…However there’s a catch…I am changing up the format, I’m no longer going to reinterpret the quotes…I will leave that entirely up to you.
But, what I am going to do is comment on the quotes…(pretty much what I was already doing). My goal is to get people to think more deeply about life by introducing them to quotes that they normally would not be exposed to…fair enough, right?

Word!

(Cue creepy organ music!)

1). “I think that in human evolution it has never been as necessary to have this substance LSD. It is just a tool to turn us into what we are supposed to be.” -Albert Hofmann

Albert Hofmann was the man who first synthesized LSD-25 and accidentally ingested it causing one hell of a trip(on his bike ride home). He and others believed that LSD could be used in a clinical setting to re-imprint/correct certain personality traits and disorders. Do not be fooled by the popular culture of the 1960′s that tarnished the scientific aspect and benefits found in LSD or other psychedelics.

2).”The constant assertion of belief is an indication of fear.” -Jiddu Krishnamurti

Mormons?… Haha…I kid…I kid…
No but really, this is a neat quote cause it shows that someone who is constantly having to reassure himself and others by asserting something is trying to stave off some sort of fear, otherwise there would be no need for such repetition.

3).”Those who have never tried electronic communication may not be aware of what a “social skill” really is. One social skill that must be learned, is that other people have points of view that are not only different, but *threatening*, to your own. In turn, your opinions may be threatening to others. There is nothing wrong with this. Your beliefs need not be hidden behind a facade, as happens with face-to-face conversation. Not everybody in the world is a bosom buddy, but you can still have a meaningful conversation with them. The person who cannot do this lacks in social skills.” -Nick Szabo

I really admire this quote! It deals with the modern free-flowing information medium known as the Internet. This can be applied toward life itself when dealing with other people. We all have certain beliefs and opinions, we all recognize this, yet we still get heated when we hear something that doesn’t sit well with our belief system. We need to teach our children a certain level of understanding, otherwise our species may never progress as a whole. We should try and alienate ourselves from thinking that our beliefs are RIGHT. Other people’s ideals and belief’s are true to that individual even if they are entirely far fetched and do not fit into your REALITY TUNNEL. The next time someone says something that you do not believe in, do not belittle that person or act as if your belief is the only belief that is correct. Instead try and understand why that person may have that particular belief. Ask questions that will help you understand better. We will all benefit from this!

Thanks for stopping by!

-Ego

Me Ego

If you’ve been visiting my BLoG, and have scanned through my past posts, you’ve probably noticed that I like to write about controversial subjects. I think it is very important to get these topics out in the open, so that we may desensitize each other from getting so upset about the simple facts of life.
 
Everyone is born with the ability to learn and think for themselves, but during the formative years(childhood), many halfass backwards ideas are introduced by what may be under-educated adults(A.k.a. the blissfully ignorant.)

At this point, religious dogma usually comes into play and heavily skews the child’s perception of the world and it’s diverse cultures. When I say ‘skew’ I mean, the dogma leads the child’s thoughts in a direction that is favored by that particular religion. (Ex. In this tribe we do things ‘this’ way)…

The child is no longer able to think for his/herself, in a matter of speaking…

I guess you can say it’s a kind of sheltered life, and sets the child up for an EPIC failure later on in life…

In my opinion, I view religion as a crutch for those who don’t like to investigate life for themselves…or for those that are too afraid to ponder the thought that we might be ‘alone’ in this universe.

Dogmatic people live blissfully ignorant lives because they no longer have ‘control’ of things, the creator is “responsible.” Believing in a ‘God’ is pretty much a way of pawning off all of the worldly problems onto one supreme being, that way you have piece of mind in knowing things are “out of your hands.”
Plus, it gives you “‘some thing” to look to and “talk” to when in need…it also gives you a “biased-moral-compass.”

Now getting back on track…many people get so set in their ways they often overlook that they are being unrealistic in their approach on life…. 

For far too long have I encountered ignorant people who lack the proper education to hold an intelligent argument about some subject they disagree with…it’s a weird feeling when you’re embarrassed for someone other than yourself!

Time and time again, I have seen people argue simply because they don’t know any better…

The fact remains that there are things in this world that you do not and may not ever agree with. You need to understand that not everyone perceives things like you do…nor do you perceive things the way I do.

It is imperative to mankind’s evolutionary progression that we learn to cast aside our cultural, ideological, and moral differences when dealing with each other. It’s great to have an opinion, but it is unintelligent to live life belittling other peoples belief’s/opinion’s, only because they do not fit with your own belief system.

You see, we are a very diverse world, and we need to teach tolerance, and educate others in the ‘art’ of critical and logical reasoning. Only then can we realize that it is unnecessary to get so EMOTIONAL/HOSTILE when encountering some thing we do not agree with. Take responsibility in learning why you have such ‘negative/emotional’ reaction. If you do not understand a subject, try to not automatically look at it from a negative point of view…analyze it and be RATIONAL. Be realistic most of all, and you will begin to see that things are not what they seem!

“From the age of fifteen, dogma has been the fundamental principle of my religion: I know no other religion; I cannot enter into the idea of any other sort of religion; religion, as a mere sentiment, is to me a dream and a mockery.” -John Henry Newman

The quote above is an example of how narrow-minded someone can become due to their adoption of a dogmatic ideology.

Any feedback?

-Ego

Welcoteme to the 2nd installment of the Interpret This! series, brought to you by your ‘single-serving’ narrator, Ego, from HalfassBackwards.com

———————

1). “There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.” -Jiddu Krishnamurti

Learning doesn’t stop when formal education ends, life is a constant learning process. Take every situation you encounter as a learning experience. Tell yourself  “I can’t fail, I can only learn and grow!” Learn from other people’s mistakes!

2). “A myth is an image in terms of which we try to make sense of the world.” -Allan Watts

Just think about the time the first ‘humans’ began to question their existence, and all of the weird explanations/rationalizations that were made, and then finally settled upon. The more popular ones were taught and passed down from generation to generation. Consider what I just typed when pondering the subject of religion and spirituality.

3). “A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?” -Albert Einstein

I ask myself this one all the time, but I keep deciding that neither seems to be true, we’re all crazy to a certain extent. Humans controlling humans, creating fear, starting wars, and enabling ignorance to persist. Trying to answer such a question clouds the mind.

———————

Now wasn’t that fun?
Care to make your own interpretation?

-Ego

Today we are going to look at #3 of Celine’s Laws, made famous in The Illuminatus Papers by Robert Anton Wilson, and how it may be manifesting itself through the likes of President Barack H. Obama, and his administration’s seemingly inadvertent march towards limiting Americans freedom’s.

Here is Celine’s Third Law:

An honest politician is a national calamity.

Celine recognizes that the third law seems preposterous from the beginning. While a dishonest politician is interested only in bettering his own lot through abusing the public trust, an honest politician is far more dangerous since he is honestly interested in bettering society through political action, and that means writing and implementing more and more laws.

Celine argues that creating more laws simply creates more criminals. Laws inherently restrict individual freedom, and the explosive rate at which laws are being created means that every citizen in the course of his daily life does not have the research capacity to not violate at least one of the plethora of laws. It is only through honest politicians trying to change the world through laws that true tyranny can come into being through excessive legislation.

Corrupt politicians simply line their own pockets. Honest idealist politicians cripple the people’s freedom through enormous amounts of laws. So corrupt politicians are preferable according to Celine.

Obama, at face value, appears to be on a mission to do good and correct the wrongs of the former administration. Although, I cannot know for certain, nor can anyone else…not until it’s too late, at least. 

…I thought it was an interesting ‘thought-scenario’ to play around with…that’s fun for me…and others, I’m sure.

-Ego

…and It was such a good response, it got me thinking about what ‘GOD’ really is, and I would like to share with you my response, which can be read, out of context, and still hold ‘water.’ 

Me…er…Ego…

I am constantly changing, both in my physical and mental ‘world,’ and the more I read into spiritual and religious subjects, I find that it’s becoming increasingly difficult for me to pin-point what ‘proof/evidence’ of “GOD” really is.

A lot of what I’ve been reading talks in depth about how we each ‘create’ our own unique perception of the world. Mind over matter.
All of this leaves me thirsty for more, and on as I go, I find I know very little. So in a sense it confuses me as to why so many people are firm in their own beliefs, yet without hard-evidence(and many cease to question & refine).
But I guess evidence could mean ‘something in a physical sense’ but it also can differ depending on that individual’s own unique definition of what ‘GOD’ is or is not.

Question:
Was ‘GOD’ found when Albert Hofmann discovered LSD-25? Many people have had a religious/spiritual journey while on LSD, and most come out with an overall feeling of interconnectivity with mankind as a whole.

I guess what I am getting at now, is that “GOD” seems to be unique to the thinker, just as a fingerprint is.

 

-Ego

Today I will share with you a little something written by R.A.W., this piece talks about how we’ve all come to form our own unique view of the world, a.k.a. reality tunnels, coined by Timothy Leary and made famous by Robert Anton Wilson.

It also hints at how the educational system is flawed and produces what I like to call “half-thinkers.”

Read on and Enjoy…

——————————————

Becoming What We Are

By Robert Anton Wilson

If you stroll through a large art museum, you will notice that Van Gogh does not paint the same world as Rembrandt, Picasso does not see things the way Goya did, Georgia O’Keefe doesn’t much resemble Rivera, Salvador Dali looks like nobody but himself, and, in general, no world-class artist became a “classic” by doing what somebody else had already done or even what everybody else in his/her own era did.

And in science, the names of Einstein, Dirac, the Curies, Bohr, Heisenberg, Schroedinger, John Bell etc. live on because none of them took Newton as Holy Gospel: they all made unique and unpredictable innovations in basic theory.

And, in case you think this applies only to “arts and sciences,” consider the most successful people in industry. Henry Ford did not get rich copying Fulton’s steamboat; he made a car so cheap that anybody could afford one.Howard Hughes produced movies that nobody else would have dared to attempt, and then went on to revolutionize the airline industry. Buckminster Fuller did not copy the cubical form of previous architects, but invented the geodesic dome; at last count, over 3OO,OOO of his buildings existed, making him the most visibly successful architect in history. Steve Wozniak did not copy the computers of his day, but invented one that even an “bloody eejit” [like me] could use [and even enjoy!] Bill Gates created new kinds of software. Etc.

We all need constant reiteration of these truism because we live in a world where a multitude of very powerful forces have worked upon us, from birth through school to work, attempting to suppress our individuality, our creativity and, above all, our curiosity — in short, to destroy everything that encourages us to think for ourselves.

Our parents wanted us to act like the other children in our neighborhood; they emphatically did not want a boy or girl who seemed “weird or “different” or [Heaven forefend] “too damned clever by far.”

Then we enter grade school, a fate worse than Death and Hell combined. Whether we land in a public school or a private religious school, we learn two basic lessons: 1] There exists one correct answer for every question; and 2] education consists of memorizing the one correct answer and regurgitating it on an “examination.”

The same tactics continue through high school and, except in a few sciences, even to the university.

All through this “education” we find ourselves bombarded by organized religion. Most religions, in this part of the world, also teach us “one correct answer,” which we should accept with blind faith; worse, they attempt to terrorize us with threats of post-mortem roasting, toasting and charbroiling if we ever dare to think at all, at all.

After 18-to-30+ years of all this, we enter the job market, and learn to become, or try to become, almost deaf, dumb and blind. We must always tell our “superiors” what they want to hear, what suits their prejudices and/or their wishful fantasies. If we notice something they don’t want to know about, we learn to keep our mouths shut. If we don’t -

“One more word, Bumstead, and I’ll fire you!”

As my mahatma guru J.R. “Bob” Dobbs says, “You know how dumb the average guy is? Well, mathematically, by definition, half of them are even dumber than that.”

“Bob” may have the average confused with the median, but otherwise he hit a bull’s eye. Half of the people you meet do indeed seem dumber than a box of rocks; but they did not start out that way. Parents, peers, schools, churches, advertisers and jobs made them that way. Every baby at birth has a relentlessly curious and experimental temperament. It takes the first third of our lives to destroy that curiosity and experimentalism; but in most cases, we become placid parts of a docile herd.

This human herd all started out as potential geniuses, before the tacit conspiracy of social conformity blighted their brains. All of them can redeem that lost freedom, if they work at it hard enough.

I’ve worked at it for 5O+ years now, and still find parts of me acting like a robot or a zombie on occasion. Learning “how to become what you are” [in Nietzsche's phrase] takes a lifetime, but it still seems the best game in town.

———————————

-Ego

Rev. Ivan Stang from the Church of the Subgenius is instructing an 6-week course(April 6th – May 31st) over at MaybeLogic.org

If you’re a fan of the Subgenius podcasts, then surely you’ll get one hell of a kick out of his Running Your Own Cult: Do’s & Don’ts.

This will be my first time attending the Maybe Logic Academy, and I am pysched! I will be posting updates on my ‘progress,’ just to make use of all this damn web space I’ve got.

I encourage everyone to register for this ‘class’ and take the next step to turning your brain back into silly-putty!

Below is an short synopsis of the course as displayed on the MyabeLogic.org courses page:

Maybelogic.org

Running Your Own Cult: Do’s & Don’ts
A SubGenius Extravaganza

This course is really Volume Two of “The SubGenius Psychlopaedia of Slack — The Bobliographon,” a new SubGenius book from Thunder’s Mouth Press. This material — basically a behind-the scenes history of The Church of the SubGenius and an investigation into the nature of belief — requires way too much multimedia to work as just a book. But it’s perfect for an 8-week online course.

At the end of the course, students will have designed and developed their own religious cult to the point of marketability.

Rev. Ivan Stang is compiling the most telling true-life anecdotes, photos, video and audio clips that illustrate the Church of the SubGenius story since 1980. These “most telling” moments are also usually the funniest, although some are tragic indeed. They also prompt all manner of questions and observations about the nature of religion and philosophy.

——–

Course materials:
The SubGenius Psychclopaedia of Slack — The Bobliographon — Ivan Stang

A motherload of SubGenius Multimedia –
(available exclusively through MLA course)

——–

Hurry up and register, class starts Monday April 6th 2009!

***RECAP & UPDATE HERE***

-Ego

Word!

This might become an ongoing post topic, because I find it fun and enlightening to re-interpret some one’s words, and have comment participation with readers.

Although, history shows us how dangerous interpretations can be… =)

I will be listing 3 quotes by well-known and even unknown authors, public figures, and artists.
Then I will give my own Halfass interpretation of each quote.
I encourage all who read this post to pick one or all of the quotes and then give their own interpretation.
Have fun!

Here goes…

1. “Intelligence is the capacity to receive, decode and transmit information efficiently. Stupidity is blockage of this process at any point. Bigotry, ideologies etc. block the ability to receive; robotic reality-tunnels block the ability to decode or integrate new signals; censorship blocks transmission.” -Robert Anton Wilson
   • I believe R.A.W. hit the nail on the head with this quote.
     For me I see it as his way of showing/explaining how/why many people in this world are blindly following faiths and ideologies. He was big on getting people to wake up and think for themselves.
     To understand this quote you need to cast aside everything you’ve ever learned and then ask and apply this question to everything about yourself, “Why did I learn that? or How did I come about believing this?” Once you do this you can start to see that you’re view points are not always entirely yours.

   • For example, when you’re born you are completely faithless(neutral), your parents will eventually pass on to you their faith/values/morals and knowledge.
     More often then not this happens when your curious little brain begin to question things in life. You might ask your parents a simple question such as, “Why is the sky blue?” Perhaps then your parents would answer “Because God made it that way.” or maybe you’ll get a more honest answer such as “I don’t know.” And BINGO! Instant faith…
     
   • Anyways my point is that you are not brought into this world believing in anything.
     Once you start to age your brain begins storing information and learning begins.

   • A RECAP(in my words): Once an individual places faith on any one subject or thing, intelligence ceases to exist in that area, unless of course that individual begins to question his/her own faith in that area, then and only then does intelligence persist. Uncertainty is bliss!
     
2. “The first problem for all of us, men, and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn.” -Gloria Steinem
   
   • We focus so much on learning and education in a literal sense, yet ‘we’ pay very little attention to the unconscious learning and/or social conditioning/programming brought about from our environment, parents, public/private schooling, and basic day-to-day interaction with one another. Understanding oneself is the key to positive interaction with the universe as a whole.
     
3. “Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.” – George Washington
   • Every man is fallible in the face of greed! (In my opinion, don’t trust anyone wearing a suit!)
     When lots of green paper with dead presidents on them are involved, the honest intention, whether it was there to begin with, is cast aside.
   • Anyone remember Gov. Rod Blagojevich and that famous Senate seat?

What say you?

-Ego

Today’s post appears to be about wild pigs…er…actually it’s about catching wild pigs. Or for those who will read the story and completely miss the point…It might be about governmental conditioning of it’s citizens, or about how we get used to the way things are and blindly keep accepting. 

The story that follows requires you to read “between” the lines…
Read it, Apply it, but don’t look too deep, after all it’s just a story =)…

Catching A Wild Pig

by an Anonymous/Unidentified Source

A chemistry professor at a large college had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the Professor noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back, and stretching as if his back hurt. The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country’s government and install a new communist government.

In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked, ‘Do you know how to catch wild pigs?’ The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said this was no joke. ‘You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come every day to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again.

You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat; you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught.

Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.

The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to America. The government keeps pushing us toward socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc. While we continually lose our freedoms — just a little at a time.

One should always remember: There is no such thing as a free lunch! Also, a politician will never provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.

————-

The story above is a more condensed “cheaper” of the original that can be found HERE.

Wake up in the morning and question everything, accept nothing as truth and begin to be an individual. Be smart, logical, and ‘common-sense-ical’…I know you have it in you, we all do…we just can’t see the light.

GRRRRrrrrr….Bite the hand that feeds!

-Ego

Try going through one day without using the word “is,” and instead replacing it with “it appears to me” or “it seems to me.”

It’s called E-Prime, and you can read more about it HERE via Wikipedia. This is something I first learned about by watching a YouTube video with Robert Anton Wilson.

Now, this may be very hard for some people to do(at first), but if you try it, you will start to notice a change in the way you analyze things in this world.

How can you prove that something really “is?” Something may appear to you in one way, but to someone other than yourself it could seem completely different.

Example…You might happen to like the music of The Beatles, while a friend of yours really admires 50 Cent.

It would be unintelligent to say: “The Beatles music ‘is’ better than that of 50 cent’s” or vice-versa.

Instead…you should try saying “The Beatles’ music ‘appears to me’ to be better than that of 50 Cent’s.”

It seems to be difficult but, if you try it you will start to notice that your pre-programmed prejudices start to undue themselves.
Warning, this will hurt your ego…but in a good way. =)

**Applying this to other subjects**

In this seemingly Halfass Backwards world, a lot of people blindly put their foot down and believe that something simply “is” without having any “real” knowledge on something or actual proof.

…On the subject of “GOD”

Example…How many people have you encountered that believe that there “is” a “GOD?”
Answer: Far too many!!!
Alternatively… How many people have you met that have ‘concrete’ proof/evidence that “GOD” exists?(The Bible doesn’t count)
Answer: ZERO! NONE! ZILCH! NADA! (yet people still naively/blindly believe.)

How could you comfortably believe something that you cannot prove? Just because your parents/teachers/peers fill your head with unproven ideas, does not necessarily make them true.

What say you?

Everything You Know "is" Halfass Backwards!

One last thing that really applies to today’s society…
In America, where I live, I decided to start asking friends & co-workers what they think about Middle Eastern people(seems how we are in a “War ON Terror” or “War OF Terror”).
The answers I got were perplexing, let alone down right shocking! Every single person I asked had a strong view point about Middle Eastern people as a whole.
Then, I followed up with the questions, “Have you ever been to the middle east? Do you know anyone from the middle east?”
Everyone I asked said the same thing, “NO.”

So, I wonder how these people have come to form such a warped/uneducated/broad opinion on a subject they have no first hand knowledge of? Seems

Do they form their opinions by repeating what they heard on television? or read on the Internet?

Blah…

-Ego