The GI, surrealism and other dissection issues

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earthbrah
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Post by earthbrah »

Since these things are a bit off topic, I will keep this synopsis brief.

1. The Sufis have been considered one of two things: either the mystical dimension of Islam, or the very blood of the tree of all religions. But basically, they are an esoteric, dispersed group of individuals who have a special knowledge and lore about the development of the human being and it's consciousness. There are many different groups or brotherhoods of these folks out there, even still today (Mevlevi, Shazzaliya, Jerrahi, Naqushbandi, etc.) Each one has a different focus, uses a different medium for its dervishes to practice and develop. They come in all walks of life; some are lawyers, doctors, teachers, plumbers, garbage men, florists, carpet makers, grocers, etc.
These special tools are given only to those who are ready to receive them, to those who can put them to a purposeful use. All manner of paranormal or psychic powers (telepathy, telekinesis, shape shifting, etc.) have been attributed to Sufis throughout the ages, yet the acquisition of these abilities only underscores the Sufis quest or development; it is not the end goal. Rather, they are side effects of having reached higher levels of development. Only the Sufi knows what those true goals are, in what context their acquisition is undertaken.
For further interest, read "The Sufis" by Indries Shah, or "In Search of the Miraculous" by PD Ouspensky (Gurdjieff's main pupil, Gurdjieff himself having got his system from a Sufi school in Central Asia).

2. Terrence McKenna was an ethnobotanist who had a life-transforming experience in the Amazon in the early 70s. While experimenting with hallucinogenic plants, namely mushrooms and DMT, he gained an understanding of Time through a vision of the I Ching's Wen Sequence. His model of the Time Wave he sets forth in a book co-written with his brother, Dennis, called "The Invisible Landscape." Since I'm reading this one currently, I can't really say much more than that.
However, he also wrote a book called "Food of the Gods" in which he promotes the idea that all of human history is about the relationships between humans and plants. He further proposes what he calls the 'resacralization of the world', which is a technical way of saying a return to the partnership, matriarchal, goddess worshipping, mushroom eating, ectstatic mode of existence rather than the hierarchical, patriarchal, god worshipping, earth destroying model we now live in. His most bold contention, though, is that the very development of language and consciousness in the human animal is directly due to its relationship with psychotropic plants. The very thinning of the skull that coincided with this development of language is due to the interaction of these elements inside the human organism. That this is why a chemical identical to DMT is produced naturally in the pineal gland.

Ok, enough tangent.
"Verily, wisdom is like hunger. Perhaps it is a very fine thing--but who would willingly partake of it."
--Saltheart Foamfollower

"Latency--what is concealed--is the demonstrable presence of the future."
--Jean Gebser
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Zarathustra
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Post by Zarathustra »

earthbrah wrote:Ok, enough tangent.
Luckily, that's what we have mods for. :) I'm sure they'll take our posts and put them in the Close, where they belong.

That's all fascinating stuff. TM talks about the very same things in Archaic Revival. I'm intrigued by the idea that mankind developed language and self-consciousness through an interaction with psychotropic plants. I've been frank about my own experiences on such plants (though that has been about 10 years ago), and I concur that consciousness-enhancement is not only possible but unavoidable in such "trips." And it IS enhancement. Not illusion. It is so entirely transcendental, that I believe "bad trips" lie entirely in the fact that sometimes this enhancement it too overwhelming for people to handle, especially those who are extremely dogmatic, rational, or tied to their identity (yet another reference to the chapter two dissection . . . ).

So, I get what you're saying. Have you read Archaic Revival?

I've got Plants of the Gods, too, though mine must be different because it's by Richard Evans Schultes and Albert Hofmann (creator of LSD). Another good one is The Long Trip, a Prehistory of Psychedelia, by Paul Devereux. And finally, you can't beat Timothy Leary's The Psychedelic Experience for a guide to the experience itself.
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