I was Raised an Atheist. My Grandfather was a Minister but during the 1930s he had a Crisis of Faith and Concluded that God Did Not Exist. No One was Putting any money in the Collection Plate. So, in order to feed his Family he Quit and Became a Math Teacher.

My Dad was Enthusiastic about Atheism. His Entire Life... I Was Not Real Excited one way or another. However, When I Took LSD I Had a Religious Experience. I Experienced True Enlightenment... For a Few Hours. That Experience made Traditional Religion Seem BOGUS... 

Moses Talking to A Burning Bush that Explained All the Secrets of Life? Been there, Done That, Got the Tie-Dye T-Shirt...

Portrait of God by gvan42

And then My Facebook Friends Commented...

PD: True enlightenment on LSD? OK

Gregory Laan Yes, That's What it Does... For a few Hours... and It DID Awaken an Interest in Attaining True Enlightenment Permanently...

MB: Beware! Drugs and Alcohol can bring forth the subconscious mind ,which is the dark side of man.

Gregory Laan Somehow, I Have Noticed that Corporate Greed Freaks are Generally People That Have NOT Had The LSD Experience...

TL:  Dr Andrew Weill wrote a book on the subconscious mind. called 'the Marriage of the Sun and the Moon' wherein he writes about his efforts, by way of experiencing varous methods of reaching and 'altered state', as practiced by indigenous people in South and Central America. The social and communal methods of what we might call 'getting high' were used to bring about social harmony in different cultures, and were part of their religion too. Dr Weill went to those places, experienced the affects of the local 'altered states' with the goal to achieve a subconscious awareness whenever you wanted to, in order to reach those parts of the mind that drive the creative side (dream like) part of the brain for the benefits of thinking, outside the box, so to speak. I can only say this is my interpretation of his efforts. Judge for yourself. Buy the book. Also research all you can on Dr Joseph Campbell, who was also interviewed by Bill Moyers and I believe available on Youtube. Learn about he development/evolvement of the human mindset from early man until present.

Gregory Laan I Ate Peyote and Mescalita Taught Me MY SONG and then We Sang it for the Whole Tribe. At The Rainbow Gathering in 1987 in Pennsylvania... Glad I Did That!

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So Many Different Gods... and So Many Believers Loudly Proclaim that THEIR God is the One True God. That's Absurd! I, like 100% of the people on Earth HAVE NO CLUE if God is real or not.

Some people state that they know... but they are just deluding themselves... I don't mind them deluding themselves, but if they Kill people that are of different Religions... They are Crazy and Dangerous.  

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2018/04/i-accepted-jesus-as-my-personal-savior.html

Welcome to The Clergy Project https://clergyproject.org/

Are you a religious professional who no longer believes in the supernatural? Have you remained in vocational ministry, secretly hiding away your non-belief? Are you struggling over where to go from here with your life and career?

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So far no response to my doing AA Step Eleven... I did my part but God did nothing... Deep Sigh... Silly me, I expected to receive knowledge... or Hints... or Clues... But I got Nothing...

Step Eleven: "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out."

If I read this step carefully I see that there is action required on my part [I pray for Knowledge] but nowhere in this step is there any action required on Gods part [No hint as to what his will for us is...] and I have been listening...

Silly me, I expected to receive knowledge... or Hints... or Clues... But I got Nothing...

I assume that the reason for a total lack of answers is that God does not exist. OR... maybe God does exist but always remains silent.  Either way, I am given total freedom of choice when it comes to my own behavior. God never takes any action no matter what I do or believe...  Whoo-hoo! I am free. So I choose to keep on doing what I was doing before... No new Ideas have wandered into my mind since I started practicing Step Eleven actively.

This makes me wonder why many different cultures invented the concept of God or Gods.
Indians in India have over a thousand different Gods... I guess that it is comforting to believe in a power greater than yourself... I really like the Aztec Gods... They have some really psychedelic paintings of what they look like. The main one is a feathered serpent that came down from the stars. It sounds like an Alien on a spaceship... They really liked building Pyramids. I wonder what the
goal was... In both Egypt and Mexico people built pyramids and yet, there is no clear use...


So, while I wait for God to do something, I'll continue to go to meetings and write blog posts... God, if you are reading this... wake up!

I read a book called "Journey to Awakening" by Ram Dass which gives simple instructions on How To Meditate but following his instructions revealed nothing. Oh well...

I suppose that the real reason that I'm having no progress on step eleven is that I should do the steps in NUMERICAL ORDER. I never really finished step one. That step requires that I believe that a higher power can restore myself to sanity. Nope, no higher power exists and so this imaginary higher power cannot do anything.

I do believe that the AA organization and having meetings does help me quit drinking. The power of peer pressure is valid. I chose to associate with other people that voluntarily select to not drink. We have meetings and tell each other that our lives are better without booze. This is a valid technique for me.

Bill Wilson created the Idea of AA during a 5 day long belladonna and henbane "cure". Both of those drugs are powerful hallucinogens. During his experience he saw a white light and met God personally. While I have never eaten belladonna or henbane I have eaten LSD and that does give the illusion of direct contact with God. Mr. Wilson's idea of forming a club where fellow alcoholics can meet and talk to each other is a great idea.  After AA was running for about 30 years Bill Wilson tried LSD. He was very enthusiastic about it initially as it would allow other members to have a religious experience. However he decided to not make any changes at all to the structure of AA. His belief was that the organization was working well and any change could make it stop functioning. Especially having millions of members taking the powerful hallucinogenic drug LSD.

Inca Sun God - drawing by gvan42

and Then After Listening to The Saturday Night Alive for the Global Peace Tribe Show...

I Had a Dream: 

We were walking towards the Entrance of the Los Gatos Library and there was a Thin Old Man dressed in a Small Bathing Suit ahead of Us. He pulled on the entrance to the Children's room and It was Locked... Disappointed, he turned around and I asked: "Are You Looking for the Man Who Works There?" He Said: "NO" and I Motioned towards the Main Entrance. We all Entered. He seemed lost so I asked: "Do you Need Help?" as I would ask any Lost Old Man... He Said: "NO" and then I asked again: "Can I Help You?" He said: "No. I'm Fine." and then we went on Our Own Ways. By That time it was Obvious to Me That he was Ram Dass and That it was a Rather "Heavy" encounter to Ask Ram Dass If I Could Help Him... a Meaningful Event... and I was Shaking... So we went downstairs and I went searching for a Book that I Has Started reading before (about Philosophy) - and on the same shelf was a large picture book of the Grateful Dead's Fare Ye Well Tour with four CDs (that were missing) and My friend asked me why I would want to check out that book and I said: "Too Look for Pictures of Myself." and then I woke up and Typed this Document... It's Best to Type it Up before I forget it... For Certain, I would have tried to help any Lost Old Man but It seems Important that I Offered Ram Dass Help in my dream. That's One Of His Main Teachings...

Pentagon or Pentagram? Visual Mantra -
Just Looking at this will cause inner peace -
Psychedelic Art by gvan42

Green Eight way Mandala - Like a Stop Sign but...
The Exact Opposite... Like a "GO" Sign Instead -
art by gvan42

You May Read More Blog Posts by Clicking 

On The HANDY LABELS Below!

When We Come Back from Coronavirus Shutdown... We Have The Opportunity To EVOLVE... and Build a Wonderful World... I'm Collecting Plans for How to Rebuild a Sane Post Coronavirus Society. Please Comment and I'll Add Your Ideas to The Web...

Greetings: Here are 20 simple ideas for making the world a better place. 

#1: Solar Powered Desalinization - Change Seawater into Drinking Water. Let's Build a Giant Plant Halfway between San Diego and Los Angeles... Using Mirrors to Boil Seawater We Could Create PURE H2O, NaCl and Electricity... Simply Drive a Turbine with The Expanding Steam... 

#2: Legalize Marijuana Nationwide, Tax it, Free All the Cannabis Prisoners. Refund the Money Currently Wasted on Law Enforcement To The Taxpayers... 

#3: Cut The Defense Budget in Half. Since We Have Not ACTUALLY DEFENDED The USA Since 1945, Not Even Once, Couldn't We Do Nothing For Less Money? 

#4: Layoff Half the Police. Actual Crime is Down... They Are Bored, Armed, With Nothing To Do... No WONDER They Get In Trouble... 

#5: Tax the Rich, Cut Taxes for the 99%
 https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2018/05/open-letter-to-our-elected.html

Solar Panels on the Roof of the House That They Power Eliminate the Need for Long Dangerous Wires That Cause Wildfires. ---> Question The GRID... Generating Electricity in a Central Location and Distributing it To Where it is Used. Is Wasteful and Dangerous. Let's Replace Standard Streetlights With Self Contained Solar Powered Streetlights. No Need For Long Dangerous Wires. --->What Paradise Was Like Before it Burned. My Memories of a California Town. [personal autobiography of everything I ever did in Paradise...Just to keep the Town's Memory Alive... If you are reading this in the Future. Paradise, California Burned to the Ground in 2018 and all buildings were destroyed.] I was lucky enough to have visited the town of Paradise. https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2018/11/what-paradise-was-like-before-it-burned.html

Let's Move Work Closer to Home. Save Money, Time and Gasoline Currently Wasted Commuting. ---> Here Are Some Things We Can Do About Climate Change... Drive Cars Less. Use Less Electricity. Breed Less. Stop Flying in Jet Airplanes! https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2017/09/here-are-some-things-we-can-do-about.html

Solar, Wind and Hydro are Essentially Free Once Built. Safe, Clean and Infinite. ---> BIOMASS Electric Power Plants Could Dispose of the Millions of Dead Trees in California that are a Fire Hazard. Before we have another Disastrous Wildfire like we had in Paradise, we could remove the fuel from the forests and use it to generate electricity. https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2019/06/biomass-electric-power-plants-could.html

Once a Person Has a Billion Dollars, What is the POINT of Getting More Money? It's a Hoarding Sickness... One Thing We Ought To Do is Tax the Rich and Distribute That Money to The Poor. The Robin Hood Concept...

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Other Questions...

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Are CITIES VALID? Why Not Live Way Out in the Woods and Telecommute? It's Wonderful!

Question IF... Flying in a Jet Airplane is REALLY NEEDED... Just ZOOM To Your Destination...

We Have Learned That Commuting to Work is an Obsolete Idea... Working From Home is GREAT for Some People.

What Can We DO To Build a Better World?
The Old Ways Do Not Work...

I Have Noticed that TV NEWS is a Fear for Profit Machine. They get Higher Ratings by Shouting DANGER DANGER!

War for Corporate Profit is an Obsolete Idea. Every War Since 1945 Has Been ABSURD! Marketing for Defense Contractors.

My LOGO - PiFOG - People In Favor of Good - gvan42

"Water, water all around but not a Drop to Drink." NO LONGER TRUE! Dramatic Engineering Improvements of Solar Powered Desalinization Plants have made turning Seawater into Drinking Water in VAST Quantities a Reality. Useful for Watering Plants, Livestock, Taking Showers, Filling Swimming Pools, Lawns and Making Ice Cubes for your "Scotch on the Rocks" Beverage. https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2019/07/water-water-all-around-but-not-drop-to.html

and Then I Got This Email:

Hi Greg,

Like your thought provoking email encouraging folks to think of ways to make the world a better place.  

Your comprehensive list of ideas contains ones I agree with, ones I don't, and ones I'd like to think were feasible.  My biggest immediate concerns, other than my mom's welfare, my self-preservation and that of friends and family, are containing the pandemic, eliminating racism, and ousting the dishonest/clueless POTUS, Senate Majority Leader, the U. S. Attorney General, and others in the current administration that have contributed to the ongoing total chaos that's consuming our nation, negatively impacting our relationship with once strong allies, failure to actively participate in meaningful discussions with other countries to reduce global warming, and significantly losing respect of other nations, not to mention that of the once proud citizens of the United States of America.  

Still waiting for a safe/proven/over-the-counter SMART pill and an antiracist vaccine.

Stay well Greg.

Craig