Alex Grey and the Mind Parasites

Kudos Zap! First article I read from you that I can actually vibe with :P It just so happens that, while falling asleep last night, a thought came to my mind regarding precisely this phenomenon. As I pondered each chakra being coupled with a bio-psychological input/output system, I wondered what the input/output of the crown chakra would be. Whether the flow of consciousness could be considered vertical, horizontal or both.

Instead of framing the transference of "psychic energy" in the mythology of archons and deities, I tend to consider it as more of a trans-/inter-personal process. The "higher" and "lower" realm beings represent, in my mind, the myriad bio-psychological systems comprising the self, and the benevolent/malevolent transaction of "energy" the many means and modes of transference between individuals and groups. Of course one can always argue that a distinction between psycho-social phenomena and "higher order" processes involving "energy organisms" etc. is merely linguistic or dualistic and therefore arbitrary (and I would concur), but in the spirit of our secular culture I find it valuable to communicate these ideas within the accepted paradigms of "materialistic" (pshh) science.

Thanks for the article. I love learning more about the genius that is Alex Grey.

All of these stories can be framed from a more personal level if one takes out the external. The thought that doubts and fears can appear as demons and thoughts of loving kindness might appear as angels is in no way to diminish them. What it does do is that it puts the responsibility and hence the control right back on your own plate. From the dzogchen buddhist view all is self, so these archons or parasites are just the embodied fears inherent in all of us. The more we buy into the them the more real they become and the minute we buy into them they become real. I am talking about taking back control for the whole human experience without diminishing ones visionary space which I feel is beautiful and as necessary to our survival as breathing. There is a Tibetan Buddhist technique called chod, where you ritually and visually offer yourself to all the demons, jealous gods and animals as food in order to break down your own fear and attachment to yourself. To quote Machig Labdron the founder of chod, " The only demon that you ever need to slay is the demon of the illusion of self" Once we destroy this demon, nothing can touch us as all is self and pure at the same time. Buddhists also talk about the six realms and our aversion and attachment to them and the need to overcome them and this is what Grey is talking about. They say one can exit suffering and enter Nirvana in a moment as one changes ones mind about the set of circumstances occurring to one. Demons can turn into angel and angels back into demons as we move from hate to love and back to hate again. This can occur in a moment and be banished in a moment. When we get to the point that we realize that we are all demons and angels and that those aspects in us make up our fine colours and our personality then we can truly begin to be compassionate and move beyond the dualistic nightmare we dance into on a regular basis. This is liberation from suffering. Check out my book and site www.buddhabrats.com or especially the left hand path as I deal with all of this and more and propose a beautiful and simple way through suffering to everything we ever wanted.

From the depths of the atomic fires is born the diamond age. Adamas

AS a teenager in the late 60's when LSD came on the scene suddenly, I plunged into the psychedelic wave like a fish to water.When I first began taking LSD at the age of 17 I knew nothing about gnostic thought, I only knew what I heard on the street, what I had read about LSD in Life magazine.I had mostly only read some science fiction.LSD seemed like some kind of magic butterfly that fluttered into my world like a Dylan or Donovan song.I had thought of myself as a beatnik at about 12 when after the assassination of JFK my childhood came to an abrupt end, and I saw a movie with some beatnik poet reciting his poetry.To me then who had begun to read some poetry, and was looking for some "times a changin", the words "turn on, tune in, drop out" sounded like beat poetry.I took a lot of LSD between the age of 17 and 19, mostly in 67' 68'.Years later my last LSD trip I was in a ritual called the Rites of Eleusis.Since my first trip days as a teenager, I began reading a lot of books about subjects that related to the psychedelic experience.I decided to make myself into a poet, I wanted to be an artist like Alex Gray, I had a hippie friend I met in 69' that was an amazing artist, he did stuff that was kinda like Alex Gray.So, I moved to a city that was a hippie hangout, with a University.I did not go to the University, but I hung out in the library a lot, and did a lot of my reading there. I had met a crazy surfer that was a writer/poet that became a mentor, he had also taken a lot of LSD in his teens in L.A. I remember one day a famous poet we knew was standing in front of City Lights books, we happened to be in San Francisco that day, and the poet was kinda mocking us by commenting that we were some hippie LSD poets.As far as the content of the essay by Zap, I have never been to a rave, but in my early LSD days I spent a lot of my trips at concerts and Love-ins. I went up to Haight Ashbury in 67' and dropped acid and ran around the golden gate park.Many years later I was playing the part of Sol in the first series of the Rites of Eleusis done by OTO people in America.This ritual was like a shamanic-gnostic initiation, and as the god Sol I was given some pure LSD somewhere in the middle of it all.I was placed in a black box and one of the characters played a Egyptian god called Bez that had to dance on the box, I was inside there coming on to a strong dose of LSD.When I came out of the box it was like pure liquid gold was coming through the window through by body, in another Rite of Mercury we saw a hawk circling the house throughout the ritual.This was not the same as a rave but it took on a lot of very intense energy that worked with those realms of dark and light.So, a lot of this thought on this subject of demons and entities ect. I have to say that no matter how many books you read about this, or write about it after the fact, we just happen to enter into all this at whatever point of departure we happen to come in on it.In 67' I was searching for something beside the mundane world of TV reality.I had not read Castaneda as he was not yet around, I read a little bit of Tim Leary's psychedelic prayers, and the rest was trial and error, it was innocent, and it was desperate, as a 17 year old I already knew that the future looked like murder, like Leonard Cohen said years later.But at 17 I was listening to Suzanne takes you down to a place by the river.My self-published novel is a poetic attempt to go back into my 17 year old mind and relive those late 60's psychedelic days, it tells about the reality of drugs in those times and how LSD entered our youth and we began the trip to explore where the Beat generation left off, or "the lost generation".In those first trips it all was like a great opening and an adventure, we were doing something forbidden, and I don't really think of any of those first trips as bad but you became aware of the bummers, but for me it seemed like a necessary part of the ride, I knew that society was full of demons.So if you read my novel you are reading a time capsule, that was written many years later, that is like time machine, as much of the trip scenes move back and forth through time, it's the poetic psychedelic language that I use.There are messages in coded in the experimental surrealist writing, you have to read the trip to activate the writing between the curvy groovy lines.In between the trips is also the reality of our world, unfolding through the minds of the people that make our trip.And many years go by and Terence Mckenna talks about what it was like when all everybody did was refer to that last LSD trip.When that famous poet in Frisco was looking at us crazy acid-head poets and mildly mocking us, he too was thinking about those demons that all of us must confront.Poets are right out there, on the firing line, so it all becomes surreal psychedelic, even if you are not writing about what LSD was like.And I would not have to read Carlos Castaneda after the fact, or Crowley who was very much into psychedelic, I just had to read some obscure hippie poet who tripped balls in 67' 'Gone Hallucinogen Freeway'

I also believe that the boundary between external and internal is blurred. I have experienced energy parasites; the particular one I came across reminded me of a bee, hovering around us and sucking up energy via a protrusion around its mouth. In the same way as bees collect pollen, I intuitively sensed that the energy parasite was in some way circulating information/ideas as it circulated among us. It seemed as if the entity was unaware of us as living beings - just considering us as a food source.

What struck me about this well written article is the similarity between a bon-tibetan Buddhist ritual called Chod ("cutting through") in which beings, including gods and demons are intentionally summoned and fed. The point of the feeding is, in most part, to compassionately fulfill the highest needs of all beings so that they will cease suffering. They are fed an amrita that provides not for wants but for the actual need to achieve enlightement and transformation from a samsaric state. Lama Tsultrim Allione has legitimately (not just in my humble opinion but because of her recognition as an emanation of the creatrix of the thousand year old practice, Machig Labdron) westernized a version of the chod practice called Feeding Your Demons. This practice is powerful when used on what modern psychology may call our shadow sides. The book is available on Amazon and I highly recommend meeting and working with a qualified Chod teacher/lama, as well, especially if you want to go deeper into the practice than the Western version.

Before studying the practice more deeply I believed that the Chod practice was shamanic. However, it has been since explained to me that the roots of this practice extend into the 'empty nature' and thus there is a subtle distinction that I have not yet completely grasped. That said, please keep in mind that there may be mistakes in my understanding as it exists now including my understanding that this Chod practice relates to the feeding in the article as well as other shamanic or 'shamanish' practices. May any mistakes lead to further understanding and only greater insight for any readers including me.

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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/Yasugi_Kiyomizu...

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"When making swords, the swordsmith invokes the aid of the guardian god. To invite him to the workshop, the smith surrounds it with consecrated ropes, thus excluding evil spirits, while he goes through the ceremony of ablution and dons the ceremonial dress in which he works. While striking the iron bar and giving it baths of fire and water, the smith and his helper are in the most intensified state of mind. Confident the god's help will be given to their work, they exert themselves to the limit of their powers, mental, physical, and spiritual. The sword thus produced is a true work of art. The japanesesword must reflect something deeply appealing ot the soul of the people. They look at it, indeed, not as a weapon of destruction but as an object of inspiration. Hence the legend of Okazaki Masamune the swordsmith and his products.

Masamune flourished in the latter part of the Kamakura era, and his works are uniformly prized by all the sword connoissuers for their excellent qualitites. As far as the edge of the blade is concerned, Masamune may not exceed Muramasa, said to be one of his ablest disciples, but Masamune is said to have something morally inspiring that comes from his personality. The legend goes thus: When someone was trying to test the sharpness of a muramasa, he placed it in a current of water and watched how it acted against the dead leaves flowing downstream. He saw that every leaf that met the blade was cut in two. He then placed a Masamune, and he was surprised to find that the leaves avoided the blade. The Masamune was not bent on killing, it was more than a cutting implement, whereas the Muramasa could not go beyond cutting, there was nothing divinely inspiring in it. The Muramasa is terrible. It has also been told that once drawn, a Muramasa blade has to draw blood before it can be returned to its scabbard, even to the point of forcing its wielder to wound himself or commit suicide. Thus, it is thought of as a demonic cursed blade that creates bloodlust in those who wield it. The Masamune is humane and having radiant spiritual power. One is despotic and imperialistic, the other is superhuman, if we may use this form of expression. Masamune almost never engraved his namme on the hilt, although this was customary with sword smiths."

Legends of Masamune and Muramasa

"A legend tells of a test where Muramasa challenged his master, Masamune, to see who could make a finer sword. They both worked tirelessly and eventually, when both swords were finished, they decided to test the results. The contest was for each to suspend the blades in a small creek with the cutting edge facing the current. Muramasa's sword, the Juuchi Yosamu (10,000 Cold Nights / 十千夜寒) cut everything that passed its way; fish, leaves floating down the river, the very air which blew on it. Highly impressed with his pupil's work, Masamune lowered his sword, the Yawarakai-Te (Tender Hands / 柔らかい手), into the current and waited patiently. Not a leaf was cut, the fish swam right up to it, and the air hissed as it gently blew by the blade. After a while, Muramasa began to scoff at his master for his apparent lack of skill in the making of his sword. Smiling to himself, Masamune pulled up his sword, dried it, and sheathed it. All the while, Muramasa was heckling him for his sword's inability to cut anything. A monk, who had been watching the whole ordeal, walked over and bowed low to the two sword masters. He then began to explain what he had seen.

"The first of the swords was by all accounts a fine sword, however it is a blood thirsty, evil blade, as it does not discriminate as to who or what it will cut. It may just as well be cutting down butterflies as severing heads. The second was by far the finer of the two, as it does not needlessly cut that which is innocent and undeserving."

In another account of the story, both blades cut the leaves that went down on the river's current equally well, but the leaves would stick to the blade of Muramasa whereas they would slip on past Masamune's after being sliced. Or alternatively both leaves were cut, but those cut by Masamune's blade would reform as it traveled down the stream. Yet another version has leaves being sliced by Muramasa's blade while the leaves were repelled by Masamune's, and another again has leaves being sliced by Muramasa's blade and healed by Masamune's.

In yet another story Muramasa and Masamune were summoned to make swords for the Shogun or Emperor and the finished swords were held in a waterfall. The result is the same as the other stories, and Masamune's swords are deemed holy swords. In one version of the story Muramasa is killed for creating evil swords.

While all known legends of the two ever having met are historically impossible, both smiths are widely regarded as symbols for their respective eras."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLOsUc8MbEg&feature=related Username: Daruma Password:Daruma

Interesting article, Jonathan. You may find this documentary interesting which a friend of mine and I produced: UFOs, Aliens, and the Question of Contact

One of the most misunderstood aspects of the UFO subject is the hyperdimensional and paraphysical nature of the phenomenon, as well as the idea that humanity may not be as "special" and untouchable as we believe ourselves to be, but seems to be used as "food sources" in some ways. We explore the UFO phenomena, alien abductions, the hyperdimensional aspect of reality, the Gnostic's idea of the Archons, Castaneda's work, DMT induced Abduction experiences (Dr. Strassman's work), general UFOlogy as well as ancient history and esoteric significance relating to the "topic of all topics" (as Don Juan coined it).

“There are a thousand things which prevent a man from awakening, which keep him in the power of his dreams. In order to act consciously with the intention of awakening, it is necessary to know the nature of the forces which keep man in a state of sleep. First of all it must be realized that the sleep in which man exists is not normal but hypnotic sleep. Man is hypnotized and this hypnotic state is continually maintained and strengthened in him. One would think that there are forces for whom it is useful and profitable to keep man in a hypnotic state and prevent him from seeing the truth and understanding his position.”
- G. I. Gurdjieff

Any person who has ever had an orgasm has an entity attached to their field of mind. They are not demonic or angelic as Alex suggests (his vision was clouded by his own preconceptions) but merely another form of life that is symbiotic with our species; they sustain themselves through the release of neural energy at orgasm, and in return ensure the perpetuation of the species. They are not evil, they are just parasites.. just doing what any other species does, trying to survive. The entities are capable of projecting sexual reverie into the mind of a person, prodding them to engage in sexual stimulation that results in orgasm. Each particular sex act attracts a slightly different type of sex-bug.. hetero-sex attracts the least damaging parasite in regards to mental clarity, whereas homosexual acts, masturbation, oral, etc attract far more voracious entities. People can become consumed by the entity (possession).. there are many famous serial killers and sexual criminals who mentioned hearing a voice urging them to go forth and act, and in some cases an unstoppable force intruding upon the mind, resulting in them being moved without their will. Psychology would have us believe they were schizo, sociopathic, psychotic, but many in their own testimony clearly stated that they felt they were hearing or being moved by an intelligence beyond their own.

Zezt: In regards to homosexual acts, you can not possibly convince anyone with a functioning brain that homosexuality is normal sexual behaviour. Penis and Vagina were made for each other for the sole purpose of procreation.. an anus is not a sexual organ but a one way tube for excrement to be expelled. I have nothing against homosexuals at all, but you will never convince me that it is normal behaviour and neither will the politically correct psychologists of the modern era. John Zap: I am aware of the work of McKenna and whilst I do still admire some of his diatribes I fell out of love with his philosophy a long time ago. Taking the philosophic advice of a habitual cannabis and psychedelic user strikes me as being foolish. McKenna was way off base in my opinion. When 2012 comes and goes, so will his philosophy. As for my source in regards to the previous post, I trust him far more than any other source I have come across previously for one simple reason, he walked what he talked. He was also not the first to come to the conclusion mentioned previously.. every major religious system since the dawn of time has held a belief in the existence of entities and that sex is where man is most vunerable.

I wonder if this could be a more satisfying way of thinking about it. 

 It seems that there is a lot of resistance to the idea of mind parasites. I resisted it at first as well, but I think that actually the only thing I am resisting against is the implication, intended or not, that these things are somehow evil. The term parasite stirs images of things lurking, "out to get me", but I think perhaps that's simply a cultural belief that doesn't adequately describe reality.

There are plenty of physical organisms, Candida albicans for instance, which will opportunistically flourish in the body of people with imbalanced systems. The normal way of looking at this in our culture is that Candida albicans is a parasite, feeding off of poor, defenseless humans; in a word, bad, something to be eradicated. But looking at it ecologically, we see that this relationship is fairly normal, and that as Candida is always present in the human digestive tract, an overgrowth is simply an indicator that the system is out of balance.

Organic farmers worth their salt look at "pests" not as an evil to be eradicated, but as welcome indicators, bringing them the message that their soil is lacking something which the plants need.

Admittedly, when the soil culture is deficient and the farmer is unable to supply the necessary nutrients, the plants do get eaten by bugs... and none of us want to get eaten by bugs. But when the soil is deficient, the plants are weakened, and in their weakened state are susceptible. If the plants get eaten, the ecological understanding simply says "those plants weren't really cut out for that ecosystem."

Along those lines, I don't think that many on this website would say that the "soil" of our culture is sufficient to adequately nourish human life, physically or psychically, and same as with the plants, on the physical level, there are hundreds of organisms which are feeding on imbalanced humans today.  So while I admit to having a resistance to the idea that there are invisible psychic or energetic entities which may be feeding on me, the reality is it's probably likely. I am the product of a very nutrient poor culture. Most humans aren't really cut out for this ecosystem either.

But, mosquitoes have to eat, and it's only a habit to swat them away. Once, during a meditation retreat, when I was able to step in front of my automatic responses for a time, I actually found the sensations of being bitten by a mosquito rather pleasant. And it was surprisingly gratifying to watch a mosquito get her belly full and fly away satisfied, knowing she will use my blood to create and nourish her offspring. I got a distinct sense too that she was grateful for the meal. And, while I have not had enough experience to say with any validity that this is always the case, I was surprised to find that the few times that I have consciously chosen to not just let her eat, but welcomed her and gave generously, telling her that I hope the blood nourishes her, and let her have as much of my blood as she wanted, I didn't end up with an itchy swollen bug bite later. It never even turned red. I should note, however, that even with that experience, most of the time since then when I am bitten, my awareness is elsewhere and I automatically brush them away and get itchy later.

I would posit that what the disagreement boils down to is the idea that there are some things which are "good" and others which are "bad", and that we should find, attract, and maximize the "good" and avoid, minimize, banish, and kill the "bad". We could call this idea a cultural mind parasite too, the next thing to be banished, but ultimately the idea of good and evil had a cosmic purpose as well and exists outside good and evil. As Charles Eisenstein puts it, “We embark on a journey of separation in all its forms, we reach its extreme, and we come back to Union at a higher level of complexity, enriched by our journey.”

These things, whatever they do and whatever you want to call them, undoubtedly also serve a cosmic purpose, in the same way that Candida and mosquitoes do. And, as in my experience with the mosquito, our response to them has a profound effect upon how they effect us. We do have the power to choose how we respond to them, though perhaps only when we become conscious to the unconscious nature of our typical responses.

The revolution that is underway today is starting with an acceptance of what is, with a seeking to find the rightness in all things we've been calling wrong, and allowing all beings space and support to give of their gifts. And I believe that, as my experience with the mosquito hints at, when we give of ourselves consciously and graciously, even "parasites" are grateful and don't hurt us so much as we think.

Wildthing: Have you actually read McKenna's book about his travels to the Amazon with his brother Dennis, and the origins of his timewave theory? The UFO, the talking mushroom voice, etc? McKenna was just another human being trying to make a living by selling a fancy albeit positive end of the world story, a story that he did believe i'm sure but just a story none the less. As for Crowley he was an idiot of the first order who died a very confused and muddled man.. he is the perfect example of what happens when you fuck with too many subtances together with sex and invoking of entities. Real philosophy comes from a change in being and in order to do that you need your brain/body functioning to be good and not a wreck like it was for Crowley. McKenna paid the price too.. Nature gets even in the end. You think it was a coincidence he died of a mushroom shaped brain tumor.. Zezt: Obviously your tiny brain is incapable of handling what I wrote, so let me state it again. I have nothing against homosexuals. I have, have had, and will continue to have friends who are homosexual. So long as they respect the boundaries like any other human does then it is not a problem. That said that doesn't mean i have to agree with their sexual choices.. just because you are friends with someone doesn't mean you have to automatically buy into what ever it is they believe in or practice! What they choose to do behind closed doors is none of my fucking business.

I know you don't believe me but I will say it again. I have nothing against homosexuals, period. It is just a life choice that I do not believe to be healthy for the individual or society, but I would never impinge upon your freedom to express that life choice if you wished. What I do strongly disagree with is the drive to educate children about homosexuality and the belief that it is healthy simply by democratic vote instead of actually doing proper studies (and for other sex acts too). The area that needs to be studied is mental not physical, so obviously this presents a problem.

I understand your resentment at what i've written.. it is natural to try to protect what is fundamental to being human (sexuality). But what can I say? The Gay lobby had the manuals changed to remove homosexuality as a mental illness not because any new evidence came to light or scientific study, but simply because they realized they could exert political pressure riding on the back of a wave of reformed "liberal sexuality" of the 60's. When you look back at history and what happened.. well, in all honesty can you really say I don't have a tenable position here? You can not disagree either in regards to homosexuality being unhealthy even purely on a physical level.. that is a non-debate!

I will not speak on this anymore as we're digressing the wall topic.

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