Author: Aaron

  • E8, Sacred Geometry and the Mind

    E8, Sacred Geometry and the Mind

    Nautilus shell’s logarithmic growth spiral

    Sacred Geometry, as above, so below. When I was attempting to articulate an experience I went through, was entirely in my mind but the intensity or energy of the visitation of what at first I thought was a tiny particle, or fleck far distant, in a sea of otherwise normal field of view. With my eyes completely closed or open, it didn’t matter.

    My experience of Nirvana happened in the comfort and safety of my own home, in complete sobriety, after an unusually mystical sunrise meditation session of about 3 hours. I watched the sunrise from under the boughs of an ancient giant cedar tree, on the shores of the Pacific.

    Hive Mind
    NIrvana

    Nirvana (निर्वाण, Sanskrit: nirvāṇa; Pali: nibbana, nibbāna) is the goal of the Buddhist path. The literal meaning of the term is “blowing out” or “quenching”. Nirvana is the ultimate spiritual goal in Buddhism and marks the soteriological release from rebirths in saṃsāra.

    It was a cold drizzling winter morning, the waves were lapping softly, the rain was soft and it was almost silent, the beach and forest were empty. Once the rain stopped I walked home and laid down on my bed, it was about 8:30 in the morning.

    When I focused on the tiny distant light I began to sense that it was approaching, also that more attention spent was bringing it towards me. It grew rapidly and what it became, was complete surrender to a powerful light that engulfed my body and thought would blow-up my heart but I wasn’t panicking.

    Flower of Life and the Overlapping circles grid
    The first best diagram I found to try to describe but tiny at first

    My intuition guided my mind to remain focused on the light and not too lose concentration, the reward for facing the fear was an embrace of emotion and love like I had never known, or realized but it was recognized by a deeper being in me, than I knew I was.

    The rainbow colors were vivid, we were locked on as the intensity increased, it changed to bright white light and filled my whole being. Communication was like a whisper at first, I thought I could hear something, then realized it was flooding my mind and taking over by filling me with ideas and knowledge, some I already knew but forgot somehow, that’s why I wasn’t worried, since it feels like infinity and the knowledge of the halls of Amenti, wrapped into a warm spirit, as if it were “our father” and entirely familiar.

    You know everything at once, every question you can think of. Much vision dumping of faces and feelings, at massive high speed the mind expands. The duration is without time but maybe it happened in a second, or perhaps lasted an hour. I just remember that and for days after the knowledge poured in. It took over ten days for the awe to dim.

    Perception of the world changed, now all things are connected by what looks like little electric chords. Quantum mechanics is beyond my education but that’s how I learned about e8 and it reminds me of what I witnessed approach me, except it was in motion and not in any shape as it was everything, from the inside out, the heart of a flame in roaring fire.

    I’m not sharing this to prove it or for any other reason than to share what I learned, so I can experience it again and encourage others to seek the ancient idea of ascension. How to find it is to seek the particle that resides in each of us and can be found by knowing what to look for and how to discover it. Ascension is why we’re here.

    E8 Petrie projection
    E8 is the best representation

    First, there’s nothing new under the sun. We are discussing something very, very old but mostly it’s taught from an entirely different perspective. Many of my clues came from Melchizedek, Bob Frissell, Terrence McKenna to Maharshi and other Yogi’s all leave a path to the journey of the soul.

    There’s more there, there. E8 is what I saw inside my mind but it was living and when it engulfed me I knew I was part of it, not it inside of me. My belief is that it was God and just as has been described by multitudes before me, the experience was a Baptism by fire, in which my heart was filled with joy and the visions that flooded my brain were that of happiness and love.

    As we attempt to know our universe, the search for the God particle in CERN, using the Higgs-Boson particle and now learning quantum mechanics to see the hand of the almighty in everything, only to learn that he’s also inside of us too, in the very temple, super-computer and atomic reactor all packaged in a meat-suit throbbing with biology.

    Pineal Gland | Endocrine Society

    Sacred geometry ascribes symbolic and sacred meanings to certain geometric shapes and certain geometric proportions. It is associated with the belief that a god is the geometer of the world. In my experience I’ve not read of anyone ascribing this theory, however Christ said it best in the testimony given by Nicodemus that it’s compared to being born again.

    The geometry used in the design and construction of religious structures such as churches, temples, mosques, religious monuments, altars, and tabernacles has sometimes been considered sacred. This same geometry is used to assemble the billions of particles that make up the eyeballs that are reading this.

    There’s no moral to this, or fancy ending but I will leave you one another piece of knowledge, that we now know that your memories are stored outside of your body, not inside your brain like we previously thought. Yes, it’s true, we have remote storage capacity in the ether but science has yet to discover how or where we store memories outside of our bodies.

  • Doré bars from the Gold Coast

    Doré bars from the Gold Coast

    An 1850 map showing the Akan Kingdom of Ashanti within the Guinea region and surrounding regions in West Africa

    When Portuguese mariners first dropped anchor in the mouth of the river Pra in what is now Ghana, they heard of goldfields so rich that for the following five centuries the entire region became known as the Gold Coast. The promise of wealth sparked a rush to grab land, build forts, trade slaves and secure bullion, which poured into treasuries in Europe.

    Early European contact by the Portuguese people, who came to the region in the 15th century to trade and then established the Portuguese Gold Coast (Costa do Ouro), focused on the extensive availability of gold. The Portuguese built a trading lodge at a coastal settlement called Anomansah (the perpetual drink) which they renamed São Jorge da Mina.

    Elmina Castle was erected by the Portuguese in 1482 as Castelo de São Jorge da Mina (St. George of the Mine Castle), also known as Castelo da Mina or simply Mina (or Feitoria da Mina), in present-day Elmina, Ghana

    The coat of arms depicts two animals: the tawny eagle (Aquila rapax, a very large bird that lives in the savannas and deserts; 35% of Ghana’s landmass is desert, 35% is forest, 30% is savanna) and the lion (Panthera leo, a big cat); a ceremonial sword, a heraldic castle on a heraldic sea, a cocoa tree and a mine shaft representing the industrial mineral wealth of Ghana, and a five-pointed black star rimmed with gold representing the mineral gold wealth of Ghana and the lodestar of the Ghanaian people. It also has the legend Freedom and Justice.

    Africa’s biggest gold producer, in 2018 Ghana shipped almost $6bn of the shiny stuff, its single biggest export. 

    A doré bar is a semi-pure alloy of gold and silver. It is usually created at the site of a mine and then transported to a refinery for further purification.

    The proportions of silver and gold can vary widely. Doré bars weigh as much as 25 kg.

    During the nineteenth-century gold rushes, gold nuggets and dust would be melted into crude gold bars mistakenly called “bullion” by miners. They were, more accurately, doré bars with higher contents of silver and other adulterants than mints of the world would accept. Mint and private assayers would then refine the doré bars to an acceptable purity, 999 fine, gold bullion, the silver and base metals removed.

    By the time of the California gold rush, mints were moving away from the age-old process of cupellation to “part” bullion and moving toward the acid refining process developed by chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac for the French mint. By the time of the Klondike gold rush, mints were replacing Gay-Lussac’s acid process and introducing electrolysis to refine doré bars into 999.9 purity gold bullion.

    Ghana produces gold into doré bar for export and this presents the opportunity for fortune hunters, to buy gold in doré bar and transport to the refinery for the profit found in the price spread. Rewards are golden to those that beat the odds of the risk of speculating and transporting the gold from it’s source to it’s end use as refined 24 carrot gold bullion.

    Doré bars from the Gold Coast are something worth knowing and I am learning by doing and have embarked upon, perhaps the greatest, but certainly the most interesting, adventure of my life. Yes, I caught gold-fever, like millions before me, I’ve invested in a gold mining operation in Africa.

    I have a plan to help the people who work on the ground to mine the gold and I have a dream to help Africa and the people of the promised land. Gold is as fundamental as bread, everyone understands it and wants it because it represents life and living. There’s enough to go around, provided people don’t hoard more than they need, therein lies the problem.

    Stay tuned as we witness the Quantum Financial System monetize assets wherever they are stored in a participating bullion bank. In the future you’ll be able to store your gold and spend it when you need it.

  • The Most Illustrious  Marquis of Salobreña, Andrés Segovia

    The Most Illustrious Marquis of Salobreña, Andrés Segovia

    Andrés Segovia was the original rock star, flamboyant and bold. His genius is understanding the guitar to be an entire orchestra unto itself able to mimic or replace all sounds of any of the sections and even emit the chords of a concert, with a single instrument that was previously not considered important.

    Andrés Segovia at a recital in the “Concerts Ysaye” in Brussels, 15 December 1932

    The Most Illustrious Andrés Segovia as big as Elvis Presley in his day and toured the world until the ripe old age of 75 when he retired to Andulusia Spain to work for another 20 years from a fabulous home overlooking the Mediterranean, very near to his beloved Grenada.

    The Most Illustrious Marquis of Salobreña, Andrés Segovia, was most illustrious

    The Most Illustrious Marquis of Salobreña, was fascinated with the work of the great composer; Johann Sebastian Bach, as he was able to re-interpret orchestra arrangements into guitar ballads. He would play Bach covers, as part of his repertoire to concert halls around the world. It was he and small number of other virtuoso’s that made the guitar world famous for classic music… hence: classical guitar.

    Guitar by Hermann Hauser, 1937, Munich, Germany. Concert guitar of Andrés Segovia’s from 1937 until 1962. Gift of Emilita Segovia, Marquesa of Salobreña, 1986 (1986.353.1). Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

    Andrés Segovia can be considered a catalytic figure in granting respectability to the guitar as a serious concert instrument capable of evocativeness and depth of interpretation. It was Federico Moreno Torroba who said: “The musical interpreter who fascinates me the most is Andrés Segovia”. He can be credited to have dignified the classical guitar as a legitimate concert instrument before the discerning music public, which had hitherto viewed the guitar merely as a limited, if sonorous, parlor instrument.

    Andres Segovia in Concert, November 1962
    Andres Segovia in Concert, November 1962

    Throughout his life, if you were to compare the amount of work that Segovia produced, my guess it would be similar to 100 albums.

    Segovia’s repertoire consisted of three principal pillars: first, contemporary works, including concertos and sonatas, usually specifically written for Segovia himself by composers with whom he forged working relationships, notably Spaniards such as Federico Moreno TorrobaFederico Mompou, and Joaquín Rodrigo, the Mexican composer Manuel Ponce, the Italian composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and the great Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos; second, transcriptions, usually made by Segovia himself, of classical works originally written for other instruments (e.g., lute, harpsichord, piano, violin, cello) by Johann Sebastian BachIsaac AlbénizEnrique Granados, and many other prominent composers; third, traditional classical guitar works by composers such as Fernando Sor and Francisco Tárrega. Segovia’s influence enlarged the repertoire, mainly as a commissioner or dedicatee of new works, as a transcriber, and to a far lesser extent as a composer with such works as his Estudio sin luz.

  • Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas

    Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas

    Bodhisattvas: a person who is able to reach nirvana but delays doing so out of compassion in order to help those who suffer.

    1 In order to free yourself and others from the ocean of samsara (the cycle of death and rebirth), listening, reflecting and meditating with diligence day and night is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    2 Passion towards friends churns like water. Hatred towards enemies burns like fire. Through dark ignorance one forgets what to adopt and what to reject. To abandon one’s homeland is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    3 Giving up negative places, mental afflictions gradually decrease. Without distractions, virtuous activities naturally increase. When the mind becomes clear, conviction in the Dharma (the eternal and inherent nature of reality) is born. Seeking solitude is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    4 Friends and relatives acquainted for long will separate. Possessions gained with exertion will be left behind. Consciousness, the guest, will leave the guesthouse of the body. To let go of this life is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    5 When friendship with someone causes the three poisons (greed, ignorance and hatred) to increase, the activities of listening, reflecting and meditating are degraded, and loving kindness and compassion are destroyed. To give up such a friendship is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    6 When in reliance on someone, your negativities diminish and your positive qualities grow like a waxing moon. To cherish such a spiritual friend more than your own body is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    7 When captive in the prison of samsara (the cycle of death and rebirth) whom can the worldly gods protect? To seek refuge in the Three Jewels (to become enlightened, to teach and come together in community), who do not betray you, is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    8 The suffering of the lower realms is what Buddha taught to be the fruit of negative actions. To never commit negative actions, even at the cost of your life, is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    9 Happiness in the three realms (the realm of the five components: form, perception, conception, volition, and consciousness, the realm of living beings as individual or an integrated whole, and the realm of the environment where living beings dwell and carry out life-activities.), like dew on a blade of grass, is subject to instantaneous fading away. To strive for a supreme state of liberation that never wavers is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    10 From your beginning, your mothers have cherished you. If they now suffer, what good is your own happiness? To liberate limitless numbers of sentient beings and cultivate Bodhicitta (the wish to attain enlightenment motivated by great compassion for all sentient beings) is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    11 All suffering comes from yearning for your own happiness. The perfect Buddhas are born from the intention to benefit others. To exchange your own happiness for the suffering of others is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    12 Even if someone driven by excessive desire steals all your wealth or incites someone else to steal it, to dedicate to this person your body, possessions and all your virtue is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    13 If someone cuts off your head, even when you have not done the slightest wrong, the power of compassion to take his misdeeds upon yourself is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    14 Should someone slander you in billions of words, to maintain a loving heart and proclaim their good qualities in return is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    15 If in the middle of a crowd of people, someone reveals your hidden faults and abuses you for them, to see them as a spiritual friend and bow with respect is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    16 If someone whom you cherish as dearly as your own child takes you for an enemy, to love that person even more is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    17 Even when someone who is your equal or inferior, driven by arrogance, seeks to disparage you, to place them on the crown of your head with the same respect you would accord your guru is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    18 Though gripped by poverty and always scorned. Though stricken by acute illness and possessed by evil spirits. Taking upon yourself the negativities and suffering of every being and never being discouraged is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    19 Though famous and prominent, someone whom others bow. Though you amass riches like that of Vaishravana (the chief of the Four Heavenly Kings), to see the worldly splendor has no essence and thus to be without arrogance is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    20 Pacifying the enemy of your own anger and combating outer opponents will only make them multiply. To tame your own mind with an army of loving kindness and compassion is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    21 Sensual pleasures are like salt water; the more you partake of them, the more your craving will increase. When someone arouses attachment, to abandon it immediately is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    22 All appearances are your own mind and, mind itself, primordially transcends all mental fabrications. To remain free from apprehending the signs of subject and object is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    23 When you encounter objects that please your mind, like rainbows in the summer season; though they seem beautiful, not viewing them as real and giving up attachment to them is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    24 All suffering is like the death of your child in a dream. To take such delusive appearances as true is exhausting. To see unpleasant circumstances as deceptions is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    25 If those who aspire to enlightenment willingly give up their bodies, what need is there to mention external objects? To give generously with no hope of reward or benefit is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    26 If lack of discipline prevents you from benefiting yourself, your wish to benefit others is just a joke. To observe discipline with no longing for worldly existence is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    27 For a Bodhisattva who seeks of virtue, every perpetrator of harm is like a precious treasure. To cultivate patience without feeling irritation is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    28 If Shravakas (disciple) and Pratyekabuddhas (lone buddha), who strive for their benefit alone, expand effort as if to extinguish a fire burning in their heads, to cultivate joyous effort, the wellspring of positive qualities is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    29 Vipashyana (clarity of sight) perfectly endowed with shamatha (tranquility of the mind), completely conquers all afflictions. To cultivate meditative concentration that transcends the four formless states (infinite space, infinite consciousness, infinite nothingness, and neither perception nor non-perception) is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    30 The practices of the first five perfections (perfect teacher, perfect student, perfect teaching, perfect time and perfect place) without wisdom cannot achieve perfect enlightenment. Equipped with skillful means and cultivating, the wisdom of non-conceptualizing the three spheres (sensual realm, material realm and immaterial realm) is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    31 If you do not analyze your own faults, you might put on a Dharmic (religious) façade while behaving in a non-Dharmic way. To continue analyzing your faults and then discarding them is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    32 If compelled by your own afflictions you speak of the faults of other Bodhisattvas, you will degenerate yourself. Not citing the faults of those who have entered the path of Bodhisattvas is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    33 Desire for gain and services leads to mutual arguments and a decline in activities of listening, reflecting and meditating. To relinquish attachment to the possessions of others is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    34 Harsh words disturb the minds of others and disintegrates a Bodhisattva’s conduct. To give up harsh and unpleasant speech towards others is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    35 Once you become accustomed to afflictions, they are hard to undermine with antidotes. To eliminate afflictions such as attachment, the moment they arise, with the remedial weapons of mindfulness and introspection is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    36 Wherever you are and whatever you do, always examine the state of your mind. Continuously working for the welfare of others is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    37 To dedicate the merit thus accumulated through these efforts to enlightenment with the wisdom free of concepts of the three spheres (sensual realm, material realm and immaterial realm), to eliminate the suffering of all infinite beings, is the practice of Bodhisattvas.

    By: Ivan W. Stein

    Photo by petr sidorov on Unsplash

  • Terrence McKenna the Omega Point and Eschaton

    Terrence McKenna the Omega Point and Eschaton

    Terrence McKenna blazed a trail so far and wide that twenty years later thinkers can’t see to the end of it. He remarked in his last interview that the Omega Point is to science what the Eshcaton is to Theology and maybe it’s the same thing. If he he could only see the world now, in the year that the Mayan Calendar had as 2012, using Gregorian Calendar is actually 2020 using the Julian Calendar since 1582 (corrected difference is 8 years).

    Terrence McKenna opened the mind of the world and still expands the thinking of anyone who learns what he was investigating. To categorize him with the Merry Pranksters that were dropping acid and dropping out, is to ignore the fact; Terrence McKenna changed how we thought about time and space, plus made us recognize and appreciate the I Ching.

    McKenna was opposed to Christianity and most forms of organized religion or guru-based forms of spiritual awakening, favouring shamanism, which he believed was the broadest spiritual paradigm available, stating that:

    What I think happened is that in the world of prehistory all religion was experiential, and it was based on the pursuit of ecstasy through plants. And at some time, very early, a group interposed itself between people and direct experience of the ‘Other.’ This created hierarchies, priesthoods, theological systems, castes, ritual, taboos. Shamanism, on the other hand, is an experiential science that deals with an area where we know nothing. It is important to remember that our epistemological tools have developed very unevenly in the West. We know a tremendous amount about what is going on in the heart of the atom, but we know absolutely nothing about the nature of the mind.

    Terrence McKenna

    Either philosophically or religiously, he expressed admiration for Marshall McLuhan, Alfred North Whitehead, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Carl Jung, Plato, Gnostic Christianity and Alchemy, while regarding the Greek philosopher Heraclitus as his favorite philosopher.

    The I Ching or Yi Jing, usually translated as Book of Changes or Classic of Changes, is an ancient Chinese divination text and among the oldest of the Chinese classics.

    The Philosophical debate of the Omega Point remains until this day to be at the crux of critical thinking and it was Terrence McKenna who brought new understanding and more discussion to the topic of the “Omega Point”, he brought it back into vogue.

    The Omega Point is the subject of a belief that everything in the universe is fated to spiral towards a final point of unification. The term was coined by the French Jesuit Catholic priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955).

    Eschaton or End End Time description from Wikipedia

    The end time (also called end timesend of timeend of dayslast daysfinal daysdoomsday, or eschaton) is a future described variously in the eschatologies of several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that world events will reach a climax.

    The Abrahamic religions maintain a linear cosmology, with end-time scenarios containing themes of transformation and redemption. In Judaism, the term “end of days” makes reference to the Messianic Age and includes an in-gathering of the exiled Jewish diaspora, the coming of the Messiah, the resurrection of the righteous, and the world to come. Some sects of Christianity depict the end time as a period of tribulation that precedes the second coming of Christ, who will face the Antichrist along with his power structure and usher in the Kingdom of God.

    In Islam, the Day of Judgement is preceded by the appearance of the al-Masih al-Dajjal, and followed by the descending of Isa (Jesus). Isa will triumph over the false messiah, or the Antichrist, which will lead to a sequence of events that will end with the sun rising from the west and the beginning of the Qiyamah (Judgment day).

    Non-Abrahamic religions tend to have more cyclical world-views, with end-time eschatologies characterized by decay, redemption, and rebirth. In Hinduism, the end time occurs when Kalki, the final incarnation of Vishnu, descends atop a white horse and brings an end to the current Kali Yuga. In Buddhism, the Buddha predicted his teachings would be forgotten after 5,000 years, followed by turmoil. A bodhisattva named Maitreya will appear and rediscover the teaching of dharma. The ultimate destruction of the world will then come through seven suns.

    Since the development of the concept of deep time in the 18th century and the calculation of the estimated age of the Earth, scientific discourse about end times has considered the ultimate fate of the universe. Theories have included the Big RipBig CrunchBig Bounce, and Big Freeze (heat death).

  • Emerald Tablets and the Halls of Amenti

    Emerald Tablets and the Halls of Amenti

    All day today, for some reason, I had this echoing reminder to post something about the Halls of Amenti, as it’s the most descriptive explanation of a place I’ve been trying to articulate experiences that have occurred to me, on two instances that I was distinctly aware of and very possibly another instance when I drowned and was revived.

    Many accounts in professional psych journals about near death experiences recalling the life review, which is a high speed recollection of happy moments and what seems like a million faces, most of which are your own, through the years. This was named a life review but it’s the place of incredible love and tranquility where you arrive after what seems more like an immense data download into the brain (all of a sudden you know things and the world makes more sense).

    When you arrive instantly you understand that you’ve been there before and it takes some deduction to realize that anything you ask is answered by some form of knowledge conveyance that’s rapid and yet timeless and infinite, connecting to more information and off into infinity. The feeling is peaceful and exciting at the same time as precious and fleeting, since it requires the type of physical calm and environmental perfection that are often difficult to sustain. This is the reason men seek caves to isolate into.

    The Halls of Amenti was described by Edgar Cayce, so it’s no-wonder so many people are still interested to explore this topic. Interesting also to consider the size of the body of evidence that is building, that through practice and conditioning more and more people can experience higher dimensional realms in our own minds.

    Ascension appears to me, the primary purpose of the Emerald Tablets but I’m no expert, just a curious soul, trying to articulate, my own experience.

    The Emerald Tablets – What Are The Halls of Amenti? (from Reddit)

    “Emerald Tablet 2 is about the Halls of Amenti. But what does Thoth mean with the Halls of Amenti?

    There are many speculations what the Halls of Amenti could be. From mystical realms to stargates, or something underneath the Sphinx. Misconceptions are easily born by taking words literally. To transpose them literally from the mystical domain to the material domain is a mistake.

    The Halls of Amenti act as a distortion filter between our physical being and the Soul. It is the realm between the Omega Point and our 3D world. Reincarnation happens from the Halls of Amenti back into a new physical body. This will continue to go on until you finally “get it”, i.e. that the physical world is an illusion.

    The term Omega point (and Noosphere) was first coined by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and stands for the highest level of consciousness, i.e. God consciousness.

    The Halls of Amenti, the ultimate hall of mirrors, is the realm of the great illusion that is only passable by knowledge, wisdom, and complete lack of Karma. After passing the Halls of Amenti merger with the Omega Point follows.

    If that idea completely resonates with you, there’s an immense task waiting for you!” Here’s an excellent resource: https://hubpages.com/religion-philosophy/Where-or-What-Are-The-Halls-of-Amenti

    Photo by MAURO VESCOVI on Unsplash

  • Stone Town on Zanzibar the Spice Island

    Stone Town on Zanzibar the Spice Island

    Stone town, Zanzibar

    The name “Stone Town” comes from the ubiquitous use of coral stone as the main construction material; this stone gives the town a characteristic, reddish warm colour. Zanzibar exudes mystique in it’s name and rich history, earning it’s place in our collective mind; as the Spice Island.

    Lady Luck has given me another winning combo with an invitation to participate in the development of a Cannabis Cultivation farm on the Spice Island and naturally to come and swim in the sea and hang-out in Stone Town. I’m beyond thrilled, as you can imagine, since I always wanted to see Africa but never dreamed I’d begin from Tanzania. Thank you Lady Luck.

    Traditional buildings on the island have a baraza, a long stone bench along the outside walls; this is used as an elevated sidewalk if heavy rains make the streets impracticable, or otherwise as benches to sit down, rest, socialize. Another key feature of most buildings is large verandas protected by carved wooden balustrades. The best-known feature of Zanzibari houses are the finely decorated wooden doors, with rich carvings and bas-reliefs, sometimes with big brass studs of Indian tradition.

    Stone Town buildings have two main types of doors can be distinguished: those of Indian style have rounded tops, while those in the Omani Arab style are rectangular. Carvings are often Islamic in content (for example, many consist of verses of the Qur’an), but other symbolism is occasionally used, e.g., Indian lotus flowers as emblems of prosperity.

    Stone Town is punctuated with major historical buildings, several of which are found on the seafront; these include former palaces of the sultans, fortifications, churches, mosques, and other institutional buildings.

    Map of Zanzibar City by Oscar Baumann, 1892

    Oscar Baumann (25 June 1864, Vienna – 12 October 1899, Vienna) – Smithsonian Institution indian-ocean.africa.si.edu

    Photo credit – Javi Lorbada Madrid. javilorbada and by Med J on Unsplash

  • Babylon Control by Mike Love

    Babylon Control by Mike Love

    Lyrics : Babylon Control

    I dreamt last night that the end had come
    I was searching everywhere for food, but there was none
    Bodies laying burned in the midday sun
    Nowhere to hide
    Nowhere to run

    I went to the city but the city was gone
    Irradiated with hatred and destroyed by a bomb
    Behold the brilliant colors of the nuclear dawn
    But there is no song
    All has gone wrong

    And when I awoke I could clearly see
    The seeds of this vision Jah had given me
    Planted deep within these aristocracies
    Hypocrisy and
    Power and greed

    So wake up, to the fact that they’re controlling you
    Whether or not your doing what you want to do
    The system that we are living in is doomed, Oh!
    Jah knows it’s true
    And I man, I know it’s true

    And I’m just telling you this
    Because I love you breddren!
    Through and through I man true, until the very end
    The sweeter the kiss
    The stronger the poison!
    And this is the reason that I idrens
    Are dying for nothing

    Oh, It’s Babylon control
    It’s Hollywood mind control
    They target the youth
    I’ll show you the proof
    Come on see the truth
    It’s written on I am man soul
    On I am man soul, yeah

    It’s News media control
    Political mind control, yeah
    Get under your skin
    They’re wearing you thin
    But you no give in
    For not all that glitter is gold, yeahoh

    And in my vision I saw incurable disease
    Genetically engineered by hateful enemies
    All of this in the name of power and money
    How could this be
    The future for we?

    The green and mighty forests of the Amazon
    The lush valleys of Havaii are dead and gone
    The once abundant and fertile land of Babylon
    Now sand and stone
    Stripped to the bone

    Oh come quickly
    They’re taking away our paradise
    Separating us from the source all lives
    Poisoning the seas and polluting the skies
    Ignoring the cries and
    Promoting the lies

    So now that this vision has come into your life
    I hope you will take up your part in the fight
    Against those who seek to turn our day into night
    You know it’s right
    So stand up and fight

    And I’m just telling you this
    Because I love you mah sistrens!
    Through and through I man true until the very end
    The sweeter the kiss, don’t you know
    The stronger the poison
    And this is the reason that I idrens
    Are dying for nothing

    Oh, Babylon control
    It’s Hollywood mind control
    They target the youth
    I’ll show you the proof
    Come on see the truth
    It’s written on a Rasta mans soul
    Written on a ya mon soul

    It’s News media control
    Political mind control
    Get under your skin
    They’re wearing you thin
    But do not give in
    For not all that glitter is gold

    For I have been fooled before
    But now I ‘n’ I know
    The difference between believing in what I man feel
    And believing in what I been told
    ‘Cause their propaganda it burns like wildfire
    Fire, fire, fire
    They use it to turn broder against broda
    Broda, broda, broda

    It’s Babylon control
    It’s Hollywood mind control
    They target the youth
    I’ll show you the proof
    Come on see the truth
    It’s written on Rrrrrrrrrr..

    It’s news media control
    Political mind control
    Get under your skin
    Still wearing you thin
    But no be victim in this empire
    Of glittering fool’s gold now

    Please visit the website of Mike Love

  • Qeyapaplanewx the Great Warrior Chief of the Musqueam

    Qeyapaplanewx the Great Warrior Chief of the Musqueam

    Qeyapaplanewx demands respect and deserves to be honored. Over 300 years ago Vancouver was his Kingdom, he was the Chief of the Musqueam Nation.

    His place marker overlooks the Pacific from a perch above the cliffs and if it were not for a memorial he’d be all but forgotten. Not anymore because I will always have this page to remind me, and anyone else who stumbles upon it, that a man’s face tells an important story and this chief’s tale is epic.

    So I searched out Qeyapaplanewx online and found a story of his European vacation and subsequent return to Canada, via Toronto, after 280 years.

    Centuries-old sketch comes home

    Little-known work showing Musqueam chief made in 1792 by Spanish cabin boy

    ROD MICKLEBURGH

    From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail

    June 4, 2008 at 6:05 AM EDT

    VANCOUVER — He stares at us from centuries past, a clear, unflinching gaze attesting to his status as a great warrior chief of the Musqueam. Strands of long, dark hair curl past his shoulders and he wears a stylish conical cedar hat adorned with feathers.

    Call him Qeyapaplanewx. That we know about him at all is thanks to a young Spanish cabin boy with an agile sketch pen who drew the Musqueam chief during a visit by his country’s navy to the waters off Point Grey in June of 1792.

    As such, he is the first identified resident of what has long been Canada’s third-largest city, on lands once fished and hunted solely by the Musqueam.

    Yet Jose Cardero’s remarkable drawing, squirrelled away for years in a dark storage area of the Naval History Museum in Madrid, is virtually unknown in Vancouver.This image of Qeyapaplanewx has sat for years in the storage area of a Madrid museum.

    This image of Qeyapaplanewx has sat for years in the storage area of a Madrid museum.The Globe and Mail

    Not any more. Yesterday, the portrait came back – or at least a version of it.

    In a ceremony on Qeyapaplanewx’s old stomping grounds (aka Vancouver City Hall) that stirred bittersweet native emotions, Spain’s ambassador to Canada presented vivid, framed replicas of Mr. Cordero’s historic sketch to the city and to the Musqueam band.

    Struck by the majesty of the little-seen portrait, viewers hoped that the Musqueam chief might now achieve some of the prominence of the city’s non-native namesake, Captain George Vancouver, who was in the harbour on his own ship at the same time as Mr. Cordero made his drawing.

    “Capt. Vancouver had artists, too, but they ignored the natives,” said historian Robin Inglis.

    Musqueam lawyer Jim Reynolds suggested the portrait be used on the front of the city’s tourist brochures. “It’s a reminder that we have a tremendous history that all of us should cherish. I’m surprised it’s so little known.”

    Band councillor Howard Grant, wearing a business suit with no conical cedar cap in sight, claimed to be a descendant of the Musqueam leader from long ago.

    “I remember meeting my great-uncle who was 106 when he died in 1954. So he’d have been born in 1848, and his grandfather would have been there when the Spanish came,” said Mr. Grant, 62.

    “So the warrior chief would have been my great, great ancestor.

    “Now, we can loop it all back to 2008. The drawing has a dramatic significance for us. Is this not clear evidence that we used to own all our territory? It makes me proud.”

    Former chief Delbert Guerin called the replica an amazing depiction of the 18th-century Musqueam warrior.

    “It makes me very happy to have this. I only even heard about this picture a couple of years ago. To me this a very honourable day.”

    But Mr. Guerin said his joy is tempered by the portrait’s unspoken indication of how much the band has lost since the Spaniards and British arrived.

    “It’s a reminder of all that has taken place, so there’s a strong sense of loss. This is still our unceded territory, and I think our chief would have been very disappointed at what has happened.”

    The gift from Spanish Ambassador Mariano Alonso-Buron was also a reminder of the almost-forgotten presence of Spain in the early days of West Coast exploration.

    While Capt. Vancouver and Captain James Cook, who first met B.C. natives at Nootka on Vancouver Island in 1778, are celebrated by local historians and residents alike, few know that most of the early charting of the West Coast was carried out by Spanish mapmakers.

    During June of 1792, for instance, there was perhaps the city’s first traffic jam, as Capt. Vancouver’s vessel was joined by two Spanish naval ships in Burrard Inlet.

    But the British had staying power, as reflected by Capt. Vancouver’s immediate renaming of the point where the University of B.C. and many mansions are today as Point Grey.

    The Spanish had called the imposing peninsula Langara, a name that lives on in a few city locations, including Langara Community College.

    Not many know that such well-known place names as the city’s Spanish Banks, Tofino, Port Alberni, Galiano, Valdes Island and Malaspina stem from the early Spanish naval explorers who prowled up and down the coast for the last 50 years of the 18th century.

    Even Jose Cordero, the cabin boy-turned-artist, is remembered by the Strait of Cordero, which runs between the north of Vancouver Island and the mainland.

    “With this drawing, he will always have a local significance,” said Mr. Inglis, the historian. “His subject, the Musqueam chief, is the first known citizen of what is now Vancouver.”

  • Brain Parachute for Cognitive Dissonance

    Brain Parachute for Cognitive Dissonance

    The mind is like a parachute, they say…. it works better when open.

    What if everything you thought about the world was wrong? Imagine if one event in history were different and that one thing happened before you were born and everyone who came before you was so convinced, that this one thing, was a fact but then one day, it became known that history was modified, and a lie replaced the truth of the matter.

    Now here comes the mind exercise; what if Hitler didn’t die in Berlin as was reported? What if he lived out his life in Bariloche, Argentina as the evidence suggests?

    What if the elites of Germany moved to America into top positions inside the military industrial complex? Naturally the central intelligence agency (according to “Operation Paperclip” ) and now what if we expand on this theory, and consider the magnitude of this deception against our own worldview?

    Who is the King of England?

    Then there’s the evidence of a new King of England because the previous royal family were illegitimate and hijacked the position through nefarious means that were documents and a century later the skulduggery was contested in an International tribunal, which apparently ruled in favour of the plaintiff, one Gregory Hallett. Time will tell but it looks legit.

    Other revelations are the completion of debt servitude agreements between USA and European powers that were 200 years old, paid in full and the purported backing of an Asian dynasty named after a dragon, with a legendary stash of gold, cash, liquid assets and bonds, enough to pay-off the entire global debt. So yeah, this is a time of tremendous potential change.

    Our current situation is causing every soul on earth to ask questions about our history and how we arrived in chaos

    Cognitive dissonance is cause from the inability to stretch the imagination to accompany the new understanding. The brain parachute is having an open enough mind to be able to hold two conflicting thoughts in the mind at the same time. For example Mother Theresa as a ruthless child trafficker, or the Pope wearing red shoes made from humans.

    Well I had never wanted to address these topics because there’s still no actual undeniable proof of either the above two crazy stories but that’s why it’s a brain parachute because if you can allow your mind to probe these potential scenarios then you have started expanding your ability to cope with cognitive dissonance.

    Information leads to more questions but also to the remedy to cognitive dissonance, which is reason and logic. The time to process ideas is the necessary, since reason and logic aren’t instant like intuition or instinct.

    Truly tough and weird questions, such as some of the weirdness that is now happening in our world, demands that each individual closely examine their own worldview. Remember; no-one gets out of here alive, unless you know how, and for that I recommend the Gospel of Thomas.

    Brain Parachute Photo by Josh Withers on Unsplash