Theos-Talk Archives (August 2004 Message tt00503)

I do believe in maya (illusion) or the Buddhist concept of anicca (transitoriness), but the idea of being stuck in our own heads (I.e. our own "reality") forever still scares the bejesus out of me. I think about Tim Leary and how they cut off his head just when he died and froze it for the future. If manas (mind) still works somehow in that dude's head, then it must be hell to be without the means to express himself physically--and his flashbacks must be something out of a horror movie. My brother, Jim, died while on Ecstacy, and I wonder, even though he was cremated and scattered over San Francisco Bay, what, in the words of Hamlet, "dreams may come"? Aldous Huxley died while taking, I think, psilocybin, also. Lavoisier, who was beheaded on the guillotine had his associate count his blinks (13 actually) until the head died. That gives some meaning to Tim Leary's plight, huh? Maybe some think that's the only way to go, but it sounds horrific to me. So, what is "reality" in these cases?

Andrew W. Smith
"Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening,
whatever. Never let the brain idle. An idle mind is the devil's
workshop. And the devil's name is Alzheimer's." -- George Carlin

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]