tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3719024566754743654.post1460943271073107223..comments2009-11-25T21:51:05.714-05:00mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10978313265796058909noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3719024566754743654.post-6936639128354291292009-11-25T21:51:05.714-05:002009-11-25T21:51:05.714-05:00Barbara,<br /><br />&quot;I still find meditation to be an iffy thing. Sometimes I can use it fruitfully for the benefits, but others I still get lost in the highs and only the highs. Maybe that is the point you&#39;re making?&quot;<br /><br />Exactly!<br /><br />I have no issue with meditation per say. In fact, if a calm state of mind aids with more fully engaging your experience of a world, then I fully support it. However, if it leads to a disengaged desire for personal enlightenment, then it loses its appeal for me.<br /><br />&quot;Have a nice Thanksgiving, and have a second helping of everything for me, as I won&#39;t have the opportunity this year, so you gotta promise...so I have a high in abstentia.&quot;<br /><br />Ha! I wonder if extra helpings of turkey will allow me a &quot;tryptophan awakening&quot;?<br /><br />Thanks, Barbara, and be well!<br />mikeSMikeShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10978313265796058909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3719024566754743654.post-17633410574027007882009-11-25T14:24:50.056-05:002009-11-25T14:24:50.056-05:00Hi Mike,<br /><br />Hardly know where to start, or is that hardly nowhere to start? Guess I&#39;ll try generic.<br /><br />Once I hear Mr Lennon, the neurochemicals are certainly activated, so thanks for that. Like other drugs/addictions I&#39;ve had (have) I grew up hanging on every Beatle word, spoken, sung or demonstrated. Although it wasn&#39;t my first encounter with alcohol, when I was ten, the Beatles were drinking scotch and coke (yeah, it&#39;s a weird drink) and I just had to...so the combination of highs as a fifth grader created all kinds of chemical interactions and now fortunately, memories.<br /><br />Furthermore, it was also my precious Beatles who led me to meditation. Mahareshi and TM had me pursuing that route, although I was still a kid and couldn&#39;t get anyone to pay for TM training, so I found the Hari Krishnas to show me their version of meditation and in turn the rest of the stuff they did.<br /><br />I still find meditation to be an iffy thing. Sometimes I can use it fruitfully for the benefits, but others I still get lost in the highs and only the highs. Maybe that is the point you&#39;re making?<br /><br />More generic.<br /><br />Have a nice Thanksgiving, and have a second helping of everything for me, as I won&#39;t have the opportunity this year, so you gotta promise...so I have a high in abstentia.<br /><br />BarbaraAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3719024566754743654.post-6547142935075960792009-11-25T13:49:55.330-05:002009-11-25T13:49:55.330-05:00HAhaa!<br /><br />(been there, done that)<br />mikeSMikeShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10978313265796058909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3719024566754743654.post-64658287829075604672009-11-25T07:31:16.578-05:002009-11-25T07:31:16.578-05:00When I was in the mental hospital, there was a group therapy session for social phobics. Nobody ever showed up.No One In Particularhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13465987207757191972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3719024566754743654.post-34068573018910361722009-11-25T06:31:43.630-05:002009-11-25T06:31:43.630-05:00Very kind of you Suzanne,<br /><br />Unfortunately, in the U.S. this is the weekend of giving great thanks for gluttony and consumptive greed. <br /><br />However, although I&#39;ll be out of town, should be back sometime Sunday, so will try to stop by.<br />Nevertheless, my &#39;social phobia&#39; may impede any participation, but i&#39;ll be certain to listen intently.<br /><br />Thanks again!<br />mikeSMikeShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10978313265796058909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3719024566754743654.post-5660399724828632482009-11-25T03:29:22.980-05:002009-11-25T03:29:22.980-05:00Hey Mike, come join me if you can this Sunday, 29th November at 1pm Chicago time at http://nevernothere.com/videopage.htm for a webcast. It would be really lovely to say hello!No One In Particularhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13465987207757191972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3719024566754743654.post-46781756016238085392009-11-24T09:35:13.194-05:002009-11-24T09:35:13.194-05:00No One,<br /><br />true...<br /><br />Crazy Pianist,<br /><br />&quot;dopamine diplomas&quot; Ha! Love that!!<br /><br />Thanks,<br />mikeSMikeShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10978313265796058909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3719024566754743654.post-73874568330169591482009-11-24T08:51:37.474-05:002009-11-24T08:51:37.474-05:00On the other hand Jesus might just be all right with tripping on gamma or alpha or whatever. For me these &quot;altered states&quot; are just subsets of &quot;ordinary perception&quot;. No we don&#39;t need them, and maybe God doesn&#39;t hand out dopamine diplomas. But for those of us who, in &quot;ordinary perception&quot; are so doped on our stories, the altered states can help us to see the unordinary in the mundane. If God kicks me out of his enlightenment uni for that, i might even consider going back to high school drugs.<br /><br />Meditation may be a step up from that. But what you have found is grad school man!<br /><br />As always thank you for the great writing!Crazy Pianisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06475090983026326458noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3719024566754743654.post-54644845656911969102009-11-24T01:19:58.797-05:002009-11-24T01:19:58.797-05:00It&#39;s amazing how fabulous just sheer, sweet, ordinary perception can be. No need for all these altered states. Gentle ordinariness can be the best &quot;state&quot; of all.No One In Particularhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13465987207757191972noreply@blogger.com