The Meaning of Life, According to Sagan

"The Earth is an anomaly. In all the solar system, it is, so far as we know, the only inhabited planet.

"We humans are one among millions of separate species who live in a world burgeoning, overflowing with life. And yet, most species that ever were are no more. After flourishing for one hundred fifty million years, the dinosaurs became extinct. Every last one. No species is guaranteed its tenure on this planet. And humans, the first beings to devise the means for their own destruction, have been here for only several million years.

"We are rare and precious because we are alive, because we can think. We are privileged to influence and perhaps control our future. We have an obligation to fight for life on Earth — not just for ourselves but for all those, humans and others, who came before us and to whom we are beholden, and for all those who, if we are wise enough, will come after. There is no cause more urgent than to survive to eliminate on a global basis the growing threats of nuclear war, environmental catastrophe, economic collapse and mass starvation. These problems were created by humans and can only be solved by humans. No social convention, no political system, no economic hypothesis, no religious dogma is more important.

"The hard truth seems to be this: We live in a vast and awesome universe in which, daily, suns are made and worlds destroyed, where humanity clings to an obscure clod of rock. The significance of our lives and our fragile realm derives from our own wisdom and courage. We are the custodians of life’s meaning. We would prefer it to be otherwise, of course, but there is no compelling evidence for a cosmic Parent who will care for us and save us from ourselves. It is up to us." --Carl Sagan

34

cowards work for gold
when they have no heart in it
how do the brave eat? 

We Need Towels, Gently

I wanna try to be a young mom, she said
Recycled plastic bag worn thin at the knees
Bursting dead glass and toe-up cans
A concrete pigeon with two missing toes pecking at
Greasy pizza face smile
Restrooms out of order due to vandalism
A silver dread smiles shyly
Wanna buy half of two dollars?
Come try our melted european cafe kick tire sale
Come try our trusty wednesdays
Come try our famous hour
Handshake club, members only
We need towels, gently
Used men's t-shirts
and pants

74

stringy, spare trees
storm clouds harshing my buzz
spare some change, bro? 

712

I am a bubble floating in the middle of a fathomless ocean
I am the mist blown from the crest of a crashing wave
I am a single rain drop hurtling through a limtless sky
Falling through time
Separate but for a moment
Waiting for

Adrift in San Francisco

Adrift from Simon Christen on Vimeo.

Incredibly transcendent perspective on one of the most handsome cities in the world. 

Symphonic Fantasy

New tunes on the SoundCloud page...









https://soundcloud.com/chrisotchy

Alex Grey

"I see that everybody is a unique thimbleful of God Force. Every person is a Sacred Mirror." - Alex Grey

Great interview with him in Common Ground this month--his reflections on creativity, relationships, his art, and the progress of the soul. I went to his Chapel of Sacred Mirrors in New York when it was in the Meat Packing District years ago. It's now in Upstate New York, and more fabulously transcendental than ever, I'm sure. Truly blessed artist.

More about Alex Grey and his art at alexgrey.com.

Jimmy Page's Lucifer Rising Soundtrack

When Kenneth Anger was finishing his epic Lucifer Rising, he contacted Jimmy Page (who also has a cameo in the film) to do the soundtrack, consequently giving him his master reels to compose against. I won't go into details, but the whole debacle ended in disaster, Anger never got the music, and I believe he ended up having to re-shoot large portions of the film that Page never gave back to him. The final soundtrack composer was Bobby Beausoleil, who recorded what became the official soundtrack while still in jail for his affiliation with the Manson Family.

Jimmy Page's actual soundtrack has been one the most sought after bootlegs of film and rock-nerd history. I found (what I believe to be) Page's soundtrack--here it is. Enjoy the weirdness. 

More interesting details on the Page/Anger connection.  

Virgin Galactic Will Bring You to the Moon

Virgin is privatizing space travel—and these are some of the coolest photos from Virgin Galactic yet. Though very few will be able to afford it, it’s a bold move on the part of one of the most forward thinking companies of our age. Check it out.

 

 

Daft Punk + Giorgio Moroder = Beautiful Feel

Once your brain realizes that you’re dying, it releases DMT, one of the most powerful known psychedelics. This dilates your perception of time and allowing you to live inside your own mind for hours or even days.

For the Living

Dedicated to those we lost in 2012, especially Margaret Otchy, Chris Schorb, Jeff Lunger, and Adrian Pooley.

-->

For the Living

When you are sad and alone
Think of me
When you are frustrated by the world
Think of me
When you know that you are right, and that there is injustice that seems insurmountable
Think of me
When you are tired and weary and disgusted by your lot
Think of me
When the day is beginning, and you know it will be a struggle the whole way through
Think of me
When the day is drawing to a close, and you feel like you have achieved nothing other than driving yourself out of your mind
Think of me
When you think you have nothing left to give, and the world is unfair, and you have seen the worst of it
Think of me
When you think no one cares, when you are convinced there is no meaning
Think of me
When you don't think you have the heart to see another day, and there's nothing but pain before you
Know that I was there once, too
When there's nothing left but rinds and crumbs in the pantry, and a whole family waiting to eat
Think of me
When you think you've given it all you had, and still it is not enough
Think of me
I've been there, and I assure you, you are not alone
I am with you
How could I abandon you, my child, my brother, my sister, my kin,
My father, my mother, my lover, my friend?
You need only think of me, and I will be there
Where else could I be but in the presence of those I loved so dearly?
And will continue to love
Until we meet again

Fear of Sunday Morning

You wake up and you don’t know what to do. You lay there looking at the ceiling for a long time, then toss and turn for almost a whole hour, paralyzed with indecision. Your mom calls, and gives you an update on everything mundane that’s happened during the week in her world, and all you can say is, “I’m fine.”

After you hang up, you try to lay down again, but you can’t go back to sleep. A vague guilt hangs around your neck for the things you said or didn’t say, or should have said in a different way. “Phrasing, it’s all about phrasing,” you say to yourself.

You get up and take a shower, out of routine, still unsure of where the day is going, still a distant pang of dis-ease in the antipodes of your mind, like some lunatic screaming in the distance. This is the only free time you've had this week, the only chance you've had to do what you want. So many plans you've made, so many options discovered, so many ideas generated, only to be frustrated because you didn’t have the time. And now here it is, laid out in front of you, like a patient etherized on a table. Now you are free… and the freedom is paralyzing.

You get dressed, meditate, stretch a little and start off on a walk up the hill. You listen to some music, and suddenly you find yourself wanting to soar, to really soar. You start to remember what it is to be alive. You’re reminded of who you are, and that private part of yourself you don’t show to anyone; that indestructible place that makes you You.

“Do people really make it?” you wonder. “Do people really make anything they dream of while they are locked away in the chains of their own design?” You become completely obsessed with this feeling of wanting to be happy, to be content beyond what you've always known. Of trying to find the in between.

Your dreams start unfurling again, and somehow, you find yourself smiling. Hopeful. You can own some small piece of the sky if you really want to. You can capture some of that gorgeousness you’re forever chasing, never really knowing if you could really get there, or even into that orbit.

Up ahead there is a wall of fog, where the houses thin out and run into the open, undeveloped land. It looks like walking into a cloud. You pass into the mist and the air is cool and fresh on your face. You soon become disoriented, and find yourself not knowing which way is up. Emotions swirl inside you.

“I just want to do something beautiful. I just want to make people feel for at least a second, that they aren't so alone; that there are other people in the world that feel the same way; that we are all connected by that bond—that we all feel that same inconsolable loneliness, and that it is only when we can express that profound loneliness that we can feel connected again.”

Mist from the fog condenses on your glasses, and people walking by can’t tell that you've been crying. When you come back down back into your house, you know what you must do.

Paging through Encyclopaedia Galactica

One of my favorite episodes of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos series

-->is “Encyclopaedia Galactica,” where he explains the Drake equation. -->This unwieldy formula, more theory than math, estimates the number of detectable extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy.    

 

In the episode, Carl explains how scientists in the 1960-70s came up with numbers for each of the variables. He starts with the estimate that there are 4 billion stars in the Milky Way, and ends with an estimate that there may be as few as 10 other civilizations in existence with the means of interstellar communication akin to our radio telescopes.

He admits this is a conservative estimate—there may be hundreds or even thousands of civilizations out there—but there just as easily may be none at all. The existence of life in this galaxy is very rare, and the probability of us running into anyone else very, very small. We could very likely be all alone. 

The Ramifications of Being Alone in the Universe 

Which started me thinking. If life is as rare as that, then each one of us is truly an extraordinary being. If the 7 billion people on the planet Earth are the only intelligent beings in over 120,000 light years, that makes us all pretty special. Each one of our thoughts is a rare and wonderful thing, no matter what its contents. Each of our notions may have no precedent in this or any other universe. Each of our creative efforts is herculean—simply for the fact that we as intelligent life forms are so unbelievably rare. 

Take a minute to let that sink in. We are each one in a billion, surrounded by an unfathomable amount of empty space, exploding stars, dead rocks, and cold, inanimate moon dust. For all that nothing, there is only one of you. You are a very special being.

Conclusion

So don’t belittle your own thoughts—it may be the first and last time an intelligent being entertains it. Don’t discount what you think is a cool or an interesting idea just because it came from you. Emerson said, “To believe in your own thought, to believe that what is true for you is true for all men—that is genius.” Even more so in light of the fact that you may be the only being to bring conscious awareness to it in countless uninhabited worlds. 

 

 

Death of the Ego, Birth of a New Consciousness

 

In December 2012 or thereabouts, a remarkable shift in consciousness will take place. It has been called the Mayan Superdate, the Second Coming of Christ, the Return of Quetzalcoatl, and the Blooming of Human Consciousness. But all these things are metaphorical. In truth, it is a vague time in which humans can finally realize how limitless we truly are. On or about this date, you will celebrate a death of a aspect of yourself that has been living and working inside your being for far too long. On or about this date, you will finally lose that retraining and altogether unfortunate by-product of your infinite soul manifesting in an earthly vessel.

I’m talking about the ego.

This fictitious identity does nothing more than instill a false sense of individuality, when the truth is you and I are one. The ego imbues us with illusions of limitation and beliefs we think are real… but they are not. The ego gives you fear, it gives you doubt, it gives you a false feeling of vulnerability, a false need to protect and defend yourself from others—when the truth is you are an eternal, luminescent being: deathless, limitless, undying, and undefeatable.

The ego is nothing more than an unfortunate side effect of your soul’s manifestation in your body. It has plagued all of us for eons—but now the time has come for you to realize your true nature. You are infinite consciousness, bigger than the ego, better than the ego, more expansive and beautiful than the ego could ever let you be.

The ego is concerned with money, and security, and fame, and recognition. But what need does an unlimited being have for such things? Fear drives you to chase after these false idols. Fear makes you think that such things will bring you happiness and satisfaction, when the truth is, they never have, and never will.

The moment of your re-birth coincides with the day you choose to let go of your rational fear patterns and go into the divine dance of inner direction.

When you let go of those rational fears, and the pitfalls of rational thinking, and realize that inside you lies all the answers, all the direction you need, a compass that without fail will point you to where you should go, then you will finally be free.

Fearlessly follow your heart and you will never be lead astray.

Your Life: A Choice

It’s difficult putting yourself out there. Your heart is probably the most difficult thing you’ll ever wear.

No one said it would be easy, being human, exposing your vulnerabilities, your every weakness to the world. In fact, it’s easier to be a critic. Stay detached, make fun of everybody else for the choices they’ve made. Mock everybody. Be a nihilist.

But I don’t like people who don’t believe in anything. I don’t trust someone who makes their life around mocking others, claiming chaos is the natural state of the world, that life has no meaning, owing allegiance to no one and nothing... That’s too easy. Being asleep at the wheel is probably the easiest thing you can do in this life. Take the easy road, take a pay check, hide from the world.

Scientists have confirmed that 83.94% of the population is legally brain dead.

They are pushed by the winds of fate from one place to another, chasing after things and toys and experiences that grant pleasure. They chase pleasure like a dog chasing a bounding tennis ball. They chase pleasure because they equate it with happiness, and when the pleasure goes, they turn to their televisions, and their fast food, and their government issued checks. They go back to sleep.

This is not happening far away—it’s all around you.

So we are faced with a choice: either you live with your heart on your sleeve, pushing toward something that fulfills deeply, even if it also means experiencing less than pleasurable conditions; or we remain asleep at the wheel, pushing papers from one side of a desk to the other, sending endless emails, updating statuses that no one cares about… no one, that is, except the other drones who are in the same condition. Hiding. Until that one day comes—if we’re lucky—when we stop and realize how empty our lives really are. We turn around and see all the things we missed out on, because we took the easy route. We criticized. We hid. We didn't dare look at our vulnerabilities, and see them for what they truly were--our strangest and most potent powers. Our unique characteristics. Our true joys.

But by then, it will be far too late to do anything about it. We’ll continue to hide, doing it for the money, because that's what we've always done. And then we will die inside, and regret being such morons, with a thousand unfulfilled dreams.

If a Tree Falls in the Forest...

We have been told for ages that atoms are primarily made up of empty space, with the only actually solid component being the nucleus. Technological advances have allowed us to get deeper into the actual nucleus of an atom—to penetrate it and see what it’s made of. What scientists have found is astonishing. They have concluded that even the nucleus itself is primarily made of empty space.

We also know that physicists running tests on light beams have uncovered that they sometimes behave like waves, and other times behave like particles—an interesting phenomenon called the wave/particle duality. They suspect the reason for this is that the observer’s expectations are actually affecting the outcome.

Quantum physicists are now theorizing that atoms are not so much things as they are tendencies; that reality doesn’t actually snap into place until we bring our attention to it. It’s the very act of consciousness that makes things real.

Which brings us to the old question, if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it really make a sound?

According to quantum physics—no. If no one is there to hear or see it, the tree--and the entire forest for that matter—doesn’t even exist.

The Problem with Live Music

-->

  

Like most human beings, I am a music fan. I like listening to it, and I like to see it performed. But recently something has been going on at live shows that has bothered me.

In the past few years, I have had the chance to see several bands perform that I really loved and anticipated. They had good sounds that I assumed would translate well to the live space; yet when I saw them, I found the experience deflating.

Conversely, I have seen several bands that I had never heard of previously, but found their live shows incredibly satisfying.

Now, why would I enjoy seeing a band I had never heard of—some in genres I don’t even listen to—and yet find the performance of bands I am fully in love with dissatisfying?

I’ve pondered this long and hard and came up with this answer: it’s all about experience and expectation. The bands I know and love already occupy a huge part of my brain. I’ve built enormous, ornate shrines to them. When I hear their music, elaborate videos play in my head. Sometimes it’s a soundtrack to my dreams, sometimes I’m in the band. I’ve already co created an awesome mental experience that goes along with the music. It’s like a movie, except I’m creating it and controlling it. And starring in it, for that matter.

In light of this, I have to say, I feel a little sorry seeing these bands. How can they possibly compete with what’s going on in my head? My brain is the most perfect, powerful and eternal stage that ever existed—for me. Your brain is the same for you. How can these bands possibly live up to that? They can’t. Sure, once in a while an awesome act will impress me, but what’s going on in my brain is a very hard act to follow.

On the other hand, these new bands that I hadn’t heard of before or had very limited exposure to—they are the ones that usually impress me. They don’t yet live in my brain. They are a totally new experience for me, and seeing and hearing them live builds brand new neuropathways, and therefore, affords a more pleasurable experience.

Strange, but it makes sense to me now. Tempering expectations is always a wise move when approaching your idols--now I have even more reason to do so.

Maharishi Explains Transcendental Meditation

Beautiful video, conceptually and visually, of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi explaining the nature of Transcendental Meditation. This was shot at Lake Louise, Canada in 1968.