There is Only Oneness, Tao

Enlightenment is the acceptance that there is no one to be enlightened and as the seeker dissolves so too that which was sought is no longer separate. There is only oneness, Tao.

• Biologically it could be the time delay that the front brain requires to perform its operations that causes humans to be so self conscious and to feel strong separation.
• Linguistically it could be that as we grew up everything we learned was in a language of duality and so we can not think in concepts or explain idea that are not dual.
• Culturally it could be that generations before us have lived in suffering believing they must fear an almighty, that life is preparation for afterlife, that choices are made and reward or punishment ensue.
• Socially it could be that we act in hierarchies, groups, pairs or alone and in all of these roles we reaffirm the false belief that we are a separate part in the greater whole.
• Philosophically it could be that we echo ideas that "I think therefore I am" but fail to question how there seem to be two I's in the same sentence. We trap ourselves in Noun does Verb even when the active and the passive are one.
• Politically we are told that you can drag a cart with two opposing horses and make valuable progress.

For whatever reason they feel it, feeling separate, people will seek reconnection. There is only oneness, there is only Tao, appearing as whatever it appears to be and it is nothing more than an appearance seeming to happen. All that comes goes, nothing that arises in mind has any permanence or reality. All arising will dissolve as the the source is an apparent arising too.

~Tawan

Asbestos Head Chapter 9 - Free Will Junkies

Machine Head 
-Free Will Junkies-

Machine Head is Cyborg.

Cyborg are collective and simultaneously subjective beings identical to humans in every way except for their brains, which are in constant data transfer with both one another and a computer-generated Mother Brain.  Through silicon technology and forced genetic mutation, all cyborg have comprehensive sense transceivers allowing any member of the collective to fully experience the epistemological, visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory, and gustatory sensations of any other.  All information is instantaneously sent to each other and the Mother Brain - an outside server that stores their every experience, even after the death of their bodies. 

This eliminates the human concern for understanding and self-preservation because the entirety of their experience is remembered, maintained, and accessible to all cyborg at any time.  As a result most cyborg live alone and haven’t the slightest desire to procreate.  Survival, love, and understanding are all secondary to what they describe as the intensification and appreciation of the Now.  They are inherently emotionless and opinionless by human standards because of their complete disidentification with self and thought.  Feeling and bias are only expressed in the interest of aesthetics as they consider these things to be high-art happening in real-time.  Overall their behavior closely parallels humans except for a couple quirks like these and that cyborg are all artists of one kind or another; Machine Head is lead singer in a hard-core heavy-metal band.  Tonight's show is already underway as Asbestos enters the building.

Become a Skeptic and Transform Your Life

I believe most people do not know or appreciate what the word “Skeptic” truly means. The common vernacular has a connotation of cynicism and predisposition toward pessimism.

Skepticism

1: an attitude of doubt or a disposition to incredulity either in general or toward a particular object

2a : the doctrine that true knowledge or knowledge in a particular area is uncertain b : the method of suspended judgment, systematic doubt, or criticism characteristic of skeptics

Even the word doubt has gotten a bad wrap. I believe doubt is one of the healthiest things that one can have. If someone acts like they are insulted when you doubt what they say then I say they don’t really care about informing you, they want to impress you so that they can control or dominate you. It is subtle but it works. The result is that you stop being curious.

This shows up in your life as a kind of laziness. If someone gives you an answer and you don’t question it then you don’t need to research it out for yourself. But this leaves you open to every hoax and deception imaginable.

Asbestos Head Chapter 7 - Kindness of Strangers

Joseph Head
-Kindness of Strangers-

Asbestos leaves the trailer park and proceeds toward Main street. He passes a large animal farm and from out of nowhere is caught in the jovial farmer's enthusiastic embrace. He squeezes the bejesus out of Asbestos and immediately apologizes:

"I'm Sorry. I have an overwhelming impulse to hug everyone I see. Please don't take it personally unless that makes you happy."

"No problem." Asbestos smiles and continues.

“Problems. You know son, problems that can be understood beforehand lose their ability to be problematic. So I always consider the worst in order to weed out potential mishaps before they happen.”

Asbestos stops. “That sounds depressing and pessimistic.”

“It’s not pessimism. It’s far-sighted optimism. Intentional cogitation on negativity eventually neutralizes its ability to affect you, so simply pondering potential problems like broken trust, loss of love, death, jealousy, guilt, disappointment and all other negative emotions you're able to vanquish without the anguish of experiencing their gut-wrenching depths. When I was your age, I rode an emotional roller coaster that dragged me up and dropped me down from great heights. Then there was a mid-life plateau in my ride until I realized: Strong minds change one’s emotions whereas weak minds allow emotions to change their ideologies. If you want to understand yourself and experience clearer, more intense emotions, you have to examine all that is unconscious about your changes in emotional states. By examining your own behavior and refining your reactions, emotions become a playground, not a roller coaster."

"Are you saying you’re just happy all the time?"

"I’m not happy all the time, but whenever I’m not, I know it’s my own damn fault. I used to blame other people, events and situations for my subtle discomforts and unhappiness. Blame the cook for bad food, the waiter for serving it slowly, blame the other people in line, blame the other cars in traffic, blame the government for not reading my mind, blame my friends and family for the shortcomings I created: blame my father for being so aggressive, my mother for being so passive, my whole extended family for being so sheltered. It’s so embarrassingly easy to find reasons why others cause your unhappiness. The real challenge is accepting the truth - the truth that every time you feel anything but utter bliss, it’s your own damn fault. Every single time I feel any emotion other than happiness, I see a deeper problem about myself."

There Be Dragons!

How the patriarchy demonized the Dragon:

"Myths are not artistic embellishments, fairy stories men make up to amuse themselves and their fellows; they are the very heart and brain, as it were, of the social organism, necessary for its survival -- as that particular society." The Manufacture of Madness, (p.121)

Remember all the stories and films you've read and seen with the main character, the 'hero', attacking dragons, and killing dragons? Has this propaganda made you view dragons, reptiles, as bad? If so don't be so hasty, for Monica Sjoo liberatingly informs us, in her book, 'The Return of the Dark/Light Mother or New Age Armageddon?', the mythological dragons represent from the Goddess earth-centred perspective ~are~ the Goddess and are protecting nature, as well as guardians of Trees of Life which connect life and death!

We have thus been indoctrinated, watching and reading and imbibing about how 'Mr hero/saint/god destroys the Dragon', thereby being conditioned to accept the 'hero's' inheritors legacy of excuses and actions for their continuing to destroy Earth. Of course by 'destroy' I don't mean as in the end of Earth as a planet, but more so the continuance of the attack on the quality of life for all, and the threat to the human species -- following in a long line of other species who have been made extinct which continues.

Asbestos Head Chapter 5 - Barbie Doll Blues

Matrioshka Head

-Barbie Doll Blues-

Matrioshka’s a walking contradiction wearing high-heels and low-cut shirts, over-sized bras and mini-skirts.  She has dyed hair, collagen lips, silicon breasts, methacrylate nails, a plastic face, a liposuct stomach and longs for true love.  She reads self-help books written by other people.  Her diary’s a connect-the-dots of days with extravagant descriptions of her mediocre existence.  Her photo albums look like laminated stationary showcasing various backgrounds with her smiling mug in the middle.  When she shows everyone her albums (and she shows everyone her albums) every picture is prefaced, “this is me at (someplace) . . . “

Matrioshka loves possessions more than she loves people so she shrinks everyone into microcosms of themselves and arranges them on shelves.  She has shelves for enemies, acquaintances, boyfriends, girlfriends, a high shelf for her best friends and an empty one for her future husband.  As with all collections, her sole purpose is to horde the most and the best, so her focus is always on what’s next.

When Matrioshka’s not collecting dolls she likes to don her latest designer tackle-box and hit the mall to fish for complements.  She always buys the best bait but hates to get her feet wet so she just waits with her big bobbers and shiny lures until some prickly pickerel puckers-up his best fish face for a slimy kiss.  Once she pulled the pole early to hook a handsome salmon nibbling her worm only to have him eat his fill then sever the line.  Since then she’s taken up fly-fishing and only caught shadows.

The experience leaves her feeling empty and hollow so for structural reinforcement she finds two smaller followers called friends that fit inside her.  Their relationship is selfish and superficial but reciprocal; they rely on her exterior to attract attention and she relies on their interior to fill the hole inside her.  Sometimes they come out to play but usually just stay tucked up, fucked inside agreeing with everything she says because they want to remain friends (and enemies are anyone that disagrees). 

Every morning she awakes to an alarm clock then watches TV until the car radio.  At work she gossips, gabs, and babbles, small talks and chit-chats about shit like this and that until it’s time for the all talk drive at five hour live.  Then back home she divides her attention between the television, computer, and cell phone until it’s time for the alarm clock.  She’s never experienced comfortable silence alone or with another person because she avoids it.  She’s scared of silence because that’s when minds thrive and hers is toxic; Her brain’s a label maker and she uses her tongue to stick them on everyone.  There’s a price tag attached to each relationship and the currency is compliance, hence most people don’t buy into her business.  The few who do, however, love getting together to drink alone and vomit on themselves. 

Since change is costly and adds up quickly, Matrioshka develops an unconscious bias toward whatever she learns first then practices defensive education by dodging opposite viewpoints and countering new facts with old opinions.  She side-steps advice and strikes down constructive criticism with cynicism and sarcasm.  Such insight into abstract epistemology even spurs a revelation in philosophy known as illogical negativism; Matrioshka’s dedicated work in the field remains unparalleled but continues to fall short of the Nobel.  And unfortunately for her emotional well-being there are repercussions to this behavior: She feels fake and lonely, led astray and abandoned like an oxbow lake.  Incessant judgment of every situation keeps her brain in constant rumination.  Every experience is cross-referenced to check for inconsistencies, labeled and captioned for her table of contents, prefaced and appendixed then indexed for easy access.  This process is so complex she’s only half experienced her whole life. 

Asbestos Head is the truest friend she’s ever had.  Today after a moment of mutual passion she says he somehow ruined their friendship through physical contact and she doesn’t know how to think of him Now because she hasn’t a label for that.

The Myth of Mental Illness and The War on Entheogens

The myth of mental illness is propaganda, and is the myth that what are being called by this culture, 'mental illnesses', or 'conditions', or 'disorders', are actually biological diseases of the brain. There, however, do not exist any medical scientific tests to support this supposed 'medical science', so they try and use observation of behaviour, rhetoric, and coercion, to beguile the visionaries, sensitive people, the gullible, and the vulnerable.

By 'myth' of mental illness, I am not meaning that people do not feel many various forms of psychological, and/or psychosomatic distresses, and sense of feeling 'not normal', and so on, but rather the myth is the demand to believe - scientifically - that 'mental illness/disorder', as they call it, is biologically caused by 'chemical imbalance', genes, brain abnormalities. But as there exist no definite medical tests to prove what they state, and diagnose, then all we have is subjective opinion from 'experts' who checklist behavioural 'symptoms' as being 'mental illnesses' needing medical 'treatment'.

Drug companies have now created microchipped medication, or 'smart pills', which they are pushing. The danger for people already pressurized to take psychiatric medication will be immense with 'Big Brother' inside their bodies making sure they don't miss one of 'his' tablets!

“Bio-psychiatry theorizes that emotional distress is a result of a defect in the brain. Yet, it does not understand the brain and its methods are to suppress the functioning of the brain. We must differentiate between the brain and the mind. Of the mind, it knows nothing and offers nothing.” – Dr Dan L. Edmunds

We are being seen as machines, and our brains are meant to be functioning according to mechanistic principles that suit the established norms of this consumerist culture. This is based on a mechanistic philosophy and psychology, and I would like to point out the influential 'thinkers' who have been chosen by the rich to implement this paradigm to suit their purposes - as usual as more profit for them.

Asbestos Head Chapter 4 - Present of All Presence

Doc Head

-Present of all Presence-

Doc Head holds post-graduate degrees in both psychology and philosophy.  In clinical work he finds philosophy to be more helpful and relevant because it is always looking forward pushing the progress of thought, whereas the majority of psychological research looks backwards trying to find explanations for behaviors.  As a result, instead of diagnosing behavioral abnormalities, he provides philosophical arguments against his patients and brings them face to face with their flaws.

Instead of tracing fear of commitment to childhood abandonment, attributing apathy to life-long depression, or otherwise trying to make explanations in rewind, he Socratically challenges their current, personal reasoning and rationale behind such issues and gives educated nudges in advantageous directions. His questions channel their thoughts through unexplored depths. Most people are never adequately challenged in their beliefs and judgments.  Simply spending time sitting down with an educated moral philosopher expands their personal understanding and gives conversation a new perspective, like the extrospection section of self-reflection.