Saturday, August 18, 2007
Here and Now
(9)
Which brings us to here. We are all here. Most of us don't realize that. We are nevertheless here whether we realize it or not. Furthermore we are all now. We are all now, not yesterday or tomorrow, even though most of us don't see that as we experience our lives moment to moment. Most of us think that we are not here and not now, in spite of the fact that we obviously are here and now.
The reason is that we model the future excessively, and/or we model the past incessantly. We therefore miss the here and now, most of out brainpower having been devoted to modeling the future and the past.
This mode works (more or less) in the economic sense because it contributes toward our individual survival: we need to be aware of the past and the possible future. I call this cerebral state, 'economic mode.' But this is only one possible mode. There is at least one other mode which I call, 'Acid Mode.' Acid Mode disables all modeling. The result is that the subject experiences, perforce, the here and the now (being gassed here, RLG) perhaps for the first and only time.
The experience is astonishing. Therein lies the value of the Acid Experience.
Which brings us to here. We are all here. Most of us don't realize that. We are nevertheless here whether we realize it or not. Furthermore we are all now. We are all now, not yesterday or tomorrow, even though most of us don't see that as we experience our lives moment to moment. Most of us think that we are not here and not now, in spite of the fact that we obviously are here and now.
The reason is that we model the future excessively, and/or we model the past incessantly. We therefore miss the here and now, most of out brainpower having been devoted to modeling the future and the past.
This mode works (more or less) in the economic sense because it contributes toward our individual survival: we need to be aware of the past and the possible future. I call this cerebral state, 'economic mode.' But this is only one possible mode. There is at least one other mode which I call, 'Acid Mode.' Acid Mode disables all modeling. The result is that the subject experiences, perforce, the here and the now (being gassed here, RLG) perhaps for the first and only time.
The experience is astonishing. Therein lies the value of the Acid Experience.
