There is an episode in one of the Carlos Castaneda books I like to remember from time to time, no doubt streamlined and out of context in my recollectiion, but still a gooder, just the same:
After an extraordinary vivid psychedelic experience in which Carlos found himself transformed into a raven flying over the earth, he strains mightily to “understand,” asking the Yaqui shaman Don Juan whether he was really flying or not. The back-and-forth is alternately frustrating and amusing to Don Juan, and Carlos gets nowhere. Finally he asks the shaman, “But suppose I had chained a bowling ball to my leg before smoking the mushrooms and turning into a raven, what then?”
Don Juan says, with a shrug: “Well, if you really want to fly with a bowling ball chained to your leg…”
Works for me, muchachos.
No related posts.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
illusory, the whole existence thing, the illusion that things are when they really aren’t cracks me up, to let “it ” go would be great, but i’ll have to wait till later, when i accepted the llusion of responsiblity, i gave up the quest to fly, i didn’t forget about it, just got to heavy and burdened like most of us become to just let “it” occur, i haven’t felt the left brain right brain mind shift in years either, it’s enough to make me want to go out and lick a toad or something!
jeff jus
trying to stay in the spirit!
Lick dat toad! Hell, you haven’t forgotten.
But I know, man. It All the fighting and the bullshit and the love and the joy comes down to, just a single point of light inside the brain where a synapse flashes in the primodial murk. Given that, what we make of it is essentially arbitrary, though for most of us a fairly innocuous unconscious general agreement.
You’d think if people realized this, it would be pretty hard to avoid responsibility for our thoughts — never mind our actions — and things would brighten up around here damned quick.