker from New Jersey with a fake Indian accent.

Below, Vikram Gandhi writes about the experience of directing the film—and how “director” and “spiritual leader” really aren’t as far apart as most would assume them to be.


In my film Kumaré, I impersonate a wise guru from the East and start a following of real people in Arizona. In order to look the part, I grew my beard and my hair to Gandolfian lengths, wore a sarong and mala beads and carried a five-foot-tall custom-made trident. I looked like the kind of reggae fan who sells oils and incense on Venice Beach. But people called me a guru, therefore I was considered one by everyone I met.

When directing a movie without a script, without a clue how it would turn out, without a genre to rely on for structural guidance, you need people to believe in you and your vision. And you have to find inspiration from wherever and whomever possible.

My six-person team and I, as the revered Sri Kumaré, spent months rolling around Arizona meeting characters who professed to have all sorts of wisdom. We had Easter with a New Age Christian priestess who was married to an Elvis impersonator, channeled Siddhartha Gautama in her backyard and gave aura readings for a small fee. We ran into a Sanskrit scholar of great academic acclaim in a Vortex surrounded by a fleet of disciples. I talked to a psychic who guessed my birthday upon my entering his consultation room—and said I was there to lay judgment on the world around me. And these encounters are all in a two-hour stop for lunch in Sedona, a place that in itself feels like a movie set.

On one journey into the desert, I met a spiritual leader named Gabriel of Urantia. To me, Gabriel lacked any detectable charisma. Yet he ruled over a vast utopian community of a hundred people who believed themselves a “cosmic family” of intergalactic descendents reunited on a farm by the Mexican border. They each had a D&D-esque name, like Amadon or Centria, bestowed upon them by their leader. For the people on the inside, “Living in the fourth dimension,” this man had the answers to the big questions of humanity. To me, a lowly 3-D outsider, his tale seemed too genre, almost cartoonish—alien abduction, divine voices, great epiphanies. To Kumaré, he was an ingenious storyteller. We all had the same question: How had he built this tiny empire? How did he get people to believe him—or, rather, in him?

As the story goes, about 10 years ago, Nancy, a statuesque and eloquent woman, decided that this man was indeed channeling the celestial deity Paladin. Why or how she interpreted his fantastic incantations for cosmic authority is beyond me. But she did. She moved into a trailer park with him. Tony from Pittsburgh renamed himself Gabriel of the planet Urantia (also known as Earth) and renamed his bride Niann. She soon found herself inviting new followers into their yurts. After that, it’s not hard to see how people could align themselves with the enigmatic pair. Their lives were inspired by a higher vision and direction, i.e., purpose and a narrative structure. Few people have these. If she believes, why wouldn’t I?

There is a fine line between a raving lunatic and spiritual leader. It is those first believers that turn a delusion of grandeur into a feasible worldview. In my case, my first believers were my producers. Luckily they were my old friends and business partners. Bryan was my classmate in Indo-Tibetan philosophy class in college. I was writing about the intersection of physics and Kashmir Shaivism, Bryan about Buddhist deities and Freud. Brendan had been an improv actor in a comedy troupe and a was master of all things production. We all worked at the television station in college on comedy programming. We were a Hindu, a Catholic and a Jew, all disgruntled by the illusions around us and driven by similar reasons. While the film features me, it is about all of us. And we want it to resonate with everyone.

Bryan and Brendan knew my flaws and my strengths perhaps better than I. They encouraged me to take improv classes, become a refined yoga practitioner, speak clearly and hone my message. Because they were educated with the same academics and laughed at the same jokes, the vision soon became our communal vision. Their initial belief in me was what allowed me to dress up like a crazy man and not feel like one. After that, we were capable of building a team without a script or any guarantees. We got a producer who worked with Sacha Baron Cohen and had studied religion like us. After, each new person came to the table with their own motivations, drawn from their own personal experience. Everyone took a leap of faith to join this crazy experiment because other people had been bold enough to. For a brief moment, Kumaré the Production was a religious movement. Perhaps the students we met in the film were open to Kumaré because they admired his believers, i.e., my film crew.

Gabriel, a cinephile and film critic, was himself in many ways an amazing director. His vision is as expansive as that of any great storyteller. He mastered making life imitate art. He created a new seductive version of reality based on communal, eco-conscious living. I loved it there. And people loved Kumaré back.

The world Gabriel had created was epic, not because of the Hobbit houses that the residents of Urantia lived in, but because it functioned on a sublime narrative that kept all his residents excited and inspired. Every day they worked on the commune, and then every night they read the next chapter from the multi-volume The Urantia Book, their holy text. He was a master at telling a story, a modern-day Scheherazade. Story keeps people happy; it creates order and purpose.

But Gabriel was by no means perfect. Over our time together, he often forgot historic details of his own life: His kids’ names, the order of their births, the details of his “secret” alien abduction (which is clearly made public in the forward to his book).

His council of elders were quick to correct and narrate the story for him. Once Gabriel admitted to instating a vegetarian diet for the community while in his own quarters would often succumb to his craving for Italian meatballs. (Perhaps there is still a little Tony from Pittsburgh left in him.) But all of this is forgivable. Perhaps he is just doing the best he can for the world he’s created. And maybe he does communicate with the celestial being Paladin. I’ve learned not to lay judgment.

Religions, like films, are the sum of their parts and built on the work of many. They attract us more because of a seductive narrative arc than any logical truth. Kumaré the guru was merely a prop at the center of Kumaré the religion and Kumaré the film. The film is way bigger than him, or me. It was only built because the first believers got behind a vision.

In the film, I impersonate a guru. But in real life was I just impersonating a director? It’s only because other people believed in me that I became one. They maintained the vision and direction in the times when I lost mine. It’s what every low-budget independent filmmaker knows and every fallen spiritual leader painfully discovers: You need them more than they need you.



Kumaré comes out in limited release tomorrow, June 20th, at the IFC Center in New York City, with screenings in Los Angeles, Boulder, Denver, Seattle and more scheduled for the coming weeks. To find out and more about the film and keep up with future screenings, visit http://www.kumaremovie.com .

.

I just saw this, it was on Australian television, and its one of the best docos ever made. Its brilliant and awesome. I don't know what else to say about it. Except that you have to watch it. Its really deep and at the same time so funny. spoiler: Spoiler:He teaches people a yoga move that he ripped off pete Townsend doing power chords for the who 40 years ago. Its brilliant.

Cheers AD. I doubt I would have ever watched that if you hadn't posted about it.

[American Dream]

[PufPuf93]

http://visupview.blogspot.com/2010/11/nine.html

The Nine



On June 27th, 1953, nine individuals plus a medium gathered at an isolated cabin in the woods outside of Glen Cove, Maine to conduct a seance in which they would claim to make contact with the Great Ennead, the gods the ancient Egyptians had worshipped in the sacred city of Heliopolis. These gods, who were nine in number as well, were part of one great, creator god known as Atum. The other gods consisted of Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Seth, Nephthys, and sometimes Horus. Communication with these entities was handled by the medium, an Indian gentleman referred to as Dr. D.G. Vinod, who slipped into a trance state at 12:15 AM and began speaking as 'the Nine' by 12:30. Afterwards Dr. Vinod would claim to have no memory of the conversation that preceded between the Ennead Nine and their human counterparts. During the course of the seance the mystical Nine informed the human nine that they would be in charge of bringing about a mystical renaissance on Earth. From there the Nine ventured into quasi-scientific, philosophical constructs that eventually led to the acknowledgement that they, the Grand Ennead, were in fact extraterrestrial beings living in an immense spaceship hovering invisibly over the planet and that the assembled congregation had been selected to promote their agenda on Earth.



Rationally the above scenario must be dismissed as a flight of madness by any who wish to make a claim upon sanity -Surely only the flakiest of New Age flakes would even consider such acts, live alone believe that they were possible. And that's exactly what is so disturbing about the above mentioned seance for the people that attended it may have been many things, but insane is not a strong possibility. Let us simply consider the names of the nine humans who spoke with the Ennead that night:

Henry and Georgia Jackson, Alice Bouverie, Marcella Du Pont, Carl Betz, Vonnie Beck, Arthur and Ruth Young and Andrija Puharich.

For those of you familiar with American high society one name should immediately standout: Du Pont. Marcella Du Pont was in fact a member of the fabulously wealthy clan, but the Du Ponts were hardly the only blue bloods in attendance.



There was also Alice Bouverie who was born Ava Alice Muriel Astor, a descendant of John Jacob Astor, and the daughter of Colonel John Jacob Astor IV, who had died aboard the Titanic when it sank. Her first husband had been an officer in the Czarist Army, Prince Serge Obolensky, who would go on to become a major operator in the OSS during WWII. Needless to say, Mrs. Bouverie was no stranger to the workings of the US intelligence community.



There was also Ruth Young, who had been known as Ruth Forbes Paine of the Forbes family, before marrying Arthur Young. Mr. Young was a famous inventor, working for the Bell Corporation, and had been instrumental in the creation of the Bell Helicopter. But the sway of this couple went well beyond the military-industrial complex. In fact, the enigmatic Arthur Young may be one of the most significant figures of the later 20th century. He was the chief financial patron behind the Nine for many years and a major influence on the New Age movement in general via his mystical writings such as Consciousness and Reality.



Then there's the bizarre connection Arthur and Ruth have to the Kennedy assassination via Michael Paine, Ruth's son from a previous marriage who married a woman also named Ruth.



This Ruth -previously Ruth Hyde before becoming Ruth Paine, was the daughter of a man employed by the Agency for International Development which, according to Peter Levenda in his Sinister Forces -Book One: The Nine, was a well known CIA front. By 1963 Michael and Ruth Paine had produced two children, but were separated while living in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. On February 22 1963 Ruth met Lee Harvey Oswald and his wife, Marina at a party being thrown amongst the emigre White Russian community. In fact, the Oswalds had been invited to the party by George de Mohrenschildt, a White Russian and a petroleum engineer with suspected ties to American intelligence who committed suicide in 1977 shortly before he was scheduled to appear before the House Sub-Committee on Assassinations.



Ruth Paine allegedly built an immediate bound with Marina Oswald and invited her to move into her home in Irving, Texas with her child while Lee Harvey Oswald went to New Orleans to seek work. When he returned to Dallas, Texas it was Ruth Paine who helped Lee get his job at the Texas School Book Depository while Marina and child continued to live with her. When the assassination occurred it was the Paines who led the police to the place where Oswald hid his rifle. In fact, much evidence used to damn Oswald was provided by Ruth Paine such as some of the famous photos of Oswald posing with his rifle, the 'spy camera,' the fake Alex Hidell documents, and so forth.



Peter Levenda, in the previously mentioned book, even goes so far to suggest that Ruth Paine may have taken Lee Harvey Oswald with her up to Philadelphia in 1963 when she stayed with her parents-in-law during her testimony to the Warren Commission:

"...Ruth Paine admitted that at one point Lee Harvey Oswald was considering going to Philadelphia. As soon as she mentions Philadelphia, Allen Dulles [former head of CIA -Recluse] chimes in and opined that it was presumably to find work, to which Ruth replied in the affirmative. This is what is known as 'leading the witness.' Philadelphia, of course, is where Arthur and Ruth Young lived, and Ruth had a habit of going up there every year in the summer... as she did in the summer of 1963. Did Arthur Young invite the young Marine defector to his wooded estate in Paoli?"
(Sinister Forces, pg. 268)

What interest could the man who straddled the line between war profiteer and New Age guru have in the man that would go on to be framed for the assassination of JFK? Why were his children-in-laws seemingly instrumental in the frame built up around Oswald? Perhaps we can gain some further insight into these question by considering the chief architect behind the Nine.

This brings us to the figure of Andrija Puharich, the man that had arranged the 1953 meeting in the first place.



Dr. Puharich had had previous contact with the Nine. His first encounter was also channeled via Dr. Vinod in the Maine woods near Glen Cove, only New Years Eve, 1952. This was part of his work with the Round Table Foundation, a research institute specializing in all kinds of arcane subjects such as cybernetics and ESP. It was founded in 1948 by Puharich with funding from a variety of individuals, most notably former Secretary of Agriculture and later Vice-President Henry Wallace. Wallace, a high-ranking Freemason, served under FDR and is the one responsible for placing the Great Seal with the Masonic capstone on the back of the dollar bill.




After both his first and second sessions of channelling the Nine via Vinod Puharich was drafted into the Army, the second time for nearly two years in which he served as a Captain at Edgewood Arsenal working on research into hallucinogenic drugs and psychic abilities.

Specifically Puharich was attempting to find a drug that would stimulate psychic ability, according to Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince in their marvelous The Stargate Conspiracy. It's also highly likely Puharich began what become a life time association with US intelligence. Prince and Picknett state:

"Ira Einhorn, Puharich's close associate in the 1970s, told us recently that, although Puharich had worked for the CIA during the 1950s, he was no longer doing so twenty years later. However, the evidence points very much in the other direction. Puharich's relationship with intelligence agencies almost certainly did not end in the 1950s. Uri Geller told us at a meeting in his home near Reading in England in 1998 that: 'The CIA brought Puharich in to come and get me out of Israel.' Jack Sarfatti goes further, claiming: 'Puharich was Geller's case officer in America with money provided by Sir John Whitmore.' And according to James Hurtak, via his Academy For Further Sciences, Puharich 'worked with the US intelligence community.' By implication this was during the early 1970s when he, Hurtak, was also working with him."
(The Stargate Conspiracy, pg. 206)

Picknett and Prince speculate that much of Puharich's work as a private citizen on things such as the Round Table Foundation and his research in Mexico on magic mushrooms may have also been on behalf of the US intelligence community.



It was during the trip, in 1956, that Puharich had his next contact with the Nine. He and Arthur Young along with psychic Peter Hurkos were down in Mexico searching for hallucinogenic drugs when they ran into an American couple from Arizona known as the Laugheads. The Laugheads claimed to be in contact with the Nine via a medium back in Arizona and to prove this, they sent a letter to Puharich the next month with detailed descriptions of what was discussed in Puharich's second seance with Vinod in 1953.

Puharich would not again had direct contact with the Nine until 1970 when he became involved with the Israeli stage magician and psychic Uri Geller. In November 1970 Puharich hypnotised the young Israeli and again made contact with the Nine after being informed of their great plans for Geller. The next year Puharich returned to Israel for a longer visit with Geller during which they were in almost frequent contact with the Nine, either channelled through the hypnotised Geller or appearing spontaneously on audio tapes, which then either erased themselves or vanished in plain sight. Ample paranormal activity constantly bombarded Geller and Puharich during this time as well.



Puharich brought Geller back to the US in 1972 so that he could be studied at the Sanford Research Institute. The high weirdness followed them there. The Geller experiments at SRI perfectly coincided with the first CIA experiments in psychic ability there, leading Picknett and Prince to speculate that Geller may have been a part of the SRI remote viewing research.



By 1973 Puharich and Geller went there separate ways. The chief figures in Puharich's communications with the Nine now became Sir John Whitmore and Phyllis Schlemmer, who formed an organization known as Lab Nine. Schlemmer would become the chief medium of the group during this time, after the brief involvement of the Daytona cook Bobby Horne, who I already discussed here. Schlemmer had become convinced of her psychic abilities at a very young age and founded the Psychic Center of Florida in Orlando in 1969 as a kind of school for developing psychics. She would go on to publish The Only Planet of Choice in 1992 that compiled various channellings with the Nine since 1974 and which became a runaway New Age bestseller.



Even by the mid-1970s the Nine had become big business. They had several wealthy backers such as members of the Bronfmans clan, Canada's richest family, and Italian nobleman Baron DiPauli. They would also gain celebrity backers such as Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek. Roddenberry would go on to incorporate references into Star Trek via The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.



Puharich would drop out of the Lab Nine circle in 1980 and would seemingly have no more contact with the Nine from there on out. But by then it wouldn't matter. With wealthy and famous patrons the Nine were well on their way to developing a devoted cult following.

So to recap, we have a brilliant doctor and research scientist drafted into the US intelligence network for which he would continue an on again, off again relationship with till at least the 1970s. Much of his working during this time revolved around psychic ability and drugs and that would help unlock this ability. In the same time he was also channelling entities that claimed to be both the gods of ancient Egypt as well as space aliens, with the backing of wealthy and powerful patrons with deep ties to the military-industrial complex.



You also have the bizarre figure of Arthur Young, New Age guru and war profiteer who's legal relations were closely involved with the man framed for the assassination of JFK. By all accounts Young was a major player in the whole Nine affair, providing much of the funding up till the early 1970s.




So, what are we to make of the Nine and the powerful individuals that have flocked to them?



Picknett and Prince suggest two hypothesises. In the first one, the messages from the Nine are some kind of mass psychological experiment with broader psychological warfare application. In the second hypothesis the Nine are a reality but their message and/or motive may be much different than what the public is being told. The stargate of the title of the Picknett and Prince book alludes to their belief that Puharich was searching for some kind of drug that would open up mental contact with some form of non-human entity. Traditions of this have existed in various cultures for centuries, as I have written of here, concerning the communications that are possible in entheogen induced states.




I have also written extensively on the CIA's involvement in the spread of entheogens here. There are many mainstream explanations for this, eg the chaos and control these drugs can invoke in the wrong hands. But I have often wondered if there was a faction within the intelligence community that promoted the spread of entheogens for something far more mystical, such as mental contact with non-human entities that shamans have often spoken of in conjunction with these drugs.




Puharich was heavily involved in the spread of entheogens to the masses in the late 1950s, even writing a book on the subject entitled The Sacred Mushroom. Is it possible that he and some of his colleagues in the intelligence community sought to spread entheogens to the masses at the urgings of the Nine?

If so then the question becomes, to what purpose would the intelligence community want the masses to experience contact with such entities?

Here is an interesting comment from one of the VISUP links:

Arthur Bloch has suggested that I post this discussion, originally in response
to a private email inquiry concerning my recollections of conversations with
Arthur Young about his involvement back in the 1950s, with a mediumistic group
said to be in contact with "The Nine" -- a group of primal forces of the
universe. Perhaps others on this list are knowledgeable about these matters and
can add more detail.

Jeffrey Mishlove

-------------------------------------

Yes, I have had conversations with Arthur (and probably Ruth) concerning the
Roundtable Foundation in Maine and the seances concerning "The Nine." It is all
very complicated -- apparently very promising but, ultimately, more or less a
wild goose chase.

If you have not read When Prophecy Fails, the Leon Festinger classic
sociological text published in 1956, I highly recommend it. There are various
paradoxes involved, as I recall. Festinger was investigating a UFO/spiritualist
cult in Minnesota who believed that the world would end back in about 1954.
Through a series of synchronicities, this group actually made contact (as I
recall) with Andrija Puharich and the Roundtable group. Apparently, "The Nine"
was behind this meeting -- and the meeting reinforced the erroneous beliefs of
the Minnesota cult.

Festinger's book led to the development of a major theory in social psychology
centering around the concept of "cognitive dissonance." He maintained that the
failure of the prophecy would lead to a strengthening of the cult's belief
system. The paradox here, I believe, is that it did not really do so. For the
most part, the Minnesota group fell apart (as did the Roundtable Foundation).
However, the failure of Festinger's own predictions led him to strengthen his
belief in his own theory -- to such an extent that it has become a pillar of
modern social psychology!

As I recall, there was some suggestion that "The Nine" were also related to
"Hoova" and the PK manifestations produced by Uri Geller. Many years after the
original group in Maine, Andrija Puharich was at the center of another
mediumistic group that believed themselves to be receiving messages again. These
messages involved instructions to travel to various airports around the world at
different times and places. All of this, I think, was funded by a wealthy
British individual, Sir John Whitmore. Again, to my knowledge, nothing really
came of it. I think a lot of money was wasted on air travel. (However, to the
best of my knowledge, Whitmore was also a funding source behind the "Iceland
Conference" on physics and psi. See
http://home.teleport.com/~bfryer/iceland.html)

In some spiritual circles, it is suggested that the results of such ventures
occur on the inner planes -- and that the outward failure of the Roundtable
project is unimportant. I imagine that these seances were part of Arthur's
journey in developing his theory of process -- even if no direct association
exists. I think another outcome of the Roundtable Foundation was Puharich's own
classic book, Beyond Telepathy that included important research on the use of
the Faraday cage to enhance ESP and also a fascinating theory of ESP as it
relates to the adrenergic and cholinergic systems of the body.

Incidentally, during my time with Arthur and Ruth, many Bay Area physicists were
exposed to his theory of process. For the most part, as I recall, their interest
was kindly and, also, dismissive. Arthur was, truly, embracing a different
paradigm. He deviated sufficiently from their empirical predispositions that
they were unable (with some interesting exceptions) to embrace -- or even fully
understand -- his mindset.

I suspect that "The Nine" were also, somehow, related to the "Galactic Council"
that influenced an old friend of Arthur and Ruth (from the 1940s) -- Donald
Keys, the founder of an organization known as Planetary Citizens. Somewhere, I
believe I have a xerox copy of Donald's unpublished autobiography in which he
describes his contacts with the Galactic Council (including actual journeys on
spacecraft). I know that Arthur took these accounts quite seriously. I also know
that, until his passing, Arthur maintained a very serious interest in the
literature and lore of UFOs -- with a particular emphasis on contactees. Donald
Keys, prior to his death, lived in Mt. Shasta, CA, a small town known for many
cults of a spiritualist/UFO nature. I see that an organization called Planetary
Citizens, Inc., is still based there. As the founder of Planetary Citizens, Keys
saw himself as Earth's representative to the Galactic Council.

Another interesting approach to this type of phenomenology is described by
Jacques Vallee in his book, Messengers of Deception. Vallee suggests that UFOs
represent some sort of control system that is engaged in influencing humanity
via various long-term, subconscious processes. Carl Jung's book, Flying Saucers,
is also insightful in this regard. Another angle that may help connect all of
this to the western literary tradition is W.B. Yeat's book, A Vision

[PufPuf93]

Edit for 2X post.

Enjoy this thread AD.

Much resonates with my life experience in time, place, and action.

[American Dream]

.

A Love Supreme

[American Dream]

“It’s the music of the earth, the music of the sun and the stars, the music of yourself, vibrating. Yes, you’re music too. You’re all instruments. Everyone’s supposed to be playing their part in this vast arkestry of the cosmos.”

--Sun Ra

[American Dream]

[American Dream]

Hamatsa Shaman

[norton ash]

Thank you for giving me 'A Love Supreme' this morning, AD, it's the meditation and prayer I needed.

A love supreme
A love supreme
A love supreme
A love supreme

[American Dream]

Thanks everyone!

[American Dream]

[American Dream]

The U.S. Army Chemical Corp’s marijuana research began several years before Ketchum joined the team at Edgewood. In 1952, the Shell Development Corporation was contracted by the Army to examine “synthetic cannabis derivatives” for their incapacitating properties. Additional studies into possible military uses of marijuana began two years later at the University of Michigan medical school, where a group of scientists led by Dr. Edward F. Domino, professor of pharmacology, tested a drug called “EA 1476” – otherwise known as “Red Oil” – on dogs and monkeys at the behest of the U.S. Army. Made through a process of chemical extraction and distillation, Red Oil (akin to hash oil) packed a mightier punch than the natural plant.

Army scientists found that this concentrated cannabis derivative produced effects unlike anything they had previously seen. “The dog gets a peculiar reaction. He crawls under the table, stays away from the dark, leaps out at imaginary objects, and as far as one can interpret, may be having hallucinations. It would appear even to the untrained observer that this dog is not normal. He suddenly jumps out, even without any stimulus, and barks, and then crawls back under the table.” With a larger dose of Red Oil, the reaction was even more pronounced. “These animals lie on their side; you could step on their feet without any response; it is an amazing effect, and a reversible phenomenon. It has greatly increased our interest in this compound from the standpoint of future chemical possibilities.”

In the late 1950s, the Army started testing Red Oil on U.S. soldiers at Edgewood. Some GIs smirked for hours while they were under the influence of EA 1476. When asked to perform routine numbers and spatial reasoning tests, the stoned volunteers couldn’t stop laughing. But Red Oil was not an ideal chemical warfare candidate. For starters, it was a “crude” preparation that contained many components of cannabis besides psychoactive THC. Army scientists surmised that pure THC would weigh much less than Red Oil and would therefore be better suited as a chemical weapon. They were intrigued by the possibility of amplifying the active ingredient of marijuana, tweaking the mother molecule, as it were, to enhance its psychogenic effects.

[American Dream]

Thanissaro Bhikkhu and Planet of the Apes: On Restraint, Dignity, and Power

August 16, 2011


__

Thanissaro Bhikkhu, a Theravadan Buddhist monk, lays it down in Tricycle Magazine with a fabulous article on restraint.

(via wonderful dhamma teacher Mushim Ikeda-Nash.)

When you’re meditating, the same process [of restraint] holds. People sometimes wonder why they can’t get their minds to concentrate. It’s because they’re not willing to give up other interests, even for the time being. A thought comes and you just go right after it without checking to see where it’s going. This idea comes that sounds interesting, that looks intriguing, you’ve got a whole hour to think about whatever you want. If that’s your attitude toward the meditation period, nothing’s going to get accomplished. You have to realize that this is your opportunity to get the mind stable and still. In order to do that, you have to give up all kinds of other thoughts. Thoughts about the past, thoughts about the future, figuring this out, planning for that, whatever: you have to put them all aside. No matter how wonderful or sophisticated those thoughts are, you just say no to them.

YES! Good Lord, it always seems like my best, most nuanced ideas come when I’m trying to meditate. And all I want to do is get up from the floor and go write them down. Or else I’ll forget! And this key conceptual innovation will be lost forever! People will die and movements will perish unless I fully formulate and record this thought!

Underlying this mildly desperate grasping, for me, anyway, is the notion that my ideas, my intellectual products, are my most important features and contributions. “Features” in the sense that they might make me more admirable; “contributions” in the sense that they might make me more useful. If an idea can be articulated, recorded, and disseminated, it will be worth more to a greater number of people than my 60 minutes of calm, settled mind, which are beneficial only to me.

But what Thanissaro Bhikkhu is getting at, I think, is that ways of being — i.e. patience, restraint, generosity, and dignity — can be equally important features and contributions.

I think that in some way, this is borne out through his article itself. He’s talking about patience and dignity, he’s using well-crafted language to describe it, which is lovely and useful. But it is our experiences of beneficial patience, restraint, dignity and generosity that leave more profound impressions on us, and on the ways we engage the world. Observing, emulating, and deliberately cultivating these qualities intervenes more significantly in culture (even on the level of our friendship groups, or workplaces, or organizing committees) than an eloquent description of their beauty.


Continues at: http://kloncke.com/2011/08/16/thanissar ... and-power/