nothing better to do.

Does it have to be the human race? I mean does it have to be a race? Couldn't it just be like an experience? Does it seem like we are rushing to the end? Like in a race? 2012 movie and all, I mean we really seem like we are rushing to get this race over with. I mean, like a race, maybe it did really start with a bang. But can't we just be here now, no end in site, and nobody rushing to get there? All just passing through? Like we could just have a human meandering rather than a human race.

well this needs editing, but i'm just going to publish the whole puppy here for the moment... there may be something here...

If everything is god then even business is also god at work, even capitalism must somehow be god at work.

The pains of life are necessary

To teach people badly is to teach people that they are criminals and that they need to suppress their nature in order to be good people, when the opposite is actually true. They need to discover their true nature, because at the bottom of themselves they will find love, not violence. Love is stronger than violence. The loving expression of violence is non-violence. Before violence existed there was no violence. There was a void. The genesis of violence was the ripping apart of the void, when it was separated from itself, and what was emptiness became existence and non-existence.

It sure is difficult to write a book in the days of facebook when you can just say everything live. I’m not all that motivated to make money, despite the influence of my vigorous American Capitalist upbringing and education. Somehow I just want to communicate. I’ve never really thought of myself as a loner. I’m very much a people person. But in New York City you have to work to get people to even look at you, let alone smile or actually say hello. It’s like everyone is just in their own little bubble ignoring everyone else around them, acting as if they are the only people in the world, attached by their faces to their phones and walking around as if they are reading a map as they go. They don’t even see their surroundings, just a screen between their fingers. This may seem a bit anti-social at the moment, but these people are just connecting in a new and different way, and while one thing is hidden from them, another is revealed.

What is this internet? What are we discovering in this digital universe, which is able to distract us from our immediate neighbors and our surroundings? Is it something we found lacking in them? Whatever it is, it must be significant because NOW is the moment we have never experienced before. Of course this has always been true. It always will be.

This connectivity is a silent revolution. The people are in touch as they have never been before. We may still feel powerless as members of this society, of this police state, but the power itself must take heed, because the common man now has access to universal connectivity. The common man is the police. The common man is the military. The common man is Al Qaeda. The common man is Iran. The common man is Pakistan. The common man IS America, even when he is oppressed by it. I AM is the common man, and the force of the universe is in him.

We are in a new age. This is the age of interconnectivity. This is the age where man discovers that he is everyone else. We are all eyes attached to a screen. Whether we are holding a digital screen in our hands, or are looking at the living reality surrounding us. Have we tapped into an alternative universe? Is it possible to separate the universe of screens and letters of virtual communication from the molecules of living matter themselves?

The internet is like having a connection into the heads of everyone else who is connected to this virtual world. TV is not a dissimilar phenomenon, but television is more about receptivity, about taking in, and it is not interactive the way the digital world of connected computers is. There are human eyes staring into the net, building the computer, inventing the reality. What are we staring into? Who are we talking to? Have we only found ourselves as we stare into the screen before us? Who invented the screen and who gives it meaning? Who is the perceiver of creation? Aren’t we seeing with the eyes of creation?

So are we talking to ourselves? When we talk to each other, who are we really talking to? If we are connected to everything around us, then are we talking to parts of One? Isn’t that what our science has taught us? Isn’t that what our spiritualities are trying to tell us?

One thing that’s sure is that I’m a rambler.

In the beginning was the void, but the void was whole. Was the void encapsulated in the smallest molecule of existence? Inside this molecule was every potentiality in the universe. The void was God. Before it became everything, god was nothing. Then suddenly our science tells us we had a big bang. This is when the void split in two. Like how splitting the atom makes a big bang. Yea. Like that. That’s what that science project was about. OK, so that’s about as close to the discovery of creation as we can get without total desctruction. This makes the Large Hadron Collider unnecessary, and possibly life threatening. {Let’s not open another Pandora’s box here people. Existence is not something to pass up and we don’t want to get swallowed by a black hole of our own creation.}

So with the separation of One into light and dark, positive and negative, male and female, there was suddenly everything, existence itself, and it was expanding. All we knew is that we were here, looking out at existence. I never could understand why we have been trying to shoot ourselves into space with rockets. I guess maybe it’s because somebody really wants to look at existence objectively, and it can’t be done from in here, in this atmospheric bubble.

The problem with this scientists’ little project is that there is no out there out there. He’ll still be looking out there from in here. You can’t be alive and truly get out of in here. Enlightenment is still here. No matter how high you go you are still here. In fact the highest you can get is right now. That’s what existence is. It’s in here. Non-existence is out there. That’s heaven. That’s empty space. That is nothing. Enlightenment is the experience of being fully connected to everything. But only in non-existence is everything whole again. There is no existence in infinity. It just is ever after.

Existence is the experience of being temporary. All things that are alive exist because they will cease to exist. Existence doesn’t exist without non-existence. Nothing is the void.

In the beginning was the void, and to the Void we shall return. Behind the computer is just more void. Behind our selves is the void. In this void we are angels. In here is love. Out there is love. Everything else is just the illusion of separation.

So I went to do yoga tonight, but toward the end of class I was losing the present moment, I had thoughts interrupting that nice white light, but what's funny is what was disturbing me. I've lost my copy of The Teaching of Buddha which I've had since I "acquired" it from a bedside table in Tokyo almost 11 years ago. I was in savasana wondering where it was. I think it may be sitting in a motel bathroom in NC. Damn impermanence. I had all my favorite pages marked. oh well, does matter moving from here to there really matter?

Now, I'm not saying i'm pious or anything. Now i'm sitting here drinking a glass of nice cheap Spanish wine, taking my evening one b.r. at a time.
As always, I'm wondering what's going on. Latin music is playing on the radio, and the whole universe is breathing in on itself.

24 hours later I'm sitting here having another glass of wine, procrastinating departure to live reggae music. This young man will soon be on the move. Am I crazy? I don't think so, but things are becoming hauntingly magical. They always have been. But suddenly things are starting to look as tripped as trip without the trip. The tangled lines are untangled and all the lines suddenly lead up the same mountain. What is truth but another illusion? The truth itself is infinite, incomprehensible, it is before time, the Alpha and the Omega, and we are only little wriggling lines on the pages of time in the midst of timelessness.

Aloha

See you at the show?

Spicy Rage-click here for more...

We're all God

The irreverent craw
Soft bagging the lime
Eating itself
As the biscuits and antelope
Mate on the prairie
In violent ecstasy
Alternately raping each other
innocently

Shrimp people!
Squealing with glee
Living in fear,
guilt and sin

A celebration
A religion
Yippee!

Fighting for Your Right to Die

Does it seem odd that American citizens are protesting in the streets, not demanding universal health care, but rather demanding not to have it? Why are we the most powerful nation, with the biggest economy on the planet, yet the only developed democracy which does not provide health care to all its citizens? Well, it seems to me, what with how much sense Glenn Beck makes, that it’s just not how our little model works.

The fear of death is almost primordial. No sooner do we discover our mortality than do we begin to fear it. Some degree of fear in the population is essential for productivity. It is essential for creating order. Hence, Hans Morgenthau’s rule, about the necessity of having a monopoly on all means of violence in creating a nation.

We can’t beat workers like we used to, but if the threat of being uninsured is constantly held over the head of every individual, the dog eat dog, never ending quest for wealth (our ideal mindset for US citizenry), is reinforced, because, in our society, the closest thing to a fountain of youth is an unlimited bank account. Just ask Steve Jobs and his brand new liver.

Our version of cutthroat, free-market capitalism may very well fall apart if the proletariat is no longer in such literal fear for their lives. Is that what the conservatives are worried about? Is it less about profits for insurance companies and an out of control national debt, and more about the worry that cutthroat consumerism might be threatened if the sheep are a little less afraid for their lives?

If you are trying to create a selfish, money hungry, rat racing, capitalist, consumer, there is no better way than to start by making his health care dependant on his success in the rat race. Is it not logical that an employee will be more accommodating and easier to manipulate and control if his health care is dependant on his job? Won’t the uber-rich be more willing to keep outrageously accumulating wealth and clawing for a higher position on the masters of the universe list, like Oprah Winfrey, if the possibility of more surgical procedures is dependant on more money and if you know the government won’t pay for you to be frozen, cast in pure gold, and shot into outer space to live forever with Walt Disney and L. Ron Hubbard?

Many American politicians argue that providing universal health care is an ethical issue. Well that may be. But in the USA, the very foundation of our capitalism, a primary quest for wealth, and an obsession with getting higher on the social ladder, is ethically questionable.

If the whole cultural ideal rests on having more than the next guy, and individuals are entitled to accumulate billions of dollars while the next guy has to go into debt just to go to college, it’s not surprising that we don’t provide health care to everyone. Why would we? It might undermine our very way of life: our selfish individual pursuits of more stuff to distract ourselves from our impending demise and our powerlessness to stop it; even with all the plastic surgery, tubes, needles, and breathing machines. We all have to die.

I hope that doesn’t seem morose. Yet here we are, in a dilemma. Our present condition leaves questions unanswered. As rich as we are, it turns out our formula has left us a couple trillion dollars in debt, uninsured or not. The FDIC is looking to the banks it insures because it needs to borrow money. Yep, you read that correctly. If the banks don’t lend the money, the FDIC will be going to the US Treasury for cash, yet the US Treasury is just a touch beholden to China at the moment. It seems our quest for more has left us at a few trillion less than zero.

I go to Glenn Beck for the best information out there; and one thing is sure, Beck is protecting the American way. None of this sissy, lets try to take care of all our citizens, stuff. No. The greed must stand. So if we are not going to tax 100% of all wealth above 100 million dollars for those individuals who are worth that much, in order to build a green infrastructure, provide health insurance to all citizens, and pay off the national debt, then what should we do?

I suggest a purchase quota. This would be something akin to what Christopher Columbus cleverly devised when he was governor of Hispaniola in the early 1500’s. Convinced there were vast amounts of gold beneath the island, he required that each native deliver a certain amount of gold, or off with a hand. Well it turned out that there wasn’t much gold, so a lot of hands got chopped. Hands are important in sustaining a population, and sure enough, it wasn’t long before the native population of Hispaniola was nearly extinct. What lesson does this provide us in discussing health care? Dead folk don’t require health care.

One plus one equals Glenn Beck. So to avoid the terrible burden of keeping an aging population of hard partying baby boomers alive and Viagra’d on the government dime, we could impose consumption minimums. This is the way to keep the American way alive. If you are too old to be a good consumer, the plug gets pulled. Pay to play baby. It’s the American way. Spend to live. Simple. Thank god those folks are protesting in the streets. “Don’t give us health care!” “Let us die if we can’t afford health insurance!” “Stop trying to take away our rights!” Keep standing up people. Don’t give in. Don’t let the government provide you health care. Private corporations are the ones who really care about you. If you aren’t working and spending, and you don’t have enough accumulated wealth to pay to stay alive, then you can just keep fighting for your right to die.

Well

What's so interesting about the Bible is how God wrote all this stuff down for Himself to read so He would remember to not be such an Asshole in his human incarnations. Too bad God doesn't even speak his own language anymore down here on earth. God is so confused down here because He's busy being 7 billion different people at the same time. He keeps teaching Himself all this funny business making Himself feel guilty for being who He is [a fallen angel]. So he yells at himself and says "Stop Killing Each Other!" He is God. He is Christ. He is Anti-Christ. He is Buddha. He is Mohamed. He is Hitler. It's the same Dumbass, experiencing existence, again, and again, and again, just like He sent Himself down here to do. Sent down to Be His Own Servant. Incarnate. It's just hard for Him to remember. He also forgets He's Her.

stealing from facebook

Eating Chinese food delivery in Aspen and pretending I'm hiding in New York and writing. I have to admit, this is better Chinese delivery than any I had in New York, except the delivery I had to my apt. on my first night there. I had no silverware, and they included no chopsticks or plastic fork or knife. I used two sanitized pens as chopsticks. That was the best.

Ecology and Religion joining forces... or all the forces are already joined!

click title to check out this interesting article Prof. Stewart and the Carnegie Council so kindly shared with us. Is it Ecoligion? Religecology? Who split the first atom? I don't think it was Adam. Maybe when the first Atom split it made a big bang, and suddenly there was light and dark, male and female... and we've been colliding or just call it banging ever since. bunch of separate pieces of One trying to come together. God bless us, every One.

Relax

Relax. It's Aspen. Hah. Relax. It's planet Earth. And the sun keeps on shining. Amy Goodman said recently that if we don't do something about global warming soon it will become irreversible. Yea, thanks hun. I'll give you a big capital Duh on that one. Until the next ice age. Mother Earth is in control baby. Sure we can do better. But dammit, stop fucking scaring people so much. Relaxing is important.

a new day again

hey ya'll. I'm listening to Warren Zevon's "I've got to roll with the punches." It's late at night and i'm not quite channeling Hunter S. Thompson. I'm sending out Hunter's best vibes. His happiest dreams for a better future, the future he dreamed of and the future his limited perspective thought was trampled on by the reelection of George W. Bush. I was pretty bummed myself when we gave GW his mandate after 4 years of idiocy. I was sober at the time, and I think it drove me to drink, and I hadn't had nearly the come down that Hunter experienced.

We may have lost Hunter as a result of George W. Bush. But maybe his suicide saved some of our lives. Do we want to go that high, and stay that high, when we know the rules? Hunter taught us the result, what goes up, must come down. If you keep going up and up and up, you must eventually come down. If you go too far up, the landing will be too much to bear. As the caption on an old plastic plate of mine with Winnie the Poo falling into the arms of his friends, catching him in the midst of his fall, says: "and the coming down is the hardest part." Ain't that the truth?

For those of us who see reality as it is and choose to live in it consciously, the only logical reaction is insanity. The logical reaction to insanity is insanity. Those of us that are normal "functioning members of society" are the ones who are really insane. The bums and the patients in the insane asylum are the one's who are sane. The poverty that we are at "war against" is our salvation. We are at war with ourselves. With our true nature. We are trying not to die, when dead is what we all already are. Death is the rebirth of life. Life feeds on death. Decay and resurrection. But if those of us who are awake to this beautiful reality don't come down periodically and remember our impermanence, we are doomed to jails, sanitariums, and death, as the AA lingo tells us. Those of us who are attracted to the spirits, indeed we who become addicted to them, when we have tapped into the infinite "God" consciousness of which we are all a part, if it is not grounded in the foundation that we are all One, when we are still attached to an "I" which is separate from you, the I which can kill, which is God and Satan incarnate, which is the infinite potentiality who has defeated all the other species on earth in single handed combat and also killed our brother and sister humans as a result of the illusion that we are separate, you will start screaming you're fucking head off, because people aren't living up to the God consciousness of which we are all a part, and that you have realized, and you will think you're god, and you are, but if we are still a part of the illusion, attached to the "I" which is separate from "you," if we don't come down periodically we will go "nuts."

But the key is to remember that everything is OK. That we are all connected, and that because of what is, so It must be. How could it be any different? How could we change this moment where i'm writing this foolishness at 3:45 in the morning Colorado time, which has nothing to do with real time, because the sun never actually sets, and the full bright moon tonight is just the Sun's reflection. And if I die from taking too much of the white illusion tonight, it was only because of my own foolishness. Let us thank the Lord for his Mercy. Give thanks to the moon and stars that rule by night for his mercy which rules for I. But that's the reggae music that helps me be grateful for this life that I am so lucky to be living.

Every life that I live is a miracle. We are the eyes of God looking out at the this chaos of perfect order. We are all part of the Great IS. I've been searching for a Bible. Been meaning to buy one for awhile, but today looking through my Grandmother's incredible library, on the top shelf I found a whole collection of Bible's. I was attracted to the one that was covered in Silver first. I pulled it out. It is that old, sacred, wretched book, full of God and Satan and the illusion of Sin and the fear of Death, and it is engraved with my grandparents names. It was their bible, from 1965, with love notes and commitments to their marriage. But that marriage came to an end. Which is sad. But they are OK. My granddaddy is out in the midst of the universe now. His molecules are in existence. He has lived, will ever live, and is invisible to us now, just as our true natures are mostly hidden from us in our daily lives. This is to keep us sane. It's all good. That's the key message.

I hope Michael Franti and Spearhead keep pumping some positivity. We are all the same out here. We are all connected. I'm so grateful to be alive. The thing I kept opening in the Bible was Matthew 4, 4, when Jesus is being tempted by "Satan," which is simply the fear of death and decay, but... "Then Satan took him to Jerusalem to the roof of the Temple. "Jump off," he said, "and prove you are the Son of God; for the scriptures declare 'God will send his angels to keep you from harm.... they will prevent you from smashing on the rocks below.' Jesus retorted "It also says not to put the Lord your God to a foolish test." And here I was opening to this page after Satan flew up my nose, testing the Lord, and thank God I am alive to tell the tale. Twice I opened to the same page today, in two different bibles.

Rasta man vibration yea. higher man vibration yea. Thanks Bob Marley, who also died. Are we all the same person seeing reality through our own limited perspectives? But Bob says, make way for a positive day... oh what a new day. Are you picking up now? Who is I am? Who is I am that I am? Who is everything and nothing? Who is God and the devil incarnate? Who is the creator and the destroyer?

We are all on the same boat here, folks. Form is emptiness and emptiness is form. Love is Emptiness and Emptiness is Love. Love is God and God is Love. God is emptiness and God is form. May our form and our emptiness be blessed. If we want to save the world, all we need to do is let go and realize that the world is already saved. Aloha, crew.

a haiku for the first of September

Bunny bunny Sun
The hawk cried to the eagle
This is the jungle

back in aspen

"Aspen is a place where absentee greed-heads are taking over the town like a pack of wild dogs, reducing the once proud local population to shame and degradation." HST

Well it's true old dogs, but I'm just not so sure how true anymore. The sludge is still thick and the vultures circle and the land rapers claw along doing ballet with Marilyn Marks. Now I've traveled a great deal in my little dream land existence, but I've never been to a town with nicer cops, mellower speed limits, quality pharmacies, smart, cool, intelligent workers who work their ass off to live in paradise and enjoy a life that many of the ridiculous third fourth and fifth home owners don't have a clue about. The elite of Aspen are not really the elite anyway. The Sushi Chefs of Aspen are the real celebrities, and I'd rather invite them home for drinks than somebody famous, unless of course that famous person showed up with some energy drinks which would make me an invincible Tour De France racer. No, it's pretty damn cool to be back in Aspen. I'm a tourist in my home town, and I really can't imagine going back to NYC where I moved this past spring. It's nice as far as monkey jungles go, but its not here. Aspen is a vortex of lunacy, magic, and the holiness of perfect manifestations of natural beauty. This valley, these surrounding forests and mountain ranges, these are the art of God. It's paradise, and damn it, people know it. Cream makes you fat, and if cream means money, then it's clear that the cream has risen to the top. We're way up at the top here in Aspen. We are Fat City, yet rich enough to stay thin. And the cream is creamy, especially on powder days. And the lunacy keeps out the riff raff, they only stand us a few months a year at most, and that's grand. Only true loons can stand the year round madness. I myself retreated to the city, I had lost my bearings. Aspen is Aspen is Aspen. It's not Ute City anymore. It's frequency is a slidge insane in a dirty little way, but it can be fun. The greed and selfish individualism is not making it the nice friendly little family environment we really want it to be though. Ute City is still here, only the name changed. We are still a tribe. We all look out for each other here. And everybody should be invited to the party. We need to get the old popcorn wagon back. We must not tolerate the abuses of drug enforcement. And yet I feel like i'm coming back to an even better town than I left. The vibe is good. The grass is green and clearly the rain has come. We have a bar named Mustang now and they have glorious outside seating on the mall and a band was playing there. I looked around and it almost felt like we were back in the 80's when everyone was just a little happier to be alive because the threat of nuclear holocaust from all out war with the soviet union kept people humble, thankful, and folks were just happy to be alive and celebrate Ferris Bueller's day off. Everybody is in a good mood. It's all good. Get your ski pass. That whole skiing in Aspen thing, it's pretty good. If we want to get on Ski Co's ass about something we should address their lovely connection to the Military Industrial Complex. In addition to helping us slide down mountains the ownership also manufactures weapons of mass destruction. I heard that our own country might have some stashed away. But in Aspen things are pretty damn good. Even the exploited of Aspen, the workers who live far down valley and commute up here to work often enduring hours of traffic. Even some of these folks I have heard, are making top dollar in the thriving drug trade. So I just have to shout out to the Ski co and say, I understand. It is what it is. People have to ski and people have to die. I'd rather be on one of your chairlifts than on the receiving end of one of your missiles. I don't even live here anymore, and i'm a privileged rat. I guess I'm just floating and Fat City is my life raft. New York is a quiet life in comparison, with plenty of large buildings, beautiful, fantastic, rainbow people marching in lemming perfection and smiles. But it's an island. Manhattan island doesn't have one beach. There are gates all around it. It's a concentration camp for people and a small number of concrete adapted animals. You can't barely even find a place to swim, and the dogs aren't even allowed in the fountains. To get out you have to go over a bridge or under water in a tunnel, it's lovable madness. But in Aspen, tourists like me, year round locals, folks who just come a few months a year and spend a whole lotta cash and don't barely ski because they are getting a massage, it's all good. They are not in the lift line in front of me. We're all friends here. We're a family. People from all over moved here and we are like a nice little dysfunctional drug addicted year round camp, some come and go, but nothing really changes even while everything changes. And then of course when we take a break we all meet in AA, where our sober friends are waiting for us and self-riotously 13th stepping each other. It's paradise. Aspen Anonymous. It sure can be a small town sometimes. But ain't it grand? Sure is nice to be back for a visit. We're just here to enjoy living in paradise. It's really OK. Sometimes we complain too much. But what the hell else is there to do in paradise? We aren't writing letters about the gang warfare, it's just ticket prices. Benny the Blade, working it, he'll have a season pass I guarantee. Johny Aspen, on the cruise and living the dream, he'll be on the slopes with a pass around his neck. We're a ridiculous lavish shi shi rip off town, but sometimes I wonder if that's not our saving grace. Even when this was Ute City we were rolling in Silver and had a number of whore houses to boot, but none as expensive as the Caribou Club. But why do I love all the people here so much? I can't help it. Aspen is my family. We are all on the same boat baby, no matter what our bank accounts say. I've had many a wealthy individual buy me marvelous afternoon extravaganzas at The Little Nell, and that's nice. I'm a Fat City baby. Somehow things do trickle down here. It's a pretty darned good life in this little bastion of nice. The ridiculously rich are often quite charming. And they rarely ski the best lines. It all works out and the ridiculousness is inevitable. So Aspen is a big family and they were new members and they were loaded but they lived here year round and were active members of the community, not just temporary vacationers who fly in their friends from LA and New York once or twice a year (not that I have any place to say that there is anything wrong with that). Sure we're a luxury resort, but we're a luxury resort family. Ute City will always be here. This will always be holy ground. Long after Aspen is gone, and nothing is left of the name but the trees, the spirit of this valley will be here as it has always been and always will be. Those of us who Aspen has become a part of understand. It doesn't matter where you go, you're always here. I don't read the New York Times every day in New York City, but I read the Aspen Daily News almost every damn day. It's not exactly the spiritual summering ground of the Ute Indians anymore is it? But it's the cocaine summering ground of the rich and famous. It's an orgy of drugs, sex, and happiness, but it is still holy ground and your high may be enhanced as a result so be grateful. Many of these crazy old rich people are absolutely a pleasure to party with. I mean heck, I was raised by them. But at least they lived here year round. I come from the greed heads, I don't want to lie, but they were Texans, and they were just as Gonzo as fireworks baby. My Grandparents raised me, and they were Gonzos. They didn't do psychedelics but they were madmen, they were the lunatics of the lunatics. The savage that creeps in the night may also ski powder in the morning. We are the natives, and like any good tribe or nation, assimilation is the key. Welcome to Aspen. We have epic world class skiing on four mountains that are almost never crowded because we are the town at the end of the Rainbow. We are the top of the pyramid. It's Caddyshack baby. The employees have more fun. This is Aspen. This is what they planned. And we are living off the Fat of Fat City. Ute City is gone. They raped but it sure keeps the mountains uncrowded. I mean ski passes sure are cheaper at Vail, and the rest of those mountains. And try going skiing at Christmas at any of them, lift lines are an hour long. Gapers surround and you're slaloming in and out of city skiers. Seems to me these things all add up somehow. We're really fired up about this Ski Co pass adjustment, and fine. The workers in Aspen that I know are pretty damn happy. I'm always the first to get crazy and complain about the idiocy of the status quo, but i'm really trying to see things as being already perfect; even in the midst of its endless evolution. Everything could be perfect and vibrating in the joyous symmetry of chaos as the universe spins out into infinity rotating and all the molecules dance in the gentle stream of galaxies. Which brings me back to Aspen and the Ski pass changes. You know what? It ain't that bad. It may be an unspoken policy, but if we are twice as expensive as everywhere else, then we might just be half as crowded. And my darling Aspenites, could we ask for anything more? If you want Aspen to be like X-games year round, then please leave.

Pot Store in Aspen?

Strange days indeed. A legal capitalization of dope in Fat City. Click title to read more from the Aspen Daily News.

World Population Projected to Reach 7 Billion by Next Year

Well, I'd say it's worrisome that we are adding another billion people every 12 years the last few decades, and it looks like we'll do it again over the next twelve years. So many of us are proving rather taxing on the earth. But at the same time who knows what's really going on here? Maybe there will be a huge catastrophic event which wipes out 5 or 6 billion people. In such a case, a giant population would be a God-send. So who knows? It's all perspective I guess. I hate to admit that. I mean I'd like to go on a good rant about the idiocy of man, and how ridiculous we are for not taking better care of the earth. Giant human populations=environmental degradation. According to me, to my limited mind, my limited knowledge, according to the simple logic of violent extraction of materials and ruthless modern gardening techniques, we are being pretty brutal to Mother Earth. It's not all roses and strawberries. But maybe she can handle it. Maybe we are just doing what we are supposed to.

According to the Teaching of Buddha:

"People cherish the distinction of purity and impurity; but in the nature of things, there is no such distinction, except as it rises from false and absurd images in their mind.

In like manner people make a distinction between good and evil, but good and evil do not exist separately.

People naturally fear misfortune and long for good fortune; but if the distinction is carefully studied, misfortune often turns out to be good fortune and good fortune to be misfortune. The wise man learns to meet the changing circumstances of life with an equitable spirit, being neither elated by success nor depressed by failure. Thus one realizes the truth of non-duality.

Therefore, all the words that express relations of duality -- such as existence and non-existence, worldy passions and true-knowledge, purity and impurity, good and evil -- none of these terms of contrast in one's thinking are expressed or recognized in their true nature. When people keep free from such terms and from the emotions engendered by them, they realize Sunyata's universal truth. Just as the pure and fragrant lotus flower grows out of the mud of a swamp rather than out of the clean loam of an upland field, so from the muck of worldly passions springs the pure enlightenment of Buddhahood."

We've been mucking up the world for awhile now, so maybe we are really on our way to enlightenment and visions of the pure land, heaven on earth, Zion, and 7 billion human manifestations of the Creator caring for Mother Earth. That sounds nice. Just for today, the glass shall be half-full.

total recall

So it's all true, and nothing is true. That's pretty much what it comes down to. That's about all I have to say. I say a whole lotta else. But it's all just jabber, because who am I to say how it is. It's just one interpretation of one man who has spent his life reading between the lines. It's all been said. There is nothing new to say. It is the way we think it is. Our perceptions define our reality. A thousand years from now already exists a thousand years from now. We're changing it right now.

The Captain of Ferris Dies

We salute you captain Hughes. Thank you for giving us Ferris. Always Save Ferris old boy. Ed Rooney salutes you old boy. The Sausage King of Chicago is rolling in his grave. Love to you gifted sir. Rest in Peace.

It's a full moon and I walked up 8th avenue
Warm summer night
Neon lights and a dim threatening quiet
shivers of decay
asking
Where is the madness?
Is this utopia?
This clip of gin and silent decrepitude
I want a revolution
but what's the point?
Is everything already perfect?
Sure is weird out there
An odd perspective
looking out from this
illusion of separation

America is a gelatinous playground. Ripe for a luncheon picnic.

little break

She light dawns eye
river shy moon
claw rout river guide
table claw rule
clam sauce
french mouth
loon
people on the lazy trail
walking back toward Jickity lane