Just like we all learned by Reading "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig... The Trick to Life is to PAY ATTENTION... NOTICE REALITY...

So, Every Day I Test my Blood Sugar and BY PAYING ATTENTION and Keeping a Sugar Free Diet... I Have Prevented Diabetes... I find that Quitting Smoking Tobacco AND Cannabis... Has Given me Better Lungs and a Clearer Mind. Weed is Useful for APPRECIATING Music, Art, Food... but  I Get More DONE Without Weed... More Music Videos, More ART, More Fiction Stories... Hey, Just because They Legalized Weed does not mean that I Have to Actually Smoke it... UNLESS I'M GOING TO A ROCK CONCERT... or some other Event that I Am Observing others Creating... I find that Playing the Piano Stoned is EPIC to me... but the Actual Videos that i Recorded Stoned are Not That Great... I have difficulty selecting which notes to play and When... Even on songs I wrote... It's Like My Brain is having trouble with the LOOKUP NEXT NOTE Function... Everybody Says You Really SWING when playing Stoned but that doesn't happen to me... 

https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Motorcycle-Maintenance-Inquiry/dp/0060589469

How I Quit Smoking Tobacco: When my Brother Got Lung Cancer I Became frightened. Cancer Runs in Families and If HE Got It, I'm Likely to Get it Too. SO... I used Fear to Quit. I experienced Pain for about a Month from the Withdrawal Symptoms... I did not use any Medicine... Frankly speaking, That New Medicine has MANY, MANY, MANY side effects... and Nicotine Gum and The Patch Causes Madness in Me... Paranoia... It Shortenes my Anger Fuse... As if I was "Channeling My Inner Chewbacca."  SO... I Just Experienced the Pain and USED That Memory to Prevent a Relapse... I still WISH I Could Smoke But... Then I Remember HOW MUCH Pain Drug Addiction Causes... 

Visual Mantra by gvan42

Great Book: "Fundamentalism versus Modernism" by my Grandfather, Eldred C Vanderlaan - a Study of Christian Religion

https://archive.org/details/fundamentalismve011987mbp

INTRODUCTION 

The controversy between the Fundamentalists and the 

Modernists in the Protestant churches presents certain 

difficulties for the expounder, mainly because the two 

parties to the debate are not clearly defined. Not all theo- 

logical conservatism can properly be called fundamen- 

talism. There are those who for themselves hold all the 

old doctrines, but who do not have the belligerent attitude 

toward other opinions which marks the group who call 

themselves Fundamentalists. There is also a large class 

of Christian leaders who go a little way with the Modern- 

ists on questions like the nature and proper use of the Bi- 

ble, who feel unable to take beliefs like the second coming 

of Christ with quite the old literalness, who might even 

admit a measure of errancy in the Bible in unimportant 

matters, but who stand firm on the old doctrines of the 

person and work of Christ. It is doubtful whether these 

can properly be called Modernists. The same men, for 

instance, may be found on the modernist side when it 

comes to belief in evolution, but on the conservative side 

when the question is the virgin birth or the bodily resur- 

rection of Christ. The question is also complicated by 

the fact that many of the Fundamentalists do not repre- 

sent the whole group of conservatives in that they are 

premillennarians (or premillennialists) . This is a formid- 

able word, but its meaning can be quite easily made 

clear. There is much mention in the New Testament of 

a second coming of Christ to this world, with manifes- 

tations of glory in contrast to the lowliness of his first 

appearance, In the last book of the New Testament, the 

Apocalypse or Revelation of St. John, there is also refer- 

ence to a future period of a thousand years when Christ 

shall reign on this earth and the powers of evil shall be... 

Click on the Link To Read More... 
https://archive.org/details/fundamentalismve011987mbp

Great Book: How to Change Your Mind: by Michael Pollan... What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence... and MY Personal Opinion about His Speech at a Bioneers Conference... He had a TOTALLY DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE THAN MOST OF US HAD...

"A brilliant and brave investigation into the medical and scientific revolution taking place around psychedelic drugs--and the spellbinding story of his own life-changing psychedelic experiences" - Official Review by the Publisher

https://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence/dp/1594204225

https://bioneers.org/michael-pollan-psychedelics-and-how-to-change-your-mind/

While listening to Psychedelic Researcher Michael Pollan talk at a Bioneers Conference, I Came to the Realization that I had NO IDEA AT ALL about what he was talking about... He recently studied using LSD and Psilocibin to relieve anxiety in People that were Facing Death. [Terminal Cancer Patients] He interviewed people and Took a couple of Trips Himself before writing his book... He took a large dose of Magic Mushrooms and listened to gentle music on headphones while wearing covers over his eyes... He had a "Guide" that took care of him... She helped him find the bathroom and changed the records on the record player but DID NOT do any of that Timothy Leary Style Talking, Guiding the Tripper thru the Tibetan Book of the Dead... or ANY Yadda-Yadda instructions... She was there to keep the Tripper Calm in case of Panic Attacks...  

And Then My Mind Sprouted Postcard for sale.

classic "Space Art" documenting a Vision Quest

and Then My Mind Sprouted Postcard
by gregvan

He spoke of EGO DEATH... Where there was an experience of "Himself" dissolving and turning into a fountain of "Post It" Notes... and then HE dissolved into a Liquid and Flowed Over an Imaginary Landscape... His technique reminded me of the work of Dr. John Lilly and his Isolation Tank. The basis for the Movie "Altered States" with William Hurt and Blair Brown. In Lilly's Tank the Tripper Got inside a box that was half filled with warm salty water. No Sights - Completely Dark... No Sounds - Completely Silent... and No Gravity - Your Body was Floating in water that was heated to a temperature that was almost impossible to feel... OK, That's Completely Different... 

Then Michael spoke of Two Paths to Distributing The Psychedelic Experience to the World. One Way was Timothy Leary's Plan... to have as many people as possible take LSD using a Guide and Leary's Guidebook... The other Path was Aldous Huxley's Plan... to Turn On The Elite... To share LSD with Scientists, Artists, Business Leaders, Politicians, Religious Leaders, Writers, Poets, Musicians, TV Talking Heads and Let THOSE PEOPLE rebuild Society using the knowledge they had gained from their Psychedelic Experiences...

What Michael FAILED TO MENTION was what Actually Happened in the Late Sixties and Beyond... Millions of Doses were Sold at Rock Concerts and People Danced to Loud Live Music. For Example: Woodstock... Ken Kesey's Acid Tests... Magically, The Grateful Dead had LSD Salesmen that Followed the Band Around and Sold Drugs in the Parking Lot... Without the Band Knowing Anything At All About it! Supposedly... Some People who did not even LIKE the band would visit the Parking Lot Scene in order to "Score" some LSD that they could take home and sell to their friends... and... The Makers of "Orange Sunshine" gave away thousands of Doses at an outdoor concert where they hired an AIRPLANE to fly over the crowd and throw "Happy Birthday" Cards Out the Window... Each Card had an LSD Pill attached to it... The Brotherhood of Eternal Love was the Organization that made the Orange Sunshine. They were Laguna Beach Surfers that Started Smuggling Hashish inside of Surfboards from Mexico into the USA... Most LSD Trips were UNGUIDED and Most Happened at LOUD ROCK CONCERTS...  Of Course, a person could buy LSD and then Take it home to Trip in a wide variety of Locations... Like Camping in Big Sur or the Sierra Nevada... or Skiing at Tahoe... or at Home with Your Girlfriend/Boyfriend... or Inter-Tubing down a Creek... or Visiting an Art Gallery... or Riding a Roller Coaster at Disney World... or attending an Anti-War Protest March at The White House in Washington DC... 

So, I never took a Guided Trip and Never Had an Ego Death BUT... On the Nights I Dropped Acid at 8 PM... About Dawn I experienced "Enlightenment" or Something... I feel that Psychedelics are... What? A Tool? Like a Telephone that I can Call God on... Or Just An Amazing Amusement Park Ride? Now that I'm 65 Years Old, I find that Remembering Events in my life is not as Accurate or  Complete as it was a Decade ago... I just wrote my Autobiography and Published it on this Blog and... I Find that the Events I Did While High on Psychedelics are MORE EASILY REMEMBERED IN DETAIL while the rest of my life has faded and is kinda blurry... 

One Common Effect is that Everything Seems Significant... Meaning Drips from Every Leaf of Every Tree... Lyrics Seem to Be Speaking DIRECTLY To Me... as if... The Poet Saw Into My Soul... Have You Ever Read Haiku on Acid? POW, the Meaning just Hits Me in a Wave of AH HA! That Eureka!, I Have Found It! Moment... 

Whatever... 

I Have Noticed a Few Trends... People that have had the Psychedelic Experience are Nice People... In General they are Kind and Relaxed. Rarely do they CHOOSE Careers in Middle Management. In Business there are always  "Corporate-Corporate-Assholes" that LOVE Supervising People... Totally Drunk on Power... and Obsessed with Making Other People OBEY... Acid Heads tend to avoid "Power Trips"... Often selecting Craft type employment where they can do excellent work on their own projects... Carpenters, Computer Programmers, Seamstresses, Bakers, Farmers etc, etc, etc... 

We also tent to be interested in Playing Music, Doing ART and Writing Poetry/Lyrics... 

My Last Trip was in the Late 1990s at an anti-war protest march at the White House in Washington DC. George H W Bush the Father was President and The USA was Defending Kuwait from an Attack by Iraq... We Marched over near the Lincoln Memorial... The Parade Permit was set to Expire at 2 O'Clock... At that time, everyone that was standing in the street was arrested and everyone standing on the sidewalk was free to do whatever we wanted... SO, hundreds of people intentionally selected to be arrested... All of us were faced with a DECISION... Go to Jail to Make a Statement or NOT... There were Police Everywhere, dressed in Nazi Boots and Riot Helmets... I voluntarily Chose to NOT Get Arrested... and Wandered Away... I did get interviewed by TV News and the Next Day my Neighbor said she saw me "Making a Jackass of Myself" on the Evening News... I told her that if She Felt I was Making a Jackass of myself, I Must Have been doing Something Right... 

Ezekiel's Wheel - A Bible Story of a
Close Encounter with an Alien Spaceship

Truck pollution research cited by EPA was ‘not accurate’. The research about Glider Kits was funded by Fitzgerald Glider Kits, one of the country’s biggest glider makers.

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/412934-university-truck-pollution-research-cited-by-epa-was-not-accurate

The research the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cited in proposing to roll back a major truck pollution rule was “not accurate,” the university that conducted the study has concluded.

Tennessee Tech University’s conclusions, outlined in a letter Tuesday to the EPA, came after an academic review of the controversial research into the emissions of “glider” trucks.

EPA hides report about pollution in drinking water. Proof Pruitt does not care about the PEOPLE of the USA, only Corporate Profits.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is facing a new controversy over chemical contamination that could prove even more damaging than his spate of recent ethics scandals.

When Pruitt returns to Capitol Hill Wednesday, he will likely be asked to explain why EPA helped to bury a federal study that would have increased warnings about toxic chemicals found in hundreds of water supplies across the country. A handful of Republicans were quick to demand answers after POLITICO reported Monday that senior aides to Pruitt intervened after the White House warned of a "public relations nightmare" from the impending Health and Human Services Department assessment.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/16/pruitt-chemical-study-epa-590947


Report: the EPA Halted Publication of Research About Chemical Pollutants After White House Warned of PR “Nightmare”
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/05/epa-and-white-house-block-report-on-chemical-pollutants.html

Legal marijuana is saving lives in Colorado, study finds. Opioid Death Rate Falls after Legalization

Some people simply switch to the safer drug. DUH


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/10/16/legal-marijuana-is-saving-lives-in-colorado-study-finds/?utm_term=.d1795c365ca6