Changing the "Game"

In meditating on mind-body consciousness, I've been going back to human potential thinkers, including Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert (Baba Ram Dass), Alan Watts, Aldous Huxley, Werner Erhard, Esalen, Harvey Jackins, and, yes, L. Ron Hubbard, and, when I'm brave enough, related writers, such as Robert Anton Wilson--not to join a cult, just to think about American cultural history.

This loose movement was thoroughly enmeshed in Eastern Buddhist and Yoga practice, as was its predecessor, the "New Thought" esotericism of the nineteenth century, which included H. L. Blavatsky's Theosphy, as well as slightly earlier practices, such as Swedenborgianism and Mesmerism.

Leary was revolutionary not because of any simplistic advocacy of psychedelic drugs. His theory of society and the individual, or culture and consciousness, prefigures post-modern insights in this field.
 

"Leary’s new doctrine rests on the notion that all cultural behavior is simply a “game” that we play. Each game—­psychology, religion, politics—has specific roles, rules, and goals. [Consciousness-expanding drugs are crucial because they allow the user to see beyond the game and its rules.] Leary’s description of human behavior as an elaborate game anticipates postmodernism’s suggestion that all forms of culture and language are simply social constructions that can be manipulated for various ideological ends (“the nationality game. It is treason not to play. The racial game. The religious game”). Leary’s rejection of all social constructions is followed by a rejection of the myth of the self: “the most treacherous and tragic game of all. The game of individuality, the ego game. The Timothy Leary game. Ridiculous how we confuse it, overplay it. Our own mystics and the Eastern philosophers have been warning us about this danger for centuries.”

His project was "deconditioning" by "unplugging the ego, the game machinery, and the mind (that cluster of game concepts").

See:
http://disinfo.com/…/change-behavior-timothy-learys-first…/…http://disinfo.com/2014/08/change-behavior-timothy-learys-first-article-psilocybin/

And see:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1620552353/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1620552353&linkCode=as2&tag=disinformation&linkId=V3TYLE4D5HK2EVOB

Sleep Like a Baby

B-17 Bomber sound for sleeping! In search of long, continuous natural sounds for meditation and sleep (ocean, river, rain, fire, crickets, etc.) I was knocked over by this one. I not only fall asleep immediately, but also now dream in great detail about the excitement of reaching the target area, opening the bomb bay doors, and unleashing hellfire on civilians. Inside-the-beltway folklore tells us that Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger slept like babies to this soothing engine sound, particularly after they commenced the bombing of Cambodia in May 1969. Nowadays, silent drones used in assassinations of American citizens, among other things, do not offer the same comfort, though the president is reported to sleep well.

Fear and Courage: We are Warriors, Peaceful, Humble, Strong

 

Brave New World

A miracle has occurred under the progressive Obama administration. Despite criticism that it's become "soft on terrorism," the CIA finally came around and substituted Yoga for torture in all of its black sites and Gitmo.

Starting April 1, 2015, all detainees will perform eight hours of meditation, eight hours of Astanga Mysore and Led classes in the secondary and advanced series, instead of the customary eight hours of SERE-derived stress positions, and eight hours of Yoga Nidra on Manduka Black Pro mats with bolsters and blankets instead of rusty steel cots without mattresses or adequate cover.

As options, detainees who have been subject to extended periods naked in freezing rooms can elect the 105 degree Bikram classes in speedos. Detainees who've been "hanging around" (i.e., shackled from the ceiling), can choose the traditional Iyengar prop wall or the new "Aerial Yoga" slings.

 

Instead of waterboarding, each detainee will be juicing four times a day.

Forget torture, CIA theorists say; once detainees realize their true selves, they will just open their hearts and say exactly who they are. Of course, any self-respecting person will say, "this is merely a palliative; the enlightened path is to actually close Gitmo and the black sites and release them so they can attend the yoga school of their choice." The CIA remains unconvinced; it's jealously proprietary of its students.