Oneness

   I was listening to this Physicist on the youtube talk about how on the sub-atomic level we are all one.   They know this now and we should act accordingly.   Psychology knows this stuff already.   Jung called it the "Oceanic feeling". It's the idea that we are connected by a psyche and a physical space.   I was thinking for example, If I kick you in the leg I am doing some great psychological harm to myself.   If I find you with a hurt leg and come and help you then I will be doing some good things for my psyche and feel like a better person.

     So now that we have that information we can set about to change society and arrange it in a different way that isn't based off of competition, exploitation, and money.   Through history you could divide societies into ones that were based off of competition and ones based off of cooperation.  Societies based off of competition generally were less happy, had lots more problems and treated their women and children worse.  Societies based off of cooperation were happier, had less issues, and treated their women and children better.   That all would have led

to better mental health for the cooperative societies then the competitive ones.  

     How will we accomplish this change from a competitive to a cooperative society?  We have to realize this oneness that science and psychology and your own damn experience will tell you if you get out and feel it.   On the scale of the most co-dependent giver to the most narcissistic greedy business dude, we have to tell the giver that if they really want to help others then they need to show more self love, treat themselves to something nice, remember they are as important as those they help, or more so.   The narcissist needs to be told that if they really want to be the best and get more then everyone then they have to help everyone else because they are connected and everyone else is just as important as he, if not more so.   There is the psychological catch 22 that we will have to deal with.   So go out and love yourself and others to the extent that you need to based off of how currently over or under self appreciating you are.

   

Enlightenment and love!

"Unless you embrace love, true love, then you will never know the full potential of being a human. "
           That must be my favorite quote from the book "the power of self coaching".  http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Self-Coaching-Essential-Creating/dp/0471463604 Go read it now.

I just read an article in a business website that was saying how Narcissism is good.  ..and remember a narcissist is someone who doesn't feel empathy or love for themselves or others or anything really.    The article said   "A recent study conducted by accredited psychologist Oliver James, has classified the four types of people who excel in business: psychopaths, Machiavellians, narcissists and the amalgamation of all three."   And remember I said that this article is in support of narcissism.  That's the kind of people we are dealing with.
     I always had a weird feeling in my stomach around such people and in most of mainstream society.   Until recently I didn't know how important it is to listen to that feeling.   I now have the clarity of thought besides just the feeling of why these people are to be avoided.     It is in fact these types and this disorder that is the problem with the world.   It is lack of love that is putting the planet in peril.    If you can't truly connect with or love another person then you won't be able to connect with or love a tree or nature.    In one Derrick Jensen book he quoted a logging business man as saying  "when I look at the trees I see dollars".   That is a huge disconnect.   So is looking at people and seeing consumers.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hx-G1uhRqA

     Wow the U.S. is super messed up and it's strange to be here.    I know.  It's not just the U.S. but it is way more narcissistic here then in say..Scandinavia or most other first world countries.   It's narcissism that makes one not want to help their fellow humans.   In other first world countries they have free doctors and university.   They have lots of co housing and a social safety net.   Here they blame the poor for not working.   Blame the victim.         ..I know I mostly hang out in third world countries and love to visit native people.   I think most people there are poor.  They are way less materialist then first worlders.  ..and the poor are usually more generous too.   There are even natives that still remember how to live the old way without jacking up the planet.

     In this world love is the most revolutionary act one can do.   Love makes ordinary people extraordinary.   It makes non poets write poems.   It makes people skip out of work or run away together.   It boosts your immune system and makes you live 10 years longer.  
      Love also makes you help out a poor person.   Love and empathy.   The ability to feel other peoples feelings.    That is being more alive.   If you can't feel all that then you aren't really living.  Love also makes you stop a forest from being cut or try to stop a war.
     
     Connection to people, ourselves, and to the natural world through love and empathy  is what we must cultivate if we are to survive on this planet.

       The Buddha means "the awakened one".   The Buddhist quote of "if you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him." refers to that the Buddha is nobody other then yourself.   If you think it's something else then that idea, kill the idea.   I'm not Buddhist but I can get the good out of any philosophy.   I agree with this stuff.   We need to be trying to wake up.   All of us need to wake up and then try to wake up the others.
       Studies have shown that Sociopaths and people of this sort have brain waves similar to a normal person while asleep.   They didn't have a totally enlightened person to brain scan, but when they scanned some of the Dali lamas buddies, the happy parts of their brains were lit way up.   That was from a happiness psychology video.  I will post the link.  It's great.   here.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-RVECUWOGQ    It's the best.   So we know that the sociopath, the psychopath, the narcissist, is literally more asleep then us...and the Buddha is totally awake... how much waking up do we all have to do?    
                The long path to waking up can be a hard one.   but then it just keeps getting better and better.   I recently had loads of difficult feelings and came out the other side a better person.   I think that will continue to happen for a while.   One of my favorite things he said in that video that I hope you just watched is that you can't be happy all the time.   There are 2 types of people who don't experience bad feelings like fear, shame, guilt, remorse, and such.  They are psychopaths and dead people.   So when you are feeling not so hot, be glad because you probably aren't a psychopath or dead.

      Now go out in the world.   Wake up.   Feel things and fall in love.   Have amazing adventures.  Make giant smiley faces while you play your favorite childhood games.    I will be.  Maybe I will see you there.

           
      

Mental clarity the quick and easy way!

     Oh, yea.   If you hang out in public with me at restaurants or bars you may have noticed it's getting easier to be involved and focused on the conversation.   Your mental clarity is boosted.   Is it because I am so engaging and amazing?... I wish...  or even better really!  It's TV B GONE!   It's tiny and fits on my keys.  I just got it in the mail the other day and I have been having a blast turning off TVs everywhere.   I especialy like turning off fights, or fox news, or narcissistic brain wash like the kardashians.  Well, heck, about the only thing I won't turn off is some Adventure Time or Dr. Who.  Go out and get one and help clean up our mental environment!

https://www.tvbgone.com/cfe_tvbg_main.php

Back to Babylon.

     It's 2013!   The awakening!   Wooo Hoooo!!! ....uuuugh.  The awakening doesn't look like I wanted it to.   You might have heard that before.    Well, it's never going to look exactly like I want it to because an awakening isn't always just this nice awesome realization that comes out of nowhere.   It might be that way sometimes but for many it's seeing the worst to realize how bad it is and then knowing exactly the direction you do and don't want to go in.
     I would like to connect that last idea to the idea of the Shamen who must go crazy and return from it to help those in his tribe.   He's been there and now he knows for sure.    Maybe that is happening on a large scale right now.   When things get bad enough, often then a person realizes, then he or she is wiser and changes and like the shamen has transformed and can help people after they finish their healing process.   Things in society are crazy go nuts.   We are on the brink of ecological collapse.   If we realize in time, we will all be wise shamen on this planet.   ...After we finish the healing process.
     All this is an experience that I just had on the personal level.   This has been the most difficult, painful, and wonderful return to Gringoland.   I've now come out the other side and have a stronger ability to see sooooo much more of what is going on.    I can see the toxic parts of myself and heal from them and so it is also now easier to see what is toxic in others and help them heal.   Or avoid them.
     Many are saying this is a very Narcissistic society.   That's true.  Narcissism isn't just being selfish or something.   It's serious and deadly.   Use the word interchangeably with psychopath and sociopath.   There are ton's of youtube videos and things to read about it on the internet.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDIKrYputmg  That one is good.  This one too.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1glNdSjxWo  They say now something like 1 in 6 has it and it's on the rise.  But so is this great information to expose it and heal from it.  1 in 6.  Chances are you know someone with it, or someone who has suffered the extreme abuse of someone from it.  Eveyone has a little Narcissism in them.  Recognize that shit and get rid of it.  Read the book   "Emotional Literacy"  and learn to heal yourself and others.    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_literacy   If you're in a relationship with a toxic abuser it's hard to leave.  Your brain gets chemically addicted to the abuse.   One heroin addict said the withdrawals are worse then heroin.   They are very hard core.
             I am more confident then ever in our ability to heal and change the world.

I'm thankful for the past - It made me who I am
I'm thankful for the bad experiences I've had - They made me stronger and made me learn
I'm thankful for the good experience I've had -  Duh, who isn't?  :)
I'm thankful for the present - It's the only thing really happening
I'm thankful for the future - And excited about it!   The best is yet to come and cool cool shit is happening!

   

December 21, 2012. Palenque.

           The bottom fell out of the sky on the last day of time.   Torrential rain didn´t stop the native people from doing ceremonies all night long.   Dancing, thanking the 4 directions and the sky and the earth, blowing conch horns, and inviting the change for maybe 14 hours.    Despite anticipating this day for 8 years I needed some rest.   Whatever was supposed to go down was supposed to happen around 4 in the morning anyway.   I went for a nap in my tent.  I love sleeping in a tent in the rain.  Rainforest rain is like nothing else.   It would make the news back home if it ever dumped out like this but here it´s business as usual.    The proceeding days had been sunny and nice with clear nights and the eerie sound of howler monkeys all around.
           I awoke while it was still dark.   It was easy to get up so early.  Even with the sleepiness and the rain, thoughts raced through my head of the past years of traveling around the planet, of love won and lost, psychedelic experiences, talks on this with native people and holy men,  of the speeches by shamen the proceeding day, of the tons of documentaries on this day and the books and the ideas that I read of Terrance Mckenna and Daniel Pinchbeck and by so many others that I´ve met through the years on the road.
         My Mayan calendar sign is White Planetary World Bridger.  I'm suppose to bridge the gap between the freaky people and the normals and show you the world.   I do feel like I live in both of those worlds with all the coming and going that I do.
        At 4 am I heard the hooting and hollering of the people camped near me. Woooohhhh.  Here we go!  Next dimension!   Ideas that instantly materialize!   End of the dark age!   All the good stuff!
        So I hike in the dark and in the rain up near the ruins.  The natives are still in ceremony.   I join in for a time and then hike up to the ruins that should be just about open.  They sell coconuts there.  I want one.   I chill and have my own experience in the ruins and meditate for a while and explore before going to find the native people again.    I find them doing ceremony in the open ruins.   The cold waves of thick rain never stop dumping on the dancing people.    This is supposed to be the first time in 500 years that there is a ritual at all the sacred Mayan sites.   Knowing that this magnificent event is going on in so many other beautiful and ancient locations stirs my heart.
          When they finally finish their dance I head back to the main pyramids.   They are totally inundated with hippies.   and the rain has stopped.    They are all singing and then we all join hands for a giant Ohm.   OOOOOhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmm  reverberates through ruins and forest and my whole body.   I think even the howler monkyes joined in.    I am more then satisfied with this.  This is what I envisioned when I came down.   Then we all did a group hug.   It might have been the biggest group hug I've ever been in.  A massive, circling, soggy, throng of us huddling in and giggling with the deep feeling of contentment.

          The natives continued with a different ceremony.   When it got late the security tried to kick them out but the freaky people all joined hands in a circle around the ceremony to protect it and the security couldn't do anything.   The native people confirmed to us that we are the new tribe of light that is prophesied about.

            I ended up spending another week in the woods camped out with what looked like several thousand from around the world before heading off to the beach where I am now camping.  It was a magical and healing experience with loads of great people, inspiration, and things to learn.   I'm on my way south for a while longer now with lots of exciting plans and people to meet up with.

       It must have been something like 8 years ago when I told myself that I would have fun and travel and go nuts until now and then get serious about life.   But since then I´ve gotten quite good at this going around and not jobbing stuff and found out that life is not something to be taken too seriously.   So maybe there has been a shift in consciousness.   Its just been a slow one that has been going on for a long time.    Or maybe not.   Maybe its just me and the circles of people that I surround myself with.    One things for sure, if there isn't a change in consciousness then greed and destruction and the boring life that comes with it will continue to swallow everything up and there won´t be any large mammals (that includes us) in 100 years.   But I'm an optimist still.   I think we can do it, and again, it might just be the circles of people I hang out with but I have been getting a lot of messages from people that want to live different and more meaningful lives.    That's great news.

     
      Those are as close as your going get to photos of it. You can't take photos at sacred ceremonies or at the gathering.   The last one is of me at my favorite jungle restaurant.  I loved making those girls laugh with my poor silly Spanish.  I'm getting better at Spanish but this is a really fun and funny phase of it.   I will post more photos on the facespace soon and I will try to type more soonish too.

      Love!!!

Other New blog

I originally made this blog to write some travel stories for my family.   Then some artist friends told me I should put up caricature work on it.   I want to use it for travel stories again and for other art and things that maybe kids shouldn't read or see.   So go here instead if you want to look at caricatures and give me a job or something.  http://caricaturebyjason.blogspot.com/

sketch of me

Jarods Guitar

My friend Jarod let me draw all over his guitar. I felt lucky to have my doodles on the instrument of such a rock star. ..which reminds me of this Terence McKenna quote
“Ego is a structure that is erected by a neurotic individual who is a member of a neurotic culture against the facts of the matter. And culture, which we put on like an overcoat, is the collectivized consensus about what sort of neurotic behaviors are acceptable.”
If you know the guy you might see the association there.

Caricature advertising

Here are some quick live caricatures. Maybe somebody will see this and want to give me some money for a drawing and then I can travel more!

My studio

In the late summer my brother and brother in law helped me build a studio in the woods. A lot of the materials used are recycled and reused. They are in construction so they could help with that a lot. It makes it a little more earth friendly. It will be easier to work on arts and crafts and projects before heading out to trips now. There is a sleeping loft above, it's on 4 blocks with no foundation, 2 desks and room to read and chill all for the fraction of the price one would pay for such a structure.

landscape painting

I have been spending some time here in the country visiting my family. I hike out and paint with my mother when I need a lesson.

Ishmael

Ishmael.. I don't even know if i spelled that right. who cares.
If you don't know whats wrong with society and your life or if you don't even know there is something wrong, reading anything by Daniel Quinn is a good start.
Go out and get one of his books. Read it from cover to cover. Just starting it and putting it on a shelf is not being literate. Neither is just being able to read a menu. You need to be able to read whole books, and the right ones. Not just fluff.
No go out and prove to yourself that your not another shallow vacuous moron and read and enjoy it.

Mexico!!!

It's amazing here. Everything is comfortable. Soft ground, warm water, warm temperature, I sleep and eat and hike and draw at the beach all day and night. There are natural virgin beaches. I eat fresh fruit, fish, and veggies. Life is soooo beautiful here. Here is a photo of me spinning fire.

Baba Ram Dass

Be Here Now.
This is Baba Ram Dass. He was Dr. Richard Alpert. He's the other guy who got fired from Harvard with Timothy Leary. He went to India after that and tripped with monks, gurus, and holy men and got famous when he wrote "Be Here Now". It's really good and strange story with lots of drawings in it. So check it out.
Here's a quote, but he said lots of really good stuff.

"My life is a creative act--like a painting, or a concerto"

Mexico and Central America it is!!!

Geronimo when he's old.
That's what this drawing is suppose to be. So I will spend the winter traveling and hanging out with the first americans. Adventure and lessons from shamen in the rainforest and the dessert, and more adventure in mountains and beaches. I'm excited for what mysteries I may find out and for more experiments and freedom.

......and here's a drawing of a naked girl for some reason. I guess because thats fun to draw to. And figure drawing is important practice always.

dali lama and geronimo

Time for adventure. Asia or Mexico and Central America? Buddhists and Sadhu's or Native Tribes? I'll chill here for awhile and the answers will come and then I'll go see who I need to see.

native american drawings

I've been liking to draw native americans lately. I will do more and better ones. They have so cool faces to draw. I like Sitting Bulls face a lot. He was one of the few to win a war with the whites. Then he went east and saw how many cracker ass whities there were in the big cities there and realized he wouldn't win another war with them. Then he started making peace treaties. I think you can see the fierceness in his face. A tough dude but a defeated one. Its a strong and disturbing look that stirs you deep to see it. Look forward to seeing that same look on the face of environmentalists if the world can't come to some serious decision on Oct. 24 in Copenhagen.


been figure drawing to. at William and Mary on thursdays. this girl said she liked the drawing so much that she wanted to put it on her fridge or maybe in her living room even! super cool.
caricature season is almost up and it will be time to hit that dusty trail! Im so excited. ..downunder has been calling for a long time. . ..or back to the native in mexico and central america.. or asia.. or africa.. ???? not realy sure. hope there is time for all of it in the years to come.

native american in pastel