> I'm talking about seeing a tree or a blade of grass...I'm talking about
> very ordinary seeing and the mystery of our very ordinary world
>Dwayne:
> Yes, I think I understand what you're describing.
>
> Here's a brief tale about Einstein (perhaps false, someone here will
> surely know and correct if that's the case...which is cool) that, I think,
> illustrates your meaning.
> Einstein was on his deathbed, hovering near the edge for weeks the way
> some people do when the end's close. At one point his sister, overcome
> with grief at her impending loss, began to cry bitterly. "Don't cry,"
> Einstein whispered to her. "Look deeply into nature and then you'll
> understand."
One of the deepest spiritual experiences I've had came after ingesting some mushrooms in the wilds of Long Island. Beautiful summer day.Warm but not humid. Light breeze near a lush green inlet. As the psilocybin took hold, I felt intimately connected to everything around me. It was as if the fungus lifted a veil from my inner-eye and showed me how blind I was to the vibrant life that's everywhere. The breeze felt very sensual, the water shimmered like glass. The trees and leaves vibrated with tangible energy. And it all felt perfectly natural, wholly one. My friend who was with me experienced the same sensations, and we merely smiled at each other. Words were meaningless.
Now, I was an atheist for most my life. I can't remember ever really believing in God, even in Catholic school, where during morning prayers I thought instead about Roberto Clemente and Bruce Lee (my two boyhood heroes). This held throughout my adult life, and I was often withering when encountering anyone who uttered a religious thought.
My nonbelief continued even after the above mushroom experience and others like it. Yet some doubt arose. And when I heard Bill Hicks perform his routine about mushrooms and God, I knew exactly what he was talking about. After ingesting a "heroic dose" of 'shrooms, Hicks "laid in a field of green grass for four hours going 'My God, I love everything.' The heavens parted, God looked down and rained gifts of forgiveness, acceptance and eternal love from his unconditional heart, and I realized the true nature of my existence, of all our existence, is God's perfect and holy sunship, that we are spirit, we are not bodies, we are mind, we are thoughts in God's mind, his beloved children, and that has never changed, and anytime that you look through the body's eyes you are seeing illusions."
"I'm glad they're against the law, because imagine how that would fuck up this country."
Hicks said that the fact that mushrooms grow in cow shit made it the ultimate cosmic joke. "Heaven's in a cow's ass... I think that's why you laugh for the first hour." (He added that this must make McDonald's the Antichrist.)
I know what Joanna's trying to say in this thread, and I think she's very genuine in her desire to understand this part of our existence (she and I have discussed this offlist several times). And she's right about the disdain that showers anyone here who tries to even broach the subject, much less explore it. Atheists tend to be quite smug about their position. Oftentimes they're defensive too, which accounts for some of their hostility. Again, I know this 'cause I was once there, and pretty much everyone I knew acted the same way.
Personally, atheist disdain doesn't really bother me. I view it as a form of despair, esp when it's expressed through insults or, if one is feeling generous, condescension. Still, some of my best friends are atheists, even if their third eye remains firmly closed.
Dennis