the bond - forevermore

part of the bond doing an acoustic performance of the song "forevermore."
the first time we've been on stage together.
left: kevin sadler  ;  right: luis cotto

a little technical difficulties caused the first chorus to be missed. sorry!

a conscious revolution.

The extreme focus on materialism is having a disastrous effect on the environment and biodiversity, but it is also affecting our communities with lower levels of trust and a general lack of concern of the well-being of others. Something seems to rotten at the core. Our values, at both the collective and personal levels, are maligned with a sustainable future. Greed, conquest, acquisition, power, control are values that not only are prevalent but are also rewarded and valued throughout Western society. These values are reinforced through the media and pop culture with programming that essentially tells us we aren’t good enough, leading to an epidemic of apathy, despair, and depression. This hardened world compels many us to erect walls and barriers to protect our hurt feelings, most of us at a subconscious level.

When 7 billion people are encouraged to take and consume as much as possible (it’s good for the economy, after all) rather than just what one needs, it leads to infinite material demands. When the planet is finite, we have a problem. The question we must ask if we are serious about creating a sustainable society is, “what are the sustainable values that form the foundation of a society that can sustain itself over millions of years?” It obviously cannot be a society that predicates well-being on exponential growth of the economy, natural resource use, and pollution. So just what are sustainable values?

As a people we must explore the concept of sustainable values – values such as empathy, compassion, kindness, trust, integrity, transparency, love, gifting, honesty. The one thing sustainable values share in common is their abunance. To be greedy and self-interested generates a mentality of scarcity. It turns everything into a zero sum game. More for you is less for me. But sustainable values are different. If I offer love, it grows. When I empathize with another and they feel the courage to reciprocate, both are better off. Sustainable values embrace Nature’s natural tendency towards abundance.

Inside each of our hearts, there is a knowing of a world the way it is supposed to be. Can we develop the courage, personally and collectively, to dare to live according to the values we know to be true?

stop animation.

my first attempt at stop animation. 

FEED YOUR HEAD.

when you think of 30,000 year old cave paintings, what comes to mind? visits from aliens? or perhaps altered states of consciousness that were later recorded? 

for 6 million years, since we've had our last common ancestor with the chimpanzees, we were an extremely boring race. millions of years of repetitive, dull, robotic behavior. fully, anatomically modern humans come about 195,000 years ago but the behavior doesn't change. no spirituality, no creativity, no symbolism. after 40,000 years ago, its like a light switches on in the human brain all around the world. incredible, complicated, disturbing art comes about. other things that have never been done before come about like ceremonial burying of the dead and leaving goods, which hint at a belief in the afterlife or spirits, hunting techniques get better and were set on the road to the modern world.
in all of these cave paintings, thousands of years and miles apart, they depict the same "spirits" or "beings" or "ideas" being presented. shamans depict these spiritual teachers the same as modern humans depict aliens and abductions as teachers of new ideas and healing powers. could it be that the huge leap forward was not the result of the evolved, problem solving state of consciousness that appeared suitable for the modern world, but from the cultivation of altered states of consciousnesses. thats when we started to think symbolically, its like we received a teaching that changed our direction dramatically. 
numerous discoveries have been made by people from all walks of life in an altered state of consciousness that has benefited the world tremendously. (crick, tesla, jobs, etc..)

it seems were not dealing with simple "brain candy'" but with transformative experiences, and what they are the opposite from and require us to break away from is the ruthless dominance of the problem solving state of consciousness dominated by society today. our escape from the monotonous waking life is vapid sensationalist media, hideous reality television or alcohol. you have to ask yourself what constant exposure to these things daily are doing to our state of mind?
it might be cutting us off from higher realms that want to make contact with us. there is no guarantee that the human race will be here in the future, as we are headed down a very destructive path chasing monetary goals and materialistic futures. 

we live in a society that will send us to prison if we make use of time-honoured scared plants to explore our own consciousness. yet, surely the exploration and expansion of the miracle of our consciousness is the essence of what it is to be human?
by demonizing and persecuting altered states of consciousness today we may be denying ourselves the next vital step in our own evolution, just as happened to our ancestors 40,000 years ago in those caves.

why does any government have the right to tell an adult what they may or may not experience in our own heads? so many of us unthinkingly buy into the fundamental philosophy behind the war on drugs, but the fundamental philosophy of the war on drugs is that actually the state has a complete right, not only to enter your home, but to enter your own head and to tell you what you may or may not experience. how can we possibly talk about a free society if we are not even sovereign over our own consciousness? quite frankly were not sovereign over anything. to talk about liberty, freedom and democracy is meaningless. and to impose our form of liberty on other countries around the world? when you send people to prison for tens of years for exploring their own consciousness through the use of ancient and sacred plants, there is something terribly wrong here. 

we have to reestablish contact with spirit. western society has severed its connection with spirit and it has become a profound sickness in our society.
we have a choice. we can choose to perpetuate monopolistic control over how we eat and think and act or we can stand up for ourselves and others and for our personal freedoms and change how the world thinks and acts. 

explore your consciousness a little. open your mind, and stop being so derisive towards people who may experiment with their bodies/minds. it may have a profound effect on your lifestyle. i know it did, mine.

the journey.

it begins, as with all significant voyages, with feelings of trepidation. once the journey is commenced, there is no going back. to consume psilocybin is to consume the truth and one must be prepared to accept all that follows in the wake of the sacramental act. 
as the effects proceed there may be a short period of mild disorientation. body and soul are forcibly swept to a new dimension more real than ordinary reality. on the way, cultural conditioning is shed, like old skin. traditional modes of cognition and perception give way to an entirely novel form of consciousness. as feelings of disorientation pass it seems as if ones nervous system is being retuned. its like waking up, or even being reborn.
one eventually arrives at a state of mind so advanced, so coherent, that the interconnectedness of all things becomes breathtakingly apparent. with eyes wide open everything radiates fractal beauty. one is reminded of tibetan mandalas, geometric islamic artwork, and the interwoven designs so prominent in celtic art. with eyes closed, colorful visions unfold so complex and so laden with intent, as to suggest communion with a transcendental intelligence.
as the journey continues, there is a tremendous feeling of being empowered, of being privy to the miracle of the living moment. profound insights flow through the open mind. conscious existence seems more like a precious gift than a side effect of brain activity. a gift granted by a deliberately and exquisitely configured universe.
one is thrust deeper and deeper into the mystery of being. as the entheogenic action of psilocybin reaches its peak, sacred realms of experience becomes accessible and of this little can be conveyed in words.
we are not alone and isolated. nothing is isolated. we are each uniquely evolving pattern of energy and information born within a vast system of purposeful intelligence which we call nature.

freed thoughts.

we wonder why we go in the tunnel..
entering darkness...

inside of a flower, at the bottom, we find water..
and then we understand
how life is formed..

when we see the light
we think the tunnel is ending..
but, only leading us..
back..
to the beginning...

with no emotion, we start to run
in motion
towards the sun...

MINI ROCKET STOVE CONSTRUCTION

devinci and i building and trying to light a fire in a prototype rocket stove.

it worked, but it ended up melting the plastic around the feeder can after about 30 minutes.
its an easy fix, though, i just have to use a metal paint can next time.

you live an you learn, right?



go green! live off of the grid!
you'll be surprised how much easier and happier life will become.