Within the United States, much of emergent spirituality and psychedelic self-discovery gets stuck into a pernicious cycle of selfishness. The gravitational pull of materialism, the desire for things, is so powerful and overwhelming that people either self-isolate from society or they simply "sell-out." The real mantra of the hippie generation is "Peace, Love, Happiness"... and extreme selfishness- a reality clearly embodied by the political decisions of our parents' generation.
So what's the solution?
In college I met a monk who gave me a copy of the Bhagavad Gita. It was a version of the Gita that has commentary from A. C. Bhaktivedanta, the founder of the the Hare Krishna movement. I'm not a Hare Krishna and I don't even like calling myself 'spiritual' because of how hand-wavy it sounds, but while going through the book I came across a single line that has always stayed with me:
Compassion for the eternal soul is self-realization.
Based on the Upanishads, the eternal soul is the Universe itself; our consciousness a manifestation of that same soul. From the Isa Upanishad there is the quote "See all beings in your own self and your self in all beings".
The core problem is spirituality without purpose. And I believe that true self realization manifests itself through acts of compassion. Compassion is the glue that holds it together- not just words but real acts of love and compassion- feeding, healing, caring, sheltering.
I hear you. I feel like compassion can also get applied to humans' selfishness, though, because we tend to forget that even if we are souls/manifestations of consciousness, we are in physical bodies with nervous systems that pick up a lot of conditioning along the way -- conditioning that is trying to protect us, but that drives our behavior from a subconscious place, sometimes manifesting as selfishness.
There may be many pathways to learning the lessons of psychedelics through even decades old stories that we all know quite well. I'm curious if you see Mary Poppins as I do? ... and in addition, how many other stories are so overtly pointing towards these experiences under the `umbrella` of traditional theatre or film? ... Alice in Wonderland obviously? ... and others?
Hi, Mona. I've upgraded to paid bc I think you're doing important work and, as it occurred to me yesterday as I was making my way through your book, I believe in 100 or 500 years (or hopefully even sooner) we'll look back and see that your courage and pioneering action in this field will be a part of what lifts our culture and society beyond the current rational malaise we're stuck in. Keep up the great work!
Within the United States, much of emergent spirituality and psychedelic self-discovery gets stuck into a pernicious cycle of selfishness. The gravitational pull of materialism, the desire for things, is so powerful and overwhelming that people either self-isolate from society or they simply "sell-out." The real mantra of the hippie generation is "Peace, Love, Happiness"... and extreme selfishness- a reality clearly embodied by the political decisions of our parents' generation.
So what's the solution?
In college I met a monk who gave me a copy of the Bhagavad Gita. It was a version of the Gita that has commentary from A. C. Bhaktivedanta, the founder of the the Hare Krishna movement. I'm not a Hare Krishna and I don't even like calling myself 'spiritual' because of how hand-wavy it sounds, but while going through the book I came across a single line that has always stayed with me:
Compassion for the eternal soul is self-realization.
Based on the Upanishads, the eternal soul is the Universe itself; our consciousness a manifestation of that same soul. From the Isa Upanishad there is the quote "See all beings in your own self and your self in all beings".
The core problem is spirituality without purpose. And I believe that true self realization manifests itself through acts of compassion. Compassion is the glue that holds it together- not just words but real acts of love and compassion- feeding, healing, caring, sheltering.
I hear you. I feel like compassion can also get applied to humans' selfishness, though, because we tend to forget that even if we are souls/manifestations of consciousness, we are in physical bodies with nervous systems that pick up a lot of conditioning along the way -- conditioning that is trying to protect us, but that drives our behavior from a subconscious place, sometimes manifesting as selfishness.
There may be many pathways to learning the lessons of psychedelics through even decades old stories that we all know quite well. I'm curious if you see Mary Poppins as I do? ... and in addition, how many other stories are so overtly pointing towards these experiences under the `umbrella` of traditional theatre or film? ... Alice in Wonderland obviously? ... and others?
https://polyphonic.substack.com/p/bridging-reality-and-fantasy-the
Hi, Mona. I've upgraded to paid bc I think you're doing important work and, as it occurred to me yesterday as I was making my way through your book, I believe in 100 or 500 years (or hopefully even sooner) we'll look back and see that your courage and pioneering action in this field will be a part of what lifts our culture and society beyond the current rational malaise we're stuck in. Keep up the great work!
Thank you!!! =)