The Experimental Art of Ego Dissolution – Part 1
The ecstatic state is a natural state of consciousness attainable by anyone possessing a normal range of conscious agility- that is to say, one who experiences the modes of deep sleep, dream-state, wakefulness, daydreaming, meditation, orgasm, hypervigilance, mental lethargy, intense emotions, and occasional hysteria and dissociation in fair measure and in a mostly integrated way. The ecstatic state may occur spontaneously or it may be induced through years of transformative studies. It is equally accessible to all, and therefore intrinsic to the human experience.
Read MoreSecular Ecstasy
I've long been fascinated with and attracted to methods of stimulating ecstatic states. The "higher levels" of consciousness, whether through use of psychedelics, ecstatic ritual, sex (particularly kink or group sex), or dancing.
Read MoreI Hate Women Who Hate Women (or Henry Miller is just alright with me)
Henry Miller's misogyny is the kind of Wall Street honchos who hire pro-doms on the weekends to knowingly give their hubris a wicked and necessary dose of humility. Thus, Miller and his cohorts get a pass from me. Carrie Bradshaw can die in a fire, as far as I'm concerned, because she is NOT in on the joke. She doesn't see her cultural vapidity, her insipid desires, and her deference to class markers and antiquated beauty standards as products of the patriarchy, not a repudiation of it.
Read MoreMeet the Beavers
I'll be gone next week, off to play in the dust with about 40,000 other folks. Yep, it's Burning Man, and yep, it's awesome. This will be my fourth foray into the intense, insane, trying and magical experience in the third largest city in Nevada. Why I go is a complicated question that is really best answered over cheap beers in a dark and cozy bar on the edge of nowhere. But the easy answer is that I go for authenticity- to witness the beauty of people expressing themselves in whatever way is most confronting and enticing, to be a part of the exploration of identity and personal freedom.
Read MoreLez Get Married
The government, being a supposedly secular institution, should not issue marriage licenses at all. The government is in the business of civil regulation. Therefore, civil unions or domestic partnerships should be the only thing they determine. A gay couple wanting to own property and raise children together? Civil union. Two sisters wanting to share health insurance? Civil union. Multiple adults sharing expenses and ownership of land? Civil union. We're talking regulation and taxation here, folks, not love and god.
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