Mental Wandering

Thought I'd let my mind roam and see where it ended up. Jim's responses to my last post added to the mix - I'm starting to think there are vast dimensions and wildernesses inside our heads if we but wander the trails. With all the new virtual-reality devices, can you imagine if they were linked to what's in our heads?

Does a bigger maze exist?

New-friend Terry came to visit Friday evening, stayed the night to help me out on Saturday. In a 24 hour period, he was exposed to 'old Neil Young' while I meandered paths associated to Eric and the upcoming 10-year anniversary of his passing. Awfully busy 10 years it's been, keeping a grip on this world while bumping into Spirits - some in flesh, some 'just hanging out with me' in an unseen way.

Roaming around in my head and past, Neil Young and John Lennon at age 16, getting stoned so Life wasn't so sharp. Changes in the home, Vietnam raging, Social Security failing, Silent Spring and toxic waste, nuclear weapons and humanity's ability to wipe out all life '10 times over'. It seemed redundant to me at the time, because if we could wipe out life just once or twice we could put our energy into something more life-supporting. I figured living was a daily crap-shoot, as individuals and as a species. Pondered religion and reincarnation, stared into the swamp at another world of insects and plants, concluded I was 'about like a bug' from a larger perspective.

This wasn't a negative thought to me. Being just a little piece of Life in a great big cosmos was reassuring, and everything was okay then. Decades later, I'm still a little piece of Life in a great big cosmos, pondering religion and reincarnation, watching Social Security squirm and toxic waste and humanity's inhumanity... and listening again to Neil. His music was a constant while I worked at the plastics plant and Eric was spiraling towards his departure. Driving to Duluth to pick up Eric, Neil kept me company. "Old Man" is as connected to my dad now as it was then, and as the song says, "I'm a lot like you."

Dad had his tobacco and coffee and chocolate. He was stubborn, independent, mostly a loner and loved his land. He told me he felt God a lot more out in the fields than he did in church. Sometimes he'd get going on a project and 'couldn't stop' until three or four in the morning. He roamed cross-country as a young adult for ten years, having Adventures and sometimes doing not-so-bright stuff. Yeah, Dad - I'm a lot like you.

Wherever Neil Young is, I hope he keeps on singing for a couple more decades.

What I'm also noticing is that there is a shift in human consciousness occurring, and it seems to be in all areas. Heading towards a Convergence? I can hope! Started another IT class online this week, and in the postings, one student had been part of a paranormal research group and the instructor responded with a comment on 'energy weirdness' occasionally hitting computer systems. This is not a dialogue that would have occurred a few decades ago - are we catching up to ourselves? Youtube has a good video trying to explain a 'Salvia experience' and the concept of losing "I" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1gfezZIO1o - jump over to Terrence McKenna's "The Singularity" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8v8mgwuubU - and perception on "Time Acceleration" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLc6i29yhDM&feature=related -you're about on track with friend Terry's last 24 hours with me.

I previously subjected him to Walt Disney's "It's a Small World After All" and Alice in Wonderland tune and the sound of pulsars drumming http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHEVo-LkDrQ Last night I 'needed cartoons' and ended up watching Johnny Bravo three times - gotta love the pyscho-squirrel in this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k83lg34Z-FU&feature=related

Betwixt and between, it seemed on Saturday it'd be wise to finally get the tarp over the 'snow support'... since it was snowing. I thought "10 minutes - stretch it out, hammer in a few staples" - I was wrong. Terry tends to have a little less optimism in things staying put, so nailed in some boards and such. This little project took a few hours in the wet slush after I did some house-cleaning and then fetched Dennis home. In other words, I finally made some omelets about three in the afternoon, thereby pushing breakfast to a new level.

Life being Real, Sera came home with the little grandkids for the night, and they proceeded to glue up styrofoam balls and popsicle sticks and beans into odd snow-creatures. "Happy mess" I guess is the best way to describe it.

So if we are finally collectively moving forward, or maybe out of our swamp into a larger world, then maybe Universal Design is stirring up the mud on us. From a bigger perspective than me, this too may just be a "happy mess" - one we're participating in, losing tadpole tails and growing wings for the next leap forward. Seems to me, if bugs can do it, there's a good chance we can, too.

The question is, can we stay sane through it, or do we really need to lose our minds? I can say, if Terrence is right, tripping back and forth between salvia-reality and earth is a quite shocking experience, one that brings discomfort as perceptions blur. A lot of folks don't like the affects, much the same I would think a swamp-bug would enjoy being scooped out of the water. If the New Reality is pyschadelic and we're part of it... yeah, no wonder we can't conceive it properly and we're all going a little nuts.

With another 'time jump' slated for February 2011 (Mayan Calendar Comes North, Lungold), we may all be a little nuttier soon. Hopefully, all the good stuff of humanity leaps with us. Truth of it, most of my friends seem capable of recognizing this shift, each in his or her own way. Especially 'the '70's kids', growing through that decade (1960's-'70's) of radical change. Maybe we made a few jumps out of the water then that will serve us well now... Jim, David, Rich and others should understand this.

We might be running out of 'Time', but we're running into Something. Anyone have a clue where we'll end up?

It seems to be holding pretty accurate; my supervisor, regional office and headquarters all are scrambling for a more reassuring solidity - now we're getting GPS and wireless transmissions. That might help a little bit on the planet, but where the hell are we in the cosmos? This level doesn't 'do pyschadelics well' - how do you count Spirits in multi-dimensions and keep track of hours if there is no Time? Some things we'll just have to let go of.

Here's a possible clue: when time seems to slow down or speed up, we get dizzy during the shift. Watch a cartoon in fast-forward or listen to a tune in the dark on super-slow - you're not 'moving' per se, but your perception gets a bit warped. I wonder what would happen if a person was subjected to these conditions steadily for a week or two and then 'brought back to normal'. I bet they'd be a bit unhinged. NO - I'm not going to try this! But it's easy to see where we'd all be a bit dizzy during perception shifts. Does it help to know why you're dizzy?

Yup, and the calm place to be in a hurricane is in the eye of the storm. Yup, another Neil Young tune... If you stir up this posting, you have a glimpse of 'me' in a 24-hour period. Now I'm going to go 'feel outside' for a few minutes and make a tobacco offering to the earth spirits. About the same thing I did when I was 15, and it's weird to see most of what I thought back then I still think now. Really weird - I thought I might outgrow it, but never did. I think you all can relate!